Little Harvests

Today I had to thin out a couple more brassicas from Hoop house #1. My harvest for today as pictured above, from left to right, are: basil, micro-mix, orach, a quart of alfalfa sprouts, one bunch of Siberian kale, and a little spinach. Not pictured are a hefty handful of chives from our crowded chive patch and some asparagus from just behind our back fence. Available resources in the yard also include chocolate peppermint, cat mint and the occasional dandelion. The current market price for my technically organic harvest today I estimate to be the following: basil- 50 cents, micro mix- unavailable, alfalfa sprouts- 3 dollars, kale- unavailable (equivalent kale of other variety would cost about $2.50), spinach- 25 cents, chives- $6.00, 5 spears of asparagus at perhaps $ 1.50. Total for today would be $13.75 not including the micro mix. I currently could harvest a similar amount daily for at least a week. In general we average about a fresh quart of sprouts daily of value ranging between $3.00 (e.g. alfalfa or red clover) and $6.00 (e.g. broccoli or broccoli rabe). Already we are reducing our food bill a little bit. This is "eaten up" rapidly because of the rising prices of staples, but I feel as if my efforts are providing some cushion for us. There must be some way to calculate the offset the food provides for our carbon footprint. I must look into that when I'm not working so hard building the garden and growing in the garden...