Gotta spend money to save money

In my energy bill, I just came across an Earth Day pamphlet with a section on Fun Ways to Celebrate Earth Day! Included was this paragraph:

Plant an organic family garden. Working with your kids or spouse to design, plant, and grow your own vegetables is not only a great bonding experience but you're also rewarded with fresh, healthy produce throughout the summer and fall. And it's a great way to save money.

A great way to save money? Have these people ever planted a garden before? Maybe if you're on your second or third year of planting out an acre-sized plot, you might save some money by growing enough vegetables. Otherwise, the expenses of seeds, equipment, soil, fertilizer, trellises, root food, seed trays, and gardening books do add up, rather. Please tell me that the people who are so het up about Earth Day have actually try their own suggestions.

For another take on organic gardening, you might read The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden. Here's a review from Amazon.

Sadly, I was never able to get far enough into this book to be able to give it a reasonable review. About halfway through, the author goes into chilling detail about his efforts to get rid of several of those pesky creatures that we call wildlife. When his efforts to keep said wildlife from his crops fail, he decides that they need to be killed. After his description of how he trapped an oppossum, left it in the sun to die and, failing that, tried to drown it (all witnessed by his children), I was finished with this book. The fact that this is offered up as humor makes me sick.

Sold!