"it doesn't pay to plant now that my family is grown."
Clo, you miss the point. It is about self reliance and -- although I guess this doesn't register with you yet -- figuring out how you are going to eat if/when our JIT grocery store food system fails. Re the if/when I almost left out the "if" because I think the odds of it happening are so high as to approach unity. But then I thought I'd throw it back in as I'm not God...yet.
It's also about food quality, skill set, about building competence and options, about local economy, and lots of other things.
Russia was able to handle its collapse with relative grace because so many of the locals grew most of their own produce as a matter of necessity during the "workers paradise" years. Argentina can tell a similar story. In the Great Depression, people commonly still knew how to grow food. In the US now we are like village idiots in that regard. And, as I said, even if you know how to grow food can you do it without chemical fertilizers? Can you do it in 3 days (which is how long it takes to turn over the food supply in a typical grocery store)?
Trust me, I am not growing food at home because current economics "pay to plant now".
I wish I could cook, however. Your description of the cooking makes my mouth water and the wife is on the other side of the country!! :-(
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