Frugal lessons from The Amish: Growing Foodby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 08 Apr 2007 05:42 AM
The Amish are so good at farming, that they often grow extra crops for tourists to buy, such as pumpkins and gourds in the fall. Because the Amish tend to burn more calories than the average person, they tend to eat very big meals. They also tend to have larger families, and both factors would contribute to a huge bill if they shopped at a grocery store for all of their food, as most of us do. Growing your own food is definitely much more frugal then buying it from the store. This is especially true, if you like to buy organic produce. Growing up in New York City, I never even had the concept of growing my own food, but the reality is that growing many kinds of produce is pretty easy to do. While we may not all have farms at our disposal, we can still learn from the Amish and grow some of the food we consume. Even if you have a small space, you could try container gardening. With container gardening, you basically grow your produce in large pots on a porch, a backyard or even indoors near a sunny window. Some of the best things to grow indoors include tomatoes, herbs, onions and even potatoes (if you have a cool dark basement). For outdoors, the sky is the limit. A nice easy crop to start with is zucchini. This is a vegetable that loves to grow. You will have zucchini up to your eyeballs without too much effort. Or, as Amy, my Amish friend, likes to joke, "If you want a very large crop, plant only one seed and give away the rest." Carrots are pretty forgiving, too, as long as you give them some nice soft soil to grow in. And if you want something completely full proof, try some mint. Mint tends to grow like a weed, literally, and can be used in all sorts of things, from ice tea to home made ice cream. Related Articles: Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Mowing the Lawn Frugal Lessons from the Amish: Going Goodwilling Frugal Gardening: Have A Seed Exchange Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags Amish, Food, garden Discuss this article
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Since most Amish live on a farm, they are used to growing food. But farm or not, Amish women always maintain a kitchen garden, where they grow delicious foods for their families. Potatoes are a staple that is usually served in the afternoon as part of the biggest meal of the day. Canned vegetables that were once grown in the garden are also a very big part of the Amish diet. 
