Sweat equity

Seems like most every year someone wants to buy us seed for part of the produce. I've never taken them up on it and probably never will. When you compare the amount of work it takes to grow produce to maybe a dollar for seed, there isn't a bit of comparison. In our country, I look at a veggie from the garden and think of how much sweat it took to grow.

Tomatoes are a classic example. Because most of the tomatoes we grow can't be purchased locally as a plant, we start the tomatoes in January and February. Once they are up and developing leaves, we transplant them into individual containers where they will grow until we transplant them into the garden. First step before planting is to prepare the soil. We usually till and fertilize it. We follow this up with transplanting. Once transplanted, water dripper lines need to be laid down by the plants and then a weed barrier and then something like straw or saw dust to cover the weed barrier. We force our tomato plants to grow up strings, so these need to hang down from above. Beginning about the first of June, we need to spray the plants weekly with BT for the worms. There is a lot of sweat involved in growing a single tomato plant. By the time we pick a tomato, there has been a lot of sweat equity invested.

But sweat equity is in everything. Farmers invest a ton of sweat into their crops, such as corn or wheat or beans. But even more than sweat there is a substantial investment. I have no idea how much fertilizer and seeds cost per acre but it is substantial. But add to that sprays during the summer as the crop matures. Same with those who raise cattle. It costs to raise and maintain a good bunch of cows, plus the cost for top notch bulls. Add to that the sweat and cost of putting up hay or bales and then feeding it later in the winter. Lots of sweat equity.

I grew up in Nebraska, in Arthur County, and in the heart of the Sandhills. At one time, the Sandhills was kind of like the dessert in the U.S. Mom and Dad had a little place northeast of Arthur and raised cattle and hand milked a bunch of milk cows. The place was small enough they didn't get rich, but they were able to pay the bills. But they poured their heart and soul into that land. This is what I refer to as sweat equity. It was more than just land. There were a lifetime of memories there.

West of the house and a little south was where a bunch of cows died from a lightning strike. I think Grandpa Piihl and Dad skinned the cows to recover a little of what was lost. In the pass west of the house was where Mike Harrington turned his truck over with a load of cows. North of the house and in some of the small valleys Dad raised a ton of watermelons. There was a bunch of memories and sweat tied up to the land Mom and Dad owned. Sweat Equity. Mom and Dad went without so that they could pass the land on down to us kids. Lots of sweat went into that land.

Down through the years I've watched the old timers sacrifice and squirrel away a little money to keep a business or piece of land intact. They went without so that at some point in the future they could turn their place or land or possessions over to their kinfolk, such as their kids. Some who took over their possessions have respected the sweat equity of the old timers by carefully keeping the business or land intact. Some, though, have squandered the business or land by buying and spending and not really respecting the sweat equity of the old timers. It is really easy to spend money and resources when there is no sweat equity or cost involved. If one has worked and sweat over a piece of property or business, it means more than just what it's worth.

We bought the tiller I still use down at Kennett when we first moved out here. It was a sacrifice when we bought it. It was an 8-horsepower Troy electric start. If memory is correct, we gave something like $1,200 for the tiller where the new price was right at $2,200. It cost more than we could afford, but it seemed like at the time we needed it. Down through the years it has paid for itself with garden produce with a ton of sweat involved. Little by little, the tiller has paid for itself, but it has taken hours of sweating and work. A few years ago, the motor started to knocking and really smoking, so we retired it and replaced it with a new motor. Do I baby the tiller? Not really because I use it. Do I treat it differently than someone who has nothing invested in the tiller? Probably, because I have gallons of sweat equity invested in it.

Back several years, we'd buy baby calves who were 4 or 5 days old and then grow them up to about 30 months old. So for the first three or four months we'd bottle feed them night and morning. We'd watch over them, noting when they were sick and needing doctoring. For many years we'd mow and rake and bale our own hay. Then we'd gather the bales and stack them in the barn. No matter what we did, it was work. Sweaty work. We invested a ton of sweat equity into our steers. We grew attached to the steers because of the sacrifices we made to grow the steers to the point we could butcher and sell the meat. We invested sweat equity in our steers.

Many today want to spend your money or they want you to spend your money. Ads on TV selling everything from window washing compounds to medicines to cars and pickups to clothes and footwear to timeshares on vacation property to magazines. Almost every week I get an email wondering if I want to buy some green coffee beans. I've noticed if the money you are about to spend didn't cost you sweat and work, it's pretty easy to spend and just flitter away. But if the money has cost you sweat and time and a bunch of work, one will be more careful how it's spent.