Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

This article in the NY Times Sunday Magazine about uses gardening as an example as it discusses the economics of leisure activities; interesting implications on our work with gardeners.

It notes:

… 17.5 percent of adults currently engage in what the Census Bureau calls “cooking for fun.”

… 41 percent of households have flower gardens, 25 percent raise vegetables and 13 percent grow fruit trees ­even though just 1 percent of Americans live on a farm today, down from 30 percent in 1920.

…

Isn’t it puzzling that so many middle-aged Americans are spending so much of their time and money performing menial labors when they don’t have to? Just as the radio and phonograph proved to be powerful substitutes for the piano, the forces of technology and capitalism have greatly eased the burden of feeding and clothing ourselves. So what’s with all the knitting, gardening and “cooking for fun”? Why do some forms of menial labor survive as hobbies while others have been killed off? (For instance, we can’t think of a single person who, since the invention of the washing machine, practices “laundry for fun.”)

…

Whether or not you’re getting paid, it’s work if someone else tells you to do it and leisure if you choose to do it yourself. If you are the sort of person who likes to mow his own lawn even though you can afford to pay someone to do it, consider how you’d react if your neighbor offered to pay you the going rate to mow his lawn. The odds are that you wouldn’t accept his job offer.

Find out more by reading the full article here.

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