Even Frugal Has Limits

I grew up learning to make do or do without. This approach not only saves money, it encourages creative thinking. Okay, it encourages stubbornness too.

As a gardener this has taught me a lot. I don’t purchase seed potatoes; instead I use sprouted potatoes from the pantry. I don’t buy many seeds because I’ve learned to harvest seeds from the previous year’s plantings. I grow lettuce and tender herbs right outside the door for easy use, succession planting them to keep up a good supply until autumn’s frosts. I thin seedlings by replanting them, repurpose tools, share/trade plants. I’ve even used worn out jeans, cut in long sections, to tamp down weeds between rows in the vegetable garden. (Heavy non-plastic feed bags do a better job.)

But even I can recognize when it’s time to give up.

These shoes have looked beyond saving for years. The leather has been re-stitched and the soles glued back on multiple times. This time I believe they’ve had it. The sole half fell off when I was carrying plants back to our hoop house. Arms full, I had no other option than to hop-walk till I got there, then rip the sole the rest of the way off. It’s hard to let these shoes go after so many years, but I guess it’s time to relinquish them to the garbage can. I may hum a little funeral tune as I do in memory of their long and faithful service.