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We’re living through tough economic times as we watch financial markets meltdown all over the world and people lose trillions in life savings they have invested in stocks and other securities (that aren’t too secure at the moment). Gas is still outrageously expensive and it seems like every time you go to the store, something is more expensive.

Don’t despair because there is something you can do about it and it fits right in with being an affiliate marketer, but not in the traditional sense. It may take a little more physical work that building a web site but there is a big payoff. I’m talking about growing your own food and working towards self-sufficiency. Below is what our back yard looks like and where we spend most of our Saturday mornings:

Buying edible plants, digging small garden plots and putting seeds into the ground is sowing a benefit that you will reap in a few weeks for plants and a few years for something like fruit trees. Just like affiliate marketing, you hope for a payoff a bit larger than your time and sweat investment.

The benefits of gardening go far beyond just putting some grub on your table. It does take time, but you can get to the point that you are saving gas by making less trips to the store and buying vegetables that have to be shipped from California by large truck or other far away locations such as Costa Rica by ship. You can also supply your body with healthy, life giving fruits and vegetables and that can help cut your medical expenses because you are living a healthier lifestyle. It’s a much less expensive alternative to the medical model of stuffing a patient full of expensive drugs for every ailment or the much more expensive route of radical, invasive surgery. Good heavens wouldn’t that help the economy if practiced on a large scale?

Right now in our yard we are growing pineapples, lettuce, various tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, strawberries, blackberries, lemons, eggplant, onions, and various herbs. We also have banana, guava, mango and avacado trees that will take a few years to mature. We have had gardens throughout the years, but only started expanding last year and plan to continue with our expansion until the back yard is completely filled in.

Were inspired the Dervaes family in Pasedena California who grow an amazing 6,000 pounds of food a year on a scant one tenth of an acre. Depending on the season they supply from 50% to 80% of their own food, sell produce to restaurants, produce their own biodiesel fuel, use solar energy and are close to living “off grid” or in total self-sufficiency.

Wouldn’t it be great, as the rest of the world and the politicians try to figure out how to spend even more money that they don’t have, to be less dependent on that system. Honestly, the less the government does for me the better. The more they give you, the more they can take away. No thanks, I’ll take care of myself.

Gardening is just like affiliate marketing. Put in the initial work and enjoy the benefits of truly sowing good seed. At least you’ll always have plenty to eat.