Gardening: because who doesn't love a hobby that kicks their butt seasonally?

I am very passionate about gardening, and really any self-sufficient lifestyle practice. (I draw the line at a poop house though.) This year however, the pestilences have been knocking me out. I admit I have a severe fear of certain bugs and spiders. So when the only remedy for a japanese beetle takeover is to pluck them off plants in the early morning I either talk my husband into it, or cower on the patio with an empty bucket. They got at least half of the tomato harvest this year, the greedy suckers. My Grandmother, back when she gardened, used to keep a white netting over her strawberries to keep the birds off. Then one day after reading some bible verse she walked outside and removed the nets. She told her children, "We must share our blessings from God."

I share my "bounty" only because of my cowardice. A raccoon gang has been pilfering the winter tomatoes, I watch them from the house, remembering the line, "very much like the opossum in temperment." I leave them be. So it would seem the only thing keeping me from more god-like gardening would be that tricky change of heart. They're eating the goods any way maybe I should just surrender and say, "Yes, eat up little creatures, there is plenty to go around." But no, I worked hard for that food. I am not so close to approaching Zion.