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Comments on (How) does the home gardener tithe?
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(How) does the home gardener tithe?
This past year I grew some vegetables for the first time. I don't live in Eretz Yisrael, so I know I don't have to tithe my produce, but it made me wonder: what if I did? How would I go about that, practically speaking? Or is there a minimum amount below which tithing laws don't apply, and my couple of tomato plants and similar wouldn't count?
If you need to tithe from your vegetable garden, how do you go about it, practically speaking? How do you establish valuation -- compare to what's for sale in the grocery store?
I know that when shopping for produce in Israel I need to look for the certification that it's already been tithed, so I can meet my obligations without doing anything myself other than buying approved goods. Because of this, I'm not aware of how somebody would tithe in general, for example if one bought produce that hasn't been tithed. Maybe that's the same whether you bought or grew the food, but I don't want to assume that.
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Any produce that hasn't had trumot and maasrot taken from it needs to have it taken before it can be eaten, once it's been brought inside. (If you're eating them straight from the plant as a snack, it's considered "achilat aray" and doesn't require tithing.)
When taking trumot and maasrot, there are a few considerations: there's the Trumah, which is designated for a Kohen can't be eaten by non-kohanim; there's the trumat maaser, which is the Trumah taken from the maaser (and has the same state as Trumah); and the maaser sheni / maaser Ani, which has to be either taken to Yerushalayim or given to the poor, respectively.
When taking trumot and maasrot from tevel vadai - produce that definitely hasn't been tithed - you take with a bracha. You remove a certain percentage (I don't remember what exactly and can't check right now) and double wrap it before throwing it out. That's the Trumah and the trumat maaser. As for the maaser sheni, most people designate a coin that's the "maaser sheni coin", transfer the status of maaser sheni to the coin (there's wording for this but the precise wording isn't that important), and then either spend that coin in Yerushalayim or toss it into the dead sea.
For D'mai - you don't know if it's been tithed or not - it's the same process without a bracha.
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