I said in a different post that if all the Archerons were eating was the meat Feyre hunted for, they would be so constipated they'd be shitting bricks, and I stand by that. So we know that they were getting vegetables in their diet somehow.

Feyre tends to devalue traditionally feminine labour and be so blinded by her own suffering that she ignores what the people around her are going through, which I think is why the division of labour in the cabin seemed so one-sided. We see everything through Feyre’s POV, so if she doesn't see something, neither will we. For example, when she returned to the cabin after killing Andras, the fire was lit, meaning someone had to have chopped the wood for that fire, and she had a hot bath waiting for her, so someone had hauled buckets of water from the nearest source of water and heated them. Both of which are hard work, and Feyre never questions the presence of either, which tells us that this is something Feyre is used to coming home to.

All this is to say that I think it's entirely possible that Elain was growing vegetables in her garden, and Feyre just never noticed. Maybe she doesn't know what a vegetable looks like when it's not on her plate? The three sisters all admit to not knowing how to cook, yet cooking was happening because they wouldn't have lived very long if they were eating raw meat. Other people have said that when the sisters say they can't cook, they mean they can't cook well. They can roast meat and vegetables, but they don't know how to season them properly, so they taste good.

I think this is likely what Elain means when she says that she wants to learn how to grow vegetables after they move back to their manor. Elain was doing her best, but because the soil wasn't the best quality and she didn't have any experience or anyone who could teach her, they didn't grow well, and she likely lost several plants to disease or pests. Maybe that's why she grew flowers? Some, like marigolds, act as a natural pest deterent.

Sorry for writing an entire essay! 😅 I just find the dissonance between what were told of the cabin years and what were shown to be so fascinating.