Home gardening offers ways to trim grocery costs [Survival Today, an on going thread]

Dallas News.com ^ | March 14th, 2008 | DEAN FOSDICK

[nw_arizona_granny]

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick

Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.

At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."

Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.

A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."

[snipped]

She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.

"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Here are all the topics on that page:

[ Companion Plant ]
[ Critter Trouble ]
[ Disease ]
[ Garden Tips ]
[ Insect ]
[ Links ]
[ Pesticide News ]
[ Product List ]
[ Food Recipes]
[ Site Map ]
[ Weed Wars ]

Lots of good information!

[WestCoastGal]

15. Skunk Spray: Make a spray out of 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda and 1 teaspoon dish soap. Spray this around areas where you would like skunks to stear clear of such as garbage cans. Don’t get this on foliage.

Good one, we have skunks around here. I put mothballs under the shed where they were camping out.....I think they left there after that. But, I still smell them now and then.

[Wneighbor]

God Bless You! I just love your reply about the bread. :-)

I love being able to share this bounty with others. My kids are grown now and both live hours away so I love sharing with my retired friends. I know they worked hard when they worked and now they are *so* appreciative of little blessings. It’s awsome just to see some smiles light up when I bring in homemade bread or home canned goods. One lady gave me her small pressure canner yesterday as she said she will never be able to use it again and wanted someone to have it who *would* use it. I love it. It’ll only do 3 pints at a time but sometimes that’s just right!

I have to tell you that the man in my life is from Maine. He moved to Texas 18 years ago and found me here. LOL He talks quite a bit about his grandparents farming up there. We have a good time comparing notes some days. He also laughs at me and my love of compost.

It was up past 70 degrees here today but we had an ice day last week. Was cool to look out that morning and see that ice was everywhere EXCEPT on my compost piles. I don’t have a thermometer for them but that pretty much let me know that they are doing the job. HA! At least they are warm enough not to let the ice settle. :-)

Hope to see you again here. :-)

[Wneighbor]

My plants out on the deck are tired of being covered and uncovered.

I don't envy you. Until a couple of months ago I was out doing that everytime you were! But, my tomato plants made it into DECEMBER!!! Went to visit my daughter in Alabama for Christmas and they bit the dust then. Lavender is one of the plants that I have set by my lawn chair in the greenhouse. I sit there and rub the lavender leaves alone with a lemon verbena and rose scented geranium.

[Wneighbor]

I use my dehydrator for tomatoes, peppers and all manner of fruit. I’ve got it filled with strawberries, bananas and pineapple right now. Yesterday I did a batch of bell peppers and I often do jalapenos. Squash I have done. OH - and beef jerky!!! It makes the best beef jerky!!! I make jerky and send to my son-in-law’s brother in Iraq. Apparantly it’s a hit. ;-)

[WestCoastGal]

"lavender leaves alone with a lemon verbena and rose scented geranium"

I love lavender and the others. The scent of these plants after a stressful day is all one needs. I had some cinnamon mint last year but I lost it last year when we had a freeze, it was by the front door that I didn't use much and I forgot about it. Geranium comes in a lot of different scents, I'm going to have to search for some. Can't get any here but when I go to the big city I may luck out.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

What brand did you buy? Does the price matter? I keep seeing models for like $45 and didn’t know if it was a good buy or a waste of money.

[Wneighbor]

Mine is a Nesco American Harvest. It has a variable temperature control so I can adjust it for herbs, fruits, meat or drying flowers. I have been interested in buying another one so looked at some consumer opinions and the one thing I did learn is not to buy one with the fan/heat mechanism on the bottom. Seems that really juicy things may drip and ruin the fan or heater. I do not personally know of this experience, it’s just something I read.

I shop at thrift stores for things like that. I figure when the time is right one will turn up. I know, I’m cheap. I actually could afford to buy another one but one will turn up one day at the junk store. LOL

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

You are my kind of shopper. The folks here in Fresno are notoriously thrifty, but maybe one will show up on FreeCycle.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Oh and thanks!!

[WestCoastGal]

I have found the best things at thrift stores. We have several here and one really good one near here. I’m going to put a dehydrator on my list. :)

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/01/waterand-something-i-noticed-about-jobs.html

[Ferfal’s blog is fascinating... he is writing post currency collapse in Argentina. Socialism has destroyed the fabric of their society. I am praying we don’t go down the road Argentina has had to travel. -TAC]

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009
Water...And something I noticed about jobs.
The other day the water filter lady came by to change our water filter.

The problem we have here with water is a perfect example of the survival mentality required for the post economical collpae lifestyle.

Water is life. Anyone knows that. You don’t live long without it and people usually take it for granted, survivalists know that particularly well. You should beep several galons of water stored at home for emergecy use. But what happens with our tap water here in Buenos Aires?

We occasionally loose service for a while, specially in summer, and in some places people have been without water for over a week ( yo should try that) but we do have tap water.

Well, at least 65% of the people in the Buenos Aires southern suburbs has. Of course I pay for my tap water, only difference is that my bill, unlike you lucky guys, has a small warning ( smallest letter size, of couse) at the bottom: “This water should not be consumed by pregnant women or children under 3 years of age.”

That’s nice. Contaminated tap water. How is this possible? Our government simply approves a terrible standard for our water. So the water company has a right to provide bad tap water, that would be illegal in any serious country.

It’s of course dirty with small particles and full of dead microorganisms. Dead because of the chlorine.

You see, instead of actually going through a real purifying process, they just filter it a bit and dump lots of chlorine so as to make it potable, or at least so that no one dies from ecoli and sews them.

Nice thing about cancer is that unlike polluted water, it’s almost impossible to prove that your cancer was provoked by the excessive chlorine in water, or the heavy metal or arsenic.

So, the filter I have filters everything, but also absorbs the chlorine out of the water, but it requires replacement every 3 years, you can’t just retro-feed it to clean it, because the absorbed chlorine stays in there and eventually it stops absorbing it.

The replacement cups filter the bigger particles and gets replaced every 3 months or so.

The lady came by to replace the filter and also left me a year supply of cups, and a couple other parts like little hoses the filter needs and may brake ( not likely but I keep some spare parts just in case)

The woman that came was actually the daughter of the woman that came last year, and this leads us to the second part of this post.

She’s a radiologist but lack of job made her start working with her mother.

This happens a lot these days. People that had different profesions or trades and went back to work with teh family due to lack of job.

In the old days kids just went their way, but now in many cases young people try to pick up the profession or trade of their parents.

Now, with the unemployment, it looks like an attractive alternative.

You often find father and son/daughter working together that are doctors, lawyers, accountants, or working in the same family business or trade. The plumber, electrician or painter will usually come with his son that is slowly following dad’s or mom’s steps.

Just take this into consideration when or if you are about to choose a career or occupation. Knowing that money will be better if the son picks up the family trade or business makes such profession much more attractive.

Just think about it, take it into consideration, and talk about it with your father or suggest it to your children.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Some of the interesting comments on this blog:

Anonymous said...
Ferfal,

What kind of water filter do you use?
January 30, 2009 8:54 AM
FerFAL said...
I use PSA.

http://www.psa.com.ar/paginas/productos.php

Prefiltering Cup (disposable)
Active carbon
Sivler impregnanted

FerFAL

Anonymous said...
This is why having a few of the Berkey Black filter elements for a DIY homemade filter makes sense. Can be found for $99 a pair on internet, and to me, is money in the bank. If you don’t need it, someday, someone you love will.

I have a James Cup in bug out vest, but fumes from it ruined a nearby magnesium spark rod. Live and learn.

Thanks Ferfal for a great article.
January 30, 2009 10:22 AM
Stuki said...
Don’t be so hard on the waterworks :) Final filtering is best done as close to consumption as possible anyway, to minimize chances of water being contaminated between filtering and use.

As long as the waterworks dump in enough chlorine to make the water safe to wash any post filter pots, pans and glasses with, and to prevent you from getting sick from showers etc. they’ve done a a huge service already.

While awfully convenient to have potble water right from the tap, it requires good control over post treatment distribution. If destitute slum dwellers, for example, plug into water mains between the plant and you, or even steal the pipes, which from what I understand may well be a problem in BA, who knows what can enter the water. Better it be sufficiently chlorinated, and that there’s an explicit understanding on behalf of customers that they should perform final filtering at home. That way unforseen incidents such as above is less likely to end tragically.

January 30, 2009 12:20 PM
Anonymous said...
3 years is a pretty long time to go between filter changes unless it’s one heck of a big carbon reservor tank.

Normally chlorine saturation would occur within six months at a flow rate of 2 gallons per minute (commercial use applications mostly). This does depend on the level of chlorine added to the water. Many activated charcoal filters are just that, filters, not purifiers. You’ll need one that filters down to .5 microns for it to get the real nasty stuff out. And yes, .5 microns is smaller then .2 microns. The silver impregnation just helps in reducing growth within the filter housing.

Never only go by what the instructions say or what it claims, if you start noticing chlorine in the water then the activated carbon has reached its saturation point and won’t filter out anymore even if you disassemble it and let the carbon dry in most cases. Activated carbon filters also become compacted and that may limit how much is removed from your water, a good rule of thumb is to once a month ‘shake’ the filter housing containing the carbon to uncompact it. Some home units are designed with a built in bypass system that once the filter is plugged up, or saturated, it by passes the filter and just dumps straight tap water.

Just some random thoughts. Clear water is my #1 priority ever since getting sick from bad water during a camping trip.

January 30, 2009 12:34 PM
Chris said...
Hi FerFAL,

I had to ask this question:

Based on your experience in Argentina, when the currency collapses, what happens to debts denominated in that currency?

Like say I had a $20,000 debt, and the currency became worthless.

Could I take some gold and exchange it for huge sums of the failed currency and pay off that debt just like that? Essentially paying the debt of for a fraction of what it was when I took out the loan?

What if a family member has a large debt and they can’t pay? Is there any risk there for other members of that family?

Thanks in advance.

January 31, 2009 1:23 PM
LisaT2 said...
Royal Doulton and some other company that makes Berkey water filters has gone bankrupt in Britain, so you may want to stock up on Berkey ceramic filters before they quit making them.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

JD you might like this blog:

http://www.bearridgeproject.com/2009/01/moved.html

[Wneighbor]

Might check Craig’s List. Never know what they have there either. I live in such a rural area that I can’t use them much but I still like to look!

[nw_arizona_granny]

List of Anarchist Terrorist Attacks

Anti-Anarchist Terrorism Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/

William McKinley assassination
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley_assassination

December 18, 2008 - London Times: Anarchists strike again after Athens shooting
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5366175.ece

December 12, 2008 - Der Spiegel: Anarchists in Europe - What Unites the Stone-Throwing Black Bloc?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,595938,00.html

December 5, 2008 - Newswatch: Bombs explode outside AFP bureau in Athens, anarchist group claims

responsibility
http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20081204192420

November 16, 2008 - France: Anarchists: Seven face terrorism charges
— leader Julien Coupat faces 20 years in prison
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10543387

November 12, 2008 - AP: Greece: Firebomb attacks damage buildings, cars — suspected anarchists
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/12/europe/EU-Greece-Arson-Attacks.php

November 7, 2008 - AP: Libyan embassy car torched in Greek attack
— also Anarchist group defaces Greek high court
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/07/europe/EU-Greece-Libya-Attack.php

November 2, 2008 - AP: Greek youths firebomb bank, clash with police — media speculates that this is an

Anarchist attack
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/02/europe/EU-Greece-Arson-Attack.php

September 11, 2008 - Anarchists in Minnesota: Police trace RNC security leak to Kinko’s
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/09/11/securityleak/?refid=0

September 4, 2008 - Sheriff’s investigation: Anarchists discussed kidnapping RNC delegates
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_10365754?source=rss

August 30, 2008 - CNN: Police raid headquarters of Minnesota Anarchist group
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/30/rnc.protest/index.html

August 12, 2008 - Portland Tribune: Tre Arrow sentenced to 78 months
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=121858323189306400

June 5, 2008 - AP: Suspected anarchists firebomb 2 Athens bookshops, no injuries
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/05/europe/EU-GEN-Greece-Bookshops-Torched.php

March 1, 2008 - CNN: Las Vegas: Anarchist manual, firearms found in motel room with ricin
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/01/ricin.hotel/index.html

December 10, 2007 - AP: Greek arsonists attack diplomatic cars from Turkey, Italy, Philippines —

Anarchist groups typically carry out such arson attacks
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/10/europe/EU-GEN-Greece-Arson.php

October 23, 2007 - AU News - Italy: Suspected anarchist letter-bombers arrested
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22636577-23109,00.html

August 20, 2007 - AP: American anarchist faces charges in Spain
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/18/america/NA-GEN-US-Spain-Anarchist-Arrested.php

June 2, 2007 - CNN: 146 German police officers injured in violent G-8 protests
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/02/g-8.protest/index.html?iref=newssearch

May 15, 2007 - AP: Anarchists attack Greek newspaper offices
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708605525&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

February 19, 2007 - Scoop: Israel - Anarchist activist sentenced - Jonathan Pollak
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00300.htm

May 16, 2006 - WND: Anarchist Chomsky hails Hezbollah on TV
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50239

May 16, 2006 - MEMRI: Anarchist Noam Chomsky Meets With Hizbullah Leaders in Lebanon
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD116506

May 16, 2006 - Anarchist Noam Chomsky: Hezbollah’s insistence on keeping its arms is justified
http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=537271

May 6, 2006 - Anarchist Eco-Terrorist Tre Arrow To Be Deported
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/05/06/1567061-sun.html

March 17, 2006 - WND: Time Warner promotes terrorism and anti-Christian bigotry in new leftist movie, ‘V

for Vendetta’
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49317

March 8, 2006 - FBI says Indymedia on terrorist watch list
http://houston.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=630&category_id=1

June 16, 2005 - NYC Art Exhibit: “I’m Bombin’ It”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/209

June 1, 2005 - Chicago Anarchist Terrorist ‘Dr. Chaos’ gets arson conviction
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/201

June 17, 2004 - Chicago: “Dr. Chaos” - Anarchist Subway Cyanide Plotter Gets 21 Years
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/70

April 19, 2005 - AP: Student Gets Eight Years for Eco-Vandalism
— Anarchist firebombing in California
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,153886,00.html

March 7, 2005 - Sacramento Bee: 3 More Anarchists arrested in California firebombing plot
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/169

February 28, 2005 - FBI Investigating Anarchist Threats in Boston
— “The flier, released by Anarchist Black Cross Boston, goes on to list the address of Boston Police

Headquarters in Roxbury, FBI headquarters in Government Center, the IRS building and a military

recruiting center on Summer Street. There is also a list of corporate sites, including Fidelity, the Gap,

Niketown, and Raytheon’s Waltham location.”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/164

February 26, 2005 - AP: Arson surveillance tape found in suspected eco-terrorist’s home
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/162

February 17, 2005 - Fifth bomb found, dismantled at Auburn DMV; eco-terror probed
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/160

February 10, 2005 - AP: Suspected Eco-Bomber Arrested
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,147072,00.html

January 19 2005 - AP: Report: Anarchist Terrorist Group Claims Calif. Bomb Attacks
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anarchist-terror/message/144

June 9, 2004 - FOX News: FBI Warns of Eco-Terrorism Threat
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,122290,00.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

1. Milestone AV Technologies Recalls Television Wall Mounts Sold Exclusively At Best Buy; Unit Can Crack, TV Can Fall On Consumers (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09105.html)

2. High School Musical Manicure Kits Recalled by Fantas-Eyes Due to Risk of Lead Exposure (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09106.html)

3. Lip Gloss Keychains Recalled By Markwins Beauty Products Due to Risk of Lead Exposure (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09107.html)

4. CPSC Public Calendar (http://www.cpsc.gov/calendar.html)

[nw_arizona_granny]

Another seed that I have not had success with is onion and chives. I have some chives in the beds that have been there for years, I just divide them every now and again. Need to do it this year. And I have garlic growing wild. But, the seeds of onion and chives have just eluded me. As I posted with the tomatoes and pepper seeds, I have never had a good seed starting location.<<<

Water, sun and soil.

If I had to guess about your seed problem/planting, I would look to see if they are soggy wet and if they are buried too deep.

Next is the sun, LOL, always the right amount, bright but not so it burns them, LOL, unless they are a seed that has to have the dark..........Cilantro and maybe it is parsley [?], start better in a black plastic covering, until they break the soil.....there are as many ways to start seeds, as there are people doing it.

If you wanted to grow Orchid seeds, they are as fine as face powder and are lightly sprinkled in a sterile flask on an agar solution, LOL, one might say on a pudding like substance.

Of course a few make it in the wild, but most are divisions of the plants.

The main trick with seeds is to press them firmly into the soil, that is almost more important than covering them. If they are not firm against the soil, they will rot.

I planted my onion seeds in the Pro mix from Walmart, in a flat with drainage and put them in front of the west window.

Have all the fun you can now, I had so many plans for my retirement, but the oxygen generator, halted most of them.

Gardening is good for you, as is the good food.

You will enjoy the greenhouse and next fall it will be full of plants.

You can root tomato shoots in water, plant them in a pot and in the greenhouse.

One of the best pots that I have used, was an old plastic baby bath tub, with holes in it for drainage, also the small plastic wash basins that folks bring home from the hospital, they hold about 2 gallons, dish pans and anything else that sits still long enough for me to poke a hole in it and drop in a plant.

I did not have good luck with the clear plastic or clear glass, it forms a green scum on the walls and the plants never did well in the clear materials.

If you start getting bugs set out the big soda bottles, bury them so that the mouth is at ground level, at an angle and in them put about an inch of beer, soda, or juice mixed with an inch of water, then add enough old cooking oil to be about 1/4 inch deep.

The bugs go after the beer and once they get the oil on them, they cannot crawl out of the bottle, fall back and die.

Lemon-lime soda will do the same for ants, or did in my greenhouse, I was amazed at the number of dead ants and my place sets on top of an ant hill, I have fought them for 30 years.

[nw_arizona_granny]

So, I ended up being able to use the gray water from the bath, kitchen sink AND washing machine to water my fruit trees and garden. I really want to be able to do that again because it’s no use having all that “good” water going to the sewer plant.<<<

We would be dangerous if we lived near each other.

My kitchen water goes to a fig tree, that has died of old age now but lived on it for over 35 years and some blooming desert trees.

The bathtub goes to the huge male mulberry tree and once, when I had a washer, it went to a bamboo bed and other plants.

When we first moved to Arizona, we hauled water for the first 2 or 3 years, and in the beginning, in anything that would hold it, small and trouble, but water.

Later there was a 500 gallon tank on a trailer and that made it so much easier, so did the 2,000 gallon storage tank.

Where I was born, you took a bucket and went out to the tank, fed by the windmill, shooed the cows out of the way and got a bucket of water.

If you have not found your local Freecycle group, it is worth taking the time to google for Freecycle group [add your town or state] and join.

I can’t take part in it, but made sure that the family knew how to post and get rid of a lot of my stuff when I am gone.

Folks out there need everything and better yet, folks out there give away all kinds of things that I would love to have.

Today, I stopped reading the back issues of the days posts for the Freecycle group near me, I was talking to Scott about it and said “there is one here that I was going to put in the file, it is a week old, but it will give you an idea of what they are doing...”

And there it was a 4 year old Doxie cross male dog, trained and house broke..........and I missed it.

I miss not having a dog, can’t have a pup, as he will chew the oxygen hose and can’t care for a large dog.

There are often flower pots and building materials given away for free.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Lawns are good for cleaning shoes, but here, they harbor ticks.

Could be, that there are so few lawns here and most are half dead.

I am glad you are here and reading/posting, you are always welcome.

Our son is minus a big toe, Scott took off his shoes and was using a power mower, stumbled and pulled it on his foot.

Yes he knew better.

After years of hauling water and paying a high price in the desert, LOL, I have an excuse for not having a lawn.