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."

[nw_arizona_granny]

I just mix it in the cats’ food and they pay it no mind. Worm free cats - no poisons needed! Supposedly it adds useful minerals as well.<<<

Excellent idea and as I feed a bunch of feral cats, they need it.

LOL, yes, it would taste like dirty water.

Maybe it could be mixed with honey and made into a pill.?

[nw_arizona_granny]

Cool and dry is the ticket, sealed in a coffee can is good and either use the packets of ? that pull the moisture out or some use dry powdered milk, which could be contained in an old sock or a coffee filter, made into a packet.

I do freeze for a month, the seeds that I save from fruit and intend to plant.

You may never get fruit on the tree, but in the desert, any tree is a blessing, so I keep trying them.

LOL, so ok, I admit it, I like planting seeds and seeing something grow from them.

[TnGOP]

As for the packet of drying material, that is another use for diatomaceous earth! I just stopped the wife from throwing away a coffee can yesterday. Now I have a use for it. Thanks.

[JDoutrider]

I looked at that Lehman site for pressure cookers... never knew they were that spendy! What is a good pressure cooker brand besides theirs... Anyone?

[ErnBatavia]

I admit it, I like planting seeds and seeing something grow from them.

Ditto me....we're trying something new; "tub farming"...planted this stuff from seed (except for the patio tomatoes) on January 10 here in our desert.

[DelaWhere]

IMO Lehman's has the right brand but you can save about 20% off their prices. The All American has some unique features that I really like. One, there is NO RUBBER SEAL - don't have to worry about replacing them - it is a metal to metal (tapered) seal.

Just this last year, I replaced one my parents had forever. It was only carried by Montgomery Ward (long gone) and it had to be constantly monitored to get a good cook. After really looking hard at them, I decided on the All American 921 which lets me do 7 quarts, 19 pints or 24 half pints in a batch. It is very heavyweight cast aluminum and doesn't lose temp too fast. I like having the bobble pressure regulator and the pressure gauge.

[JDoutrider]

Thanks for that information! I’ll have to look around for a better price... MMM! 20%? Could you point me in the direction where you found that price?

[DelaWhere]

Sorry for interruption in last post -

You can get cheaper ones (less pricey) but the Mirro and others that cost less have rinky-dink pressure latches that sometimes hang and cause problems - Please consider it an investment for a lifetime - once you start using it, you will use it more and more. Please though, don't buy a pressure cooker and expect to use it for canning. Remember, you want a really accurate cook that will assure all critters are killed. Also think of it as a sterilizer for making bandages in case of a disaster or sterilizing medical equipment as needed. Definitely a must have in my book.

[WestCoastGal]

bookmarking and bumping

[DelaWhere]

Don't know which model you are interested in, but here are a couple of examples:

Model 921

Lehman's $249.00

All American Canning Co. $209.99

Red Hill General Store $209.99 (this was $199.99 last year when I got mine here)

Model 915

Lehman's $230.00

All American Canning Co. $195.99

Red Hill General Store

or All American Canning Co.

I got prompt service from Red Hill (it was drop-shipped from the factory in Wisconsin - received in about 4 days)

Hope that helps.

[DelaWhere]

Granny, In an earlier post you were talking about your canning book being out of date - The last revision was in 1994 and can be found here:

USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

They should be updating it again within the next year or two.

Of course the old stand-by is the Ball Blue Book - but if someone buys one on eBay, they need to be sure it is the current edition.

It sure is hard to keep up... First we can make cake in a jar and bread - then nope - not safe then we can do puree of squash and pumpkin, then oops somebody might not pack it hot enough and so now we shouldn't do it.

[JDoutrider]

Indeed it does! Thanks again!

[nw_arizona_granny]

Looking for something new? Find information about production of floral, forest, fruit, grain, herb, industrial, nursery, nut, vegetable or other specialty plants, seeds and products.

List of Alternative Crops and Enterprises for Small Farm Diversification

USDA. NAL. Alternative Farming Systems Information Center.
Lists alternative livestock species and livestock-related enterprises with links to Extension sources that help evaluate and start non-conventional farming enterprises.

Missouri Alternatives Center: Link List
University of Missouri. Cooperative Extension Service.
Offers Web site resources which include an on-line newsletter and a comprehensive database of full-text, on-line Extension and related how-to publications from all states and on many farming alternatives “from Asparagus to Watermelons, and Aquaculture to Worms.”

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.
National Center for Appropriate Technology. ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.
Lists publications about Field Crops and Horticultural topics as related to sustainable agriculture.

Crop Production
USDA. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.
A selection of books and bulletins available for purchase and online access on the topic of successful crop production systems for farmers and ranchers.

Plants National Database
USDA. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The section on Alternative Crops provides Web links to production and marketing information for crops suitable to small-scale farming and based on the selected crops and States.

NewCROP
Purdue University. Center for New Crops and Plant Products.
Provides several sources of information such as the New Crops Symposium series articles available through the Table of Contents for each volume, the CropEXPERT listings and the CropORGANIZATION directory about a wide variety of both common and unusual crops.

Plants for a Future
Plants for a Future.
Located in the United Kingdom, “Plants For A Future is a resource centre for rare and unusual plants, particularly those which have edible, medicinal or other uses.” Its services include an on-line database which currently consists of nearly 7,000 species of plants. The database is searchable by scientific name, common name or family; edible, medicinal or other use; or search for plants native to a particular area or a particular habitat.

Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
USDA. Agricultural Research Service.
Search plant, chemical, activity and ethnobotany databases. Includes an ethnobotanical dictionary and links to nutritional, cancer treatment and other plant related databases.

New Crop Opportunities Center
University of Kentucky. College of Agriculture.
“Provides production and marketing information on new crops and value-added versions of current crops.”

Crops

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives.
Includes information on many alternative commodities in categories including cereal, fruit, greenhouse, vegetable, oilseed, pulse and medicinal plant crops.

Specialty and Minor Crops Handbook
University of California. Small Farm Center.
Presents selected profiles from the 2nd edition of this unique publication. The complete print document may be order from the University of California Small Farm Center.

Alternative Crop Suitability Maps
Illinois State Water Survey.
Provides summary information and requirements for over 400 crops. Maps provided on this site are specific to Illinois, but other information should be of general use.

Last Modified: Aug 15, 2008
Links referenced within this page (Hide Links on this Page)

List of Alternative Crops and Enterprises for Small Farm Diversification
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/altlist.shtml

Missouri Alternatives Center: Link List
http://agebb.missouri.edu/mac/links/

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.
http://attra.ncat.org/

Field Crops
http://attra.ncat.org/field.html

Horticultural
http://attra.ncat.org/horticultural.html

Crop Production
http://www.sare.org/coreinfo/crops.htm

Plants National Database
http://plants.usda.gov/

Alternative Crops
http://plants.nrcs.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi?earl=alt_crop.cgi

NewCROP
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/

New Crops Symposium series
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/default.html

CropEXPERT
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/experts/experts.html

CropORGANIZATION
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/organizations/orgs.html

Plants for a Future
http://www.pfaf.org/

Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/index.html

New Crop Opportunities Center
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/NewCrops/welcome.html

Crops
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/index.html

Specialty and Minor Crops Handbook
http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/speccrop/default.asp

University of California Small Farm Center
http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/docs/publications.asp?view=5

Alternative Crop Suitability Maps
http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/data/altcrops/

from:

http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?tax_level=1&info_center=2&tax_subject=298

[nw_arizona_granny]

As for the packet of drying material, that is another use for diatomaceous earth!<<<

It should work, you don’t want to pull all the moisture from the saved seeds, or they will not be alive, maybe try half with the D.earth and half with powdered milk.

Finding a cool dry spot for the can, hard to do.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Looks good and healthy to me.

I like your watering system, good idea.

Thanks for sharing the planters, LOL, I have a tub with a split in the bottom that has been tempting me to do the same project.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks to Dela Where for giving such good information on both the canners and the canning books.

I think mine is a Mirro and more than likely I bought it from the Sears Catalog.

Now that it is gone from my mail box, I save a lot of money.

LOL, I just don’t buy anything.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Detailed plans for a Solar Fruit Dryer. [pdf]

http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/Extension/ExtPubs/Plans/6244.pdf

[nw_arizona_granny]

Detailed plans for the tobacco grower:

http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/Extension/ExtPubs/PlanList97.htm#Tobacco%20Plans

TOBACCO PLANS
Plan
No. No.
Pages Plan
Description
T4009 2 TOBACCO BARN. 32’ x 60’ FOUR TIER POLE CONST. (TOBACCO EXP.STATION)
T4038 1 TWO WHEEL PIPE FRAME TOBACCO TRAILER. (KENTUCKY)
T4143 2 24’ WIDE TWO TIER SIDE LOADING TOBACCO BARN.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/Extension/ExtPubs/PlanList97.htm#Greenhouse%20Plans

GREENHOUSE PLANS
Plan
No. No.
Pages Plan
Description
5941 2 PLASTIC COVERED GREENHOUSE/COLD FRAME. 8’ x 18’ WOOD FRAME.
5946 1 PORTABLE PLASTIC GREENHOUSE. 9’ x 12’ ARCHED ROOF.
5971 1 HOTBED AND PROPAGATING FRAME. PLASTIC COVER. 6’ x 6’.
6029 2 GREENHOUSE FRAMING. 23’ x 48’ RIGID WOOD FRAME.
6064 2 LATH HOUSE. 22’ x 48’.
6080 1 MINI HOT BED AND PROPAGATING FRAME. ARCHED ROOF. 42” x 5’-0”.
6163 1 GREENHOUSE BENCHES. 6 TYPES. WIRE AND WOOD.
6181 2 HOME GREENHOUSE. 10’ x 12’. PLASTIC OR FIBERGLASS COVER.
6185 3 PLASTIC COVERED GREENHOUSE. 28’ x 96’ WOOD OR PIPE FRAMING.
6206 2 HOT BED. 3’ x 6’ OR 6’ x 6’. ELECTRIC CABLE HEAT.
6217 2 ARCHED CONDUIT GREENHOUSE. 20’ x 80’. (CONDUIT BENDER SHOWN)
6222 3 PIPE FRAME GREENHOUSE. 28’ x 96’ PLASTIC COVERED. EVAP COOL.
6251 2 PLASTIC GREENHOUSE. 12’ x 16’ POLE FRAME.
6293 5 PLANT NURSERY WAGON WITH FOUR WHEEL STEERING.
6298 1 GOTHIC RAFTER GREENHOUSE. 21’ x 40’. PLASTIC COVERING.
6311 1 PLASTIC COVERED GREENHOUSE. 21’ x 40’. SCISSORS TRUSSES.
6312 1 PLASTIC COVERED GREENHOUSE. 20’ x 48’. PIPE(CONDUIT) FRAME.
795-3 2 HOBBY GREENHOUSE. 12’ x 20’. PLASTIC PIPE ARCH CONSTRUCTION.
(Subject Index)

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PLANS
Plan
No. No.
Pages Plan
Description
5192 1 ROADSIDE STAND. 24’x 28’ FRAME.
5193 1 LARGE ROADSIDE STAND. 17’x 24’ FRAME.
5695 1 SMOKE HOUSE. 7’ x 8’ WOOD OR CONCRETE BLOCK. (REPLACES 5029)
5982 1 TWO DISPLAY STANDS FOR PRODUCE. PLYWOOD CONSTRUCTION.
5983 2 PERMANENT ROADSIDE STAND. 8’ x 16’.
6027 3 ROADSIDE MARKET WITH REFRIGERATED ROOM.
6119 1 PLYWOOD PALLET VEGETABLE BOX. 47” x 47” x 24” DEEP.
6120 1 PLYWOOD PALLET VEGETABLE BOX. 47” x 40” x 24” DEEP.
6121 1 PLYWOOD PALLET VEGETABLE BOX. 47” x 47” x 46” DEEP.
6145 3 FRUIT STORAGE BUILDING. 24’ x 52’. COLD STORAGE ROOM.
6202 2 FRUIT DRYER. ELECTRIC FORCED AIR HEAT.
6228 1 FRUIT & VEGETABLE STORAGE FOR HOME BASEMENT. 10’ x 10’.
6244 2 SOLAR FRUIT DRYER.
6252 1 CASSETTE FRUIT DRYER. (USES PORTABLE ELECTRIC HEATER).
6314 1 APPLE STORAGE AND PACKING FACILITY. 40’ x 170’.
6380 1 WALK-IN REFRIGERATOR FOR FARM MARKET. 8’ x 12’.
6383 2 INSULATED DOOR DETAILS FOR COLD STORAGE.
6386 3 TWO TEMPERATURE WALK-IN REFRIGERATOR. (REPLACES PLAN 7102)
6414 1 WOODEN PALLET VEGETABLE BOX. 38” x 47” x 32” DEEP.
T4179 1 60’ x 250’ FARMER’S MARKET WITH 36 SALES STALLS.

[This is a small sample of the free plans available here...granny]

[DelaWhere]

Oh, Granny... You are bringing back memories. My father worked for Sears for about 12 years. He was a problem store Manager which had us moving 26 times in 8 of those years. Then for the last 4 years we were in Cuba where he set up the warehouse and mailorder throughout the island. (Before Castro!)

I certainly remember the catalogs - my favorite was the farm book. (Ok, I’ll admit that as young boys we looked at all those risque models in bras and panties too, even had our favorites we watched for in each general catalog that came out) You sure are bringing back some memories.

You know, I sure wish I had a David Bradley 2 wheel garden tractor like we used to have when I was growing up... They had just about every attachment you could ask for. Plow, disk, planter, cultivator, sicklebar mower, generator. They don’t make equipment like that anymore - I have searched and searched and about the only place they still have that type of equipment is in the far-east.

That farm book had everything you could imagine... incubators, brooders, day old chicks, milking equipment, right up through field machinery.

Well, can’t turn the clock back, so guess I better get used to dealing with the times and resources we have.