Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
abettor = abattoir
French never was my strong point. LOL
Any way, the butcher shop.
Not this weekend. My goal is to do the dry canning later this week. I spent part of the day moving some cabinets in the basement to store stuff in and making room for a small freezer we bought a couple weeks ago. We have an old upright freezer that’s still working well, but our grocery store had a deal where you buy the freezer for $150 and get $150 in FREE frozen food coupons. We were thinking about it and decided it was a good deal for us. My daughter got me going with coupons a while ago and some of the bargains are really good, just have to have the room to put stuff. I’ve been able to get free or almost free food by timing the sales and my coupons. It’s a bit of work to organize them, but extremely fun and rewarding to get the great deals. Makes our money go a bit farther.
Is there different kinds of pressure cookers, as in some for canning and others for just cooking? I’m asking because our J.C. Penneys has a pressure cooker for $40 on sale (reg. $99 plus I have a discount coupon). I don’t know the manufacturer. It’s an 8 qt. hard-anodized pressure cooker. I’m wondering if it’s worth it or just some cheap thing that won’t be good for much. I still need to have my old one checked out, but thought maybe this would be an OK second one. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I like a bargain, but only if its a worthwhile item, not just junk.
You ARE a good shopper! Have you ever thought about buying stuff cheap and then selling it on ebay? I bet you’d be good at that.
ps. I’m awaiting DelaWhere’s response to this too, since I guess I need a - very important, can’t live without one, has lots of uses - canner.
Granny, in case you were curious how many view your thread...
I posted a picture from one of my sites and checked the usage on that picture...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2181392/posts 1,432
So, that file was loaded 1,432 times...
Keep up the great work!!!
I’ve never sold anything on ebay. I’m not that great with all the electronic gadgets (digital cameras to computer). I’m lucky I know how to send emails and find this site. LOL
I’m getting better, but...’
My daughter gets really great bargains, much of it for free or under $1 by couponing. She had a garage sale and sold a lot of her bargain stuff and made $400. I’ve gotten free shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, diapers and more from Walgreens stores. I watch for the grocery stores to have their 10/$10 items and use coupons and get stuff for .50-.75 or less and stock up.
Our Menards store(home improvement store) has Free w/rebate items all the time. Hubby and son pick up all sorts of things free. They pay you back in Menards money. My husband is saving it up to buy power tools or something bigger.
Please note: pressure cooker
You really, really need a pressure cooker/CANNER!
Here is what Jackie Clay says on the subject...
I have a Presto 6 qt. pressure cooker. Presto is reluctant to let me know if I am able to do any canning in my cooker.
I plan on using pint and 1/2 pint jars. Any help you can give me on this would be appreciated.
Jay Babb
Loomis, Washington
It really isn’t recommended to can in a pressure cooker. Sometimes it is hard to get the temperature of the food inside the jars hot enough because the canner interior is so small when it is packed with jars. The steam has a hard time circulating and heating the jars adequately. This is one reason we recommend using a larger pressure canner instead of a cooker. You can also process many more jars in the canner, which is to your great benefit. Good luck.
— Jackie
Thanks for the input. I will probably pass on it then if it isn’t good for canning. I’ll have to do some checking online, Craigslist, etc. and see if I can find a good deal on a canner.
Headin’ to bed. G’night.
Hey, now don’t put down that old dial-up...
My first connection to the internet was at 300 baud. I could read each word as it came up!!!
I fired Comcast last year when they tried to jack up the high speed internet/TV rates around here. Actually, I was ticked that they raised the rates and would not put Fox Business channel on, and didn’t care that I did not want and would not pay for MTV, BET, 24-7 Øbama channel, etc. So, I fired them and went back to 56k dial-up.
Capitalism at work!!!!!
Let’s see, the savings bought all my seeds for this year, and paid the chicken feed for 3 months. Sounds reasonable to me... LOL gives me more ‘thinking time’ while waiting...
>>>Oops, didn’t mean to denigrate such a beloved machine... ;) <<<
Is my ‘passion’ so obvious???
LOL I’d better work on controlling that!!!
>>>ps. I’m awaiting DelaWhere’s response to this too, since I guess I need a - very important, can’t live without one, has lots of uses - canner.<<<
SOMEDAY you will thank me... LOL
President Hugo Chavez has ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the country. Mr Chavez accused some firms of overcharging by refusing to produce rice at prices set by the government.
--------------
Will Øbama do that here next?????
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/2345/
Planting Transplants
Flats or pots always need to have a good soaking before they are taken outdoors. We like to soak the plants in a bucket of water with seaweed until saturated before planting time. Using Garrett Juice in the water is also a good technique. Plant roots should be sopping wet and planted into a moist bed.
Pinching the lower leaves off of lettuce, cabbage family, and tomato transplants is normally a good idea. Do not pinch the leaves off eggplant, peppers, or any vine crops. To protect young plants from cutworms, slugs, and snails, sprinkle a healthy amount of diatomaceous earth around the plants after planting. Crushed hot pepper also works. Cedar flakes are also helpful. Garden-Ville Fire Ant Control formula will also kill the pests.
Mulch to Protect Plants
After planting vegetables, cover all bare soil with at least three inches of mulch. Mulch is not a soil amendment to be mixed into the soil - it’s a covering placed on top of the soil after the plants have been installed. It helps conserve moisture, buffers the soil from temperature extremes, shades out weeds, looks good, increases the tilth of the soil, and supplies food for the microorganisms and nutrients for the soil. There’s only one exception. Wait to mulch spring seeded plants until after the soil has warmed.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/132/#
Planting Trees Errors
One thing that’s really fun about my job is learning new stuff all the time. Sometimes it’s not good stuff. I have been stunned to discover what a huge number of trees have been planted too low. There seems to be several reasons why this problem exists.
Many trees have simply been set too low in the planting operation. Holes were too deeply dug. Other trees were planted at about the right level, but settled due to the wrong backfill or weak rootballs.
One of the most common causes of deep tree planting problems starts at the growing operations and sometimes in the nurseries. As trees grow, they are stepped up from seedlings to 1 gallon pots and then to increasingly larger containers. Often during this process more and more soil is added to the top of the root ball. Why, I don’t know. By the time the tree is ready to plant, it may be several inches deep in the container.
That fact combined with the planting mistakes often puts the true top of the root ball several inches underground. This covering of the tree ball with soil can also happen on field grown trees by the cultivating plows. Trees that are planted too low have several problems. Soil above the root ball shuts off oxygen to the feeder roots and carbon dioxide can’t escape from the soil. Roots that do grow often circle and grow primarily in the soft, loose textured, added soil. The coiling roots can girdle trees several years after planting. Then also there is a girdling action from the soil moisture on the bark of the tree.
A frustrating part of the problem is that the damage doesn’t start to show up until sometimes 10-15 years after planting when the tree is trying to mature and offer its beauty and shade. These symptoms can also show up the first few years. Watch for poor top growth, light colored foliage and a thinning canopy.
It’s easy to tell if a tree has been planted too low. The trunk will go straight into the ground like telephone pole instead of having a distinctive root flair at the soil surface. The solution is relatively easy too. Remove the excess soil down to the true top of the original root ball.
This work can be done by homeowners with a hard rake or by professional arborists with a special tool called an air spade. It is basically a sand blaster with a customized nozzle that blows the soil away from roots without injuring them.
Girdling roots can be pruned away if needed at this time. If the excavation down to the top of the ball is not too deep, the area can be left concaved and lightly mulched with shredded tree trimmings. If the soil removal leaves a deep hole, a grate may have to be added that can serve as a structure for ground cover.
The long-term solution to this problem is to plant your trees properly, leaving the actual root ball 2 inches higher than grade and backfill with native soil only. With this technique not even settling will leave the tree too deep in the ground.
See also:
Root Flares
Root Flare Management
Question: In January, we hired landscape professionals to plant two live oaks. The workers did not cut the wire or burlap from around the root ball. They told us not to water for three weeks. When we did water to add root stimulator, the trees immediately began to die. Last week, the workers came back and planted two replacement trees. These live oaks are about 12 feet tall, and again the workers did not cut the wire or turn back the burlap.
This time, they told us to water immediately until water stood in the watering ring around the tree, and then to cover the area with mulch to retain moisture. They said to keep the mulch about 3 inches from the tree trunks and to water on Sundays and Wednesdays. One of the trees has turned nearly all brown and lost 75 percent of its leaves. The other tree has a few brown areas in the leaves. Should the wire and burlap on the ball of the tree be removed? D.C., Dallas
Answer: The burlap should be removed. There will usually be some excess soil under the burlap on top of the root ball. That soil also should be removed. The only root stimulator I recommend is my recipe for Garrett Juice (see Resources to request handouts).
I don’t recommend water rings. If trees are planted using natural techniques, if the planting hole is backfilled with soil that was dug out to create the hole, and if the tree is watered thoroughly at planting time, additional water other than that used on surrounding plants is rarely needed. Deep watering twice a week is almost always too much. Many more trees die from too much rather than too little water.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/2061/
Potting Soil
Potting soil – as opposed to native soil, loam, dirt or landscaper’s soil – is what should be used in pots - no matter what the crop. Potting soil should be light weight.
I do not recommend peat moss potting soils. Peat moss is anti-microbial. Microbes don’t grow well in it. That’s just the opposite of what we want. Peat moss is excellent for storing bulbs or shipping food or other perishable material that would otherwise decay. Potting soil should not be sterile as some recommend, but alive and dynamic. It should be light, loose, well aerated, fertile, full of microorganisms and have the ability to stimulate quick and sustained growth.
Interior plants and outdoor potted plants should be planted in a well-drained, organic potting soil like I recommend. My favorite basic ingredients are compost, coconut fiber and expanded shale.
My latest recommended formula is as follows:
30% Compost
30% Coconut Fiber
15% Decomposed granite
15% Expanded Shale
5% Alfalfa meal
4% Lava sand
1% Greensand
Beneficial microbes (bacteria and fungi)
Soil Mender makes my specific formula, but there are other “non-peat moss” potting soils on the market. Two others that we know of are Ladybug and Nature’s Guide Bagman’s Blend.
Some of the best fertilizers for interior plants include earthworm castings, kelp meal and coffee grounds. They are mild and odor free. Garrett Juice is also an excellent fertilizer for plants in containers.
Page of many articles, all related to Bees.
http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/
Introduction - Why Make Yours A Bee Garden?
What types of bees do you see in your garden? At first glance you may observe some honeybees ducking in and out of flowers, perhaps a bumblebee or two. Did you know that there are actually 81 known species of bees in urban Berkeley alone? Take a better look; you may see bright green bees, small black bees, striped and fuzzy bees. These busy little creatures are responsible for pollinating a large variety of fruits, flowers, and vegetables. They are an important and vital part of our ecosystem.
Our lab at UC Berkeley observes native bees and their favorite flowers. Native bees are different from the honeybee you are familiar with. They do not live in hives and do not produce honey but they have equally important roles in gardens and natural ecosystems. We created this website to familiarize you with the diversity of native bees in urban areas, their habits, and to instruct you on how to create bee-friendly gardens.
Want a quick jump-start into bee gardening? Have a look at our new comprehensive Seasonal Recommended Bee Plants lists. Everything you need to start gardening - all in one place!
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gardens/butterfly/designs.html
[Page has links to all kinds of hobbies and past times...]
Gardens and native plants
* Main page
* Butterfly gardens
* Landscaping with native plants
graphic of grass blades
Butterfly, bee & moth garden designs
[Shows how and what to plant]
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