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
Inside a fenced-off area at the North Roseville REC Center, local families are getting back to their roots.
Taking a page from a World War II-era staple, the children’s after-school program has started a community garden that aims to help the population it serves feed themselves in the midst of the economic downturn.
“There’s so much unemployment in this area,” executive director Machel Miller said of the center’s Roseville Heights neighborhood. “This is a way to really help out. And it’s a family project too.”
So Miller has rented out – at no cost – 15 of the center’s 21 planting beds to families whose children are users of the after-school center. The garden program was used as a center-run children’s educational opportunity last year, but Miller figured families would be better served by taking a more central role in the garden in light of the recession.
The garden lessees are responsible for taking care of whatever they decide to plant – from carrots to cucumbers – and get to harvest the fruit of their labor. Planting has only just begun in recent days.
“Food is just a big issue here for these families,” she said.
And they’re not alone.
News reports are documenting an uptick in what’s being called “recession gardens” – an update of the victory gardens that provided a third of all vegetables consumed in the U.S. 65 years ago.
The attraction is simple. According to the National Gardening Association, a well-maintained vegetable garden will provide about a $500 return per year. Seed manufacturer Burpee says $50 in gardening supplies can equal $1,250 in produce each year.
Local families aren’t the only ones who will benefit.
Miller has also reached out to Placer ARC, the special-needs advocacy organization, by offering up three planting beds for its clients.
For them, the garden is more an opportunity to encounter new experiences than an economic imperative.
“Our goal is to give them as many natural experiences as possible,” said Patti Felland of Placer ARC’s On-The-Go program.
One day last week, ARC client Heather Foxx got down and dirty as she prepared the soil for a slew of vegetable seeds.
They included green beans, corn, jalapeños, cilantro and squash – the latter is her favorite.
And even their effort will benefit the neighborhood; a local farmer’s market is the goal, Wicker said.
Miller has big plans for the garden. Later this month, the Rotary Club of Roseville is scheduled to help double the garden space when it completes a major work project at the center.
– nathand@goldcountrymedia.com
http://granitebaypt.com/detail/109607.html
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A Victory Garden is needed once again
By NANCY WIERSMA
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 11:44 AM EDT
As a child, I can fondly recall my grandfather’s stories of his past, like standing in a slow-moving, lengthy line beside countless others - waiting for a bowl of soup and a chunk of bread - during the Great Depression.
Many were the pride-filled stories woven about his Victory Garden in the Forties during the Great War, known as War War II.
Being only one man, who was filled with pride and self-reliance, dutifully he was doing his part to harvest his own garden vegetables to put food on the table for his family, friends and neighbors.
At that time this also enabled more supplies to be shipped to our troops, wherever they might have been then around the whole big world.
Many bought bonds, recycled, rallied and supported the troops, helped their neighbors and many paid the ultimate price - they gave their very lives.
Many planted gardens for victory - Victory Gardens is what they were called.
The call to plant a Victory Garden was answered by 20 million plus proud American families.
For most, these gardens produced up to 80 percent of what was consumed by these families.
Our government sent out public service booklets, teaching the nitty gritty elementary basics of vegetable gardening.
Topics included soil health, watering needs, six to eight hours of sun, fertilizing basics, how to plant, when to plant, tending the plants, all about garden pests and even going so far as directing a gardener what to plant.
Veggies such as beans, corn, beets, parsnips, carrots, leeks, peas, turnips, radishes, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, chard, peppers, cauliflower, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, eggplant, kohlrabi, turnips, potatoes and endive.
This Victory Garden’s importance was felt by everyone.
Looked at as a treasured pastime, deep inside it felt more like everyone’s national duty, not to be thought of as a tiresome chore.
In the summer of 1946 - being that agriculture was not yet back up to full production - there was a mighty food shortage as many people had not planted a Victory Garden that spring.
When the war ended, our government called for an end to producing our own food.
Some say this might have been too premature.
In our rich past history, there are mighty truths and lessons to be learned.
Now many of us today know nothing about shortages and not having everything under the sun, of hunger, of having to make do and to use things up.
Sure, times are once again tough, but we as a country will eventually get through this, too.
Because we as a nation are strong-willed, hard-working and a pride-filled bunch.
Maybe we should all start by planting our own Victory Garden.
No unemployment insurance can be compared to an alliance between man and a plot of land.
- Henry Ford
http://www.dowagiacnews.com/articles/2009/04/01/columnists/dncolumn06.txt
St. Petersburg, FL, April 01, 2009 —(PR.com)— “With rising produce prices and the risk of e-coli from the store stuff, I feel like I’m keeping our family healthy and helping financially,” says Katheryn Reeder of Ashland, Missouri, about the practicality of growing her own vegetables.
The number of homes growing vegetables will jump more than 40 percent this year compared with just two years ago, predicts The National Gardening Association, a non-profit organization for gardening education. W. Atlee Burpee, the world’s largest seed company reported last week that vegetable seed sales are up 25 percent this year.
In tough times, American consumers are making an effort to save money by growing their own food. “Many like the idea of growing their own vegetables but they’re afraid they don’t know how,” says Cliff Harmon of the Grow Box™. The Grow Box™ is a gardening container designed to ensure that anyone who wants to can have success with home-grown vegetables. “A lot has changed since Victory Gardens - now you can grow a small garden on your deck without any gardening know-how or hard work.”
A home garden, even just a few tomato plants, saves $100 to $3000 in grocery costs over a few months’ time. Consumers hoping to save on their budgets should not wait. Several seed catalogs are reporting that the more popular seeds are already selling out and the supply of Grow Boxes™ is dwindling rapidly.
Denise Scandiffio from Rockaway Park, New York adds, “With the uncertain economy the way it is, I’m really saving a lot of money and having a great time growing things myself.”
http://www.pr.com/press-release/140490
Woman recalls 1930’s hard times
By Joanne Bratton
Daily Leader
Mon Mar 30, 2009, 02:00 PM CDT
Stuttgart, Ark. -
MOUNTAIN HOME (AP) — Elva Moore and her family might not have survived the Great Depression if her parents had not worked hard to be self-sufficient.
“I was old enough to know what the Depression was,” said Moore, 93, of Mountain Home. Moore was about 14, living in the Texas panhandle with her parents and seven siblings, when the stock market crashed in 1929.
Even now, when she’s watching television and hears talk of the struggling economy, she hears some of the same things she heard as a child, she said.
“When people panic, you’re in trouble,” she said.
Moore’s father, James A. Wood, told her he didn’t think the banks would fail if people left it in the banks, but people started to panic and took out their money, she said.
Although her family was better off than most because they grew or raised nearly everything they used, Moore remembers her family losing a couple of hundred dollars when their local bank closed.
“It hurt because that’s about all you had,” she said.
Moore’s father was a cotton farmer, like many others in the area. They were dependent on the weather, which could be unrelentingly dry. In bad seasons, cotton could drop from about 20 cents to 5 cents a pound, leaving many farmers unable to break even, she said.
Those who suffered most lived in town and many relied on the government to provide them food, Moore said.
“It was a bad time for people, more especially for city people,” Moore said. “Jobs were lost and they did not have any income.”
Moore’s family had cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens and a large garden, she said. Every year her family canned meat and fruit and her father sugar-cured bacon. The cured meat hung in their meat house in 100-pound flour sacks and would keep all summer, she said.
“We always had plenty to eat,” she said, adding she remembered frying up the bacon, picking fresh tomatoes and eating bacon and tomato sandwiches.
Her family gave back to the community by helping neighbors and kinfolk who needed help planting or picking cotton, she said. She also remembered her mother, Jettie Lee, sitting up all night with people who were sick, as the nearby town had only one doctor.
“My dad was a good worker, and my mom was a good worker,” she said, adding she and all her siblings were raised to work hard.
To infuse money into the economy, Moore remembers President Franklin D. Roosevelt getting Congress to pass the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which paid farmers not to grow crops or raise animals, to reduce surpluses. Moore remembers her family plowing up part of their cotton crop and killing a cow, but they were allowed to keep the meat.
Moore said she felt one of the contributors to the Great Depression was the weather. Some seasons weren’t rainy and dust storms would settle over the area.
In one spectacular memory, Moore said she was in a wagon with her husband, Arvle Moore, who spotted a black cloud. It was in the afternoon and they hoped it was a sign of much-needed rain. The black cloud came up higher, faster, and quickly bore down on them, she recounted.
“It was as black as night,” she said.
Her father tied up the horses and wagon as they completed their one-mile trip and everyone ran into the cellar. They later discovered it was a wind-storm that picked up and carried black dirt from another area, she said.
After living in Texas, Moore moved to California and eventually to Arkansas, where she lived on a farm in Gassville for many years before moving to Mountain Home.
During the current uncertain economic times, Moore says she watches the news and hears some of the same things she heard back then. She has the same opinion as her father did — leave money in the banks.
But Moore said she doesn’t spend time worrying about the economy.
“I’ve experienced all of that,” she said.
Information from: The Baxter Bulletin, http://www.baxterbulletin.com
Hard times? Bring back the Victory Garden
Every cloud has a silver lining, they say. How true. And we are seeing it right now.
In the depth of the current depression, which politicians and media people still insist on calling a recession, we are thrashing around. We hope against hope that the lifeboat will come bobbing along before we all drown. Meantime, we tear our hair out and console ourselves with pablum of various sorts. Probably unwisely, we trust the leaders who got us into the mess to get us out of it, yet every day another Bernie Madoff heaves into view.
“We’re all in it together.” True, but tell that to any of the millions tossed out on the street by foreclosures in the U.S. They won’t be consoled.
“The fat cats are going to fall further than the lean cats.” Maybe, but they will still have food on their table and will be able to afford it.
“We can’t all starve to death in the cold.” Maybe yes, maybe no. The government we have voted into power is not renowned for its charity or the milk of human kindness coursing through its veins.
The consensus of economists seems to be that the proposed remedial actions of the Canadian government are not going to be enough to do the trick. That’s a guess, but the last thing we need is another gloomy forecast on anything.
But there is something we can do that will put our feet firmly on solid ground, so to speak. It will keep us from starving and start adding a touch of reality to our rootless civilization. It’s called Victory Gardens, no doubt from the movement of the same name in the Second World War.
My memories are pretty faint, but I distinctly remember that during the war there seemed to be a vegetable garden for every house. Vacant lots and fields in the cities were taken up with gardening allotments. It became such an automatic thing that it was several years after the end of the war before we started seeing flower gardens and rose beds again.
East European immigrants in the east end of Calgary 10 years later were digging up the grass strips between sidewalk and street and planting potatoes. Their experiences of hunger and even famine were still too recent and raw to be ignored. They weren’t going to be caught short again.
And now the phenomenon is reappearing in North America. Who would have thought. There is talk of the Obamas planting a vegetable garden in the White House grounds, and it is inevitable that it will be copied across the continent.
Real estate assets are all very well as long as there is someone around with the money to buy them. Otherwise they aren’t worth diddlysquat. A 50-lb. sac of potatoes is another thing. A family can live off that for a while. Fifteen years ago in Jemseg, the owner of the local country store was moaning that he was getting the same price for 50 lbs of potatoes as he did 30 years previously - $2.50. Now maybe is the time of the revenge of the farmers. Potatoes have real value that toxic assets never had.
Of course, a kitchen garden for every home may affect the economic viability of junk food operations. So be it. We can do nicely without them.
In St. Andrews, there are some beautiful gardens. People take great pride in them and it shows. But there is one garden that is gradually changing from being the butt of derisive comments throughout the community to being the envy of many. It is the garden of Larry Lack and Lee Ann Ward.
It is an ordinary town lot, 160 x 80, and the produce they take off that napkin-size piece of land all but frees them from the produce counter in the supermarket. Potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, onion, garlic, peas, beans, tomatoes, squash, leeks... and on and on, and that’s not counting the flowers, trees, ornamental shrubs, fruits. Of course they devote a lot of their time paying for the food they put on the table. But we all spend time doing that, whether we do it by earning money in our regular jobs or planting a garden.
If half the energy that goes into flower gardens went in to vegetable gardens, it would make a significant difference to how a lot of people survive the economic tsunami that is engulfing us. The Lack/Ward garden is not the only one in town that grows a lot of vegetables and fruits, but it is the only one I know of that has gone in for intensive agriculture on a very small piece of land.
It is all part of the new awareness and be-prepared ethos that seems to be taking hold. The government is telling us on TV how to be prepared for various contingencies like power outages, and now we are getting the first hint of the possibility of serious food shortages. Whether they ever occur almost doesn’t matter. As a society, we are short on self discipline. Applying the mind to some of the basics of life, like food, water and electricity, can’t be such a bad thing.
Government support and encouragement would make a tremendous difference.
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/610323
Hard times remembered
Hard times remembered
By Rachel Schleif
World staff writer
Posted March 23, 2009
WENATCHEE — Bank failures, huge debt, rising unemployment, government aid — the parallels are scary. But those who lived through the Great Depression say we’re not there yet — not even close — to the hard times they remember.
A dozen area residents shared their Great Depression stories Friday.
Work life: ‘You might stand in line for hours’
The Great Depression hit Wenatchee five to six years late, said 92-year-old Vern France.
At age 21, he tried to land his first job in 1938.
He applied at 63 businesses, some as many as three times, but still couldn’t find work. Finally, he agreed to work for nothing in the downtown office of J.S. Mooney & Company for a month.
At the end of the month, he was surprised with a $40 check, about $600 today.
When Hazel Dunnagan, now 96, graduated from Wenatchee High School in 1930, she was promised a job at a commercial bank.
“By the time I graduated, there wasn’t any banks,” Dunnagan said. “I went to work for the Goodfellow brothers taking care of their kids at 10 cents an hour. Lot of money, at that time.”
A few years later, she stood outside Cedergreens Frozen Pack Corp., hoping for a day’s work.
“You might stand in line for hours and wait and see if they’d take you,” Dunnagan said.
“If they didn’t, you’d go home and try again the next day.”
At age 23, Dunnagan, her husband and three children rented a house in Cashmere for $10 a month.
Without any work, they fell six months behind on rent before the landlord evicted them.
They moved in with her mother at a boarding house where Colonial Vista sits now.
Sometimes a friend or a relative was the only “in,” said 98-year-old Bob Dodson, now living in Wenatchee.
Then 21, he was the one man hired from a crowd of 200 waiting outside the hiring gate at Ford Motor Co. in Houston, Texas. His uncle pulled some strings from inside the company, he said.
“I left 200 men, and they had families that were starving,” Dodson said. “I didn’t have a family, but I was starving.”
Home life: ‘I never felt poor’
Oregon native Wanda Miller, 85, remembers when her family switched from steak dinners to cornmeal mush.
Her mother sprinkled the top of the soup with brown sugar, raisins and milk from the family cow.
“A lot of men would come to our door and want work,” Miller said. “The word got around they’d get good food at our place and they’d just keep coming.”
Miller grew up in a family of seven in Grants Pass, Ore. They survived by growing vegetables and raising livestock. Her mother sewed all of their clothes, including flour sack nightgowns.
“Coming home from school, a favorite thing was to pull up a carrot and go wash it in the cow’s barrel,” Miller said. “And chomp down on that big carrot. That was just heaven.”
Miller sold pigs and worked as a cook to pay for college at the University of La Verne, Calif., where she studied to be a teacher.
“When I went to college I had to relearn everything, how to flush a toilet and use a telephone,” Miller said. “I knew there were rich kids who lived on the boulevard but I never felt inferior. I wasn’t a popular kid, but I never felt poor.”
Her husband Galen, 91, grew up with a family of five in a 12-by-14 tent in Portland on some property his uncles owned. His father took all sorts of odd jobs to put food on the table.
“Whatever he could find he took. He wasn’t fussy,” Miller said.
“I remember just as clear as a bell whenever my dad would earn a little money, I can see my mom and dad sitting at the table and they would be portioning out the money for whatever was needed,” he said.
“Always the first piece of money that went out was considered for the church. That’s made a lifelong impression on me.”
Words of wisdom: ‘Make do’
Those interviewed Friday offered simple wisdom on surviving these hard times: plant a garden, learn how to preserve fresh food, shop at thrift stores and stop buying on credit.
“We seem to be so wasteful now and we don’t need to be,” Wanda Miller said. “You can get along with so much less.”
She recommends taking a shopping list to the grocery store to limit on-the-fly spending.
Lois Grable, 80, said families should learn how to “make do.”
“If you don’t have what you want, take what you’ve got and make something out of it,” Grable said. “Whether it’s taking a coat, turning it wrong side out and making another coat out of it, which we did. I don’t want my kids to have to face that because they don’t know how.”
While most said the downturn this year does not compare, they understand the fear of a new depression.
“It may not be a comparison for us because we’re all pretty comfortable,” Galen Miller said. “For 6 million people in this country, the comparison is pretty real.
There were people out of work, living on the streets and living in shantytowns like that in Portland. While we don’t experience that, there are a lot of people in this country who are experiencing that.”
Rachel Schleif: 664-7139
http://wenatcheeworld.com/article/20090323/NEWS04/703239980/0/SPORTS
Victory Gardens or recession gardens still save
Country Comments
By Jeannine Roediger
Find someone who was around during WWII and ask them about a Victory Garden and I am sure they can tell you a great deal, from their own experiences, just exactly what they were. The war effort was carried out in many ways, from saving scrap metal to collecting milkweed pods. But almost everyone could put in a small garden, channeling commercially canned produce to the troops.
Fresh vegetables and fruits were in short supply since transportation and the work force were affected by the war. So, encouraged by the government, people planted gardens everywhere there was a plot of ground available. Fruit production was also encouraged. The gardens supplied all the vegetables a family needed, and with preservation, also provided good meals during the winter. It was said that in 1943 over 315,000 pressure canners were sold to preserve fruits, vegetables and meats. This compared to 66,000 sold in 1942.
It allowed families to eat better since many foods, such as sugar, butter, milk, canned goods, meat, coffee, cheese and eggs were rationed. I still remember seeing some of those ration tickets in my family’s drawers when I was growing up. Even after the war, for a year or two, some things were in short supply. Rationing didn’t totally end until 1945.
If you remember how it worked, you could purchase some of the rationed items but they may have to last your family for a couple of months. So, if you wanted butter, you could purchase only as much as was allotted to your family during a certain period of time. Each family had a ration book where these facts were recorded. If you had used up your allotment, you had to wait until it was your time for more.
So, it made sense to plant fruits and vegetables to supplement your family’s meals. Most farm families had always produced much of their fruits and vegetables, but the Victory Garden campaign gave impetus to city dwellers to start making gardens, as well.
Today there is a splash going around calling gardens “recession gardens.” According to a recent Associated Press story, seed companies are having a hard time keeping up with vegetable seed sales. And, that’s a good thing.
Gardens do save money. They take some work and a place, but if you do it right, you can save a lot of money on fresh produce during spring, summer, fall and even early winter.
If you’re a novice gardener and want to try your hand, there are a lot of books, articles and information out there that will be helpful. Just remember even the most experienced gardener has some failures, seed not coming up or plants just not doing as well as expected. Many factors lead into those problems.
But, if you wait for the right times, April 15 for cold-hardy plants such as lettuce, onions, peas, cabbage, etc. and May 15 for those more tender plants such as tomatoes, peppers, etc. you can do well.
One of the most prevalent problems for new gardeners is getting into that garden when it is just too wet. If you do this, you will pay for it the whole year long. A good way to know is by digging up a clump of soil and taking a small amount in your hand, working it into a ball. If the ball falls apart or you can easily crumble it apart, your soil is ready. If it stays in that ball and seems gummy it’s unworkable. It needs to dry out and you should wait.
The second most prevalent problem is not weeding. Weeding has to be done as soon as your plants come up through the soil. If you don’t do it then, you won’t be able to distinguish your tiny vegetable plants from those of unwanted visitors. If you are really diligent in weeding early, once your vegetable plants come up strongly, weeding won’t have to be done except when rains come. Then more weeds tend to sprout, or those you missed earlier may get larger and rear their heads. Early weeding makes all the difference. Don’t wait!
Choosing the right plants sometimes can be an issue as well. Garden catalogs or local nurseries can give you a lot of insight here. Seed packets themselves carry useful information.
Plus, remember that gardens don’t have to be a square somewhere in a sunny area of your lawn, most are attractive enough to join your flowers in the flower bed, or take a nice seat near your patio in large containers. Pole beans and peas can climb over your arbor or gazebo, cherry tomatoes can hang over window boxes, lettuce can outline your early flower beds and you can sneak a plant or two of cabbage here and there among your shrubs as long as they get some sunlight. You can use your imagination and come up with some creative gardening of your own, I know.
So no matter the name, remember that a few well-chosen types of vegetables can make a huge difference on your grocery bill, your health and your children’s eating habits. There is something to be said about growing and picking your own, plus it didn’t have to be shipped 1,500 miles and use precious resources or energy to get here. Overall, better for the environment!
Jeannine Roediger has lived on a family farm all her life, first as a farmer’s daughter and now as a farmer’s wife. She writes weekly for the Times-Bulletin and enjoys gardening, quilting, cooking, bird watching and writing.
http://timesbulletin.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=151239&TM=36049.29
Hard times inspiring everyday frugality
By Kim Lamb Gregory (Contact)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Cutting luxuries was a necessity for Lori Mintzer, 45, of Camarillo, whose husband, Joseph, was laid off in 2007 from Amgen.
“I’ve sacrificed using a salon and now have a friend do mine and my daughters’ hair,” she said. “I cut my husband’s hair. I’ve removed the acrylic nails and no longer go for pedicures. We rarely eat out.”
Then things got worse. Joseph Mintzer, 42, underwent back surgery. He is looking at nine more months of physical therapy until he is able to hunt for another job.
The Mintzers’ situation is mirrored by almost 2 million people across the state. Statistics released this month show February’s unemployment rate at 10.5 percent, up from 10.1 percent in January, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. And the jobless rate is expected to climb to nearly 12 percent next spring, according to the quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast.
Like many people these days, the family survives by being as frugal as possible. They are in the process of moving to a cheaper rental. They buy only what is on sale and always use coupons at the grocery store.
“We rarely use the heater in the house no matter how cold it is outside,” she said. “We’ve decreased how often we do laundry.”
She works as a nurse, and Joseph just qualified for workers’ compensation, but things are still very tight.
“The hardest thing was trying to keep creditors off our backs and trying to keep our two teenage girls out of the loop,” Lori Mintzer said. “Not letting them in on too much so they feel secure.”
Even those who have not experienced a layoff are cutting back because of the economic climate. Many who never thought they would have to take scissors to their Sunday paper find the recession has turned them into strategic shoppers.
“We’re doing coupons, which I’ve never done before,” said Shena Sherron, 24, of Camarillo. “We shop for our big items — meats and dairy — at Albertsons. We do the cereal and canned foods at Big Lots.”
Sherron was among several women willing to share cost-cutting tips they’ve developed out of necessity, habit, or just because they love a bargain. They talked about their budget strategies as they watched their kids play at a Camarillo park one morning.
Parents help out at school
Anyone with young kids knows school expenses can start taking a bite out of the budget early, starting with preschool. So moms such as Becky Shamber, 34, of Port Hueneme became part of a nonprofit cooperative preschool, which costs about $150 dollars a month. Preschool can cost at least twice that.
The Pleasant Valley Cooperative Preschool in Camarillo, which has been around since 1968, keeps its tuition modest by having parents volunteer one to three days a month doing anything from making lunch to cleaning up. Some may help run arts and crafts classes or assist with some other specialty.
“The money was significant, but I also liked being involved in their education,” said Wendy Sailer, 46, of Camarillo.
Wendy and her husband Paul, 42, volunteer at the school their two children attend. The Sailers both work as engineers, but have worked it out so they get time off to don aprons and cook, clean, and help teacher Annie Barker work with the kids.
And when it comes to kids’ clothes, all the moms agree: hand-me-downs.
Learning to grow food
Karen Drust, 41, of Camarillo has never been a gardener, but the recession prompted her to learn.
“We’re getting more into it. We’re growing vegetables. We’re going to put in fruit trees,” she said. Drust said she cooks a lot and rarely does the more expensive packaged or fast food.
The recession has led some to give up any unnecessary extras, and get creative with entertainment.
“I don’t get my nails done. We don’t go out to dinner as often,” Sherron said.
She also suggests taking a second look at your cell phone plan.
“I lowered the amount of minutes I could use each month,” she said.
Stephanie O’Brien, 37, of Thousand Oaks has also given up some perks.
“I don’t go out to coffee like I used to with my friends,” she said.
She also transferred all of her credit card balances to zero percent interest cards and got rid of her debit card so she wouldn’t be tempted to swipe it.
Drust quit buying books. “We use the library. And my husband buys used books.”
Entertainment still possible
“Stay-cations” can save money, said Susan Spencer, executive editor of “All You” magazine, which targets women looking for value. But if you are staying at home instead of spending money on a vacation, make sure it’s a vacation, she said, or you won’t feel rested.
“Pretend your house is a hotel, to the point where you place chocolates on your pillows,” Spencer said. “Clear everybody’s schedule and take advantage of local activities — going to that museum you’ve wanted to go to.”
Besides not driving the car on a vacation, you can save on gas by slowing down, says AARP magazine. Driving 55 mph on the highway burns 15 percent less gas. Spencer recommends making sure you’re not lugging around extra weight in your car, such as an extra minivan seat, or several pounds of sports equipment.
Eating out is a rare treat for many. But that doesn’t mean the family can’t eat together in a novel environment. If stargazing with a picnic dinner isn’t your thing, Spencer suggests having a family picnic breakfast as the sun rises.
Instead of paying to go to the movies, check a movie out of the library and have a family-movie night. The library is a great source for its main staple, too, she said: books.
And if you are going to fly for a vacation, AARP recommends checking for airline tickets after midnight East Coast time. That’s when airlines assess whether a flight is likely to be full and start slashing prices anywhere from $50 to $400.
Staying fit on a budget
Economizing may necessitate giving up a gym membership, but it doesn’t mean eliminating exercise. AARP suggests signing up for a class at the community college, which can be as little as $35 a semester, then using your ID to work out at the college gym.
Or, skip the gym completely, Spencer said.
“Our readers tend not to belong to gyms as much as we have walking routines,” she said. “If you drop your gym membership, my suggestion is to find a partner. Go for a three-mile walk. You can gossip and get fit.”
The physical activity the Mintzers miss most is golf, which they enjoyed together before her husband was laid off and underwent surgery.
Carefree moments are harder to come by these days, but Mintzer said she and her husband believe everything will be OK some day.
“When all else is gone, what else do you have except faith?” she said.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/mar/26/county-residents-share-belt-tightening-money/
Gardening revival: A growing sense of security
By Kathy Stephenson
The Salt Lake Tribune
Posted: 03/17/2009 06:00:00 PM MDT
The taste of fresh-picked peas and carrots are reason enough for Christy Barton to plant a vegetable garden this summer. But even more than that, the wife and mother of three — ages 4, 2 and 5 months — says growing food for her family will provide some security in an uncertain time. “Who knows if things will get better or worse?” said Barton, who lives in Clinton. “I want to be prepared.”
The unstable economy has a driven a record number of homeowners in Utah — and across the nation — to purchase seed packets, visit nurseries and attend educational classes so they can plant a backyard garden. For many, it will be the first time they have ever dug into the soil for dinner.
In 2009, 43 million U.S. households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, berries, and herbs, according to a recent report from the National Gardening Association (NGA). That’s up 19 percent — from 36 million — in 2008. Of those food gardening households, 21 percent will be new to gardening.
“As in previous recessions, we’ve seen increased participation and spending on food gardening as people look for ways to economize,” said Bruce Butterfield, research director for the NGA.
Employees at Utah’s Mountain Valley Seed Company don’t need to see the national statistics to understand the phenomenon. Spring sales are double last year.
“It’s the biggest home gardening year we’ve had in a long time,” said Jerry Sawyer, operation manger for the Salt Lake City business that sells seeds to nurseries and other retail outlets. “We’ve been hammered. And we’re trying to figure out how we are going to get through it.”
Surprisingly, Sawyer said while home gardeners are gearing up for fruits, vegetables and herbs, they are cutting back slightly on decorative bedding plants, apparently considered a luxury in these hard times.
Burpee & Co., the country’s largest seed retailer, reports that vegetable sales for January 2009 were up 20 percent from one year ago. Organic seed sales are up 46 percent from 2008.
A garden is worth the investment. Spending $50 for seeds and fertilizer now can produce more than $1,200 worth of food in a summer, according to Burpee officials.
People are taking their new hobby seriously, attending classes to help them be successful, said Claire Uno, director of Salt Lake City’s Wasatch Community Gardens.
The nonprofit group has seen attendance surge for its gardening classes. More than 120 people showed up for a recent “organic gardening” workshop. With a 100-person limit, people were turned away, and so WCG has scheduled a second session for March 25.
A “raised bed” class was filled weeks in advance, prompting a second session. And a seed-starting course attracted 80 people, Uno said.
“Two-thirds of the people who came were new gardeners and had never been to one of our workshops before,” she said. “We’re used to classes with 20 or 30 people. So this is exciting for us.”
Besides economic factors, Uno believes many people are taking up backyard gardening for safety reasons, after recent recalls of meat, spinach and peanut butter. “People are more interested in where they food comes from,” she said. “They realize we have a big agricultural system that doesn’t always operate in the consumer’s best interest.”
Environmental concerns are another reason for gardening’s resurgence. In the United States, most food travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to table, consuming millions of gallons of fuel and contributing to air and water pollution. Food that has been transported in a truck for several days or has been stored in a warehouse for months also loses flavor and nutritional value.
It’s not just new gardeners who are getting educational help. That’s the case with Shirlee Shelton. The Wendover resident has gardened for about five years, but recently attended a gardening discussion hoping to learn how to better utilize the 20-by-30-foot area in the back of her home.
The NGA reports that 11 percent of the households already active in food gardening planned to increase both the amount and the variety of vegetables in the garden in 2009.
“My kids live close and share my garden,” Shelton said. “They can’t afford the grocery store produce. And besides, it’s not as good as homegrown.”
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11932395
>>>I, being the selfish person that I am, want my garden on my land, so I have full control, but if there were no other way, I might want a community garden.<<<
LOL, I am the same way... I want it to be MINE! I’ll share the bounty, but this garden and what I plant is mine!
One thing I keep wondering about - Everyone talks about how there is no place for them to garden, and they live in an apartment, etc. Why don’t churches and non-profit organizations rent farmland as close to their location as possible. You can rent fertile farm land for between $35 and $180 an acre for a whole year (depending on state). Most of those organizations have busses or vans - why don’t they organize to rent the land and transport their members to the gardens if they don’t have a way of getting there.
I also wonder why they don’t get together canning and dehydrating groups. The equipment could be bought by the church/organization and make it available to their members. That way, those who had the skills could teach those who were unskilled. Not only would it feed their members, but they would grow a close knit organization and improve the outlook not only physically and nutritionally, but also emotionally too.
Speaking of canning - Granny, do you or anyone else know of any sources for #2 or #2.5 metal cans? You used to be able to buy them in cases at local stores, but now, unless you want them by the truckload, they seem to be impossible to find. Any sources greatly appreciated... (I have a can sealer for those two sizes but can’t find the cans)
Unified Grocers Issues Allergy Alert on Undeclared Milk and Soy in Mariegold Baking Bread Products (April 1)
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:45:00 -0500
Unified Grocers is recalling six Mariegold Baking bread products (units) because they may contain undeclared milk and soy. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk or soy may run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products.
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/unifiedgrocers04_09.html
My concern is when Obama nationalizes the banks and we can’t get into either our account or safety deposit box.<<<
My first thought, is that if obama plays with the banks, you will never see what you have in your S.D. box.
I would not use them.
Don’t bury dollar bills, for if moisture gets in, they rot and and you cannot separate them, I tried that in the 70’s and never got back what I had in the roll of bills.
The bank would not take the mess and it had to be sent to the treasury, where they ‘estimated it’.
If you had greenbacks in a banks box, then it could be claimed as illegal money, from dope , etc.
My thoughts.
Never trust a bank, when you know they are already in trouble.
Speaking of canning - Granny, do you or anyone else know of any sources for #2 or #2.5 metal cans?<<<
No, I haven’t seen them in years, is there a cannery near you that fills them?
They might sell you a few.
Or, contact the LDS Church, they will know.
If half the energy that goes into flower gardens went in to vegetable gardens, it would make a significant difference to how a lot of people survive the economic tsunami that is engulfing us. The Lack/Ward garden is not the only one in town that grows a lot of vegetables and fruits, but it is the only one I know of that has gone in for intensive agriculture on a very small piece of land.<<<
And lawns, the most useless thing that can be grown, unless one is using goats and sheep to mow them.
“My dad was a good worker, and my mom was a good worker,” she said, adding she and all her siblings were raised to work hard.<<<
Same for my family, we were taught to work, not to think about working, as it is what one did.
All your articles are excellent.
Welcome to the thread, glad you came to read.
Join if if you would like, questions or answers, it does not matter.
So Miller has rented out – at no cost – 15 of the center’s 21 planting beds to families whose children are users of the after-school center. The garden program was used as a center-run children’s educational opportunity last year, but Miller figured families would be better served by taking a more central role in the garden in light of the recession.<<<
All these gardens, wonderful.
Not only for the food, but it is getting folks out of the house and away from tv and internets.
And I laugh, when I think of all the law breakers, there will be.
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