Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
I have been using the same cast iron skillet for over thirty years. It’s seasoned to the point it’s better than teflon.
(And no dubious chemicals soaking into the food that way, which is what I hear happens when you cook on teflon.)
Anyone can buy cast iron skillets and dutch ovens at Wal-Mart, they carry the Lodge brand, which is made in the USA.
How right you are. Sometimes we take certain things so much for granted we never think to mention them to others who may have a different mindset. What "comes naturally" to an urbanite may not dawn on someone in a rural area and vice versa.
Hunker down, act desperate. Don’t be out on the porch grilling tbones. (well, except the first couple days, as the freezer gives out).
If you have a generator, the golden rule is never let it run unattended. Attended by somebody well armed.
These days, alot of people spend alot of time trying to get noticed and be different. That would be an idea of the past. Anything that makes you conspicuous will probably get you killed.
I also highly recommend soap. You can buy like a cubic foot of soap at Costco for ten bux.
Nobody knows how to make soap anymore. Well, darn few.
Thank you, that will be a useful check list to have.
The foods today, are in the warehouse for too long, my brother works in one, he says some pallets of food sit there for years, before going to the store.
mmmmmmm. I'm hungry.
Keeps it from dripping down the arms.
I bet dogs wouldn't mind licking it off. lol
I couldn't go back to city living. when I was a teenager I couldn't wait for the day I could move out of the city, everyone (including myself) figured I'd outgrow that mindset fairly quickly after I moved to Delaware in 1982 when I was 22. I never did outgrow that idea and it got to the point that even Dover, DE became too "big city" for me.
I wouldn't trade having grown up in NYC for anything, but that is not how I want our daughter to grow up. Thankfully my husband is as "big city" averse as I am.
I have a wok like that. The key is to never, ever let soap touch it. When I’m done cooking with it, I just let it heat up a bit, add 1/2 tsp veg oil till it starts to smoke the smallest amount, let it cool, dump it out, and wipe with a paper towel.
Me either. Except for the short time we lived in Austin city limits, we have always lived in the country. We moved to Red Rock to get out of Austin. The city life is just not for us.
You are absolutely right. Learn from each other.
We put our spring garden yesterday. Rented a garden tiller, tilled thoroughly, then tilled manure compost in and then topped it with porous fabric for weed control. Already have Tomato, okra, eggplant and green bell pepper plants in.
Green pepper, okra and tomatoes (for cooking purposes), are incredibly easy to freeze. We’ll be adding onion sets, yellow squash, cucumbers and jalapeno peppers soon. We also plan to have a fall garden, since you can do that in Florida.
May I butt in here on teflon pans?
I would not use them on a campfire or other uneven heat, at last, what we knew 30 years ago, is in the news.
The gases released from teflon pans will make you sick, maybe even kill you.
People were having healthy parrots die, back in the 1970’s and it was from getting the teflon pans too hot, the gas killed the birds, it was in the bird books/magazines.
If one is short on water, then on a regular pan, not teflon, one can use a handful of tough grass and sharp sand to clean the pans.
That's impossible. Everyone KNOWS that EVERYTHING sold at WalMart is made in China........./rapid WM hater emtnality.
I inherited my MIL's cast iron skillets, some are over 50 years old. I use the one I bought when I first was out on my own nearly everyday, 25 years last year. About 10 years ago I bought an entire set of cast iron cookware. I also have a 20+ year old set of copper clad Revereware.
I have one teflon pan and I use it only for crepes and omelets :)
BUMP
How to season a cast-iron pan? Surface of mine is coming off.
Buy guns and ammo. I can’t stress that enough. Depend on yourselves for your and your family’s safety. The police will have it’s hands full.<<<
You are right........here the police may have one man covering an area 50 miles away from him.
If what I hear on the San Diego police scanner is a good sample, then the forces are not large enough to protect us.
I have listened to the Federal cops join in the common police work, and many nights the undercover are having to break cover to help out, which is a danger to them.
I listen on the internet at:
scan san diego.net to the #1 scanner link.
Welcome and thanks for the bump.
We have gallons and gallons of unscented bleach and vinegar.
You are probably outraged at the thought of such an inflammatory statement. However, we are a society which holds Freedom of Speech as perhaps our greatest liberty. And after all, it is just a sign.<<<
I went thru the roof, before I finished reading your post.
Wonderful, they exercised their freedom of speech and made an important statement.
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