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 ...
Bookmarking...
Well, if we’re talkin survival mode, then small amounts of gas will probably be the least of your worries.
I just mentioned them for exactly the reason I mentioned them - they can be used with small amounts of oil or butter, they are easy to clean.
We can stock up on all sorts of stuff - but we can’t buy cans of common sense!
ROFL!!!!!!!!
I know that so very well!!!
Wow! I would hate to need an office in a critical situation and know they were that far away.
Here, we have already divided up duties and given each family member a role they will occupy and be responsible for. Did their eyes ever roll over in their heads when we had a family meeting on that.
I'm so jealous, it's going to be a while before I can get those in the ground. Of course I'm quite a bit north of you :)
The yellow squash and jalapenos also freeze very well.
I’m sure hubby will appreciate snuggling up next to the sweet smell. ;)
Hello and welcome, join right in, there is much to learn.
Once you taste the difference, you will not want to go back to store bought foods.
PBS had a show where they took some folks out into the prairie and let them live like pioneers.
A natural sort of economy evolved, based mostly on food and energy, etc.
But one of the most prized things that showed up were the toiletries. Combs. Mouthwash. Just the simple stuff that we take for granted. It’s the stuff that separates us from the troglodytes.
I can’t find toothpaste that comes in packages of more than three. Maybe Sam’s has it.
And I can think of so many people who really could use it.
I live in an area prone to n'oreasters, flooding, assorted other weather related events and the associated power outages. It never ceases to amaze me how many people just have NO CLUE how to prepar for such eventualities. Of course these are the same kind of people that move out of cities because they like the "quaint" life in a rural area and then proceed to demand the services they left behind in the city.
I left the city to get away from that stuff, I don't want to bring it here and ruin the "quaintness" of rural living.
I have noticed how expensive food is getting. I have a small garden, and am hoping to expand it this year. I want to learn how to can, so I can put up my own tomato sauce. Our family has been eating more venison than anything lately, so that helps us save as well.
I am planning on growing butternut squash, among other things. It makes a great soup. I don’t know the exact measurements, but here’s how I make it:
Bake squash in oven or microwave until tender, and scoop out middle. Sautee butter and onions until tender, add chicken stock, squash, salt and pepper. Puree until smooth. It is also great to add some cream and a tiny pinch of pumpkin pie spice at the end.
Butternut squash is also great in sweet breads and pies, and it keeps well also.
ROFL!!!!! There have been times when I swear I have smelled more like a man than he does!!!!
We seemingly have reversed roles over the course of the past 20 years. When we met he was a construction worker and I was of the heels and hose business type. By last summer he was coming home from work in a suit and tie to find me in the field in cut-offs, workboots, and a ball cap — the same uniform he wore for 25 years!!!!
Here's you a good site to start with.
That's how I dress. The only time he sees me in a dress and stockings is when we attend a funeral. I hate dresses. You just can't sit comfortable in them. :)
Some people say to put the cast iron skillet in the oven when you run it on the self-cleaning cycle. That will clean it down to the bare iron. You then go through a standard seasoning procedure same as a new piece.
I don’t have anything peeling off my skillet. When it gets too gunked up, I either rub some salt into it as an abrasive or else I wash it with a little dish soap and water and scrub it with a green scrubby or with steel wool. I then rinse and immediately put it on the stove and turn the burner on long enough to get the skillet hot, to be sure it’s really dry.
I NEVER leave cast iron with water soaking in it. It can sit on top of my stove waiting to be washed, but no water touches it till I have enough time and energy to do the above procedure from start to finish. And that includes alert enough and energetic enough to stand there at the stove and watch it while I have the burner on. Don’t want to walk away and forget the stove’s on.
Others using my kitchen may use my skillet, but no one else ever washes it. Just me.
I’m lucky in a way because my whole life my greatest hobby has simply been taking things apart and putting them back together.
When I was about 11, I took a Timex clock apart. Labelled all the parts, and put it back together.
It Worked!
Didn’t work good, but it worked!
So I always considered myself pretty self sufficient. And you’re right. Many, if not most, don’t have a clue.
I’m stocked up enough to make it for quite a while. But I’m way, way too close to the Seattle-Tacoma-Portland metro district to be able to last long term here.
If I was forty miles east, I’d be in much better shape.
I’m opposed to be working, here!!!!
Thanks anyway, Gabz!
Only reason I noticed this was because I was doing paperwork and FReeper just...popped up! BWAHAHA
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.