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 ...
Never had to worry about me wearing her clothes! She’s 3 years younger. I’m...5’5” and solid. She’s about 5’ 1” and curvy. Baby sis is about 5’8” and more slender than I am. We all weigh the same. Go figure.
She always went for girly stuff. I was perfectly happy with hand me downs from my older cousins—mostly male!
Too funny! You couldn’t get me in a skirt or dress when I was little, and not often now. If I’d lived when women had to wear long skirts, they could have just gone ahead and shot me! LOL
Side note, women dying by being burnt to death dropped unbelievably when women started wearing pants.
How true. Hahahahahaha. Some people are born whiners and others are doers.
We pick all of ours and then reseed come planting. I love them right out of the ground. And tomatoes fresh off the vine. Wipe them on my shirt and eat then while I'm still in the garden.
Few years back I cooked up a bunch of acorn squash and scooped them out.
Added an egg, some brown sugar, butter, about half a cup of cream, and pumpkin pie seasoning, put it all into a couple graham cracker pie crusts and baked away.
Kinda sorta like pumpkin pie.
But different.
And very delicious!
What a clever pot, and fun too.
It would be great for a person with no room or a person, who could not get up and about.
Thanks for the links.
Good morning to you.
It has been a fun night, to spend it with others who also want to share knowledge makes it awesome.
Wish you had been here.
Hugs, and warm thoughts.
I salute you and your husband, thank you for all you are giving up for his being active duty.
Being me, I jumped to the conclusion that it was one of the anti crowd, as at Berkley protests.
I can feel your anger, while reading it.
The end cleaned it up, and I am glad.
I would like very much to be on your gardening ping list, Gabz.
I also would like to be on yours for this subject, granny, if you ever start one.
It makes them feel special when they have their own little jobs to do.
This world is not kind to children, we say we are protecting them, but todays child knows more that I do.
Sometimes when my hubby and son take my little girl to wal mart without me,(a good time for waxing the floors) the last thing I always tell them is, "If you lose her, don't come back".
She's developmentally delayed so I don't have the problem of her knowing too much at this point in her life. To her, shut up is a bad word. She wants to go live on Pride Rock when she's 18. She's 12 and no where near mature enough to understand the world around her so we're very protective and watch her very closely. She would be easy pickings for a pervert so she is never out of our sight or off our hand in public.
She knows there's bad people because we told her there was. She is too friendly with strangers and that's dangerous in todays world.
The Secret Recipe Forum > RECIPE FORUM > General Chat
Aero Garden
http://www.recipesecrets.net/forums/general-chat/24422-aero-garden.html
Hydroponics vs. Soil Gardening - Ther AeroGarden ™ Miracle!
If you have ever been frustrated by trying to grow your own home garden...chances are it wasn’t your fault. Blame the dirt! From balancing the pH (acidity) of the soil, to under/over watering, to controling garden pests and weeds, to keeping the dirt outside where it belongs, traditional soil gardening can be one problem after another...
Say Goodbye to Garden Problems & Say “Hello” to the AeroGarden!
The AeroGarden uses advanced hydroponic and aeroponic technology, which doesn’t require soil, and virtually eliminates almost every home garden problem! That means that absolutely anyone can grow their own home garden with no experience necessary! Say hello to your new green thumb! For more information about hydroponics and how the AeroGarden uses them, click here.
Hydroponics & The AeroGarden vs. Soil (Click the play button above to see the AeroGarden compared to traditional soil!)
Traditional soil gardening can be dificult to master, and can leave any home gardener frustrated and dissapointed. Here are some of the problems that can surface when using soil.
Soil Garden Problems
http://www.hydroponic-home-garden.com/aerogarden-hydroponics-comparison.htm
One item that I believe should be in every home is the “Foxfire” series of books. One can learn the basics of survival in a world without Wallyworld in those books while being entertained. It’s too bad so many people don’t read.<<<
Yes, Yes, possibility that they are the most important books that one can own.
I have part of the set, I know some of my education on spinning and weaving came from them.
There are plans on the internet for making tools, weapons and so many things that we buy in the stores today.
Your list is excellent, wise and planned out, good for you.
Thank you for sharing it.
Can you put me on your ping list, too?
50 years ago she’d have been the advanced one while alot of today’s kids would have been considered emotionally stunted, if not downright demonic ghouls. Sad how we’ve flipped in this day and age.
Thank you for joining in, I will check the book out, as good ones are rare.
Before 9-11, there was a freezing group at Yahoo groups, some of them were attempting to make their own vaccum for sealing, by using the vaccum, with a big drinking straw, taped to the end of it, which was inserted into the package and pulled the air out.
Not perfect, but cheap and better than none.
I have the “Stocking up” book and several others, but one never has enough books.
As someone said, without electric, the internet and our computers are going to cease to exist.
I do think that you are worse than me.
Why didn’t you get the gasoline motor on a Maytag wringer washer? Then it would do most of the work for you.
At least it is not a rub board, they ruin your hands.
I have come to the conclusion that "affordable chicken," let alone local, has become an oxymoron.
Not that long ago, when we still lived in Delaware I could buy 40# cases of leg quarters for $10 and boneless breasts for $1.69 a pound.
Now I live in the same county with 2 major processing plants and practically surrounded by chicken houses and I'm lucky if I can find leg quarters on sale for 79 cents a pound.
A friend of ours works for one of the local growers and is forever offering me the chickens that escape the catchers. Even my husband is now seriously considering taking him up on the offer.
It's down right tragic. Kids no longer being kids but little adults.
What happens if there's no gas to run it? Everything we've planned for has been planned with that in mind. The wood burning cook stove, for if there's no electricity or fuel for a regular stove. During Rita we were without elec for a week. We always plan for the worse and hope for the best.
I forgot to respond to this. I don't know but I'll take that as a high compliment. :)
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.