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 ...
Often works better than the FR search. ;’)
The dandelion jelly recipe is VERY intriguing.
When they start showing their (unwanted) heads, I might have to try it. It just might turn out to be a good addition to the jellies, jams, syrups, etc, that I now have in my inventory.
Always wondered if dandelions would make as good jelly as they do wine. Now I can find out!
I have a similar recipe (not at hand at the moment but I will find it) for making jelly out of the cores and peels left over from making applesauce and/or apple butter.
Gabz,
I am so sorry that you have troubles, I as well as many here will be praying for a quick solution.
First thing tomorrow, call the mortgage company, talk to them, tell them what has happened and what you are doing to fix the situation.
Ask for a period of smaller loan payments or even no payments, but it is better if you can make the half payment.
I am sure your troubles are not from a cruise that you took on the payment money........so talk to them.
They do not want your house foreclosed, there are too many and if it sets vacant, it will be ruined by vandals.
Call all that you owe money to and ask for the same help, some may come through.
They put me on half payments when Bill ruptured his heart and they put my son on half payments, 3 years ago, when his wife died.........the car loan was even re-written and the interest dropped, so he could pay it off.
Now, if that is not the solution, then call and ask for help from the Federal Gov, they say they have programs that will help save the homes, I did not pay attention to the talk when it was hot and heavy, as no one loans on 50 year old mobiles, so I am in no danger.
One of this threads posters had a good idea, sorry, all of you might as well know, I do not even attempt to remember folks names, in time they will stick with me, never could recall them and it is not old age.........LOL off topic.
You must ask for food stamps, as you do not want to be known as someone who can take care of themselves, if you are, you get no help, from the gov.
Been there and done that, Bill was in intensive care for months and I had just taken Legal Custody of a 5 month old grandchild.
They gave me no help.
Later when I worked at the Wellton Court, I asked the lady who had been my case worker, while Bill laid there for months, not knowing if he would live or die, why she refused to help me.
Her answer was “you had proven that you could take care of yourself, and we were right, you did, it is for those who cannot help themselves”.........In other words, repeat offenders, not the help needed when one hits a hard patch.
They gave Lisa $19 dollars a month and that was the only cash coming in the house.
An Angel, delivered hay to the goat pen, while I was at the hospital visiting Bill, it was years later, before I learned it was a Mormon friend Catherine Brimhall........she said Logan said he wanted to come and see for himself, that I could keep the goats properly fed, went out and loaded his pickup, with the finest Alfalfa hay and left it in the right place, as well as dumping all the water and feeding for the day.
The real struggle is to prove that you need the help, you do not need to prove that you deserve it.
Have you talked to your minister?
Even the Salvation Army, will know of places to ask for help.
If the county or state helps, more than likely, it will cause a lein to be filed against your property, which is not a disaster, unless you need to apply for credit some place, it will stay there until you sell or pay it off, each state is different and I am not even up to date on Arizona law......now.
Get on the phone.
One of the first things that will happen, when things fall into place, is that the pressure will go away, at least a little and you will smile, and the jobs will turn up.
Watch it that, the stress does not affect your marriage or the kids day to day lives.
so get on the phone and make things happen.
At least, it will show, that you are attempting to get out of the hole.
Sending hugs and lots of prayers,
Yes, I have heard people say they used those formulas for soap.
I won’t get the address tonight, but I have been a member of the TLC soap makers group at Yahoo groups, for about 10 years, even tho I am not active in any of the crafts, I could not bear to give them up.
Rita the list mom, did have a lot of information on making soap, healing with herbs and other important information on her website.
tlcsoaps.com at the top here:
Many people pay big prices for bubble baths, we found most are the same as the White Rain unscented normal shampoo, that is one of the cheapest that Walmart sells.........if it need a smell, and essential oil or a drop of your perfume and you have scented bubble bath.
Again, I am out of date on prices, but from some of the companies, you can buy excellent soap bases for the finest hand soaps, with extra items added, like milk or oatmeal, I paid up to $3.00 a pound for it and it does not have perfume or essential oils, so you can either add them, or do as I do, cut off a slice and use as is.
Tlc soaps, at times sells soap by the pound, but it will not be under $3.00, as I recall, there is a company in Florida that was said to have good melt and pour [pour as in a fancy mold] soaps by the pound.
Later,
I can’t claim the same first marriage as defconw, but I can claim a similarity in husbands :)<<<
Not many of us can claim to still be with the first husband.
As you age, you will see that life has been planned and you needed the experience, or you would not have known when you met the right one.
It is amazing how even a different road, can change peoples lives.
dandelion jelly it is ringing bells, I cannot recall what the good chemicals are in the flowers.
And I almost forgot the coffee:
There are many things that we toss and could be using for food.
I must leave the computer and eat, I cannot believe that 24 hours have passed since I started this thread, this has been a non stop day.
I took a quick look, good page, interesting what one can do with $10. and elbow grease.........
Thank you for finding it.
Granny, you are such a sweetheart.
We’re cool with the mortgage company. We spoke with them more than a month ago and arrangements have been made.
Please believe me my FRiend when I tell you our troubles have nothing to do with going overboard on anything, let alone a cruise :)
My husband has been out of work since October. Me working part time as a bartender (7 hours a week) and selling a few jars of jelly here and there just doesn’t pay the bills or buy the seeds we needs to get our field planted. But I’ll be able to buy those seeds next week as we will be getting tax refund from the IRS prior to the 1st.
Our volunteer hours at the local Moose Lodge became benificial to us when they paid our electric bill the day before we were due to be shut off. The Moose require a certain percentage of Lodge revenue be given to charity every month, we happened to be last month’s charity.
You brought up government assistance, hubby and I had a major discussion about it this evening. We will NOT do it. It might get boring, but I have a freezer full of venison. I also have 3 bushels of potatoes under the house. No one is going to go hungry in this house.
The phones might be cut off this weekend (I’m on dialup like you, so I’ll post the weekly gardening thread on Thursday)but we’ll be warm and well fed.
It’s driving me absolutely nuts, but we will get through it. Both hubby and I have job interviews tomorrow. Neither is what either of us want, but a job is a job at this point.
I’m going to call it a night. Although I’m younger than you I don’t have your stamina.
Bless you, and thank you for your prayers.
Gabrielle
Gabz, please add me to your gardening ping list.
nw_arizone_granny, please add me to your ping list if you should get one going!
Can anyone tell me how long packets of seed stay good? I have some stocked up that I haven’t been able to use yet.
Thank you, m’Lady. I just found your ping to me! Will read ... I love to garden, but my mobility is more limited now so I don’t get to enjoy that luxury. [I’ve often wondered how the flour made from dried, crushed acorns would have tasted. What would it taste like? The Cherokees, a truly great past civilization, made ‘hocakes’ from it!]
flour
n. The finely ground and sifted meal of any of various edible grains. Giant steel or stone rollers are used to break and grind the grain. Most supermarkets carry steel-ground flour, meaning it’s crushed with huge, high-speed steel rollers or hammers.
The heat that is generated with these high-velocity machines strips away the WHEAT germ and destroys valuable vitamins and enzymes.
The more naturally nutritious stone-ground flour is produced by grinding the grain between two slowly moving stones. This process crushes the grain without generating excess heat and separating the germ. Stone-ground flours must usually be purchased in health-food stores, though some large supermarkets also carry them.
A flour can range in texture from coarse to extremely soft and powdery, depending on the degree of bolting (sifting) it receives at the mill.
Wheat is the most common source of the multitude of flours used in cooking. It contains gluten, a protein that forms an elastic network that helps contain the gases that make mixtures (such as doughs and batters) rise as they bake.
All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high-gluten hard wheat and low-gluten soft wheat. It’s a fine-textured flour milled from the inner part of the wheat kernel and contains neither the germ (the sprouting part) nor the bran (the outer coating).
U.S. law requires that all flours not containing wheat germ must have niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and iron added. (Individual millers sometimes also add vitamins A and D.) These flours are labeled “ENRICHED.”
All-purpose flour comes in two basic forms — bleached and unbleached — that can be used interchangeably. Flour can be bleached either naturally, as it ages, or chemically.
Most flour on the market today is presifted, requiring only that it be stirred, then spooned into a measuring cup and leveled off.
Bread flour is an unbleached, specially formulated, high-gluten blend of 99.8 percent hard-wheat flour, a small amount of malted barley flour (to improve yeast activity) and vitamin C or potassium bromate (to increase the gluten’s elasticity and the dough’s gas retention).
It is ideally suited for YEAST BREADS. The fuller-flavored whole-wheat flour contains the wheat germ, which means that it also has a higher fiber, nutritional and fat content. Because of the latter, it should be stored in the refrigerator to prevent rancidity.
Cake or pastry flour is a fine-textured, soft-wheat flour with a high starch content. It makes particularly tender cakes and pastries.
Self-rising flour is an all-purpose flour to which baking powder and salt have been added. It can be substituted for all-purpose flour in yeast breads by omitting the salt and in QUICK BREADS by omitting both baking powder and salt.
Instant flour is a granular flour especially formulated to dissolve quickly in hot or cold liquids. It’s used mainly as a thickener in sauces, gravies and other cooked mixtures.
Gluten flour is high-protein, hard-wheat flour treated to remove most of the starch (which leaves a high gluten content). It’s used mainly as an additive to doughs made with low-gluten flour (such as RYE FLOUR), and to make low-calorie “gluten” breads.
All flour should be stored in an airtight container. All-purpose and bread flour can be stored up to 6 months at room temperature (about 70°F). Temperatures higher than that invite bugs and mold.
Flours containing part of the grain’s germ (such as whole wheat) turn rancid quickly because of the oil in the germ. Refrigerate or freeze these flours tightly wrapped and use as soon as possible.
Other grains — such as BARLEY, BUCKWHEAT, CORN, OATS, RICE, rye and TRITICALE — are also milled into flours.
flour v. To lightly coat a food, utensil or baking container with flour. Flouring food to be fried facilitates browning, and coating foods that tend to stick together (such as chopped dried apricots) helps separate the pieces.
Flouring a pie, pastry or cookie dough will prevent it from sticking to a work surface; flouring your hands, rolling pin or work surface prevents dough from sticking. Dusting greased baking pans with flour provides for easy removal of cakes, breads and other baked goods.
© Copyright Barron’s Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER’S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.
She is quite a handfull. I am so blessed. We also have a 6 year old son who is quite a whip also. Too smart for his own good. Homeschooling starts next year. It was too much for me to take on with my daughter being so young.
Didn’t know about the square tomatoes, but you learn something new every day. I also prefer the old way of doing things. Give me a good round tomatoe anyday, or even an egg shaped one (love romas).
I bought 5 or 6 of those also. I haven’t had the opportunity to use them yet. Do you use them inside or outside? I have never gardened before (except for weeding the family garden when I was a teenager! lol) and am a little intimidated even by this. I don’t have the green thumb in the family. If I use them inside, do I need to buy a special lighting fixture to help the plants along? I am in WA state right now, but am moving back to Florida next fall, God willing, and hope to find a place with at least a patio or some such.
T O D A Y ‘ S T I P S
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
HOUSEHOLD TIDBITS FROM THE PAST
Today’s “vintage” tips are from 1003 Household Hints
and Work Savers, written in 1948. These are all money
saving tips for the kitchen and home.
SAVING ON FOOD COSTS
Save money by using evaporated milk in place of whipping
cream when you make ice cream or toppings for cakes or
puddings, or any recipes that call for whipped cream. The
only trick in to have the evaporated milk, the bowl and the
beater thoroughly chilled. To whip, pour milk into the cold
bowl, and whip with chilled beater as for cream.
Remove the burnt taste from scorched milk by putting the
pan in cold water and adding a pinch of salt to the milk.
Swiss cheese, muenster, American and similar cheeses
are still tastily edible, even when dried out. Simply grate
and use with spaghetti, soup or vegetables.
Stale, dried up cheese turns into a delicious spread when
placed into the meat grinder with chunks of raw onion.
EGG FACTS
Old eggs are smooth and shiny. Fresh eggs are rough
and chalky in appearance. Don’t wash eggs before storing.
Water destroys the protective film that keeps out air and
odors. Keep eggs in the refrigerator away from foods with
penetrating odors.
It’s easiest to separate whites and yolks of eggs right after
removing eggs from the refrigerator. To separate easily
break them gently into a funnel. The whites pass through
but the yolk remains.
To use up leftover egg yolks, poach them until firm, then
cool and put through sieve. Nice for salads, soup garnish,
or canapés.
LONGER LIVES FOR BROOMS & BRUSHES
Add new life to fiber brooms by washing them occasionally
in 2 quarts of warm water to which you’ve added 4 tablespoons
of ammonia. Let the broom bristles soak in this for half an hour.
Rinse in clear warm water then hang them up in a cool place
to dry.
New stand a broom or brush on its bristles in the closet. Screw
a cup hook at the end of the handle and hang it up so the
bristles don’t touch the floor. This prevents them from losing
their shape.
Always dry scrubbing brushes with the bristles down, in the
sun, if possible.
SEASONAL TIDBITS: What is the perfect porch swing?
http://www.oldfashionedliving.com/porchswing.html
The crack about the cruise, was not meant that I thought you had taken one. In fact it was my way of saying “since you did not blow the rent money on a cruise, there should be help for those who are just in a rough spot”.
One of the worst jobs that I ever had, in a month led to a good one, they came in to eat and hired me from the crummy place for their steak house..........
When Bill was in the hospital, I took the only job in town, 75 cents an hour in 1973, no tips.........and the Judge came in for a hamburger, he was also my car insurance man and he came to my house and hired me to work at the court as a clerk.
So don’t frown at the ugly jobs, they do go places you never dreamed of.
We will all be here cheering you on.
I am glad that you did get some help with the utilities, now for an angel to pay the phone bill.
Sleep well and never fear, I will pay for this excitement, but it was fun, thanks to all of you.
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