Posted on 02/19/2011 6:13:52 AM PST by HangnJudge
“Where can we get Jerusalem Artichokes.”
Pick up any major seed catalog and you’ll find them. Be careful where you plant them because they spread like wildfire. Jerusalem artichokes are the bamboo of the root crops. They’ll take over your entire garden. Plant a half-dozen roots and in 2-3 years you’ll have hundreds of plants.
Better to grow them in pots or encircle a spot in the garden with 1-foot wide aluminum sheeting buried underground so they don’t escape.
>>welding...blacksmithing...soap making
Interesting, those are LL things I’d like to do also.
“those are LL things”
LL = caps lock + ll when I wanted to write ‘all’. Weekend typing skillz...
I have a bunch of early 1900s Stanley planes and Disston saws. I do have quite a few new tools as well, and they seem to hold up great, and the plane irons (for example) hold an edge longer than the older tools.
But the older tools are cheap and high quality, two great things.
>>where my parents would pour bacon grease and other oils. This was never used. I don’t know what they did with it.
Funny I picked up that habit from my parents (they were both children during the Great Depression). I always thought it was to cut down on the grease build-up in the plumbing when it cooled going down the drain. Or maybe it had to do with septic systems.
Never thought it was for some other use.
The weakness I see in the “smallpox blankets” story is that unless everyone involved in handling them had at least survived a case of cowpox, they would also have been infected with smallpox.
...grease build-up in the plumbing
Actually, through my readings about The Home Front, during WWII, the grease was collected for something. Too much Scotch has temporarily clouded my memory, but I think it had something to do with munitions manufacture. The grease was collected by the same guys who took away your legacy heirloom bicycles, pots & pans, oil lamps and Victola phonographs for the war effort.
Other FReepers can fill in the details...
There probably was a collection for it, I’d guess my parents were too young to know.
I actually never questioned it until one of my housemates asked why I did it. The grease-build up came to mind (it might not even be an issue), so I went with that.
Right. And Canola oil is a synthetic product. Legend is it’s actually an industrial lubricant.
Went to HEB today. They had some squash and the price was down from $2.97 to $1.97. Asparragus was marked down, too, and it was much larger.
Roma tomatoes went up from 97 cents to 1.97 cent a pound. Guess they had to make up for the squash and asparragus.
t
No that’s not changed, I nuke it...
The 4” tall tomato and bell pepper plants I bought thursday get planted today.
It was a joke, ma’am, a joke!
Come on - every generation says that... have some faith.
I will always push kids forward not back.
If you look at depression era Gold prices you can see a similar pattern that we have today. And like the 30’s the Gold bubble will burst and people will be very sad.
“With zero held by government - isn’t this low ‘private stocks’ number a recipe for panic?”
Indeed it is. Although I belioeve in self reliance, it’s noteworthy to mention that (as far as I know, I no longer remember the source, however) once upon a time the U.S. government had a emergency supply of food for several years for the populace, it was whittled down to a year, then 6 months, then weeks, then it ceased being a time frame and started to be measured in quantity. It’s been reduced and reduced over time, until it’s literally peanuts. I think 25lbs or so, and a sack of flour, or something to that effect, IIRC.
I wonder if the canned goods I put in my fallout shelter in the 50's are still good ...
I’m sorry for the tear, but I hope it broght some fond memories.
“And, there was always an empty concentrated orange juice can next to the sink, where my parents would pour bacon grease and other oils. This was never used. I don’t know what they did with it.”
This reminds me of our one grease jar, also never used. Also, my great-grandmother was known to “collect” items that seemed free to her (especially as she aged). I remember one day in the car she was clutching her purse tightly and it was clinking. My grandmother asked her to open it, and it was filled with ashtrays from the casino.
My grandmother asked he mother, “Why did you take all these ashtrays” and she replied, and I quote (best from memory), “What, these cute little candy dishes, I thought I could use them on the nightstand.”
I’m glad your parent’s passed on a lot to you. It’s funny, my land lady is always suprised at the things I thought most poeple could do, like sew (I can only mend holes and such), and garden and cook, and that I wanted to can. She said she never met a man my age who took an interest in old fashioned skills (She’s in her 80’s I believe). Lucky for me my dad dragged me along whether I liked it or not, and my mom kept her sense of humor to break the tension (My mom is disabled, and has been since I was very young, so my dad did most of the teaching/chores, but I still love them both, so very much! Both have given me tools to make the best of what life gives you).
Thanks for the info! We currently have a mint bush that someone planted which is running rampant in even the poor spot it’s in (Behind a garbage can, in the shade of another building), and gets no water, so I dunno how.
I’ll remember and put them in a bed or in a pot. I’ve always bought seeds from local stores, but if anyone can recommend a good one, I’d be obliged.
Well, blacksmithing and Welding require a few tolls and some guidance (I’d say), but soapmaking seems pretty straight forward. I hear it stinks to high heaven though, but that you can use vegetable oil (if done right), bacon grease, tallow, or many things. A local lady hear uses frozen goats milk, and people pay if I recall about $8 a bar, or $20 for three.
I remember my great-grandma’s lye soap she brought with her when she moved from Ohio to Vegas, and one of the bars lasted 4-5 years. (It was a big brick, but still). It seemed unending, which I’m told is very true of homemade lye soap vs. the soap we buy in stores.
We’re lead by short sighted people. If everything goes well no one will notice. If things start to go bad, it’ll be a horror. I don’t get it either.
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.