Mother

I can attest to that. I have a Gemini son who that describes exactly.

The last link Pioneer Woman put up is especially helpful. It is the link to the stealth garden “search” that brings up almost two dozen links. I have been reading through some and found some very interesting info in them along with links within the links. Those links don’t necessarily have the exact words in them but if any of you find a link that is connected please post it here.

Ohhhh, good ones PW. Thanks.

Thanks for the update PW I will try some as soon as I get them growing. I wonder if they would be more tender if cooked a bit longer. Or if parboiled then sautéed? 👍

Hope you all had a SUPER DAY. 🎂🎂🎂🎂🍕🍕🍕🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨

DH and I have only had one credit card and that was over fifty years ago. We bought a couple of appliances from Sears on credit and ended up paying forever to get them paid off. We agreed no more. That was before points and money back plans. We have borrowed to buy our homes and a few vehicles from the bank we’ve done business with for over sixty years but we saved up for everything else. We have debit cards we use often, even online, but that’s it. I’m sure we are probably the last of a dying breed but we pay by cash or check for bills.

I love them MM. Grocery stores are depressing and you’ve managed to make the trip MUCH more fun!! Now I will be looking for ways to liven my own trip!

I did add you to our list. Euphrasyne. I am absolutely delighted at the number of members who are not only doing urban ‘farming’ but sharing their journey with us. 14 and counting. That has led me to wonder how many other Urbanites and physically challenged people like me are changing their lives and their yards/decks to accommodate the rising prices and the supply problems. Each time we are out and about (not often I can assure you) I try to pay attention to yards and decks. I have lived in this area most of my life and I know a lot of the people and I have seen gardens small and large popping up where manicured lawns used to be. I have noticed more vegetable plants in containers on decks and in beds around houses where flowers used to be and each time I want to stop and congratulate the people on their wise choices. Some of this is from necessity but I’m hoping some of it is because people are seeing a future need to be more self reliant. What are you seeing in your area?

That is a SUPER urban garden, Euphrasyne. You WILL let me put you down as an official challenge, won’t you. That garden can give all of us encouragement. I am really enjoying these pictures. I especially like your perpetual projects and am envious of your peach tree. We have pears and apples but the rest of the orchard is now gone.

That is a wonderful story Dee. Just wonderful!

Have a GREAT day.

Congratulations DM4. Now let the fun begin!

That is great to hear, Joyfilled. All of it. They might have a tough start but I’m guessing Mom and DD will be there for them.

I’m not sure on prices this year but I can suggest you check with your county to see what regulations there are for selling various foods. Some you can sell baked goods without kitchen inspections but require it for perishable foods. Some won’t even allow perishables. Best to check first. The people running the Market might have a list of rules as well. Check to see if they have a hand out. That might change your plans.

Pauline, they say the third time is a charm, or some such. I sure hope so for your sake and mine. I will be planting lettuce again for the third time today and hoping it’s not going to be too hot for them. We are having some really strange weather here. Predicted to be 100° here Tuesday and it’s not even mid June yet! Joyfilled, I used to plant tomatillos years ago. I am contemplating trying them again. We will, of course, be needing your salsa recipe in the future.

Ahhh, Euphrasyne, You truly have had a crazy year but from what I’ve been reading in your posts you really have been accomplishing a whole lot despite your set backs. Why not go back and read your posts here for the last year and I would bet you will be able to see just how much. Plus, don’t forget how much you have helped all of us with your knowledge, your recipes, and your encouragement. Happy birthday, Euphrasyne. Celebrate it with your head held high. You have earned it. 🌹

That looks SO good. I was going to have DD pick up ten pounds for us from our Fareway but they needed it more than we did for their freezer. She got us 10 pounds of chicken thighs for $.99 a # instead.

I’m concerned too, Jeepers. I hope everything is okay.

Joyfilled, if you get a cow, please learn to milk her for several reasons. One, there might come a time when you are faced with milking her yourself or resign her to the pain, misery, and possible mastitis if she is not milked. Two, you could be missing the chance to have a hands-on connection to your food which is vital to living a self-reliant lifestyle. And three you could be missing the experience of being loved and accepted as one of that cow’s family. The interdependent dynamics between a family milk animal and it’s human family is unique, to say the least.

Yes it is. Pickling lime, calcium hydroxide and water. I’ve had eggs store up to a year with them but they have to be fresh, unwashed eggs. Doesn’t work with commercial eggs as the coating left on the egg by the laying process has been removed and the lime permeates the egg instead of protecting it. Unwashed fresh eggs can also be stored in baskets in a cool place just as they are for several weeks without spoiling.

Joyfilled, I loved our Guernsey/ jersey cross milk cow. She was so tame we could go out to the pasture and milk her. She gave gallons of rich creamy milk daily and would milk over two years without being bred. We have three small 45 watt solar panels that give us plenty of 12 volt power but we’d have to run an inverter to even consider running our freezers, even our smallest one, as inverters use too much electricity to convert to 110. One of our solar panels is brand new in the box and we are hoping if our hooked up ones are affected the boxed one wouldn’t be. Not sure about batteries but we always keep one or two charged but not connected to anything. I’m not sure there is any definitive answer to that.

I’ve waxed my own home made hard cheese before and didn’t find it any more effective than storing the dry cheese in the rind it develops from the curing process. We had a very cold basement pantry at the time and I stored it on wire racks. I agree with Euphrasyne that if you have access to raw milk or powdered milk it is easy to make fresh cheese but if you are wanting aged , hard cheese without the wait for a survival situation be sure to do a lot of reading first (as I’m sure you do). It won’t save you anything if the cheese is unusable when you need it. You might also think about storing cheese in oil or in brine. Try small batches in different ways to see what works best. As for the predicted Midwest blackouts, that often means periodic electrical loss due to high demand. That might be temporary, random, short term outages while they transfer electricity from one area to another. Unfortunately with the predicted electrical shortages that could mean days. Short term (1-2 days) outages, even if they are often, will not effect your freezer temps greatly if the freezers are insulated with heavy quilts or packing blankets and only opened when absolutely necessary. Longer term for us here usually means using a generator a couple times a day to keep items frozen or a massive canning or dehydrating effort to save what’s in them. Thankfully, hard cheese when frozen can still be stored and used after thawing so not as much of an issue as soft cheese would be.

Roses and dandelion are all fair game for our challenge. I repotted herbs today and now have almost all seedlings out of the greenhouse. I still have to move my ginger plants out yet. Then back to planting more seeds. I am trying not to plant everything all at once. The deer flies have been nasty outside for days but still better than mosquitoes which haven’t found it yet. 🦟 🧯😡