Auntieemma,

I'm sorry to hear that your bushel gourds didn't make it, but it was awfully early to have gourds in the ground. For what it is worth, I usually don't plant seeds of gourds, winter squash, pumpkins, summer squash and melons until the soil temperatures reach 70 degrees, which is usually May in our county. I have found that when I plant them earlier, they tend to freeze quite easily and also just don't grow well in colder soils, even if they do sprout.

I always do quite a bit of canning, freezing and drying of fruits and veggies, so can't say I'll necessarily be doing more, but I will be doing a lot.

It does seem like a lot more people are growing veggies and fruit, and perhaps planning to preserve more of the harvest this year, and who can blame them? Rising gasoline prices and increased demand are driving produce prices quite high. And, too, so many people are seeing their budgets strained by the increased cost of gasoline (and other stuff too) that I think they hope to save $$$ by growing some of their own food.

Dawn

I plan ongrowing gourds and pumpkins this year as well as veggies. I bought a 3 pack from atwoods for 79 cents. I am keeping them watered inside my "plant room" near a sunny window until it is warm enough to plant. Like Dawn says, a soil temp of approx. 70 degrees. Good luck!

Kim

Yes, I knew I was to early on the gourds, but hoped that I would get lucky and at least a couple of them would make it and produce the huge gourds that I keep dreaming of. I got 2 last year that were the largest I have ever grown, one is large enough to make a small table if I put it in a Asian fishbowl stand. I plan on woodburning cherry blossom branches on it.

I use my dehydrator in the summer to dry herbs and this year I hope to have lots to do. High prices are certainly why I will be doing more preserving of natures bounty this summer. When I have to pay $2.38 for one red pepper it's time for me to take serious interest in the DIY of growing and preserving foods. We are even learning a little about building a solar greenhouse. Probably not this year, but for sure in the not to distant future. One of our local sources for seeds/plants says that this year he is selling everything as soon as he puts it out. He says everyone seems to be planting more than ever before.

I plant everything early and even I - the King of early planting am not even considering them for another month or so.

As for canning?

I am not planning on canning any more than I have been for the past 20 years or so. I grow about 80% of what I eat. I can about 90% of what I eat. I work and barter for the other stuff.

The freezing part?

I tried that last year and lost every bit of it due to a personality conflict with our local electricity gods.

It was a tough winter for me.

I now have solar panels, and almost have my wind turbine almost ready to fly. Mostly just to let me watch TV on occasion. I use the puter down here at the local library. I cook and heat with wood, and in the summer I can veggies and meat by using a propane burner designed for deep frying turkeys, but can also do it with wood. My lighting is supplied with oil lamps. I also catch my own water.

I pretty much don't care what people think about me any more, because when the ice storms hit this past winter - I had food, I had heat, and I had lights. Not too many other folks around here did.

They was all going to the red cross and whining for help.

Just like the rest of the storms I have weathered.

Not this boy.

Auntie Em,

Well, sometimes planting early pays off, but I guess it didn't this year.

I have noticed that the vegetable seed racks, in particular, have been wiped out this year.

A lot of people here in Love County used to have big veggie gardens, and slowly the numbers have dwindled throughout the 2000s, perhaps because of all the severe droughts we've had since about 1998. This year, a lot more people seem to be planting veggie gardens again, and there seems to be increased interest in herbs as well.

Some of my friends here who don't have veggie gardens keep asking if I am going to "have a big garden again" this year (as if there has ever been a year when I didn't have one!). They ask it in a hopeful tone of voice....sort of a hint....and I tell them that they ought to plant a garden of their own. I am afraid they are thinking I'll be giving them some of the surplus produce, but...with the way grocery prices are this year, I think I'll be giving away less and preserving more.

Dawn

Trubbadubbadoo, sounds like you made it through the ice storms like I did. The VG was on an out of town job and I was alone. Didn't have one bit of trouble, used the fireplace insert for heat/cooking/bathwater and the 3 dogs kept me warm on the couch each night. Actually, the quiet was kind of nice. One day while getting firewood I looked up and a red fox was standing by my lilac bush just looking at me. When we made eye contact it was almost like he was saying, "Can you believe this weather?!". It was such a treat to get to see him that I laughed and that sent him on his way. I wouldn't want to go through something like that very often, but it's nice to find out that I can make it on my own when I have to. I made it without electricity, water, phone, car, television, etc. just fine.

Dawn, my uncle used to plant a huge garden and loved to share, but there were a few who weren't satisfied with being able to come get some of whatever was ready, no, they wanted him to pick it, clean it, and cart it to them. Most of that kind were at least 30 years younger than he was. I don't know why more people don't garden, to me the gardening experience is a constant learning process. All of mine is by trial and error, but there is no greater feeling than harvesting your own fruits and vegetables. And what satisfaction to see your own efforts in jars on the pantry shelf.

I read in another posting about how you group things together in the garden and that is what I have been planning for this year. More herbs mingled in among the other vegetables and planting closer together to try for greater water retention and weed control.

It seems like I am hearing a lot about the price of food this year. Especially the fresh produce, so I am not surprised that folks are planning to expand their gardens. My father in law is even planting one at the senior apartments he lives in.

Auntie Em,

I have always shared anything and everything I grow with family, neighbors, friends, DH's co-workers, etc. I think sharing is part of the fun of growing, BUT I have noticed the last 2 or 3 years that certain people seem to think my garden is their garden and act as though they have a right to a certain share of what I grow even though they aren't doing any of the work or sharing any of the costs.

Well, you know what....that attitude has begun to tick me off, and I have begun giving away less and less to people who don't have a garden. If they love home-grown produce so much, it is time for them to have their own garden. (Maybe I am just getting crankier as I get older, but it seems like everyone wants something for nothing any more.)

I do have some wonderful friends who have gardens and fruit trees of their own, and we exchange surplus produce with one another all the time. That's obviously not the same thing, though, as our garden-sharing is a two-way street.

This year, when any of those non-gardening friends start dropping hints about needing some tomatoes or squash or okra or whatever, I'm pretty much just going to tell them that I hope they can find some at a farmer's market or something, because all mine is going to be canned or frozen. I'm tired of being the little red hen.

Trubby,

You certainly are self-sufficient and I think that is wonderful. We almost bought land in a really remote location that probably would have taken us off the power grid, but ultimately we decided the drive would have been too far for DH to make from that location to his job in Dallas. And, that land flooded big, big time last year, so I was glad we bought this place instead.

I could live off the grid as long as I had power for the computer. Well, I'd miss the air conditioning, but I guess I'd get used to it.

Dawn

Dawn - I'd really love to come see you and your garden this summer. A little trip south would be just the ticket for me, to get outside the city, and see if I can find some "weeds" that the butterflies might like (seeds only; I don't dig plants from their native sites).

Wanted to ask you a question, too, about a good "all-season" tomatoe to plant. As I mentioned earlier, I do have Early Girl, but want something to span the early production and fall production. Would Big Boy be a good one for me, or some heirloom?

I have never canned anything in my life, but wish I were as talented as you ladies. I have limited space to give to even my tomatoes, but am trying some banana peppers (in the same family as tomatoes) this year too.

Things are just so expensive at the market, Auntiemma, if I could grow and harvest enough veggies, I would. But, I plan on hitting the farmer's market here in OKC. It's a pretty good sized one.

Trubb - you are the Grizzly Adams sort, aren't you? Admirable, very admirable! I've always had sort of a little dream about living the way the Amish do, but even they are starting to resort to the use of computers and capitalism.

I always pictured myself as the eccentric herb lady, with my cats, critters, butterflies, and herbs, both medicinal and culinary. I want that rocking chair on the front porch and the sweet aroma of the great outdoors all around me. But I don't think I could give up my indoor outhouse.

Susan

Yeah, Auntie Em (love that handle of yours) I made it just fine. Better than most I suppose. Even with the "three dog nights" we had (seven or eight dog nights anyone?) I was toasty warm and comfy.

I learned a lot about the people around me during that time. I did a lot of helping folks out during that week or so. But I'll bet you that if I needed something (really needed) that not one of them would even remember my name.

One thing I really noticed was the people with children. They were at their wits end without electricity. Instead of sitting down and teaching their kids to crochet or reading with them - they whined and complained about how tough it was have kids and no TV.

TV was happening outside all around them, yet they were more worried about if they were going to miss 'Survivor' or not.

Dawn,

I don't think anyone is truly self sufficient.

We all need things that we cannot grow or produce on our own. I use the internet to learn. I cannot manufacture the necessary parts for a computer. The parts I am using to build my wind turbine were made by others.

I did not go off grid by choice. It was forced on me and was partly due to my stubbornness. The major part of it was due to small town politics and nepotism.

Susan,

Not so much Grizzly Adams. More like a leper I would say. I just need the bell. Matter of fact, I think that is the next mean thing I am going to do to the people who run this town. Get me a bell and walk up and down in front of city hall hollering out "unclean".

What are they going to do?

Shut my electricity and water off?

Hee-hee.

I'll let y'all know how that goes once I get out of jail.

I like the rocker on the porch idea. Especially during a nice summer storm. Big ol' glass of iced tea. Dogs all piled up.

As for sharing my produce this year? Ladies, except for the kids - not one pea goes to anyone. They have come to expect it. They even drive up and honk their horns. They want me to come out to them, then go pick it and bring it to their car for them.

I am sorry if it sounds harsh - but I would rather chop it all down and compost it.

I dug the garden. I built the compost piles. I hand pick the bugs. Except for a few kids, not one person has ever offered to help me - but they sure line up for fresh veggies. One person even had the gall to tell me that "my asparagus was looking pretty good." I said "yep, gonna taste good too."

If they want fresh asparagus, then by golly they can go through what I did to establish a bed of their own.

I know I sound like a cranky old man, but I have come to the conclusion that it is not my age that makes me cranky - it is the years of people taking advantage of me.

Susan,

You'll have to come down this summer when it is good and hot 'cause that's when the butterfly-type native plants seem to finally outlast the grass and get a decent enough size that I can see them. Last year I saw plants in August that I hadn't noticed the rest of the year. I have no idea what they were, but they did seem to draw the butterflies.

For a tomato plant that will give good summer and fall production, I'd go with Celebrity or Better Boy. I like Big Boy, too, but it won't make as many tomatoes in the heat most years as the smaller ones do. If you want an heirloom that will be a good producer, you can't go wrong with Bradley Pink or Arkansas Traveler (technically not an heirloom, but that's a long story) or Porter (small tomatoes, slightly larger than cherries). If you happen to come across Brandy Boy tomatoes (I grow my own from seed, but have never seen them available commercially as plants), there are a modern-day Burpee hybrid that have flavor very similar to Brandywine but have the disease resistance and production of a modern hybrid. They are quickly becoming one of my workhorse tomatoes.

Jeff,

Well, you are more self-sufficient than we are! It is a shame that it was forced on you, but sometimes those things happen.

I like the idea of a rocker on the porch too, but around here, no one sits still long enough to rock.

We have a porch swing and nice lawn furniture but it mostly serves as "cat furniture" because we're always too busy doing something to sit down. Well, sometimes, in the evenings in the summer, we do sit outside and watch the Purple Martins and the bats and then, later on, the hummingbird moths. Usually we are outside sitting like this after a rainstorm has just ended and it is too wet to mow or work in the garden.

And, I agree, that the 'crankiness' is due to years of people taking kindness and produce-sharing for granted. I feel the same way.

Dawn

No one has ever come by to ask me to share flowers or anything (don't grow enough veggies to worry about it). That said, I would always share if I have enough. I'm a believer in karma, though. Those people that impose on others will somehow be returned in kind, but not by me.

Sharing is part of gardening IMHO. Especially with these tough times upon us now. I also visit with folks I see about planting for the butterflies, and offer to share the seeds and/or plants. I call it paying forward.

It makes me feel humble to know that I can add something to someone's day, whether fruit, vegetable, or flower. I have given away so many plants thru the Garden Web, seeds, etc., and just never expect anything back. If I do get something in return, I am thrilled, of course, but do not EXPECT it. Expectations will get you every time, and then it becomes a resentment. If I have a resentment boiling inside, I am not living in the now, the present, and I'm letting someone else live "rent free" in my head.

Just my thoughts on it. Not everyone has the same opinion or mindset.

Susan

Susan,

For a long time I had the same mindset. However, the last few years, I have run into so many "takers" (freeloaders) who have an air of entitlement that I just decided that I was not going to play their game. I think it is that air of entitlement they have that bothers me more than anything.

And, choosing to cut off some of the freeloaders has been REALLY hard for me because I grew up in a gardening family who'd give anyone the shirts off their backs. For me, the decision that I would not enable anyone to be a freeloader has been a healthy decision and one I am comfortable with. And, once I stopped giving away bags of produce to everyone who stopped by to say "hi", a lot of them quit stopping by.....so I know they were really stopping by to say hi to the garden, and not to me. LOL

Dawn

It sounds like this subject really has everyone struggling lately. I remember running around playing as a kid and coming up on a veggie garden and plucking a cherry tomato or grape or even a strawberr or two--now I really feel like a horses a_ _!! I am sorry to every person I ever filched a goddy from!!!

Renee, I have to laugh at your response. It made me remember some to the antics I pulled as a child. Like the time my girlfriend and I were out strolling in the woods and came upon these things that had tons of tiny fish in them. We felt so sorry for the little fishies that we opened the boxes and let them swim free. We felt so noble and kept waving and calling, "goodbye little fishies, swim back to your families!" Little did we know that the man who lived in the house on the hill was watching the entire business through his binoculars. He trapped minnows and sold them to the bait shop in town. Brother, did we ever get it when he told my girlfriends mother. And another friend and I used to pick grapes from a neighbors vines every time we walked by there, also his blackberries. I never gave it a thought at the time, never even thought of the work involved in the growing of such luscious fruit. Boy, come to think of it, I think my friends and I were real brats in grade school!! ;~)

Y'all, I think there is a big difference between the innocent sort of "thoughtless" actions of children, and the type of behavior we've discussed where people expect to get something-for-nothing after you've done all the labor (and gone to the expense) to create and cultivate that something.

I used to tell people to just stop by the garden and help themselves to what they wanted....and that used to work, "back in the day" when people had class and showed restraint. Nowadays, though, if I said that, I think I'd have no garden left.

MOST people are wonderful and do not take advantage, but there is a certain percentage that will take everything you have if you're not careful, and I've learned this the hard way.

I do love having children visit. The look on their face when they pick a ripe watermelon or a bucket of cherry tomatoes.....or find eggs for themselves right there in the hen's nesting box is just priceless.

Dawn

Well, everybody, I've been busy the last couple of days. But I have to chime in on this one because I still have my nosey, manipulative neighbor across the street! I didn't have a good relationship with my mother and this lady is so much like her that she pushes my buttons all the time without even knowing it. They even share the same birthday, how about that one?

I won't bore you all with the details, but we have to be on our guard all the time to keep ourselves from becoming this woman's unpaid help. One summer she tried everything she could think of to make me give her some of my tomatoes and I got stubborn and didn't even give her one. She is so fakey friendly, it's all to get something. Sometimes we do things for her when she asks simply because it's small stuff. But when we do the small stuff she asks for progressively bigger stuff till we have to just say no. She's not that much older than DH and me, and we have our disablities, too, though not as bad as hers.

It's just a shame how full this world is of the "takers". I have neighbors next door that nobody likes. They are loud and hateful, they sleep during the day and make noise at night, once had 12 dogs in their back yard, all barkers, and they have posted "no trespassing" signs all over their dinkly little yard (I don't know anyone who'd WANT to go in their yard, there's so much dog poo and junk). Last fall I noticed all of a sudden they've got the same kind and color of hibiscus growing at their back fence that I have growing inside my chain-link yard. Do you suppose they trespassed onto MY property? And last summer someone chopped off the head of my tallest, nicest Mammoth Sunflower during the night.

It's good to share if you can do so with a happy heart. I give my extra tomatoes to two widows who live around the corner from me. They are always so grateful, it makes me feel good. I make jam and give it to our grandson's scout leader, and to some people at Church. They'll give me the empty jar back and I'll usually give them another jar full. But if anyone gets to the point where they start making demands, then I'm done. There's a line to be crossed between being appreciative and mooching. And I'm truly sick of people using their kids to make people give them things "for the kids", so they can spend more money on beer and cigarettes. One year a family came to my yard sale and I had made some muffins. The kids were practically drooling over the muffins and the parents were yelling at them to "get away from there". When I asked if the kids could have a muffin the answer was no till I said there was no charge and then, well, it was OK. Those kids stuffed those muffins into their mouths like they hadn't eaten in days. Made me so mad, it was all I could do to keep myself in check. --Ilene

I think it is interesting that so many more people are buying chickens, starting a garden, and have a desire to can and dry food this year. In addition, people with gardens want to grow more and are seeing a need to preserve their own produce for later eating. I think all of that is wise. So many people are feeling a real "pinch" this year because of the high price of food and fuel.

Jeff - I don't have a desire to be off of the grid, but I can take care of myself for the short term without electricty. We had no power for six days in January 2007 because of a huge ice storm. Our house was all electric when we moved in (except for a fireplace). During some renovation, I asked my helper to install a gas wall heater in my house. The gas line was already there so it was an easy task. That one stove, running constantly, was enough to keep the pipes from freezing in our house. We closed the door and moved out. We have a little "bunkhouse" (not fancy enough to be called a guest house) that has a gas heater and a gas waterheater. It is stocked with lanterns and oil. I had hoped to have a small cook stove in there but it was at the shop at the time. My husband brought in the propane cook stove. We moved it in front of the washer and dryer (pretty useless without power) and cooked on that stove. It is stand-up height and has two burners. With the addition of the camp oven we fed ourselves and sometimes the neighbors. At night we played games by lamplight and went to bed early.

By the time we were starting to worry about our freezer and refrigerators a friend brought a generator for our use. It was big enough that our house and the house next door could save our food and even get a couple of hours of TV at night so we could check the news and learn the condition of the other towns around us. When we were "fully charged" we sent it across the street where a lady with cancer was in the final days of her life.

We felt that we were 95 percent ready for that emergency. It took a lot of time just to survive, but we were comfortable and had fun. We have since added a few things and are picking up a new generator on Saturday.

When we would go to bed at night, we could hear limbs breaking and trees falling and it was too dark to see where they were.

It never hurts to have plenty of food on hand along with those things you need to have to sustain life in emergencies. In NE Oklahoma many have learned the hard way in the last few years with ice storms and flooding. Everyone should have a 72-hour survival kit which includes food that doesn't have to be cooked, and water.

Gardeners are in-tune with the land and their instincts are telling them to plant and store. I hope they all listen!

I lived in a foreign country during a national emergency and I could see out my kitchen window and see the people lined up for a block to get inside a small grocery store for food. I was grateful to have plenty of supplies in my home. If you see that just one time, you will never forget. Our country has changed in the last few years and we must change with it. Preparation is now a neccessity.

Since I am on my soapbox, I must say one more thing. Recently, someone who posts on several forums was a victim of what might just be called a cruel joke. Someone used his UserName, but with one additional letter added at the end so it was hard to notice that it was different. They also signed messages with his first name and posted on three forums (where he always posts) that he had a lung infection and was saying his good-bye to the other forum members. He said that he had been required to move from his home, burn all of his plants, and that they thought his illness was a result of the chemicals he used in gardening, etc. etc. etc. People immediately started to respond to him. Mostly it was a sympathy type thing and good wishes, but one lady said she and her son had a cough they couldn't get rid of and she didn't know you could get something from your plants, etc. and they were going to the doctor the next day for tests. He had found the message on two forums, and I found it on a third. All have now been removed. Terrorism has many forms. Making you afraid to do what you would normally do everyday is one form of terrorism. Be aware that these things do happen, and don't let them throw you into a panic.

OK OK - I know that is more than you wanted to hear, but listen to that "inner voice" that is telling you to plant and keep what you plant. This could be the year you need it.

Carol,

Like you, we keep a lot of emergency supplies on hand and always have lots of food that doesn't require cooking or only requires minimal cooking.....like on a camp stove. I even keep non-perishable food and bottled water in the tornado shelter just in case. If we did have a tornado tht destroyed the house, at least we'd have enough food to last a day or two. I also have a "go" bag packed with extra clothing and medicine that I can grab and take with me at a moment's notice.

We haven't had the kind of ice storms here that y'all have experienced in recent years, although Ardmore did have a pretty bad one several years ago. The edge of that ice storm did cause some tree damage in Marietta but didn't bring down the power lines. I do think some people in Ardmore may have been without power for several days.

About that "cruel joke"....oh, my, I am astonished that someone would be so hateful. I assume this was reported to the administrators at GardenWeb so they could close the bogus account. I guess that if any of us see some odd comment pop up on a username of someone we know, we need to doublecheck the username and make sure it is not a bogus post. I just can't believe somebody would do something like this. I hope your friend is OK. I can imagine the whole thing was pretty upsetting.

Dawn

Actually the man was not a friend of mine that had the "cruel joke" played on him. He is a retired gentleman in Arkansas who is always on the forums to answer questions for people, much like you do. I just happened to be reading the forums shortly after he found himself "dying" online. He had responded on the two forums to let people know he was OK and had notified Gardenweb.

I started looking at the source of the message and could see that they had registered only that day, claiming to be from Albania. Then I looked a bit more and located the third forum and notified him. My point was that the intent is to create fear and to make you uncomfortable in your normal comfortable zone. It would be a sad situation if someone never gardened again because they became "afraid of their plants" like the messages were suggesting that they should.

The internet is a great teaching tool, but also a great opportunity to spread fear and false information.

As for my part, it was just a warning that when you receive a prompting to "plant and store", you probably should "plant and store", regardless of where you think the prompting came from. Just my two cents. Carol