Happy New Year!

17 years ago

Happy New Year all!

Just sitting here pondering the upcoming year. With the financial state of the country and rising food costs, I am wondering how this will change what we do with our gardens. It is definitely impacting mine.

Last year I went from a small salsa garden to converting half of my back yard into a vegetable garden, hanging grow lights in my basement, vermicomposting and using mostly heirloom seeds. It was a huge learning experience and we had a lot of food from the garden. This year, I am hoping to be more efficient and have less waste. I haven't canned so I am looking at doing that this year. In times past we ate fresh, froze it or dehydrated it.

I would like to save seeds from my heirlooms also. That means I will have to look more closely at what cross-pollinates and settle on one variety of those, I suppose.

Anyway, time to start planning and I am very excited about it!

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Comments (4)

jungseed
17 years ago
Happy New Year to all. Hoping your gardens grow abundant and your lives with it.
pondwelr
17 years ago
Hey birdie, glad to hear that some of you young folks are inspired to garden to eat.
As a child, my mom baked bread every other day, and we had a huge garden. We also had a coal or wood fired furnace. No AC of course.
Growing up in the 50s' was so much fun! And a transition from the 'olden days' to the new age of TV. HA!

Todays economy may teach all of us to go back to the earth
for sustinance.

Things we loved from my moms canning shelf:
tomatoes, of course
dill pickles
canned apples
canned applesauce
beans and peas
horseradish
I dont ever remember growing peppers or zukes or cauliflower or broccoli.

Carrots and potatoes were stored in big sand boxes in the cellar.

Good for you Birdie, for getting into self sustinance, no matter how small the garden.
Pondy
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heartsease
17 years ago
I've been interested in becoming more self substaining since I like to eat. I've planted an orchard, berry patches, have a flock of chickens and a large vegetable plot. I also would like to learn more about saving seed. I think the Victory Gardens of old are going to make a resurgence with this economy. To me, this would be a welcome change to growing grass for lawns. You can grow a great amount of food in very little space but yes, it is work.
birdiewi
Original Author
17 years ago
Pondy, I have been baking bread this winter. Was going to get a new bread machine since my old one was so terrible I never used it. Decided to do it by hand instead and I love it! Mostly making a simple hard whole wheat and whole grain rye. The house smells so nice :) We heat with a wood burner but not exclusively.

Hearts, I want chickens soo bad! Live in the town limits and can't have them here. Was thinking of working to get the ordinance changed like they did in Madison, WI but I will just keep getting my eggs from my friend that lives outside of town. I am a vegetarian so I don't need the meat. I CAN have bees however. I have a friend in the bee business and he is going to set me up with a couple of hives in the spring.

Happy gardening!