Hello Everyone,
Well, I got outside today and got my greenhouse plastic up and covered my containers. It took several days of getting them ready, and laying in compost, and worm castings, and a little leftover chicken compost someone gave me, did not want to waste it.
I planted some of my mesclun, and some left over lettuces and a mixture of butterheads, I hope that they germinate as some of the seeds I had were several years old, but what the hey, if it does, it does, if it doesn't then I will start new. I will hopefully have my seed order in the end of this year.
This year, I planted some garlic scapes I cut last year. I totally forgot about them in my garden cupboard under the car port. I opened up the cabinet and caught the whiff of garlic, and I immediately remembered the scapes I had. Several years ago, I cut some off and tossed them in my herb bed I had on the south side of the house, and then in the spring, they came up and gave me wonderful little chive- like greens that were wonderful in mashed potatoes and dips. So this year, I put them in the end pot on the east side of the trailer and covered all the pots with plastic. Now, we'll see if they come up.
Other than that, not too much going on. Just busy with my chef clients, and the always going on's of house work. Its never done.
We are supposed to have a "change" in the weather the end of this week. The weather geeks aren't sure what its going to do so I got my old covers and blankets in case it gets cold again. We are starting into the pattern of when we get bad spring snow storms, which is usually in March, and April, so best to be ready at the helm.
I will keep all posted as to how the container garden does. Each year is different, and some things do well, while others flop. I am not a good person when it comes to logging and posting journal things. But with my blog, I will try to keep better track of plants and conditions.
I know that what I use for garden containers looks, well like what trailer park trash uses. But unfortunately, being pretty short on cash to buy fancy pots or buy expensive lumber to make beds, its all I have to use. I ran an ad on Craig's list to see if I could find someone who was getting rid of old galvanized feed bunks or tanks. I had someone email me that he had feed bunks that were plastic, and were 16" deep, 30" wide, and 12 ft long, they would be perfect BUT, he wanted $65 a piece and at this time, it is a no can do. I am coming up on my cancer anniversary and I have blood work and some tests that I have to do yearly and so I can't do it at the moment. I guess my health is more important so I can blog and make everyone life miserable. lol
Anyway, I had better go, I am physically beat, just the little bit I did today, wore me out. My back is screaming, and I think a warm shower and jammies are in order with some cocoa.
So I wish everyone a wonderful rest of the week, and a great weekend, hopefully getting in some planting and gardening.
Showing posts with label seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seeds. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thoughts and what's going on Part 2
Dear Friends,
My apologies for the delay, seemed that in between trying to finish outside work and finish a little bit of canning of tomatoes from the neighbor (sorry, but I'm a sucker for free food, I do not like to waste anything) , and trying to finish my posting to all of you, I picked up a "little" flu bug. It didn't go into the full blown flu but boy, did I have a tummy ache and the achy joints and headache and general ill feeling that you get. I generally do not get sick so to speak, but a few days ago, I had to go to the dollar store that we have here to pick up some plastic wrap to finish some meat wrapping for the freezer and there was a woman who had 3 kids who didn't need to be running around in the first place, they were all sick and I tried to avoid them, but you know cooties, how they float around in the air! So out come the herbal teas I have, the Echinacea, the Elderberry syrup, and some juice, and aspirin and just rest. It sure doesn't get the work done though, don't have a Cabana boy running around. lol
I wanted to sort of finish my posting on the big 4 packing houses and something else that goes hand in hand with this: Please re-read the post if you need to, but on top of the big 4, pretty much ALL of our food is genetically altered by some of the biggest names in the seed business, Monsanto being at the head of the class in GM seeds and promoting their claims of safe seeds. Some of the others that we have here are, Cargill, and then you again get into the food companies like Cargill, ConAgra, which goes hand in hand with the big 4 packing houses, and you basically have a recipe for a boatload of disaster for all of us. Monsanto promote seeds all over the world, and from what I have read, their seeds are back-firing and making growing and secondary things coming out from the use of these seeds even worse.
In the new issue of Mother Earth News, (http://www.motherearthnews.com/), there are several articles pertaining to mega farms and an article which pertains to systemic pesticides that are "in" the seeds already, the article is named "Chemicals you can't wash off". Then the article of factory farms is called "The danger lurking in factory farm chicken". Go to their site and search these articles and they will be for this Oct/Nov 10 issue. Please read these if you can. Then search for more articles about this control that the packing houses and the seed companies have on our food. I am sure most of you keep track of GM food, there is an article out on the GM salmon that the FDA wants to throw on your table also.
I probably shouldn't even be talking about this, to me, it seems that you do not have control over your food except if you grow it yourself, or support your local growers and farmers. And I'm also sure that like all of you, I some what do not have control of what I buy because I am on a limited income, and have little choice here where I live, especially during the late winter, when I do not have good access to fresh greens or fruit. I get very frustrated a lot from this, I am envious of some of my readers who have fresh milk and cream, and have farms who are very self-sustaining as best as they can. This is a worrisome thing for me as I really feel that the gov is controlling pretty much everything that we eat or make you eat, and those of us who are urban or limited communities, are really at the mercy of others who truly don't care about anything but the dollar, or euro or anything else that matters. Then the gov wants to control the small farms that want to bring fresh milk and cream and fresh eggs and other farm fresh items to you, because of the food safety issues which are brought about by the big 4 packing houses and the big mega seed companies in the first place that make food unsafe and is processed in unclean and unhealthy facilities in the second place, but makes the small farms responsible for it like they did the bad deeds to start.
I'm not even sure where this will go, I don't like to speak of politics at all, but I guess, if we want change, please go to the polls on Nov 2nd, and vote. That is all I will say about this subject, as I don't want to give opinions about government issues, though they are important to all of us. Even if we are all different, and have different views, we still are seeking a simple and less stressful life that is more fulfilling that the materialistic realm that others live in. I love to hear what all of you are trying to achieve, again, we are all different, and seeking different but for the goal of a more simplistic lifestyle.
Going back to the food issues, (sorry for the wandering, I have a fuzzy head) I guess, we just have to seek out food for our families and seek harder, look farther, do more for ourselves if possible, but yet, IF we have to fall back on some things to get us through till next year, seek out more organic from a health food store or a co-op, then so be it. It is not the end of the world, it is not taboo, and if we have to buy some things from the conventional grocery, we pick what we can, as healthy as we can, or simply go without till the next growing season and better access.We need to read more and look into the companies that provide us these foods or mixes, and do more searching on our own about these companies and asking more questions, and the best yet, the power of OUR dollar, telling these companies that we will not buy until they change ingredients, (like high fructose corn syrup). I have called several companies or email them and told them that I refuse to purchase any more of their products until they change the ingredients and on some, they have done so, so I guess the power of the voice and the dollar do work, but for how long, who knows.
This also is following something that we in the state of Nebraska are dealing with. The building of a gas pipeline through one of the purest water holdings in the nation, The Ogallala Aquifer. It seems that this Canadian company wants to run a pipeline right through our source of fresh water. This source of water runs from Nebraska, some parts of South Dakota, through Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Texas and is pure to its form. This company is not addressing the issues that pertain to leaks in the pipeline or other safety issues, (the Gulf gusher), and is just basically trying to just ram this down the state of Nebraska's throat. As I read or hear more, I will keep you posted on this. This is not being talked about much by the state government, and I assure you, that the state's citizens are not happy at all about this either.
Anyway, I think that this is enough of the ranting for now. There are better things to talk about now. All of you will think that is all I do....
Well, like I said at the beginning of the post, I have been trying to clean up my garden areas and the now dead plants the freeze took out. It sure looks pretty sad around here now, everything is looking like November now, I'm not ready to be forced inside yet, we have been having very cold weather now, but the days are nice and warm by early afternoon, so I will resume my clean-up this afternoon and hopefully be done.
Well, this post was long winded, and probably will make someone mad, hope not, but if it does, I'm sorry.
So, to all, please have a great weekend, what ever the plans, if you are going out for Halloween, please be careful, have fun, and don't eat too much sugar, or "you'll get worms", like my grandmother would tell me. lol
Take care all
My apologies for the delay, seemed that in between trying to finish outside work and finish a little bit of canning of tomatoes from the neighbor (sorry, but I'm a sucker for free food, I do not like to waste anything) , and trying to finish my posting to all of you, I picked up a "little" flu bug. It didn't go into the full blown flu but boy, did I have a tummy ache and the achy joints and headache and general ill feeling that you get. I generally do not get sick so to speak, but a few days ago, I had to go to the dollar store that we have here to pick up some plastic wrap to finish some meat wrapping for the freezer and there was a woman who had 3 kids who didn't need to be running around in the first place, they were all sick and I tried to avoid them, but you know cooties, how they float around in the air! So out come the herbal teas I have, the Echinacea, the Elderberry syrup, and some juice, and aspirin and just rest. It sure doesn't get the work done though, don't have a Cabana boy running around. lol
I wanted to sort of finish my posting on the big 4 packing houses and something else that goes hand in hand with this: Please re-read the post if you need to, but on top of the big 4, pretty much ALL of our food is genetically altered by some of the biggest names in the seed business, Monsanto being at the head of the class in GM seeds and promoting their claims of safe seeds. Some of the others that we have here are, Cargill, and then you again get into the food companies like Cargill, ConAgra, which goes hand in hand with the big 4 packing houses, and you basically have a recipe for a boatload of disaster for all of us. Monsanto promote seeds all over the world, and from what I have read, their seeds are back-firing and making growing and secondary things coming out from the use of these seeds even worse.
In the new issue of Mother Earth News, (http://www.motherearthnews.com/), there are several articles pertaining to mega farms and an article which pertains to systemic pesticides that are "in" the seeds already, the article is named "Chemicals you can't wash off". Then the article of factory farms is called "The danger lurking in factory farm chicken". Go to their site and search these articles and they will be for this Oct/Nov 10 issue. Please read these if you can. Then search for more articles about this control that the packing houses and the seed companies have on our food. I am sure most of you keep track of GM food, there is an article out on the GM salmon that the FDA wants to throw on your table also.
I probably shouldn't even be talking about this, to me, it seems that you do not have control over your food except if you grow it yourself, or support your local growers and farmers. And I'm also sure that like all of you, I some what do not have control of what I buy because I am on a limited income, and have little choice here where I live, especially during the late winter, when I do not have good access to fresh greens or fruit. I get very frustrated a lot from this, I am envious of some of my readers who have fresh milk and cream, and have farms who are very self-sustaining as best as they can. This is a worrisome thing for me as I really feel that the gov is controlling pretty much everything that we eat or make you eat, and those of us who are urban or limited communities, are really at the mercy of others who truly don't care about anything but the dollar, or euro or anything else that matters. Then the gov wants to control the small farms that want to bring fresh milk and cream and fresh eggs and other farm fresh items to you, because of the food safety issues which are brought about by the big 4 packing houses and the big mega seed companies in the first place that make food unsafe and is processed in unclean and unhealthy facilities in the second place, but makes the small farms responsible for it like they did the bad deeds to start.
I'm not even sure where this will go, I don't like to speak of politics at all, but I guess, if we want change, please go to the polls on Nov 2nd, and vote. That is all I will say about this subject, as I don't want to give opinions about government issues, though they are important to all of us. Even if we are all different, and have different views, we still are seeking a simple and less stressful life that is more fulfilling that the materialistic realm that others live in. I love to hear what all of you are trying to achieve, again, we are all different, and seeking different but for the goal of a more simplistic lifestyle.
Going back to the food issues, (sorry for the wandering, I have a fuzzy head) I guess, we just have to seek out food for our families and seek harder, look farther, do more for ourselves if possible, but yet, IF we have to fall back on some things to get us through till next year, seek out more organic from a health food store or a co-op, then so be it. It is not the end of the world, it is not taboo, and if we have to buy some things from the conventional grocery, we pick what we can, as healthy as we can, or simply go without till the next growing season and better access.We need to read more and look into the companies that provide us these foods or mixes, and do more searching on our own about these companies and asking more questions, and the best yet, the power of OUR dollar, telling these companies that we will not buy until they change ingredients, (like high fructose corn syrup). I have called several companies or email them and told them that I refuse to purchase any more of their products until they change the ingredients and on some, they have done so, so I guess the power of the voice and the dollar do work, but for how long, who knows.
This also is following something that we in the state of Nebraska are dealing with. The building of a gas pipeline through one of the purest water holdings in the nation, The Ogallala Aquifer. It seems that this Canadian company wants to run a pipeline right through our source of fresh water. This source of water runs from Nebraska, some parts of South Dakota, through Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Texas and is pure to its form. This company is not addressing the issues that pertain to leaks in the pipeline or other safety issues, (the Gulf gusher), and is just basically trying to just ram this down the state of Nebraska's throat. As I read or hear more, I will keep you posted on this. This is not being talked about much by the state government, and I assure you, that the state's citizens are not happy at all about this either.
Anyway, I think that this is enough of the ranting for now. There are better things to talk about now. All of you will think that is all I do....
Well, like I said at the beginning of the post, I have been trying to clean up my garden areas and the now dead plants the freeze took out. It sure looks pretty sad around here now, everything is looking like November now, I'm not ready to be forced inside yet, we have been having very cold weather now, but the days are nice and warm by early afternoon, so I will resume my clean-up this afternoon and hopefully be done.
Well, this post was long winded, and probably will make someone mad, hope not, but if it does, I'm sorry.
So, to all, please have a great weekend, what ever the plans, if you are going out for Halloween, please be careful, have fun, and don't eat too much sugar, or "you'll get worms", like my grandmother would tell me. lol
Take care all
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