Food prices and fixed incomes - I had a retired neighbor comment that they

thought they'd be pretty comfortable in retirement, but that they've found that they have to watch what they spend. They've really noticed the food prices going up.

That is, if they can find jobs.

and he is in a union (AFSME). I have not suffered from declining Part B in favor of my husband's health care policy. Medicare tells me that I won't be penallized when I do sign up, after hubby is retired.

In the meantime, my $94 a month policy covers drs. visits but also dental and prescription drugs, so I can't complain. Thank god for AFSME!!!

that there are other ways to get food than buying it. (hint: plant a garden)

www.angelfoodministries.com

I have been telling everyone that is struggling about it.

I think you'll see more of it in the future, particularly in rural areas.

i remember seeing the comment in mother earth news, circa around 1976, about the country boy who was tired of people saying, "but you grow your own food for nothing," he finally started telling them that he was going to be one naked damn farmer!

everybody who has time, energy, and MONEY -- and yes, growing a crop successfully requires MONEY, it does not happen by FM "fucking magic" -- is already been doing it, the economy has been in bad shape and wages declining for a long time

a lot of advice given on the internets pisses me off because the advice given is just a polite-appearing way of calling us all idiots

a great many people have full time jobs, and some have two full time jobs, and yet they are supposed to grow food too? fine for a hobby but it isn't economic, have you ever actually grown your own food? it doesn't save money, it COSTS money, the reason for doing it is usually to have better quality food or heirloom food but it does not SAVE money and right now we're in a period where disposable income to spend growing granny's heirloom speckled tomatoes just ain't there

growing food is GAMBLING, ask anyone who actually does it, the crop does not always succeed, so it's a scary moment when you make that investment in time and money for plants/seeds

of time and money as well.

freezer bags require money, but one can also use cheap plastic containers again bought used

preserving the crop is worth every quarter spent per bag

if one doesn't have a yard many things can be used as containers

"have you ever actually grown your own food? it doesn't save money, it COSTS money"


yup, it does cost money to grow food. but then that food that you've just grown turns right around and starts saving you money.


its amazing...

1) a small piece of dirt to plant in
2) a little water
3) seeds

Also nice to have:
4) D-handled shovel
5) hand trowel
6) source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
7) source of trace nutrients, humus

It's not expensive, though you can MAKE it that way if you wish.

But actively discouraging others from doing so by lying about how terribly difficult it is, is frankly disgusting. And yes, I have in the past grown the vast majority of my vegetables OUT OF ECONOMIC NECESSITY. I made time to do so, and I didn't whine about doing it in a way that might lead others to think I was lazy.

It wasn't difficult. It required effort and determination - things which appear to be sadly lacking in certain people.

I never expected others to solve my food problem for me. I considered solving it my personal responsibility.

the slightest suggestion that people get off their asses and put food on their own tables if they are physically able.

I just get tired of it, so I had to respond this time.

is very labor intensive.

some of this does require a modicum of perspiration.

my god, what pioneers we all would have made...

would be hard pressed to work the garden and can and freeze the produce, especially tomatoes and cabbage into 'kraut.

but someone who doesn't do that could.

what is your point?

because someone, somewhere, cannot do this the rest of us should not even try?

being put into a position of being unable to do those things.

Why do you think our manufacturing went overseas? Why do you think public assistance is so underfunded? Why do you think our schools are so abysmal in so many places? Why do you think our government was so unable to help New Orleans following hurricane Katrina, but was so willing to throw boatloads of aid in cash to Bear Stearns?

We are being priced right out of anything but low-education service sector jobs, while at the same time being slowly acclimated to an ever-increasing level of personal, social, and financial control. Our young people are not being adequately taught about our system of government and most specifically the fact that the people are supposed to be in control here. This slow erosion of civic awareness lies at the core of this neofascist phenomenon, and it's the neoconservatives and their ilk who are the driving force behind it all.

More and more people are being forced to take a second or third job (IF they can find a first one!), while at the same time eating their news by the soundbite. Oh, I almost forgot- if you do have a job, the cost of living is rising, but your wages very likely aren't. The middle class is being rapidly squeezed out of existence. Again, by design.

Since entertainment is easy, but news is hard, the media is all too happy to provide "news" in that form. When delivered in such a way, propaganda is easy. People don't have time to fact-check for themselves, to question the line, to discuss and observe as a group. Those who do are called "losers" who need to "get a job/life". Even people who protest on their day off, or before work, are told these lines. The public has swallowed the idea of those who question being idiots or fools hook, line, and sinker.

I personally think this is all by design. Follow the money for your motive.

if you can't do that, its ok. chill.

if you can, why not?

its not anymore complicated than that in this thread...

None of us true urban homesteaders bothers to do all that shredding by hand, lol. I tried it once, and aside from being very tedious, I did a crappy job and the shreds were too thick and uneven.

If you don't have or want or can't afford a food processor, you can buy a krauthobel from Lehman's, or just a little metal shredder. But the Cuisinart works like a dream.

I can make a year's worth of kraut in a couple of hours altogether.

kids are playing Nintendo, so Mom has to do it all.

BTW, I did not imply that everyone should immediately produce and preserve ALL their own food. That is unrealistic, particularly given the "I can't" attitude that seems to prevail these days.

What everyone SHOULD do is produce and preserve as much as they can on their own given their individual circumstances. The suburban McMansion owners are in a particularly good position to grow their own food, and if they are thinking they don't have "time" or that manual labor is beneath their dignity, then perhaps a reassessment of priorities is in order.

For those who don't know where to start, but are willing to LEARN, here's the best single source:
http://www.carlaemery.com/orders.htm

I do and have for years now and its neither difficult nor expensive and I've never lost money planting a garden yet.

it was a complete waste of time and money. Disaster!

Only dropped about 50 bucks cash money, but busted my ass prepping the soil, planting, watering, weeding...

Deer ate the brussel sprouts, the spinach never came up at all, the tomatoes and peppers got some kind of wilt and the squash and melons got some other disease.

All told, I got two handfuls of sugar peas, one eggplant, and one squash out of the whole project.

OK, that was probably pretty much the worst that could happen and if I tried again I would be more succesful, but I would still have to find a way to preserve all that stuff, which takes a lot of time.

I now get frozen and canned veggies when they're on sale-- cheaper than growing and canning my own, and a LOT of time saved.

I only buy for me and for entertaining, potlucks & stuff, but what I do should work for everyone. This week top round London broil was on sale for $1.69. Bought four packages of it and in the freezer they go. Prefer T-Bones? Tough shit! They were 7 bucks a pound. I've got over 20 pounds of pasta and noodles sitting around bought over the past year for 50 cents a pound or less. (Time to stop buying sale pasta.) Butter in the freezer bought at 2 bucks a pound. I've got cans of string beans, carrots, and peas bought for 25-40 cents a can. Jugs of corn and canola oil bought for 2 bucks a gallon. Coffee, tea, corn meal, flour... All this stuff that lasts ONLY gets bought on sale.

(Unless it's something I really, really want. Then after all the pennypinching on basics I have the money to get it without complaining.)

some days you eat the bear, other days the bear eats you...

tomatoes and squash mostly because they are so much better than what you can buy in the store, but this year we're planting green & yellow beans, potatoes, squash, peppers, lettuce, & onions. It's not a BIG plot but there's only the 2 of us and it should produce enough so we won't have to buy any anything buy eggs, flour, and meat at the store. I have a bread maker and make our bread & buns already.

I'm retired & hubby is retiring in Oct. this year. It's getting more & more difficult to buy food & gas with every week that goes by.

I've only done them a couple of times for some reason, but loved them when I did. I also grew sweet potatoes once. If you start now you can have some slips to plant in time for summer. Root one in some water, you know, the glass of water and toothpick thing, then you pull off the little plantlets with rootlets that grow on the sides.

Jerusalem artichokes are a good perennial to plant - they are an American native and don't really need attention but some people don't like them. Asparagus is also a good perennial to plant once and enjoy forever, as is rhubarb.

Heck, you can plant enough perennials that you could practically live off them and not have many annuals to fuss over.......

Jeez. Can you tell I am stuck in an apartment again and am severely garden-deprived? Crap.

you talked about, but they don't grow very well in Ga. I never had them but I was willing to try. I'm sorry you are apartment bound. Can't you do some containers to quell your gardening quest? Lots of thing grow well that way.

It doesn't get much sun, but Im giving it a try anyway. If nothing else, it's suitable for spinach and lettuce, lol (in the cooler months).

Jerusalem artichokes are a more northern/central crop. But sweet potatoes should do GREAT in GA. And okra if you like it.

you want to grow potatoes?

buy a five pound bag of potatoes at a supermarket in late winter. put the bag in a cupboard. forget about the bag for about a month or two. come spring, go check out that bag...

no dirt, no water, no sunlight... each and every potato in that bag will have roots a foot long or more.


take the bag out back, kick a hole in the dirt with your shoe, drop a rootie potato in the hole and cover with dirt, move over a foot or two and repeat for each potato in the bag...


come back in a month or two (no water, no fertilizer, no weeding, no nothing...) you will have more potatoes than you can eat.



damn. i feel like rachael ray...

Fed them well enough that the people themselves became a HUGE export crop.......

huh?

It would amaze DUers to hear how many have been living for years on the generosity of the community (food banks, churches, etc). Most of these people receive a very small amount of Social Security and live frugally, sometimes to the point of starvation.

Do our candidates give a shit about these folks?

I haven't seen one cent coming here from Washington to help those less fortunate than myself.