Master Gardeners You Might Know
As our nation has struggled to deal with the Coronavirus, the lockdown orders which have spread across the country have varied.
Some states seem to be pushing for totalitarian control, arresting people who are engaged in outdoor recreational activities alone and threatening fines of thousands of dollars for not wearing masks, while other states still haven’t instituted stay at home orders. This mismatch of different may seem to be confusing, but it is the natural result of being a nation of independent states.
One of the biggest confusions may very well be what is allowed and what is not. Put another way, it’s what is considered essential and what is not.
I find it surprising that Lowe’s and Home Depot are open for business, while Hobby Lobby, which sells materials that masks can be made of has been closed, due to pressure they were under.
Perhaps one of the most confusing parts of this is in the states where stores are only allowed to sell “essential” items.
Related: 33 Essential Foods to Stock Pile
Government bureaucrats have apparently taken the time to make actual lists of things that they consider “essential” and pass them out to stores, requiring them to block access to items that are not on those lists and prohibiting the stores from selling those items.
There is no way to see this as anything but totalitarian. What gives anyone or any group the right to think that they are the only ones who can decide what is essential and what is not? What benefit is there to society in this “emergency action” being taken?
One of the things which apparently falls under the category of “non-essential” according to these government bureaucrats is seeds.
You’ve probably seen pictures online of seed aisles being closed off so that people can’t get seeds. I’m not talking about flower seeds here, although that’s happening too; I’m talking about vegetable seeds. Don’t those bureaucrats realize that vegetable seeds give you food to eat?
Here we are, on the verge of a potential food shortage, and someone who probably thinks that meat and vegetables are produced by the grocery store, rather than coming from farms, has decided that growing food is not essential. But with about a third of the country’s meatpacking plants currently shut down, that decision could come back to bite us all. We should be planting now, not denying people the ability to plant.
Ok, so what can we do about this?
The simple answer is to plant our gardens anyway, like always. If you’re like me, you’ve got seed leftover from last year, which you can use. You’ll see about a five to ten percent reduction in germination rate, but it’s still worth using, especially if that’s all you’ve got.
Related: How to Harvest Your Own Seeds from Garden Plants
Then there are people who are much better gardeners than I am; people who are master gardeners.
Most of them probably harvest seed from the vegetables they grow in their gardens, rather than buying it. I’m not at that level, but I wish I was.
But what about the rest of us? Never fear, there are still ways of coming up with seed, even if you haven’t harvested seed from last year’s harvest or don’t have any leftover.
In fact, some of the best ways you can get seed are to avoid your local Wal-Mart or Home Depot as a source for your seed.
At the most basic level, you should ask yourself who you know, who might have some seed you can talk them out of. It seems that we all know at least one person who is an avid gardener. There’s a good chance that those people have seed; probably more than they need. If they do, they’ll probably be willing to share some with you, perhaps even without charging you for it.
Of course, you don’t want to abuse their generosity, so if they do offer you some seed, don’t take more than you need. If you don’t use all that they give you, offer to give it back. They may very well have others asking them for seed and it would be a shame if they couldn’t provide it to them because you were sitting on seed that didn’t get used.
Going a step farther, you should look to see if there are any gardening clubs in your area. Most communities have one. Like most such organizations, they’re always looking to increase their numbers, thrilled when the “uninitiated” ask for their expertise.
One thing that many of these organizations do, which could be useful to you, is having “seed trading nights.” These are usually connected to their regular meetings, giving the members an opportunity to pick up seed from one another. While intended to be an event for the membership, they are likely to allow outsiders in, especially if they think you might want to join their organization.
While government officials might be closing down access to seeds in stores, that doesn’t generally affect those company’s websites.
Many of your favorite retailers, where you would normally shop for those seeds, can still get them to you, via online ordering, delivered to your home, even if you can’t go into the store to buy them.
Better yet, most of those companies actually have a better assortment online, than what you’ll find in the stores.
Where you might only find two or three varieties of carrots offered in the store, you can encounter dozens from those same store’s websites, giving you the opportunity to try new varieties and see if they grow better in your garden.
Related: The Only 6 Seeds You Need to Stockpile for a Crisis
All of these retailers, whether online or brick and mortar stores get their seeds from a limited number of seed producers, most of whom also have online stores, allowing you to buy directly from them. This will generally (but not always) guarantee fresher seeds, as there won’t be anything that they’re selling, which has been sitting around since the previous year’s planting season.
Not only that, but you can buy bulk packages from them online, allowing you to get your seeds at a considerable discount if you’re planning on any serious high-volume gardening.
If you’re going to order online anyway, why not order heirloom seeds? if you haven’t heard about heirloom seeds, these are the naturally occurring varieties of the plants, rather than the hybrids or GMOs that are sold in most stores.
There are literally thousands of varieties of these plants, much more than the two or three that you’ll typically find in the store. Chances are, if you try various varieties, you’ll find some unusual one that you like even better than the common ones.
One important distinction about heirloom seeds, which is important. That is, they are the only ones where the plants will produce seeds that can be used for the next year’s crops.
The seeds from hybrid plants will produce one of the two parent plants used to produce the hybrid, not the hybrid itself. GMOs are even worse, as the seeds they produce are sterile and will not grow.
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We are fortunate that seeds are available from several stores in our area. Our local farm store has seen a huge increase in the number of people buying seeds and cannot keep them in stock. We usually buy our favorites by the pound there but had to substitute a few varieties this week.
We have found Mary’s Heirloom seeds to be a great Online resource. She usually has good stock, good prices, and a good variety. (I am not affiliated with her in any way – just passing on a suggestion)
Mary’s Heirlooms is 30 day shipping from large volumn of sales.
Savings seeds from your garden is not rocket science.
Depending on how big of a garden you grow each year, pick out two to three or more of the biggest best looking plants that are growing and don’t harvest these.
These are the plants you let go to seed so you will have seed for the next season.
Al the rest you harvest and enjoy.
Your knowledge was once common sense. What happened? Life became to easy for a lot of us.
@Dave
Most folks just weren’t taught about saving seeds and other things most of us old folks know.
But thanks to sites such as this, this knowledge is being preserved and passed on to future generations.
Southern and Dave, Too true, thanks to people like you! Like the saying goes, we’re 6 inches from starving to death. 6 inches is the last remaining topsoil we have. Now, what was old, is new. some is so old, no one remembers when it started, but it works. No till with covers, graze that, and you get black soil again. Pasture lambs, calves, and pigs, not pay thru the nose to feed them grain and you make more per pound. American Longhorn breeds like Florida cracker cattle are excellent mother, and good for cross breeding. they’ll defend a calf to the death, need be where modern breeds run from hogs or coyotes. niio
Dave: there’s a lot of cabbage family in the garden. this year, the collards were let go to seed. The old plants have been there since early 2018 and it’s time for a new bed. when enough good plants went to seed, the kohlrabi were allowed to seed. Now there’as a lot of seeds on them, the brussels sprouts can bloom. Radishes are about done foe the year. Only the biggest stalks remain because they;re supported by the biggest, most tolerant roots. Brown onions and Bermudan white are in separate patches and in bloom. this was always a woman’s job, because the gardens are hers. You can find a lot of BS on YouTube about seed saving, but plenty of knowledge as well. tomatoes, chilis, and more, the first fruit off of the earliest plants, then more off the most productive. Beans, the same. By saving seeds, you create a landrace adapted specific to your area. niio
Thanks. I am a very linear thinker and would have thought onions are just onions and not separated. Also would have missed what those big stalks say so clearly to you.
Do you have any suggestions for separating the BS from the good stuff on a source like YouTube? If one is clueless about a subject, how to tell.
Also a question I’d like to throw out to anyone who reads this. Do you always follow the guidelines on spacing plants?
Gov: Yes, and I add extra space because a lot more can go between plants. You’ll only get about 2/3 what you should from each, but that’s a lot more produce. Corn-beans-squash. One acre with only one crop, say, 200 bu/acre corn, 50 beans, 10,000 lbs squash. Combining all three on one acre, 2/3 of each means a lot more food and less insect-, disease, and animal damage.
You need to take what you know. Every garden and farm is different. Small urban homesteads are popular. I even watch some from Australia because Australia is commercializing native Americans crops, where the USDA often ignores them. If they use much chemicals, no, avoid them. we’re in training for SHTF. Leadfarmer https://www.youtube.com/user/leadfarmer73 is good. Lots of fruit and so on for his area in Louisiana. Homesteadonomics good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zwDkASpqTk
Mike Kincaid in Wash. State, good. Mostly how to propagate with cuttings, but other things, as well.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTVGyD_baZU0y-63OHb68tw
His wife very good with how-to on a small farm.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2UIxmvUKnoeiMSaeY1iAxQ
You take what you know. A lot of shows a few minutes are too much, but some, these, I follow. Edge of Nowhere Farms is good on orchards. there are a lot of others, as well. You’re sharp on the brain.
And, the sun finally decided to look on Arizona, again. Now we get to work before it starts to fry our brains 🙂 niio
Wow, Red,
I appreciate the youTube recommendations. Thank you for again mentioning Mike Kincaid and wife. Read it then got sidetracked so will definitely check it out. Rounded up some pots. Put some small red potatoes in kitchen garden window to develop chits ans scored some Scarlet Emperor runner heirloom runner bean seeds. I did not understand how high or far those beans run. It doesn’t look like they will blend in as a decorative bush. Still, the seeds I got were packed by a company called Botanical Naturals. They give far more planting and nurturing info than I have ever seen on a seed packet continuing the guidance by printing the inside of packet too. Went to the website and they, too, are back logged. Picked up a cubic foot of potting soil for the potato pots and same of steer manure to enrich a small area near fence where beans will go. Husband will help by building a support out of some spare wood or PVC that we have.
Saw some very hard-to-believe temps down your way. I remember going to a conference at the AZ Biltmore when it was 115. I was the mgr of the little branch office in Flagstaff. Every bigwig in Phoenix found an excuse to visit our office during the summer and stayed in nice accommodations at Little America. Flagstaff has the best weather of anyplace we ever lived, beautiful summers and nice snow in winter. Pike fishing was good too. Probably different now. We left because we never felt we really belonged. We weren’t Native Americans, weren’t Mormons and weren’t attached to the university. Missed family back east, too. AZ is a beautiful and wondrous state. Anyway, thanks for help, once again.
Gov: Arizona Sand trout fishing, most elusive fish in the world. No one ever caught one, but we know they’re there. College kids tell us so. According to student biologists here, sand trout are trout that, being Arizonans, adapted to living in rivers without water. Instructions are, take a case of cold beer and fishing tackle to the river. Look for a dry, dusty rill. Bait hook with a dead bug, cast it out, sit in the shade and drink the beer. No hard liquor! If you get too drunk, you could fall in the river and drown in the dust. College kids are very enthusiastic about fishing and every weekend many go to the river. While not as elevated as fishing for pike, it has it’s moments. niio
Wouldn’t catch dinner, but wouldn’t care either. Sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.
@Govtgirl,
Marjory Wildcraft with the Grow Network is trustworthy, I’ve gotten good info from them.
Here is her youtube link:
https://www.youtube.com/user/BackyardFood
I watched about 7 to start with. She has a lot to offer. I like the way she is so granular, like the one on watering cans. I bought one last year and it is useless. Now I know what to look for. I think she will be very helpful to me. Thank you.
Unfortunately, these things are no longer being taught to our young people and haven’t been for several generations…!
It’s to bad but we need to accept this failure as our own…
Us parents and grandparents have not made the kids sit down and learn these basic survival lessons from us…!
Also, it was parents and grandparents that allowed our schools and teachers to start teaching the government’s agendas and stop teaching the common sense things that every child will need to know to make it in the World…!
We’ve allowed our schools and teachers to cram down our kids throats things related to homosexuality, lesbianism, and bisexuality at an age where these kids should only be concerned with playing kickball, baseball, basketball, or playing with their dolls, playing dress-up, and having sleepovers…!
I’m sorry to point the finger but we dropped the ball on this in a huge way…!
We failed our kids when they needed us most…!
My one grandson is in first grade and he comes home telling me about a little girl he likes but that she doesn’t like him…
When I asked why, he tells me because I’m a boy and she only likes girls…
Not the response I expected but then I told him, well, a lot of girls don’t like boys and vice versa until they get older…
He comes back with no, Poppa, you don’t understand, she likes girls romantically…
She has a girlfriend at school and they hug and kiss all of the time…!
At this point you could’ve knocked me over with a feather…!
I asked him, and what do your teachers do about that…?
He says, oh nothing to except yell at us for making fun of them…
Friends…
These are first graders that I’m talking about here…!
We need to stand up and take back our schools…!
We, meaning parents and grandparents even if you’re not the one raising the child you still have a responsibility to them…!
I believe that every adult has a responsibility to these children, even if they are not yours, to stand up for them and to protect them…!
If not us then who…?
Certainly not our teachers…!
Certainly not our principals…!
No way would the school board of directors ever stand up for our kids because that could affect the government funding they receive…!
So, as you can see it has to come from us or it will never happen…!
Can you tell me when learning about who all of the gay composers and writers were throughout history became more important than home economics or shop class…?
Now is the time to take a stand people…!
We’ve already lost a few generations and look how this lack of knowledge is affecting them…!
It’s only going to get worse and force our children to become 100% dependent upon the government for everything at which point they will all become slaves to either our government or to some other nation that our government owes money to…!
This article is a waste of time. It provides no material information regarding the title.
Larry,
You may not have learned anything, but I did. There are some newer people like me who are pretty clueless. For us, these articles are informative. For others, they provide a reminder not to be lazy and just grab the cheapest packet at Walmart or a starting point for the thread. Then you get the deeper knowledge like red’s remark about saving seeds from the earliest as well as the most productive and Grammy em’s about diversity. These people have forgotten more than I will ever know.
Larry: Learning curve? I read it and I was raised how-to. I try to read what folks are saying. A lot of comments have things, some minor, some very major I did not know. I rads the questions because thinking about them sharpens ME. Be a brother, not a smother. niio
remember that seed saving from a backyard garden does not provide enough diversity to allow long term seed saving. when you are only able to save seed from a very few plants, genetic diversity is reduced. after a few generations, you have some problems. for example, i enjoy white half-runner green beans, an open pollinated variety. after 4 years of seed saving, some plants became rather fiberous–more than just having strings. by the 5th year, most of them were inedible. i could save enough seed to replant, but not volume of seed to assure enough genetic diversity. an infusion of new seed regularly could stop this. that could be done by trading some seed with others who grow your favored varieties, or buying some new seed every few years.
Tractor Supply
@jj
Tractor Supply seeds are probably GMO or some type of hybrid seed that only grows once then goes sterile.
Will not produce seed.
Heirloom seed is what you want.
Try SeedSavers
Right now, Arizona, they’re all over. Most places here get seed packs in year-’round Best bet is still a seed catalog. In PA and Ohio, family had to send for seeds. Right now here, collards are done bloom, plenty of seeds there. Radishes are almost done and the kohlrabi nearly done, at last. Brussels sprouts can now be allowed to go to seed. Later tomatillo (blueberry type), tomatoes and peppers. Lots more, but those are the main ones. If the moringa produces well, no greenbeans will get planted in the fall garden. niio
Well as usual someone has gotten his knickers in a knot over some BS that someone else has spouted on the internet As they say you can’t fool all of the people all of the time but you can fool them some of the time. So Aprils fool guys
What is wisdom? Lessons learned from things you wish you had never done. Our parents shouldn’t have worried when we caused gray hair on them. We were acquiring wisdom 🙂 niio
grammy: Most plants only need 4-6 in bloom to create enough diversity. rareseed.com and https://sustainableseedco.com/ try to keep organic. No GMOs. Neither charge mailing inside the US.
You have to decide which plant to save seeds from. Doing that, you create a landrace adapted to your area. niio
We are currently in full lockdown in Western Australia, country, state and regional areas, for 4 weeks so far and counting.
Garden seed and seedlings have been sold out for a lot longer including many online stores. I already had seed on hand and there is always something growing in the garden so no problem for us. I did stock up on potatoes and onions and we are allowed to shop when needed and other than the few staples like tp, pasta, rice, flour and sanitisers there has been plenty of food products although the prices are certainly not cheap. $10 for a cauliflower was much more than I was willing to pay.
I agree with Grammy em too about vigour and genetic diversity of home kept seed. This summer my whole crop of snake beans was planted just for seed which I try to do with 1 crop each season if I can . This helps to combat those problems but it requires a lot of plants being grown.
Stay safe everyone.
Ginny: those are the cauliflower they sprinkle with gold dust, right? If not Bill Gates would pass them by. We border with Mexico, and Mexico is getting back online, so plenty of winter produce coming in and early summer.Gov. Dusey had barber shops and hair salons close, but anything more was up to the local government, and here, nobody screws with someone job and gets away with it. In the US, the worse places are sanctuary cities, always. Arizona, 2,300 cases according to the dashboard. Mexico about the same in the entire nation. Sweden did not do a lockdown. They refused to. Most nations haven’t, either.
Garden wise, Most of the black Schifferstadt are now buried under mulch along with chick peas planted with it. Winds are gusty, hot, dry, and we had to put wind breaks around the mountain guavas. The Golden Dorsett apple keeps pushing blooms, and I keep taking off the apples as they come on. Give it a year, at least, to root in good and make leaves. The tree went thru 3 years existing on what rain it got (13 inches a year average here, with months of nothing between monsoons), and still bloomed and bore fruit. Friends with an orchard call it a beast for punishment. Dorsett will always produce a crop, no matter what.
The rest is Arizona summer. Plenty of chilis and some tomatoes coming on, but temps are heading into the 90s, and might hit 100 F this week, so forget more coming on maybe till July and the rain starts again.
Packrats dug a burrow at the dripline of the mesquite down the yard. they do love mesquite in any form, leaves, blossoms, beans. I looked at it, and when boiling out cast iron, save the water. Once a day it goes in the hole. I like sub-irrigation 🙂 The dog, tho, lost interest, so the ‘rats probably moved on.
The canna needs to go and a better type raised. The wind nails it too hard. No starch if it won’t grow good roots. Sunchokes are getting higher. Planted some sweet corn where there’s shade and some wind shelter.
AZ has a good show on by F-N-G, Fish-&-Game. Last one, they were interviewing the rodent lady. she monitors prairie dogs.. Yes,they’re important to the ecology. They’ll burrow thru caliche which lets trees grow deep–plants will not root in it. They also keep hawks and rattlesnakes fat. So, some good in everything, even prairie rats. Then she said her main job is to monitor for plague. Plague? Like, black death. Last time we had an outbreak, the ‘rats showed immunity and that never happened before. Even sheep were dying from it, it was that virulent. The biologist studying them refused to allow the Navajo to blow up the colony and got a court order they couldn’t do so. He disappeared when his assistants were gone to town. The mobile lab was found miles away in a wash. the ‘rats were blown away. the Clintons were in then and as much as dems hate American Indians, no feds investigated, not a peep. Not even anything mentioned in the news. Not much later, the dems gave the joint-use lands to the Hopi, chasing all Navajo off it. Then Sadam came up with a new, virulent form of the plague. What Hitler loved, dems adore. What he hated, they despise. In the end, they all go to a hell they don’t believe in to go on unto eternity in bitter shame. I can hardly wait… May you have a happy winter. niio
Red: Those caulies might have gold sprinkles indeed.
My brassica seedlings are too small to go out into the garden but I’m planting peas, beans, beetroot, carrots and chard with some of those black radish to go in this week now I’ve located some seed. The Dorset Gold and the Anna are indeed the best although the parrots give them a hard time here. They probably flower about 3 times a year here with one main flush and then a couple of sporadic flowerings during the summer. The parrots have shredded the netting this year so I’ll have to replace it but I’ll need to cut the tree a bit to a manageable size first and I don’t like pruning. There are just a few watermelons left on the vine making the most of the sunny days but it’s flowering like mid summer still. I had a lot of problems with tomatoes this year so need to get my drip irrigation going again for them next summer.
The lockdown is hardly affecting us really. It’s not affecting freight at all so supplies of most things are available. I can go to town if I want but there isn’t anything I need so once a week we do a small local shop for a few fresh things just for the outing. It’s 50km away so a nice morning outing. Hubby drives a semi during slow periods and can come and go as he pleases with off farm work.
I’m unfamiliar with how your political system works in relation to ours so can’t comment on that. I’m just happy if they leave us alone to get on with things.
I’ve been out of action on the farm with a broken finger, had the stitches out last week. Got them squashed between 2 gates and 400kg of beef on Good Friday so I’m counting myself lucky that I only needed 10 stitches and some R&R. My daughter and grandkids have been here for a month, since she lives in the city and SIL is nightshift, so we’ve got lots of things done with extra hands around the place. Most people here are working from home if they can but tourism and hospitality are dead in the water ie. bars, cafes and restaurants. Many have moved to take away to stay afloat but most have ditched their casual staff. They were being hit hard before the lockdown with social distancing. Unemployment is around 10% atm but that may go up or down depending on how long we remain in limo. This week they are relaxing some things so its a game of ‘wait and see’. Our state stats are pretty good and our regions are pretty large so it is really only affecting the cities most and some remote aboriginal areas which are in total lockdown, no-one in or out, because their elders are high risk. Nursing homes and cruise ships have been the most deadly.
Total for AU – 83 dead, 6711 infected, 5539 recovered as of today April 26.
Everyone stay safe.
Hi Ginny in WA. Read your post with interest as I am in WA which here is Washington State. Thought I could pick up local growing tips until I hit the parrots and watermelons (and grams). Glad you weren’t hit so bad.
Ginny: I’m happy to hear things are better there than here. Stay healthy!
US and AU politics are similar. Liberals here are leftists and tax masters, conservatives are right wing or central and always anti-tax. Dems ignore slavery, repubs hate it. Liberal motto is, never waste a good crisis. They ignored every pandemic for the last few decades until they could use it to suck votes. Their nick-name is the jackass party, Joe Biden Party and pandemic-rats. American Indians do not vote for them. A very old blessing on politicians: May the Good lord help them, keep them in His love and keep them far from us.
Here, in early summer, the peas are mostly done till the monsoons. The beans will be cowpeas/vigna because they love the heat. Brassicas, already in seed or in bloom. Bloom will stop probably this week. We’re due for 100 F sunny days. Overdue, in fact. The maize looks good, but last crop failed thanks to dwarf maize mosaic from sorghum. The tomatillos are blueberry type, sour but good. My fault, I neglected that they’re from Copan, in the mountains of the Yucatan. While they like cooler weather, they do well in the heat, too, but not in our winds. We got a few off of each but lost most of the plants. Next year, they’ll do better, be more adapted but still won’t like the wind. The achira indica refuses to grow thanks to the wind. Most of the safflower is knee-high and all are developing thorns before bloom.
Some tomatoes from a cherry type ket in the house over winter, but we’ve only now started some seeds, Texas cherry and later, Punta Banda. Same with chiltepins, chimoyo and sandia chilis. The latter two would probably love you! They can handle light frosts and even here, if shelter will survive winter. They grow low so don’t mind the wind overmuch. Heat, yes. Like their kin, too much heat blasts the pollen.
The mesquite seeds are starting to sprout! They stayed dormant for weeks, but now are outside where the sun blasts them most of the day. It’s time to cut prickly pear pads for nopalitos. Last month, a neighbor gave me a mound of weeds and such from their garden. Never turn down a good mulch. Under it was one of their tree cactus, a domesticated variety from Mexico that wind knocked over. The pads get over a foot long and the fruit is twice the size of wild ‘pears. 6 are planted and the rest still piled up. They need to get planted within a few weeks to root well before November.
Hubby is a trucker? It does go well with farming. I did it for years till the allergies stopped it. I was worried because most antihistamines make me sleepy, and always worried on bad pollen days I’d wreck. It pays well, though, if you can handle dispatchers. And, can be a little too exciting when hauling livestock like brangus crossbred cattle. Ranchers don’t put tops on the semi and brangus don’t mind a short climb to freedom, or revenge 🙂
You mind that finger. I had a thumb broken and it never healed right because I didn’t take care of it. After the accident, how was the beef? 🙂 Every cloud has it’s silver lining. The grandkids are learning life lessons from Granny and Pappy. Does the daughter have white hair yet? Not to fear, revenge will happen.
Arizona is up to 6,000 cases. Politicians here are echoing Markle, in Germany, demanding the chicoms pay the bill. You do not corner a rat, especially one who sells arms to terrorists and owns ICBM nuclear missiles. More people are demanding to know why the liberals ignored corona. They knew it was coming and screamed racism when Trump shut down all immigration. Sanctuary cities and states are the worse off, with New York in the lead. The doctor thinks I had it last fall, November. Rough one, but it was a cold, not the flu. As folks say, like gas, it’ll pass but the stink is a little hard to bear.
Red- Had to grin at your asking how the beef fared in the accident. So practical.
Fingers will be fine I hope. As for the beef it will have to wait until the freezer is a little less full but I have plans…
Most people here say ‘Ive got the flu’ when in fact it rarely is. There is no mistaking the aches, pains and can’t get the head off the pillow feeling the true flu gives you. At least, that’s what I’ve found but I’ve only had it maybe 3-4 time in my life. Now my age dictates I’m supposed to have a flu shot every year but I don’t. Had 1 the first year but not since. Anyone can get them, only $25 so not expensive, but I try to keep my natural immunity up with herbs and fairly healthy living plus my grandkids are generous enough to give me what they bring home from school, the darlings 🙂
Ginny: right now, even in the midst of our little horror shows in the US, grass-fed/fattened beef is selling for twice corn fed is.
Flu, every year. We have to go to Tucson to trade. It’s a sanctuary city. Zinc and vitimin C = Zicam.
Away back when a kid, we brought the sows down from the mountain where they farrowed. Mom got on the tractor and went up to the pasture and rattled a metal bucket. They came running, babies and all and followed her back to the barn. Dad got the sows in horse stalls, two-by-eight inch plank walls. We started to nip black caps and cut the boarlings. the very last one, a sow screaming in rage managed to climb over a stall. Before Dad could make it up the ladder to the hay mow, she grabbed his leg. Mom was there, and wow talk about sausage/sow sage. Best I ever had, seasoned with revenge. Dad’s leg swelled up so they wound up cutting off the pants leg. He was fine after a few weeks. then complained of eating ta valuable animal. Mom told him she knew an old boar who might be next. He just smiled. BTW, the rest of the pigs were very, very polite on the way back to pasture, and us kids got to make pets of the orphans. niio
That gave me a laugh.
When daughter and grand kids first arrived I said we needed to do a rooster cull and everyone was sad. Gave them a week of waking up to roosters at 3 or 4am and everyone pitched in to knock a few heads of and pluck a few feathers. Not one complaint.
Just got the last few to do and my hens can get back to the business of laying eggs instead of being chased all the time.
Ginny: I know it well. When we got a new batch of boilers, the males were caponized. We got twice the rate for them even up to 4 months and older. do not think frankenchickens would do well in that, but the older large breeds sold fast. Commercial laying flock had a pen, one acre, but the farm flock were loose from about noon on. Banty hens all over, and all summer, on Sunday, all of us and guests got one roasted and stuff for dinner. If we found a banty nest and she wan’t there, we would slip brown eggs under her. niio
The online seed companies I normally order from are not taking orders from individuals. The one I finally found took the order but has delayed shipping too. I still don’t have my seeds from a month ago ordering. Managed to get 2 packs of green beans at the local Lowes.
i have been able to get seeds regionally from small seed sellers. it is an advantage to have seeds developed in your own region as they are already known to do well under local conditions. you might google for small seed sellers local to you or check with your state’s agricultural college. in my region, the ag college has done a lot of work with open pollinates, regional superstars, re-working hybrids to make stable versions that breed true,etc.
grammy: Winner post! Modern agronomists say, what was old, is new. No tillage or very light tillage. Heavy mulches and heirloom gardens. One thing you can do is mix your saved seeds with store-bought of the same variety. Farmers do this to save money for field crops. And me, I need local, but most small seed companies were bought out long ago. Too many buy seeds from large companies, and that doesn’t help. this is Arizona and there are 13 climates, with micro-climates we deal with. If it adapts, save the seeds for next year. If not, try planting at a different time of year. After several years trying to grow chicory, I have 3 plants that adapted. 2 nasturtiums (leave taste like watercress). Achira (canna lily raised for starch root), 4 plants left and no blooms ever, but they might this year. These were popular for centuries here, but no one has the old local varieties which were dwarfs and went dormant during summer. niio
I’ve actually got Orville Redenbacher popcorn to germinate
Thank you for not assuming everybody knows this. I needed to be told even though it is just common sense. Appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Good article but I wish you would have listed more sources to obtain seeds from…
Have a great day and be blessed.
checked Native Seed Search, Tucson, AZ. Not taking more orders at this time. sustainable Seeds (Chico, CA), and Hoss Tools (GA), both are
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