Resolution # 1- grow vegetables like a drug dealer.
I'm really serious about this, been thinking about it for a few months. Seems like there isn't a week that goes by that there isn't a news story about a grow house raided by a local police task force or in combination with DEA MIB. Doesn't really seem to matter if it's rural or urban.
These ganga growers have a green thumb I'd love to emulate ... legally ... let me clarify legally & in an off grid method. I can only imagine the overhead (electric bill). Could you imagine having premo peaches in Winter ?
Resolution #1a - Cold weather gardening - who knows maybe one cold Winter day I just maybe able to steam up some Broccoli fresh from the backyard.
Resolution #1b - Vertical gardening. There has just got to be more gardening space that I haven't found.
Resolution #2 - Eat healthy as if $ was no object.
K, I had to put down my coffee before I electrocute myself with my lap top. Like that can really happen. Yeah I think it can with careful shopping (Swagbucks & Amazon) & more effort put into bartering, foraging, gardening, & gleaning.
What I want is to increase the amount of our pantry style cooking (eat what you store-store what you eat), but make healthy food choices as it pertains to us (diabetics).
I also want in increase the amount of whole grains we eat not just whole grain pasta or whole wheat bread as we've been doing. I want to have whole grain pie crusts & cakes.
I've been eyeing this book No More Bricks! Successful Whole Grain Bread Made Quick & Easy Great reviews posted on amazon, would love to chat with anyone who owns a copy.
Resolution #3 - Walk the talk when it come to DIY solar projects (solar room heaters). I have been saying we are installing one for what two years now. Someone needs to be slapped ...
Resolution #4 - Camp, specially bike camp or more specific bicycle touring/camping. It's the next stage up from my usual everyday urban bike commuting that I do. There's some challenges we have to over come but I can so see Woodsrunner & I on a tandem recumbent bike heading out of the city to do a weekend of survival camping. I should say that it's not a shared vision @ this time.
Resolution #5 - Go old school more. Learn or in some cases prefect our homesteading skills. Sewing is one (I actually was gifted a treadle). I have two black trash bags full of clothes that I want to upcycle into shopping bags, camping gear, clothing, biking & gardening stuffs. I also want to learn to make whole wheat pasta.
Resolution #6 - Finish our old house. There are just way too many DIY projects that we have either talked about or started that need to be finished. Everything from restoring the remaining woodwork to the a new metal roof on the main portion of the house. There is also a wall & door that needs to be re-installed (early 1980's remodel why would you take away a bedroom, why?).
Our time table to stay here in the city has been extended due to the Great Recession. Not so much Woods recent unemployment but more due to the housing market.
Seems we are surrounded by foreclosed homes.
Resolution #7 - Enjoy my life ... enjoy my husband ... enjoy my children ... enjoy.
Resolution #7a - Be a better Presbyterian = be a better person. Gonna need prayers on that one.
~~ pelenaka ~~
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LMAO@ grow vegetables like a drug dealer, that cracked me up!
ReplyDeleteCold weather gardening could be made easier if you have a small poly tunnel perhaps? Not sure how bad your winters are there being Aussie myself:)
Eating more from the pantry is made easier for us by canning and dehydrating foods to store for later.
I have plans on my blog for a solar window heater, they really do work very well
As for sewing, I suck at that, so no advice from me on that one LOL
Love the list!
Right, I mean if we could only grow crops like they do world hunger would end.
ReplyDeleteIt must be Summer there right? Here I have cold frames. It's been crazy here three days ago it was 18 degrees. Today it was 51.
Solar heater huh way good!
I like all of these, but "grow vegetables like a drug dealer" is just awesome. What a great way to start a post and draw attention to it. But it is so true, if we were as serious about growing food as they are about growing their crops, we'd be overrun with vegetables.
ReplyDeleteDark forces for good talk about a turnaround.
ReplyDeleteIf I could only find a way to use their methods without evolving the power company.
There are a couple of crops that (can) go all winter. There is a "Siberian" Kale I read about someone growing in Toronto. And we have broccoli and brussel sprouts in our garden still...though to be fair it's been the mildest winter around here (Germany) in decades. Chards can also usually take some serious frost, moreso if you use floating row covers or your cold frames. The problem I have is giving up precious garden space to the winter crops means forgoing some of the summer abundance. And the winter crops don't really grow much. They just stay in the garden as a storage alternative, really. Root cellaring is another alternative, one I want to get more serious about myself. (We don't have a basement, so have to build something...)
ReplyDeleteOooh! I'm jealous of your treadle! good(well kept) ones start at $300!
ReplyDeleteRE:"grow vegetables like a drug dealer", you GROW guuurl! hehe
Happy New Year!
Kelly, I know Kale is very hip & good for ya but I absolutely hate it. So far the Swiss Chard has been hanging on but we are having a balmy Winter for the most part. Today was 43 low last night 20.
ReplyDeleteOf course what I'm really craving right now is a Cherokee Purple with a dash of sea salt.
Do you speak German ?
AJK, if I had to compare your garden to an illegal drug I'd have to say yours is soo fine only politicians & rock stars could touch that, lol.
ReplyDeleteGranted your blessed with all that sunshine but never the less your garden is a testiness to effort & ingenuity.
I hear you on not liking kale. Here, they blanch it, then cook it for ages with big sausages or chunks of ham. Makes it softer and I am told the blanching gets rid of the bitter edge. I can eat some like that, mostly because it's good for me. We sometimes sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar over it, which cuts the bitterness. too. I do like kale chips better, though I don't really do them all that often. However, after this year's winter veg attempt, I am thinking that the root-cellaring thing is the best bet for us for fresh veggies in winter, so I may or may not grow kale next year.
ReplyDeleteG*d what I wouldn't give for a decent tomato, though! It's just not warm enough here in summer to grow good ones outside. I was gifted a small greenhouse several months ago, and I have hopes of getting some edible toms this coming season. Because blight is such a problem here, even in high season all the fancy heirloom tomatoes in the markets are grown in greenhouses. So sad, really. As a season extender i am expecting to grow mostly salad greens. Light is pretty limited here in winter. (Sun rises around 8:30 and sets around 4.)
We've had crazy mild weather here too. It's only snowed once, and that in November. Forecast this week is highs near 50, lows mid to low 40s and rain, rain, rain. I do speak some German now, after three years here, but I am also over 40 so my learning curve feels a bit steeper than it should, I think.
When I lived on Oahu I would crave New York food; apples,bagels,Italian sausage,good polish food. Now of course I crave tropical foods & fresh fish. My Abuela's place in PR had the best fruits.
DeleteWe're suppose to have snow soon today it's 40ish & raining we grossly behind our snowfall totals not that I mind just wonder how our warm Winter so far will affect the garden.
Just ran across your blog love it!
ReplyDeleteKim
Thank you!
DeletePelenaka,
ReplyDeleteRegarding #2, whole grain bread. I suggest you visit Gina's blog
http://homejoys.blogspot.com/
and spend the time you need there. Gina taught me how to overcome the obstacles to GOOD sourdough whole wheat bread. She is a treasure, too.
Winston