Strawberries. Talk about local - from my yard. Not across the country.
You can check out this clip here that shows ground beef could get to $4 a pound this year. We don't buy much a the grocery store so we don't see a lot of this. But even I was shocked at some of the prices.
So what does a regular person do? Maybe now is a good time to start a garden.
Space well used.
Over on 'the facebook' we were all laughing at a pic of a golf course with the caption, "Horse person thought #003 This is a waste of good pasture." The truth is... I see a lot of wasted space and many times I subconsciously calculate the number of animals grazed or the amount of food that could be produced on some of these big open area. I'm not sure we have a food crisis as much as we have a "spaced used stupidly" crisis.
You might be thinking, "What's that drought got to do with me?" Well. I've been looking everywhere for the news clip from this weekend of the produce broker who was saying that sure, now we can import produce from other parts of the world... but come summer time it may not be available. I'm not sure there will be riots in the streets if folks can't get their lima beans but everyone will feel this eventually. Prices will go up and we could be in a "good luck, suckers" situation.
Do you have crazy turkeys in your garden? I do.
How is a working family supposed to deal with that? The best thing about growing your own food is that it's like printing your own money, says Ron Finley. If you haven't seen this TED talk you really need to take 10 minutes to watch it.
Gardening is easy and fun. You don't need a huge area and every little bit helps. Aside from a five pound bag of frozen broccoli and some lettuce we don't buy much produce at all from the store. There is nothing better than smugly walking past the heaps of imported tomatoes available for an obscene price when you know you've got armloads of them just waiting for you at home. Bell peppers 2 for $1? Who would pay that? My freezer is full of them and my salad bar is in the upper garden.
I don't need your stinkin' peppers.
How do you get started? Now. Start planning. There are tons of good resources out there and the best way is to just get started. My favorite book is How to Grow More Vegetables... by John Jeavons
It's a great book and has tons of information about how to get started and garden planning. Some people really love Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
. I don't use that one because we have such a big growing area but I've used many of those methods. The important thing is to remember that you don't need to be held hostage by the traditional food system.. in fact, you can take a step back and take part in the original traditional food system - and that is growing it yourself.
Happy Tuesday everyone - are you ready to get growing?
Editor's note: Again with the associate links to Amazon? Yep -but I really love that John Jeavons book so I don't feel bad about it. Remember if you order something thru my Amazon store, from one of the links, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page I'll get a tiny percentage of the sale. If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon to show your support. Thanks!
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7 comments:
We are so ready!!! We've received our seed order. Soon I'll be building a seed starting rack. Compost is baked, we'll be adding fresh alpaca poo. We've ordered more food, ahem, I mean fruit trees, vines and bushes. Lol. I need some warmth and sunshine!! When do you guys start your tomatoes inside?
Here in Florida ground beef is $3.89 lb, chicken is $3.75 lb, pork chops are $3.99 lb. So we decided this year we are going to raise our own.
You mean the fake drought that is being caused by either stupid mismanagement of water or caused by purposeful mismanagement of water to facilitate social/economic change and prove there is global warming. I lean towards the latter and the first clue was the ag department setting up climate change centers.
Sort of like the mismanagement of water which led to huge floods in the midwest?
Or it could be petty government officials who don't really care about water because it is not their jobs or land or homes at stake. Just following procedure.
The produce at the store is so disappointing anyway - it's not picked at the peak of freshness, so it doesn't have the deep flavors you get from homegrown produce!
That TED talk was amazing! I'm going outside to plant some shit!
Great advice (unless u are currently in drought, it makes gardening tough too). Also can I recommend my series from last year on getting started with gardening? Especially as u contributed an excellent post too.
Yes, great ideas. I also hope that this means a profitable season is ahead for small farms and farmers markets!
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