OT: Was Healthy Food, Now 100 Foot Diet Challenge

[Guest guest]

Howdy Christina,

 

Hi Butch,

>

> Nice to hear from you about the rising price of produce, and your choice

> of living where things could be kept natural.

>

 

Thank you ma'am .. I was thinking of you when I was discussing the

vegetable, fruit and herb gardens. :-)

 

 

> I have to say I share much disgust at the price of fruits and veggies,

> especially organics. I am also willing to pay for good quality, local

> produce. The price has helped me decide to take a serious look at the

> space available at my tiny little yard, so I can get to work on a year-round

> container herb, veggie, and fruit garden.

>

 

Good for you .. I hope a lot of other folks do the same. Nutrition is one

reason for growing our own because a quick blanced - then frozen veggie will

have far more value than one that has been harvested for even 24 hours.

Then there is the benefit of a different form of exercise and (to me) its

also therapy for the mind .. gets me away from the PC. Also, considering

the age difference between Tanya and I odds are I will go under snakes long

before she does and I need to teach Alexander as much I can about taking

care of himself and living the good life before its my time to check out of

the net. He loves to work with me in the yard and if I show him how to do

something one time he then tries to do it himself .. so a few sqare feet of

garden is going to be his .. I doubt if the rows will be straight but I'm

sure he will go out each day to see how his plants have grown. ;-)

 

We're now feeding the song birds that decided to hang around and this summer

we had at 50-60 hummingbirds (hard to count them) drinking a 1.5 liters of

sugar water each day .. those critters will be back around mid April and

(contrary to what some folks think) their main protein source is insects ..

they consume sugar as a quick energy source. Amazing little critters they

are .. this summer I would work outside until dark and then after dinner I

would sit on the patio and have a few cool ones .. the little rascals

roosted in elm trees near the patio and as late as midnight they would often

swoop down and feed on honeysuckles beside the patio .. and buzz my face.

;-) But a few miles from here, he nature preserve, Land Between The

Lakes, has facilities that attract them by the thousands .. school groups

visit and various science types study their behavior there. The local paper

often has articles on them and it is written that in this area they are

considered to be an asset for insect control in that they eat more than

their weight in a day.

 

 

> A family in Pasadena, California has found a way to make growing at home

> into a family business. On the side, they have issued a challenge to all us

> home-gardeners. The 100 Foot Diet can be found at

>

http://www.pathtofreedom.com/journal/.<http://www.pathtofreedom.com/journal/>It

lays out a committment to grow food for at least one meal a week at home.

> This gives newbies like me something to strive toward with a garden.

>

 

A good link and a great idea that is. Folks can grow a heckuva lot more

than they might imagine in a heckuva lot less space if they plan it right ..

raised beds is a good idea and things like tomatoes can be grown in a large

pot or three. One friend in Turkey had an area maybe 40 x 40 feet or so

behind his apartment .. he was raised in a village so he missed gardening so

he built a tiered garden with 1 " x 8 " planks .. like steps to an inverted V

... and was successful at growing many things.

 

 

> More and more people like me are really interested in living more

> naturally, and are going at it while firmly entrenched in an urban setting.

>

 

Good it is. And in time those folks will be in a position to decide if they

want to remain in an urban setting. After living in Turkish cities for 19+

years I decided that I would rather drive to a city than live in one.

;-)

 

We had one heckuva draught in West Tennessee this year .. went around 50

days without rain from mid-July and a lot of trees, shrubs and other plants

bit the dust .. some that appeared to have survived will probably go under

this winter .. but we are in cave and lake country and beside the Tennessee

and Cumberland Rivers. The deep wells around here have never dried up.

Those of us who had these wells were fortunate in that we could water plants

and trees during that tough time. Folks 10 miles from me are hooked to

municipal water and the city imposed watering restrictions on them. For a

fact, there will come a time where the need for water will result in wars.

The people of Atlanta, GA were willing to go to war with the Tennessee

Valley Authority this year because TVA refused to release more water

downstream. ;-)

 

 

> Cheers,

> Christina

>

 

Wishing you all good times and great harvests and lotsa water. Y'all keep

smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com <http://www.av-at.com/>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Now, we would love to have a garden, but we seem to have slightly black

thumbs. But we are not giving up! ;-) We'll try again in the next year or

so. Of course, we have chickens and get 6 to 8 eggs a day, so we swap with

a neighbor who has a garden and gives us yummy veggies for the eggs. We

also have apple trees and peach trees.

 

Tracy

--\

-------------

Designer at Scrapbook-Bytes

http://www.takeapick.com/2IH

 

*Some people only dream of angels; we held one in our arms.*

Remembering Jacob March 8 - 9, 1996

Our Angel: http://sids-network.org/fp/jacob.htm

-

" Butch Owen " <butchowen

<ATFE2 >

Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:00 AM

[ATFE2] OT: Was Healthy Food, Now 100 Foot Diet Challenge

 

 

> Howdy Christina,

>

> Hi Butch,

>>

>> Nice to hear from you about the rising price of produce, and your choice

>> of living where things could be kept natural.

>>

>