September 2008 Independence Summery

Things have certainly slowed down now that the peak months of August and September are over. Aside from the peppers and a few straggling tomato plants, the summer garden season is basically finished producing.

Planting, Harvesting & Preserving – Harvested tomatoes, winter squash, pears, herbs and seeds. Still harvesting peppers, some green and a few ripe tomatoes for fresh eating,

Canned 40 quarts of tomatoes in Sept as well as 7 quarts juice, 6 pints ketchup, 7 quarts hot peppers, 6 pints pear sauce, 13 quarts peaches. Froze a multitude of peppers and some additional squash. Dried peppers and tomatoes.

Preparedness & Planning – After a severe wind storm in Sept. causing statewide power outages and a wake up call, we sat down together and evaluated our emergency preparedness and working on manifesting those particulars.

Managing household & reserves – Cupboards were sorted and food and medical supplies evaluated. Looking at more ways to decrease electric consumption (our rates went up nearly 50% in Sept.) and dependence; will be putting up an indoor clothesline and hanger rod for winter clothes drying. Limiting meat purchases. Reasons are twofold - budget constraints as well as freeing up space for upcoming deer season.

Keeping it Local – Bulk and dry goods purchased from local independent merchants, eggs from local Amish, apples from farmers market. Donating excess garden produce to neighbors and friends.

Learned New Skill or Tried Something New – elderberry tincture made, continued research on natural treatments and remedies.

Misc. & Handcrafting – continued work on ongoing afghan project, began working on seasonal gift giving projects.

August 2008 Independence Summery

Well here it is, my August summery, but first things first. I have to share this somewhat fuzzy photo of my largest Brandywine to date.

If you recall the last one I showed you weighed 1 pound 11 ounces. Well this baby came in at 2 pounds 2 ounces! It was darn tasty, too!

Planting, Harvesting & Preserving –

Planted fall crop of romaine lettuce.

Still harvesting garden produce on regular basis for fresh eating and preserving. Harvesting winter squash. Harvested elderberries.

Canned 31 quarts of tomatoes, 15 quarts spaghetti sauce, 5 pints ketchup, 7 pints pickles, 11 pints sweet relish, 12 quarts tomato juice, 21 half pints hot sauce.

spaghetti sauce simmering

Froze 11 very full quarts elderberries, 15 bags squash (some zucchini, some summer squash), green peppers, hot peppers, 19 bags of green beans. I really wanted to can the beans but never had enough at one time to warrant doing that. Baked and froze 4 loaves zucchini bread, excess tomatoes.

Dried 3 pints Amish Paste tomatoes, 1 quart mixed hot [peppers, 1 pint sweet peppers.

Preparedness & Planning – Added purchased canned goods to reserves.

Managing household & reserves – Coop put together a much needed set of shelves in the cellar to store the canned good on in an orderly fashion. He also repaired cellar stairway with new concrete.

Keeping it Local – Eating from our garden daily, purchasing dairy products, fresh sweet corn from local Amish, purchased apples, sweet peppers and melon from local farmers market, sharing garden produce with neighbors and family.

Learned New Skill or Tried Something New – infusing elderberries for tincture as I write this, concocted a recipe for chutney using ground cherries.

Misc. & Handcrafting – yeah right. : ) Working occasionally on that afghan while planning a few projects for fall.

Breaking Free of the Cave May Save Your Life

(NaturalNews) The ancient philosopher Plato (circa 427 - 347 BC), wrote many astounding works. One of his largest, The Republic, contains the oft-referred to Allegory of the Cave. If you are unfamiliar with the work, here is a good artist's rendition of the Cave: ((http://www.meditationsight.com/Document...) .

Explanation of The Cave

Prisoners are chained deep down in a cave, from very early childhood. Their arms, legs, and head are all chained so that they cannot move, only stare at the wall before them.

Behind them is a huge fire. Between them and the fire is a raised path, on which shapes of animals, plants, and other items are carried. This casts shadows on the wall, which transfixes the prisoners; and when one of the carriers speaks, the sound echoes throughout the cave so the prisoners believe that it is coming from the shadows themselves. The captives play a sort of "name game" with one another, giving names to the shadows, which are the only reality they know.

Now picture one of the prisoners is freed from his bonds, and is beckoned to stand and turn around. He would sense pain in his body, and would be blinded by the glare of light. The shapes passing before him would seem less real than the shadows that they cast.

Upon leaving the cave, he is once again blinded by the increase in light. At first he only sees dark silhouettes of things, then he begins to see objects more and more clearly as his eyes adjust.

The last thing he would see is the sun itself, which he learns creates all of the seasons, and shapes and touches all that surrounds him.

Returning to the cave so that he may free his fellow prisoners, his eyes do not adjust well to the darkness. He cannot play their name game as quick, and they believe him to be blinded from his venture away. They think that this will happen to them, and so do not want to be freed, and out of this fear become murderous to anyone intending to do so.

Current Version

A present day version of The Cave could be likened to a movie many of you will remember -- "The Matrix", and Neo's path to enlightenment. In the movie, Neo knows that there is more truth out there than what he sees, and chooses to swallow the pill that will allow him to progress further and learn. He soon awakens to find himself bound in a liquid filled container. Breaking free, he begins a journey, learning about the realities of present life, negating all that he knew before. He begins to see the world for what it really is; learning that his former world was merely created by a computer program, known as "The Matrix". Neo goes on to realize that while he has this knowledge and can accept it and live in what is truly reality, most people are not ready. They are too fragile for the truth, and would resist or even die from the knowledge. Even some of those that learned the truth failed to thrive in the real environment, choosing instead to be placed back within the false reality.

Applying This to the Present Day

This can be applied to each and every one of us. Every day we choose what we believe to be true. Plato referred to this as "eikasia" which he used to refer to a human's way of dealing with appearances. It is the ability to perceive whether a perception is an image of something else; allowing us to see that a dream or memory, or even a reflection in a mirror, is not reality. We all have puppeteers in our lives influencing what we believe to be true, such as Plato's object carriers and Neo's Matrix. Our parents, teachers, governments and media all influence what we think. It is our job to "awaken", and sort through things diligently to see the truth for what it really is. This is our own personal "Path to Enlightenment", our own journeys out of the cave and in search of the sun.

How This Relates to Our Health

Some of us today are seeing the truth of our situation, and luckily our numbers are growing. We are sick, we are suffering, and we are dying. Why? Our meat comes from factories. Our vegetables and fruits are contaminated with pesticides and herbicides. Our seeds are being genetically engineered, and can now be patented.

Our grocery carts are filled with the latest boxes and packages of low-fat, low-carb, eat healthy, lose weight Garbage, yet we scoff at the prices of organic foods. Where once was a bowl of dough rising on the counter to be baked fresh from whole grains for the family dinner table, now sits a box of Bisquick.

Our milk contains pus and antibiotics, our meats contain nitrates, our drinks and many foods are laden with high fructose corn syrup. In an effort to minimize our waist-lines we consume the poisonous wood alcohol methanol, an ingredient in aspartame.

We have stolen from the earth, taken what was natural and healthy for us and made it unnatural and inherently detrimental. Our children are growing up on sugar and refined foods and we stare blankly when someone tells us that we are clogging their arteries even before they hit puberty.

Our doctors prescribe us pharmaceuticals to address our health concerns, which in turn cause us more problems that lead to more prescriptions. We complacently believe that cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome are just the side effects of growing old, and that the pharmaceutical companies will keep coming out with more products to "save" us.

Our waists are expanding, our hearts and livers and kidneys are failing. Our arteries are clogging at alarming rates and yet still, what do we do? Supersize that, please.

We must get back to reality. We must get back to nature.

I urge you all, break free of your bonds and walk out of the cave!

References:

"Plato: The Allegory of the Cave". Washington State University. July 14, 2007 ((http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_c...) .

Possehl, Melissa. "Explanation of the Cave". Critical Thinking March, 2006.

About the author

Mel Possehl is a Holistic Wellness Consultant working towards dual diplomas in Herbalism & Holistic Health, and is studying for the Registered Aromatherapist certification.

She has two blogs on natural health:
http://your-holistic-life.blogspot.com/
http://just-womens-issues.blogspot.com/

a little garden tour

The Brandywines are coming along and just now a few are beginning to ripen. The plant to the right is taller than me. I'm 5'3".

The Amish paste have been coming on gradually and as they are I have been drying them. They are growing in clusters like grapes. Lots coming on for canning!

The Cherokee Purple were the first to ripen so we have been enjoying those a lot. There will most definitely be no shortage of tomatoes around here!

The Hungarian peppers are doing great as usual. However this year my other peppers (sweet and hot) have had problems with the blossoms and leaves falling off and little if any fruit production. Others I have spoken with have had similar problems, so the weather may factor in a lot.

The Marglobe tomatoes are coming along nicely, also.

Bush Queen Acorn squash.
I usually plant Butternut, but Coop likes acorn the best so this year we decided to go with that variety as well as a few unique varieties such as Guatemalan Blue and Potimaron. These Bush Queen really do grow in nice bush like formation.

The volunteer polyheaded sunflowers grew to over 10" this year!

There's definitely a lot more going on than what I've shown here, but wanted to share with you some features from the main garden.

July 2008 Independence Summery

A tad bit late but here's our July Independence summery...

Planting, Harvesting & Preserving – Harvested cherries, raspberries, blackberries. Harvesting garden produce on regular basis for fresh eating.

Preserved 37 jars (1/2 pt) jam (lots of gift giving here!) , 8 pints pie filling, 7 pints pickles, 3 quarts juice, 8 pints beets. Froze 5 quarts cherries, 2 quart blackberries and 9 ½ quarts raspberries. Made 3 quarts refrigerator pickles.

Preparedness & Planning – Added purchased canned goods to reserves.

Managing household & reserves – cleaned freezer of remaining produce from last year to make room for this year’s harvest. Used up the last of 2007’s canned tomatoes by making spaghetti sauce.

Purchased jelly jars on sale, received additional canning jars from friend’s garage sale find, purchased more at auction. I have a surplus of jars at least for now.

Found a good cotton blanket at a garage sale for $1.

Received a supply of candles from our daughter, another garage sale find.

Received an entire wardrobe of clothing from a generous neighbor whose wife had passed away last year. As a result I kept what I could use for myself and gave away the remainder to others who could make good use of them. Sizes were varied so several people benefited nicely.

Keeping it Local – eating from our garden daily, eggs and milk from local Amish. Sharing garden produce with neighbors and family.

Learned New Skill or Tried Something New – made homemade castile soap successfully. Learned to use a pressure canner. Made calendula infused body oil. Now making my own butter. Tried a new zucchini cake recipe.

Misc. & Handcrafting -

Sold a jar of relish and a jar of jam as well as a beaded necklace.

Finished a crocheted shawl and it’s already reserved for purchase!

Crocheted cotton wash cloths.

May 2008 Independence Summery

Inspired by Carla Emery’s version of Independence Days, Sharon at Causabon's Book has challenged others to be more food independent.

I agree with Carla Emery when she said, "People have to choose what they are going to struggle for. Life is always a struggle, whether or not you’re struggling for anything worthwhile, so it might as well be for something worthwhile."

Sharon says in an article from May of last year found here that, "Americans tend to believe that hunger could never come their way. They forget that just two generations ago, during the depression, as many as 25% of urban school children were malnourished, and people stood in bread lines. They forget that the experience of privelege we've known in these wealthy nations is very odd - a historical anomaly. That pretty much all human beings starting with our grandparents and going back knew periods of food insecurity - and that the majority of people in the world know hunger at some point in their lives. Should we bet the farm on the notion that this magical immunity to the plague of hunger will go on forever?"

Although Sharon suggests keeping a weekly update, I've decided to blog about it in a monthly format from time to time, since I already keep a handwritten journal on my growing, preserving an harvesting efforts.

Planting, Harvesting & Preserving Heirloom gardens planted with a variety of tomatoes, peppers, peas, beets, green beans, zucchini, spinach, midget melons, a variety of winter squash and pickles, basil, onions. Planted dill patch and lettuce patch. Potted 11 citronella plants for the patio, 3 small cherry trees on old barn bank. Planted zinnias, lily bulbs, transplanted a sedum as well as several volunteer sunflowers.

Harvested & dried herbs, strawberries

Preparedness & Planning Purchased additional green beans for late summer crop. Bought pinto beans in bulk, divided and packaged for storage. Added storage containers to and organized reserve food storage area. Purchased additional toilet paper for reserve as well. Bought used sheets at Goodwill to use as garden covers during frost warnings. Made 2 gallon of liquid soap for laundry and dishes, made cloth napkins from materials on hand and purchased some used at thrift store to eliminate the need for paper towels. Discussed the details and likely purchase of a Rhoades Car with husband to lessen our dependence of petroleum.

Managing household & reserves Inventoried freezer, used up items nearing the end of freezer life, made croutons from old bread, used last of the winter squash from 2007 garden, donated unnecessary household goods and clothing to freecycle.

Keeping it Local Purchased butter, eggs, milk from local Amish, put in order for 20 quarts of strawberries for jam making from another Amish acquaintance. Purchased flour, sugar and additional staples from neighborhood bulk food markets.

The Growing Challenge

I came across elements in time the other night and decided to take the growing challenge. The rules are simple; you must grow one additional type of fruit or vegetable than you did last year, and grow it from seed and you must blog about gardening once each week. I figure that's not much of an obligation as my seeds are ordered and I'll be planting all kinds of new things this year, and like last year I'm bound to talk about it here on a regular basis. The main thing is the benefit tome and my garden. I think it may encourage me to be more conscious of my garden...to take more notice in the day to day changes occurring there. I figure anything that encourages one to be more conscious and to prioritize what matters is a positive.

My seed purchase this year was entirely heirloom. The only old familiar standbys I ordered were Brandywine tomatoes and zucchini. I can't wait to get them and look through all the packets of potential. I am anxious for Spring...aren't we all who relish the thought of getting their hands in the earth? It won't be terribly long until I will be gathering my seed starting pots from the shed and setting my table and light up to begin the process.

Here's a look back at last years gardening efforts.

Old CDs and a string fence worked to help discourage the deer.

Can you say peppers?

a variety