Preview

Know what time it is??

Its time to start canning! It's true!

So in the next two weeks or so you'll be seeing plenty of recipes, old and new, and a lot of information regarding the preservation of the summer harvest.

I'll be starting with peaches, strawberry jam and cherry pie filling. After that, whole tomatoes, and then tomato sauce. Green beans and corn will come soon too, and of course, this year's newest addition to my food storage - sweet pickles!

So join me in the 2011 canning marathon! Head to your neighborhood Rural King or other Middle American general store and stock up on quart and pint jars, get your stock pots and pressure cookers out and cleaned up and don't forget the lids! It's time to PRESERVE the HARVEST!

Official Hayseed

I picked my first ears of shoepeg corn last evening!

Yup, it's official! I'm a hayseed!

My Grandpa Orlin would be so proud of me. :) I sure do miss him, but I know he's in Heaven and healed.

We're having corn with dinner tonight.

Tomato Queen!

Can I just say that I ADORE my heirloom tomatoes, and have thusly declared myself to be Tomato Queen. :) I'm totally in love with these heirlooms that I planted this year!

I'm not much of a researcher. I can barely remember what I did two hours ago, much less remember to write down little things that I notice while meandering through the greens. But I'm noticing some really cool things, and I'm going to try to relay them to my readers who might be remotely interested in learning about heirloom variety vegetables.

When I saw the Pink Accordion in the Territorial Seed catalogue this year, I knew I had to have them. It was love at first sight. So bumpely and awkward, so big, such a pretty color! It had a to be a good choice.

It was!

These vines are absolutely enormous! They are reaching astonishing heights (for tomatoes), coming close to 4 feet tall. I have a green fruit that is probably 4 inches in diameter already, and it isn't even close to being full size. I'm guessing it still has about 2 more weeks before being fully ripe. The picture to the left is almost a month old, I'm just too lazy to go out and get a newer one right now. So imagine this same tomato, double sized.

Some people don't like the smell of tomato vines, but I actually like it. But I also love the smell of marigolds, which I'm told is very weird and most people can't stand them. I have strange olfactory tolerances I guess. Anyway, the pink accordians seem to have a more pungeant odor than some of the smaller variety and the vines are almost.... juicy. The vines are slick to the touch and leave a distinctive green stain on my fingers.

Hope to get a few more pics up of these guys as they progress and more observations when I make them. I really, really believe strongly in growing heirloom veggies though. It may be a stupid doomsday cliche, but you can't eat bars of gold when the economy collapses. You can, however, continue to thrive with heirloom variety plants!!

A Few More Images

Obviously I love my little 'farm'. I'd love it better if I could tear the neighbor's house down and expand onto their lot, but that wouldn't be very neighborly, would it?? Anyway, I dug some new potatoes last night, pulled baby carrots, clipped lavender spears, and dug weeds until dusk and I was so happy doing it. Here are a few of the pictures I took:

The Trash Pile

There is a little section of my garden that I refer to as the trash pile. It is the area under a bradford pear tree (I hate this tree - it shades prime real estate, has stinky flowers in the spring and drops nasty little fruits all over the patio every fall) where I let the weeds grow rampant and where I pile up all the 'trash' at the end of the growing season.

It's not really a compost pile because I have a compost pile on the other side of the yard. This is just the place where I dump stuff. And I usually find treasures here when the new growing season starts. This year is no different than any other year.

The Trash Pile is currently home to 7 chamomile plants, mountains of catnip, and a few stray tomatoes. Truth be told, I have tomato plants popping up in such large quantities that I am giving them away to friends and family members. They have been showing up in such random places that I wonder why I bothered saving seeds from them at all.

I stepped on a thorn tonight and also ran another thorn into my thumb. Yes I know that there are things called shoes and gloves, but honestly, I just love to feel the dirt under my feet and in my hands. Even as I am typing this, I am still pretty well covered in mud.

I've been thinking about renting the church kitchen and having a 'canning' party later this season. Lord knows I'm going to have more tomatoes than I will know what to do with! As we get further into the year, I feel more strongly about preparing and helping others prepare for times to come. Maybe it's the fact that I cannot buy groceries for $50 a week anymore. ($87 this week - and I tried to get only sale items.) Maybe it's the dire economic predictions, the political scene and the state of our country in general. I don't know. But it's on my heart to prepapre and help others know how to prepare. Plus - canning in a group could be a LOT of fun.

Anonymous

I don't like not being able to keep up with the things that I love. I love my handicrafts, my writing, my experiences in the kitchen and the garden. It's been difficult not to keep up with them. I feel as if I am losing my identity.

Sugar Snap Peas

I am happy to be working again, and I am satisfied with the job. But there are things I am not happy about. I have to push loans, credit card applications and other unnecessary things on customers every day, and yet, I have a moral gut check about it when I do. I am strongly against debt. I don't use credit cards anymore, and I am working hard to pay off all of our debts. We no longer make purchases with loans and credit - we go without if we can't afford it at that moment. I feel like many people feel this way too, and yet it is now my job to convince them otherwise. It makes me feel conflicted. I'm earning my paycheck by leading others into something I don't believe it myself.



Very healthy potatoes!!



So a few updates over the last few weeks - the weather has not improved at all. It has rained nonstop here in the midwest, although it isn't quite as bad as the south, where tornadoes have been wreaking havoc. Thunderstorms and unseasonable frosts have plagued our spring, and my seeds have struggled to come up. Few of them have actually germinated at all. I have several broccoli (which thrive in the cool weather), and a handful of carrot sprouts. The potatoes are marvelously healthy and growing taller every day.

The peas are 5 inches tall, and a perfectly delightful, shiny pale green; their little tendrils are vining around the cages and reaching toward the sun when it occasionally is so inclined to come out.



Raspberry Canes



Broccoli sprouting

 There are two strong seedlings of Early Girl tomatoes in the greenhouse and believe me, I am nursing them like sick babies. I pray for my heirlooms, since they haven't germinated yet. Even the beans and zucchini are refusing to put out any sprouts because of the temperatures.

I planted a few canes of raspberries, which will probably not fruit this year, but by next summer, it will be lovely to have fresh raspberries, and perhaps even make some raspberry jam.

I've spent my entire day off digging up weeds and nursing the greenhouse. There is so much to be done. There are new beds to be dug out and a lot of crabgrass that needs to be dug out. My lawn looks terrible - bald patches, mole hills, and lots of weeds.

Oh, and the sourdough starter was an EPIC FAIL. Shameful really. So much for that.

For The Love of Vegetables

 Cannellini Lingot - Dry Shelling Beans

These beauties are wonderful for soup. It's going to be a few months before I can harvest these, but when I do, I plan to dry them in my dehydrator and store them in a few big jars. This winter, when the snow raises hell all around us, I will have a hot ham and bean soup, flavored with thyme and oregano. I can already taste it. :)

 "Jade" green bush-type beans will grow in 2-4 foot tall bushes instead of vining around and taking over the garden. The bean pods themselves can grow up to 10 inches long and are virtually stringless. They're also tender and sweet. I plan to transplant them from the greenhouse at the same time I sow my sweet corn into the same bed together. Beans and corn are natual companions, each one providing necessary nutrients to the other that are needed for healthy and vigorous growth. Corn, beans and squash are the traditional "Three Sisters", grown together by Native Americans for hundreds of years.

I can't wait to bite into one of these Pink Accordian heirloom tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes are a very valuable piece of the garden. They are not modified in any way, not hybrids, not altered to suit some commercial farms needs - perfectly natural and the way that Mother Nature intended them to be. The seeds are savable, and can be continued on for years to come. They never look as perfect as the tomatoes in the grocery stores, but beautiful in their own way.

"Country Gentleman" shoepeg corn is also an heirloom variety. It's especially grown in the south, and is considered one of the best roasting varieties available. It's self-pollinating, and not hybridized, and will grow perfect with my green beans. I have plans to dry some for seeds, scrape the kernels off of the cobs for freezing and perhaps an ear or two on the grill with the hamburgers and bratwurst at family BBQ's this summer.




All of these pictures were borrowed from Territorial Seed Company's website, but only because I already purchased the seeds for them and they haven't turned into big beautiful vegetables yet. Do yourself a favor - start a garden. Grow a tomato or two. Put some herbs in a pot and be proud of yourself when you can add them to your cooking. Nothing is more beneficial to the soul than waiting on a seed to come forth.

Sourdough Starter

I have known about this for awhile, but have not had the opportunity to get started until today. In an effort to wean my husband and myself off of white bread loaves from the store, I am going to try to make more homemade bread this spring and summer. And it all begins with sourdough starter, or wild yeast cultivation, which is what our ancestors used to bake leavened bread for thousands of years before the invention of commercial grade yeast in little foil packages. (And btw, is quite expensive these days.)

So today I have begun the cultivation of my wild yeast. I'm sure Alex is much less thrilled about it than I am. He tends to see my little attempts at pioneer living 'cute' at best and a giant mess and many tears when I fail at worst. But if this turns out well, than we will be eating potato soup and clam chowder out of bread bowls and serving bistro sammiches on thick slices by summer.

Starting The Starter

1 Get a glass or ceramic container with a lid. It should be able to hold at least three to four cups of liquid, so a quart sized Mason jar will work well. (I have an abundance of them.) Do not use a metal container - it will contaminate the starter.

2. Different types of flours make different types of breads, but I recommend starting with white flour. Apparently whole wheat and rye starters have a tendency to rot before the beneficial culture of lactobacillus and wild yeast have had a chance to develop their symbiotic relationship.

3. Mix one cup of white flour with one cup of lukewarm water in the glass or ceramic container and stir until smooth. Put it in a warm place. Mine happens to be sitting on the furnace right above the heating pipe right now. (Ideally 70-80 degrees.) You can also put it on the stove if you have a pilot light to keep it warm. In the summer, I will probably keep it in the garage, in a box on the floor.

4. Every day, pour off one cup of your starter and add a half cup of flour and a half cup of lukewarm water back in to feed what remains. The biggest mistake most people make and probably the most common cause of failure is neglecting to feed it every single day. Unfed starters will begin to mold very quickly and in any case will not creat a successful loaf. You MUST feed your starter EVERY SINGLE DAY without fail. I can't stress it enough.

5. The cultivation should start to get bubbly after a few days. A layer of liquid, sometimes called 'hooch' (LOL) will form on top. Don't be concerned, this is natural. Stir it in every morning when you add the additional flour and water.

6 After two weeks have passed, you should have an active culture of wild yeasts that you can bake bread with. About a week after that, instead of throwing away that cup of starter in the morning, use it to make a practice dough. The starter gets stronger as it ages, but give it a try! Try it in sourdough pancakes if you're particularly brave and have an agreeable household! (I do not.....yet.)

7. After the wild yeast has cultivated, if you aren't going to bake every day, put the starter in the fridge and feed it once a week. To revive it, take it out of the fridge and give it two or three days of feeding before baking with it.

I will update you on the progress of this little experiment in a few days! I do not expect our house to become a bakery, but I do expect to be able to bake bread once a week.


UPDATE!!!! - The sourdough starter is doing exactly what the instructions said it would do! It is getting bubbly on top and the hooch started getting nice and thick on top today after I mixed the new stuff in. :) Alex said "It takes two weeks?? That better be the damn best bread I've ever eaten for how long I have to wait!"

The Official Start

Although I technically seeded my spring cabbages back in December, today marks the first official day of the Peek Family's 2011 Vegetable Garden! Hooray!

I have BIG fat plans for this year's garden, including turning my front yard into a virtual haven of edible landscaping when not only will the vegetables flourish, but the wildlife (except for that wretched mole!) will be welcome and enchantment abounds. My magnolia tree is about to have its own special raised bed and the days of those 3 Bradford pear trees (that serve no purpose except to shade important parts of my yard that need the sunshine and drop nasty inedible fruits all over the sidewalk in the winter) are numbered!

I had to scrub under my nails and pick dirt out of my nose of course, but these annoyances actually made me smile because I got to spend 2 hours out in the dirt.

I started today's efforts by digging all the leaves out of the front flower bed. Friends, autumn's leaves are nature's way of protecting things over the winter. I piled up the autumn leaves around all of my perennial herbs in the front flower bed this winter, and while they hibernated under 6 feet of snow (we had 5 snowstorms over this past winter) the leaves kept their roots warm and safe. I just cleaned out all the leaves and I am delighted to see the new growth coming in on the lavender, parsley and thyme. I intend to intersperse basil, oregano, marjoram, sage, lemon verbena, chamomile, comfrey, tansy and angelica around in the front and make a tea garden envious of the most austere British gardener. I'd like to have a row of sunflowers along the porch wall as well, but I tried that last year and was not successful. This year however, I am using a new seed company, and will try it one more time.

I went to our backyard and extended the bed that I used for lettuces last year and joined it to the bed that formerly held pumpkins. I now have blisters on my thumbs, but they are trophies of my hard work. This bed is now four feet longer than it was previously and will hold an heirloom variety of sweet corn called 'Country Gentleman' or shoepeg corn. It is an open pollinated variety, not a hybrid, and I am planting it so that I can save seeds for next season as well as enjoy fresh sweet corn this summer. But I can't plant corn until the beginning of May, as the ground is simply to cold right now to ensure proper germination. So instead, I direct seeded sugar snap peas and seed potatoes into the far right third of the bed, since they are relatively cold tolerant and the peas will germinate and grow quickly.

In the green house, I sowed a lot of seed today, including several for the heirloom tomato pictured above, which is a variety known as a pineapple tomato. These tomatoes are heirloom, so their seeds are savable, and they grow to be about 5 inches in diameter and I am told they are sweet enough to eat for breakfast. I also seeded another heirloom variety called the Pink Accordion, which also grows to be quite large, and has a rosy pink hue instead of red. And of course, I seeded my Early Girls, which I am just dying to get out into the garden itself. Early Girls germinate in less than 10 days and then grow and ripen in about 60 days, and I hope I can wait until the beginning of June to taste my own sweet tomatoes. And tonight I plan to pay a visit to the garden center to pick up a few more peat cups and another bag of seed starting mix, so that this weekend I can get the rest of the produce started. The lettuces and broccoli didn't get the early start I was hoping for this year, due to all the frosty weather and snow that wouldn't let up.

If you're in my neck of the woods, do stop by and see what's springing forth from the ground!

Old Man Winter Better Move Along

March and April of 2010 was probably what I would describe as a perfect spring. When March rolled around, the days immediately warmed. They rose to the mid 50's and 60's and stayed there consistently until the end of May. It rained a lot in April, a perfect amount I would say, because my garden had plenty of water throughout the summer with very few efforts to keep it hydrated with the sprinkler. The sun shone and warmed up the ground beautifully and most of my seeds in the greenhouse germinated and sprang to life without too much coaxing.

This year, Old Man Winter has me by the balls. Figuratively speaking of course, since I don't actually have any balls to be had by. This winter weather just will not let up!

Come on Mother Nature! You need to shake off these blues you've been feeling and let some sunshine in!

I have cabbages, broccoli, peas and lettuces to plant, and the ground is hard and frozen. It actually snowed last week. Not that snow in March is an uncommon occurance in Northern Indiana, but instead an unwelcome one.

So Friday is April 1 and I have a paycheck coming in. I have planned to use part of that paycheck at the garden center on a few trinkets to help me finish up my landscaping. It's also supposed to be reasonably warm outside. With any blessing from Mother Nature, the herb garden should be planted by Sunday, and the seed potatoes should be in their beds.

I'm going to be visiting my sister-in-law, Rosa, in mid-April to help her and her family plant their 2011 vineyard. It's very exciting. In the last couple years, they have become very interested in wine and the fine craft of wine-making. And the products have not been too bad either! Personally, I teared up a little bit when I drank the last dregs of her cherry wine! It's definitely a retirement investment for them, and I envy them a little bit, because they have the kind of property that I would really like to have someday - 12 acres of land, space to hunt, horses, a perfectly proportioned home for the amount of land.... and so on and so forth. One day, one day. That's what I continue to remind myself. Alex and I will not always have to live on a 37 foot wide plot between the cruddy neighbors that we have now that keep encroaching on our property lines. One day, we'll have that 12 acres, maybe even more.

So anyway Old Man Winter, I'm really ready for you to shuffle along until November. Please move along so that I can get outside and get our summer produce going! We need to eat you know!

Heat Wave

It's almost 40 degrees Farenheit here in Northern Indiana right now, and I actually just ran outside in short sleeves with no coat! Just for a moment though, it isn't THAT warm yet. But I think it's funny what our bodies do to adjust to fluctuating temperatures. In September, 40 degrees is downright frigid, but in February, after 2 full weeks of single digits and negative temps, 40 degrees is practically a heat wave!

I talk a lot about the Territorial Seed Company, which was brought to my attention when I started reading a book by Steve Solomon, founder of Territorial Seed, titled Gardening When It Counts. I requested a catalogue from them last year, but I wasn't prepared to purchase anything yet. This year I am. And with the recent success of my etsy shop, all those sold baby shoes are going to help finance this year's garden, which I am expecting to be a showstopper.
To begin with, I heard on the news yesterday that there is a drought in China's wheat belt, and a cold snap in Mexico that is ruining imported produce. Corn prices are at an all time high, and food prices are expected to triple all across the USA. It will be easier for those of us in the Midwest because we're very close to our food sources, but for those in the city, things could get downright tough. By the way, you can thank good ol' President Nixon for our corn woes. It was at his behest that things like corn-based preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup were put into almost every single food item in the grocery store shelves! It helped people be able to keep their food longer, but it also introduced a dependency on corn that is unsustainable, and has been a chronic suspect in the creation of things like learning disabilities, food allergies and immune system disorders! BUT, you can also thank other presidents for pushing E-85 ethanol fuel production - because that's going to cause an even greater strain on the production of corn products in our country. But I digress...

Anyway, I can see the earliest of golden light coming through the glass in the back door, and the depth of the snow is down to left than 12 inches. We've even got grass poking up here and there! And in between trips to the post office, episodes of 'An Idiot Abroad' and cups of tea, I am going to place the first seed order from Territorial Seed Co. I am quite anxious for fresh produce after the winter's menu of hearty stews and protein-laden dishes. I'm ready for fresh greens, fruit pies, and grilled veggies.

So if you're plotting out your garden in Zones 4-6 right now, remember that March is the time to plant cabbages, peas, lettuces, brussels sprouts, beets, broccoli, onions and potatoes! Some are quick to grow (lettuces) and some take a looooooooong time (cabbages and onions), but they will be so worth it when they are smiling out from their beds at you in April, ready to be picked and prepared!

This year, I'm going to be very adventurous with the preserving and canning, so I'm warning you ahead of time - there will probably be sauerkraut, every manner of frozen and canned oddity and jellies and jams made from the strangest of fruit combinations. Be ready!

New Look, New Attitude.

Well, if you have just found me this morning, you will have been greeted by my all new background and 'look'. I must say I am quite pleased.

My motto for this beautiful new year is "Necessity is the mother of invention."

I am determined to constantly be seeking new and creative ways to be self-sufficient. I'll admit, yesterday, I was so depressed I couldn't get off the couch. (We also had a blizzard, which is the most opressive of the weather patterns I find.) But today, the sun is OUT, the snow has finally stopped, my back muscles are positively screaming from all the shoveling I did yesterday, I have friends, love, and life, and most importantly a FUTURE.

What brought about this sudden change? The sunshine outside helped. My husband suddenly deciding that we are going to pray together every night after some time of reflection and study in God's word was a huge part in my attitude adjustment. And it occurred to me that I do so much that ensures the survival of our tiny family that I have no reason on earth to feel useless and unwanted. My cats would DIE without me. It's true. My husband would live with his grandma without me. (Not so bad - she doesn't nag him like I do.)

I am returning to my original plan - to be a pianist! I didn't go through 22 years of piano lessons and 7 years of music school to be worthless. I sure as all get out didn't go through all that to be an insurance agent.

Alex is my manager. Beginning in March, I will begin marketing myself as an event pianist for weddings, receptions, etc, and an accompanist. That means I have to buckle down and practice every day again. I hope I have that in me.

I will continue to work the Etsy shop like my life depends on it.

I will try to take on a few new piano students.

I will grow my best garden to date this year. Hence the new background - veggies are one of my great loves.

I will preserve more food than ever this year.

I will create new recipes and try new things every week.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll convince that husband of mine that we should be thinking about starting our family?

Nah - I'll save that one for next year. :)

Producing Produce UnProductively

I have just returned from the grocery store, and I am quite irritated. The irritation is not at this particular grocery store, but more because I have had the same problem for exactly 3 weeks in a row.

Bad Produce.

When Alex and I went to the market last week, I needed potatoes. We eat a lot of potatoes because Alex doesn't really like many veggies, and so potatoes become a versatile side dish, or easy dinner that I can whip up quickly. The whole stand full of potatoes was rotten. Moldy, cracked, blackened, rotten potatoes. I was quite upset, and quickly decided that needing potatoes could wait until I went to another grocery store. Potatoes were not the only rotten veggies though. Pomegranates looked bruised, discolored and sickly. Bananas were spotted and squishy or far too green to really justify being there. Onions were turning black with mildew along the edges of the skin. I was disappointed and Alex pointed out that perhaps it was simply because we were at the more 'discount' of our local grocery chains.

Today at a completely different grocery store, and, sad to say, a much more upscale grocery store than the one we had frequented previously, I came across the exact same problem. In fact, I brought home two small bags of onions that were one sale (2 bags for $3) and out of 11 onions, 5 of them are unedible, growing mildew and mold, bruised, blackening and oozing mush. I did the best I could to examine them before sticking them in the cart, but I still ended up with rotten stuff.

What am I complaining about? A lot. But mostly I am once again pointing out that grocery store imported, out of season produce is unreliable and a waste of money. I can't wait for the snow to start melting so that I can plant potatoes, onions and cabbages and then preserve them, dry them or freeze them as necessary to avoid having to purchase inferior produce.

Frequent your farmers' market, buy local produce and grow what you can, if you can!

Reviewer Mode

I have never once regretter purchasing 'The New Self-sufficient Gardener' by John Seymour. Of all the gardening books in a very large stack that I have, this one has the honor of being my favorite.

I wrote a review on Amazon.com a couple years ago, and I think it's pretty cool that my review is the highest rated for this book right now!

Soaring oil, food, utility and energy and general cost of living prices are enough to make you wonder if there is anything you can do to make yourself more self sufficient. As someone who has always loved to play in the dirt and see the flowers grow, I knew I was going to appreciate this book immediately.

Written from the point of view of a man who grew up in England in the 50's, John Seymour is practical, friendly and unpolitical. Completely unconcerned with things like global warming and inflation, he recognized that the human condition has simply lost it roots - pun intended. Back in his day, he reminisced,  every English country home had a kitchen garden and the produce of the family diet came from that garden. There was a pig in the sty (and one in the larder), and a henhouse in the yard. And what you couldn't grow, you went without, or possibly traded with a neighbor. Why can't people live like this today?

I could argue on and on about the laziness and the commercialism of the day, but it's pretty redundant. Instead, I decided to put a little elbow grease into my garden and see how long it will take us to be as self-reliant as possible.

I think I appreciate Seymour's book simply because it is unpolitical. No references to global climate change, or carbon footprints, or wars in the Middle East.  I was recently flipping through a book on urban homesteading, which was written by some folks in Los Angeles and has won numerous awards because it gives simple advice on how to become self-sufficient while living in the city. "Do your part to reduce your carbon footprint!"  My humble and honest opinion to those on the West Coast is this - stop 'playing house' with your high rise apartment balcony container gardens and your smug "we're saving the planet" attitudes and get your asses out to the Midwest sometime. We'd be happy to show you REAL homesteading, real farming, and real self-sufficiency. Anyway, that's a tangent saved for a better day. There are NO POLITICAL AMBITIONS in The New Self-Sufficient Gardener! Hooray!

I started my gardening adventures with a couple tomato plants and some herbs. That was in 2006. This year in 2010, I more than doubled my crops and harvest. I was even able to grow pumpkins this year, and it was a lot of fun. Bell and cayenne peppers, four varieties of tomato, 10 herbs, russet potatoes, leeks, broccoli, lettuce, beets, pumpkins and 2 types of winter squash. It was a great year with a really good harvest! And I owe it all to John Seymour's great book full of practical advice!

No urging to find a way to purchase a $13000 wind turbine, no pleadings to replace your furnace with a geo-thermal heating and cooling system, no blaming the American presidents for not doing enough to stop the inevitable changing of the climate, INSTEAD when and how to plant deep beds, proper propogation of seeds, watering techniques to improve efficiency, how to raise the most out of your soil and how to avoid certain diseases and pests.

Best of all, I have come to realize that self-sufficiency is a process realized over time. Every year something new - another step closer. We live in the city. Not the big city, but the city nonetheless. Our yard is small and we are stuck with city utilities. And I still managed to decrease our grocery costs by $10 per week. I'm trying to do even better this coming year. Today we're heading out to a real butcher shop (!) and stocking the freezer for the next 3 months worth of meals. I'm excited about it. We may not have to tread inside a big chain grocery store for weeks! That's the ultimate goal.

So if you LOVE the idea of self-sufficiency, put down the books written by hippies and activists in California, and reach for the New Self-Sufficient Gardener instead. Start practically and patiently instead of hoping to stop global climate change overnight. Self-sufficiency takes time, baby steps and research!