August 27, 2009

Sorry If I Missed Your Comments

I tried a Disqus, I thought it would allow me to see replies to my comments - it does not and it return I have lost all comments on my new posts (if there were any, I do not know). If you have a question and a pressing comment please post them for me, the blog is back to its basic self again. Peace for all

August 26, 2009

Grow Fruit Trees

Grow Free Fruit Trees

By Lee Reich

Most fruit trees are best grown from grafted trees that cost $25 to $35 each. But with peaches, nectarines and apricots, you can cut your cost to zero by growing trees from seeds.

Because cross-pollination between varieties produces variable results, apples and some other fruit trees are usually not grown from seeds. (Instead, cuttings or buds of the best varieties are grafted onto rootstocks to produce trees that bear fruit just like the parent tree’s.) But the almondlike seeds in pits from peaches, nectarines and apricots do a good job of carrying on the desirable traits of their parents. You can simply sprout and grow a seed from a great-tasting specimen, and you have a good chance of sinking your teeth into sweet, juicy fruit from your own tree in only three to five years.

Summer is the best time to kick off this project, because you can seek out mid- or late-season varieties grown in your region. The best seeds come from fully ripe fruit. Avoid seeds from early maturing varieties because their seeds may not develop enough to sprout. Locally grown varieties are more likely to prosper in your garden compared to varieties grown a thousand miles away, and looking for likely candidates is tasty fun! Eat lots of peaches from farm stands and farmers markets, and save the pits from those that taste like peach heaven. And if you live where you can get local apricots and nectarines, you can try growing them from seeds too.

more follows at

http://www.motherearthnews.com/print-article.aspx?id=131844

August 25, 2009

New Poems

you're born
you die
everything else is a make work project



daily doing all you can
seems like spinning wheels
til the day you realize
it was a slow steep climb
to the top


in the cool of dusk
the day slips away
my breathing to
the techno rhythm
of crickets
. . .

would you like to add some lines? thought it would be fun to do it together, bringing your joys to mine - peace for all

August 20, 2009

How to Clean the Air

"Manure and salt cleans up the air

By Kathy Cogo from Townsville , QLD

Wednesday, 20/05/2009

Cattle are considered one of the worst contributors to greenhouse gases and climate change, but now they've a chance to redeem themselves.

Cow dung is being used in conjunction with salt water to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and remarkably inventors say it works better and more reliably than trees and soil."

I linked the title to the story. Peace for all

Why do we feel we have to be productive all the time?

It is very hard to give up the treadmill. We have been chasing the carrot for so long we refuse to believe we could survive living another way. Even when we are not productive we do things to help with our productivity. It is easy to be obsessed with doing the right thing all the time and constantly pressure ourselves to produce, devoted to securing the future for my family.

I love to create with words, food, gardens, colors - doesn't everyone. They don't pay off. What you love, your inner joy, is not important. The only thing important is production, captivity, my slavery. It is hard to turn from slavery where pleasure is not allowed.

Looking at our lives like a business we cut the overhead of living at every turn. We are not frugal, we are practical.

My responsibility to my family is to save money, my husband's is to make money, and together we work to reducing the need for money at all. We live on a little farm. We both work from home. You make money and save money at the save time. I started making jewelery in my spare time, making my pleasure productive allows me to enjoy my life more.

It is hard to break free, and it is always done in steps. Just acknowledging there is more to life than consumerism is difficult for most.


Gardening Success

At this point, are you feeling like a success or a failure in your garden?

If you attempted to grow your own food at all the only correct answer is "a success"!

Gardens fail. They fail every season, even plants that grow successfully have in their community "failures". This is natural, and not negative or wrong.

Perfection is only an illusion, sponsored and paid for.

Success is aligning your needs with the natural providence which is our free birthright.

Living without much money, I understand how frustrating it is to loss food crops. I could go on and on about all the food lost to bugs and mistakes. But now, after many years gardening, it is plain to me that my role here is to "go with the flow".

An all or nothing mentality is erroneous as compromise is the natural solution. We can't have everything, know this on the outset, all accomplishment must be steps. Don’t put a blind eye to the limitations they only indicate where you will have to work at improving. It is natural, until you are experienced, you will experience some debilitation. At first this can make you uncomfortable or unsure of yourself, but gladly submit, these are the first steps to freedom.

Garden Help

Blogger Ruralrose said...

This is gardening. You have worked so hard, just because the little critters have claimed you food doesn't mean you didn't grow it well. This is an extremely tough situation you are in, with the summers weather. Some years will be tougher than others, and each year the yields from each crop will be different. Success comes from unseen places, know you did your best, and let it go. The experience is valuable, and each "loss" can be replaced by a "win" if we allow that win to come the unseen too. For example maybe squash will be really cheap at the farmer's market and you will be helping a poor person by purchasing them from her. You are doing such a great job, this is the nature of the beast, don't let it get you down. Peace for all

August 19, 2009

baking bread

"Baking bread at home saves hundreds of dollars on groceries every year. With this easy method, each deliciously crusty-on-the-outside, moist-and-chewy-on-the-inside loaf with only cost you about 50 cents and 5 minutes a day. No kidding!

Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread

Discover this ridiculously easy — and cheap! — technique that revolutionizes home baking.

August 18, 2009

Blogger Ruralrose said...

mmmmm i can smell it from here! i haven't had a tomato yet, despite planting over 20 heirlooms - we keep tiny tims and yellow pear tomatoes in the windows over winter and they produce much, much more than you would assume - tomatoes are perennials you know - but we can't wait for the big succulent ones you can only get in summmer - i just love watching your kitchen (go see for yourself)- peace for all

August 19, 2009 1:47 AM

Food Security


August 17, 2009


Preserving Food

Blogger Ruralrose said...

I quit canning after the third year. I never seemed to get ahead with the work needed and the losses that just "naturally" occur. Canning uses a lot of energy to cook and sterilize. It really reduces the nutrient value of what you are trying to save.

I freeze everything. Lord help us if the power goes out, but a generator is the next item on the self-sufficiency list. I pickle cukes and hot peppers because they are a no brainer and well worth the effort. Vegetables like beans I saute in butter before freezing. Tomatoes, bananas and ginger can be frozen whole. To use the tomatoes thaw them in a strainer, just lovely. I make up salsa with cilantro, onions, lime, hot peppers and tomatoes and freeze it in small bags too (i strain it before freezing). The ginger gets grated as needed. I freeze berries whole and use them for desserts or smoothies through the winter. If I do want some jam I make a small batch in the winter, when the house needs to be heated, and we enjoy it until its gone.

Don't give up, it all works as education for next year. You are way ahead of the learning curve even if you don't realize it yet.
Peace for all.

August 13, 2009

Roast Garlic

Found a new blog that is just awesome! Go see for yourself I have linked the title
http://roastgarlicandotheryummythings.blogspot.com
Peace for all

August 10, 2009

Bokashi

This post came from Sara it is well worth sharing. Her blog is excellent too, a very insightful woman.

100_1644

I'm a huge fan of Bokashi. Bokashi is a Japanese word for a well fermented organic product. Pictured above are the results of my first Bokashi bran bucket. It might look yucky but it is actually very friendly & very good for the garden. This mixture is now going to be popped into my compost bin to decompose & is full of effective micro-organisms that will improve the quality of my compost & help to suppress diseases & pests in my soil. To read more about effective micro-organisms & the ways they can be used The Recycle Works own website on the subject is very interesting & informative.

100_1645

One advantage of using a Bokashi bran bucket is that you can add kitchen waste that you normally wouldn't put onto a compost heap, like meat & fish. Because the waste is fermented & not rotted it retains more of it's energy & nutritional value which means more of the goodness will be added to your garden. It's simple to use. You need a bucket with a tap at the bottom & a perforated plate to pop your waste onto. You then add your kitchen waste, chopped into small pieces, with a handful of Bokashi bran, compact, close the lid & then just keep repeating this process. A liquid will accumulate in the bottom of the bucket & can be tapped off to use diluted as an excellent plant feed, or can be poured undiluted down your sink where the effective micro-organisms will help to clean your pipes. It's brilliant! The bucket can be kept indoors because with the lid on there is no smell at all. When you lift off the lid, instead of a getting an offensive, foul, rotting odour all you get is an inoffensive, slightly sweet pickled smell.

Why not give it a go? Your plants will receive more essential growing energy & will be more resistant to harmful bacteria & funghi. You will enjoy the satisfaction of being kind to the environment.