Food and Gardens

[ysabetwordsmith]

According to several reports, food prices are going up. This post talks about global food prices, but in America food prices are also going up faster than inflation of other prices.

If you have the space to grow a garden of any kind, seriously consider doing so. Every little bit helps. If you can't grow your own food, another helpful option is to patronize local farmers: farmer's markets, truck gardens, and community-supported agriculture are good for the economy and for obtaining healthy food.

Personally, I haven't had much luck growing vegetables. I'm better with fruit and herbs. Most years, my yard produces far more fruit than I can eat, so I share it with friends (and wildlife). We're also planning to get some local produce and make large batches of spaghetti sauce to freeze. Last year's batches were made in response to surprise gifts of tomatoes, and they really helped stretch our food budget.

Comments

[puffbird.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the reminder about CSAs! Our local paper ran an article about them last spring, and my husband and I -- though not in the position to join one at the time -- both thought it was brilliant!

When one of my brothers and his wife lived in San Diego, they bought a share so they could have fresh veggies every week, and they loved it. The San Diego season is a lot longer than the season here... and they get a wider variety of foods than we do where we live...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

That's cool. CSAs are good for variety. From what I've read, they tend to plant the most popular cultivars of the most popular crops -- but also throw in some unusual things, like mesclun mix or purple carrots. Subscribers may also have some input into what gets planted; some CSAs issue a survey in spring asking people what they want and how much, as an aid in planning. For anyone thinking about joining a CSA, now is an excellent time; this is when they'll be doing their planning and ordering seeds/seedlings.

[puffbird.livejournal.com]

Both of the CSAs we're looking at recommend joining now, to get a say in what they plant. :)

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

What two are you considering? What kind of stuff do you want? I'd enjoy hearing more about what they're like.

[(Anonymous)]

Both of the farms we're looking at are long-established family farms, and I think they started running as CSAs in order to stay in business... and it's turning out well for them. I like the paradigm. One of them is a lot closer to us than the other (by probably 30 minutes travel time), but they both have pick-up locations in our area.

They both offer garden standards that vary by season: peas, root veggies, summer squash, winter squash and potatoes. One of them also offers fresh herbs and fruit like raspberries and cherries as well... and we like that. They are both about $200 for the season, which gives us about a bushel's-worth of produce a week, July through September. We're having a hard time deciding which we want to go with.

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds like a pretty good price. I can see how the addition of fruit and herbs would be appealing, but travel distance for pickup is important with gas prices rising like they are.

[puffbird.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And, oddly enough, the herbs are a selling point for my husband, and the travel time a selling point for me. :)

[puffbird.livejournal.com]

Er, that was me... sorry!

[sacchig.livejournal.com]

Ratatouille freezes pretty well, too, if you can get surprise gifts of zucchini and eggplant to go with the tomatoes. And really, anybody with extra tomatoes is bound to have extra zucchini.

Chutney is fun, too, and infinitely variable, depending on what kinds of fruit you have to combine with the tomatoes. I like peaches and pears, with lots of ginger.

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

We have a pear tree, though no peaches. I'll probably try freezing the pears this time. (They are best cooked.) Zucchini ... *chuckle* I was rather shocked when I found out that most people slice it and eat it like squash. My mother used to run it through the blender to make zucchini milk for putting into cakes, muffins, pancakes, etc.

[puffbird.livejournal.com]

My family would do both... sliced, and pan-fried in butter and oil, and shredded to make zucchini bread. :) I like it both ways.

I had a garden once

[(Anonymous)]

when I lived in Chicago. There was a backyard in the place we were renting, and a marked-off empty spot that nobody was using for anything except weeds, so one spring I decided to try gardening. The weeds were waist-height in a lot of places, so they took forever to clear, but I managed it. Some of the things I planted did better than others. Peppers, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, green beans, and the herbs I planted all did really well. The green been vines were especially fun, as some of them grew to be over six feet tall. I couldn't even find sticks long enough for them to grow on sometimes; the vines would just reach the top and hang from there. The peas and spinach did well too, but I had to plant and harvest them early as the spinach grew faster than most of the veggies, and the pease would start to scorch by June. The corn did okay, but I didn't like it because it attracted bugs, and the pumpkin vines never produced anything but pretty flowers. Also, I tended to start slacking on the weeding by July, at which point the morning glories would start to take over a bit.

The really awesome garden though, was the one that belonged to the woman who lived next door to me. She had turned her entire yard into a big garden. Lettuce, beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, a big cage full of squash vines, herbs. She usually had two or three types of each, too. Watching all the effort she put into was always really impressive, and by the time July and August started rolling around, she usually had more veggies than she knew what to do with.

Re: I had a garden once

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

That's cool. Thanks for sharing.

[morningdove3202.livejournal.com]

We haven't had much luck with vegetables, but we expect grapes and black berries this year. Bugs always get our tomatoes.......