California_Dreaming

To support the plants, in pots or in the ground, you need a good “cage”. Don’t bother with the premade ones at the garden shop or hardware store, they’re too expensive, not large enough and built cheaply. I make cages out of concrete reinforcing steel (yes it does rust, but will last many, many years) 5 feet high, with 6” grids this size grid will allow your hand into the center to pick the fruit and more importantly to retrieve the fruit in your hand. Measure the circumference of the pots and make the cage accordingly. Take the loose wire at the end that you cut and wrap it around the other end of the cage making a circle. Cut off the excess wire so you won’t scratch yourself when reaching in. I usually cut of the bottom horizontal wire off so that I have spikes that will sink into the ground for added support. Reinforcing wire comes in a very large roll. I paid about $130 for a roll and made over 12 cages so far for myself, made a bunch to give to my friends, still have about half of the roll left. Consider having a friend split the cost. P.S. don’t count on wire cutters or tin snips to cut the wire. I find that a reciprocating saw with a hacksaw blade makes short easy work. The worst part about beans is cutting the vines off the lattice work at the end of the season. I’ll try to describe how I made lattice this year. First I drove rebar into the ground to drop PVC pipe over (my PVC uprights were over 6 feet tall and the vines still kept growing). Space the uprights about 3-4 feet apart. Then use PVC for the top & cross bracing to connect the uprights tops. I made two rows (12 inches apart as that is the width of my planter boxes.) Connect each of the posts in the row and connect the two rows together at the uprights with cross PVC. Take a look around the PVC section of the hardware store to find the connectors that you need. Do not glue the connectors to the pipes as you will want to disassemble the lattice at the end of the season to plant your fall or winter garden. The rebar can be "wiggled" out of the ground. Then use twine to make a grid in the sides. My grids were 6 x 6 inches because I had an vertical string at each plant. The cross twines supports and gives additional places for the vine to grow. At the end of the season, I just cut the horizontal and vertical twine and the vines came down. Then I dissembled the PVC and slid off the securing wrap of twine on each post. Hope it helps and encourages you to grow your own veggies.

This year, to expand my garden I started using pots. I can move them anywhere the sun shines. Gardening in pots is easy and low maintenance. You just need to remember to water often; as someone told me, plants in pots can’t go out for lunch. Consider a drip system with bubbler heads or spray heads. Connect to an automatic watering timer, if your lawn sprinklers are on timers just add another valve or two. I find that a second timer works well because lawns and gardens need different amounts of water. This also helps if you decide to go on vacation. I have large pots that are 22” across and 22“ high with a slight taper. I bought them at Home Depot or Lowes. Just make a mixture of dirt, compost and manure and your veggies will love you. This year I planted 6 tomatoes plants of the globe variety (Early Girls, Celebrity, Big Boy etc.) in pots. (I plant that many because I can the tomatoes into many different products) The cherry tomatoes and the roma tomatoes can also be grown in pots. Romas make great salsa. In past years I made planter boxes out of 12”x 8’ boards. Buy two 12”x 8’ boards, cut 12 inches of each board and you have a 7’x 12” raised bed. 12” means that you can reach 6” in from each side. Just make the sides and place them directly onto the patio and filled with dirt. To support the corners, place 4x4 posts for the sides and ends to be screwed into. If using this method either on the patio or to create a raised garden bed; use redwood, but do not use pressure treated wood as it contains lethal chemicals that can leach into the plants and the crop. A friend of my son is into organic container gardening and uses 5 gallon buckets as his pots, just remember to drill drain holes in the bottom. I personally think that 5 gal is too small. In another post I’ll tell about my cages that I make for tomatoes and for beans.

The square foot gardening is great. Mother Earth News ran an article about how to get the most from your garden. I have found that raised gardens are easier to tend, you don’t have to bend over as far and it seems to keep the weeds down. In past years I have had to throw away about 75% of the crop because we can’t eat it fast enough or we get tired of a particular veggie. This year I enrolled in free classes from the University extension service on food preservation. I mainly wanted to learn about pickles and marinara sauce, but ending up attending all classes (1 per week) for 5 months because it was so helpful. This year nothing from the garden has gone to waste. Yes, canning does take a little more effort then dehydrating but it will last longer in storage. Both canning and dehydrating are good methods of food preservation. I have found that tomatoes are great and easy to grow and the final product can be canned into marinara sauce, diced tomatoes and stewed tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are good for salads and for eating as snacks. Zucchini will grow like weeds, but be sure to pick when they are small, like the size you buy in the grocery store; overnight they will grow into monsters if you don’t pick them. Think about planting what you buy in the store. Get a good book like “Western Gardening” (not an endorsement), but it is good and lists by area of the country. To increase the yield, try adding chicken manure (very high in nitrogen), but a caution, it must be added and let sit for a couple of weeks prior to planting or it will burn the plants. Before your summer garden has finished producing, start planting your fall & winter garden plants in sprouting pots. Then when you pull up the summer plants, your fall and winter plants will be ready to go into the ground. Don’t forget about trees. I have a dwarf navel orange tree and have just planted dwarf tangerine trees that will ripen about four months after the orange trees, thus keeping me in citrus for about 6 months a year. (I asked the local nursery about why anyone would have lemon trees and I was told “If you don’t have a lemon tree you need one. If you have one, you have one too many.) Last year I planted an o’henry peach tree (needs to be sprayed 3 times per year) and this year I planted a dwarf bartlet pear tree. I’ll have fresh fruit year round. If you have trees why not have them produce something for you. Good luck in gardening; I have found the best tasting fruits and veggies are the free ones.

My Cardiologist says “If it tastes good, spit it out”

have used the Food Saver vacuum sealer for years for saving left overs and have recently used the jar vacuum feature for vacuum sealing (along with O2 absorbers) those foods that can not be purchased from the cannery. I live near earth quake country and have only felt one quake that I needed to grab hold of something. This has me thinking that glass jars maybe aren't the best storage vessel, if there is another option. I do alot of canning and have secured those jars with bars across the front of the shelves. When possible I use the #10 cans with products from the cannery. My question is this. Certain products, like Rigatoni have sharps edges or points, and the food saver bags are easily punctured eliminating the vacuum. I have just purchased a vacuum sealer from Sorbet Systems and bags with an 8 mil thickness. The 8x8 size is perfect for my empty nest household and to share with my children. The 8mil bags that I purchased have about a 50/50 chance of sealing. The clear bags allow light in so I would like to stick with Mylar bags and something in the smaller size. I realize that I am paying a premium for small bag storage, but feel that this is probably the most econimical size so as not to have much wastage. Any suggestions on thickness or anything else? Maybe I'm using the sealer wrong, at the incorrect length of sealing, etc. Thanks for your help.

I think MRE's are great for the "Bug out Bag". They last up to 10 years, and every so often on camping trips we use them for a day hike and then repurchase to rotate supplies. No one has mentioned "Natures Most Perfect Food"...SPAM and it comes with it's own can opener attached. A can of SPAM does contain calories for energy. Most won't agree with me, but I like SPAM:cool:

I break this down into different categories for specific purposes. 50 Gallon drum BBQ. (not really 50 gallons): A couple of years ago I gave my son a barrel BBQ for his birthday and he like it so much I bought one for myself. At that time it was made by New Braunsfel. The company has since been purchased by charbroil. Last I saw they were available at Home Depot. It can be used as a Grill (direct cooking), as a BBQ used for indirect longer cooking or as a smoker. Each "barrel has a grate to suspend coals and a cooking grill. Having used it for years now, the only negitive that I can say is that there is no way to raise or lower the grill over the coals. It has a large grill area and the smoker box on the side can be used as a smaller grill when only cooking a small amount. Here's the url to see it. Char-Broil | Silver Smoker, BBQ, and Grill Storing Charcoal. I have a swimming pool and the clorine comes in large buckets. After empting I rince them out in the pool (that gets any powder out of the bucket and then I rinse with the garden hose and let dry (I do this a couple of times). You must remember that these are not food grade buckets. The charcoal has never picked up any of the clorine smell. Each bucket holds 20 pounds of charcoal. I store outside and with the lids they are weather tight. Here in California we BBQ year round and I keep a years supply of charcoal in the buckets. To light the charcoal I use a cone starter. I don't like to keep Charcoal starter around the house because of the potential of fire. When using the cone starter you can simply wad up news paper under the cone or use a very small piece of the sawdust and wax fire starter (don't use the entire brick like the instructions tell you to, you only need a little piece. Rocket Stoves: I belong to and international service club and years ago we provided rocket stoves to third world countries. I wasn't able to find information on it, but when researching I came across a "youtube video" of a project to build them at home. Buddy burners: For back up in case of power outages at my cabin, I keep Buddy Burners and a buddy burner stove made brom a #10 can. These are not "an everything stove", but they will heat up food. Track down any Boy Scout or Scoutmaster and they can show you how to make them. I'm still looking around for a small light weight cooking apparatus for my 72 hour kit or "bug out bag". Any suggestions?

I had another thought on money for prepareness or food storage. Over the past year I changed by hobby and didn't want to take a major chunk money from the budget to finance my new hobby. I listed the individual items from my old hobby on ebay and made close to $4000 (most were considered antiques) and totally funded my new hobby. When selling on ebay it is important to accurately describe the item (damage or missing parts). Use a digital camera to display pictures of the item with a plain backdrop like a sheet or butcher paper to eliminate any distractions from background. Fully investigate total shipping costs like the postage or UPS costs, the box or shipping container and cushioned packaging etc (so that you won't be subsiding shipping with your profit). I was just cleaning out my sons room (He moved out more then 7 years ago) and found all his Star Wars toys from the original movies back in the late 70's. I aksed him if he wanted them, he said "No, just put tem on E-bay. Most are in the original packaging (he wasn't "hard" on the toys). They should bring a "pretty penny". Another idea is: My daughter has a once a year garage sale. She usually nets around $2000. She has good items that she has collected from her brother and me; prices them reasonably so she won't have leftovers. Then she sets the garage sale for the first Saturday of the month (just after payday) Hope these ideas help.

I'm trying to figure what the best corn would be for long term storage to use grinding corn to make corn bread, tortillas and such. I have heard of both popcorn and dent corn being used for storage. I know the dry pack caning has popcorn, but I have heard that what makes it "pop" is moisture inside. Anyone with experience storing, grinding and using corn.

I also like the "Making the best of Basics". Some of the other books that I have are "Emergency food Storage & Survival Handbook" by Peggy Layton. Once I had some food storage and then long term food storage with beans, rice etc, I looked at it and said now what? I think the advise of "store what you eat and eat what you store if great. I have changed some of my eating habits to include more from the long term storage. Which means I needed to develop new recipes. Great books that that address this are: "I can't believe It's Food Storage" by Crystal Godrey and "Country Beans" by Rita Bingham. Also a good websites is: "Food Storage Made Easy" Food Storage Made Easy

I use the 1969 version of the Betty Crocker Cookbook. It has many variations of pancakes. Rather then "clog" up this thread I'll email you the recipe and the versions to the email on your profile.

I recently attended a major International Convention in Salt Lake and being a student of history was fascinated by everything I learned. One of the interesting facts was that the streets were made the width they were was so that a wagon and team of horses could turn around on the street.

You mentioned in yor post of 6/2008 not to store plastic buckets on the floor, especially concrete floor. What's the reason for using pallets with plastic containers?

I wouldn't think that attic storage is a good idea for anything that would be consumed. Paper products ok. Here in California the summer heat in the attic will reach 180-200 degrees. Food will degrade at that temp. I would also be concerned about the weight of water and could the joists take the weight per square foot at 8 pounds per gallon it adds up quickly. Sterno or propane, WOW, I would be concerned about expansion under heat especially the sterno with only preasure fit lids. A possible solution would be to enclose a part of the attic (a mini room) and insulate, then connect your house duct work into the inclosure to assist in regulating the temp. Thinking about it, double insulate.

Get back to the basics. Prepared food cost a lot more. Try making dinner from scratch. If your recipe call for a can of black beans the equal amout of dried beans will cost less. You will need to plan ahead, because you need to soak the beans overnight or do a fast soak. Instead of pancake mix try making your own from scratch. I gurantee you you that if you use fresh ground wheat it will fill you up more then pancake mix. I have been trying to perfect my baking from ground wheat and my daughter finely had to ask me to stop making cinnamon rolls because she was gaining weight and they were two good not to eat. A friend said to me last week. "If it's handed to you through a car window it's not food. If it wasn't food 100 years ago, it isn't food today. Good luck

I have a Grain Mill by Kitchen Tec. I recently recieved the food mill for Christmas and the instructions video that came with it was an "ad" for all their other products. I have looked on-line and can't find instructions. On the top there is a dial, I imagine for the course-fine settings, but it doesn't have any information for the settings, such as "bread flour" or others. Anybody have any information?

Crate training pets reminds me of the phrase "easy as herding cats". I don't currently have pets but I love my "grand dog" when we "baby sit" and consider her part of the family. My son doesn't have food storage so we stock up for him and the dog. When I started stocking up on dry dog food (she's not allowed to eat table scraps) I found that the "use by" date was over one year. The large bag I bought was lined with a type of plastic to seal out moisture. I have thought about using mylar bags and oxygen abosrbers to extend the shelf life. One of the previous replys mentioned something against using the mylar bags. I gues I'll ask the "poster" directly. Storing for your four legged family members is very important. The animal shelters in my city are over flowing with animals because the families can afford to keep them. Sad for both the pet and the children.

Just had a thought as a substitute for butter. When I was in college I worked in an Italian restaurant and for their garlic bread they spread cooking oil and then sprinkled on garlic powder. Put on enough garlic and you won't know your not eating butter.

I have been canning fresh tomatoes and pickles for a couple of years. Recently I saw a "clip" on one of my favorite shows (California Heartland) about "Master Food Preservers". I looked them up on the internet and found classes about to start. After attending only a small number of classes, I am amazed I didn't kill myself with food poisoning. The Master Food Perservers are individuals trained by the University of California Ag Extension. Their caution is not to accept information that is found on recipe sites. Go to organizations that test recipes like the University of California Ag Extension, the University of Georgia, or some other University Ag Extension. I realize that this thread is on canning butter. So I will comment specifically on other threads. In the mean time, as an example, todays tomatoes have a different acid content the heirloom tomatoes and should be processed differently then Gramas recipe. I did not know that one could can butter at home. I think that I will check out the university web sites and check their processing.