The Dream Books Cometh

The seed catalogues are coming! The seed catalogues are coming! yay! time to start planning our gardens and time to start scheming on what will get eaten fresh, what gets preserved, how to preserve it.. just so much to think about!  When I got my Jung seeds catalogue, and a couple others, I noticed they not only have the same SKU numbers on seeds, but has the same address in Randolph, WI.  So I got curious and went to their website and saw at the bottom,  "Jung® and Jung Seed Genetics & Design® are registered trademarks of American Seeds, LLC. ©2010 Monsanto Company." Now, I'm all for planting one's own and supporting a local business (WI natives, here) but I don't want to support Monsanto.  Ever.  Not if I can help it.

Seeing as our Government (Government Officials Overseeing Nothing Sane or GOONS) is saturated with corruption and basically worthless at keeping out food systems safe, I feel voting with my consumer dollar is the only real way to get rid of Monsanto.  The GOONS in charge are allowing Monsanto to destroy the safety of our food system, and it is a bi-partisan effort, so there is no safe political party that will protect us once in office.  The only way to de-fang is with money.

So, with the seed year starting (I bet you were wondering how this all circles back), I am going to encourage you to purchase nothing that has genetics "owned" by Monsanto.  I found this list, and I am now sharing it, to make sure the information doesn't die.  Many seed companies purchase from central seed banks, and are just redistributing agents, and many have contracted in the past with Seminis, who is now owned by Monsanto.  Seminis really aren't bad guys, they are in a rotten position, but sorry, kids, yer owned by the Monster-o.  

Without further ado, here is the list.  I feel this is pretty straightforward information.  Don't buy these seeds and support the Monster-o.  Stick with open-pollinated, heirloom products, or just seeds you know have no criminal background.

BROCCOLI

Captain

Castle Dome

Coronado Crown

General

Heritage

Ironman

Legacy

Liberty

Major

Pacman

Tlaloc

Tradition

CAULIFLOWER

Cheddar

Cielo Blanco

Cornell

Freedom

Freemont

Juneau

Minuteman

Whistler

CABBAGE

Ambrosia

Atlantis

Blue Dynasty

Constellation

Golden Dynasty

Huron

Missouri

Platinum Dynasty

Red Dynasty

Rocket

Rona

Ruby Dynasty

Spring Flavor

Tobia

TOMATO

Apt 410

Brilliant

Bizarr

Idool

Early Cascade

Ever

Ivone

Timotion

Applause

Biltmore

Beefmaster

Better Boy

Big Beef

Burpee’s Big Boy

Cabernet

Caspian Pink

Celebrity

Classica

Cluster Grande

Corona

Crown Jewel

Cupid

Debut

Floralina

Florida 47 R

Florida 91

Glory

Golden Girl

Health Kick

Husky Cherry

Hypeel 108

Hypeel 303

Hypeel 849

Jetsetter

Keepsake

Lemon Boy

Margherita

Patio

Phoenix

Picus

PS 01522935

PS 01522942

PS 345

PS438

Pink Girl

Polish Linguisa

Quincy

Royesta

WATERMELON

Apollo

Companion

Cooperstown

Delta

Jade Star

Majestic

Olympia

Royal Majesty

Sentinal

Stargazer

Stars’n'Stripes

Wrigley

Yellow Doll

MELON

Ambrosia

Cabrillo

Destacado

Dorado

Durango

Earli-Dew

Eclipse

Magellan

Pulsar

Saturno

Sugar Nut

Vienna

Yellow Star

CUCUMBER

Babylon

Burpee Hybrid II

Conquistador

Cool Breeze Imp.

Dasher II

Daytona

Early Triumph

Expedition

Ex 4506143

Ex 04506117

Ex 14501043

Eureka

Fancy Pack

Fanfare HG

Fanfare

Holland

Homemade Pickles

Impreza

Indy

Intimidator

Journey

Kenia

Llanoverde

Loustik

Marketmore 76

Palomina

Patio Pickles SG

Poinsett 76

Rockingham

Speedway

Spoetnik

Talladega

Thunder

Thunderbird

Turbo

Vlaspik

TOMATO CONT.

Sausalito

Small Fry

Sunsugar

Super Marzano

Sweet Baby Girl

Sanibel

Solarset

Sunbeam

Sunbrite

Sunchief

Sunguard

Sunoma

Sunpride

Sunrise

Sunsation

Sunshine

Tygress

Tona Verde(Tomatillo)

Viva Italia

Window Box Roma

LEEK

Arkansas

POPCORN

Seneca Popcorn

SWEET CORN

Absolute

Devotion

Obsession

Passion

Seneca Arrowhead

Seneca Dancer

Seneca Spring

Seneca Sweet

Sensor

Synergy

Temptation

Vitality

LETTUCE

Brave Heart

Clemente

Conquistador

Del Oro

Del Rey

Desert Spring

Esmeralda

Grizzly

Honcho II

Ideal

Mohawk

Monet

Outback

Raider

Red Hot

Red Line

Sahara

Sharpshooter

Sniper

Sureshot

SPINACH

Avenger

Barbados

Correnta

Hellcat

Interceptor

Melody

MIG

Tigercat

Unipack 151
CARROT

Abeldo

Achieve

Caropak

Dominion

Enterprise

Envy

Minicor

Propeel

PS 07101405

PS 07101441

Prodigy

Pursuit

Recolete

Sweetness II

Tastypeel

EGGPLANT

Cloud 9

Epic

Galaxy

Hansel

Madonna

Night Shadow

Orion

Twinkle

WINTER SQUASH

Ambercup

Autumn Delight

Autumncup

Bush Delicata

Butternut Supreme

Burpee Early Acorn

Early Butternut

Pasta

Table Ace

Taybelle

Taybelle PM

PEPPERS-HOT

Aquiles

Ancho San Martin

Ball Park

Big Bomb

Cherry Bomb

Cardon

Caribbean Red

Chicken Itza

Chichimeca

Corcel

Coyame

Fresnillo

Grande

Garden Salsa

Habanero

Holy Mole

Hot Spot

Inferno

Ixtapa

Jalapa

Kung Pao

Kukulkan

Mariachi

Mucho Nacho

Mesilla

Mitla

Nainari

Nazas

PS 52095

Papaloapan

Rebelde

Rio de Oro

Sahuaro

Salvatierra

Spanish Spice

Super Chili

Tajin

Timebomb

Tuxtlas

Senorita

Serrano del Sol

Vencedor

Victorioso

ONION

Affirmed

Bunker

Caballero

Candy

Cannonball

Caveat

Century

Champlain

Charismatic

Citation

Damascus

Flare

Fortress

Gazelle

Gelma

Golden Spike

Granex 33

Grateful Red

Hamlet

Joliet

Mackenzie

Mercury

Monarchos

Nicolet

Orizaba

Red Zeppelin

Savannah Sweet

Sierra Blanca

Sterling

Tioga

Verrazano

Vision
BEAN

Alicante

Brio

Bronco

Cadillac

Carlo

Cyclone

Distinction

Ebro

Eureka

Ex 08120703

Excalibur

Fandego

Festina

Firstmate

Golden Child

Gold Dust

Goldmine

Goldrush

Grenoble

Hurricane

Hercules

Lynx

Magnum

Matador

Opus

Romano Gold

Sea Biscuit

Secretariat

Slenderpack

Spartacus

Stallion

Storm

Strike

Sunburst

Tapia

Teggia

Tema

Thoroughbred

Titan

Unidor

Ulysses

Valentino

Veronica

Volcano

PEPPERS-SWEET

Aladdin

Aristotle

Baron

Bounty

Camelot

Cherry Pick

Chocolate Beauty

Early Sunsation

Enterprise

Ethem

Excalibur

Key West

King Arthur

Luzon

Morraine

North Star

Orange Glory

Petite Sirah

Pimento elite

Plato

Pritavit

PS 9915776

PS 9927141

PS 9928302

Ramiro

Red Knight

Red Glory

Satsuma

Socrates

Striker

Sweet Spot

Wizard

PUMPKIN

Appalachian

Jamboree

Mini Treat

Orange Smoothie

Phantom

Prizewinner

Snackjack

Spirit

Spooktacular

Trickster

Wyatt’s Wonder

SUMMER SQUASH

ambassador

Conqueror III

Daisey

Declaration II

Destiny III

Dixie

Gold Rush

Independence II

Judgment III

Justice III

Lemondrop

Liberator III

Papaya Pear

Portofino

Patriot II

Prelude II

Quirnal

Radiant

Senator

Seneca

Seneca Prolific

Sunny Delight

Sunray

Terminator

XPT 1832 III

Peter Pan

PEA

Ashton

Cabree

Crecendo

Durango

Estancia

Ex 08530726

Ex 08530731

Ice Pack

Ice Breaker

Mr Big

Nitro

Pendalton

Romance

Sherwood

Solution

Survivor

Utrillo

. 

What is your plan for no electricity?

There are many reasons that one may lose electrical power in the city: weather, car running into a power pole, random explosion, and zombie attacks are among the most likely.  The question one must look at, is what is your response going to be?  As we're in the city, we don't use firewood to heat; we're just not set up for it right now, and I hate cleaning up firewood mess.  This may change over time, but right now, we're heating with natural gas.  The ugly part of natural gas and radiators is that the recirculating pump is electrical.  One of our tasks for 2011 is to put a back up battery and an inverter to the recirculating pump so we can have heat during a power outage.  (we'll cover what to do if the natural gas gets cut off at a later post)

While thinking of batteries, we also thought how to recharge them, and solar really seems the obvious choice.  Currently, we're experiencing a ten-year snowfall, so the solar would be buried under snow, but if the solar were hooked into a rechargeable battery bank, some temporary coverage of snow wouldn't be an enormous issue.

We cooked oatmeal (gas stove) so to not open the refrigerator.  This made me think of foods that might go bad, and the root cellar would help considerably in that matter.  Our other options that we have been practicing this last year are canning and dehydrating food stuffs so there is no refrigeration needed.  The chest freezer would have to be adapted to utilize an inverter and battery bank.

Hot baths and showers are a luxury, but not a necessity.  We've camped before and cleaned up with water warmed on the fire.  You don't need a lot of water to get clean.  That's a modern luxury that can really be cut back on.

I think the greatest luxury we will be looking for is a new head for the treadle sewing machine.  S.D.'s hobbies can all be done without electricity.  I really enjoy sewing and using the treadle machine would make that doable with the electric out.

We'll be looking into keeping on hand: lamps, lamp oil, matches, candles, flashlights and batteries, too.  Plastic insulation on the windows is a must, especially until we get new windows.  We also follow the Victorian habit of closing off unused rooms to conserve heat.

Think about it, zombies don't need electricity.  They may take it away.  How are you planning on getting by?

Winter Composting: the Plan

With the House passing Senate bill S510 and it's on it's way to the president's desk, all of us little people need to topple what we can of the empire by eroding their consumer base.  Consumer base?  The US Government doesn't have a consumer base, does it?  Yep. Our government has been bought and paid for by corporate America and is being an unwitting dupe in the instrumentation towards making all American citizens into zombies.  Therefore, it falls as a duty to keep as many people from becoming zombies as possible.  Zombies are easily controlled, and they are mollified by comforting beige foods and blinking screens that spout "reality" television.  Zombies are kept on the treadmill by making them deep in debt, working to maintain that debt, eating BARF, heavily medicated and thus reliant on corporate America to keep them alive so they can continue their greasy, dry existence.

Our government wants us to eat BARF.  BARF is not acceptable food, and will turn you into a zombie.  I encourage you to eat food you produce or know where it comes from, so you know the safety of your food system, no matter what the bought and paid for government wants.

Many of us live where the soil is questionable at best, so we end up amending it with various liquids and solids to make it into better soil.  I encourage using as much basic compost as possible so to avoid using things you can not pronounce, much less using things that might eat your skin if you don't have gloves.  Do you really want to eat something grown in that?  Compost.  Compost is where it's at.

Summer composting is easy, garden scraps, lawn clippings, leaves and shredded office paper.  Easy.  Winter in a northern state, however, might be a different kettle of fish.  Our plan (now that it's December and our composter is almost full and I'm casting about for another idea) will be to do what is called "in place" composting.  In place composting is essentially building your compost pile where you want a future garden or where you are having a garden at rest for the year.  You essentially build your pile and add to it all year, the following spring, take the walls down, rake it out and build another compost pile elsewhere.

So, next year, we will build a winter compost pile where we want a new garden, and build it with some pallets that we'll insulate with corrugated cardboard, and will have an insulated lid.  We'll attempt to keep it warm all winter, but realistically, the compost cycle will start with winter, go through spring and summer, get pulled down in the fall and covered with leaves for the following spring planting.  Quite a plan, eh?

I'll try to take pictures of this as we go, but, alas, that project will have to wait until the thaw.

Don't trust the government, they're shifty. 

Sears is not the womens locker room

During the holiday shopping season, it's best to refrain from using the women's restroom as a locker room, as it has no shower.  In fact, refrain from using it that way every day of the year.  No one wants to see your large and remarkable pinkness in the handicapped stall, spraying yourself with scented product all over.  

Except for perhaps a moat beast fetishist.  But that's not most people.

So please, just avoid the all-over body spray experience, and all involved will be much happier for it.

thanks.

Friends

Friends are people who can support you, who can help when you need it and make you feel all useful when you can help them out, too.  This year, our circle of friends are not really exchanging gifts, but exchanging time spent with each other on tasks to help another out.  Chore time for chore time, so to speak.

When you get to exchange chore time, you get to benefit in a few ways: 

you get to learn a new skill from another person

you get to have fun learning the new skill

you can teach another something you know

you can get things done

you get to spend time with a friend that you might otherwise not get to spend

you can have productive "friend time"

you have something you can do together

you get and can provide free labor that the government can't tax

I have to admit, sticking the last one and screwing "the man" is a good bit of fun!

Over all, I do recommend exchanging time for time this year.  Time with friends is something you can't buy, and is more precious than any amount of wrapped giftage you can come up with at the last minute.  Tell a friend you love them, and help them get a project done.  It lets them know you love them.

Happy Saturnalia!

The Functional Vehicle

When choosing a vehicle, please remember all seasons of driving.  If you are in a temperate locale, a small, fuel-efficient car is a beautiful thing, but if you are living in the Northern Tundra, you may want to think over all the consequences of driving a small, low to the ground vehicle.  We are experiencing (another) blizzard of a century (in less than 5 years), and SD and I have been watching small, sporty, low-to-the-ground vehicles get stuck in the snow.  The eagle has landed, so to speak.  Frequently in the middle of an intersection.

So, when  choosing a vehicle, think not only on beautiful summer driving, but think of (gasp!) winter.  Winter is a horrid time that quite often makes it difficult to drive about.  Think on all the things you must haul, and where you might have to go.  

When you have turned all these things over in your head, find the vehicle that suits your needs best.  Sometimes, listen in to your inner 14 year old boy, sometimes, listen to your inner 67 year old mother, but in the end, do what is right for you.  

Wide, large, squishy tires do well in the snow, and having a very high clearance from the ground very often allows one to drive over the snow, and having a long bed on the back of your vehicle allows you to haul a lot of stuff.  Having no back seat is occasionally a disadvantage when it comes to bringing home groceries, but it also keeps one from having to  deal with noisesome passengers.  

For our winters, I would recommend a truck.  A truck much like this:

This would be about the perfect vehicle, if only it were red.  Alas, it is blue.  My sister would beg to differ, as she has passengers.  So I found an ideal vehicle for her as well:

 I think all her passengers would fit nicely in this.

But, in all considerations, please remember, you are not driving only in the pleasant months of summer on dry, clean pavement.  Winter is always right around the corner.

Watering the Seed of a New Idea

Well, it looks like we may have figured out a new and unique way to be a bit more prepared.  I've been working on the food aspect of surviving the ZA, but what about water?  I'm not keen on rows of barrels filled with water filling my basement or other storage areas, and I'm not keen on buying water.  Besides, bottled water is often pretty gnarly, and I don't recommend using it unless you're in a pinch.

So, we're going to prevent pinching.

As many of you know, our house has no nose.  The nose got ripped off by The Drunk well before we bought the house, and there just hasn't been money to put it back on as yet.  We're working on getting the money, but it's slow going.  We can survive without porches quite well, but living with debt is mentally crippling, so debt comes first.  So, we were discussing sticking a geothermal sink under the front porch when we build it.  If the lights go out in the city, and it's winter, I want the house to stay above freezing enough to not freeze all our pipes, and for us to get so cold, we die.  A brief exploration has shown that we very likely can legally put a geothermal sink in on our land.

So, now we're talking geothermal in the porch (when the porch gets put back on the house), which got S.D. thinking about digging other deep holes in there, too.  S.D. often would like to fight the Kaiser on our lot, and I keep not letting him, no matter how well his thoughts are planned.  Back to the porch.  Instead of digging deep holes, I thought about the size of garden we're going to lose when that porch goes back on, and the size of the foundation of the porch in general.  I then thought, well, well, well, why not a cistern?  We could create a rainwater collection system with shut off and filtration to enter a cistern contained under the porch!  

The floor of the front porch would have an access point to said cistern for access of cleaning and maintenance, and the foundation could easily contain it.  I'm betting that it would contain a geothermal sink AND a rainwater cistern, with a minimal amount of deeper digging.  The current garden rain barrels would work fine to capture the first few minutes of a rainfall to catch the most contaminated water until the shut-off shunts the cleaner water into the filtration system of the cistern.

I've started to think this over well, and I figure this would be a great way to supplement in good times and supply in the ZA.  Without taking up all the room in the basement to do it.

Decorating the tree like a pro

Here's a bit of a tutorial on how to decorate your Yule tree from someone who used to do it for a living.  Many times, people make their Charlie Brown tree make do, and if you're as uptight as I am, that simply will not do.  First, a few points:

1. use a real tree, as big as you can allow in your space

2. if you need an artificial tree, fluff it as you put it together, so it doesn't have tree-bed head


3. you will use more lights than you have on hand, get a strip connector now


4. more is pretty much always better, "simple" and "understated" just won't do for the winter holiday season


5. alcohol always helps


First, lights.  When using lights, you can string 5 together without blowing the fuse, so stack your light strings in piles of 5.  Untangle them as you go, a partner is always helpful in this respect.  Each branch gets lights woven in and around it, then pushed into the center of the tree.  String lights up and down each branch.  Our average 8' tree takes about 4000 lights, so that would be 500 lights per foot of height, on average over the whole tree.


When applying lights, make sure those tags are all cut off.  The tags look nasty and are better off in the trash.  Always push the connections way in toward the trunk.  You're not plugging anything else into them, so hide them as best you can.


Second, ornaments.  Use lots.  No, more than that.  Put the plain but shiny ones way deep in by the trunk, so they can reflect the twinkle lights and give depth to the tree.  Put the more sentimental ones out toward the exterior of the tree where people can appreciate them.  We often have three layers of simply ornaments on the tree.


If you have a special ornament, say, a heavy cat, or a heavy tree, use sturdy wire or a pipe cleaner, and put them on a lower, sturdier branch.  People may not be able to see them, but you and feel comfort in knowing they are there.  By now, you ought to be about 3 cocktails into your afternoon.


Third, garland or tinsel.  We tend to use silver glittered snowflakes for our garland, just right over the top of everything, and then put gold tinsel over the top of that.  Don't be afraid of using plenty.  This is the sparkle season, even though many people just don't get that part.


Wire garland is quite attractive, but only lasts about 2 to 3 years.  Be careful when using it, as it can sometimes springload and projectile throw your ornaments to the floor.  Sometimes it looks like razor wire.  Use discretion if deciding on wire garland; it could go quite well, or horribly awry.


I'm a purist and will always have a star on top of my tree.  It's my general thought that angels look uncomfortable with a pine-fresh suppository, so, I stick with a star.  My preference is for light-up ones, although I made the coolest star ever for mom and dad a million years ago.  We're just damn lucky that it hasn't decided to put anyone's eye out. (solid brass with 3D pointy bits)  


So, there you go, three easy steps.  Remember, go big, go sparkly, go heavy on the lights and glitter.  Got it? good.

Coming up with that list

I'm considering what to put in my ZA-survival pantry.  Things like cream of tartar are very rarely used in this house, and as I've never been a fan of meringue, I'm not seeing the need to stock it, but cat litter is on the list.  How much cat litter would we go through in a year?

From what I've been reading, taking stock of your own pantry, and your own grocery lists is the first step in this form of preparedness.  I just have to get S.D. to keep track of the things we buy at the store.  I don't think it will be a problem having him put it on an excel spreadsheet, though.  I will have an issue with keeping him from getting us a scanner gun for inventory control.

The biggest goal, outside of stopping eating GMO foods, is to create the means to shop from our pantry and save some money while building our clever foundation.  I think this is doable by simply watching sales and stocking up when they occur, on top of storing the harvest.  

I know that many people with "the pantry" don't have the presence of mind to keep chemicals apart from foodstuffs.  If you are going to keep your pantry stocked, please keep a separate closet for soaps, detergents, cleansers and chemicals.  I include shampoos and conditioners in that mix.  This is a food-service safety thing.  From working in the screen printing business, I would also encourage you to store flammable and explosive things in a room that might be referred to as a "blow off" room.  I'm also hoping you don't have that many explosives and flammable things around, generally, keeping that kind of thing is considered "bad".  I'm betting it would also render an off flavor to stored foods.

Safety first, sanity second.

I'm hoping to learn from my friend, the Queen of Meat, how to really get good bargains on double couponing and working the sales.  Not sure how this might work for foods (as we mostly buy bulk), but would certainly work for toiletries and chemicals.

One thing I will miss when the zombies finally take over is good cheese.  I'm going to have to learn to make good cheese, and figure out how to store it.  Currently though, goats are illegal in the city, so my learning curve (painfully slow) and legislation might just line up right on that one.  We'll see.

Pack Your Lunch

After working with patients and clients for a long while now, I have found an almost foolproof means of controlling calorie intake that is almost always overlooked.  Lunches.  Doing something as simple as packing your lunch and snacks for the day not only controls your cost of food, but controls your calorie intake, and gives YOU control of what you are putting into  your body.

I'm seeing people around me becoming zombies, because they don't mind what they put in their mouths, and it's almost always beige, artificial, repugnant food.  They are being willing lab rats in a grand experiment to alter the basic functioning of the human organism.  I have noticed, and look around, you'll very likely notice it, too, that those who eat beige, artificial, repugnant food (BARF) are less likely to challenge the easy way of life.  What do I mean by that?  These BARF-eating zombies do not travel upstream anymore, they do not attempt to be original or to find a way to do anything other than create bureaucratic mazes with hidden shortcuts that only a few know of in order to make life a little easier for themselves.  These lab-rats are creating their own maze to exist in, and the BARF is only enabling them.

I propose a way to break the BARF-cycle.  Pack your own lunch from food that you know is solidly under your ability to account for it's upbringing.  Food with limited GMOs, and very little beige-ness.

What should go in  your lunchbox? It's pretty much up to what you do every day, but in a broad, general sense, try for a high-protein dairy (I like Chobani Greek yogurt.  they're the little guys and are still honest), one or two pieces of fruit (I would avoid papayas, as they are mostly all GMO), about 3-4 ounces of lean protein, the equivalent of a cup and a half of vegetables, and about a half cup of starchy carbohydrate.  That all usually fits into a lunchbox snugly.  When you are performing your daily tasks and are eating, you eat from the lunchbox, and when the food is gone, you're done eating until dinner time.

And all this done and you have avoided eating any BARF.  It's healthy and easily traceable, and in no time, you'll find another side-benefit of eating food you control: your eyes open.  

Less complacency, less zombie like behavior, the more likely you are to survive the ZA.

staying currant on trees and landscaping

Last spring, I started plans to redesign our lot (read: tiny, city lot) with what's called Edible Landscaping.  Instead of trees, shrubs and vines that are here for purely visual aesthetics, I am planting trees, shrubs and vines that will produce food.  I've even ripped out one or two bushes that just needed TO GO away to make room for this new plan.

The tough part of this plan is that vegetables really don't grow on trees. hmmph.

So, this spring, we put in a Reliance peach tree (hardy to Zone 4), three blueberries (one died, need to replace that) and two baby paw paws.  As we live in the micro culture of Minneapolis, the paw paws ought to do alright here, evidenced by the one we've had growing for >3 years in the front yard.  My error with the baby paw paws is that I planted peppers near them, and I probably should have planted bush beans.  This will be remedied next spring.

What's the deal with beans as opposed to peppers?  beans will actually improve the soil and encourage growth of plants near them actively as they grow and just exist.  Peppers are heavier feeders.

This fall, we received two pear (Bartlett and Kieffer) trees and three hazelnut trees.  The hazelnut trees are part of a research study done by people who think they are going to feed the world with hazelnuts.  These are winter hardy varieties of some hybrid.  Don't care. planted three.

I was going to plant an elderberry bush or two out front after ripping out the forsythia.  I'm really looking instead at the smaller and more prolific black currant bush of a Scottish variety.  Gotta do more research into this.  I don't believe we have any white pine here.  in the city. away from all the other trees. in the city.  for white pine blister to be an issue.

The cherry tree that could really did, and we canned more cherries that I care to pit in an afternoon or week.  I won't complain, though, I will have to learn how to use those cherries, however.

Somehow, I'd like to put an arbor or a something to grow actual grapes on.  That might get invasive, but right now, with snow on the ground, it sounds appealing.  I'll keep you updated.

Our big plan

Well, people might ask when we’re expecting the Zombie Apocalypse (ZA) to happen, and our answer is becoming more and more, right now.  Through television, Genetically Modified Organisms, weird food science, and constant bit streaming, it’s happening.  People are getting more and more zombie like every day, not the run of the mill rage zombies, but shufflers.  When you go to your average mart-mart or supermarket, watch the people around you, tuned out, shuffling, and eating synthetic garbage.

We feel that the food and mental issues going on in our modern society is creating the ZA, and it’s happening right now.  People are becoming more easily controlled and complacent as living in touch with the Earth becomes more and more distant.  Have you noticed that those who are not complacent are the ones who are not eating a diet of total packaged foods, who have turned the television off, who are physically active, and who are in touch with the Earth?

So, our Big Plan is to avoid becoming zombies, and to survive the ZA.  The shufflers will follow the old, beaten down path that all shufflers have trod before, we’ll make our own path and find new things. 
When is the Zombie Apocalypse?  It’s now.  You’re soaking in it.

starting out

I keep getting told about how cool the things are that my husband and I do.  I've often thought about starting a blog to share what we're doing and how we're doing it, today was the day I decided to start it all up.  I invite you to travel with us as we get as far off the grid in the city as we can get, get away from Genetically Modified Organisms as far as we can get, and make our own path away from how "tradtional norms" decide we ought to live.

This ought to be interesting.