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.