The Old Folks Home

[tnspursfan09]

Oz is right.  A lot of us grew up with parents who scoffed at the idea they might have to grow their own food.  In my family I'm the only throwback.  My son is one of few in his class who know how to plant a tree, weed vegetable beds, plant a lawn, and lots of other things he thought were stupid at the time.  Now when I go up to have lunch with him, if he sees my gardening gloves in the car he gets all misty-eyed and nostalgic.  It's adorable.

But I am off on a tangent.  My point was, many people at varying stages of life would really like to know how to start a vegetable garden, how to select plants, which ones need cages, when to fertilize, which plants don't like water on their leaves, etc. 

I learn new things every year as much from trial and failure as anything else, but that's partly because where I live isn't a typical growing environment.  One year I was having the most success I had ever had in a vegetable garden ... until June 13th, when we had the mother of all hail storms.  It lasted 30 minutes.  My garden looked like a nuclear wasteland.  No one had tomato plants left, but one lady at my favorite little store in town said, "Don't dig them up, just leave them alone, and keep watering them.  They might come back, tomatoes can surprise you."  She was right.  I didn't have the fabulous harvest I had been looking forward to, but I did have a harvest.

One voice of experience is more valuable than all the internet reading, and even book reading, you can do.  Even if you don't charge for the instruction you can probably get more than just one helper by offering some learn-by-doing.  There's a lady north and east of me who charges $50 to teach people how to process their own chickens - and gets all her chickens processed in a day.  Seems like participants get to take home one chicken.  People go.

I couldn't imagine not having a garden and growing my own veggies, though some I can't grow no matter what I do with them. This year I started the chicken run compost pile so I have lots of nice black soil ready to go into my beds this spring. The chickens looooove it. When I give them any greens or scraps I put it in the compost pile and then cover it up and they have a ball digging for treasure. The biggest problem with this is that I have two silly hens who will sit on my pitchfork while I'm tryint to turn the compost. It's heavy enough work with out their big hineys getting in the way. These two DH call the "speed bumps" because they are always underfoot.

 

[ronott1]

Oz is right. A lot of us grew up with parents who scoffed at the idea they might have to grow their own food. In my family I'm the only throwback. My son is one of few in his class who know how to plant a tree, weed vegetable beds, plant a lawn, and lots of other things he thought were stupid at the time. Now when I go up to have lunch with him, if he sees my gardening gloves in the car he gets all misty-eyed and nostalgic. It's adorable.

But I am off on a tangent. My point was, many people at varying stages of life would really like to know how to start a vegetable garden, how to select plants, which ones need cages, when to fertilize, which plants don't like water on their leaves, etc.

I learn new things every year as much from trial and failure as anything else, but that's partly because where I live isn't a typical growing environment. One year I was having the most success I had ever had in a vegetable garden ... until June 13th, when we had the mother of all hail storms. It lasted 30 minutes. My garden looked like a nuclear wasteland. No one had tomato plants left, but one lady at my favorite little store in town said, "Don't dig them up, just leave them alone, and keep watering them. They might come back, tomatoes can surprise you." She was right. I didn't have the fabulous harvest I had been looking forward to, but I did have a harvest.

One voice of experience is more valuable than all the internet reading, and even book reading, you can do. Even if you don't charge for the instruction you can probably get more than just one helper by offering some learn-by-doing. There's a lady north and east of me who charges $50 to teach people how to process their own chickens - and gets all her chickens processed in a day. Seems like participants get to take home one chicken. People go.

Not my family. At the end of winter Mom would ask Dad to disk the Garden spot and we would grow a lot of food. We also had 10 Peach trees, Apple, Pear, Plum, Walnut, Almond and Apricot trees. We had Black Berries at the Creek.

We pretty much lived on Yellow Squash and Tomato Sandwiches during the Summer.

 

[scottcaddy]

Quote: So is the amount of wood we've burned in the last few weeks.

Fortunately, we have a deal with a guy that has a tree removal service - we get free firewood, he gets free disposal.
That's a GOOD Deal for both of you guys!!

Scott

 

[Cynthia12]

Not my family. At the end of winter Mom would ask Dad to disk the Garden spot and we would grow a lot of food. We also had 10 Peach trees, Apple, Pear, Plum, Walnut, Almond and Apricot trees. We had Black Berries at the Creek.

We pretty much lived on Yellow Squash and Tomato Sandwiches during the Summer.

You were skinny.

 

[ronott1]

You were skinny.

I was back then!

 

[Cynthia12]

I was waaay back then. Hey, I've seen photos of you now, you look great.

Well, I have some EE's hatching. Two are hatched, and the three left in there are working on it. I need more color in my nest boxes come summer.

 

[ronott1]

I was waaay back then. Hey, I've seen photos of you now, you look great.

Well, I have some EE's hatching. Two are hatched, and the three left in there are working on it. I need more color in my nest boxes come summer.

Congrats on the hatch!

I need to get my UofA blues back home!

 

[ozexpat]

I am taking my parents to Yosemite in the morning

 

[ronott1]

I am taking my parents to Yosemite in the morning

That sounds like a great trip!

 

[ozexpat]

That sounds like a great trip

it sure should be.

It will be great to spend time with my parents before they go back to oz.

and in an amzing place