Washingtonians

[FlyRobinFly]

Here you go!!! Isn't she pretty?

I love CR's pig planters! Recently I saw someone with a pink helium tank and kept thinking how perfect a pig it would make!

 

[FlyRobinFly]

No one would go to the work shop.
They do not want to work at providing food for them selves.
The immigrants here are doing a good job though~~~ they seem to all have animals & gardens and help each other out at processing, goats, pigs, poultry & fish.
None of them starving.

Last time I took produce to the Food Bank, all I could see was day-old breads, pastries and cakes, pies, doughnuts and sugary breakfast cereals.
Old dented cans of vegies (once commercially canned there is little vitamins left there

)
So every food bank customer got 2 grocery sacks full of processed flour products, cakes, doughnuts, etc.
No protein that I could see............no fresh vegies...it is really sad.

Well, you could always offer the workshop and see if anyone comes. You never know until you try, right?

A couple years ago I was at a talk with someone who studied poverty (she grew up in institutionalized poverty herself, in a family of mirgrant farm workers) and she said most people imagine poor folks to be skinny from lack of food. Actually many are fat, because all the foods they can afford or get are the processed cheapo stuff like you mentioned. After long days of picking fruit and vegetables for others, those were the last things they wanted to see, and they couldn't afford meat.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: I love my pig! I would have taken pics when I first planted in it, but we had some freak rain and hail storms that beat it to death. Broke off most of the flowers. So I waited until things were coming back and blooming so I could show it off.

 

[Nikki99]

I don't know about that Russ....Look at RainWolf...she has it ALL going on, green house, garden, poultry, composting & she also gets out there and gets cast off edibles for her bird's feed, and trades for fish & other goodies.
She does it all & works full time as well....she is also a great connecter, (can connect anyone up with what they are looking for) she is an inspiration, but has goats, no mules.
I have removed the 4 1-gallon bags of green beans and 2 1-gallon bags of peas frozen last year, and will dice for the birds.
Gotta make room for all the produce I am growing this year, and my garden would fit easily twice, in RainWolf's back yard.
I have 5 acres, but a small very efficient & jungle crazy garden.

I can't wait until next spring. I'm hoping to start my own garden, it will be my very first one. I'm a bit nervous because I tend to um...kill plants...quite regularly.

I have lots to learn and I'm excited that so many of you garden, I'm sure I will be flooding many of you with lots of questions at some point.

 

[Totalcolour]

A couple years ago I was at a talk with someone who studied poverty (she grew up in institutionalized poverty herself, in a family of mirgrant farm workers) and she said most people imagine poor folks to be skinny from lack of food. Actually many are fat, because all the foods they can afford or get are the processed cheapo stuff like you mentioned. After long days of picking fruit and vegetables for others, those were the last things they wanted to see, and they couldn't afford meat.

Sorry Robin, but when it comes to "fat" people, it's the calories that count, not the kind of food. Bad food = bad nutrition, true, but if you take in MORE calories than you need, from what ever source, you will get fat.

So, if you only need 1600 calories a day, and eat 2000, you will gain weight. And it doesn't matter if it's from meat, or doughnuts, a calorie is a calorie. Excess calories (those not required for metabolism) are stored as fat.

(I don't eat a lot, but I do take in extra calories because I drink wine - it's stored as excess fat!)

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: Here's the deal, I am so impressed with what you and Rainwolf have done with what you have. I have a large garden area(which is now a Silkie pen) that I planted every year. I love fresh veggies and I have a few fruit trees/bushes but I just don't have the time to try to raise or grow all of my food. I have a small garden area this year lettuce and tomatoes and a couple of other things. Next year I am planning on finding a much bigger sunnier area for a new garden. I work full time and love to spend time with DH, the kids, my friends, and my chickens. Hard to find time to to it all. When the kids are gone and I am "retired" I plan on trying to grow most of the things we eat.

I have seen CL's garden and RainWolf's, and I love seeing pics of anybodies gardens because I actually take notes and write down the ideas I can use for when I am able to dive in and really try my hand at some major gardening.

With all of this said I do try to buy from the local farmers markets and from stores that buy local produce. We buy our beef from a local butcher that get their meat from locally grown grass fed cattle farms.

Some of us are doing as much as we can and try to do more all the time.
These conversations can make people feel guilty, or like they aren't doing enough and that they could be judged for it.
Just remember, Do what you can and strive to do more when you can, and don't feel bad if you can't do as much as someone else.
This isn't keeping about keeping up with the Jones's. This is about having a healthy lifestyle and teaching our kids the same.

 

[ChristineR]

Sorry Robin, but when it comes to "fat" people, it's the calories that count, not the kind of food. Bad food = bad nutrition, true, but if you take in MORE calories than you need, from what ever source, you will get fat.

So, if you only need 1600 calories a day, and eat 2000, you will gain weight. And it doesn't matter if it's from meat, or doughnuts, a calorie is a calorie. Excess calories (those not required for metabolism) are stored as fat.

(I don't eat a lot, but I do take in extra calories because I drink wine - it's stored as excess fat!)

This is very true.

+2000 cal eaten today -2000 cal burned today = 0 (no weight gain or loss) To lose weight, either eat fewer calories or burn more.

I understand why it would be easy to gain weight if all you were eating was fast food. It's cheap and calorie dense - very easy to over do it.

Several months ago I learned gluten gives me eczema and stomach problems. Because I often come home late from the barn and starving, I'll eat a big bowl of ice cream for dinner because it's fast, easy, and gluten-free. I've stayed the same weight because my calorie count hasn't really changed, even though I am eating a crummy diet.

 

[Sudsy Chick]

Some of us are doing as much as we can and try to do more all the time.

These conversations can make people feel guilty, or like they aren't doing enough and that they could be judged for it.

Just remember, Do what you can and strive to do more when you can, and don't feel bad if you can't do as much as someone else.

This isn't keeping about keeping up with the Jones's. This is about having a healthy lifestyle and teaching our kids the same.

Great post! I absolutely agree. I've had gardens some years, and not other years. It depends on life at the time.

 

[ByN8ureHomstead]

Quote: We do plan on selling this stove when we get into the RV. I will do any canning outside on a propane stove then, to much moisture for inside of an RV..

 

[nikki1]

Great post! I absolutely agree. I've had gardens some years, and not other years. It depends on life at the time.

Thank you! Self-sufficiency is like a spectrum, and very few of us have everything in place to be totally hard-over. For the last 16 years I had a fabulous backyard garden with a picket fence and raised beds. It wasn't enormous, but we had enough for ourselves and to share with the neighbors. The soil there was naturally deep and rich, and 16 years of compost made it simple to work.

This year I have exactly diddly. So what's the difference?

1. We moved to a new place last summer. The yard was grossly neglected, so we spent all winter reclaiming it from thistles, grass that looked like a hay field, and blackberries coming over the fence.

2. Once we FOUND the ground, we started to dig, and found that the soil was glacial deposit--clay packed with fist to head sized rocks. Grrr.... We broke a smallish area, and nearly broke ourselves in the process.

3. I blew out my knee in May, and I FINALLY get to have surgery on it next week. Not great for playing in the dirt!

Yeah... I'm just glad our tomato plants are thriving. We have plans to make some seriously deep raised beds next spring, and have a couple loads of topsoil and compost delivered, but the quantity we need we can't create ourselves at this time.

Bottom line, I'm not where I'd like to be on the spectrum, but I'm where I have to be at this time. Other people are in different places, AND THAT'S OKAY!! We're here on BYC helping each other, and if our yield this year is a few green tomatoes and an egg or 2, at least we're in the process of developing the skills we need to move up the spectrum.

We gotta be a little careful not to judge, as we don't know what resources, knowledge, and abilities others have. Let's just be here as a help for those who want a leg-up.

--Nikki