FREEPER GARDENERS ----- BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH

The FReeper Gardening list got a huge workout this week, and I guess I should apologize for all the extra pings that probably often didn’t seem to have anything to do with why we originally started our list. Unfortunately it seems it has been taken out of my hands because the politics of our times has now invaded our gardens and farms.

I didn’t start out to create a new thread, in fact this actually started out as an email to a friend from Church. We had gotten talking after service and he was not fully aware of some of the things we had all discussed this week and I told him I would send some links. The links I was planning on sending him were to two articles we had all discussed here this week, however when I got back here this afternoon I realized there were far more than just the 2 and while starting to compile my email, I thought it might not be a bad idea to stick all of the links I was sending him into one thread.

Please all bear with me, as the order these links are the order was I sending him based upon our conversation this morning and not how we discussed them this week. Heck, who knows, he may enjoy our banter enough when he reads through some of our links and actually decide to join us. I sure hope, so as he is a very knowledgeable gentleman.

Also folks, please bear with me on my HTML skills (which are minimal) as I wrote this in a Word document based on my FR HTML usage 

The First is to the transcript thread of the weekly address in which 0bama announces his new food police:

Next is an article from the BBC in which it explains that 0bama is calling our food sytem a public health hazard:

The 3rd link is a VERY long, but well detailed description of much of HR 875, the Food Safety Act, and just what it will mean to even most of us who are just backyard gardeners, let alone the small family farmers among us.

Next on the list is a tie-in piece of “legislation” known as NAIS, which has ben being discussed here on FR for a good long time. This is another lengthy, but informative, article.

I added the next one in my list to my friend because we like our potlucks and our semi-annual Pancake suppers, which are a fundraiser for the Church.

This final thread from this afternoon is just an example of the “too numerous to count” articles that we have all been seeing lately about how many more folks are either planting gardens for the first time or expanding the ones they have. The cited article is from Salon and AP, so even though I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I can just imagine how fun it is going to be!!!

< a href =” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207096/posts”> Dollars from dirt: Economy spurs home garden boom (It's official: We're now peasants!!)

I am now going to attempt to post this. I’m posting in CHAT because all of these threads have already appeared in NEWS.

From this linked article:

(PA) Dept. of Agriculture stops fish fry pie sales

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207067/posts?page=1

“Not only pies, but things that have been jarred at home or self-butchered meat, that type of thing,” Ryder said.

So what are all the deer hunters and home butchers going to do with their “extra” sausages. We don’t make just enough for us to eat in one or two weeks / months, since all the meat cutting and stuffing equipment is dirty. My neighbor always give us several chunks of homemade jerky that beats the “store bought” stuff.

I bought a miniature greenhouse this year for $38, and so far it is the best investment EVER.

Lowe’s carries them, although you can’t find them here this year, may have to order from their website.

It is plastic shelving four stack high (five feet), x3, about 18 inches deep. It has a zip around plastic cover. You would be surprised how much it holds. It has a zippered door on the front.

I have about 30 little pots in there (it’s still not full, plan to add more), sprouting all sorts of flowers and veggies, and a themomator to keep track. The shelf is on wheels, and when it is sunny and 70 degrees outside (Where I live it’s 70 one day, 20 the next this time of year) I roll it out on my deck. It has been 100 degrees in there at times.

Then, when it drops to 20, I roll it into my kitchen. I am lucky to have a house with a lot of windows, and when it is cloudy for several days I stick a cheap florescent light in there.

WARNING: It tends to fall apart when you roll it, so I gorilla glued the pieces together, and it is lightweight, so the wind can blow it over, so you have to tie it down outside.

Once I get sprouts big enough, I moved the plants to a sunny window. I had my hubby build two shelves for my kitchen window, and one in my office. This frees up space to sprout more seeds in the greenhouse.

When the last frost is over here, I’ll have tomatoes big enough to plant in my garden outside (actually have some big enough now). I also have cukes, bell peppers, basil (thanks to gardengirl) heirloom tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, sage, and tons of flowers sprouting or close to planting size.

If you can’t get the greenhouse you might could make one. It is simply a plastic shelf (you can buy one like it at the Dollar Store for $8, and take plastic sheeting and wrap it around it. Put some wheels on it and you have an instant greenhouse. If you keep it in the house you’ll want a drip pan under it.

I bought a lot of flower, veggie seeds from the Dollar Store, WalMart, for 20 cents. So far they are up, doing well. Gardengirl sent me some heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, and all those are up. The basil she sent me isn’t up yet, since I just got them planted. I also saved a lot of seeds from my garden last year, and they are up and growing.

I have nasturians (sp) big enough to plant outside, in the window now. They are a beautiful flower with neat foliage, but are edible, full of vitamins and minerals. You could sprout lots of beans in there, very nourishing.

Good luck. Check this thread often, as we have some very knowledgable gardners on here, and I have learned a lot from them. I wouldn’t miss checking this thread for anything, can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from all these great freepers.

We’ve had drought conditions here for the past two summers. Last summer a freeper posted about saving gallon milk jugs and catching rianwater. This way you can store water for your garden for dry times, and with lids so it doesn’t make mosquitos.

Of possible interest to the two of you. I've posted this before on a few threads.

Since he was "elected" (put into office through fraud and illegal contributions) I noticed that the Media started calling him President (insert his name here), only occasionally correcting themselves and changed it to President Elect.
For a few days I referred to him as the "President Eject" then it hit me.
He almost always voted "present" in the senate so he could waffle later on how he would have voted depending on what would be politically convenient for him.
So from a few days after Nov 4th, I started to refer to him as Present Obama and continue to do so to this day.
Very few people comment on the word president with the letters ID (which he doesn't have, no birth certificate), Present, but it is there in my posts for documentation.
One person that noticed it made this graphic:

I also will never call him President.
He is not my President, and never will be.
It's alright to say that as the liberals/leftists always said that about President Bush

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