Free Republic

I have lived in many countries over the years, and have always had a vegetable garden. Not just for cost, as many of the countries I have lived in have had what we considered dirt cheap food, but for the quality. Nothing compares to the taste of veggies fresh from the garden. Recently, some friends told me about the bad drought in Texas. Their gardens are blackened and burnt, with food only coming in, grudgingly, thanks to heavy watering every other day. It immediately took me back to two of the hardest places I have ever tried to raise food....

It is possible to create jobs, have healthier diets and improve the local economy by re-birthing local agriculture on small plots of land. Each pound of lettuce or eggs or beef shipped from California, Latin America or Mexico raises our dependency on foreign oil. And buying food from far away costs us jobs locally. Some communities have figured out a new path forward that fixes all that. North Carolina’s Rutherford County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Yet some 6,000 families own between 5 and 20 acres of land, and chefs in nearby Charlotte are in...

We eat with our eyes first, don’t we? God made food attractive so we would choose to eat what’s good for us. As you walk into the produce section of your grocery store, you can’t help but notice the beautiful colors of the vegetables and fruits. It’s like a painter’s palette with its rich display of color. Green, red, yellow, purple and orange, with some of those variegated together. It’s a pretty fresh looking sight, but did you know that the colors of your acid/alkaline vegetables and fruits are important to your health. Let’s learn how you can benefit from...

Rick Perry’s promise “I’ll work every day to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your life as I can.

(Or just some other kinda ordinary farm kids? My brothers and I dairied well over 40 hours a summer week when we were still in elementary school.) Nearly two years after ABC News cameras uncovered young children toiling away in Michigan's blueberry fields, federal investigators have found yet another disturbing example of illegal use of child labor in the berry industry. Three southwest Washington strawberry growers were fined $73,000 last week after the U.S. Department of Labor found children between the ages of six and 11 working in their strawberries fields in June. While an exemption in the federal child...

Again we have to ask ourselves who is vetting the hostile invaders we are alllowing to enter this country. And why isn't the press clamoring to blame the ideology that inspires these acts of war? Rep. King: More than 40 U.S. nationals have gone to Somalia to join jihad Jihad Watch Come for the jihad, stay for the samosas -- wait, what? Awww, maaaaan! "Lawmaker: 40 Americans Joined Somali Al-Qaida Linked-terror Group," from the Associated Press, July 26 (thanks to Weasel Zippers): WASHINGTON (AP) _ The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says more than 40 Americans have been...

Tim DeChristopher, a University of Utah economics major student will be sentenced Tuesday, July 26 for fraudulantly bidding at a Bureau of Land Management Auction more than two years ago. DeChristopher is an environmental, climate change justice activist who posed as a bidder for leases for oil drilling in eastern Utah. He kept bidding and bidding, even though he did not have the cash or the intent to pay for the lease. His whole fraud activity upset the normal procedures of federal government business with the private sector. Those who side with him believe that he is a hero saving...

Bats, as scary as they are to some, are one of the more useful mammals in creation. The diets of those species common in Pennsylvania consist of mosquitoes and other insect pests including the ones that damage crops. A colony of 100 brown bats can consume of a quarter-million insects in a single night. Science magazine has estimated the pest control service provided by bats can save farmers about $74 per acre. Well, the unattractive wind turbines built at the hectoring of the nature worshipers who've managed to convince most that they are the arbiters of all dogma scientific are...

I've just been informed that my second Toro gas powered push lawn mower isn't worth fixing. I know very little about engines and such, so I'm taking the mechanic's word for it. The engine has thrown a rod (I can hear it) and the transmission's shot (that's why I took it to be repaired). Now I have to plead a little a lot guilty. I did not take proper care of the thing. I should have changed the oil, etc., etc. However, before I invest in another lawn mower (which I PROMISE I will take good care of) I thought...

...A letter signed by 40 House members explained the basis for their opposition: “When an agency acts to change the rights of an individual, we believe that the agency must go through the formal rulemaking process. We respectfully request you abandon any further action on this guidance document.” The Property Rights Alliance has long opposed these expansions of EPA power, arguing to the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee in 2010 that the changes “Will not ensure the cleanliness of these waters, but merely serve as another bureaucratic barrier for citizens who wish to use land for development.” Organizations such as...

Contrary to recent media reports, the malicious prosecution of Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan has not ended. Authorities have also charged her with having unlicensed dogs, though they never escaped or threatened anyone. Here’s the unedited scoop straight from her own blog, Oak Park Hates Veggies: Home-grown: Julie Bass has fallen foul of local authorities by growing vegetables in her front yardHome-grown: Julie Bass has fallen foul of local authorities by growing vegetables in her front yard 1- the charges against us were not actually “dropped”. they were dismissed by some judge we have never heard of or seen....

Having just bought a new home, I m bound and determined to fly the American this July 4th. I have checked Home Depot and Lowe's and am not satisfied with the options. I want a looking metal or black wall mounted hanger. And a high quality flag ... Preferably cotton and USA made. Any suggestions for online purchases?

Would some garden-savvy FReeper please help identify this kind of weed: Its kind overtake my backyard every Spring. If left to grow long enough they can get pretty large/bushy.

Some folks think that you dig potatoes our of gravy, and that chicken is something you buy at the grocery store, ready to cook....

Catching up on the gardens this week we've lots of pics of the plants this spring of 2011. It's good but there's some horticultural editing needed. Here's a movie review of RIO, an animated film as pretty to watch as too the joyful plot. With an amusing story of a "Blue" bird that visited my own modest backyard. We’ve got a book review of a book that’s nebulous as to weather it’s fiction or non-fiction. It’s True Crime, the story of a cabal of murder investigators of the highest merit. They solve the unsolved crimes of the era and they’re...

The meats were like a bad joke gone bad. $7-10 for a small package of chicken breasts. I got enough food for a week and it was $107. The cashier lady told me some woman (when she noticed) milk at $4 a gallon asked if there was s milk shortage. Are people this stupid? I am truly afraid for this country in so many ways and as the cashier lady said she told the ditz lady it will get far worse before it gets better. And the cashier was in her 20's and she figured this out- so there is...

I want to plant a grape arbor. What is the best grape tu plant?

Unless you haven’t eaten in the past several months, or you already grow all of your own produce, you’ve probably noticed that food prices have been rising dramatically. According to the USDA, the average cost to the U.S. consumer of Lettuce is up 4.5%, and fresh Tomatoes are up 4.7% from the same time last year. The recently released U.S. Labor Department consumer price index survey reports that the price of grains such as corn, wheat and soybeans has roughly doubled since last summer...

You can learn a lot about life through manual labor. A few years ago my wife and I bought a lake house. The lawn was beautifully landscaped, but during the time the home was vacant things had been neglected. As I worked to clean out some flower beds for my wife, I began to clear out some of the weeds that had grown up. The worst of the weeds were the wild blackberries that were choking out the other, more desirable plants. My first plan was to grab them and pull them up, but it didn’t take long to figure...

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 A couple of days ago, I read an article about how police in Michigan (go figure) were forcing motorists to surrender their cell phones upon being detention for traffic violations. They are using the common tactic that most liberals and anti-constitutionalist morons use that "if you have nothing to hide, you'll do what I ask." This, of course, is false logic. "If I've done nothing wrong, there is no reason to ask" is the proper...