Modern Farmer reports from statistics obtained from the United Nations that food prices are up 33% in one year…from this time last year until the present!
So, it’s not just in America.
Planting an orchard or a garden next year has reached ‘necessity’ level for some.
(It also might reduce the backup a little at the California sea ports…and even cut some pollution…and give more people some exercise…all good.)
Here is my 30 foot hoop house row of greens for fall and winter. There is spinach, lettuce, kale, onion greens, spring mix, radishes and kohlrabi and turnips.
I bought actual greenhouse plastic meant to use on row covers for overwintering. I have had success keeping a lot of these vegetables alive over the winter and ready to grow early in the spring.
Made use of a couple short lengths of cattle panel to serve as covering-structure for my late greens bed.
Of course no store in my small town actually has floating row cover in stock now… ordered from amazon this morn… supposed to be here Thursday… they are calling for 32 degrees here Thursday night…
I’m sure a couple old blankets would work…
32 may not bother most of that… but at least now I can cover it if I want to.
The versatile cattle panel comes thru again…
I have considered these, but the spines on the husks are very off-putting to me. How do you (or do you plan to) hull them efficiently? I picked some from a tree on school grounds, and they are seriously sharp and painful if you’re not gloved up!
Picture courtesy of Stark Brothers:
Did I mention groWing
tea?
Have Sasanqua Camillias in Madison Co. KY tht are blooming…been in ground 7 years. Sochi tea plants are just as hardy.
Thrift store sheets are super cheap. Buy the flat only (not a set).
How much do those tea plants actually produce? Do deer like them? I have been debating on buying a couple for last couple years.
Might not be for long…price of cotton nearly double last spring.
I get them for .50 a pound at the thrift store. I just bought some flannel ones at that price last week to cut up to use for napkins or reusable toilet wipes in the case of a super duper emergency… one never knows what could happen. Who knows though, they might go up. Get them while you can, I guess.
Freeze warning here tomorrow night.
Pulled all the bush butter peas and have them piled on a 6x10 utility trailer in the barn aisle… I’ll pick pods off and shell them over the next week or so.
Pulled pepper plants and have them in the barn to dry or pick off to refrigerate til used. Potted up a few smaller ones, and will attempt to overwinter them indoors.
Picked okra for what is likely the last time.
Cut vines off sweet potatoes and started digging… six 27 gal totes full, and I’m probably only halfway through digging them.
Found 3 watermelons hidden under the SP vines…they look & ‘thump’ like they’re probably good!
Will finish digging sweet potatoes tomorrow, and probably pick last remaining pods on Iron & Clay cowpeas, regardless of pods fill.1
I have been buying old “sheer” curtains at our thrift store for years. They make good insect barriers and are super cheap as well.
@FarmGirl-Z6A … I put a couple old bed sheets over them last night… low this morn was 40… so not needed. I uncovered them a bit ago.
My row cover should be here on Thursday… until then… I will use what I have on hand.
Mine are way too young to bear, but I’ve run into them elsewhere—and, yes, they are very sharp! I can’t think of anything to do but wear thick, heavy work gloves.
I was looking at some trees a few weeks back and the ground was covered in the husks and i thought they weren’t sharp until i tried picking one up and it stabbed me. Those things are horrible. I had no idea. I wonder how squirrels deal with them.
Yeah, I don’t want a chestnut in my yard. Out on the farm, though, they’re quite nice.
I just pry burs that are not fully open between my two booted feet - certainly don’t recommend that with sandals, crocs, or thin fabric tennis shoes.
Takes at least a couple of years for the burs to degenerate… and, with a new batch virtually every year… you don’t wanna be walking around barefoot around them.
Wear heavy boots, step lightly on the burr and drag your foot. The nuts will come out.
Thanks for the tips, glib, @Lucky_P, & @JeremiahT
The chestnut tree at the kids’ school is very prolific. I think the maintenance folks just rake them up and discard them because nobody knows what they are. If they’ve tried to pick one up, they steer clear after that! I am surprised they haven’t cut the tree down actually, since there are so many elementary kids that walk by the tree on the way into school. Chestnut fights could be painful!
Now that I have a better idea of how to collect them, I will pick some up next time I am there.
That’s a good point about planting them in your yard too. Since the burs don’t break down very quickly, I wouldn’t like them in the orchard or yard. Might hurt the pads on the dog’s feet too.
The burr will fissure on his own. If it does have a fissure you will see that dragging one under your foot works well. Those on the ground are 99% fissured. To beat the squirrels I had a 1-3 day window and had to go up the tree with gloves and drop them down. some were not fissured and those were harder to peel with the method.
A tea plant 3 to 5 feet tall could produce dozens or even hundreds of tea leaves in a season. Coffee gets the nod more often at my home, one tea plant probably takes care of me for a year.
As a teenager, about the only thing (besides snakes) I avoided stepping on—thorns of a honeylocust and rusty nails. (Er…tried to avoid…a couple times I didnt’.)
