(DF) NOT the biggest turnips I've ever seen

As you can see from the photo, these turnips are not nearly so large as the ones Anna was talking about. They are the same variety, just smaller. As you may imagine, there is a reason for the difference in size.

While I have no idea how the larger ones were grown, I can point out a few reasons why these, which grew in my garden, are so small. First of all, I must say that the soil needs amended with compost and/or manure to offset the heavy clay in this part of my garden. Add to this, the fact that they were planted much later than I would ordinarily recommend (late September instead of mid August), and you start to see the picture. They were also planted very thick in the row, and never thinned. By very thick, I mean there may have been 1/4 inch or less between them, with the intention of thinning them to 4 - 6 inches apart when they were up and growing. I didn't get around to pulling dirt up around them either.

Had they been planted a bit earlier, in richer soil, thinned properly and dirt pulled up around them, this picture may have been a bit different. Honestly, when the first hard freeze hit and killed everything else in the garden, I wrote the whole thing off as a lost cause and went about other business. My mistake! As you can see, they made turnips in spite of the extreme lack of attention. I can also point out that even through the recent cold weather, the tops are still great for greens and the turnip below is as solid and tasty as I have seen.

Now to my real point for writing this post. I truly believe turnips are getting a bad rap. In reality, they are not only nutritious and delicious but quite easy to grow. As an example, if they will make even such small turnips in such poor soil, and with no care whatsoever, think what they will do with even a little work. And to top it off, they are a great food source for farm animals. Not many things in the garden can boast such qualities and still stay in the garden until we are ready to use them.

Next time you are thinking of planting a versatile, easy care fall crop in the garden, keep the lowly turnip in mind. You won't regret it.

(DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY ------part 2

Before I begin, I would like to thank all of you who viewed and commented on part one of this post. I would also like to mention that these levels of self-sufficiency are not intended to be, nor can they be, rigid. The levels mentioned in all parts of this post are intended as a tool to promote awareness of levels beyond where we are, on the path to self-sufficiency. Once on such a path, it is hard (if not impossible) not to prepare and work toward aspects of various levels at once.

LEVEL IV: Level four is where the skills and hard work come into play. Yes, I did say hard work. Lets face it, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Level four basics include shelter and many things associated with that shelter, such as the cleaning and decoration of that shelter and anything else that makes that shelter a home. Actively providing for such basic needs is the essence of this level of self-sufficiency. By "actively", I mean physically doing the work (construction, maintenance, upgrades, etc.) to provide shelter for yourself, your family and your animals.

Obviously, not all of us are physically able to build houses, barns and fences, or dig cellars to shelter and store our produce. Even for those who are able (and for the less physically demanding aspects) it takes some degree of knowledge and skill, an appropriate mind set and a good measure of awareness.

If you don't have the ability and/or skills, what do you do? Have you thought of barter? Barter is, in my opinion, a form of alchemy. WAIT!!! Before you start envisioning Pagan rituals and evil spells for turning other metals to gold for the sake of greed, here is Webster's second definition of alchemy. "A method or power of transmutation: esp., the seemingly miraculous change of a thing into something better." Turning surplus vegetables, jelly, soap or products from the blacksmith shop into materials and/or labor for fixing the hole in the roof (or vise versa) sounds like pretty much the same thing to me. Granted, getting the roof fixed in exchange for things you CAN do, instead of doing it yourself, is not truly self-sufficient, but it does get the job done and provides a higher degree of personal satisfaction than mindlessly paying whatever price is asked, in the form of cash, card or check. As an added bonus, you get interaction with others which, by the way, is one of the basics of psychological health. Not a bad swap, huh?

I hope to see you here for the next post, where things start to get more difficult, and if anything, less self-sufficient. At least temporarily.

(DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY ------ part 1

Input from others with different perspectives often encourages me to look more closely at my own views. A comment to my recent post, "THE NECESSITY OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN A SELF-SUSTAINING LIFESTYLE" did just that. In examining my own views on life and goals of self-sufficiency, I realized two very important considerations: That TRUE self-sufficiency, at least for the individual, is near impossible; and there are many levels of self-sufficiency along the way toward that near impossible end. Some of these levels, I have lived at some point in my life, others I have studied and worked toward, and most (if not all) levels are among my goals for the future. Obviously, we would all like to be as independent as possible, so with your indulgence, I would like to share some thoughts and experiences on those many levels.

LEVEL I: Level one, in my opinion, has to start with a mind set. As infants, unable to do anything for ourselves, we learn to expect others to give us what we need to survive, grow, and be comfortable. As we grow, the desire to move freely and do for ourselves also grows, driving us to walk, communicate and reach for what we need. This develops to the mind set of "I can do it myself", which is the point at which, as a parent, I had my first twinge of having to let go a bit. And that twinge just got worse from there, but that is another story for another time.

As teenagers or young adults, having developed the mind set and entering the work force, we reach level two.


LEVEL II: Level two is what our society has come to expect and strive for to a great extent. As teenagers, we are expected to at least finish high school (and a college degree is preferred) and then to get a good job (or preferably, a career), thus being able to make enough money to pay the bills, buy a home, raise a family etc. This in itself is truly a tangible level of self-sufficiency, as compared to those who choose to rely on others (family, friends, church, government assistance, etc.), for their needs. Please do not consider that I am passing judgement on anyone for their choices, and it is important to note that many people, through no choice of their own, require assistance for their survival and we should all do our best to help.

With that said, this level of self-sufficiency can provide all the requirements of survival and comfort. It does not, however, give the individual any control over many aspects of life. For example, you have no control of the price, quality or availability of food, fuel, utilities, building materials, services or anything that has to be purchased. More money can get better quality, but only if the product is available in the first place. In short, though we work hard for the money to provide what is needed for ourselves, we still depend on, and are at the mercy of, others.


LEVEL III: Level three is about the point where people start talking about "back to basics". I am very happy with that concept but not so much with the wording. The basics haven't changed, so going back to basics is essentially the same as staying here with the basics. In fact, the basic NEEDS of humanity are still simply water, food, clothing, shelter, warmth, tools, weapons for hunting and defense, and for spiritual and/or psychological well being, interaction with others. What HAS changed is how we fulfill those basics. In my opinion, (and remember, it is just my opinion), it is a matter of resources and how they are used. From this point forward, these basic needs and how they are, and can be, used will be incorporated into the levels as appropriate, so bear with me.

The level three basics include food and water. Chances are, you, (like so many others), do not live in walking distance of your water source. If you are fortunate enough to have a well or spring on your property, that is a good head start, and if it is a well or spring with a hand pump or other people powered means of getting the water, so much the better. Far too many people are using water that is pumped in from such a distance that they don't even know where it really came from or what chemicals it has been treated with. A resource to consider is rain water, which can be captured with guttering from roofs of houses and other buildings and used for watering plants and animals, washing or filtered for drinking. The amount of water that can be captured from an inch of rain falling on the roof of an average sized building is surprising. At just over a half gallon, (.623 gal. per sq. ft. per inch of rain, to be more precise), a building the size of my chicken house and tool shed combo will capture about 94 gallons of water from an inch of rain. The calculations are simple, just multiply the number of square feet of roof surface by .623 to find out how many gallons of water you will have from your roof with one inch of rain.

Food is another necessity that many take for granted. It is convenient to just go to the grocery store and buy what you need. With prices rising, quality declining and the now constant threat of various contamination related illnesses, it doesn't seem so convenient as it once did. Growing your own food is becoming more popular and this is a good step toward this level of self-sufficiency. No, not everyone can plant a huge garden, a field of wheat or corn for bread, and raise livestock for all their meat, milk and eggs, (though that would be REALLY NICE). There are ways (even in an apartment in the city) to raise at least some of your own vegetables, and with a back yard or small acreage, there are endless possibilities.

Though being able to produce all of the food on the table would be ideal, anything you can produce for yourself lowers the levels of dependence on others and is a good step toward self-sufficiency. Remember, it all starts with the mind set, the questioning of where your basic needs come from and how to change that source.

I will post other levels soon, as well as related posts involving more information on specifics, as there just isn't room in a single post for all the information. I will also be considering your input to help me give you the information you need to follow your own path toward self-sufficiency, so please use the comments to let me know where you are in the journey and any questions you may have.

(D♥A) Roasted Garlic

Dave and I FINALLY got to spend a day together! YEA!!!! It really hadn't been that long since we had gotten to see each other, but it seemed like it had been forever.

We have both been sick for the last few days. Not sure what Dave had had, a bug of some sort that made him feel bad, and I got up with the Flu last Friday morning. I have been nursing a fever, aches, chills and the croupies for days, then it finally turned into bronchitis. So with us both feeling under the weather, I decided to cook us some Roasted Garlic in my wood stove (my source of winter heat).

Garlic is absolutely WONDERFUL for curing all kinds of ails. I know it is probably best when eaten raw, but roasted just really sounded good last night. So I hunted down my tiny little Dutch Oven that I hadn't used since last winter.

To make Roasted Garlic this way, simply take a full head of garlic, roll it around in your hands and slip the outer 'papery' cover off of it, leaving it fully intact. Just the outer stuff, leave the cloves fully covered. Set the entire garlic head in your little cast iron pot (you can wrap it up in aluminum foil instead, but I am trying to get away from using aluminum.).  Then dribble a little of your favorite cooking oil over the head of garlic, making sure it runs down inside, inbetween the individual cloves. You can use most any kind of cooking oil. I have tried several, and I use to mostly use Virgin Olive Oil. But recently I tried it with some Virgin Sunflower Oil and that has most definitely become my favorite for this purpose. The flavor of it just seems to blend so perfectly well with the garlic. Now, put the lid on your Dutch Oven (or wrap your foil up tightly) and set it in the coals (not on the fire). Turn occasionally to keep from burning. Cook time will vary drastically, depending on how hot your fire and coals are.

When the garlic feels soft when you press on it, it is done. Ours took about 30 minutes. But that time can greatly differ either direction.  The cloves then easily peel and you can either scoop out the garlic or squeeze it out. Just be careful, it gets extremely hot and stays that way for awhile. It is then easy to simply spread on bread, crackers or use for whatever you want to use it for (or just eat as is). It spreads like butter and becomes sweet, losing its harsh, sharp, hot garlic punch. I especially like to toss it into my spaghetti sauce. It is also great to blend into your favorite spreads. The uses are endless.

And so are the health benefits! Garlic is an extremely powerful antiviral (the flu is a virus) and powerful antibiotic. In fact, its antibiotic properties have been said to be as effective as many modern prescription antibiotics, just without the side affects. We split this head of garlic last night, and by the time I got up this morning, my congestion had drastically improved. I was able to take far less medicine today, and felt so much better! I should have done this days ago. We had planned on eating it on some 'everything' bread we had picked up, but changed our minds and decided to eat it on some thin tortilla chips I had. It was yummy that way! I think we will be eating this often this winter to keep down our ills. If you have any questions about it, please feel free to ask. And yes, you can do this in your regular oven, too.

(DF) THE NECESSITY OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN A SELF-SUSTAINING LIFESTYLE

***advance soap box warning*** This is a subject I am likely to get adamant about, so if I get on my soap box and rant and rave a bit, please bear with me. The points I will try to bring forward may be of interest.

In a society such as ours, where electricity has been readily available for many years, far too few people can remember not having it readily available. All sorts of appliances and electronic gadgets fill most homes, some very convenient, others merely annoying. Unfortunately, many of these appliances and gadgets have come to be considered a necessity of life.

This brings us to the real point of this post; energy dependence and the power utility companies have over our lives. Anyone on the grid depends on the power company to provide power to run the aforementioned electrical equipment, (thus the energy dependence). The power the utility company has over us is simple, you pay the company or they cut of the power. In most cases the company you get your power from is the only game in town, so you can't shop around; you simply pay what they ask, or do without.

Friday, the mail carrier brought me a strong reminder of just such facts in the form of my electric bill. Finances being what they are, I had paid the last bill a couple of weeks late, but still before receiving the next bill. It seems I had been one day late a couple of other times in the past year, so my bill now includes a new deposit. This deposit amounts to about four average months of electric usage above the regular charges, so my bill this time is five times the normal bill.

When I consider that I have paid my electric bill every month for the past 25 years without once having my power cut off for non-payment, this seems a bit like an insult. It is nothing personal, of course, this is the way they treat anyone who is late, with no consideration of circumstances or how good the customer has been.

The question is; What can we do about it? The answer is simple; give up electricity or get it somewhere else. But wait, they are the only game in town. Or are they? Fact is, I like a hot shower as much as anyone, and a freezer is nice, (especially when there is plenty of meat). I also enjoy having the fridge, lights, well pump and without the computer I would not be getting this information to you. The welding machine and a wide variety of power tools also come into the mix making the lack of electricity more than a minor inconvenience.

Alright, enough of the soap box. The fact is that it doesn't matter if the way things are currently handled is right or wrong, convenient or inconvenient. This is the way it is RIGHT NOW and it is up to each individual to decide how to, (or whether to), change it for themselves.

For some time, I have been looking for information on alternative energy. There is a flood of information on the net and it can get a little confusing, but the search can be worth it. There are also people out there who have put together courses on about anything you could ask for, but be careful to check reviews. There are always those who are just out for a buck mixed in with those who are legitimate. My main focus on alternative energy has been in the areas of passive solar, solar electric and wind. I am hearing some talk of geothermal but haven't checked into it yet. I have also checked into methane production, but it is pretty dangerous if not done properly, so be careful if you take this path.

Of course, there is the alternative of learning the techniques for living without electricity. I have taken this path in the past and am not opposed to doing it again, if need be, but a little preparation would certainly be in order before making such a drastic shift. Heating and cooking with wood heat, pumping water by hand and washing clothes by hand require some work but are not that bad. Preserving all the food one normally puts in the freezer, and keeping things from spoiling that would normally be in the fridge takes some planing and research. Working with manual hand tools instead of power is a whole set of skills unto itself.

Bottom line: Whatever choices we make, our level of self-sufficiency and, to some extent, our freedom depends on the power company and how we choose to deal with them.

(AF) Moving Towards Self Reliant Living

Dave and I still have a long way to go to make it to total self-reliance, but we are both making lots of headway. I look so forward to the day we are finally there, or at least, close enough that we have most of our daily use needs from our own farm, and then use items from our farm in trade for the remainder few things we need.

As I was sitting down to this scrumptious dinner fit for a king the other day, I had to smile with great satisfaction. The eggs were from my free-range chickens (hee, hee, I finally found where the little darlings were hiding them, now they have moved them again, grrrr... ), the green onions were out of my little fall garden, and the fresh greens (locally grown) I received in trade. It was a wonderful, warm feeling of great satisfaction to know that the majority of my meal came from my own hands, was farm raised, and almost completely void of chemicals. Even the potatoes came from our local produce market.

So how could it have been improved? Well, we could have grown the potatoes ourselves (and will next year), the bacon could have come from our own pigs (Dave is working on getting set up for that, as my old hog pen is way too far gone), the vinegar drizzled over the greens could have been from our own apples (going to take awhile for that, but until then, maybe we will luck into some apples like we did the pears), and the butter I cooked the eggs in could have been from our own cow's milk. Oh, I look so forward to having a good milk cow and making lots of butter, yogurt and cheeses!

But for now, this was visual proof that we are making headway towards our goal and one very, tasty, delicious, satisfying meal!