Tanya White

We just freed a snake in our neighborhood a few days ago from this awful plastic netting that is used for "erosion control" on the side of the road. After heavy rain, this netting became exposed in many places. We cut the poor guy out. This plastic material is so tough that it had damaged my Leatherman trauma shears! No animal could stand a chance. We did not realize the poor creature's home was nearby and, as soon as he was freed, he got tangled again! It is unlikely that this snake will survive, but we have tried our best. Very heartbreaking experience. I want to make sure I never use anything like this knowingly and I am trying to spread the word.

We thought about getting some bird netting before as we lose a lot of our fruit. It is just not worth it for me.

Not a peanut expert here by any means. I feel that peanuts are not worth growing for a lot of people, at least for eating. Although super easy to grow (they fix nitrogen), they are super hard to clean and then you have to shell them and the shells are kinda hard.

We grew them once a cover crop in our clay. Cleaned some.... Sorted. Dried some. Not worth it in terms of eating. I suppose if we had sandy soil, it would be okay, and even then, maybe. Made some boiled (green) peanuts with earlier crop (this is before they form skins).

I would concur with boiling peanuts. At least they are easy to shell. Use LOTS of salt, just like the recipes say.

I keep mine with desiccant packets in plastic ammo boxes. The seeds seem to last several years, but I haven't tried anything older than 4. The ammo boxes are very convenient and airtight and relatively cheap ($14 for a small one). I cannot sing them enough praises. Some seeds need to be more fresh (carrots) for good germination, but I don't save these these. I do save just about all others minus corn.

You can also make sure they are super dry and freeze them in jars. You cannot let them get wet. I haven't tried this method. I believe I've read this in Carol Deppe's books - don't quote me.

Completely agree and what a timely post! Prep what you eat already and rotate - FIFO. I enjoy cooking and eating, there is no way I am stocking things I hate. Why add stress to an already stressful (hypothetical) information? I will want at least some comfort, knowing myself.

And if there is something you want to store that you haven't cooked with a lot, now is the time to learn. Make a variety of recipes with each (versatile) food item you store. Plain oats get tiresome. Even sweet oats get tiresome. Perhaps a savory porridge, energy balls, and so forth.

Diversify the foods as well as perhaps storage locations and ways to replenish supply. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket type deal. Don't forget to store plenty of salt (unless you have easy access).

This one is obvious, but if you have a favorite item that stores well and it goes on sale, you may as well stock up. You will eat it quickly anyway.

Eric Kimball at Planet Whizbang had a design (although some parts are no longer available) for toe-tapper switch DIY.  Toe-Tapper

As far as "annuals/biennials",  I save everything except carrots, ginger (not a seed), and corn. I don't save every seed every year. For instance, I save watermelon seeds once only and use them for several years combining with purchased seeds. I don't have enough plants to save from and not ready to landrace watermelon between the clay and the bears.

For corn, I cannot grow enough plants to prevent inbreeding depression. When I did attempt cabbages (which never grew...), I was not planning to save seeds. In my garden, these things sort of worked themselves out. If they are too hard to get to maturity to save seeds, unless I am willing to repurchase yearly, I am not going to keep trying.

This also limits the number of varieties for me. Landracing helps a ton. To clarify, I only grow one variety for species of squash, brassicas.

State of NC does it for free except peak season. Just pay for shipping. Unfortunately, it is not organically minded in terms of recommendations. But it's nice since it's free and appears to be accurate. Steve Solomon recommends Logan Labs and there is what appears to be a more permie oriented site to help interpret the results (or you can send directly to them) which is https://growabundant.com .  

This is so exciting! We are waiting on our young tree to fruit one day. While I haven't made any recipes yet, I took note for 2 recipes from the Japanese Farm Food cookbook by Nancy Hachisu. One was for yuzu kosho made from yuzu zest, salt, and chilies. Other one was for citrus vinaigrette made of yuzu juice, salt, and good quality rapeseed oil (1:1 ratio of citrus to oil).

Tonight I made a stewing hen in a slowcooker (older bird). I took the skin off to make cracklings later. Added garlic and potatoes towards the end. The hen had tons of flavor.

Can't help but post again - I feel like I am so much better at cold weather recipes vs hot weather. I just can't seem to master cold/cooling dishes (like a good potato salad).

Last 3 nights:
1. delicata squash stuffed with millet plus ground beef. I had precooked millet in freezer.

2. chicken based soup with mushrooms and barley (also precooked that I had in freezer, takes forever to cook).Dried mushrooms were rehydrated and fried in butter with a little flour to thicken the soup. Garnished with dill. Chicken was from a neighbor down the street, really made a great broth.

3. Mustard greens with andoille sausages.

Loving the cooler weather!