MNN - Mother Nature Network

much like at the trains of WWII Europe, at Auschwitz, folks left with no recourse, no government protection from Vulture Capitalists in America! All this led me to plant a garden, in great fear of a system's break-down, especially after my personal disenfranchisement from all the good society had to offer, in form of a "Down-Sizing" and after 37.5 years service! The corporate bastards! their kids in private schools, mine working nights to attend public and eat! Gardening, my only recourse to survival, was described in great detail on the net, the only free source of truthful information! I learned canning, pressure canning at that! Food drying, Herb growing, Cultivation practices, Composting, Humanuring out of necessity, new healthy, simple, recipes, food not like the pre-packaged stuff I was accustomed to! I also learned a new pace for my life, got in touch with a very real God, found a spiritual center in my soul , had time even for Buddhist teachings, and made room in my heart for my pets! Many young folk cannot find work of any sort despite very adequate educations in the corporate etiquettes, even the corporatists fight each other all the way to the bottom now-a-days, as the riches flow West to East and Asian interests, Gardening is not like that! It is peaceful, rewarding, hard, returns only one third what you plant, unless you're lucky and have a 'Bumper Crop", or damned good luck! I advise these young folk to work smart, not hard! Never look up in envy, and mostly keep your eye on your ball! You have all of modern technology on your side, super insulation, from NASA, coming down the net's info- tubes, LED lights, computers, transistorized everything, even microwave cookers and soon, Super batteries, even in cars! You need good soil, and a water supply, and love! Go To It!

our "off" time) he spends hours and hours planning where to plant what, next to what, so hopefully everything will grow next year. We're at the mercy of nature - hail has riddled our strawberries, too much rain has drowned tender new plants, too little rain has dried up our fields, deer and coons eat our corn, bugs eat everything. On rainy days, half our farmers market customers stay home (but we've harvested whatever was ready and have it at the market). After all this, people stop by our table at the farmers markets and say, "Woah, $1 for ONE TOMATO???" Thank God for the 99 percent of our customers who are appreciative of our efforts to produce chemical-free fresh fruits and veggies. Want a taste of the farm life? Become a WWOOFer http://www.wwoof.org/ for a month or two.