patrick.net

I have two eight foot planters for my home garden. One is tomatoes, the other is full of strawberries.
That’s all.

As a kid, we had a full garden.

Gardening can be a kind of little sport, but to grow enough food to actually feed yourself, that's real labor.

It's not just growing the food, it's preserving it. We had a relatively enormous garden, but if the shit hit the fan, we'd all have starved. Growing a little food for fun, that's fine, but growing enough to live, that's really difficult. It's not enough just to grow vegetables, you're going to have to raise animals too, and feed them. Also, your food is going to be very bland because although SOME spices can be grown here, not much.

The amount of work we had to do to tend the garden as kids wasn't trivial. As little kids, we'd weed the whole damned thing for an ice cream cone. Was supposed to teach us the value of money. It was real labor.

Agree with @richwicks, its not so much fun if anyone try to offset grocery bill. Potato worked out ok this year. Tried but barely got squash, corn, peppers, blue berries and grapes. We got lots of flower plants with bird bath attracting bees, butterflies and birds. Less maintenance and more fun watching them.

We have two 20'x6' raised beds. Then grow stuff on the ground that animals won't touch, at least here, like zucchini, squash, potatoes, onions, raspberry bushes and some years garlic or sweet corn in two 15'x'8' areas we have. We do a ton of tomatoes, Serrano peppers, jalapeño peppers (obviously we like spice), bell peppers, the beans that grow on vines and few other random things we try.

We don't really pay for anything on it besides our labor, which is well north of $100/hr, so it's technically not worth it but is a hobby of the wife's and I sometimes give a hand in the process. Oh and occasional watering, but we get consistent rain generally except for a few dry spells. Also helps us eat healthier, especially in the fall as we start harvesting it all.

I would like to get more spices going. We can grow anything here in IL basically, at least stuff we'd want to eat. We're going to have triple the land we have now when we build, so need to start planning the garden soon and can sneak in the costs of building raised beds in the financing. Probably will quadruple our growing space (less to mow). Might grow some hops too and get into the beer making hobby.

It 100% reduces our produce section of our grocery bill. We very rarely buy produce. Maybe once a month and that's just maybe a different kind of onion we didn't grow. The key is spending the time in preserving (as rich wicks mentions) and keep the produce through the non-growing parts of the year. We haven't bought spaghetti sauce in 5 years.

Not gardening, but we've started buying half a cow with our friend. It's a massive amount of meat. I haven't bought grocery store burger patties in a year, which is a huge savings for what we paid. I'd like to do a whole cow, but that a fuck ton of freezer space. Had to buy a new one when we started this. I'd have to get a 2nd. Jesus I have too much stuff. Stand alone freezer, main fridge, 2nd fridge, beer fridge, kids mini nostalgic coke fridge, oh and 10 tvs.... that one pisses me off. I rarely watch it/them. 3 kids though and gaming. No arguments over turns is worth it, plus my wife wins most of them at golf outings for work, so it really hasn't cost us.

The place I rent only has a narrow strip that receives near full sun. The back yard is infested with deer, rabbits, woodchucks, voles, and field mice so any tubers are a nonstarter as well as any sweet berry plants. We just grow some grape tomatoes, sage, and basil. The deer hate sage and basil, so they act as repellent.

KgK one says

Ant and aphids eating leaves, had to kill Ants but they come back.

That one kale I put in the ground gets aphids every few months. I just let it go the first time, figured maybe it was the plants time. After about a week they eat all the leaves, and go elsewhere. Then the plant grows back better looking leaves than before. An unintentional cue from The Biggest Little Farm. Definitely making me rethink pests and gardening.

My Wife's pot garden.

My sister and brother in law have massive gardens. One all outdoor and the other in a hi-tunnel. They sell to local farmers markets. They feed hundreds of families.

They do no till gardening and rely mostly on compost. Their first year was hard, but the second year they hardly have any weeds or pest pressure and they grow tons.

We just bought a small 20 acre farm, have cows, sheep and chickens now. We plan on putting in a fall and spring garden. We plan on following their footsteps.

Onvacation says

My Wife's pot garden.

You should see my friends "pot" garden ;) One acre. The joys of country living. Not sure how she pulls it off. No village cops and county would ever look now that it's legal here. State cops have probably never even driven down her road. No nearby neighbors. Now that's gardening I'd like.

They're also growing "magic" mushrooms. I hadn't done that since my early/mid 20's, but did it last month. Holy shit. Edible at the same time. Car camping after floating class 4 rapid (small sections) and I was fucked. Kid free and no responsibility for the first time in a while. It was intense.

I do like fresh produce though. I may sound like a crazy person, but I do try to eat healthy and I like stuff that's not mass produced and full of chemicals/fertilizer. Need to get into the herbs and spice game more for sure. That's our weak spot.

Onvacation says

My Wife's pot garden.

False advertising!

Chickens actually love grass and will eat every scrap of it in a yard. I know because we had chickens.

It's probably not enough for them to be healthy, but they definitely eat it.

Yep, if you have a chicken run, they will clear that whole area. But they aren't exclusively grass fed. They also eat bugs and most people do feed them to supplement the foraging.

NuttBoxer says

They also eat bugs and most people do feed them to supplement the foraging.

Ducks also eat pests just like chickens. Its fun to watching them around though its hard to imagine to raising them in urban setting.

Chickens don't eat certain plants which I guess don't taste good, like geraniums. And they don't eat ants.

They totally love termites though. I had a rotten log and spent a fun hour with our top chicken years ago, where I would split off part of the log with an ax, and she would run up and devour all the newly exposed termites. We got along.

This is an interesting feed:

https://www.bitchute.com/iceagefarmer/

https://www.iceagefarmer.com/

Patrick says

They totally love termites though. I had a rotten log and spent a fun hour with our top chicken years ago, where I would split off part of the log with an ax, and she would run up and devour all the newly exposed termites. We got along.

BTW, here's our top chicken, Domino, long since gone but fondly remembered:

Patrick says

Chickens actually love grass and will eat every scrap of it in a yard. I know because we had chickens.

It's probably not enough for them to be healthy, but they definitely eat it.

they eat bugs on the grass, random shit in the grass that they spot, never seen one eat grass. i think if they end up chewing grass its accidental, no chicken feed is grass.

I just want real tomatoes.
I can't find them so I guess I have to grow some.

Squash, okra, peppers, watermelon, a few other things. Damned grasshoppers ate bean plants. Electric fence around so that armadillos would not dig up the garden.



Edit: this is on our farm.

FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden says

never seen one eat grass

I've seen them entirely wipe out a small lawn, eating every single blade of grass. But true, I don't think anyone deliberately feeds chickens on grass.

One rooster we had ate an entire paper napkin because it had some pizza grease on it. I thought he would die, but he was fine. I guess their gizzards are pretty tough.

Bd6r says

Damned grasshoppers ate bean plants.

Yesterday I had grasshoppers hanging out on my hung and coiled up garden hose. When I started to uncoil so I could water a bush they wouldn't even jump off / away.

It was as if they were thinking: Take me to dinner!

https://nypost.com/2023/01/19/egg-smuggling-up-108-at-us-mexico-border-as-prices-soar/

Egg smuggling up 108% at the US-Mexico border as prices skyrocket...

South of the border, eggs sell for as as little as $3 for a 30-piece container

Why are eggs so much cheaper from Mexico? Just lower labor costs?

I finally heard something that makes sense with this egg bullshit. It seems governments are yet again doing their job by imposing unreasonable cleaning and equipment costs on egg suppliers. This drives down production, and drives up prices. Wouldn't be surprised if they're mandating slaughtering of healthy fowl as well.

Patrick says

Damnit, consumption of eggs doesn't even increase cholesterol. It's one of the healthiest proteins you can eat. I hate these assholes constantly trying to make us sick and kill us. Endless streams of misinformation and lies.

There actually is no such thing as bad cholesterol. There's poor diets, which lead to inflammation, which the body clearly tells you be producing more cholesterol to contain the damage.

NuttBoxer says

There actually is no such thing as bad cholesterol. There's poor diets, which lead to inflammation, which the body clearly tells you be producing more cholesterol to contain the damage.

It's also necessary for Vitamin D synthesis, so we need cholesterol. A lot of it could also point to a Vitamin D deficiency, as compensation. Low cholesterol has been associated with early death.

NuttBoxer says

I finally heard something that makes sense with this egg bullshit. It seems governments are yet again doing their job by imposing unreasonable cleaning and equipment costs on egg suppliers. This drives down production, and drives up prices. Wouldn't be surprised if they're mandating slaughtering of healthy fowl as well.

Yeah, I've also read that we are the only country that "forces" suppliers to remove special membrane from outside the egg, hence why everywhere else eggs don't need to be stored in fridges... except here

BobHa says

NuttBoxer says

I finally heard something that makes sense with this egg bullshit. It seems governments are yet again doing their job by imposing unreasonable cleaning and equipment costs on egg suppliers. This drives down production, and drives up prices. Wouldn't be surprised if they're mandating slaughtering of healthy fowl as well.

Yeah, I've also read that we are the only country that "forces" suppliers to remove special membrane from outside the egg, hence why everywhere else eggs don't need to be stored in fridges... except here

Farm fresh. Move to the country and buy them from a neighbor. Or get your own chickens. Move from urban areas.

Sodium is the biggest enemy. You need it, but when I see people dumping it on prepared food at a restaurant, I'm just like dude, it's already on it. So there's already a teaspoon or tablespoon in a ton of recipes and then it gets served and you dump even more on. No restaurant would survive without adding salt to mostly freshly prepared meals.

Eggs or otherwise, people simply eat too much. Not talking calorie counting either. Going on an 11 day trip and bringing food with me. I'll get bananas when I'm at each location. Granola bars for lunch that I'm bringing. And then probably a hearty dinner. Bringing a few shitty snacks like pringles and honey buns when the munchies kick in as this is a guy trip. I'll be under 2k caloric intake though and active. I don't count, but just making the point I'm not going to be consuming much.

2-3 rounds of golf. Day of snowboarding and then snowmobiling. I get sore now nearing 40 shortly and I refuse to take pain killers. I need some break days, plus there are travel days. I like traveling and have no fear of flying, but it does suck.

We live far enough out, and I know people in our area sell eggs, need to make the switch.

We only salt our food while cooking, never once done. Most outside food is already plenty salty for us. I know it's fiction, but in Robinson Crusoe the native guy tries salt and can't stand it because his taste buds have never been exposed. And I think it's valid point that if you lower your salt intake, your taste buds will adjust. But it is important to keep your potassium and sodium levels in balance. Too little or too much of either is bad for you.

NuttBoxer says

We live far enough out, and I know people in our area sell eggs, need to make the switch.

We only salt our food while cooking, never once done. Most outside food is already plenty salty for us. I know it's fiction, but in Robinson Crusoe the native guy tries salt and can't stand it because his taste buds have never been exposed. And I think it's valid point that if you lower your salt intake, your taste buds will adjust. But it is important to keep your potassium and sodium levels in balance. Too little or too much of either is bad for you.

Too little is bad, but as long as you're eating normal food - it has plenty minerals in it(especially anything animal-related like meat or eggs). Going no added salt can be rough though, first months at least - our pallets are so used to it after all.
I remember when I went for a 7-day camping trip(not going for such a long ones anymore, mostly 'cause carrying all the gear for 7 days is such a chore. 2-3 days you can get away with 35-litre backpack - I'm using USWE from nearby outdoors store https://gritroutdoors.com/ , much much easier compared to old days. And not as much time anyways!) and forgot to pack up salt - first 3 days everything tasted so bland... And then I kinda got used to it :D

BobHa says

Going no added salt can be rough though, first months at least - our pallets are so used to it after all.

That is what ketchup is for.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/tractor-supply-chicken-feed-reportedly-causing-egglaying-stop-board-ties-wef-jeffrey-epstein/

Online claims have emerged, corroborated by others, that the popular “Producer’s Pride” chicken feed sold by the Tractor Supply chain has been recently altered and that its new formulation is causing chickens to stop laying eggs. Some suggest a deliberate reduction in the amount of protein in the feed may be causing the reduction in egg production.

We got a lonnnng way to go before young chicks say that. It won't be until the point they actually have to work and not have pretend jobs in an office, to the point milking cows and raising chickens is better. Talking 19th Century textile mill level at least.