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I think having a seedling greenhouse is a good idea and will look really nice when done. It is sure reminding me a lot of 1942 in the world today, except there's things that are making it worse for us then back then im afraid. To me it feels like things are incredibly backwards and we're trying to just keep moving in the right direction regardless of what the world's doing. One thing I found out this week is the number of women I know that have a housekeeper that comes each week. I've learned in maintaining our house and trying to do the history studies at the same time alongside working fulltime is that women had lots of help and nowadays at least for me that's just not there. I'd be curious if others have noticed the same thing or maybe that's just my observation?

 I did get some seeds planted in my few little beds, but I'm afraid they got washed away because we had a lot of rain come in one night. I've got potatoes and some grape plants to still get in the ground. I bought in the fall some fruit trees and landscaping trees that still need to get in the ground as well. The ground was too frozen before and now there's already some leaf buds, but the apple trees have some flowers that just appeared. They are so pretty right now which is enjoyable after such a harsh winter. 

Your yard will be very pretty when things start growing. I recently learned that old fashioned roses are edible. I've got them on my list to buy one day. Our friends have an orchard and they plant roses at the end of their rows. 

My husband and I gardened in the ground for decades but even before he passed I started transitioning to raised beds for the reasons you stated plus I find it easier to keep weeds out and, very importantly, our soil is very sandy, acidic and poor. We spent so much money amending our soil in our in-ground gardens and still needed fertilizer to get anything to grow. I have upfront costs filling a new raised bed but after that it’s just amending it with compost and a little fresh soil each spring. 

Would you tell me about your metal trellises?  Are they home built?  I assume they are?  If so, how were they created?  I have an empty row in my garden to fill with raised beds and I am thinking about adding at least some shade to that row with shade cloth on trellises. 

For my vining plants I have made PVC frames with nylon trellis mesh clipped to them. My cucumbers have been using that for a few years. It wouldn’t do for heavy pumpkins or such. 

I’ve noticed that being home all day makes a huge difference in gardening. Working all week with a long commute gave me so little time to tend even the raised beds. Now I go out there twice a day and it shows. It’s not impossible to garden while working- we did it for years- but it sure was harder for us. 

Joan S, to answer your question about the trellises. We are using metal conduit and cutting it 5 feet 5 inches and then putting a connector on top of the pole to put a 90 degree curve piece making it close to six feet to be able to walk under it. 

We put up the five foot piece first and then clamp them on to the bottom and top of the tank sides with metal clamps the size of the conduit.  We screw it in with metal truss screws. 

Each end of the curved piece needs a connector.  Then we go across from one side to the other and repeat at the other side.  Then we use fence wire and roll that over from one side to the other, up and over and down the other side.  We zip tied ours together in case we need to make adjustments.  They now have metal zip ties as well. 

I bought shade cloth to put over the top for when it starts getting too hot for the plants.  I also bought frost/shade cloth to use when needed.  For a quick temporary fix we clamp anything we can grab to cover the tanks if there is a quick thunderstorm with hail as of twice this week.  Also for a heavy rain because I don't want the seeds to float away.  We have been having more storms with hail the past couple of years now and we frequently get high wind storms as well so this is what we have done to protect our garden so we can hopefully get a better harvest.

I've gone forwards to 1943, to learn more about rationing in Canada  fro mthe local newspaper.
It's been very busy with Easter and birthdays, but a good kind of busy.
I'm chomping at the bit to plant things, but only the bell peppers could be started earlier. Now the tomatoes and rhubarb. Everything will be going out by the end of May, and some things a bit sooner. Then direct sowing around June 1st, for things like squashes and cuucmbers. I am also going to be putting in even more trellising, some of which should be metal on wood posts. It's what I can afford at this point, and my homr is not my forever home. So when I leave, they will all be taken down anyways, and the gardens coverted back to lawn.
Very excited to start the May planting!

thank you so much for the pictures and explanation!  I understand now how they are done!  I will be planning for something like this as I finish filling up my garden space. 

The canopies over beds with shade cloth work wonderfully. My husband did this several years ago and kept the beets covered all summer. That was the best year for fresh beet greens that we ever had. I used an amish recipe for pickled beets and it was so delicious that I will never use another recipe.

Your garden, gDonna, looks fantastic. We have yet to get out and prep ours for growing this year. The weather has been unusually warm for Wyoming all winter, but there is still plenty of time left here for a snow or two. I do have to cut lovage, chives and parsley this week, as they don't mind snow or cooler temperatures and they have grown to cutting point.

Many of my friends are speaking of feeling the intense need to grow more this year and stock more food. Some of those friends have freeze dryers, which are fantastic for storing food. We debated for years and decided against one. I dehydrate most vegetables and can some. The older I have gotten the canning has lessened quite a lot. I, too, feel the urgency to grow more food this summer. We had decided to forego a garden, but circumstances have change that decision for us. I plan on sorting through our seed storage this weekend.

Thank you again for another wonderful article. I hope your finger heals quickly.

A wonderful post, as usual! :) I am so glad Albert has friends to help him in his garden duties. After it being mentioned in the forum, I looked at growing zucchini vertically, and then at other things you can grow vertically. I have space for one arch trellis, so I got one. This is going to make such a difference in space in my garden! This year the zucchini will go in the tower trellis in the middle of the onions, and butternut squash will go on the arch. Next year when I've improved the soil where the arch is going, I'll plant on both sides of it. My asparagus is happier with me. I gave it some epsom salts while I wait for the langbienite to arrive. 

Since it looks like we're going to have higher inflation, I tried to find a way to outrun it. I used the numbers predicted for US inflation this year. After using my brain so hard that steam was coming out of my ears trying to figure everything out, I came to the conclusion that the official numbers have no correlation to my real life, and that I was going to have to keep my own record of inflation.  The first thing I learned from my own inflation recording was that my daily medication went up 12.5% since the last time I refilled it, and another product we use regularly went up 10% since the last time we bought it. These numbers are much higher than the official numbers. 

It's overcast outside because we had a wonderful rain that filled the rain barrel. :) Since it's a little dark inside the house, I have a solar lightbulb on next to me. The cost of the solar generators has gone down quite a bit since we first got them. After tracking our usage, we decided to invest in a couple more so that when some are in the house being used, others will be out charging. I can run all of the daily things like the Crock Pot or the blender or a curling iron, TV, lamps, and all of the small energy users for a couple of days without recharging. We think we can run the internet too, but haven't tested it yet. Hardwired lights, fridge, washer, stove, and water heater are things we can't run on our solar. We looked at how much we spent on electricity last year, and we think we can cut it by half. 

The lilies of the valley are blooming in time for Easter again. :) 

I can't physically keep a full garden right now. I had to give up my community garden plot I had for 10 years. My last 2 years container gardening didn't yield much. But I'm going to keep at it hoping I finally get it right. My little grandson wants to help me. He was in charge of watering (under my supervision) last year. If he is able to really help me in a few years I can probably expand into larger containers or raised beds.

I don't have an actively supportive family so I do most of these things by myself. 

I was supposed to plant onions and potatoes yesterday, my grandpa always said to plant them on Good Friday but it has been raining way to much so they will have to wait. I am just so glad Spring is here. I like being able to get outside things done and no seeing snow.

I have cleaned up the blackberry patch and have been transplanting Tigerlillies as they are coming up strong and all over the place. I have seedlings started, all flowers at this point. DD has tomatoes and peppers started so we should be good. 

I am planting okra with seeds saved within huge dried pods.....we love fried okra, I clean, cut and soak in buttermilk for a minute and then roll in cornmeal/seasonings and freeze on cookie sheets. Bag it up and you can enjoy it all winter long.

I agree about the official inflation numbers, I can only hold the line for me and mine.  

I worry more for family, the best I can do for them is to teach them and encourage them to research and try things on their own.

I still garden in ground, I have a Mantis tiller and that helps so much. I make "manure tea" out of my chicken house cleanings, very diluted. I have done this for years, along with adding the ashes from burning my wood stove....I also use my comfrey leaves as a tea on my plants also. 

Gr.Donna your garden looks fabulous!  So cozy and welcoming. 

I have been researching 1942 in my area/small town, the feed store was offering seeds and baby chicks.....I remember going into that feed store as a small child to get seeds with my mom, it had a particular smell....fertilizer and bagged garden soil.  One year for Easter we got colored chicks for Easter, I am pretty sure they ended up as dinner later in the year but we were rural kids so we knew how it worked. 

The trellises are very impressive, and inspiring!  

It's been a very busy few weeks here with control of invasive squills, and whenever I have time for a "break" working on my little side project of making new steps for the path down to my house.  The latter are coming out nice, but far from done.

This is unrelated, but as many here are decades older than me and some of you seem quite knowledgeable about practical antiques, I wondered if any of you had seen rectangular steel plates/trays like this before.  They are much smaller than modern lunch trays, kind of heavy for camping dishes, and have many criss-crossed scratches, heaviest toward the center, as if they saw a lot of use as an eating or cutting surface.

Any thoughts on age or exact use?

Possibly very old military mess tins with the scratches.  There are also medical tins that look similar but those don't have the same kind of scratches.  That is just my guess just by what it is made from.  I hope someone does know what they are.

I did not know that oil was part of the production process of pharmaceuticals. I read that just now. It means that medicine is going to get expensive, and my prescription cost might go higher still. Also, someone told me there is a steep tariff on medicine made outside of the US. 

Tariffs have gone through the roof in recent times, and pharmaceuticals are on the list - just a day or two ago I saw a 100% tariff on them - crazy.  People rely on these things for their very lives at times.   The cost of things has sky-rocketed and families are struggling to stay afloat, life isn't easy for many of us.  All we can do is look after our own and try not to worry about what is going on outside in that big bad world at the moment.

We're also at the stage where growing our own food has gone out the window, due to the cost of water and at our age carting heavy buckets of water from the tank isn't good for our bodies - so very little is grown here these days.  We're now coming into our best growing period but I have nowhere to plant things as we gave up all our gardens.  Now I just have a few daylilies, a small rock garden which looks after itself, and some pots with various items - the rest have gone.  I do have a young passionfruit vine climbing a trellis and some dragon fruit but apart from garlic chives and rosemary, as well as a big pot full of aloe, that's it - but I do have plenty of stock in the pantry, so we won't starve.  Instead of growing it, we try to buy locally from the farm gate - but due to the fuel crisis, we're limited to where we can go at the moment.

I have been looking over the rations examples for 1942....I realized I used a whole months worth of rations for 1 dinner...yes it is for a group and Easter dinner but still....How did they do that?

I made deviled eggs, baked beans and 2 seedless raspberry pies and used at least 4 months worth of fat in just the pies and sugar for at least 5 maybe 6 in the pies and the beans. Thinking on it now that they are done, I could have used honey from our bees in both but since extended family are not with me on my 1942 journey I did not.  

It really opened my eyes, it is different seeing it in person that just reading about it. Scary.....

I'd love the tank raised bed gardens but it's not practical here.  We have a foot of beautiful black topsoil, and everything grows like crazy (depending on the weather of course!).  It would not be reasonable to put in a tank and buy soil to fill it.  I don't spend a lot of time leaning over in the garden once planting is finished.  I will crawl down the rows or scoot on my behind to pick or weed between plants.  My dd bought me a Pro Hoe for Christmas several years ago and that takes care of most of the weeding.  I do not water after planting as water is way too expensive plus until the new water system is up and running, we have been asked for several years not to do outside watering.

I asked my librarian about "Thrifty Tips from the War Years" and "The American Homefront During WWII" and she bought both for the library.  I've finished the first on and am starting the second.  The first has given me perspective about the minor problem we're facing of higher prices.  At least there is stuff in the stores to buy, and we're allowed to buy it.  

Can you imagine going from 1940 through 1949 with clothing rationed and being virtually unable to buy any clothing or shoes???  That was Great Britian during the war years.  The book mentions that there was a severe lack of clothing before rationing started. I look at my closet today and realize I could easily manage but back then most people did not own a closet full of clothing or several pair of shoes.  

As far as gas prices, we've been through that cycle many times and in the 1970's sometimes there was no gas to buy.  Cars would be lined up for blocks hoping to get gas before the station ran out.  Again, high prices are difficult but at least there is gas available.

The pharmaceutical issue is the result of manufacturing going overseas.  We won WWII based on producing our own supplies and converting manufacturing from home goods to war goods practically overnight.  As a high school student, we toured the John Deere factory and at that time they still had munition machines under tarp next to the farm equipment machines they were operating.  There was a large number of acres of land around the factory and at that time they were still clearing bunkers of munitions.  I babysat for a family that lived inside the fence, and it was kept locked.   The area is now home to DMAC community college.

Cattle panels can be flexed or cut to make trellises or used straight on the ground.  They last forever which is a good point.

Growing a garden in the Lowcountry of South Carolina is a challenge. I also have 3 outdoor cats who like to use the gardens. In order to even try to be successful, it would cost a fortune that we just don't have. 

Instead, we've decided to frequent our local farm stand for the entire spring and summer seasons. It may cost a bit more, but at least we will support local agriculture and small businesses.

Melissa S, since you cannot garden, it is good that you will be supporting the local growers, we need to support them too for the things that we cannot grow.  I feel that we need to do what we can to support our local growers and our small business people because they are very important for us when there could be possible disruptions due to shipping and and transportation to be able to buy local. :)

My goodness, another wonderful post and so much to process that I had to take notes! :) 

Grandma Donna. Once again, thank you for building this wonderful community from all over the globe and sharing so much practical information in such a beautiful and informative way. Whenever I visit your blog, I feel like I have been given a second chance to sit at the kitchen tables of my grandmother's. I learn so much every time. Most importantly though, you encourage me to simplify my life in a way that is both beautiful and kind. 

I am sorry to read that you've injured your finger. I hope it mends quickly for you. 

Do you feed your lemon tree seaweed solution to help it recover from the cold? I use it at planting, when plants are stressed and every few weeks as a tonic. It seems to help the plants become more resilient. 

I also wanted to say that your photo with greenery in the foreground and your clothesline in the background is lovely. I felt like I could step right in to the picture and feel the sunshine and the gentle breeze on my skin.

Jenny C. Thank you for your information on growing zucchini vertically. I planted some Cocozelle seeds yesterday to do just that. I always seem to have a problem with powdery mildew on mine and I am interested to see if removing the lower leaves and growing up will help with that. I'll also mulch under with sugar cane mulch to reduce soil splash. 

Glenda H_2. Are you able to share your beet recipe at all? You have me very intrigued. :) 

I saw on the news here in Australia that meat, fruit and vegetables are expected to go up 20% over the next three weeks with more rises to come and that milk needs to go up 30 cents per litre to continue to be viable. My husband just came back from filling up his car. He ended up stopping when the price hit $150. 

I am also trying really hard to focus on staying in my own lane and only worrying about things I can work on myself. I've been walking my dog as the sun comes up in some bushland near home and stopping to listen to the dawn chorus. Sometimes I listen to it as a whole, and sometimes I listen to and try to identify the individual birds. It fills me with gratitude to be alive to witness such beauty. 

I’m hard at work getting things stocked here at home.  Have a number of medical supplies but need to get things organized.  Have made sure our daughters have generators.  

I read a lot about the need to take of our own which troubles me.  My career in nursing and as a therapist has been concentrated in the inner city with the homeless and forgotten. I hope we can find our spirits moved to look for those who are struggling.  I’m retired now, but back in the day I taught a heck of a lot of people how to roast a chicken!  And to stretch meat loaf . The food deserts in the inner cities are criminal and folks rely on dollar stores and fast cheap. So many don’t know how to prepare meals.  It seems that many people here live rurally and I so wish the skills our ancestors and rural families could somehow be shared with other kinds of families living on the edge. 

What is so enraging to me right now is that none of this should be happening.  This sinful waste of money, resources, talent, wellness should never have happened.  Greed and power held by the arrogant is ruining so much. Even the very ground upon which we stand.  I’ve been blessed to travel extensively throughout the world: keep reciting: people are not their governments. 

Michelle K, thank you for the tip on the lemon tree, I will look for this to treat the tree from the cold damage.  Thank you for the comment about the forum, and your gasoline is higher than ours but we usually lag on changes.  

Lissa G,  since I injured my  finger last week, I realized that I needed to add to the first aid supplies too and check expirations on wound care ointments etc.  

I have wished for the inner cities to have more grocery stores, it is unfair for them to not have healthy options and I completely agree with what you are saying about the need to help people to learn how to cook.  

Thank you for the type of work that you have done with the homeless and the forgotten and yes people are not their governments. This forum is a example of this.   I think about our great depression studies and how we learned to take care of our home and our budget to be able to get through difficult times. But more important is to know what kind of food that we need to keep in our pantry that can keep us fed should something happen that last longer than expected.  If we do not, we become part of the problem. During the great depression people would knock on back doors and ask for bread or a sandwich.  I would hope that I would have something in my home to be able to feed someone hungry. 

That daily medication that I said went up in price 12.5%? I found I could order it from the manufacturer and have it shipped to me for 55% less than my pharmacy is asking, leaving me with a net drop of 42.5% Take that inflation! :)

Lissa G "What is so enraging to me right now is that none of this should be happening.  This sinful waste of money, resources, talent, wellness should never have happened.  Greed and power held by the arrogant is ruining so much. Even the very ground upon which we stand. .....people are not their governments."

My thoughts exactly.  I'm glad you have mentioned this.  Totally unnecessary and a total waste of money and resources putting everyone's wellbeing at risk.  I thank goodness for the many people who work tirelessly to help the homeless in inner cities and the like - we also have a free mobile laundry service for people in need here as well as individual ones opening their doors for same.  Soup kitchens, open community kitchens, they're all needed to help the less fortunate people.

That's great, Stephanie! That's a lesson to always consider other options.

My parents struggled and so did my grandparents but they adapted and kept adjusting. It's not easy and it's not fair. But as a Christian I also believe that's part of life. I get frustrated by some people I see who say they're struggling but don't know how to cook or who don't think they should give up what I consider wants not needs. By the same token there's many videos on how to live on a low income and even enjoy life. In fact, some of us rather enjoy the challenge!  

When I was 13 my mother handed me her Betty Crocker Cookbook, pointed to a recipe and told me to fix it for supper as she left for the barn for milking.  She assumed correctly that since I could read, I could follow instructions and make the recipe.  

Some women's lib types brag that they don't cook like that is something to be proud of.  Anyone can learn to cook from reading a basic cookbook like the 1950's versions of Better Homes and Gardens or Betty Crocker cookbooks.  Those books explain equipment needed, cooking terms, proper measuring etc.  That's where I learned to cook although I did have 4-H, Home Economics classes in high school and my mother/grandmothers' examples.  I learned to garden from books, to pressure can from books, other food preservation methods from books, to knit, crochet & embroidery from books, sewing from books.  Even basic childcare from books.  As an aside, I think it is important to have hard copies of how-to books in our homes and not just Google for answers.  With all the uncertainty in the world today, I do not want to depend on outsources for information in a crisis situation.

margaret p - I agree that we should look at frugal living as a challenge rather than moaning poor me and being miserable.  I have been retired 13 years now and have managed to live on my Social Security even with ever increasing prices.  I have savings but know if I use them, I have no way of replacing them.  It will be a dire emergency for me to go into savings rather than reworking my budget to cover an expense.

Lissa G - I really appreciated your thoughtful post and sentiments. Thank you for your work with those that needed a helping hand and human connection.

Thank you for another lovely post G Donna :)

All your posts are so helpful to me ! I'm also so impressed with yours and Charles ingenuity in the garden and home and how you find ways around problems and come up with great ideas. I too love the garden trellises ! :)

As for me here in NZ, with the latest goings on in the world..I've had to sit myself down so I could think and plan with a calm mind, and not to turn into Chicken Lickin (again). During Covid I purchased too much of certain food items that we didn't end up using and as we couldn't get through it all before it expired I gave a lot of it to my daughters family and also the local food bank. While it didn't go to waste...still...I spent money on it all :(  So this time I'm endeavouring to plan more realistically and to think about just what areas of our life will be affected should food/medicine/fuel prices increase dramatically and whether or not there will be shortages of certain items.  I'm thinking about what we can grow ourselves. I'm thankful for all the basic cooking and baking skills I have as even just one bag of flour for two people will go a long way and make a lot of baked items. The same is said for a bag of rice, it can be a side dish for a meal, a pudding, a meal in itself with the addition of fish, beans or chicken, spices etc or even a salad. This is how my mind is working this time...flour, rice, pasta, beans, lentils, peas, wheat, sugar, salt, oil..etc, just basics and what we can do with them. Thankfully my daughter's family have their own cows for meat, plus eggs..so we can always get those items. I guess I'm just trying to encourage others to not panic, to plan in a considered way and to think of all the ways you can share with others too. 

Many blessings everyone ~ Linda NZ

I would like to mention all of the people with allergies, intolerances and medical conditions that prevent them from just buying lower cost, everyday items off of store shelves. If you find yourself in such a situation I have a few suggestions to share. I am gluten intolerant, plus allergic to eggs and dairy. It takes extra planning for good storage and a deep pantry. It is very possible and one can have a deep pantry even with some food issues. 

There are many egg substitutes, so we do not find that to be an issue. We, mostly, use organic canned pumpkin as an egg substitute and it works beautifully in baked goods; 1/4 cup of pumpkin equals one egg. Also, 1/4 cup of applesauce, mashed banana or plain yogurt equals one egg. When eggs are outrageously expensive these substitutes are good to have on hand even if you have no allergy.

 If dairy is an issue, Violife has wonderful substitutes that taste like the real product. That is the only brand that I have found that tastes amazing and not nasty. It is coconut based, so anyone with an allergy to coconut should avoid it. There is no coconut taste to the products, however. Violife Sour cream, cheeses, cream cheese are all staples in our refrigerator. That is mostly because our grand daughter is vegan, but her lifestyle has helped me with finding sources for my allergies. Also, A2/A2 milk, from Jersey cows, is more tolerable for people that have issues with the A1 milk that is produced today in mass batches.

Gluten intolerance seems to be on the rise due to western wheat issues. Ancient grains are worth a try; particularly Einkorn from Italy or the Italian 00 grains. For years spelt was an option for me until it wasn't. Another option that might work for grain intolerances is sprouted ancient grains, such as the Spelt. One Degree, from Canada, has sprouted organic Spelt and sprouted organic oatmeal. We purchase it through Vitacost when they have good sales. No gluten, in any form, is tolerable for people with Celiacs.

We store grain berries as opposed to flour as flour has a much, much shorter shelf life and is minus many nutrients. We do have a grain grinder which makes it easy to make whatever kind of flour we want. Grains ground fresh are whole grain flours with the nutrients in tact. If a person does not have a grain grinder, purchasing gluten free flour will work fine if it is vacuumed sealed in jars or in BPA free containers with oxygen absorbers. Purchasing gluten free flour is more expensive than storing the grain and grinding it fresh, but the initial cost of the grain grinder is a factor, also. We have had our electric nutrimill for years, so it has paid for itself many times over. 

Planning ahead for healthy nutrition, during stressful times, is crucial. Stress lowers the immune system and chronic stress affects the adrenal glands. During war, economic breakdowns, serious illnesses, family emergencies, loss of income or during other crises, nutrition is vitally necessary to sustain one's health. If good nutrition is not available, one might survive but in a disadvantaged or ill state. It is not as easy to store foods for people with medical conditions, that prevent specific foods due to medication, or for people with severe allergies but it can be done with no feeling of doing without or loss. 

I hope this helps someone. Many blessings to each of you.

I'm sure Glenda knows this but I want to mention that  that it's possible to bake without eggs and not use an egg substitute. I've done this many times. I haven't tried it with gluten free flours so I don't know how that works. 

I've made pancakes & waffles, quick breads, muffins & cakes without eggs or egg substitutes. 

I've also been trying out baking with minimal or no sugar. I'm aiming for buying one bag of sugar a year. (This maybe hard- my husband likes his cookies!)

I also only use oils, fats, butter in strictly necessary recipes. I don't sautée in fats as instructed in many recipes. I either sautée in water or skip it all together. I've made many a dish that begin with sautée the onions in olive oil or butter and I skipped it. Purchased fats have gotten expensive.  I just read olive oil is going up more. 

I will skip or use less of an ingredient. Half an onion or celery stalk or carrot instead of a whole. I'll dice smaller. I've been dicing the fruit for fruit salads smaller and it goes farther than when it's big chunks for some reason. 

I also use smaller serving spoons. Lol.

 After Halloween I got a bag of Hershey kisses for $2 and used those in cookies. (Easy to chop up into smaller pieces to sub for chocolate chips.) Not a need but I do like to treat my husband to his favorite cookies! But I'm not paying $5 for a 10-oz bag of Nestle chips!

It doesn't always work. I used half as much cheese on his homemade pizza but husband didn't like it. 

Linda C - You are 100% correct in not giving into panic.  When panic happens, critical thinking goes out the window.  For those of us who are long term preppers, it is always simply a matter of replacing what is used to keep storage levels the same.  

Also, paying attention to changes in eating habits that leave things on the shelf and forcing use of those items before they are seriously outdated.  I have a large stock of dried beans which I can no longer eat -- real bummer as I love beans.  I've offered them to different people but no takers so I leave them on the shelf to share if the SHTF and people stop being so picky.  I could not donate because I grew most of them myself.   I purchased one packet of pinto bean seed 30 years ago and never again purchased either seed or pinto beans.  Very cost effective!!  Each year I would save seed from the best fullest pods which resulted in ever increasing quality yields.

If anyone is wanting to grow their own dried beans, try planting from packages of beans from the supermarket.  Sometime or even most of the time they will germinate and produce a crop.

Like Linda C, I also bought a lot at the beginning of the pandemic and we ate that food for a couple of years.  We also lost some to pantry moths.  That’s one of the reasons I’ve simplified the pantry and don’t store as many different foods as I did then.  I did order 25# of French lentils last week because we’ve been completely out for several months and Azure finally had them in stock again.  Most things I won’t buy 25# of any more, I buy either 5# or just enough for the recipe I am making.

We aren’t growing food this spring, and fall is probably up in the air although I’d like to grow winter greens.  I am failing yet another medication.  My health has been such that I haven’t really been worrying about current events — I have no control over them.  It seems odd that I was worrying about drone attacks, when now I am worrying about serious side effects and potential organ damage.  My life has to change, I have to find answers outside of the regular medical model, but without funds to throw at naturopaths or functional medicine doctors.

What a beautiful rose...growing over your pet cemetery.....this brought tears.  Such a beautiful tribute and way to keep our memories close.

I'm going to experiment this year with growing veg....I normally grow more for landscaping, but I dug out an area that's in a sunny spot and plan to plant peppers, cherry tomatoes,  and melon.  Last year I  planted sweet potato starts and was amazed that they actually grew! lol.   ANN, I  think I'm going to try pinto beans from a bag !  wish me luck!  

My YouTube feed has been promoting lots of videos for frugal cooking, meals from "grandma's days", m meals from the 40's, 50's etc....it must be spying on me lol. Probably many folks trying to better their cooking skills.  

Thank you for this wonderful forum Grandma Donna.  I hope your finger injury heals soon.  

added:  just read your 2017 post you referred to....the 1pound of sugar per month per person doesn't sound too bad to me but I find it fascinating that they asked folks to report how much they had at home on hand!  wow!   I wonder how many would report truthfully nowdays .

I wanted to share some information about eincorn flour brands. Lead Free Mama tested Jovial einkorn in 2024, and it was at safe levels. She retested in 2025 and both lead and cadmium had crossed over into what she considers an unsafe level. The owner of Ancient Grains here in the US sent me their latest testing results, and honestly, it's a tossup between the two brands. Jovial has 6.12 ppb of lead, while Ancient Grains is negligible.  J has 5.03 of cadmium, and AG has 17.3 ppb. J has less than 5 ppb of mercury, and AG has less than 1 ppb. J has less than 10 ppb of arsenic, while AG has 3.7 ppb. Jovial doesn't test better than Ancient Grains, just differently.  For those of us in the US, Ancient Grains is cheaper, and if you buy 40lbs. worth, you get free shipping. If cadmium is more of a concern, you'd want Jovial. But if lead or mercury or arsenic is more of a concern, you'll want Ancient Grains.  

Donna, Thanks for another fine post! I love your trellises and arbor. I hope you will have a very fruitful garden. I totally understand why you garden in raised beds. Now that I'm over 65, I find it so much easier too. My peas, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, and a few other things are up in my raised beds. Some of my flowers had bloomed, but then it got down to 16 degrees, so they died off. Hopefully, we will all have productive gardens, especially given rising prices. I found it interesting that one of your seed packets is from Baker Creek Seed Company. It is just about 30 miles from my house. They have special activities there every year.

I was thinking today about how women from the past kept their families fed even in very trying circumstances. I started thinking about survival foods and which plants would be best to grow if you wanted to get most of your calories and nutrition from what you could grow in your garden. ChatGPT can tell you what would be best for your area. It can also help you plan your garden and give you low-cost recipes and tips for saving money. It can also help you identify wild plants suitable for foraging. It also told me which foods would be best for storage in a root cellar. I still have some sweet potatoes and butternut squash from last years harvest that have just been stored in my kitchen without refrigeration all this time.

That was a good point about learning to make soup. I love soup, and it is so handy because you can use up so many things in soup. I made soup today. I used up some potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables and meat that needed to be used up. The soup was very tasty, and I have 3 quarts of it left! I will be eating it for several days.

I am going to try a new skill as you suggested. I have always wanted to learn to dehydrate eggs, and ChatGPT said that it is safe to do so if you scramble the eggs and cook them first. Sometimes in the spring, I can get eggs for a really good price, so I want to try this. It would be good to have as many dried eggs as possible since the prices keep going up. ChatGPT said that if you want the dried eggs to last longer, you can vacuum-seal them and refrigerate them. I have many British WWII cookbooks, and they often include dried eggs as an ingredient. I would like to make them as close to the original recipes as possible.

Thanks for providing links to the two other articles as well.

Have A Good Day Y'all!

Becky Sue

Becky Sue K.,

I would not trust ChatGTP for food safety advice.  All it does is glean info from the internet and rewrite it in a way that often misses crucial points.  It also does not know how to differentiate between good info on the internet and something someone wrote that was wrong, outdated, or deliberately misleading.  It's good at sounding convincing even when it's completely wrong.

Please reach out to your county extension office for food preservation advice.

Tea S have you ever preserved eggs for storage by covering them with fat or beeswax? I can't remember if you keep chickens or not. 

Kimberly F I'm sorry that you are having so much frustration with your medications and your health. You are so very intelligent and I know you will figure something out. :) 

I don't keep chickens anymore, but did for most of my life.  I have tried coating eggs in fat, but with mixed results.  Months later, about 3 in 4 were still good, but that 4th one might be really  bad.  Had that problem whether stored in regular cartons or buried in a bucket of flour. Bees wax might have given better results, but I never wanted to waste bees wax trying.

The best solution I found for winter eggs was to stagger the age of my flock, because at 2 - 3 years old the hens would lay through most of the winter.  So as the older and younger hens stopped laying (usually in November) we would start to conserve eggs, in order to have a bit of a backlog by the time even the 2 and 3 year olds stopped laying for most of January.  They kept fine in the refrigerator for that length of time, and we had just enough for baking until a February thaw got the hens started again.

I vaguely remember my family waterglassing eggs when I was young, but I'm not so sure about the safety of the waterglass itself now.

Tea S thanks. :) That's good information. I've been wondering about the possibilities of not having a refrigerator. Have you ever thought about writing a book? You have so much practical knowledge. I think the world is at a place where a book like that would be welcomed. 

  We love soup, except in summer, so I keep what I call my *soup trifecta* in the freezer.  Chopped celery, carrots and onions.   When I find any of them on sale, I buy 3-4 bags and freezer prep them.  The best price on celery is usually Thanksgiving.  Cabbage is usually around March 17th, but I have found good fall prices.  Depending on what you like, buy it and freeze it.  But not potatoes.  The texture gets weird!  Whenever I make soup, it literally takes me 5-10 minutes to get everything into the crock.  I also keep beef and chicken ready to go.  Raw beef, cooked chicken.  And homemade stock from the freezer, as well.

The celery and carrot ends and onion bits are all put in my broth box.  The next time I have a carcass, I make a batch of stock.   It's really handy.  

Stephanie G.,

Thanks for the compliment :)  I'm not sure I have the social and business skills to actually pursue getting a book published and marketed, if I did write one, but it's an interesting idea to consider. 

Tea S I would hate for the world not to  have or to lose your knowledge. You have a very individual, important perspective. Ten Speed Press would be someone to approach once you have an outline or your whole book. I don't think you need social skills these days. Just email. :)

Grandma Donna, Thank you for sharing the trellises.  I may steal your ideas this summer.  So much wonderful information n the forum this time.  Thank you everyone for sharing.   I broke my left foot in two places  last weekend, which turned out to be a blessing as my blood pressure turned out to be very high and this alerted me to contact my primary physician and get my BP meds increased.  I had been having headaches and my vision had been blurred for ages.  Once my meds were increased, I could see clearly again.  It was wonderful.  I know what it means by God moves in mysterious ways.  Ladies, if you're experiencing blurred vision and/or headaches, please see your doctor.  High blood pressure is the silent killer and can be treated.  Don't take a chance like I did ignoring it.  Thank you again for all the wonderful info and for the forum, grandma Donna.  

Becky Sue K, I agree with Tea S, I only use the national food preservation or the ball canning books, and county extension service.  There is so much on the internet now that is not safe about food preservation. Another thing is people try to take short cuts and do things the easy way and this can be deadly. 

There is also a good youtube channel called "Rose Red" that shares food preservation and emergency planning videos.  She and her husband are retired university professors and they are very particular about the information they show about canning and food preservation. 

We must be very careful with our food preservation and I have said many times on my blog to not take short cuts when it comes to food preservation and stick to the extension services and books that are from people knowledgeable.  We have to go back to basics with this subject.  They do update their books if there are changes in the recipes and methods. 

Be very careful with eggs, I would not do anything with eggs unless it has been checked out by your extension service.  You can call them to discuss these things and they are very helpful.

The only thing I would do with eggs is beat them and freeze them, I couldn't rely on anything else.  I must admit I've never dehydrated anything except parsley and rosemary - do tell more?  Sorry I can't see properly to type. my right eye is infected and having drops/ointment so very blurry.

If you have a freeze dryer, eggs can safely be done in those.  They will still be raw so must be fully cooked before consuming.    

Some of the companies that sell freeze-dried food for prepping also sell eggs. I suppose you could try some of those to see what they are like. My parents ate dried eggs, what they called powdered eggs back in the war and hated them but I guess they could be useful.

Pam, you can freeze eggs individually in cup cake tins and when frozen put them all in one freezer bag or container.  That way you can just take out the number you need at any one time.  I have also frozen breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage and put them on a paper plate wrap in foil and then that is a breakfast to heat up and add fruit or veggie.  Great for a day when you have to get out of the house early. 

Back during the egg crisis a couple years ago I got a good deal on eggs and froze several dozen. I used some 2 years later & they were fine.