Garden Planning

Although we are back to cold and snowy days, the recent warmer weather was a little reminder that spring is coming soon. With spring comes the excitment of peparing and sowing the backyard vegetable garden. Before it gets to late we need to start planning for that awesome veggie producer. Now is the perfect time to choose which vegetables and how many of each you would like to plant this season. Check your notes from last season to see what you liked and what worked to try again this year. It is also important to see where each crop was planted in the garden and make sure to rotate this year.

As early as it may seem, in many areas, now is the time to start planning and start some seeds indoors. Use this CHART to figure out when you need to start your indoor seeds for the coming season.

Now is also a great time to get a quick inventory of your seed stocks and gardening tools. Do you need anything? I know I do. Last year my seedlings that were started indoors were started a little late and were weak and leggy. I had only used a germination station and some shop lights with growing bulbs. This would have been ok except for the temperature of the basement at night. This year I will be adding a propagation heating mat. This mat will keep the soil an average of 10-20 degrees above ambient room temperature. This mat can be more precisely controled with the addition of a thermostat. I have found that Seeds of Change has a great selection of seeds and other supplies. I also plan to organize my set up better this year. Last year was slightly rushed and not PLANNED well, hence the reason for this post. Don't let it happen to you. Once I have everything set up I will post some pictures that can be used as examples. No copyright on how my stuff is set up. I am here to help and share.

Biodiesel

I have talked about the steps to self sustainability when it comes to cars in prior posts. I was focused on EV's. As I'm sure you are aware of, they are popping up everywhere. These are surely a viable option in a self sustaining lifestyle, but there is the looming question/ concern of range and initial cost. I'm not sure why this slipped my mind before but I should have went into some detail about the use of biodiesel. I didn't/ don't know too much about how or what biodiesel really is, so like any good person who is looking to become self sustainable I went to learn about it.

What is biodiesel?

Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. -(source; http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/biodiesel_basics/)

That description is the best and most appealing I have come across to date. I benefit of biodiesel for being self sustainable is that it can be produced by you on your property. There are countless websites that explain how to build your own processor, purchasing a kit, or purchasing a fully built and ready to use processor. Just google biodiesel and there you go.

I have personally become more interested in biodiesel for a number of reasons.

• It is a simple conversion to use from a typical diesel powered vehicle.
• farm equipment and lawn tractors typically run on diesel.
• it is far less expensive than EV's -(2011 VW golf, loaded, for less than $30k)
• biodiesel can greatly speed up the self sustainability process.
• Biodiesel is far less complicated than using solar/ wind to charge an electric vehicle.
• domestic! domestic! domestic! in terms of the fuel source.
• you can recycle waste oil from local restaurants.
• it is also possible to power your home with biodiesel.

I will more than likely post more about this at a later date as I learn more about it. I will also be doing some research on the processor's themselves and where to get the oil to use. Stay tuned!!

ps - this LINK has good information about biodiesel.

What happened to United States of America's Self Sustainability?

Self sustainability is very important for a country. It was a major roll in how our country grew and got to where we are now. Unfortunately we have stopped doing what made us succeed and became a country of dependence.

Currently the U.S. relies on other countries for most of the things we consume and use. We have the ability to support ourselves, but for some reason the government has chosen not to utilize that ability. It is extremely dangerous for this to be happening and the average American has no idea what the consequences are. With what has been happening the past couple of years the only thing that is holding us from civil unrest and the country basically collapsing is that the dollar if still considered the world currency. All it would take is for a country like China to say they won't accept U.S. dollars to pay back debt. That would cause a ripple effect resulting in other countries that we rely on for products and produce to stop accepting dollars.

The U.S. imports close to 70% of the oil it needs for everything from fuel to petroleum based products. Not only is it a huge displacement of jobs and money out of the country, it leaves the country open to pressure and "control" from foreign nations. We have the potential to supply all of the oil we consume along with exporting some for profit. Now I would much rather see the U.S. move towards a clean energy future, but that will take time and we could more quickly start supplying our own oil first. One person who is working hard for this is T. Boone Pickens. CLICK HERE to learn about it.

You can also see how much of the products we use are made in other countries. What happens when those countries decide to drastically raise prices or stop selling to us all together? We used to be an industry and textile giant exporting all over the world. It is very important for a country to be able to rely on itself for the products the people need within it.

Food is another thing the U.S. imports more than it needs to. Even exotic fruits could be grown in greenhouses if there isn't a location within the country to grow out in a field. We have a unique country that has many different climates which allow for many types of crops. I would also break crops down to local farm instead of big corporate ones, but that is for another topic. Let's just start with staying with growing produce within our boarders.

The United States has gone from a a leader, innovator, and exporter to a dependent bunch of consumers that has put itself in a dangerous spot. Not only does the country need to wake up and fix what is happening we as individuals need to as well.