ANND we're back

Well I have been away for awhile with ZERO posts. I appologize. Life takes off and time is to little. My wife and I moved and she is pregnant with our first. This has kind of sent me on another path for self sustainibility; trying to find products made:

1. Locally


2. In the USA


3. Not in China

Let me say that is a huge feat to overcome. It seems our government has done a stellar job of turning our country into a dependant consumer country. I will be on a quest to locate quality products and I will post good sources as I find them. This quest is where I am starting to turn to self sustainibilty into perspective from the eyes of the country. It is all well and good for us to individually become self sustainable, but we also need to bring our country into that realm as well.

Now that I am back and have a new fuel to make sure I add new, fun and informative posts.

Save $$ without skipping out on little luxuries

http://qb.cm/r4670717 Many of you may already know about sites like the one above; however this is relatively new to me. Since times have been rough for awhile many of us have had to push our wish lists for gadets and toys and other non essentials back to stay financially safe. I would say that this is a good way to maybe keep those wish list items and actually get them soon. Part of self sustainability is being able to sustain the lifestyle that you want. Just because you want to support yourself doesn't mean that you have to live like a caveman.

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.