Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Things Are Tougher All Over!!

Rain, rain go away!
With the planting season upon us, we have had little time to sow our seeds in our yearly Spring Garden. The ground thoroughly soaked has not only impeded our planting, but all farmers in the region.




Flower perennials and annuals my daughter and husband purchased for me on Mother’s Day, are only a quarter planted. The rain has literally delayed our regular planting season.

The high price of gas has driven already cautious consumers to the brink of insanity. We have been forced to open our pockets deeper and deeper with every price increase. I’ve never let my gas tank get under a quarter tank, and it is almost on E! Forced to try to cut into my grocery bill, which has in turn increased as the weeks go by. Stocking up on good buys for fear prices will continue to go up within the upcoming months.

Milk, eggs, bread, cheese, rice, flour, and cooking oil have gone sky high. Last week almost five bucks for canola cooking oil, hitting hard to those who are watching calories and cholesterol.
Cutting everything in the household to less and less, and our teenage daughter wonders why we don’t want to drive her halfway across the county for a birthday party!

Times are tough, and are only going to get tougher in the future.

I had passed the idea of making our garden even bigger this year to my husband. Last Summer I froze all the vegetables we did not use at the moment. Green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, cabbage, and corn. I freeze them in freezer bags, and take them out as needed for sauces, soups, and stir fries. I never had the patience to can stuff. This is my modern way of canning, to freeze-fresh garden vegetables. I just used my last small frozen bag of tomatoes, for minestrone soup. As long as the vegetables are picked fresh and frozen, they keep very well. I'm hoping to freeze as much as possible this Summer. We cannot afford to waste a thing, cause things are getting tougher all over.

My friend Ochikeron has written an interesting article on her blog about the global food crisis affecting not only us, but also Asian countries.
Link to her article here:
http://createeathappy.blogspot.com/2008/05/global-food-crisis.html

13 comments:

ochikeron said...

Hello jo!
Is this the picture of the real sky?!
Hope it cleared up!!!

I can't imagine how much they cost in the city!
Should be more expensive.
Yes. We can't do anything by paying.
Especially in Japan, we don't have enough space to plant things, so really is nothing we can do.
I think Japanese should have been more self-sufficient for our food!
A big change, corn ethanol, generated a push-back...
We don't know what's coming tomorrow.

But I think we can appreciate the nature.
Things are not that easy, so just trying to change my way of thinking!

ozymandiaz said...

Geeze. i keep reading about all the rain folks are getting...
except for us.
send it this way PLEASE

Jo A. T.B. said...

Hello Ochi,

I really took the cloud picture last Summer when we had a bad storm come through. It has been cloudy here! Rain til tomorrow!Not much land there to plant, I was wondering if you plant maybe on the porches, not possible in the city I would imagine. Everything way too expensive!

Jo A. T.B. said...

Ozzy you can have all the rain. Our rain started here last Friday, and will not stop until after tomorrow. I'm hoping the few flowers I planted don't get root rot from all the water. I'm dying to do outside work. I'll gladly send the rain your way!!

ochikeron said...

Hi jo! Yesterday I was going to write about my garden spot! I did try to grow vegetables and flowers in my small garden but was not possible... But it was about 2 years ago, so I will try again someday!

Jo A. T.B. said...

Hi Ochi,

I know when I lived in the city, some folks would try to grow small gardens. Especially spices like parsley, sage ect.. they would grow on windowsills. I'm sure it is harder in a big city, to grow things. :)

ochikeron said...

Hello jo!
Right! Windowsills is a good idea! But I think we don't have enough sun :(
You know what!? Near our train station, there is a field for sale. But a field here is a very small spot, which size is the same as my garden. Their sales point is that they manage all the spots for you, so you can just visit there once a week, or so. They charge you a lot... Living in a city is uneconomic!

Kate Evans said...

It's scary how we've truly dropped into a recession, but of course hardly anyone in power will admit it. It's very Orwellian: war is peace, etc.

Jo A. T.B. said...

Hi Ochi,

I guess depends where you live if you get enough sun. We do get lots of sun here, in between the long rain spells of Spring! The field sounds like some folks here, always out to make a buck!

I used to live in the city for many years, was nice when I was young. Always something going on in the city! Things are not so far to drive to, and you can even walk. Here I have to drive 8-9 miles to grocery store one way! But at least I don't have neighbors sitting right next to me.
Pros and Cons to everything! :)

Jo A. T.B. said...

I know Kate, getting hard to deny the facts anymore! We are the ones who feel the crunch the most, not the ones in power! Scrounging for every morsel they hand us! Tax rebate my butt!

ochikeron said...

Hello jo!
I thought you wrote about the wedding here. Might be off your topic, but origami you mentioned was so creative and cute!!! I love that kind of idea.
Pros and cons to everything is true. I think I need to know more about myself. I don't know what I wanted to do now, so I don't know where I want to live. Do I worry too much ?! Ha-ha.

Jo A. T.B. said...

Hi Ochi,

You sound just like my best friend,
she doesn't know where she wants to live either! I'm surprised she has stayed in one place! I'm thinking about posting the wedding next! Loved the origami idea too!
You can use when you get married! :)

ochikeron said...

Right... I'm kind of staying in one place for 5 years... If I have a child, things change, so I just can't make up my mind. Will see...
Yes! I look forward to your post :)

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