RE: Blue Around The Homestead - Grow Your Own Food and be Less Dependent on Greedy Corporations. Take Back Power from Big AG
Wonderful post @thelaundrylady. Now I'm craving blueberries. I just can't stand getting them from the grocery store anymore. The 2 bushes I planted when we moved in 8 years ago.....got trampled by the dogs the 2nd year. I was not happy, I even had fencing around it. Granted it was only 3 ft high, but still. On the other side from the blueberry and raspberry bushes we had, I had an amazing strawberry patch. My one puppy (which at the time he was still a puppy) thought laying in the strawberry patch was much cooler than laying in the dirt. I got 6 actual strawberries that year. The were soooo tiny, but GIANT taste it was like they were supercharged.
I really want to get my garden going again. I'm thinking of converting the garage and trying hydroponics. The main issues we have is we still have nights that freeze well into May and sometimes snow. By July it's arid and avg temp 100+, then we have very alkaline soil.
I really need to just start following more homesteaders and permaculturists I completely agree with producing our own. We get better quality, no pesticides, and it's A LOT cheaper. The only thing I need to figure out is how to collect rainwater so nobody knows. Believe it or not, it's illegal in Colorado to collect rainwater. That is a crime I'm willing to commit. Maybe if I get some of the barrels ...paint them up and put ivy around them no one would be the wiser?
Think for a moment what we are saying here. You can't collect rain water on your own property because the local government deem it ILLEGAL. Things are getting more and more ridiculous. In some cities, you can't grow food in your own front yard. Does that sound like freedom to you?
And just look at the revolving doors of Monsanto and the regulators. Let me give you an example. The FDA's approved Monsanto's genetically engineered cattle drug rBGH, which failed to gain approval in other countries including Europe & Canada. So let's take a look at whoare involved in approving rBGH. Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for policy is the one who wrote the FDA's rBGH labeling guidelines. The FDA announced that labels on non-rBGH products must state that there is no difference between rBGH and the naturally occurring hormone. SERIOUSLY!? Later on, Taylor was publicly exposed as a former lawyer for the Monsanto corporation for seven years.
If we don't take the power back from Big AG and the greedy corporations, we can't really call this a FREE country, can we ... Okay, I will stop ranting now. It got my blood boiling thinking about this.
Don't give up on gardening. If your area is not suited for growing blueberries, then grow something else that's suited for your area. It will make gardening easier as well. We can all do our part, however small. You can make a difference :-)
I was waiting for that. It's insane, completely insane. I completely agree. This is not freedom at all. Even in some of the most desolate places they can collect rainwater. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone sometimes.
I spoke with a local nursery and I think they think I'm crazy with all the questions I ask. I've gotten a work around for the blueberries. Make my hole a little deeper put in a bag of sphagnum then the blueberries on top. It was working great until the dogs tore them up. I didn't have them long enough to start producing.
I even moved the major portion of my garden outside of my gate (we have a rather large side yard that had been used for parking by the previous owners) I want to make the whole area a garden. My husband is not crazy about it 'They'll steal our food' I told him if they're that hungry they need to take out of our garden let them.
Have you noticed everyone put into a position of interest has been someone who has been against or out to destroy that department of the government? Someone who is connected to Big Pharma, Big Ag and so forth?
A good nursery will always be helpful with questions you have. I learned a lot from my local nursery.
Peat moss is the perfect thing to use to amend soil and prep it for blueberry. Peat moss is very acidic so it will acidify your soil. See you already know what to do. Sometimes life happens and our pets decide to lay on the plants (trust me I know how it is. My dog likes to sit on everything green and has killed many plants) and killing them. Learn from that and make better plans next time to protect the bushes.
I love that you are trying to grow in your front yard as well. Maybe some people will steal your produce, maybe you will inspire someone else in the neighborhood to start growing their own. I say go for it!
Yes, there are plenty of these people in government positions now who used to work for Big Pharma, Big Ag. It's sickening really.