Hello everyone, and thanks for dropping back in for today’s Coverin the Bases! I hope everyone is doing well.
Today we’ll continue discussing the checklist Deb and I had put together in our attempt to become more self-reliant in regards to the tough economic times we’re all faced with. This is by no means the “how-to manual,” of survival and we don’t have all the answers or profess to. This is merely suggestions to you folks of the concern we have, and what we’re doing to help ourselves if our economy continues on its present course.
We live on 68 acres here in Central Florida. The State owns several thousand acres, in front and behind us, though they only kick in about halfway down our property in the back of us. This is because behind us there’s a road that we own out to the highway. Our property, as well as the State’s, is all pinewoods, swamps, and scrub with our place having pasture as well. Actually this is the typical native Florida landscape.
This creates two big pluses for us right off the bat. One is, NO development, and that’s becoming really hard to find in our area anymore, and the other is an abundance of wildlife. We have deer, turkey, hogs, and all the little critters, possum, coon, squirrels, and the like. One problem we’re really starting to have, though is the presence of coyotes.
We’ve only seen one, but those jokers are slick. There was a night awhile back though, where they were in the woods behind our house, and man, they were making a racket. It sounded as if there were 15 to 20 of them.
Well, now you have a basic idea of how Deb and I live, and under what types of conditions. We lock our gate in the late afternoon, and we’re done until we unlock it the next morning…just like we like it! We’re very blessed!
After spending the last couple columns talking about gardening, let’s touch briefly today on gardening tools and seeds. Again, I’m no expert, but I’m attempting to share with you things once more that we’ve done. By this, hopefully you guys can see some of your own needs through our examples, and then utilize our suggestions and adapt them to fit your own particular needs. Make sense? I sure hope so!
Seeds:
These are what you plant in the ground. Let’s move on to the next subject! LOL!
I’m gonna be honest with you guys in all I try to say, or even teach to you, and if you feel shortchanged at all, don’t think I’m holding back, I’m probably only reaching the end of my expertise. So to all you guys and gals out there with more in depth knowledge of these subjects, write to us and help out please!
I do know in regards to seeds, that the number of types and varieties are endless. I do believe I’m correct in this next statement…hybrid seeds will not reproduce. If this is truly the case, then if you want to be able to enjoy drying some of your vegetable seeds to plant for next year’s crop, don’t buy hybrid.
To make this really simple I’ll tell you what Deb and I do. We go down to our local feed store and get help. Help with varieties, spacing of the seeds while planting, depth to plant, heights and widths in regards to row spacing, length before crops produce, literally anything we can think of.
They get tired of seeing us come in! But we go to a small town, family run feed store, and they are very knowledgeable in ALL the products they carry from seeds to what kind of shots you can give your pets yourself. Good people who appreciate your business and don’t mind taking the time to answer your questions.
That being said, I’d go to a feed store. You can buy seeds from catalogs, off the internet, from Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc., but 9 times out of 10, we’re at Summerlins!
Tomatoes we normally get from one of the above as plants. We just always buy tomato plants, they grow off quicker, but we’ll probably get some seeds this year and possibly put them up. Debbie has a brother-in-law, J.H., who is a regular Mr. “Greenjeans,” if any of ya’ll out there remember Captain Kangaroo? That’s telling on my age isn’t it?
Remember, when setting out your tomato plants, always dig your hole deep enough to plant 2/3 the height of the plant in the ground.
Important…2/3 of your tomato plant in ground, 1/3 plant above ground. It sounds elementary, but in fact is important and will make better plants.
Anyway J.H. freezes his leftover seeds and tells me he’s used them 4-5 years later, no problem. We personally haven’t tried it, but I’m sure we will this year, as Deb and I both are under the impression we may want to “over buy” in regards to seeds this year.
I do feel if at all possible people need to plant gardens. They don’t have to be large, with all kinds of different vegetables. This was one reason for the videos showing different types of gardens in the last column, so you could see the different choices and choose one that would fit your needs.
In closing out, grow the produce you and your family like, if not you’re wasting garden space!
One other thing and I’ve mentioned it before…buy a copy of The Old Farmer’s Almanac! A tremendous wealth of information! I love them!
Gardening Tools:
From the description I’ve given of our place, some of these other things on our checklist we normally have on hand 24-7, as we use them fairly frequently for any number of “projects.” Now with that said, we have picked up some extra handles for some of our hand-tools. This is just a precaution, but at times it does save us a trip to town.
For example, we were building some new fence and one of the posthole digger’s handels snapped. We just went to the barn, grabbed a new handle, and were right back in business. Now, next trip to town, we’ll just grab another handle to have on hand once more.
For a backyard raised garden I think you’d need a shovel, a hoe, and a few small hand gardening tools, a little spade for your planting holes, if planting tomato plants as an example. Possibly a little handheld 3-tined rake, that’s not the correct name, but it can be used to aerate the soil around your plants.
A water bucket maybe, your regular water hose with a spray adaptor, and possibly a large package of Miracle Grow that you could apply via your water bucket, or they have an in-line system that screws onto your water hose and is fed to your plants in that fashion.
For your tomato plants and taller growing veggies, you’ll need tomato “cages,” or a trellis, or if you watched the videos you saw an example of a lady using string tied at different angles for supports, so she could lay her tomato limbs over the strings and continue doing this as they got taller, to keep them upright.
We use wooden stakes, or even 1-1/2”or 2” PVC as well. We drive them in beside the plant, and as the plant grows I then tie the stalk to the stake for support. I use old rags torn in thin strips to not injure the stalk.
Cast Iron Cookware and Dutch Ovens:
In regards to cast iron cookware and Dutch ovens, we feel there is a need for both. Deb for an example, uses her cast iron skillet in making cornbread and hoe cakes. She also fries her chicken in them as well.
When cleaning your cast iron pans, many say don’t use soap and water as this helps leach the seasoning from the pan, which in turn causes sticking, or possibly rust spots. These are correct statements. They merely wipe down the pans after use with a paper towel or old rag, and this works, and is exactly what we do most of the time.
But, every so often we will wash them quickly in soapy water just to clean thoroughly. After doing this, we immediately dry the pans completely with a hand towel making sure all moisture is dried out of the pan, then put it on a stove burner on low heat for just a minute or two.
If you’re cooking with your cast iron pans and they stick, they need to be re-seasoned. To the ones who don’t know about this, I’m sure you’re wondering, “What in the world is seasoning?”
The answer is simple. “Seasoning” is the term most used in simply oiling your pan down to prevent sticking, though not quite that easy, as there’s a little time involved in properly seasoning your cookware.
This is not something you do very often. Actually I think Deb’s only done it once, and that’s because she’d bought a new one, and it was sticking a little when cooking with it. She used Crisco (shortening) for this.
She rubbed some Crisco in the bottom of the pan that was trying to stick with a paper towel, then wiped it out best she could, trying to remove all the shortening. She then placed her pan upside down on a baking pan, and placed both in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. We know of others that season their pans at a higher oven temp, but Deb says she’s scared of a fire in the oven with grease in the pan. She lets this pan season for, she says about 35-45 minutes, takes it out and lets it air cool in the kitchen. She repeats this process three separate times. Your pan is now seasoned again.
When cooking with cast iron, literally be aware the handles get very hot, take this into consideration! But, if you take care of your cast iron cookware, it literally will last for generations!
Dutch ovens are treated basically the same. Both the Dutch ovens and your cast iron cookware can be used on the stove, in the stove, over an outdoor cook fire, even literally down in the fire! They’re very, very versatile cookware.
Firewood:
Living out like we do we always have a good supply of firewood on hand.
We use our pine wood to just have a fire with, whether it be a chilly night, or just want a fire to sit beside and watch burn, while we listen to the wood “pop” while burning. We love to have us a small fire!
We use our oak, and orange tree wood to cook over. We have a small portable grill a buddy of ours built for us. It’s about 18” high, maybe 3’x3’ square, on four legs with a solid sheet of metal welded to the legs on three sides with one side open. This allows us to turn the grill anyway we need to, in regards to blocking off the wind if needed. The grill top is just a piece of expanded metal.
I have to say that it works great. Steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, sausage, chicken or pork chops cooked over your “flavored” woods are very, very tasty.
Having wood stockpiled comes in handy indeed. As I mentioned you can cook over it, or just have a fire to sit by, but if you are without power, this too becomes a necessity.
It can be used as warmth, heating water, outside light, or once again, if you’re without power it provides you with a way to cook meals. It is something to consider having on hand!
That’s about gonna’ wrap it up for this time, but let me quickly say how much we appreciate you reading our Coverin the Bases columns! Again, if you’d like to add something, or have any questions, please drop us a line! Until next time, God Bless you all! Keep your eyes open, and your nose in the wind!
Dub and Deb
