I finally got around to germinating seeds. I really wanted sweet basil, so that was all I was going to do. Okay, I sorted through seeds a year or more old and wondered how a sugar pumpkin would grow. Figuring it would not germinate, I planted the seven little pellets left from the basil with pumpkin seeds.
NOW, the pumpkin seeds have germinated! And, I have no place to put them. What to do? What to do? Exbf said NO. I need a surrogate pumpkin patch.
It appears the volunteer tomato that I staked and lovingly watered, the one growing in my compost pile, is not a tomato after all. I have been caring for a weed! Aaack! I do have four tomato plants to put in there, but the box is only 4'x4.' I think maybe I will put one of the pumpkins in there.
Saturday
I offered a friend eggs. He said he only eats organic. HA! When I told him I had hens, he agreed that he would take eggs.
This friend is a guy I met in Birmingham at a party last year. We talked about my forming a food buying club. But, he was hard to pin down. We have talked a lot, just not about the fact I have hens.
Old Rocker
Today, he drove to another town, picked up a rocker for me, delivered it after 75 mile drive. I gave him 100 lbs of dried beans, 10 lbs of rice, $10 to help on gas, and a dozen eggs just because.
Satanic statue
He prepares food for homeless people and hands it out in Five Points in Birmingham, AL, near the satanic statue...lol. It is a ram-headed man reading to the animals. I really don't see it as satanic. I got the rocker; he got food for homeless and eggs for himself and his dog; homeless get food.
Food Not Bombs
He works under the guidelines of Food Not Bombs. All food is vegetarian, donated to the groups, and handed out with no strings attached. I think he buys bowls. Next time we talk, I will discuss this and see if he can get some cheap bowls and spoons he can wash. Maybe that is against the guidelines. I am just really sure that he is going to want to wash, store, and transport bowls each week!
The rocker is over 100 years old and belongs to the mother of a former friend. I was going to cane it for her. No one has paid me the $50 for the cane, now $50 + $10= $60 for money I have spent. Caning will be free, my gift. I took a class from a guy who was my friend. I just did not know he taught classes. We have been friends since and he promised to help me get started on this. I remember everything except how to get started. Actually, it came back when he started to cane a chair. My bent butter knife, the only tool a caner needs other than a knife is still in my tool box.
Dehydrating onions
The onions no longer smell to me. Bad sign. I decided to dehydrate them when humidity was 100%....not a good plan. They have been dehydrating for 14 hours. Not good. There is still moisture in the onions, but they are now so light that the dehydrator air blows them out onto the floor...sigh. I don't like losing any food. But, they are all picked up and tossed. Now, who will I get to sniff me next time I leave the house and tell me if I smell like onions?
Your turn
I do not want to discuss the fact the statue is satanic or not on the blog. You may write me at the address in the upper left hand corner if you wish to express an opinion on that. But, has anyone seen the statue? Have you participated in Food not Bombs? Got a surrogate patch?
We frequently are involved with Food Not Bombs, although lately I have only been able to give financial support. Usually the disposable bowls and such are donated, and there seems to be less conflict with the powers that be when disposables are used, due to increased health concerns because food is given out in a local park not in a church/commercial kitchen area. We also donate food/groceries on a weekly basis to a number of other groups that feed people or pets. I feel that it is everyone's responsibility to feed or help our fellow man in some small way. I was raised this way. Even when times were tough, there was always someone in a tougher place than you. You could always share a little of what you had. If everyone picked up and donated even one can of food every trip to the store, we could go a long way to ending food insecurity in this country. The same goes for participating in groups like The Kids backpack project, Jobs for Justice, Oxfam, Working Families Party, Salvation Army and so on. Get involved, either with time or money. Every dollar or minute makes a difference to someone that needs help.
ReplyDeleteKathy, Thanks for your comments. I did not even think about the issues of the health dept. I think I remember that members of FNBs were arrested for giving away food without a permit. So, I will just stay out of this aspect of the food distribution. Some of those organizations/causes you listed I was not aware of. I have a ton of school supplies that I need to give to some place. Thanks for the list. Yes, I always share just because it seems the right thing to do. He said he cooks four pounds of beans each week, sometimes more, sometimes less. So, he should have 6 months of beans. He does cook other things like vegetables to add to the beans or maybe to go along with them. Not sure. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteI bet every school in your area would be thrilled to have your extra school supplies. We donate school supplies to a number of schools in smaller communities surrounding the large city I live in. Our reason for the smaller schools/communities is because they usually suffer more economic stress in a down turn. One of these communities I grew up in. We look for sales all year long, load the car, and when going that way, drop off the lot. We do the same with libraries and our books. Sure we could donate those books locally, but so does hundreds of thousands of other people that live here in the city. Some small communities might only have 2000-5000 people in the entire county sect. Big difference. Our last donation of almost 1000 books went to my small home town library to be used on their book mobile. This library bus travels over 600 miles in a month hitting each community one time a month. There is no computer access or cable in some of these areas, so books are a life line. One small action, equals big benefit for someone else. I think of it as a small chain linking one person/action to another.
ReplyDeleteI bought a ton of paper for my grandchildren for the 2009 year, packed it away after giving them lots. Then, I bought more for 2010! So, not only will I give to grandchildren, I will give lots away! I hit the sales here because I live in the South and she lives in NYC where prices are higher. I live in a small town and do not have to travel far and all stores are within three miles of me. They are in different boroughs and she works two jobs and transports her two children to different places for school and after school. She is now a single mother, so buying is difficult price-wise and time-wise. Ten cents for 150 sheets of notebook paper is a deal she has never seen. I take exbf and we make multiple trips through the line as suggested by the stores.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter told me she would never need pencils again...lol. Each box of a birthday gift or whatever has at least a ten-pack of pencils inside, maybe more, depending on how much room there is left in the box.
Our library sell books donated to it. They might keep one of a thousand books.
In my area, I am one of the givers. Not much is ever given to me, at least not things I often need. But, I don't give to receive. I give because I can.
In some families, getting the internet is their children's main Christmas present so the children can use the laptops the school lends them to take home. The internet is necessary for them to keep up. Just think, that $50 fee or more for internet each month is a hardship. So, kids are proud to get internet for Christmas.
Some of the communities here are still waiting for internet access, its not even in the schools. Its also common for some kids to travel 100 miles a day round trip for school (no schools in some places) while other communities take in kids or have dorms for the kids to live in each week.
ReplyDeleteI know that each book we have donated to the small community libraries has been added to their system to loan. The selling of books by the library is what is done here in the city because they get so many from all the people living here. Just another reason why we have choose to donate to the smaller community libraries- it gets the books into the hands of more people. I would donate the books to goodwill if they were going to be sold. Less work for me as I have one 2 minutes away. All our books that we donate look new, and we usually only have cooking, gardening, how to, architecture, history, religion, politics, self help, nature and so on. Usually no romance or non fiction unless a friend donates to the lot. We were able to get several hundred children's books once from a store liquidation sale to donate.
Kathy, where, vaguely if you wish, do you live? It is good you have something besides Romance to donate!
ReplyDelete