Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Rising Cost of Food

Is it just me, or does $2.59 seem a wee bit high for a head of romaine lettuce?   Neufchatel cheese has gone up .29 cents.  I can't stand the idea of a 10 for 10 deal on Hamburger Helper, so I grab the nicest looking head of lettuce and shove it in the plastic (what is that bag made of, anyhow?) bag and pretend I am NOT about to pay 3/4 of the price of a gallon of gasoline for lettuce.

The greenhouse can't go up fast enough!  Now, where is the Ag Review, it seems I saw a Jersey Milk Cow in there somewhere...

On the "to-do" list are all of my lofty goals and among the top 200 are:

grow the five basic ingredients to a lot of my favorite dishes:

butter
garlic
celery
carrots
onions


I'll need help with the celery. I had absolutely no good come of my attempt to grow it last year so I'm looking for tips, tricks, trial-and-error journals, etc.

It's true, though, most things start with these five.

Chicken soup?  No problem, saute` some onions, garlic, celery and carrots in a little butter....add cut up skinned chicken from the barn, brown on both sides, add water to cover - bring to a boil, well - you get the picture.

Tomato sauce?  Same thing.

Vegetable Beef Barley Soup?  You betcha!

I have started in the cold-frame greenhouse so far:

collards
broccoli
lettuce
sunflower
leeks
cabbage
onions (okay, they're not planted yet, but they're there, waiting...)
parsley

Although it feels like I'm off to a late start, I'll take it.  Considering that there will be a greenhouse on the property by summer, extending our growing season to YEAR ROUND, I can stand a little lateness.

1 comment:

Miriam said...

I'm thinking I'm a little late this year, too - but I keep remembering how I tried to push the season last year, and how things I planted later caught up quickly and seemed healthier than the ones I planted earlier. At least that's what I'm telling myself to feel better!

Thanks so much for your encouraging words about our recent hatch - and the suggestion for re-using our commode!

What is this leisure time of which you speak?

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