Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Yes, no matter how we see the big picture our own costs are going up.
Groceries lag somewhat but they're starting to catch up with animal feed
costs. Frankly we hate to raise our market prices to what the market will
bear tho we can. To expand this year we plan to do more in the early summer
and winter market, so that should help. Plus more on cold frames and
greenhouse. I'd like to hear more about your methods of season extension. 

I'm making a plastic covered box within a closed off greenhouse section,
for early tomato starts in gallon pots, and using tiny xmas light strings
for heat at first. Seed in Feb., transplant to 4x12 framed beds in the main
greenhouse section around March 1 with some electric heat at nite. Last
frost far away in May. We've found gallon pot plants transplant easily
using post hole diggers for holes the same exact size. Less bending ...
And the gallon size gives tomatoes a head start, hoping for the first ripe
tomatoes in the market May 1. 

We need to get carrots, onions, and beets going early enough for market May
1. Trying to keep it simple and cheap. We'll experiment with floating row
covers March and April. Carrots and beets will be staggered for continuous
supply thru Oct but red onions will go in early and harvest all at once
since they keep well. As beds empty we'll transplant more into them for
late harvest. Garlic and shallot beds will empty by end of June and make
room for later beets, peppers, etc. Fence beds will start with snow peas
and spinach and be followed by romano pole beans and summer savory. Double
cropping with only four frost free months should be a learning experience
to say the least. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 1/23/2008 at 7:03 AM Carrie Shepard wrote:

>I'm no financial whiz, but dh's 401K went down $2,000 in just a few days.
> I don't know how you can say the market evened out when the charts and
>records are always so few years at a time.  Somewhere I read that
>financial reporting is regularly skewed by timeline manipulation.   This
>past weekend I was reading a bank trade journal in which the editorial was
>stating the facts of looming large recession.  Seems they're not trying to
>cover anything up, though the entire editorial seemed cautiously padding
>the awful truth to come.  Reminded me of my most social security letter
>(nothing paid in 10 yrs as I'm a homemaker training the next generation to
>be self-sufficient productive thinkers) that finally states that in 2018
>they'll be paying out more than they'll be taking in and will be reducing
>benefits to only 75% --- my paraphrasing, not verbatum.  Did you guys read
>that letter too?
>   
>   It doesn't take much to interpret how much it now costs to buy feed for
>two weeks for my animals or how much it costs to buy groceries for a
>family of 5 in comparison to the increase in earning wages.    basically
>if I don't decrease the feed bill all around, then the wage increase
>doesn't go that far above the food increase, sort of like spinning wheels.
>   
>  At the feedstore yesterday they were again raising the prices on their
>white board and I paid $9.50 plus tax (my fault for not getting a new farm
>or 4-H tax # yet) for one  50# bag of alfalfa cubes.   Seems to me that
>same bag was only $6 just a few years ago.  A 50# bag of rabbit pellets
>was $5.95 and now is over $8.     The cost of the animals and their
>products has to go up in order for me to pay for this.
>   
>  I'm currently reading The Food and Heat Producing Solar Greenhouse by
>Rick Fisher and Bill Yanda and discussing with DH how we're going to
>remodel our new house to be more energy efficient (we bought it with the
>intention of adding a larger kitchen and decking and a bedroom in the
>basement -- the existing kitchen we want to turn into a library and music
>space partially open to the living room).    This is pretty inspiring
>reading: 
>http://www.earthtoys.com/emagazine.php?issue_number=03.08.01&article=finch
>   
>  I'm planning to get a couple cattle panels and do something similar to
>what Claudia's done in creating a small and simple effective seasonal
>unheated attached greenhouse and get busy on a few cold frames.   My
>hoophouses have the chickens and rabbits until we make a plan for how to
>house them permanently.
>   
>  Blessings,
>  Carrie
>   
>