North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Naomi" <beefaloidaho@att.net>]

About the costs of canning:
When you can you do not need new rings, you need new lids.  These are sold
in a box of 12 for a $1.  So you put in your own produce. Sugar, Vinegar,
Spices, salt and Heat. I would not expect your yearly cost for canning to be
above $.25 a quart jar.  The jars themselves go for about$.50 and get reused
for years.

My canning starts with the seeds I select in spring.  I fertilize the plants
with the help of my donkeys, goats and chickens.  I pick when the produce
seems ready and I process within hours. I like to make jams of wild
combinations of whatever is ripe at the moment and I use absolutely no
water. Jam is about how much fruit I can stick in there, no stretchers.

Pickles! I love pickles.  I can buy a gallon of vinegar for $2 and a 25
pound sack of sugar for $8.  With a couple of dollars worth of pickling lime
I can make $14 quarts of the sweet pickles my son likes and still have at
least 15 pounds of sugar left over.  Can you buy $14 quarts of pickles for
$6 or $7?

I can make fermented pickles and sauerkraut with just produce and salt.

I know how to make my own corned beef. I got the recipe off the internet but
it came from the deli 6 blocks away from where I grew up in Louisville
Kentucky.

And yes, selling milk for human consumption is legally ridiculous.  But
there are people who solemnly swear that they are going to feed their pets
goat milk and goat cheese.

You see, I am a city person.  I grew up with cans from the store and a cat
was the biggest animal we ever had at our house.  I learned how to do these
things because I chose to do them.  It is lifestyle as I said before.

Quite some time ago I was reading an article in FORTUNE MAGAZINE.  The
author was describing hanging off the side of a mountain, cold, wet,
tired...he said to himself, "Is this something I would do for ANY amount of
money?  NO! There fore I must be on my vacation and I must be having a good
time."  Well, I am not on a vacation but I am having a good time because I
sure would not do this for money.

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Bruce & Joyce
Caldwell
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 2:29 PM
To: mrtejas@lycos.com; North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Corporate farms


>>The myth of the small farm died in the 1930s after tractors became widely
used.  You might be suprised that the average farmer...<<

It isn't suprizing that most families don't have a cow these days. A good
milk cow will give gallons of milk daily, some over seven gallons a day.Not
many farms can use that much themselves, but it is almost totally illegal to
sell milk for human consumption. You are supposed to be certified, which
costs a bundle. Then there is the issue of working seven days a week while
the cows are lactating. Health maintenance expences, breeding fees... It is
expensive to mantain one cow, and not likely to be sustainable, let alone
profitable.

Can your own vegetables you say? It costs less to buy a can of most
vegetables than it costs to buy the rings for canning. Then there is the
equipment, the jars, and have you checked out the cost of fuel for the
stove? You can't compete with the commercial producers that way!

Personally, I would like ot produce all my own food, but you have to be
realistic about it, and few people today have the interest to resurect the
old ways, like root cellaring, cold frames, ice houses, etc.

Our government is doing all it can to support those big commercial farmers,
to the direct harm of the shall family farm. It isn't just about wages. Just
having to file farm taxes is a nightmare for an individual with a small farm
income. If the big guys had to spend a proprtionate amount of resources on
the paperwork, they might well go out of business too.

Joyce

_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

To unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change
other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

Message archives are here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/
---
Incoming mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.547 / Virus Database: 340 - Release Date: 12/2/2003

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.547 / Virus Database: 340 - Release Date: 12/2/2003