To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] price of food
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 09:47:24 -0500
The 12" of rain we got in 4 days ruined most our garden. (Kansas)
Yes Mark, all of us east and south of you could have used some of that rain
and the stuff Texas got, and I'm sure you all would have been glad to let us
have it. It's the weak jetstream, not blowing the weather east like it
should. Agricultural production will be a fraction of normal (maybe half?
Surely not over 2/3) in 2007 for the entire southeast, and I assume that
excess rain is adversely affecting crops in those middle states that are
getting all our rain.
As for the price of food, yes, fruit is very easy to grow in quantity in
those places where it is easy to grow. Has fruit growing been cost
effective for me here where fruit is NOT easy to grow? Not at all!!! But I
keep working at it, looking for what does well here. I have been a fruit
"scrounger" for the nearly 25 years I've spent in Tennessee, and THAT has
been very good for our food bills over the years, esp when the kids were
growing up. The fact that I have been able to get fruit from trees planted
years ago means that if you can find the right fruits, the right varieties,
the right rootstocks, the right location, the right soil, and get them well
established, they can be very productive.
Blackberries would have to be number one, esp as we eat most of them
fresh, or with value added as wine. Apples come a close second, especially
when the sheer volume I have collected is considered. Again with value
added as dried fruit or as wine, they have been an exellent "buy". Pears
have begun to catch up with apples in terms of volume, as they do better
here on our boron deficient clay soil than apples. Some of these have been
very good ripened to perfection for eating raw, some get dried, some have
gone into pies, into curries, into wine, and into hot pepper jam and
pear/quince butter. Then there are blueberries. The local human population
avidly consumes some 8-10 tons per year of Hector Black's annual crop (this
I think will be his first crop failure in 30 years). Last year my 10 year
old plants did very well. My investment totaled $40 for the plants and
about $14 for some bird netting last year. I expect the plants to outlast
me, getting bigger every year. And local peaches, plums, chestnuts have all
played a small but much appreciated part in our diet.
Gardening is a different matter. Gardening ALWAYS pays for us. We use
only hand tools, have spent very little on fencing as the dogs love to chase
deer away, and I do save my own bean, tomato, and crowder pea seeds. Not
only do we get the best quality produce, but I don't have to make decisions
at the grocery or farmer's mkt and then find I bought too much or too
little. The produce sits out there, informing me what I'll be fixing for
dinner, and it's usually willing to wait a few days while I juggle with what
has to be eaten first. Mind you, though I have spent a lot on seeds
overall, it is a fraction of what I get back. A certain amount is always
wasted because I keep trying things that usually don't work out, but the
experimentation has been a big help in finding what does do well. If you
want encouragement in this regard, get a copy of BREED YOUR OWN GARDEN
VEGETABLES, by Carol Deppe. Carol describes the most elegant yet simple
techniques she uses to evaluate new varieties, and tells stories of breeding
efforts and the steps along the way. She has a very interesting list of
species that are used for food and their relatives, including fruit. She
has certainly been an inspiration to me in my garden. It is due to her and
of course to many NAFEXers that I have watched my wild blackberries for
interesting variations. Now that my young Kiowa plants have managed to
mature a few fruits despite the Big Freeze, I see that although they are
very large as advertised, that we have some very large wild blackberries
that make a pretty decent showing. Though I must say, I am a little puzzled
as to how they got the grape Koolaid flavor in the Kiowas.... Donna