Behold the efficiency of capitalism

Bok Choy, arugula, lettuce, Radish harvest in late December

BIG Tulip garden coming early spring 2016! (VIDEO)

Here are the flower bulbs I planted, which you can see in the picture and video below. With the bulbs, I planted at least 8 inches deep into the ground and covered with mulch, leaves, pine needles. In the video below, you can get a sense of what the early spring garden will look like as I show you where I have planted the bulbs. Of course the weather has permitted me to be able to plant the bulbs while the ground is still warm and can be easily rotated. The weather here has been warm, reaching 70 degrees this past weekend. I highly encourage you to plant flowers bulbs in the early fall if you live in a colder climate.

 

Winter Radish & Greens harvest

What Early Blooming Spring flowers to grow (VIDEO)

In the video and picture below I show you what bulbs to plant now for early blooming flowers in the spring. I also list other early blooming spring flowers in the video. What I forgot to mention is that, if planting now, be sure to dig and bury the bulbs 7-10 inches deep. Then, mulch the flower bed to protect from a hard freeze. You can mulch with pine needles or leaves as well. 

What to grow in the fall and winter indoors (VIDEO)

Over wintering protection for Chicago hardy & Brown turkey fig trees (VIDEO)

I am in zone 6, on the north eastern side of the United States, so there needs to be some light protection of the fig trees. You can look back on the video where I show you how I protected the fig trees last year here.


I have mentioned before that some people bury their fig trees before a fall frost, and dig them up in the spring. But I do not bury the fig trees here, and so in the video below, I show you my process for protecting/over wintering the Chicago hardy fig trees and the Brown turkey fig tree.

Protest Thanksgiving (quotes)

photo source

"Imagine that Germany won World War II and that a Nazi regime endured for some decades, eventually giving way to a more liberal state with a softer version of German-supremacist ideology. Imagine that a century later, Germans celebrated a holiday offering a whitewashed version of German/Jewish history that ignored that holocaust and the deep antisemitism of the culture. Imagine that the holiday provided a welcomed time for families and friends to gather and enjoy food and conversation. Imagine that businesses, schools and government offices closed on this day."


 "The Mayflower’s cultural heirs are programmed to find glory in their own depravity and savagery in their most helpless victims."

"I have a difficult time experiencing gratitude on a holiday that celebrates and worships the dual genocide of a race of people and a species of animal." Gary Smith

“To this day, I can hardly bear to think of that quintessentially American holiday —Thanksgiving. When I do, however, I do not dwell on Pilgrims with wide black hats sitting to sup with red men, their long hair adorned with eagle feathers. I think not of turkeys or of cranberries, foods now traditional for the day of feast...I think of the people we have habitually called ‘Indians,’ the Indigenous people of the Americas; those millions who are no more. I think of those precious few who remain, and wonder, what do they think of this day; this national myth of sweet brotherhood that masks what can only be called genocide.” Mumia Abu Jamal

"Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks no keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were no able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society" -John Fire Lame Deer

"The language and the rhetoric surrounding the holiday erase the true history of settler-colonialism".
"“R*dsk*ns,” and “Thanksgiving” may seem inconsequential to some, the historical context that gave rise to these terms and celebrations contribute to real life consequences that still impact native people in this country."
"Natives have the shortest lifespan of any group living in the United States, and this rate is even lower for those living on reservations. Historical or intergenerational trauma is literally embedded in native DNA, and many of our parents and grandparents were stolen from their families and forced into boarding schools that had the expressed mission to “civilize the savage” and “kill the Indian but save the man.” by Ashley Nicole McCray – Lawrence War, Decolonizing the History of Thanksgiving

"Cherry Belle" Radish harvest, late November/Zone 6

November 20th 2015 

November 23rd harvest

Most used words on facebook

Facebook says my most used words are "Seeds", "lettuce", "harvest", "garden", and "Squash".

How to ripen fuyu persimmons (VIDEO)

I forgot to mention in the video that, with other persimmon varieties including the Fuyu, you can freeze them overnight in your refrigerator (to imitate a hard frost), and this will ripen the persimmons. Then thaw the next day to eat.

Yoga & vegan soap

Raw & vegan grocery budget tips

Fall seasonal fruits

1. Buy in season. Fruit is outrageously expensive in the winter time, except for those fruits that are harvested during this time. For example, persimmons, pears, apples, oranges, and citrus are harvested in the fall and winter months, so they will be more available and cheaper for the consumer. Buy berries, tropical fruit, and tomatoes during the summer, and buy root vegetables and greens throughout the spring and then fall/winter months, as this will be when these foods are harvested. Of course you can buy berries frozen during the winter, and you'll know they were picked in season.


2. Buy from the reduced price wrack. Grocery stores strategically place reduced price wracks towards the end of the produce section. They usually wrap the produce in red mesh bags and reduce the price because they are older. But usually if they're older fruits and vegetables, that means they are then perfectly ripe and ready to eat. Most fruit in the stores are not ripe let alone fit to eat, so always check the reduced price wrack. As you can see in the photo below, I purchased star fruits and an eggplant, squash, and potatoes on the reduced price wrack.

3. Buy fresh first, and next best is frozen. Always buy fresh produce seasonally, but if you see that frozen berries are on sale, you'll know they were at least picked and packaged frozen when they were at their ripest (when they were in season). Frozen fruits and veggies are healthier and cheaper alternatives to buying canned foods. I will say, though, I have never had luck ripening fresh peaches, and so I never buy them at the grocery store. I absolutely will not buy fresh peaches anymore because they'll stay hard for weeks and then turn brown to mold. I'll buy peaches canned or frozen, but there isn't anything better than a peach picked perfectly ripe off of the tree in your own backyard...
4. Buy sale items in bulk. When pears are on sale in the fall and winter, buy the pears in bulk. Ask the produce guy or girl if they will give you a box of pears. If persimmons are on sale, buy in bulk.  It's healthier to eat several pears or one fruit at a time anyway, because this is easy on the stomach to digest and assimilate nutrients. Also, it's better to buy more fruit than any other grocery item. When you have lots of fruit around you, you'll go to the fruit rather than the junk food snacks. If you find that the bulk fruit items you purchased are ripening too quickly, store in the refrigerator or freeze them in plastic bags/containers. I have more information on storing, ripening, and how to avoid fruits from ripening here: How to store, ripen, & keep from over ripening bananas (VIDEO)
5. Avoid expensive specialty and processed items. I have found that all of these special "vegan" or "raw" snacks to be expensive for the quantity of the product. Vegan burgers, patties, a bag of Daiya brand vegan cheez, and nutritional yeast all cost nearly $4 dollars each to make a meal. For me, the least expensive items are those that are fresh produce that is seasonal.
6. And most importantly, grow a fruit and nut tree, and garden. The best time to plant a fruit tree was 20 years ago, and the second best time is NOW! This year I probably produced thousands of dollars worth of food that I grew and ate for free!

garden harvest 2014

If you live off of government assistance, chances are it isn't enough money to survive on, but there are other means such foraging seasonal fruit and nuts, and dumpster dive for produce. Big corporations compact waste, so absolutely perfectly ripe produce gets thrown out. It's awful that our society produces so much food that it could feed everyone, yet the people that run corporations are so greedy, they won't donate the food! It angers me to my core that because of capitalism we have so much, but most of it's disposable or thrown out, and no food is given to those in need. I posted a video of John Oliver talking about Food waste, see post here: John Oliver explains America's food waste problem.