I have been backdoor shopping for years

bfast-catmeal, peaches, coffee and toast
lunch- sausage and cheese sandies, peaches, water
dinner- roast chicken, with roasted taters and veggies,water

the weather has warmed up a bit so have been spending alot of time out of doors. Its wonderful and helps with Trashs sleep patterns.. Instead of waking up in the middle of the night wide awake I am now able to slepp until 4-5 am. Giving me more time for research and reading useful in improving this site and the no real choice sister.

The microwave went out earlier this week and the 13 inch tv in the bedroom also took a dive.. Thank goodness its spring time and the ability to find another amongst the excesses of others is wonderful. I hate to buy anything new with so much present for the taking.

I did some work in thengarden last night adding coffee grounds to the soil pots, watering with the rain water collected from the other day and checking the seedlings for growth..

Wednesday morning thoughts

bfast- oatmeal, coffee and orange
lunch- tomato soup, crackers and a breakfast burrito
afternoon snack-- 1/2 bottle of organic plum wine
dinner- tuna sandies, chips, water

We have another Town Hall meeting in Babylon next week to discuss the creation of a leaner meaner institution.. Hmm to me that means less money and less people.. GREAT

Trash has been hitting the dumpies full force grabbing necessary items and luxuries that will get the klan thru the coming times. This weekend is the neighborhood cleanup so I should be able to "clean-up" on some reuse recycle and resell items.

a great piece on AMERICA for Sunday

bfast- cheese burrito fruit coffee
lunch- veggies and dip (trash find), orange, glass of iced sun-tea
dinner- leftover roast, veggies, sun-tea and ice cream and peaches

worked in the yard yesterday as well as curb- shopped some more pots a new computer lab chair and another bike for junior. needs tubes. All in all a successful day.

BTW A video from another of the old BEAT writers that I though would make a good post for this morning.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is alive and well in SF

He is one of the greatest BEAT writers still alive.. Kerouac, Ginsberg etc. While not necessrily something Trash notates about but it was a wonderful find.

Saturday with Trash

bfast- cheese and jalapeno burrito coffee fruit
lunch- fruit and chips water
dinner- pawk chops, green beans and peaches, sun tea

hooked the trailer up to the bike and hit the curbs . Found a cuppla bird feeders, small garden baskets, garden pots, and an outdoor cedar garden pot stand for several small pots of herbs and starters.. good stuff.

I Hit up the Wallie for a cuppla bags of compost and manure for the beds. I use the organic compost and manure from Longmont CO to supplement the homemade stuff. Wallie charges $1.97 for a 25 pound bag.

Much like I use tidbits of change to acquire seeds over time I do the same with the rest... A found 2 dollars will buy 25 pounds of nourishment for your soil or 2 McDoubles..

Which one would sustain you longer?

Here are a cuppla links for reading this morning...
Jackies garden primer

Seed sales are shooting up in CO

Revolution is fertile

This is an example of what we must do to survive in these trying times.

Scrounge in dumpsters and around the neighborhood for necessities and barter /sell items.
Hit up the back door stores for food and staples.
Frequent the CL and the local Freecycle for the free necessary and luxury items, etc.
You can even hit up the day after the yard sales dumpsters for the leftovers that are now being given away.. SOme good stuff is usually available for free.
Most of all though is use your ingenuity and the WWW for tips and tricks to create your own victory garden..

Thursday lala'

bfast- oatmeal, orange, coffee
lunch chicken breast, corn, biscuit, water
dinner- chili dogs, chips, water

It has been an interesting 2 days. Today I came home early and worked in my garden. Tomorrow I plan on getting some more dirt and get my hands dirty. Also plan on hitting the dumpies for goddies on trash dat.

Babylon sucks.. People are on edge but I have given it up to God. If its gonna happen it will and we will survive.

Wednesday Rants

bfast- oatmeal, fruit and coffee
lunch- leftover roast beef, potatoes and corn, water
dinner- Wallies fried and roast chicken, mashed taters biscuits and water

Does anyone remember life before liberals. I for one do.
1. The legal age for drinking was 18.
2. Smoking of cigarettes, pipes, and cigars was encouraged not demonized.
3. cars were designed for comfort, NOT fuel efficient little yabba dabba doo mobiles.
4. Houses were priced and acquired on a simple rule. a house should not cost more than 5 times your yearly salary.
5. A college education was a reward not an entitlement. It was also affordable for the student..

Anyone else want to chime in and add to the list.

happy 4:20 to all

a good life
sunny day
cold water
smoking with friends
Does it get any better

Sunday in the garden

bfast- tuna salad burritos, orange coffee
lunch- dumpie found ham sandies with lettuce and tomatos. water
dinner- leftover mac and cheese, fruit water

the snow ended late yesterday afternoon with only a little damage to the trees and bushes..
I am going to experiment with one of the elm branches. By dipping it in some honey as a root starter and planting it in a large pot, I am going to try my hand at rooting a tree branch.. I dont know if it will work but Its worth a shot.

I also found a cuppla pots, a large array of large marble boulders for the garden and several plant specimen to try and rescue. All in all a successful morning.

Saw this link about hiring a consultant to help the yuppies plan their food garden. Hilarious..

Reduce, Reuse and recycle.

Trash is getting happier and happier this Saturday.
While going thru the archives of this blog I have seen strides the 'stead has made that I rally didnt recognize..
I wrote a postover a year ago called one man one acre about our urban footprint..
At that time we were tossing 3 trashcans a week out to the curb for pickup. By realizing the waste that could be reused with little extra time, this morning I brought one trash can back from the curb..
Packaging, cardboard and other go to the recycle bin, cans and metal go to the recycle. Organic food (meat scraps go to the dog ,cats, birds and then to the trash.. All veggie scraps,fruit lefties, potato skins, coffee grounds and egg shell get used in the garden. For a family of five people and the zoo one can is great. more like 1 man 1/6 of an acre.

its Saturday and its Snaining..

bfast-oatmeal, fruit and coffee
midmorning get-together in Babylon- Duffey rolls, coffee and fruit
lunch- ramen and cream of chicken stew, green beans, water
afternoon in Babylon- apple pie w/ ice cream, coffee
dinner- roast chicken, mashed taters, juice

Having lived this lifestyle for over 30 years I am often asked for advice on "How do I___?" I really didnt think that this blog could do that very well. SO I am tinkering with restarting and reformatting my other blog, www.norealchoice.blogspot.com which has gone not updated for quite a while . For now it will have a few posts here and there, added with a few appropriate videos and photos .
My goal is begin creating "how to" videos, photos, and maybe even add some audio pod-casting.. This all takes time and resources but it is a "dream" of mine. SO we will see.

Being that I use primitive equipment that I have scavenged, bartered for , or acquired cheaply this may take some effort to accomplish. But it could be a worthwhile endeavor in these trying times.

So you want to be like Trash?

Here is a video I found on YouTube which will give you some tips to get started

Pissin in the garden and on the compost

Every day, gardeners across the world flush away a valuable and sustainable source of fertilizer for their plants -- urine. Urine is a good source of nitrogen and other minerals and, providing it is used correctly, is completely safe. Using urine as a fertilizer saves money, fossil fuels (used extensively in the production of chemical fertilizers) and water (no need to flush!). It also cuts down on river pollution -- urine is a major source of nitrogen that contributes to river eutrophication if expensive denitrification is not used at the water treatment plant. And it's not a backwards step, it's space age technology -- NASA has used urine in hydroponics systems!
Keep it separate. The golden rule with urine use is to keep it separate from other bodily wastes.

1.Urine is clean and needs to be kept that way. Pee in a bottle, or invest in a urine-separating toilet.

2.Use it fresh. We all know that stale urine smells. That's ammonia, and it's made from nitrogen. The smellier your collected urine, the less nutritious it will be for your plants, as well as being unpleasant to apply.

3.Always dilute. Urine is too strong to be used neat on plants. Dilute at least 5:1, and it can be diluted up to 10:1 for use on tender plants and seedlings.

4.Water at the roots. It's good practice when watering not too splash the leaves, but to water at the roots. This saves on evaporation, and dry leaves are much more resistant to disease.

5.Spread it around. Urine can be salty, and using too much of it in one place can harm plants. Use it throughout your garden so no one area suffers from an overdose, and don't use it every time you water a plant.

6.Feed hungry plants. The plants that will benefit most from urine fertilizer are the ones with the highest nitrogen requirements. Try it on leafy vegetables like cabbages and cauliflowers, corn, or anything that needs a quick pick-me-up.

7.Other uses. Neat urine is too strong to be used directly on plants, but it can be used as a weedkiller; a few applications, especially if used on hot days, should finish off your weeds. It can also be used neat as a winter spray for fruit trees, to discourage fungal diseases.

8.Activate! A final use for urine in the garden is as a compost activator. The nitrogen in urine will speed up the composting process and kick start a slumbering heap.

TGIF

bfast- oatmeal, fruit and coffee
lunch- stuffed shells,fruit and water
dinner-lasagna, green beans and water

The 'stead got some rain yesteray and it is helping relieve the effects of some of the dry days.
Supposed to get a good snow later today but right now the birds are singing and the sky is pretty clear.. We will see. One day left in Babylon before the weekend.

a political rant.. The anti-Christ is here

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/georgetown-university-hid-religious-symbols-white-house-request/

this is utter bs.. and another fine example of the narcissistic Prez

Why cant my trips to the creek discover this

I would sure understand the historical value of such items. wink wink

Alabama road crews discovered World War II era weapons recovered in Bibb County
by Carol Robinson
Birmingham News
April 13, 2009

A cache of World War II-era weapons discovered last week in a Bibb County, Alabama, creek had probably been there less than 24 hours, authorities said today.

David Hyche, resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Birmingham office, said he has never encountered anything like this in his 21 years of work.

The firepower, discovered by a state road crew conducting a bridge inspection just north of Centreville late last week, is il­legal to own, still in working condition and probably worth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars

"It's a significant arsenal if it got into the wrong hands," Hyche said.

Bibb County Sheriff Keith Hannah said state road work­ers called his office on Thurs­day after spotting the weap­ons.

Hannah sent a sheriff's dive team into the water, where they found four Japanese ma­chine guns, a Japanese antitank cannon, an Italian ma­chine gun, a Japanese 50mm mortar and a Thompson ma­chine gun, also known as the Tommy Gun, a popular Prohi­bition-era submachine gun.

Tax Day survival

bfast- oatmeal- fruit, coffee
lunch- leftover pawk chop, mac and cheese, spinach- water
dinner- fish fillets, fried taters, water

While this may be a pain filled anxietous day for some, to Trash its just another day. In order to relax a bit remember these tricks.

1. ride the bike-- pretty soon that will be your method of transport
2. check a dumpster or 2. You neve know what you will find
3. read a book (hey its cheap entertainment)
4. go to a "tea party" There is sure to be some free shwag and food lying around for a cheap lunch.

Enjoy the day

Easter Monday

brunch- daughter made fried eggs, fried potatoes, toast , coffee and chocolate chip corn bread with chocolate frosting for dessert.. yumyumyum
dinner- Mexican Easter dinner chicken and rice enchiladas, tacos, tortilla strips and salsa, water..

A rainy Easter is good for the stead.. We need a good soaking spring..
Spent the afternoon at the nature area with the kids and a friend.. Came back and did the Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Happy Resurrection Day

bfast- toast and jelly, coffee
lunch- fruit and yogurt. water
dinner-- pawk chops, taters water

took a ride on the dumpie bike yesterday several times. Picked up some new organic "red corn" for experimenting this summer. Also worked on some of the beds . I really wanna make sure this year comes a bumper crop. We may need it more this year due to the economy.

RELAX on Resurrection weekend

bfast-oatmeal orange, donuts coffee
lunch- free BBQ in Babylon
dinner- leftover scrounged BBQ brought home from Babylon

At least Babylon is good for something.. FREE FOOD.
The ship is sinking big time yet they feed the sheeple.. SOUNDS GOOD

I am reading all over the net about the need to buy buy buy, prep, and get ready.. Is this something new. HELL NO. This is something that should be ingrained in your life since the beginning. But it hasnt. For Trash, it has been so all along and while you all are panicking and prepping I can sit back a little bit and relax. I will keep doing what I have always done and maintain the stead and the lifestyle..

How about you all/

So you wanna start plantin outside

http://www.motherearthnews.com/What-To-Plant-Now-April-Central-Midwest-Great-Plains-Gardening-Region.aspx

This chart will let you know what you can start to plant outside in April..

Remember we may get a late snow or heavy rain , so be prepped to cover the lil darlings .

good friday

bfast- oatmeal, fruit, coffee
lunch- homemade burritos, chips , corn on cob and water
dinner- fish fillets, fired taters, corn and water

Havent posted due to incitement at Babylon taking up my .. But its now Friday and I said screw it. Being good friday and all with resurrection day around the corner I decided to get up early this morning and move dirt around in the garden. Seem similar to the shit I have been stepping in all week in Babylon.
Going to set up a few more trays this weekend with seeds to get started and am looking for a Russian sage or 2 or 3 for the yard.. If I can find them cheap.. Free is better.

Not much in the dumpies on the morning excursion but I will presume that I should find some goodies this weekend.

freakin freegan and freakin proud

First we get the hang out in the woods live off the land survivalist.
Then we get the modern survivalist who works a babylon job, builds a garden and populates it using his VISA at Lowes only to wathc everything die. He stockpiles ramen, potatos, and rice. A constipated family watching SHTF on their plasma from the comfort of their brick and mortar home.
It is getting so bad that now they are even getting SURVIVAL shows on tv to teach the inexperienced how to buy designer cammos, inserts for your boots as college courses to learn how to shoot.

This is ridiculous. And it make me freakin mad
How about you?

gardening in Babylon

Bfast- oatmeal, fruit, toast, coffee
lunch- leftover chicken soup
dinner- an evening stroll and Sonic burgers on the porch.

As most of my readers know Trash works in Babylon all day. Being as I would rather talk and associate with green things (plants not Martians) I decided several months ago to bring a little green to my workspace. I started with some Pothos cuttings, expanded to a sickly"found" good luck bamboo and have since added a sick scheflera and some more pothos to my tribe. While it isnt much like the 'stead, it makes the Babyon existence almost tolerable.

I have used an old Biscotti tub to root the pothos in plain water and then have transplanted them into large coffee cans with "found" dirt. I use coffee grinds and old veggies and fruit peels for plant nutrition. This is my experiment in office horticulture .

milk crate planter

Bfast- oatmeal, orange and coffee
lunch- chicken sandies, chips water
dinner- leftover chicken sandies, fruit and a water.

If you are like Trash you finds lots of these in you escapades. did you know that if you line them fill them with dirt and pokje holes for irrigation they can make a wonderful and cheap planter. The handles make it easy to move and the depth is good for planting carrots, beets etc along with other things. Herbs, small lettuces, and yes even loads of annuals would work.. But who grows flowers to look at, when times get tough and you need food.
Enjoy.
Enjoy

cigarette butts and aspirin in the garden

effies garden

Effie is always looking for new methods to improve her produce. One day, when she was at the florist, she asked why the roses looked so healthy, and was told they had put aspirin in the water. So Effie tried aspirin on her tomatoes the following year, and noticed that they started looking healthier: the leaves were stronger and lush in colour, and the tomatoes stayed longer on their stalks. Effie decided to sprinkle crushed aspirin on all the vegetables in her garden. She has been doing this for a couple of years now.

Effie uses 12 crushed aspirins to make a powder, and sprinkles it over an area of 25 square metres of soil. Then she plants her vegetables and waters them well. After a couple of weeks, she crushes another 12 aspirins, but this time she dilutes the powder with 10 litres of water and waters her plants with the solution each week.

Another method Effie uses on her vegetables involves cigarette butts. She collects used butts from friends and neighbours and puts them into the ground at the base of the vegetables. The butts expand and the soft filters capture water, keeping moisture in the soil. Effie believes this is why her soil is so soft and moist.

Urban hunting techniques in Detroit

urban hunting in Detroit

Given the current economy in the USA I thought you all might enjoy this.

C--h--a--n--g--e--s

Babylon is going thru alot of changes. I may wind up being one of them.. Still employed but responsibilities changed.
Changes are a part of life. For without them we would stagnate Embrace them but remain focussed on your stead, your family, your preps and your growth in God.

I have been finding alot of garden equipment being left behind ad have been supplementing the grocery bill with the greens and produce and baked goods that have been found behind the SAfie.

your neighbors are getting angry.. and scared

Do you know your neighbors? Can you count on them or will you have to defend against them?
Are they ants like yourself or are they grasshoppers? How will they react under pressure?
Will they stay calm like yourself because you are prepped and can survive a collapse if SHTF?

These are questions we need to ask and answer on a daily basis. The downturn that is occurring is causing normal people to go "over the edge".
People are going to the extremes. Families committing suicide together, families disappearing into the wilderness . People moving into their RVs and vans to be mobile.

Others are going on shooting sprees across the country expressing their anger with ak47s , ombs, and handguns.. This is insane and is falling into the hands of the nanny state mentality. Why is this happening? FEAR.. People are scared to shit.. People are losing everything. Leaving them no choice or so they think.

What needs to happen is that people need to find peace within themselves and become self-reliant. But most of all they need to find God. For only he will assure survival thru all of this insanity.

Friday links

Articles I have read and enjoyed this week.
I am thinking of making this a regular part of the blog. Giving you some direct links to articles I have read this past week that have inspired my work at the stead. If you have any links that you would like to share pass them on and I will include them also..

I am also trying to work out a deal for a digital camera and digital video camera to add more pics of the stead and include some videos down the road. Enjoy

its just garbage by Cory Doctrow

Garbage on EMOware

Growing veggies can save you money Denver channel 7

recession gardening CNN

Pasta fazoo to you

NO, dont think I am insulting my dear readers .

Pasta fazoo is an Italian soup made out of the leftover veggies, potatos, chicken or vegetable stock and either pasta rice or even beans .

During the depression this combination of leftovers , along with a loaf of hard stale bread and a jug of cheap wine would make a hearty meal..

These days we carry it to a different level when we use the dumpster found veggies as part of the ingredients.

On a cold night its a warm comfort food.

the sheeple are awakening

bfast- oatmeal. coffee
lunch- leftover pasta, chips water
dinner- BLT salad w/ chicken, corn pones coke

A twinkle of hope in the academic arena came ino play yesterday with the announcement that a jury of regular people believe what we inside Academia have known for a long time. That Dr Ward was crucified by a then right wing firing squad when he was lynched by the politico. HIs dignity and integrity can now begin restoration. His teachings can now be credible to the next gen of students.
Happy resurrection Dr Churchill a friend and a colleague to Trash

a good day

It is becoming apparent that Dr Churchill will be going back into the classroom. Its about freakin time..

the 3 stooges are alive and well and partying in London

bfast-oatmeal, orange and coffee
lunch- leftover pizza, chips and water
dinner- pasta and turkey meat sauce, garic bread, juice
I thought I would give y'all a glimpse of how the leadership is enjoying your tax money in London. The bottom pic is the 2009 3 stooges (BHO, the Italian leader of the EU, and Czar Putins henchmen flunkie for Russia at the g20.. Given the state of the world economy do you think they look a little too happy.
As for the reason I added the original pic at top of the stooges (Stalin, FDR, and CHurchill) is to denote sentiment of leadership from he previous historical turmoil.