Freegans and the evil Corporate America

Was doing some reading this morning on Freegans, and either the practice has become more mainstream, the economy's getting better, or people just don't care any more. I didn't run across any new articles, and few old ones.
I've dumpster dived (dumpster dove?) on and off all my life. It's like treasure hunting, sometimes you find the chest of gold, and sometimes you find a bunch of sand. Never done it for food though. I was getting culled produce from a local store, but they got bought out by Whole Paycheck, who doesn't allow for that, no siree Bob. (The 'hippy grocery store' from Austin Tx doesn't allow poor people to make use of their discards any more. Hhhmmm......) The bread store, instead of throwing out the no longer saleable but edible items to be scavenged, they slash the wrappers, rendering it unusable for human consumption and selling it for animal food. The two racks I picked up the other day for the chickens had just been slashed, the bread was all still soft. If you were really poor and hungry, it could be eaten. Thanks the Goddess we're not at that point.
The latest thing for Corporate America to do since the freegans came out of the dumpster is to pour ammonia on any discarded food items, rendering them totally unusable, even for animals. Many places have locks on the dumpsters, for several reasons, mostly to keep people from dropping off their trash. I understand this, since they have to pay every time that dumpster is emptied, and also to keep some idiot from hurting themselves and suing. (We've all seen something like that.) But how hard would it to park discarded food products outside for awhile every day and let the poor take it? It would be an urban version of gleaning the fields, a practice that still goes on today, where poor people are allowed in the harvested fields and orchards to glean anything useable that the harvesters missed. It's probably a legal thing, but sometimes, morals need to step up. Come on Corporate America, we're all in this together.

Fat Hate and general bad attitude

After a spat with my sister today that caused her to hang up on me after I called her on some BS she was spouting, I got online and typed 'fat hate' into the search engine. A lot of FA blogs/articles came up, and of course, so did the FH (Fat Haters) stuff. I'm surprised I was able to read them and not become totally outraged. In fact, I felt a sense of sadness for these poor pitiful ppl who have nothing else to do than waste that kind of energy on people they had never met and would never be influenced by.
The bad attitude is all mine, caused by my sister. She was force-retired when her department was shut down due to the economy, and while that was going on I had to listen to her complain how she'd never be able to live off the 100+K her husband makes, and we're eating rice and beans to make ends meet. (We're on ultra-frugal mode, to save up for much needed home repairs). Now, she has been more than generous in the past, buying me clothes, giving me $$, but it is still hard to sit and listen to that. And to top it off, she's gaining weight at an astronomical rate, and whining about how she hates being fat, she'll never accept it, boohoohoo. (She is a fat fat-basher, they are almost worse than previously fat ppl who like to say how anyone can do it, just put down the fork!) And is she doing anything towards it? Not really. So she's down on herself, and totally bored, and wants someone to listen to her cry about it. She doesn't want a 'solution', she wants to lie around in her robe all day and bitch. OK, fine, but I have got a ton of things going on atm, and no time to deal with it, not to mention energy. But, according to her, they aren't REAL things. Like the fact that on Thursday, I will be opening my art studio. I want to sell my art, and I've always wanted my own gallery, and this is the fist logical step. But that's not a REAL job, or even anything at all important. She sounds more and more like our mother every day. I still love her, she is my sister, but I can't deal with this any more. I have to save myself. I'm tired of being told I'm fat, my friends are losers, how I 'better hang onto' my husband, like I'm gonna run off to Boca with someone else. (Not a chance, my husband's the greatest!) Let's not even get into her husband and that whole twisted relationship.

Yes, I know my lifestyle does not meet with your approval. I love you, but get a life, and quit trying to live vicariously through me or your child. I can't deal with someone dragging me down, making me depressed, then saying "You're so negative, this isn't a good day for us!" and hanging up. Take a look in the mirror sister, YOU are the cause of my bad attitude.

One more time...

So, one more time I'm going to attempt the schlep over to see John. If this time doesn't pan, then he'll have to wait until he gets his own place. Getting up at 5 every morning does tend to put a damper on evening activities. I'm too old to be a rock musician!

Poverty sucks, so why am I happy?

We're fairly poor. Not homeless, not taking-the-bus poor, living w/o power poor, but for Austin, pretty poor. I don't really feel poor though. We've got pretty much everything we need except a lot of money. We're able to put away a little every month, are paying down debt and getting things fixed that need it. Most of the work falls on me, since much of frugal living is time/work related. Have you ever fixed a meal from scratch? OK, so add even more time on that if you raised the ingredients yourself. While we don't live on a rural farm, we do have our urban homestead, a nice little patch.
Our home is in a non-deed restricted area. When I was house shopping back in the 90's, I wouldn't even consider a deed restricted property. Bad enough I have to deal with government telling me what I can and can't do, don't want the neighbors doing the same. We're living a fairly frugal life at the moment. And yet I wake up happy pretty much every single day, and go to bed happy almost every night. Would money make me any happier? A little, some worry would be removed, which would bump up the happiness scale a notch or two. All in all, things here on the homestead are good, we're happy, mostly healthy, enjoy life and each other. Life is busy, but good.

More rain! Oh my! And an unwelcome visitor

More rain! We're glad for the garden/wildlife, not so glad for the chickens. Despite having an awning and two tarps over the tractor, it is still leaking like a sieve. So this week's project will be the construction of a new coop.

The pic is one of our unwanted guests residing in our brand new live trap. After we took his pic, off he went down to the creek over at the industrial park. He can live there with the teenager we caught last month and eat the bugs and snakes, and not my eggs.

When smart people go dumb....

I went out to my friend T's new place yesterday. She's moved out of the big city into the country (or at least it will be for a couple of years, development is already creeping out there) and since she's always wanted to live in the country, and the rent was way cheaper, everyone thought it was a great move for her.
She had told me that the house needed repairs, and TLC, but this did not prepare me for the reality; Limited running water (huge leak that had been unrepaired for years, so they just leave the water off most of the time, and buy bottled water to drink and cook with, a house where the foundation has sagged to the point whole rooms are cracking off the house, walls crumpled like paper, and the floor drops several INCHES in places. Huge holes where rats, snakes, scorpions and all kinds of other nasties can get in, no heat/air, a septic tank, that due to the lack of water in it, stinks to high heaven and is collapsing in places. And on, and on, and on.
OK, I've lived in some pits, mostly when I was young. One place was a shack with a tin roof under huge pecan trees. When it rained or the wind blew in the fall, the sound was deafening. Another was the old house next to the shack, which had been build by hand, and we had to make everything from scratch or modify store bought for repairs, because modern fixtures like new windows/doors wouldn't fit. The house we're in now is definitely a fixer upper, which we are doing. I've never lived in a new house, I don't really like them, at least not the ones I can afford.
But here's the difference; we would have been saving $$ to have the water fixed if we couldn't DIY. We would be shoring up the foundation so it wouldn't sag any further and do more damage. We would be fixing or covering the holes, fixing the woodwork, painting. Yes, those things cost money, but there are many things that can be done for minimal or no money and some effort. Which brings us to the root of the issue, E-F-F-O-R-T. These women are content to live in squalor and unhealthy conditions, because to clean up and fix things, they would have to get off their asses and do it. T wants someone to do it/pay for it for her, or better yet give her a million dollars so that she can blow it on smoking, dvds, junk food and high dollar pet toys and snacks. She doesn't have a car, and she's disabled. With the money I've personally seen this woman blow, she could have a car and a decent place to live, but that's not where her priorites are. She'd rather live like this and make no effort to better her situation, because it takes effort. We call that a "welfare mentality".
T has really gone downhill, despite everyone trying to help her. She really only want someone to support her and do everything for her. I love her and she will always be a member of the family, but I realized a long time ago that I couldn't take her to raise, and had to let her go, for my own sanity. Nothing's changed about her, and sadly, nothing ever will, exept to go downhill. Poverty is one thing, but lack of pride and self-respect is totally another.

Addicted to Seed Packets

So, I admit it, I have a problem. I love seeds. And more importantly, I LOVE the packets. Doesn't matter what kind, the sight of a rack of seed packets in a store will set my heart to racing like Manolo Blahnik shoes did for Carrie in SATC. I do have to admit that the no-frills packets of white paper with black or green lettering doesn't quite do to me the same thing as the shiny bad-for-the-environment glossy paper ones.
When I spot the rack, with the packs of glittering envelopes holding their seedy cargo, my steps quicken. When I get to the rack, I stand and look at all the pictures of the plants on the fronts like a kid confronted with Toys R Us for the first time, a gaze of delight and wonder. My mind races with thoughts of what those plants would look like in my garden, how the flowers would smell and feel, how the veggies would taste. I pick up a packet of something I've never grown before, checking to see if I have the right growing conditions. Then my eyes wander to the next packet, and the next, and then to another rack, and before I realize it, I'm clutching a double handful of slippery seed packets in my sweaty hands. While I might put one or two back, I usually end up taking the whole batch home. Even at the grocery store I'll pick up a couple of the more common seeds, like lettuce or spinach.
My husband doesn't say a thing about my addiction, since he's ultimately reaping the benefit of good food. My seed collection has grown to barely fitting inside a shoe box tub. So I'm trying to kick the habit, and not buy any seeds until what I've got is used up. Oh, the agony! I'll have to avoid the garden center at Lowe's, where the seeds beckon, calling my name, begging for me to take them home. Well, maybe just a couple...

Frugal Paganism

Doing some reading on the Web this morning, and just for fun typed in 'frugal Pagan'. Not too much stuff came up, but one page I read talked about how you didn't have to have "stuff" to be Pagan, like Tarot cards, wands, cups, tons of candles and incense, etc. Not being Wiccan, I never use any of these things in my daily rituals. OK, I take that back, there is a chalice on the altar outside, which is filled with fresh water every day for the Temple cats.
Being frugal in any realm is a matter of mind, over matter, as it were. You think you need a wand? Go find a nice branch or twig fallen off a local tree that appeals to you. Chalice? Try a half of a walnut shell, or coconut shell, depending on how many people are in ritual. Cloth? Any will do, even a dish towel (Especially good for Earth mages, it has the kitchen energy in it already!) Candles can be made cheaply or bought even more cheaply at the dollar store. Incense can be anything fragrant, even dried grass, if that's all you can afford, or dried flowers from your yard/garden. It doesn't have to be the heavy imported-from-India stuff, it just needs to smoke and smell at least not noxious, it's the smoke that's the important part, not the incense itself.
Sometimes people forget that it's the thought behind the ritual, not the actions themselves. Really, you only need yourself, and that's always with you!

Revenge of the Chickens!

Last night saw the capture of the second possum hanging about eating our eggs. #1 was a cute little baby, all clean and fuzzy with a pink shiny tail. Last night, not so much. Our uninvited guest was about 8 pounds, and the typical possum dirty. I'm hoping to get the huge one tonight, we'll see how things go!

Food Porn 101

Since a good majority of my blog is about food, I've decided to start a food blog, and viola! Dragon's Food Porn was hatched! The blog will be dedicated to good food of any kind, and we might even throw in the occasional junk food as well. Enjoy!

Water and green and sprouts, oh my!

With the much needed rain this last week, we're finally seeing some life in the gardens again! A few hardy naked lady lillies have sprung up, and in the veggie garden radishes, greens, purple pod beans, Brussels sprouts and cabbages are all making an appearance. We've missed greens this summer the most I think, since I pretty much refused to buy the sad, wilted and bug chewed offerings at the stores. The rain catchers are all full, which means about 3 weeks of water at this point. I'm hoping to have enough catchers next year to cover a month or more of garden water.
Recipe of the Week will be a little late this week, as someone forgot to take the camera out of his gaming bag, and I didn't have access to it until today. Check for recipe posting tomorrow, a quick preview: Sun Dried Tomato Pesto. There, that should hold you till I get it posted!

Twig Thighs? Bad News!

A new study suggests ppl with thin thighs are more likely to die of heart disease. I think I'm good then.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/03/2052314.aspx

The Return of the Crock Pot!

Thanks to my son and husband, I got a brand new smaller crock pot for my birthday this year. The one I had was huge, old and a bitch to wash, since I have small sinks. Today I'm going to try cooking part of a brisket, I figure even if it isn't great as itself, I can always throw it back in with some barbque sauce and make sandwiches.
Today is Experiment #2 on the great clotted cream debate. Now that Sister #1 has retired, she's looking for something to fill her days, so we are embarking on cooking together. Cutting back on eating out will save her more than she thinks. Since she lives in the other half of the state, and Texas isn't a small place, we'll be doing things seperately and compairing notes. Should be fun!

OK, so it wasn't REALLY clotted cream!

This morning I tried my mock clotted cream, and while is was ok, I definitely didn't turn cartwheels like my sisters. So, either they had something closer to the real thing, or what they had was better than what I made. I'm gonna bit the bullet and try the whipped butter/sour cream combo, and see if I like it any better. Personally, I think just a nice batch of home made whipped butter would be better, but maybe if I ever get to go to Devonshire, I'll change my mind!

The Quest for clotted cream

My sister, who experienced her first British afternoon tea last year, has been on me to find/invent a recipe for clotted cream, which can't actually be made here in the U.S., due to the fact that you can't legally buy unpasteurized milk, and according to both sisters, the jarrred version sucks big hairy dog balls. So I'm trying a substitute involving simmering heavy whipping cream in a double boiler until it's reduced by half and forms a crust. Another version I found was basically home made butter mixed with sour cream and a little sugar, but I'm a bit skeptical about that one after reading the reviews. I also ran across a vegan version which doesn't even bear mentioning here, as it was too scary. I'll post tomorrow once the cream is done. Guess this means I'll have to make scones!

Garden 2.0

Now that the temp has dropped (finally) into the not-100's, it's time to attempt the fall garden. This will actually be my first fall garden I planted on purpose, instead of just having things that survived the summer. I've missed being able to walk outside and pick fresh food for supper. Hopefully we'll at the very least have some greens, as the ones in the store just don't have the same taste as fresh from the garden ones. I did manage to nurse one tomato plant through the drought, altho it never bloomed. I'm hoping the cooler weather will revive it enough to get something out of it. We'll see.