Veggie Invasion!

 Made a haul on produce today at the HEB! Fall, such as it is this far south, has brought a bit cooler temps, and the fall veggies are arriving in the stores.

 I was able to pick up enough to process for storage. The pantry has been pretty bare for the last several weeks with the drought and the craptacular economy. For the first time since the 1970's, I am seeing gaps on the grocery store shelves. Lots of them. Time to get busy and get the fall garden planted.  Makes me want to get chickens again when I saw the HUGE open spots in the egg section today. If my urban homesteading friend makes good on her threat to learn poultry processing, I will be raising chickens, quail and ducks for the table, no reason not to. I suspect meat will go on sale big time in the next 3 months, as there will not be enough feed to overwinter the livestock, and more than usual will get slaughtered. I'm hoping that I will be able to restock the freezer, or I see much beans in our future, not that it is a bad thing! Too bad I don't eat fish, I would so aquafarm.

 Food prices continue to rise as well. With the economic downturn, many people are going quietly hungry. The bad thing is, when they can't take their children crying any more, they will rise up, and there will be a revolution. Like many revolutions, there are those of us working behind the scenes to try to change things, if only in our own small sphere. I have not had much luck gardening the last 2 years, weather has been against us. I did a small scale experiment last year and grew tomatoes, squash and basil hydroponically in the house. The small scale worked beautifully, and I am going to set up a light and bump it up this winter. I miss having a greenhouse! One thing I really liked is there is little in the way of insect problems, and what there was I controlled with food grade diatomacious earth and one application of organic bug spray. Even being able to produce a small amount of your own food is good all the way around, for you and the environment.