Just a couple hints while thinking toward the garden growing season.

Smash those eggshells as fine as you can and then add it to your potting soil or garden area. Not only are they jammed with nutrients, they also aerate the soil.

This I picked up from a grand parent- dig a hole between rows in your garden and put all your veggie scraps in it. Anything un-cooked, still has it’s nutrients and you can feed your garden with it, instead of loading up the garbage can.

I use Diatomaceous Earth (food grade) to curb the insects in the garden. It’s harmless to your plants and yourself. You can pick it up at the feed store in just about any quantity, up to a 50# bag.

Leaves covered with the kaolin clay are ignored by many common pests, and those that do nibble on clay-coated leaves usually move on. Organically grown produce that has traces of a dusty off-white residue was probably treated with kaolin clay. You can pick up kaolin clay from a pottery supply.

The oldest and best known of biological pesticides is Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. kurstaki), which remains a top remedy for leaf-eating caterpillars. Bt is based on a naturally occurring soil bacterium that causes the insect’s gut to rupture several hours after it eats it. A newer biological pesticide called spinosad is a fermented brew of two naturally occurring bacteria, and it slowly paralyzes insects after they eat it.

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What if you only needed your car for that occasional trip to the grocery store? Suppose your livelihood depended on what you did right there on your own property, every day?

You sure could live cheaper, that’s for sure. You could raise chickens and sell the eggs. Get enough chickens and enough market and you’d need nothing else.

Some folks raise goats for both the mild and the meat. The idea is to aim for the basic needs. Food is a huge basic need.

Living in a more desert territory, I would have to supplement the diet with feed from the farm and ranch supply. I sat down one day and ran the figures. With 100 laying hens, I could pay for their feed and still bring in over $300 per month profits. Imagine if I had 300 laying hens.

I don’t mean a barn with cooped up chickens. I’m talking about ranging chickens who are healthy and happy. Of course, with 100 hens, you’d need at least an acre of ranging space.

When the economy takes a nose dive, it’s those who grow their own, who will survive, much the same as at any other time. That is, of course, unless they have loans to pay on the property.

The more you can do on your own, to cut out that item on the weekly list, the more self sufficient you become.

Just gardening and canning can take a huge bite out of that grocery bill. That’s something you can do and still drive yourself to a job, every day.

You can learn how to sew and learn how to cut costs on clothing.

It all seems like a lot of work but the truth is, when you set aside time slots for these things, it can happen easier than you think.

Today, people rely way too much on others to supply their needs. Suppose the fuel got too expensive and half the trucks stopped running because of it. Who will still have plenty to eat? The guy with the garden and the woman who cans.

Flour can keep for ages, in the freezer and you can make bread anytime. Dried beans last for years.

You can find many ways to ween yourself from the grocery store, even if you live in the city. Just look around you and brain storm.

I love Mother Earth News. There’s one publication that has, for years, taught various ways to do things for yourself. If you’re curious, check out http://motherearthnews.com  You could be busy for months, just reading and learning.

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