Courts Charge Mother of 555-Pound Boy

You're also forgetting how much money you could be making at working a job when you're out there weeding, tilling, planning, harvesting and watering.

Lot fee... Utility bills... transportation costs...
 
souggy said:
You're also forgetting how much money you could be making at working a job when you're out there weeding, tilling, planning, harvesting and watering.

Lot fee... Utility bills... transportation costs...
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weeding does not take that long. There is this really cool thing called rain. :giggle: you can save rain in trash cans if your tight on bills. Use the rain to water the plants.

Tilling takes place when you plant the seeds. You don't have to do that everyday. Harvesting takes some time, but .. like tilling it does not happen everyday.

Plants grow all by themselves. They grow abundantly with a little extra help.


I kind of feel like I am arguing in that movie "Idiocracy" against the guy who screams "Water?!! You mean the stuff they put in toilets? It doesn't even have electrolytes!!"
 
souggy said:
I feel like I am arguing with an amateur who just started gardening who don't know how to feed a family of four.
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You do know there are ways to prevent weeds from growing right? It does not involve chemicals.

Sorry if you feel you are arguing with an amateur. I learned how to garden when I was old enough to pick beans. I think I was 3 or 4.

I used to grow watermelons every summer when i was growing up (and corn ... lots of corn).

Country folk are a different breed my friend.
 
Steinhauer said:
You do know there are ways to prevent weeds from growing right? It does not involve chemicals.

Sorry if you feel you are arguing with an amateur. I learned how to garden when I was old enough to pick beans. I think I was 3 or 4.
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do you have a family? own a car with your own money? pay for rent plus utilities? all those with minimum wage?
 
I make more than minimum wage. But I get your point Jiro. The only "real" problem I see is a lack of available land (community gardens come into play) lack of money (free seeds are available) or lack of time (a family of FOUR!!!)

I learned how to pick vegetables when I was 3 or 4. A family of four can certainly find time to do this.

There was a time before electricity, a time before fast food. How the heck did those poor people survive? :hmm:

When I was a kid, the old timers all had gardens. They also preserved their own food. No one does that anymore. Well, not with a KFC around the corner.

edit: I can still remember helping my grandmother can food. It was usually when the whole family was together. We all helped out. Shelling butter beans and stuff.


I am assuming people would look at you like your crazy if they saw your family doing this today. It used to be very normal.
 
Steinhauer said:
I make more than minimum wage. But I get your point Jiro. The only "real" problem I see is a lack of available land (community gardens come into play) lack of money (free seeds are available) or lack of time (a family of FOUR!!!)

I learned how to pick vegetables when I was 3 or 4. A family of four can certainly find time to do this.

There was a time before electricity, a time before fast food. How the heck did those poor people survive? :hmm:

When I was a kid, the old timers all had gardens. They also preserved their own food. No one does that anymore. Well, not with a KFC around the corner.
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You're also forgetting inflation, especially with the housing costs. Ever since spouses started using double-income to afford more luxury goods, the cost of living went way way way up in response to the abundance of new-found "wealth."

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
 
souggy said:
You're also forgetting inflation, especially with the housing costs. Ever since spouses started using double-income to afford more luxury goods, the cost of living went way way way up in response to the abundance of new-found "wealth."
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why am I reminded of the grasshopper and the ant?
 
Steinhauer said:
I make more than minimum wage. But I get your point Jiro.
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so do I. You and I have the luxury to do it but many do not. Many are riddled with debt from A to Z, 0-9.

Steinhauer said:
The only "real" problem I see is a lack of available land (community gardens come into play) lack of money (free seeds are available) or lack of time (a family of FOUR!!!)

I learned how to pick vegetables when I was 3 or 4. A family of four can certainly find time to do this.
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yes they can..... if they have money in the first place.... which many poor families don't. They're lucky to have at least 2 meals a day consecutively.

Steinhauer said:
There was a time before electricity, a time before fast food. How the heck did those poor people survive? :hmm:

When I was a kid, the old timers all had gardens. They also preserved their own food. No one does that anymore. Well, not with a KFC around the corner.
Click to expand...
I know right? those good ole' time is long gone. It's precisely what President FDR was preaching about - self-sufficiency and preserving the nature. You know that FDR was an environment fanatic. He was raging war against Rockefeller (the Oil Man) but unfortunately... we lost to Fat Cats. Our food industry is controlled by the few powerful people. The processed food have gotten so cheap and readily available 24/7 that there's no real incentive or motivation to produce your own food.

Here's something related to this -

How the power of oil dogged former presidents, and could tar Obama - CNN.com
"We've had cheap oil for such a long time that's it's very hard for the average consumer to see why they shouldn't be entitled to it forever," Roberts says.

But Koehn, the Harvard historian, says Obama could learn from Teddy Roosevelt.

Roosevelt campaigned relentlessly against Rockefeller, who had transformed Standard Oil into a monopoly through ruthless business practices. The president conducted whistle-stop tours, wrote op-ed pieces, invited industry leaders to the White House to talk about the danger of an oil company gaining too much power.
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"What is humanly possible and politically possible are two different things," Heinberg says. "We've lived without oil for thousands of years until the last century so, yes, we can do it.

"But the transition is going to be wrenching unless we prepare for it. We should have prepared for it but we blew it."
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Steinhauer said:
I am assuming people would look at you like your crazy if they saw your family doing this today. It used to be very normal.
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not at all. it's a growing trend but slow. The Lost Art of Gardening & Self-Sufficiency is making a slow comeback since more and more people have become more aware about the food they're eating.

that's why we've got rooftop gardening and weekly farmers' market events
 
Even though I am not a member of the Green Party, they do have some valid points.

Everyone is hurting right now - even those who normally can afford luxuries are having to cut back.

I am seeing houses that sold for $175,000 2 years ago up for sale for $85,000 and no one is buying. My sister's family foreclosed on their house (they have 3 children) and "couponing" is getting them by. Her husband has grand mal seizures, had one on the job, and was let go (yes, illegal, but they got away with it).

People get downright ugly in ugly times. Self-sufficiency has to be "re-learned" for those of us who forgot all about it. I talk about this with my grandmother all the time - she survived the Great Depression.


She tells me every chance she gets .... "the signs are all there, its happening again".
 
Steinhauer said:
Even though I am not a member of the Green Party, they do have some valid points.

Everyone is hurting right now - even those who normally can afford luxuries are having to cut back.

I am seeing houses that sold for $175,000 2 years ago up for sale for $85,000 and no one is buying. My sister's family foreclosed on their house (they have 3 children) and "couponing" is getting them by. Her husband has grand mal seizures, had one on the job, and was let go (yes, illegal, but they got away with it).

People get downright ugly in ugly times. Self-sufficiency has to be "re-learned" for those of us who forgot all about it. I talk about this with my grandmother all the time - she survived the Great Depression.


She tells me every chance she gets .... "the signs are all there, its happening again".
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sorry to hear about your sister's family :( but on that subject - "couponing" in order to feed the family? why not grow her own food like you suggested?
 
Jiro said:
"couponing" in order to feed the family? why not grow her own food like you suggested?
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Hard to till out a garden if you may not have a yard. If you live in an apartment, you may not even have a patio to hang one of those upside down tomato planters on.

My landlord won't allow gardening. We're not even allowed to trim the trees without talking to them first. We discussed container gardening with them and were given permission for 1 'half barrel' planter as long as we didn't put it on the grass (we don't have a patio).
 
WeeBeastie said:
Hard to till out a garden if you may not have a yard. If you live in an apartment, you may not even have a patio to hang one of those upside down tomato planters on.

My landlord won't allow gardening. We're not even allowed to trim the trees without talking to them first. We discussed container gardening with them and were given permission for 1 'half barrel' planter as long as we didn't put it on the grass (we don't have a patio).
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sorry to hear. that's hardly good incentive to do your own gardening :(
 
Steinhauer said:
I make more than minimum wage. But I get your point Jiro. The only "real" problem I see is a lack of available land (community gardens come into play) lack of money (free seeds are available) or lack of time (a family of FOUR!!!)

I learned how to pick vegetables when I was 3 or 4. A family of four can certainly find time to do this.

There was a time before electricity, a time before fast food. How the heck did those poor people survive? :hmm:

When I was a kid, the old timers all had gardens. They also preserved their own food. No one does that anymore. Well, not with a KFC around the corner.

edit: I can still remember helping my grandmother can food. It was usually when the whole family was together. We all helped out. Shelling butter beans and stuff.


I am assuming people would look at you like your crazy if they saw your family doing this today. It used to be very normal.
Click to expand...

I come from those times/era. On a small farm. By the time I was 12, I was in charge of my very own half acre(or was it an acre)garden. Those were the days......
 
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