Spring means gardens.

Been working on my garden plans for this summer.  Today I planted my first seedlings.  Ever, I think.  Some containers I have for my seedlings are planted with old seeds I collected or packages I bought in previous years.  I still want to try them, but there's no guarantee they will sprout.  I tried doing direct planting with others last year and it didn't turn out well.  This year I am trying "official" seedling planting.  I am also trying them without the soaking option to see if they are still viable.  If they don't work, I will be buying starts at the stores.

I have collected several old plastic containers to try this year.  Burned holes in the bottoms for drainage.  Now I have to figure out the soil I need.  I already have a list of things to consider, like bagged mulch or shavings, bagged manure, and several kinds of bagged dirt.

I probably already shared this in another post.    

I think I have one more sunny day before the rains come back.  Will have to get all this done before it gets wet and muddy and cold.

I'm trying another new option for me -- having my seedlings outside, in the empty storage containers.  This will be like one of those early planting boxes for outside... where they have a window section on top, one that can be lifted during the day for air.  I have a plastic sheet over mine.  I plan to remove it, or prop it up somehow, for air flow every day.  This is another gardening experiment for me.

Today I also trimmed the berry patch we have here.  I cleaned up some of the ground around the blackberry plants and then laid some ground cloth under it.  I still need more landscape pins to secure the entire space.  Or I may do some other things to keep the area covered... straw, shavings, bark mulch, dirt, or ???  Before I buy something to do that, I still need to get the supplies for making support poles for the patch.  

My main goal has been to keep the berries up high, for easier picking and more berries.  I watched several videos on YouTube this month about putting in supports and they also had information about how to prune the vines.  I could have watched these videos long ago but I didn't think of doing a search for it.  I was using what was around here and didn't really see YouTube as a source for that kind of information.  I also didn't have funds to buy anything.  FYI - There are LOTS of videos to watch.  I discovered some of them this season.

This year my theme is to use up as many of my collected supplies as possible, which includes finishing all the projects I have planned to do.  The berry patch is one of those projects.

I haven't really created a lot of food with my garden efforts.  This is why I am trying larger containers this year.  I don't know how much food I could make for myself, but I am trying to learn how to grow more.  Fresh produce is so much better than store bought, even store organic foods.  If you can take it from the garden and eat it right away, it is very different than buying it and then making it into something you eat.

I understand that Farmer's Markets and CSA's are almost like getting the food right away, but not always.  Some seasonal foods are stored for selling later, even in CSA's.  Usually this is a winter CSA issue, for potatoes and things like that.  Organic is still better than not organic.

I don't know about Farmer's Market foods.  I can only afford them when I get the Senior Farm Checks -- about 8 small payment vouchers that can only be used at Farm Markets and only for produce (not processed farm products like meats and canned or packaged foods).

These kinds of foods are pretty much out of my budget range.  I found one SMALL CSA in the local area, that delivered, so I tried it.  I hope to one day afford a permanent CSA, but I have a lot of things that need to fit into my budget.  

Organic at the grocery store is my reachable goal.

I would like to end this with a statistic I found in a USA Facts email today ::

Federal Minimum Wage is still $7.25 an hour.  Forty (40) hours equals about $15,000 a year at that wage (BEFORE taxes).  The 2023 poverty level for a single person under 65 was $15,852.

Throughout the entire USA, the median gross income was $58,140.

That's a big difference.

My income is less than $10,000, and includes my Social Security Retirement Benefits and SNAP food assistance.  I think I have only gone above $10,000 in wages once in my life.  I understand poverty, homelessness, programs, missions, subsidized housing, and all the other parts of urban (and some rural) needs.  Poverty is hard.

As all these national crises happen, Christians will need to find support in their churches and in their communities.  If they don't have a church, can't get to the places where help can be found, seniors will suffer alone in their homes.  I don't know what we can do to stop that from happening, but elderly and disabled people often don't have anyone caring for/about them.

I hope you will try to notice your neighbors, set up pantries in your churches, and find ways to make it less hard for people who have never needed help to reach out for it.

May GOD guide us as we pass into any hard time ahead of us.