Rant about my ignorant mom.

nocar · Intermediate Crude Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Posts: 689

MortifiedP said

"Unfortunately, the neighborhood rules say you can't plant vegetables, which doesn't make a damn bit of sense. "

I totally agree with you. But you have to be smart. There is a veggie the British call "runner beans" which has pretty flowers. In Sweden, people plant it for the flowers, the British eat the green beans. Plant it and call it ornamental. There are also kale varieties that look like ornamental plants. There are probably others. Squash has big, pretty flowers too. Sunflowers - you can eat the seeds. And jerusalem artichokes - tall plants with yellow flowers, you eat the root part. Do you have a patio or balkony where you can have a tomato plant in a container? A container plant needs regular water, though, so you can not leave it for long.

Teenagers are supposed to be behavioral neighborhood terrors, breaking all the rules. How wonderful to be able to make a statement just by digging into the ground, planting a potatoe! Are your mother very afraid of what the neighbors will say? You must have her on your side before doing a growing-veggies-rebellion. Aside from caring about your relationship, your plants are defenseless if she gets mad and pulls them up. Can it be science project?

Good luck, and tell us what happens.

ararboin · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 241

mortifiedpenguin · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 119

^^

Good ideas. Come to think of it, I don't know how they (the people in charge of the neighborhood) would find out anyway. They don't ever check or anything.

My mom has planted sunflowers before. Pretty tall ones, too. I've got a deck at the back of my house, with a large sliding glass door. Maybe I could take advantage of that and turn it into an effective passive solar system. Tear up the carpet, put those special warming bricks there, and BAM! Cheaper heating.

Back to the deck, my mom's already got plants out there as I speak. I can see them from here. I'll try the decorative plants idea. Oh, and there's a medium-sized tree in our backyard. I'm not sure what kind. It has thin, swaying branches, and they're all pointed upwards, none hang down. And there's small leaves growing from the branches. I don't think our yard's big enough to grow a fruit tree. It would have to be a small one. And somehow I don't think my mom would take too kindly to me chopping her precious tree down.

Any suggestions?

Budmeister · Tar Sands Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 37

I'm probably alone in this or one of very few, that believe that the absolutely very best thing you can do is to educate yourself. In this day and age knowledge is free or very cheap, the internet, your library, bookstores, etc. You can never really own anything that you can't hold in your arms and run away with. Thats not to say that you shouldn't have a few weeks or months of food and water stored at all times. But no matter how well you plan, stock, store, hoard your supplies, someone stronger, meaner, tougher can and will take them from you when TSHTF. Knowledge is the one thing no one can steal from you. Start out on the lowest rung of the ladder, learn to make fire without matches, learn to construct expedient shelters, learn to identify at least a half dozen tasty and nutritious wild edible plants in your area. Realize that that fat little dog waddling down the alley, the old lady down the street with 21 cats on her front porch, all those plump pidgeons strutting around the park benches, all and I mean all, are excellent sources of free protein. For Pete's sake don't kill anyone's pet NOW, I'm talking when TSHTF. You'll be amazed how quickly you can learn and how comforting it is knowing that you can survive the same way people did for thousands of years. And when you feel comfortable playing "caveman" kick it up a notch. There's a world of knowledge to be gathered and shared pertaining to gardening, farming, animal husbandry, carpentry, power generation, etc. There are some extremely knowledgeable people on this board and most will help you willingly with any questions you have. Just don't assume that because you don't have solar panels on your roof, 2 years worth of freeze-dried food, or 10 thousand rounds of ammo stored in your concrete fall-out shelter, that means you're gonna die. Bullcrap! The more you can learn NOW, the better you can live LATER.

mortifiedpenguin · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 119

^^ Damn right!