Accessible Gardening: #21 Practical Matters for Phsically Challenged Gardeners, 1 by Agavegirl1

Agavegirl1 wrote:
Hi guys :D

Got a moment before Hurricane Dunsing swings into action for the day. Grocery shopping today. YIPPEE. Believe it or not this is one task both Dave and I relish as we both love to cook and eat. Which reminds me, I may be joining you on that diet. Stepped on the scale and discovered I need to lose 6 pounds. YIKES! My own fault as I forget I am neither as active nor as physically big as my husband so I can\'t eat like he does or some of the same stuff he does. Ooops. Yes, I\'m a weight Nazi. If not 6 pounds can quickly morph into 16. I like myself at 110-107. Besides at middle age, no matter what you weigh or how thin you are we all get that middle aged pudge that just doesn\'t budge despite our best efforts. Like an older house things have a way of shifting, moving and settling and never in a way we like. Grrrrr!

Can\'t offer up much on the way of diets except for what has helped me lose a tremendous amount of weight without trying. My \'diet\' may not work for others and we all gotta find something that makes us happy, fulfilled (and filled...LOL), and not want to rip someone\'s arm off and beat them with it. :D

Jim...
As for Sausage have you thought about making your own?

I grind my own meat. Weston meat grinder. You know the old fashioned ones that grandma owned that were heavy metal, shaped like a broad funnel and clamped to the counter with the hand crank. Remember those? It even includes a booklet on how to make and season your own sausage and I\'m sure you can find where to buy casings on line.

This way you get to avoid all that yucky preservatives and crap they put in the grocery store stuff. Cost less than $125.00 too. Small, easy to store and comes apart for cleaning (unlike the meat packing plant\'s) and easy to put together. Only drawback...HEAAAAVY! Don\'t drop the sucker. You won\'t hurt it but you\'ll cripple yourself if it hits your foot. No joke.

Reason I got one was due to the pink slime thing with the 90/10 beef. Here it is you think you\'re buying a great product and it is nothing but garbage literally (scraps and by products that were typically used for dog food) and paying a premium for it. Oh it is technically beef since it does come from a cow. It is 90% lean. Thus it can be sold and priced as such.

Read up on a company called BPI on Wikipedia. They make the stuff. You\'ll get the full account of exactly WHAT pink slime is and EXACTLY how it is \'mechanically separated\' and just what YOU ARE eating. EWWWWWWWWWW!

BTW most grocery stores have removed this product due to consumer outrage but be warned Wal Mart still sells it and \'someone else\' is who feeds us IS using it because BPI is up and running again.

Husband no longer laughs at my \'paranoia\' but goes along with it. He has kitchen duty in the prison frequently and literally watches the pink, square block of chicken(?) or hamburger(?) that gets boiled and reconstituted to take on the texture and appearance of the real meat.
That\'s what the inmates get fed. (If that is any consolation there is some justice in the world in regards to crime and punishment).

My philosophy is if I can\'t identify it on a meat chart I don\'t and won\'t buy it. What part of the cow exactly is \'hamburger\'? What part of the chicken is \'nuggets\' and \'patties\' and \'fingers\'? I found out. You really don\'t want to know unless you care to satisfy some morbid curiosity. Fish I only but in fillets. I\'ll mince it up myself and make my own fish patties or nuggets, etc. I grind my own pork to. (Pork sirloin roast or boneless pork sirloin chops...and into the grinder they go!)

I no longer buy hamburger at all. For the same price pound for pound I now buy a chuck or sirloin roast and grind it myself to make hamburger. Tastes better too! Oh and it isn\'t pink slime. Nothing like watching some of those scary documentaries to persuade you to invest in your own meat grinder!

So is that old fashioned meat grinder and making home made sausage sounding better by the minute? Sure hope so.

If not I\'ll provide you more details and some links on how your food compares to dog food (Exact same ingredients and percentages except they are nice enough to label dog food \'not fit for human consumption\' unlike YOUR food.). Viva big business and lack of government interference.

Now on to plants....

I wasn\'t aware that Armagia was a co-op. That\'s wonderful that you receive the help and contributions in terms of equipment and materials as I know that can often be the most expensive part of any garden/farm.

I\'m also flattered by the offer of a garden due to my super small plant contributions I made. Very touched by it. Thank you so much for that. I\'ll definitely have to send you more plants then to justify having the garden in my name.

I\'ll post some pics and you let me know if I can send the plants. I know many of these things will thrive in your climate and you\'ll enjoy them and they grow fast. They are fun to look at and easy to prune and make new starts from should they get out of hand.

Funny you mentioned a summer garden. In my brain fart thinking between Ohio and Arizona some how I didn\'t compute the fact that the desert means flowers don\'t grow here. I figured heat and sun. Never fully grasped the concept of exactly how what heat and sun means in Arizona or what the soil, if you call it that, would be like out here until I experienced it for myself. Needless to say I got an incredibly rude awakening as did my hair and the first round of plants I bought!

Enjoy the fragrances for me. I do miss things that \'smell\' nice or where the blooms last more than 3 days. I love anything. Tiger lilies that are orange with the brown spots and Stargazer lilies are my favorites.

In honor of you guys I\'ll call my 14\'L x 1\'6\" W bubble bed the Armagia Cacti Bubble Bed. I\'ll also have to find a plant to name after Fenny. Pick one from my yard and that will be what I call it on the cacti and succulent forum. I\'ll tell them it is some kind of hybrid :D

Or better yet....I\'ll photograph some cacti and plants as I see them and you let me know if you like them. I\'ll add them to my garden just for you guys.

Carrie.........
If you\'d like a plant I\'ll name one after you as well. Uh...the one I separated all those pups from is looking a little more than unhappy and partially dead. I don\'t think it is going to make it. :[ Something told me not to do that but I followed a friend\'s advice on the other forum.

He works in a state botanical park and has years of experience. I\'ve been at this a year and have regular plant homicides. Big difference on how to dig up, separate and heal mom afterwards.

Speaking of plant illnesses, my pole cacti has caught something nasty. I think it is a bug as it is boring holes into the cacti at various spots. Can\'t \'see\' anything and may have to do a \'biopsy\'. Weird thing is the cacti is growing and producing new arms. I\'d hate to get rid of it as it is the only pole cacti I have and in 1 year has grown from 1.5 feet to 5.0 feet! It comes up to my nose. I\'m 5\'3\"

Congrats on that Peony Kay!!! Good job. Such wonderful and dreamy plants both color and scent wise. Never tire of them as my grandmother had a whole row up against her house. Only problem she had was black ants liked the flowers.

Looking forward to the picture of it.

Also thanks for the compliments on Zoe. She is perfect for us. Not a day goes by where she does not make us smile, laugh or show affection and gratitude for us. Still a PITA and a prima donna but best dog we\'ve ever owned. Glad we could give her a home as so many are in need of them now. Happy to report they closed down the Tucson dog track.

I am glad to hear Fenny is doing well. I have hoped she would improve. I know how much she means to you all and just how special her being there is to you and adds to your lives. Unconditional friendship is precious and rare.
Keep me updated on her.

Tons of things to do today so got to get going. Tons of things to do tomorrow so I\'ll probably be MIA. Need to make shade tents for the plants.

AZ weather forecast: today 101. Th 108. And no these aren\'t typos: Fri 114, Sat 117, and Sun 115, Mon 113. Then the big chill for Tues and Wed at 104.

Songs for the day: Martha and the Vandellas: \"Heat Wave\" and the Beatle\'s \"Good Day Sunshine\".

BTW perfect names for the lilies. Yellow one, \'Sunshiny Day\' as that was the first thing that came to mind when I looked at it. And \'Perfect Pink Lipstick\' which is what I thought when I saw the second! LOL

Hugs. Peace. Out.
TTC