A Welcome Need for a Second Expanded Reply.

foodgardenkitchen, In regards to the comment you shared about the previous expanded reply, I would like to say "Thanks for your two cents." If everyone gave their two cents worth, we could make change.

I agree with you about the Homeowners Associations. I also agree with you that "wholesale shifts take time". That is exactly why the United Nations started the push for sustainable development way back in 1992. Look at where it has come to today.

As far as "...then they embrace zoning and the ability local governments have over land uses...", that won't even come into play with sustainable development. There will not be any private property left after sustainable development is fully implemented. That is part of the UN's Agenda 21 Protocol.

In an effort to further exemplify what is taking place city by city, please read the following:

"In Denver, Colorado during a 2009 climate change rally a NOAA scientist spoke advocating the shutdown of American growth and reducing population while lowering the standard of living per capita of US families in line with the more meager standards of living shared by our third world country neighbors as being a justifiable way of attaining “Sustainable Development”.

"The Agenda 21 strategy is direct and to the point concerning its ultimate goals.

1) The establishment of agencies, on international, nationwide, and local levels to enforce the UN directives implementing a world order with its own objectives.

2) The disillusion [sic] of all rights among citizens by their nation states according to their individual constitutions, including the United States. The end of unalienable rights.

3) Population reduction by a number of means including abortion.

4) Abolishment of all property rights-no more private property ownership.

5) Ending consumerism and free enterprise.

6) Industries not seen as sustainable are dairy, meat production, farmland, grazing land for cattle, golf courses, ski lodges, fossil fuel energy, paved roads, commercial agriculture, and irrigation."


Published public information in Texas goes on further to state:

"Dallas A ICLEI City? Why?
The International Council Of Local Environmental Initiatives has some 600 United States cities among its membership. In 1994 the ICLEI made a bid to pass the Biological Diversity Treaty which was withdrawn from the United Nations floor. Although this push for the UN control of cities seemed defeated, it was instead implemented under a new label, “Local Governments For Sustainability”.

Now many major cities such as Dallas and Plano, Texas are the unwitting partners in a scheme of globalism to remit the unmitigated control of citizen populations beneath the deceptive veneer of the United Nations. What many have embraced as seemingly innocent environmental preservation is, in fact, the Agenda 21 protocol.

The Agenda 21 proposals would hand over the rights of all citizens of world nations to an elitist group of United Nation oriented international bankers, billionaires, corrupted politicians, media moguls, and military leaders. All of these participating members under the Aegis of the UN and its environmental objectives have put together an alarming playbook of plans that when reviewed define a body of reprehensible collectivism.

Collectivism is a totalitarian form of governing we have already seen among many dictatorships and fascists throughout history who rationalize that the best interests of a group out weight [sic] the rights of a few."

"Education in schools [sic] systems will no longer be based upon objective reality, but upon a consensus or agreement on issues supported by government opinion. In a statement derived from Agenda 21 “those adults who have better education earn more money and as a result consume more. Therefore, higher education must be seen as detrimental to the Sustainable Development protocol.

I think it is clear that Dallas, Plano, and, for that matter, all US cities need to resist these abominable concepts that will lead to the end of freedom and the pursuit of happiness for all American citizens while opening the floodgates to a new world order (NWO). There are many politicians in the US now supporting the Agenda 21 proposals, and they must be stopped. Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado is a supporter of this agenda for example. We have educational board members of the Dallas Junior Colleges who are supporters. It is time to act before it’s too late."

Continue reading on Examiner.com DALLAS, TEXAS UNDER UN CONTROL: HOW? - Dallas TEA Party | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/tea-party-in-dallas/dallas-texas-under-un-control-how#ixzz1TSQbSER0

Thanks for sharing your comment on my blog post that addresses this critical issue.

Have a wonderful free day!
Veggie PAK

Harvest Totals To Date for the Year 2011.

I thought I would give you a rundown on the pounds I have harvested so far this calendar year.

Green Beauty Snow Peas............    .75

Horseradish ................................   2.50

Chives ........................................    .25

Grapes, Reliance Red ................    .56

Grapes, Himrod White ..............   1.06

Grapes, Glenora Blue ................   2.75

Blueberries ................................   2.47

Collards ..................................... 12.50

Swiss Chard ..............................   9.75

Broccoli ....................................   7.50

Beet Greens ..............................   2.50

San Marzano Tomatoes ...........     .44

Parks Whopper Tomatoes .......   9.13

Roma Tomatoes ......................   2.00

Big Boy Tomatoes ..................   5.00

Sorrell .....................................    1.91

Green Bell Peppers .................    0.50

Giant Marconi Peppers ...........  11.13

Sweet Banana Peppers ...........     6.77

Green Onions .........................     0.31

Whiteout Sweet Corn ............     1.00

Fortex Green Beans ...............   91.50

Harvest Total To Date: ..........  172.28 Pounds!

Thans for stopping by my blog.

Have a great gardening day!
Veggie PAK

An Expanded Reply to a Lengthy Comment Shared in the Previous Post.

Dear gardenvariety-hoosier,

Thank you so much for reading and considering my post, and for taking the time to articulate your point of view so clearly. I really appreciate the value of your input, and your willingness to engage in conversation about it.

I included the story about the woman and her garden in the front yard as just an example of how this kind of thing can slowly but methodically get out of control in the hands of bureaucrats. When people choose to live in established communities that have regulations in place beforehand, that is one thing. They know what they are getting and it is their right to decide if it works for them or not. When regulations are imposed on individuals who are not in private or organized communities (which by the way usually at least have a homeowner's association body of some kind for representation), that's another thing. Where is the equal representation when the government, local or national, has the final say?

As I see it, part of the issue is about regular people and self-responsibility. Folks tend to want immunity from the decisions of life that are sometimes hard. We want someone else to do it for us, because we don’t want to, or we think we’re so small: “I’m just me. How can I make a difference?” So we go to the voting booths and think that will handle the issues, at least until next time. We’ve basically hired a whole bunch of people to make the big decisions for us, and then we don’t watch what they do. We stop paying attention after Election Day. We let them handle it as they see fit and in the meantime unknowingly give away our freedoms.

I’m not talking about conspiracy, though some might call it that while others call it strategizing. What I’m talking about is good intentions potentially turning into instruments that rob us of our freedoms under the guise of words that mean different things to different people. “Sustainable development” is one such term.

“Sustainable development” has begun nationwide. It behooves us all to pay attention, read material from both sides of the fence and make ourselves knowledgeable enough to make intelligent decisions about it in our daily lives and in our own communities.

Part of that intelligence is awareness of who is doing what. You are absolutely right about Monsanto and “the extent to which this company has manipulated government which should be regulating them.” It is also vital to realize that there is sometimes precious little separation between “corporate” and “government.” Government agencies have been riddled with appointees that have ties to the very corporations with vested interests in such things as the “development” part of “sustained development.”  (An example is our Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, known to have close ties to biotech agribusiness and Monsanto in particular. Michael Taylor as a lawyer represented Monsanto, then went to the FDA, then the USDA, returned to Monsanto to become VP, and in 2009 was appointed “food czar,” senior advisor to the FDA commissioner.) Never mind separation of church and state, there is no longer separation between corporations and state, and while it may or may not be conspiratorial, the potential for conflicts of interest is monumental.

All I’m saying is we need to remain informed about what is occurring, and neither be pie-in-the-sky happy about “sustainability” when we hear it because we think “We’re green,” and “We love our planet,” nor be condemning of organizations aimed at fostering “sustainability” unless or until we know what exactly that means to them.  

Local governments may need to implement sustainable development policies but it’s about the controls put in place to enforce them. Expecting government to regulate things for our own good, even “sustainability,” is too much. We can do that ourselves on the smaller scale with communities such as described at the start of this post. We don’t need the government to do what is already being done in smaller ways by "We, the People". While they are setting up sustainability policies to guide the populace away from doing things like pouring crap down drains, who is policing them? What about companies exceeding their pollution discharge limits?

The issues are immense and multidimensional. I’m just saying please be aware that the people we have put in charge are proceeding unchecked right now. We should stay informed, at the very least.

To eliminate any doubt of the reality of this situation, I would invite everyone to simply perform an online search and type in the following:

"Agenda 21 in _______________________" (insert the name of any state here), and then read what the results are from the government sources for each reader's own state. 

gardenvariety-hoosier, again I thank you for your input and I appreciate you stopping by my blog.

Have a great day!
Veggie PAK

Sustainable Development or Sustainable Freedom. Do YOU Know the Difference?

First, let me ask you if you would do me a favor and read this post all the way through, for your freedom's sake if not for me. I came across an issue whose importance eclipses any of my Harvest Monday blog posts. Let me share it with you. I hope each person that has read my blog in the past will read this entire post in order to be aware of what is being put upon each of us and our children and grandchildren. This is the last post I will be making on this subject matter at this blog address.

In today's world, there are all kinds of bizzare news stories from around the globe. I came across one the other day about a woman that was jailed for growing vegetables on her front lawn. How many of us have veggies growing on our front lawns? Quite a few I would think. That article made me thankful that we aren't in some developing country with laws that can allow that to happen to private citizens. Or are we? This happened in Michigan, right here in the USA!

Here is her story from the HuffingtonPost.com:

"Julie Bass, of Oak Park, Michigan, wanted to grow her own food. She was a fan of organic vegetables, so she decided to convert her front yard from the grass-and-tree landscaping typical in her neighborhood into an edible garden. Because she had just torn up the front lawn to install a new sewer system, she had a perfect opportunity to start fresh. She planted cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs in raised wooden planters, and waited to reap her produce.

A neighbor didn't like her choice of landscaping. The neighbor called the city and complained that Bass's yard disrupted the look of the neighborhood. The city agreed, and issued Bass a ticket. Bass was offended. Organic produce is expensive. If she wants to grow her own, she reasoned, why shouldn't she be allowed to? She refused to change her yard. The city insisted; she lawyered up.
Now, with neither party being willing to back down, the case is likely to go to a jury trial. If Bass loses, she faces up to 93 days in jail."


Now that story leads right into the hot topic of "sustainable development," which sounds like what all of us veggie growers would support, right? However, Development vs. Freedom is the core issue. If you cherish your constitutional rights, you need to read the following information about what is taking place all across OUR Country.

Please read on...

"Sustainable Development or Sustainable Freedom"
By Henry Lamb

(Henry Lamb is the author of "The Rise of Global Governance," Chairman of Sovereignty International , and founder of the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO) and Freedom21, Inc.)

"Sustainable development is based on a set of principles found in Our Common Future, the report of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development.

Sustainable freedom is based on a set of principles found in the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress July 4, 1776.

Sustainable development is based on this belief:

"From space, we see a small and fragile ball dominated not by human activity and edifice but by a pattern of clouds, oceans, greenery, and soils. Humanity's inability to fit its activities into that pattern is changing planetary systems, fundamentally. This new reality, from which there is no escape, must be recognized — and managed." (Chapter 4.1)


Sustainable freedom is based on this belief:

"...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...."
Sustainable development is achieved when the recommendations contained in Agenda 21i are fully implemented.


Sustainable freedom is achieved when the U.S. Constitution is obeyed.

Sustainable development and sustainable freedom are mutually exclusive. Sustainable development produces a society managed by government to insure environmental protection, social equity, and equal economic opportunity. Sustainable freedom produces a government managed by society to protect individual freedom, private property, and the unalienable rights identified in the Declaration of Independence.

Sustainable development was endorsed by the United States in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush signed Agenda 21 at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. Sustainable Development came to the United States in 1993 when President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12852 which created the President's Council on Sustainable Development.

Throughout the Clinton years, the PCSD gave millions of dollars to non-profit organizations and to state and local governments to encourage the implementation of Agenda 21 at the state and local government levels. Nearly every community in the nation has now been the subject of a "visioning" process to create a "strategic plan" to achieve sustainable development.

With grants from the federal government (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the lead federal agency, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Economic and Community Development Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), the American Planning Association produced Growing Smart: Legislative Guidebook. This publication provided three model statutes and two model executive orders which states could adopt to convert the non-binding recommendations of Agenda 21 into state law.

Consequently, most states and local communities now have, or are in the process of creating, a county-wide plan to implement sustainable development. A common element in most of these communities is the complete ignorance of Agenda 21 and sustainable development among elected officials. In fact, when asked, elected officials frequently deny that their county's activities are related to Agenda 21 at all. This ignorance about Agenda 21 is deliberate. Gary Lawrence, former Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities at the University of Washington, and Chief Planner for the City of Seattle
told an audience in London that:

" In the case of the U.S., our local authorities are engaged in planning processes consistent with LA21 [Local Agenda 21] but there is little interest in using the LA21 brand.... So, we call our processes something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management or smart growth."
In the United States, sustainable development is delivered to local communities in the form of a comprehensive land use plan, with little or no mention of Agenda 21. Greenville County, SC recently updated their comprehensive land use plan under the banner: "Imagine Greenville County; Tomorrow's Vision Today." Several elected officials insisted that the exercise had nothing to do with Agenda 21. A rather casual analysis of the plan, however, provides direct documentation that both the process and the outcome prescribed by Agenda 21 were achieved in the plan.

Likewise, the officials in Bradley County, TN denied any relationship to Agenda 21 in the development of their "BCC-2035 Strategic Plan." A review of the plan in relation to Chapter 7 of Agenda 21, reveals that the plan is essentially an extension of Agenda 21, modified by local names and places.

There is no doubt that sustainable development in the United States is a concept that arose from the United Nations with the clear purpose of managing societies around the world to achieve environmental protection, equal economic opportunity, and social equity. The United States was founded on the principles of limited government, individual freedom, reward for individual achievement, and free markets that produce maximum prosperity. Government is imposing sustainable development and its inevitable government management. Only an informed, involved, and determined people can stop and reverse this erosion of freedom.

© Henry Lamb"


Thank you for reading this information that directly pertains to the loss of our cherished freedoms.

Share this information with your family and friends.

Thank You,
Veggie PAK

"Sustainable Development" and what it means for us.

This is a very different blog post about farm communities and the rest of us as individuals all over the world. I hope that no one is offended by its content. I intend for it to encourage people to check these things out for themselves. Remember, knowledge is power. If you don't think this is a real-live situation, look up the topics and see the progression of achievements heading us towards compliance with Agenda 21, the ultimate goal of the United Nations.

Look up what George Bush, Sr. and Bill Clinton each did utilizing "Executive Order" to further the goals of the U.N. pertaining to Agenda 21.

Last month, what Obama did with Executive Order 13575 establishing "Rural Councils" is still in the news. This is not fiction. What would the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FCC and many others have to do with farmers?

It is important that you draw your own conclusions.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14qDq7B9DwU&feature=uploademail

After you have listened to the above video and heard what Occidental College Professor of Politics, Caroline Heldman says about conspiracy theorists and nay sayers, you need to watch this next video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzEEgtOFFlM


This whole situation even has the attention of the Canada Free Press. Read their article about it.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/38489



It makes you wonder where Monsanto fits in with all of this. Will they finally control the farmers as they now control the politicians?

Thanks for letting me share this information.
Veggie PAK

Joe's Recipe for Stuffed Swiss Chard.

(from Veggie PAK's big brother, Joe)

 Mix three pounds of ground venison or beef, two pounds ground pork, two cups uncooked brown rice (the boil in a bag type), and a large Vidalia onion. [Using 73/27 beef will require removal of some of the liquid halfway through the cooking process. I (Veggie PAK) prefer 93/7 beef for this recipe. Then no draining is necessary.]

 Chop the onion as small as you prefer, but remember that they should be small enough to allow the wrapping process without an onion chunk sticking through the soft Swiss chard leaf.

 After you get the meat all set (the type you like) then add Adobo seasoning generously, about a half a teaspoon of black pepper, salt to taste, and any other spice you may like. This is a basic recipe but you can experiment with all sorts of variations.

Add one large egg and I like about half a cup or so of honey hickory barbeque sauce. That gives it a terrific flavor! Mix all these ingredients thoroughly, then get ready for the leaves.

Take about 30 or so medium to large Swiss chard leaves and wash them well under cold running water to get rid of any grit and the occasional bug. Cut off the extra stalk length where it meets the leaf. (those cut-off stalks are not used in this recipe.)

Then lay the leaf flat (on a plate or cutting board) and upside down, and with a paring knife slice off some of the thick stem by carefully pulling the knife towards yourself. The knife will have a tendency to go downwards and cut through the stem portion of the leaf. If you do it going away from yourself, you will probably slice through the leaf and ruin it for this recipe. You don't have to take the whole thick part off, just enough to make it pliable when heated. I prefer to take about half the thickness off to suit my own personal taste. Swiss chard gets VERY pliable, unlike cabbage which stays quite stiff. (You can see where I sliced through the stem of this one but didn't rip the leaf.)

Once the stem is thinned down, I put about 6 to 8 leaves in a large pot of boiling water and blanch them for about 30 to 45 seconds. They get limp very fast and are so easy to use.


(Veggie PAK Hint: Before I blanch the leaves, I stack them in the same direction directly on top of each other. That way, when you go to take them out, you can use tongs to grab the entire bunch at once by the thick end of the leaves and remove them from the water. Have a large flat plate on the stovetop (not on a burner) next to the pot in order to receive the leaves. Once I have the leaves in the tongs and let them drip off for a few seconds, then while over the plate and holding the tongs with the hot leaves in them, I make a quick upward motion and quickly come straight down so the leaves will be flat on the plate and scoot the bottom of the tongs out from under the leaves. The leaves will catch air and flatten out on the plate doing it this way. Much like a parachute. This makes it tremendously easier to roll the leaves. Bunched up soft leaves are almost impossible to pick out one at a time without ripping them up as they stick together because they're wet. I take the leaves one at a time and spread them out on a "folding plate" where I put the meat on and roll them up. You don't want to try to roll them up while stacked because they will get tangled and rip.)

 After they all have been blanched, take one leaf at a time and turn it upside down, put a nice sized meatball on the base of the stem and roll it up a couple of inches, then fold the sides in and finish rolling it up. It's SO much easier than cabbage or romaine lettuce. The taste is delicious! You can see in the pic where I put the meatball in on the right and I fold the leaves over as you see, then just roll it up going to the left in the pic.

 I prefer to cook mine uncovered in an aluminum cooking pan (about 10" by 10" available from the grocery store) at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. (Veggie PAK used a Corning Ware container.)

Here's an up-close look if it will help.

I think the ruby red leaves taste much better than the plain green leaves, but you can decide that for yourself when you try this recipe. (Veggie PAK used both kinds because that's what I had available.)
The chard turns to a little darker flat colored green when it cooks. I would have taken some pics of it, but I began sampling it instead!

I hope you like this recipe, but you can modify it to suit your personal preferences on spices and sauce.

Have a wonderful cooking day with the veggies you grow in your own garden!

Thanks for stopping by.
Veggie PAK

Our Harvest Monday for July 11th, 2011.

Our weekly harvest began with another 19 pounds of Fortex green beans picked on Thursday.

We are really thankful for the bountiful harvests of these delicious beans this year.

That harvest let me pressure can another 21 quarts of beans. One seal didn't take, so I put that jar in the refrigerator.

On Sunday just three days later, I went out and picked another nine and three quarter pounds of Fortex green beans. I have gotten 74.5 pounds of beans in just six pickings from 120 feet of total row length. There are still several hundred small beans still growing on the vines, so it's not over yet.

Our first Himrod grape harvest ever produced 1.06 pounds of these seedless grapes. I think this was the first and last picking of this type for this year. They are very sweet.

We also brought in our first harvest ever of Glenora seedless grapes. They weighed 2.75 pounds. We really had to fight the robins for these!


Harvests with no pics for this week:

Blueberries did well with .6 pounds. (6/10 lb.)
Sweet banana peppers weighed in at one pound with 19.
Giant Marconi Peppers were great with 27 weighing in at a total of 3 pounds.
Sweet Bell Peppers produced 4 fruits at 1/2 pound total.
Straight 8 cucumbers so far produced only one small cuc that weighed only 6 ounces.
A single Parks Whopper tomato at 7 ounces.
Whiteout sweet corn had two small ears at 7 ounces.


That concludes our harvest for this week.

Thanks to each and every visitor to my blog and also those that share their comments with me.

Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK

What Does 19 Pounds of Green Beans Look Like in Quart Jars?

This is just a short post to show the snap beans after going through the canning process. The beans were snapped the night before so I would have enough time to cook and cool three pressure canner loads to complete the processing of 21 quarts in one day. Don't they look good?

It sure was a full day!

We currently have 53 quarts of organic green beans that were canned this year. Now that might sound like a lot, but that's only one quart a week. When I cook the beans, whichever recipe I use usually takes at least two quarts for the number of people that will be eating them. That breaks down to using green beans in a recipe only once every two weeks. I better pick some more green beans!

Thanks for visiting and have a great gardening day!

Veggie PAK

Our 4th of July Harvest Monday.

Happy Independence Day!

(Now if we could just gain our independence from the corporations that have been allowed to rule this Country...)

Eleven and a half pounds of organic snap beans were picked on Tuesday of this week. The vines are covered with blossoms, so the harvest should be great.

All snapped and ready to be canned. This is a 16 inch diameter mixing bowl, nice and full.

After sterilizing the jars, it was easier to fill a canner load's worth of jars with the beans and salt before putting all the lids on at the same time rather than to prepare them one at a time.

The eleven and a half pounds of snap beans converted into 14 quarts.

On Thursday I picked again and got six and a half pounds of snap beans. That was enough for seven quarts and I had a pint or so left over.

On Sunday I needed to pick again. This time I got an amazing 19 pounds of fresh organic snap beans!

I've been accumulating my blueberries in our freezer so I can make blueberry jam. This week alone I picked 10 ounces of organic blueberries from four small bushes in our yard.

The banana peppers were ready to be picked again. We got 27 of them that weighed a total of one and a half pounds.

The giant marconi peppers did well for us this week with a harvest of 31 peppers that weighed four pounds.








Now for some American patriotism for the 4th of July!  What could be more patriotic from the garden than Red, White and Blue organically produced seedless grapes?

The Reliance (red) grapes still need another couple of weeks to ripen.

The Himrod (white, when using your imagination..) grapes also need another week or so to sweeten up.

The Glenora (blue) grapes are almost ready. Two or three more days and they'll be ready to harvest.

This completes another Harvest Monday post for my blog. I hope it was interesting and will inspire folks to go and figure out where they can plant a few more things they can benefit from. There's always room. If not, use a container.

Thanks to all my new and returning visitors that stop by my blog to see how my garden is doing.

Have a great gardening day! Now go plant something!
Veggie PAK