Author Topic: my thoughts, sustainable living (Read 3218 times)

plumberroy · « **on:** April 04, 2009, 05:33:27 AM »

Last year July 6th I got my walking papers from my job.I was off work until dec 1st. I have always grew what I have room for. last year a neighbor gave me a garden spot to use. 25'x50' we grew squash, potatoes, tomatoes,beans, corn, broccoli, egg plant, melons, peas and other stuff. would we have starved with out it? no. but we ate healthier and was able to use the money saved else where. I was able to slip off and catch a few fish or run my beagles, stress relief from job hunting. Because of not spending as much on groceries .

The new job was far enough away we had to move . the property we now live on is 3/4 of an acre I have all ready tilled nearly twice as much as last years garden. I have 10 barred rock chick growing like weeds I went to some one selling farm fresh eggs found they had rooster in with the hens . I put a dozen eggs in a home made incubator this week. The plan is 6-8 hens for egg prodution enough eggs for us and sell a couple dozen a week to pay for feed a couple roosters for continuing the flock excess birds will be processed and frozen to eat. will my methods make me totally self sufficient, Nope but they will save enough for me to hustle enough to make it. People need water and a place to go the bath room. and will pay or trade for help to get those things.
Roy
P.S.
I had plenty of offers for jobs the catch was the wanted to pay about what I was getting on unemployment.

mannyrock · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2009, 01:45:19 PM »

Plumberry,

A great story. But, . . . eggplants? You planted eggplants! Ughhhh. . . . I'd rather starve. :-)

Mannyrock

plumberroy · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2009, 02:03:14 PM »

Quote from: mannyrock on April 04, 2009, 01:45:19 PM

Plumberry,

A great story. But, . . . eggplants? You planted eggplants! Ughhhh. . . . I'd rather starve. :-)

Mannyrock

Wife requested them

They ain't bad sliced sprinkled with cajun seasoning and grilled over charcoal

Roy

squirrellluck · « **Reply #3 on:** April 04, 2009, 04:40:50 PM »

Sorry, I'd as soon eat the charcoal

lonewolf_one · « **Reply #4 on:** April 10, 2009, 08:56:10 PM »

Quote from: squirrellluck on April 04, 2009, 04:40:50 PM

Sorry, I'd as soon eat the charcoal

Ditto That! My wife loves eggplant! I make them for her because she loves them so much, but I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. To each their own however. All in all, I'm envious of your move in the direction of self sustainability. Every bit helps.

Swampman · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2009, 12:14:49 AM »

Eggplant parmesan & fried egg plant are really tasty.

pastorp · « **Reply #6 on:** April 11, 2009, 08:56:42 AM »

My Mother made a delicous eggplant casourole. Wish I could buy eggplant up here in the frozen north.

Regards

BeanMan · « **Reply #7 on:** June 28, 2009, 03:42:46 PM »

You kind of lost me when you said you had job offers but wouldn't work because you were gettin welfare for the same amount you could have earned.

BBF · « **Reply #8 on:** June 29, 2009, 03:28:27 AM »

+ bean man

pills · « **Reply #9 on:** June 29, 2009, 07:17:53 PM »

Quote from: BeanMan on June 28, 2009, 03:42:46 PM

You kind of lost me when you said you had job offers but wouldn't work because you were gettin welfare for the same amount you could have earned.

He said unemployment which is vastly different than welfare. I don't know about every state but in the couple of states i have experience with your employer purchase unemployment insurance for you much in the same way they pay half of your Social Insecurity benefits.

Had he taken the lesser job and found himself unemployed again his unemployment benefit would have been based off of the lower paying job as well.

BeanMan · « **Reply #10 on:** June 30, 2009, 02:00:01 AM »

Unemployment is essentially welfare. Everybody pays, in the form of taxes, into funds that pay for unemployment. If he had the opportunity to work he should have, unless he wanted to be cast in the light of a welfare recipient. A most unRepublican thought pattern.

plumberroy · « **Reply #11 on:** June 30, 2009, 05:09:13 AM »

Quote from: BeanMan on June 30, 2009, 02:00:01 AM

Unemployment is essentially welfare. Everybody pays, in the form of taxes, into funds that pay for unemployment. If he had the opportunity to work he should have, unless he wanted to be cast in the light of a welfare recipient. A most unRepublican thought pattern.

Beanman: The jobs I turned down were at half or less what I was making with no benifits my other options were broaden my education A little to get the job type I needed. With enenployment, wheeling and dealing, and doing a few side jobs I could brush up on adult ed get signed up for collage and keep a paying the morgage. while all the time sending out resume's all the time I was actually busier while laid off. I was due to start collage in Jan when I got the opertunity to take the job I'm in now. The job I took was $5 an hour less than I was making plus I had to move. It is pretty easy to make judgement statements on the net when your not walking in their shoes
Roy
Roy

burntmuch · « **Reply #12 on:** June 30, 2009, 06:42:51 AM »

Roy hope everythings working out for ya. Nothing wrong with using unemployment once & awhile. Im sure youve paid your dues. Dont know how long you were on it. I was on it for 2 mths years back. & yeah I was busy looking for another job. Back to OT how did your garden work out for ya

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #13 on:** June 30, 2009, 07:05:02 AM »

In Va. the employer pays for unemployment NOT EVERYONE . you pay according to how many you lay off. Now common sense ( something in short supply sometimes ) says that the employee thru. his work in fact pays it . So no empoyee who has worked should not take it as they have paid into it in an indirect way .
EGG plant a beautiful plant in the garden when in bloom . Breaded and fried its so-so.

pills · « **Reply #14 on:** June 30, 2009, 07:39:01 AM »

Quote from: BeanMan on June 30, 2009, 02:00:01 AM

Unemployment is essentially welfare. Everybody pays, in the form of taxes, into funds that pay for unemployment. If he had the opportunity to work he should have, unless he wanted to be cast in the light of a welfare recipient. A most unRepublican thought pattern.

With this logic Social Security is welfare.

Unemployment insurance is a benefit that your employer purchases for you. It is figured into the cost of doing business and if I recall correctly the amount of insurance they take out on you is related to the salary you are paid.

Sorry to take this Off Topic.

Oldshooter · « **Reply #15 on:** June 30, 2009, 07:51:16 AM »

First of all Fried eggplant is good, so is eggplant dressing! That being said I envy you being able to grow a good garden! I have an insurgent animal problem and although i am winning the war of attrition I am losing the vegetables!

Unemployment is just that it gets you by until you get another job and i don't blame someone for waiting until the job pays more than the unemployment, especially since the unemployment wont last indefinitely

BBF · « **Reply #16 on:** June 30, 2009, 08:01:42 AM »

DANG !!

and all these years I paid into Unemplyoment( actually called Empoyment Insurance in Canada) when my employer was to have paid it.

Graybeard · « **Reply #17 on:** June 30, 2009, 10:47:02 AM »

It has been a LOT of years since I had a job but as I seem to recall you pay and the employer collects it and sends it along to where it goes. I never collected one red cent from it tho I paid it in for my entire working career I reckon so I must have helped pay for some of you guys to collect it. Go ahead and collect my share and don't worry about it I never got to.

Oldshooter · « **Reply #18 on:** June 30, 2009, 12:22:03 PM »

I also paid in for years and collected Nada! So you can have mine also! I also paid in a lot of money for employee unemployment. Never got any credit for that either. Never laid anyone off, I did however find my folks jobs in lieu of that!

plumberroy · « **Reply #19 on:** June 30, 2009, 04:28:08 PM »

Quote

Back to OT how did your garden work out for ya

been eatin lettuce, kale, onions, swiss chard, broccoli, califlower, cabbage, kohlirabi, summer squash, cucumbers beets, carrots, green beans , fried pumpkin blossoms, potatoes and yes egg plant grilled for supper tonight (a long with grilled squash and ribeyes) will have tomatoes by the end of the week and sweet corn is about 1 1/2 weeks out winter squash and watermelon area of the garden is a sea of vines. dug the taters last week and put in a second planting of corn
Weather you relize it or not enimployment insurance is part of you pay along with both halves of ssi and any thing else the goverment takes before you see it.
If every one got a check for the total an employer pays for an employee and then the employee had to send the goverment the parts they normally get with out you seeing it things would change
Roy

HogFan · « **Reply #20 on:** July 01, 2009, 04:06:28 PM »

Roy,

Good for you on the garden. Mine is not doing so well. We got it in late with all the rain, and now I have three bell peppers, and one small tomato. Out of two rows of corn, 6 stalks came up. Okra, 1 1/2 rows (24' long) 7 total plants came up. squash is looking great, and now the tomatoes are blooming, so hopefully it's not a total loss.

As far as the unemployment, I do not blame you one bit. I have a friend that just retired from the Air Force, and the state of FL is allowing him to draw $880 a week in unemployment. That, I really do not agree with. Granted he is not making even half what he brought home a month in the Air Force (yet), but depending on his VA rating he may get close to it. He is hoping to secure a teaching job soon, but not even an interview yet.

Graybeard · « **Reply #21 on:** July 01, 2009, 05:01:18 PM »

If he retired then in my view he is NOT unemployed even if looking for a job.

Roy D · « **Reply #22 on:** July 01, 2009, 05:10:14 PM »

Quote from: BeanMan on June 28, 2009, 03:42:46 PM

You kind of lost me when you said you had job offers but wouldn't work because you were gettin welfare for the same amount you could have earned.

I can relate to the man.

You never know what you would do till put in a situation. My hours have been cut, pay has been reduced, everthing but laid off. My brother in law showed me his un-employment check, it was larger than my paycheck. Do I resent it? No, because the employer pays the insurance. You have to work so long before you can collect benefits.

If I were to be laid off, I would take the benefits with no qualms. Would I look for a job? Yes, but I certainly wouldn't take a job paying the same as the benefits i was recieving from my employer for having worked so long. Those benefits have limits you know, you can only draw so long.Before you go throwing people under the bus, you may want to get to know the situation they are in.

I'm sympathetic to Roy's plight myself. I'm employed just enough to not be unemployed.

Graybeard · « **Reply #23 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:26:59 AM »

I am what one might call "under employed".

I am retired and have been since age 50 and draw a decent pension tho around $1000 per month less than it would have been had I put in five more years and retired at age 55 which is normal Federal Civil Service retirement age. Still I've enjoyed retirement and my working situation had become somewhat untenable for me there.

Now I have more work to do around our small farm than I have the ability to manage and have the sites we own and run to manage daily. It's such a drain on the old mind and body it forces me to take a daily nap to recover from the stress and strain. Life's tough but some body's gotta do it.

pastorp · « **Reply #24 on:** July 02, 2009, 03:37:12 PM »

Well Bill I feel for you. I think I would rather work than pick blurberries and put up with all of us guys for a living

Just don't see how you hold up under the stress. Regards,

Graybeard · « **Reply #25 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:07:57 PM »

Oh I don't pick blueberries unless I want to eat some. The customers pick them. It's Faye's Blueberry Farm so mostly she deals with the customers. I just do the mowing and trimming to keep it clean and neat for the folks to pick.

Now today I did have one Korean gal who wanted to set the price on her berries rather than pay our price. I told her to pay for them and leave with them or leave without them. She came real close to being banned from the orchard like some folks get banned from here for misbehavior.

It can be trying at times dealing with the customers of the orchard same as some members here.

stevinator · « **Reply #26 on:** July 03, 2009, 06:03:36 PM »

I had to be on unemployment years ago when a local steel mill shutdown.I found a job and have had it 28 yrs,so they are getting their money back.

Don't worry in our state at the end of the year it is taxed as income and if you quit a job you can't collect it.So if you need it use it and don't worry about it,you pay for it .

Rustyinfla · « **Reply #27 on:** July 05, 2009, 01:10:48 AM »

Roy, Glad you garden is working out for you. I can still remember my grandmother telling me about the year she and grand dad got married in WV. They moved to the farm when grand dad lost his job in the city. They grew a garden that year and canned up 997 quarts of veggies to last them through the year. Canning is the real secret to growing a garden. Eating well in the summer is great but later on in the year is when it really makes you appreciate your bounty.

I love eggplant. I haven't found a way not to like it yet. I started raising some chickens myself this year. I had someone tell me though, don't expect to break even on them now days with the price of feed. I need to go feed mine right now.

south_river_redneck · « **Reply #28 on:** July 28, 2009, 06:26:36 PM »

iowa law if i'm not mistaken has the employee pay half the unemployment benefit and the employer has to match it based on a percentage of your pay. if you've worked for years why not get back what you put in. this coming from someone who is attempting to be self-employed so take it for what its worth. farming is the cruelest form of mental illness!

Oldshooter · « **Reply #29 on:** July 29, 2009, 05:28:55 AM »

Quote from: Rustyinfla on July 05, 2009, 01:10:48 AM

Roy, Glad you garden is working out for you. I can still remember my grandmother telling me about the year she and grand dad got married in WV. They moved to the farm when grand dad lost his job in the city. They grew a garden that year and canned up 997 quarts of veggies to last them through the year. Canning is the real secret to growing a garden. Eating well in the summer is great but later on in the year is when it really makes you appreciate your bounty.

I love eggplant. I haven't found a way not to like it yet. I started raising some chickens myself this year. I had someone tell me though, don't expect to break even on them now days with the price of feed. I need to go feed mine right now.

We keep about 25 laying hens. We sell the eggs for around $3.00 a dozen. We make no money from them though we do supply our rather large family and friends with eggs and buy the feed with what we sell. If you count labor we loose money but we dont buy eggs and we do eat chicken regularly, too regularly for my taste!