imature squash picking

sorry everyone,
I messed up on when my post today published,
tomorrows post was suppose to be today (and way earlier than this)...

so everyone knows that zucchini is picked early when it is not ripe yet (or at least you do if you read this blog)
so what happens if you pick others early ?

butternut tastes just fine but a bit bland and has little energy in it for you to use,
you can tell by the light color and not a dark orange like if you let them grow longer,

and now I know that spaghetti squash has the correct texture, but has very little if any flavor

by the way,
I am still moving and my mind is not to much on gardening lately,
and I am tired from all the work as I have many heavy things.

refrigeration

refrigeration is a big deal,
modern people use and rely on it due to electricity being easy to get,
but many people seem to rely on it lots,
enough so that they have set what they eat assuming that it will always be there,

there are many refrigeration setups that use no electricity,
and I used one last winter,

take a break for a moment
google has decided to change things,
so I can't post the pictures I have...
I seriously want to change blog locations due to how much they mess with things (mess them up that is),

so I have a 5 gallon bucket cooler
kind of like this one,
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leaktite-5-gal-Bucket-Cooler-BC18COL/203867911
and I have 2 quart canning jars of water and a thermometer in it
I would put one canning jar outside over night, and leave one in the cooler,
it use to lightly frost most nights here last winter (and winters before that)
and some nights it would get colder and I would put the jar under cover,
either way it would be at about 34F each morning,
so early morning I would put that jar in the cooler and take out the other jar,
and it kept my cooler at about 40F all the time,
it works great for cheese and eggs and other things that need refrigeration

long ago I looked at the not possible refrigeration to keep power to after the grid went away,
and started to look for alternatives,
and found that the culture in india was made before refrigeration, and most of it still does not use it,
so if you just shift your diet a bit, then you don't have to worry with refrigeration at all,

but what worries me this winter is that it is to warm to use my cooler like I did last year.
(and most everywhere else is way to cold to use it like that)

busy

I am a bit busy lately as I am moving,
and everything is still on the floor,

so sorry I have not been focusing on the blog lately,
it will take me a few more days to move...

so in the move I am getting running water and sunlight !
it is all very exciting,
I have not moved so far that I can't keep using my garden plots I have now,
and my numbers and addresses have all stayed the same,

I am very happy :)

what do you have

so the question is what do you have ?
the garden seeds that you might think about buying are likely already not legal in europe,
people get them there anyway,
but it makes me wonder when they will start cracking down on seed companies there,
then I see a news story like this one
http://healthydebates.com/european-commission-ban-heirloom-seeds-criminalize-plants-seeds-registered-government/
I have seen them try to pass this kind of thing in the USA, but they failed, 
but the USA already did it in iraq,
http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htm

it seems just a matter of time if you have the seeds you want,
or you don't
even if you are not going to grow them right now,
don't assume you can get them later, or that they will even be legal later,
and you can store them for the future, as I tell how in this old post
http://coarsegoldsurvivalgarden.blogspot.com/2013/06/seed-storage.html
and remember that even if you are well studied, it can take a year to figure out your area and how to produce food well where you live, so never plant all the seeds you have at once.
and start practicing now if you have not already

ripening after picking

so some things ripen after picking,
and I have one squash that is only now near ripening,
but it is clearly not done yet,
so if you are waiting for one to ripen, don't think it will happen in the first few months,

and squash clearly need to be stored where you can check them often,
I still have ones start to go bad even now,
make sure they don't all touch as fungus can spread that way,
every time you go pick one out to eat, go wonder through them all and check them
and you can't do that if some are not able to be easily browsed
I clearly need more shelving

ripening cool

I put some plants in the green house so that I would not have to start new plants from seeds,
they are 2 berry plants, 
a ground cherry

and a wonderberry
and they are not ripening correctly
it is just to cool

they look fine, but the ground cherry is turning out bitter,
and the wonderberry is molding,

the plants are growing and seem to not be at risk of dying, at least it is warm enough for that,
but I am sure not getting anything I can eat off of them this time of year,

so remember that just because you can get something to grow does not mean it will make you something you can eat.

duckweed dome

so go read this about duckweed
http://www.kval.com/news/local/117947779.html
they show how you can grow duckweed and use it to heat your house for the same or less than coal heat !
here is the place that was selling systems,
http://www.pacificdomes.com/

but domes are easy to build on your own and are cheep, learn how here
http://www.byexample.net/projects/current/dome_construction/
or here
http://domehouses.blogspot.com/2011/07/building-20ft-geodesic-dome-shelter.html 
or here
http://www.weasel.com/dome.html

just install it over your pond and cover with clear plastic

you can also grow fish in the pond,
the fish will fertilize the duckweed as well,
and you can eat the duckweed as well,

the big trick to growing duckweed is to make sure it has total coverage of the water.
and just let it grow thicker

just think of the possibilities,