Wow! This thread brings back some far distant memories. My Grandparents were farmers, as were my older aunts and uncles. My Dad fled the farm during the oil boom and never had any desire to go back. But my grandparents always had a garden and got almost everything they ate. As I read this, I start to realize they had the skills we're talking about today and trying to gain. I remember them setting aside certain plants to harvest seeds from and every year seeing seeds spread out drying then being put away for next years garden. Every spring the window sills would hold little plants started from those saved seeds in little containers. Then when the threat of frost was gone the garden was planted. Since the cash crop was cotton (South Central Oklahoma) the garden was always right behind the house and then the cotton fields would begin. Later the crops shifted to soybeans. I never remember them going to store for vegies. They bought flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and sugar at the store. Their little house was always packed with shelves of jars of canned tomatos, blackeyed peas, green beans, black berry's, plums, peaches, the jars were stuffed into every nook and cranny and calculated to last until the next year. After they retired and moved into town they still continued to garden. The front yard was tomatoes and a few flowers. The back yard was completely a garden they continued until well into their 80's. So for some of us the ability to live selfsustained is only a generation away. And it's amazing how quickly we can lose those skills.
