# But you've got so much.......



## Wellrounded

If one more person says that to me I'm going to scream. I do have a lot of canned food, a lot of fresh vegetables, meat, fruit etc etc. It didn't magically appear here, there was a lot of work involved! I asked a visitor to help me pick a few apples yesterday and I knew it was coming..... "Wow there are soooo many, what on earth are you going to do with them all." Well I did pick her a bag, we do have a lot but I really hate it when people fish like that. Guests before them were really funny about my tomatoes, quite angry when I said I needed ALL of them (we had a rubbish crop this year). Think I might buy a few copies of "The Little Red Hen" to give out. 

Yesterday we had nachos with home made salsa for lunch. Dinner was smoked chicken, potato salad, pickled beets, honey roasted carrots, sweet vege pickle over cucumbers and freshly baked bread. Canned apricots and cream for desert. A few bottles of ale were consumed. ALL homegrown and homemade.
When the visitor came inside this morning she was startled to see me out of bed. Said she thought I slept in most days (as I don't have an off the farm job).... How the hell does she think I get all this done. 

I love giving goodies to visitors..... when they understand just how much time and hard work I put into the gifts. 
I refused my daughter a jar of stew a few weeks ago. She was a bit upset but I explained that I'd be more than happy to spend a day canning together. I can ready to eat meals for the days when I'm just too tired to cook up a storm, not so she can have an evening off.


----------



## Sentry18

Welcome to the free-hand-out gimme-gimme world of today; where things just magically appear and no one had to put in the work to make them happen. I don't blame you for wanting to hold on to the fruits of your hard work, you don't have "so much" because someone just gave all that to you. You earned it. My Mom always says the same thing to me when she is making and canning salsa, "If you want salsa you need to come home on the weekend of the _____". Then after many hours of chopping peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, etc. I can earn about 10-15% of the produced salsa. The years I just can't make it home on salsa weekend result in my getting 2 jars for Christmas and not a single jar more. And I'm a total mama's boy!


----------



## camo2460

WOW for a dinner like that i would work all week.


----------



## Wellrounded

Sentry18 said:


> Welcome to the free-hand-out gimme-gimme world of today; where things just magically appear and no one had to put in the work to make them happen. I don't blame you for wanting to hold on to the fruits of your hard work, you don't have "so much" because someone just gave all that to you. You earned it. My Mom always says the same thing to me when she is making and canning salsa, "If you want salsa you need to come home on the weekend of the _____". Then after many hours of chopping peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, etc. I can earn about 10-15% of the produced salsa. The years I just can't make it home on salsa weekend result in my getting 2 jars for Christmas and not a single jar more. And I'm a total mama's boy!


I know people are like this a lot of the time but it still surprises me. There is no way I could do that at someone else's home. 
My kids have always had to work for what they wanted. I like to think they think before they act most of the time. My daughter was tired and her young bub was in a cranky mood but I still need her to do her share, sometimes life is hard, you are tired and bubs can be cranky, lol. I ended up giving her a bub break so she could cook a good meal, good result for both of us. 
My daughter lives on our farm, her family eats with us 3 or so times a week. I love that and don't mind what they eat when they are here for dinner, but she needs to fill her own pantry.


----------



## Wellrounded

camo2460 said:


> WOW for a dinner like that i would work all week.


Hahaha, great I've still got 200lbs of apples to pick and process. We provide 3 meals a day and a warm bed. Extra hard work is rewarded with extra ale


----------



## PreparedRifleman73

I can imagine the frustration. I have never gardened before. My wife and I are starting this year, but we haven't even planted yet (a record late winter in Minnesota). I just finished building the raised beds, they don't even have dirt in them - and people already want free shit....Uffda


----------



## UncleJoe

hawkmiles said:


> ....Uffda


Had to look that one up.

*uff da*

A multi-use exclamation.

*1.* Comes from immigrants from Scandinavia during the early part of the 20th century. If you are surprised you say "Uff da", if you are disgusted you say "Uff da", over worked? "Uff da"

*2.* from norwegian, used to express mild disappointment, similar to "oh my".
uff da, I dropped my pencil


----------



## goshengirl

UncleJoe said:


> Had to look that one up.


Ja, he's in Minnesoooota, for sure. 

hawkmiles, we're not planting yet in Ohio, either. I'd be really surprised if you were already planting in MN!


----------



## NaeKid

I spent the weekend trying to get the dirt in my garden ready for the seedlings .. did fairly well and now the weatherman is calling for snow again today and tomorrow ... 


vract:


At this rate, I won't have a garden this year!


----------



## Startingout-Blair

We have been planting here in PA for about three weeks now. Onions, shallots, lettuce, potatoes, and asparagus outside. Inside I still have my bell peppers, hot peppers, broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs. They are going out too this week...I hope! More planting coming! Gotta get the cucumbers and squash in the ground...and corn of course!


----------



## ksmama10

NaeKid said:


> I spent the weekend trying to get the dirt in my garden ready for the seedlings .. did fairly well and now the weatherman is calling for snow again today and tomorrow ...
> 
> vract:
> 
> At this rate, I won't have a garden this year!


We had snow here just about a week ago..which is just not of God. I still have not spotted two birds that usually return by the second week of April, but it has warmed up considerably, just in the last few days, so I hope to see them soon. Our apple trees are finally blooming this morning, but dh says we will probably have to replant potatoes..it's just been weird here lately. Hopefully you will get to plant soon too.


----------



## PreparedRifleman73

UncleJoe said:


> Had to look that one up.
> uff da





goshengirl said:


> Ja, he's in Minnesoooota, for sure.


Yeah I forget that it is not used nation wide. Everybody here uses it with some regularity. While I speak Norwegian, I often think of Uffda as part of English.


----------



## MsSage

I had a couple people ask me why I had some much and i told them I have 3 kids and their S/O's my Dad my S/O and his 2 kids and parents....and they ask how long do I think it will last...I go NOT LONG ENOUGH and they agree. But then they dont see all of what I have either LOL


----------



## Sentry18

> I often think of Uffda as part of English.


My wife is of Scandinavian/Norwegian heritage and uses that term as well, as do all of my daughters. They all consider it english as well.


----------



## machinist

Believe me, I understand. I was about 10 years old when I got sick and tired of my mother giving her citified sister free garden produce, and TOLD ME TO GO PICK IT AND WASH IT FOR HER! I had done a goodly share of the planting and hoeing, too. 

Please understand that I would do that for anyone I thought was deserving, but my aunt showed up to visit at our farm wearing stockings and high heeled shoes and a very expensive dress, fresh new hairdo, etc., in her new Buick. The idea was to demean her "country cousins" = poor relations. We were supposed to fawn over her while she held court in OUR living room. We were to be her servants and offer her gifts, just because she was so---something or other. It was a throwback to their childhood, where my aunt was the favored one, so Mom put up with that stuff, since she always felt like she wasn't a good enough person. 

I got yelled at, and later got a dressing down from Dad, but I did NOT pick any more stuff for that aunt, then or later. Truth be told, Dad didn't overdo the tongue lashing, either. He was more than a little sympathetic to my cause. The aunt didn't come out nearly so often after that, which didn't break my heart, either. 

I just don't need that sort of people in my life.


----------



## MDsapper

we used to go to illinois every year to visit my moms family and i loved getting dirty with my cousins on their farms


----------



## dixiemama

When we helped inlaws clean out a building in the way of the mud slide-they were going to throw away a lot of perfectly good jars. I commandeered them (too big to can meals, but work great for dry canning) and sis in law thru a fit! Actually cried and threw a tantrum (at 36!) for jars she didn't even know her parents had. 

'But you have all kinds at your grandpa's' Yea I do, but they aren't all mine-he's just storage for the group cuz he has more space. 

She does NO prepping, no canning (of any kind), and only wanted them because someone else did.


----------



## 101airborne

Wellrounded said:


> Hahaha, great I've still got 200lbs of apples to pick and process. We provide 3 meals a day and a warm bed. Extra hard work is rewarded with extra ale


Wow.... great food, a place to sleep, and from what I've heard some VERY beautiful country. All for just a bit of hard work.... And plenty to drink as well:cheers: Can ya' pick me up at the airport?


----------



## razorback

I actually heard someone at work annouce they wanted anyones extra garden goodies, cause she likes the fruits of everyone elses hard work.

Luckily she hasn't said this to me yet, if she does she's likely to get a knot on her head. LOL!!!


----------



## rawhide2971

Classic Ant and Grasshopper situation. I don't mind sharing my excess when it gets ahead of my ability to put it up but its at my choosing. Last year my plum trees were so full that I had to give away baskets and baskets and we must have put 60 quarts of jelly up and frozen 6 gallons of juice for latter jelly making. We usually share with family our abumndence of tomatoes (kind of like rubbing it in since my dear brother in laws can't grow weeds to save thier lives) and again its at my choosing, anyone that asks for any of my stuff usually gets a short answer....but if they want to swap thats a different story. We gift a lot of home made stuff around the holdiays...I don't mind sharing stuff when its my idea but I sure get my back up when somone kind of hints that I should "gift" it to them, especially if I know what a lazy slug a bed they tend to be....


----------



## Locutus

razorback said:


> I actually heard someone at work annouce they wanted anyones extra garden goodies, cause she likes the fruits of everyone elses hard work.
> 
> Luckily she hasn't said this to me yet, if she does she's likely to get a knot on her head. LOL!!!


Give her a copy of "The Little Red Hen."


----------



## BillM

My wife's grandfather was a subsistance farmer and raised nine children tenant farming.

He was in his eightys and grew a huge garden , giving away most of his produce.

I asked him why he grew so much, suggesting that he grow a smaller garden.

He told me that he could notquit because he was taught to grow five times what he actually needed. Then if there was a drought or insects or bad weather, he would still have enough. If there was more, he could always share it.


----------



## Wellrounded

rawhide2971 said:


> Classic Ant and Grasshopper situation. I don't mind sharing my excess when it gets ahead of my ability to put it up but its at my choosing. Last year my plum trees were so full that I had to give away baskets and baskets and we must have put 60 quarts of jelly up and frozen 6 gallons of juice for latter jelly making. We usually share with family our abumndence of tomatoes (kind of like rubbing it in since my dear brother in laws can't grow weeds to save thier lives) and again its at my choosing, anyone that asks for any of my stuff usually gets a short answer....but if they want to swap thats a different story. We gift a lot of home made stuff around the holdiays...I don't mind sharing stuff when its my idea but I sure get my back up when somone kind of hints that I should "gift" it to them, especially if I know what a lazy slug a bed they tend to be....


I'll give a bit away at my choosing too. We feed our excess to our pigs and some people have been horrified by that (that's why we grow so much). I tell em they can have what ever they want if they buy a couple of bags of organic pig feed in exchange, that always earns me a look of anger.

I find it amazing that people who guard every dollar they make and have not the tinniest streak of generosity are usually the ones that think the fruits of my labour are worth nothing. Seems if it is a direct work to product process it is valueless, if it's work to money to product they think it is somehow magically worth more........


----------



## machinist

It means they value your labor and knowledge at nothing. They need to depend on their own ability to grow food for a while and that would change.


----------



## Foreverautumn

<WHINY LIBTARD MODE=ON>
But WellRoundeeeeeeed, you have so MUUUUUUUUUCH! Why not GIVE me soooooome! YOU'LL never miss IIIIIIITTTTT! WHAT!? You don't wanna give me nothin'? WAAAAAAAAHHHH!  Where's my ObamaPhooooone™? I'm gonna tell MOOCH on yooooou!"
<WHINY LIBTARD MODE=OFF>

Seriously, these people sound like Government-schooled Red Pill Obama voters/sheeple/libtard zombies, when they can be BOTHERED to vote, that is.
:factor10:

I like the idea of giving them a copy of Little Red Chicken to read. Most of them don't have more than 2-3 functioning brain cells, so that's probably all they can handle. But for those who maybe DO have more functioning brain cells, you might want to give them a copy of Atlas Shrugged.


----------



## stanb999

Startingout-Blair said:


> We have been planting here in PA for about three weeks now. Onions, shallots, lettuce, potatoes, and asparagus outside. Inside I still have my bell peppers, hot peppers, broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs. They are going out too this week...I hope! More planting coming! Gotta get the cucumbers and squash in the ground...and corn of course!


I sure hope you can cover your crops that are frost sensitive. You are definitely one week early. Most likely 2-1/2 to 3 weeks. You will have a frost on Mon. morning.


----------



## stanb999

To the OP: You didn't know that livestock feed is free and really they are kept so country folks have something to do with themselves, City folks are BUSY. Abundant veggies from the garden are really just a nuisance.


I used to get it all the time. Just say No!


----------



## Roslyn

My husband has an uncle that I used to deliver eggs to each week. They had a huge garden and would make an offer to us to come after they had picked and canned what they needed and take as much as we could use.

At the time my garden was a work in progress and was smaller than needed to produce enough for heavy canning so we took them up on the offer.

The green beans were 3+ weeks past their prime and were useless to eat fresh or freeze, they should have just been left to make dried beans.

The corn was just ears that were 5 or 6 weeks past prime and were almost dried on the stalks, most of the ears were barely 3 inches long and many were overrun with bugs.

The pile of potatoes were the ones that were cut, soft, rotten or smelly.

The tomatoes were abundant, but, when you touched them they were mostly mush with rotten bottoms.

We tried to find enough to take, and we ended up taking very little. His Uncle was furious at our waste!! Those green beans were just fine and we were wasting food because we were useless. 

Kkkkkaaaaayyyy.

For about two years after that he would tell us that we were welcome to come and take from his garden, and I turned them down because I knew what waited for us. Yet every year we were lectured on our wastefulness. 

Two years ago his cousin (lives next to the uncle and also started gardening) told us we needed to take his extras off his hands. We politely declined, saying that our garden was giving us plenty. Well, one morning I noticed a bunch of Wal-Mart plastic bags in front of the garage door. Hhhmmmm. Yup, they were FILLED with corn ears that were barely 3 inches long, teeming with bugs and when you peeled the husks back there were maybe 5 or 6 kernels on the ears!! And the kernels were rock hard like giant freaky popcorn. My chickens didn't even want to eat them.

AND, there was a bag of bug covered bean pods that weren't for fresh eating, but not for seeds either. And another bag of almost rotted potatoes, and a bag of tomatoes that had juice running out the bottom.

Yum. Some people are VERY generous, but not very practical.

And this is the same family that FLIPPED when I raised my egg prices to $2 dozen (after the feed prices went up to $18/bag). At the time Wally World was charging $1.88. Yup, that's me, the price gouger.


----------



## machinist

UUUUGHH! 

And you need these people in your life? Or just can't find a way to get by with telling them to get lost? 

I found that family can be a blessing and/or a curse, depending on the day and who is involved. Mostly, we have kept our distance from them. Our family tended to PRESUME a lot on the good nature of relatives. 

Uh, no thanks.


----------



## Roslyn

Actually the egg thing brought everything to a crashing (and delightful) end. 

I am a price gouging egg seller. It was costing me $3 per day to feed my flock and at the end of the Summer I was getting 6-8 eggs a day from hens that were 2-6 years old. So, do the math, the eggs were costing me in food only and so my cost per dozen to break even was $5.25 (rounded up slightly). Yet when I raised my price to $2 from $1.50 only because I wasn't paying attention to what store bought eggs were costing. When I saw $1.88 at Wally World I thought wow, I need to up my prices since feed skyrocketed. ($7 a bag when I started raising chickens)

We got into a verbal blowout in my front yard and he yelled at me how he could buy all the eggs he wants for $1 dozen. I told him to tell me where because I wanted to buy eggs that cheap!! He yells back that "All of YOUR eggs are FREE". Huh? My eggs cost me $3 per day for just the feed, not any maintenance. Yea, that leg of the family isn't all up there. I told him that I was sick and tired of subsidizing his eggs. Not sure he even knew what that meant. 

AND, they accused me of selling them rotten eggs. My eggs are gathered, cleaned (yup I clean them because I don't like dirty muddy eggs in the cartons) and refrigerated within 24 hours of laying. I didn't sell any eggs past 2 weeks old, and I rarely even had any on hand older that a week. However, once I had older hens I noticed that day old fresh eggs, from a hen over the age of 4 LOOKS like an older egg. It's more watery and the yolk doesn't sit high, and the yolks are weaker. 

So, they broke some eggs in the pan and the yolks broke, so therefore they were rotten and I was selling them rotten eggs.

Sad thing, this leg of the family (uncle/wife and two cousins and their families) bought 8 dozen eggs from me EVERY week. I even bought extra hens to have enough eggs for THEM. They started their own internal feuds and the one dropped from the egg list, so they kept buying 2-4 dozen a week towards the end. I really didn't have as many eggs at that time, so I wasn't paying attention to costs.

Not any more. With family like that I will take enemies any day!


----------



## Wellrounded

Roslyn, peoples attitude to home grown always amazes me, free!!! Pfft! Idiots. Free range grass fed eggs in the supermarkets here at the moment are over $7.00 per dozen but I'd be hard pressed to get $2.50 a dozen (still cheaper than the cheapest eggs on the shelves). The same people that buy those $7.00 eggs won't give me $2.50 a dozen....
We've been giving a friend a few bits and pieces of farm produce now and then, he always seems grateful. A week after handing over maybe 1/8th of a pig in chops and roasts he told me that he and his son had gone home and eaten ALL the chops at one sitting and the roasts were all gone in a few days. Now it was a gift and he could do anything he wanted with it but it did annoy me. He bought a pig from me this week and I've been teaching him how to slaughter, butcher and process it. Yesterday he kept repeating that he had no idea the amount of work involved, I think he'll savour his pork a little more now, LOL. He wasn't here for the setting up or the last of the clean up either. We also got him to help with processing ducks and geese, was so funny to see his attitude change from, 'This is easy and quite interesting to do..." to "How many more of these things are we going to do...", he took a duck home and said he'll really enjoy it after all that effort. One person converted, only everyone else I know to go.....


----------



## ras1219como

Some people are so clueless about how the world really works. They have no idea where their food actually comes from or how much work it takes to produce food. It's like they think meat just comes out of the sky precut and wrapped in cellophane. It's sad really.


----------



## Startingout-Blair

stanb999 said:


> I sure hope you can cover your crops that are frost sensitive. You are definitely one week early. Most likely 2-1/2 to 3 weeks. You will have a frost on Mon. morning.


Everything made it through the cold


----------



## Bobbb

ras1219como said:


> Some people are so clueless about how the world really works. They have no idea where their food actually comes from or how much work it takes to produce food. It's like they think meat just comes out of the sky precut and wrapped in cellophane. It's sad really.


The BBC reported on the Italian Spaghetti Harvest.






Bananas fits for human consumption.


----------



## weedygarden

*Not spagetti, what is it really?*

I too grew up in a home that had family come and stay. I had to give up my bed and wait hand and foot for these special people. Long ago I likened my childhood to the Little Red Hen. The cousins who had much more than I did would come and whimper and cry when they wanted what little I did have. And then I was required to give it to the spoiled brats.

Bobb, I know that spagetti does not grow on trees, but this has piqued my curiosity. Any idea what it is that they are really picking? Anyone?


----------

