First off. I apologize for the long absence. I was just exhausted. I've been working with locals in a fight against annexation and with the High Desert Tea Party. I am over involved.
During WWII, our forebears planted gardens to cut costs and help this country achieve victory. hence they were called Victory Gardens.
http://equityguy.blogspot.com/2010/06/gardening-part-deux.html
Above is the link to my most recent post on my real estate oriented blog. As I've mentioned in the past I think it would behoove us all to be able to grow our own food, or at least a good portion.
With the BP Oil spill, and the Cap and Trade (or Cap and Tax) bills that our government keeps trying to push through, we are likely to see much higher fuel prices. This will result in increased shipping costs (I know, duh, right) which will cause groceries to go up. I live in California, one, if not THE, biggest producers of produce in the country, so I'm not sure how this will play out here, as we're close to the crops, and close to Mexico, from which we get much of the produce on the shelves. Mexico's fuel is subsidized.
Keep in mind that the BP Oil Spill is killing a lot of seafood. That will drive up other food prices.
California did not irrigate much of the Central Valley this year, so I'm looking to higher food prices from this as well.
There's also legislation in the work that would eliminate the use of manure as fertilizer for food crops. This will make farmers buy petro-chemical fertilizers, or make them buy or make their own compost. If they buy it, that's another expense they have to pass on to us, as well as the increased shipping costs of the fertilizers.
Can you see the spiraling costs for farmers? If oil prices go up(due to scarcity or more regulation and taxes), they have to pay more for fuel. The costs of chemical fertilizers (or even plastic bags for any type of fertilizer) go up, in addition to the costs of the transportation of the fertilizer going up. So that's at least three stages of price increase to our food supply.
That is one of the reasons I am starting the big garden. I have some other little things like strawberries and green beans planted around the house. I also have a couple of small peach trees given to me by my grandma. I have only planted organic seeds.
I'm hoping that the garden gives me a financial victory and a bit more freedom.