Yes, there are a lot of negative effects. I haven't been able to work around Vrbo when I can't camp because food allergies (wheat) make it pretty impossible to not have cooking facilities. I feel like every community should have a very stout cap on the number of single person homes that can be used for this purpose. For sure. We have allowed corporate America to create a major housing crisis. Plus, I am not certain it is wise for so many communities to have such a huge stake in vacation income plus large crowds of transient persons. Michigan loves its tourism money, but honestly, sometimes the damage done, the littering, it is just horrific. When people do not live in the community, and do not have to clean up the disaster they make, it lends itself to reckless behavior. Not everyone obviously. We love to travel, and are very careful, very respectful of nature, and of local residents. But it seems to be getting really out of hand. For me, it doesn't change the fact that I have to have some way to cook. Salad and sandwich out of cooler is okay for a couple of days, but not for two weeks.

I have always wanted to move to an electric so I don't have to babysit it. But right now, I can food for all of my adult kids so I need mega capacity in order to survive. My double canned has racks and holds 7 quarts, 14 pints, and 28 half pints. I water bath pickled jalapenos, hot salsa, and banana peppers in it, 14 at a time. (Can't do more than that and still keep enough water over the lids. If they would make a Mega Bertha electric canner, I would be all over that! Anyone I know who has used an electric has never had food poisoning.

A 12 x30 structure would be 360 sq ft. A studio apartment in the building where my bachelor sons are is 400 sq ft, and many married couples live into those. Comparable. Not fun with kids. I could see people doing it for a few years to save money. Well, back in the day. Now rent is so expensive there is hardly any saving for anything better. If Mark and I were to do a tiny home while we build a place, we would then use it as a guest house since we would likely have our adult kids coming and going especially during the summer.

Anyone looking for alternatives could see if you have an independent grocer that carries Walnut Creek brand. Also, it appears that Simply Nature products from Aldi are not owned by any nasty parent company or at least I couldn't find one. I get Walnut Creek brand items at a bulk Mennonite food store.

I didn't get to finish that Halloween quilt I was working on last month due to a machine malfunction. We think we have it worked out, so hopefully I will be finally getting that done. I also have a bed quilt at the longarm quilter that I expect to get back any day now. I want to get the binding on right away.

Same. Dh and I can actually afford more consumption. We just get so angry at the price gouging. I can afford a high end vacation, but in actuality we van camp, sail, and kayak. Van camping saves us a ton of money...$27-30 a night in a National Forest or State Park vs. $150 a night for a not very nice hotel room. We do sometimes use Vrbo...we are doing that when we go to Virginia as part of the team to put on a huge rocketry competition. We won't have time to set up camp, cook over a fire, haul water to wash dishes. But, avoiding hotels and high priced rentals is our new norm. I refuse amusement parks, over priced museums (sometimes those $5 donation local museums are pleasant and very informative), rarely a movie in theaters and usually those are matinee for the savings with no popcorn or soda, no high end restaurants, etc. My niece is in construction management, and when we were in NC last year wanted to see Biltmore. Well, until she saw the price tag. Then it was a hard, hard no. National and State Parks are marvelous price tags. An evening of entertainment for my bachelor boys is calling their friends everyone pitching in for a couple of Little Caesars Pizza, and then playing games. None of them go out for entertainment. It seems to me that at some point, that whole industry is going to meet its end when the boomers are gone unless Gen X steps up to take the kids to Disney. I can tell you this grandma is NOT. But the grandsons will be taken to revel in the great outdoors, or to DC with camping around Shenendoah, and driving in to grab the train to go the Smithsonian for free.

Same with the buckets. We have a Mennonite bulk food store about 20 miles away. 3 times a year they sell their excess food grade, 5 gallon buckets. $3 each. I have 15 of them now. 5 for inside with bulk Einkorn flour, cornmeal, rice, dry beans, and lentils plus other things like extra baking powder and such, all kept shut with chip clips and clothspins. That bucket top seals so nicely. The up front cost of the bulk is high, but over the course of the year, very low per serving. I love those buckets. The other 10 are used as planters during garden season.

Carrie, there was never a legal component to the humanity of it. The thought process was a belief in the general goodness of humans to not do this to other humans and companies would for the most part self police themselves. Of course this was ignoring the WHOLE of human history, and the U.S. basis of economy in slavery and indentured servitude. Just utterly ignoring it, as for all time, the average rich human has been a paragon of virtue towards the serf humans. 🙄🙄🙄 Sure. Dry that one out and you can fertilize the lawn with it! And of course apparently not one blessed thing was learned from the likes of the Astors, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Whitneys, Hearsts, Carnegies, Goelets, Van Rensseslaers, Livingstons, Fish, Cushings, and Roosevelts to name but a few. Railroad tycoons. Sigh. Thinking about the railroad and coal workers paid in script so they couldn't shop anywhere but the company store. I am just waiting for that idea to come back in vogue. I could see it. Our current leadership is so entirely owned by big business that it must be time for that idea to come back around. 😠

Consumers have no real control. Monopolies have been allowed to thrive which prevents the consumers from having choice. Occasionally the government tries to act like it is doing something about anti-trust, but it jut for show. Kroger/Albertson being a prime example. The time to act was back when most of the food available was consolidated into a handful of companies. It isn't like what is available at each of those stores is from different sources. Same sources, different labels. Same with clothing, and many other things. Blaming consumers for their lack of choice of where the end product is sourced doesn't make any sense. https://time.com/6139127/u-s-food-prices-monopoly/

Sky of Stone (last book in the auto-biographies of Homer Hickham)

Carrie, I saw the 4H horticultural expert yesterday at TSC and asked. He said, bleeding heart and wild ginger. Deer tend to totally avoid them, they like shade, and will be fine with fairly wet soil so long as they are not drowned. Now that said, this is advice for Michigan, zone 6, nearly Lake Huron. I can't say for sure if that would work for you. But, you can email your county extension office and ask. They should have a horticulturalist or master gardener who can help.

I have a kitchenaid. I make some bread, but not that much in it because I like to hand knead. I do all of my cookie dough in it which throughout the year is not a lot since I don't make cookies often, however, at Christmas it gets a work out. I make six kinds of Danish cookies plus some pastries. I would be so worn out if I tried to do that by hand or with just a small hand mixer. I am NOT a pioneer kid one of woman. So I appreciate the mixer. Mark bought it on Goodwill auction new in the box for half of what it would cost on sale, even Black Friday sales do not go that low. It had all the attachments except the ice cream bowl. That said, if I had to choose between the stand mixer or my Ninja blender, the Nina wins. Hands down! I use it multiple times per week.

This. And I think we will continue to see more backlash from Gen Z. They just don't have a lot to hope in capitalism run amok. It is getting sooo out of control, and Millenials and GenZ, soon to be GenAlpha as well, are left holding the empty bag. We live in Michigan, and our sons live 25 minutes from Kellogg which is in Battle Creek. It should be noted that they have continually cut back employees and saddled remaining employees with more work to increase their profits. The ounces per box have decreased regularly while the price keeps going up though their cost of production has not risen. They can play that game if they want to, but that doesn't mean young people have to take it on the chin either. My kids live in an apartment complex of young adults all rooming together 3-5 people crammed into 2 bedroom apartments trying to get ahead, and furious at the hand they have been dealt which includes having a strong belief that they will work until they die, that their entire generation will not be able to afford any kind of healthcare, that their SS payments will benefit their parents and grandparents while they will never see a dime of it in return, that Medicare will be disbanded before they become senior citizens/elderly, that eventually they will all be living in cars and vans, homeless, because of the housing insanity, all while being maligned by Silent Generation, Boomers, and GenX as being lazy, worthless creatures who deserve nothing more than ramen noodles. So very many of them work two jobs just to barely survive, have no hope of being able to afford a family, and pinch pennies much harder than their parents and grandparents ever did. That is their view. People without hope may seem complacent for a while, but that raging underbelly eventually explodes. It isn't going to be pretty. One of the issues I see just from the big three automakers is that when they offshored manufacturing to places where they pay $3 an hour, some places $5, they let go millions of Americans whom they used to pay decent wages to then were shocked when new car sales plummeted. Well duh. You shafted your workers and now they cannot afford your stupid product so you shot yourself in the foot! One of GM's most profitable divisions now is its car and truck brand for China. China has just about ZERO safety standards so they produce this pathetic "sail a car" kind of mini- pickup truck that is just a death trap, and costs them $2500 to produce in China, and it sells in country as well as surrounding Asian nations that also have no safety standards for twice that much which makes it affordable there. Never mind how many people will die in relatively minor accidents because it is just utter junk. Sigh. I think this kind of thing will be all the rage. Figure out a way to make something for foreign market while watching America descend into a living hellscape, but continue to operate "headquarters" in the US for all the tax breaks. I saw the other day that the effective tax rate on net profits for many companies is 9.6%. That's it. The average family pays 13%. The boycott probably will not make a difference. However, I do think it could be a warning bell of what the future holds. Millenials and GenZ become the largest voting block in 2026, and they are a very gloomy, anti-establishment, anti-capitalist people.

I don't know anyone who lived long term. But I know several folks who did it for a year or two in order to accomplish a greater goal. Locally, what is kind of common is for folks to buy land, immediately sink a well and get the septic tank and field done, and then put up a 1-2 car pole barn garage with loft. They plumb a bathroom with shower, and add a tiny kitchen and a heat source, and this is where they live for two years while the build the house which usually is attached to this garage. They sleep upstairs which stays warmer in winter, and have the tools and supplies for the build downstairs. Pole barn type structures cost about 30% less, sometimes even a little bit more savings depending on the bells and whistles, of a standard stick built structure. At least with local companies, that is the savings. I am sure it varies by state.

Melissa, I am so sorry you aren't up to the vegetable garden yet. But I want to say, we were all so very worried about you, and hearing that you can get into the flower garden and the twins are helping is just so encouraging to your fan base. We are rooting for you!

Thanks! I really appreciate your advice. I am so new to all of this. Also, just so everyone knows. I am zone 6a now. I grew up right here, in this exact location, and as a child we were 4B with some years behaving a little more like 5A because of insulation from Lake Huron. That is how much things have changed. It is strange for us because what I do know about gardening and crop production from my childhood, from puttering around my grandparents' huge garden, my uncle's apple orchard, and listening to them talk is very different, and closer now to what the U.P. of Michigan is experiencing. So much change. Thankfully, I have an updated gardening book as well as a homesteading tome that were written in the last two years, and have new calendars and instructions. I do find that the raised bed method and hugelkulture does mean adjusting since a lot of the advice is for in ground, traditional gardens. I really need some classes!!! It is 58 degrees outside. El Nino is making me question everything. This is just not normal. Of course, we could still see a freeze, not just a frost, a real deep freeze. It feels very unsettling.

Will it make a difference that I am planting them in a new raised bed with soil that has been warmed? After adding the soil, Mark is putting some old windows we have over top of the beds to contain heat sort of like a cold frame. He was expecting the soil to be 65-70 by the end of April. I have a hooper house I could keep over the transplants at night.

Saw this and thought of some of you. 😁

Agreed. I have two young adult bachelors trying to get themselves established financially amid all of this mess, and they do not buy cereal. They keep some juice in the house but not a lot, and occasionally make lemonade. All of the stuff Kellogg sells are just priced out of their grocery budget. Most of their friends do the same. I am not sure that Kellogg understands that they are rapidly pricing themselves out of the young folks market. Cereal is expensive and unhealthy to feed little kids; my dd doesn't keep it around. Maybe Gen X would eat it for dinner? I don't know. Seems like the company the CEO was really re-enacting that moment right before the peasants go, "Eff it! Let's storm the castle!"

Apparently, the CEO was on the news in January claiming cereal is reasonably priced and that Kellogg's would move be marketing "Cereal for dinner". We don't buy cereal, haven't for years so I wasn't following the flap. But on social media among Gen Z young adults who have already done a few years of " ramen noodles three meals a day because rent is insane", it didn't go down well. I think Reddit, among other forums, jumped on that.

Thanks. Good to know. I am prepared to plant the broccoli bty the end of May because I have a big row cover should we have a cold snap. I will also be able to put tomatoes in 8 weeks from now because we have covers. I could hold off on green beans because those could be directed sown and still harvesting at the right time for mom and I to can before we get hammered with tomatoes. Would you wait on cucumber, lettuce, and bell peppers? I know that the peas for sure are going out in 6-8 weeks because it will be consistently in the 50's and 60's during the day, and we have a sheet we can drape over their trellises if it was going to deep freeze. Seems like last year they absolutely loved, cool springtime. Everything will be in the ground by the end of the 2nd week of May with my mom watching over it because we have a volunteer thing we are doing Virginia. I am going to use a fan, from a distance, to produce a breeze after they are a couple inches tall to help them develop strong stems. My cukes last year started out as weaklings when transplanted.

My daughter always loved them for her babies. She loves vintage looks, and snugglies. Right now and a friend and I are sewing toddler clothes from vintage patterns out of quilt fabric and having a blast. T looks so darn cute in those clothes! I say go for it. You could also donate to baby pantries for moms in need. I make flannel burp rags, changing clothes, and receiving blankets for our county one, and also baby quilts and sun dresses and rompers. Even our local social services agency has a couple of closets they keep packed with items for parents in need, and foster parents taking a baby on short notice. I think they would love these precious, handmade things.

Got back from the rocket launch last night rather tired and fell immediately to sleep. Good launch though and tons of fun in the sun. Today, I am setting up the seed starting thing. Last year I only managed to successfully start cucumbers (4 plants and it was PLENTY for us), and 4 broccoli. Nothing else came up, and I think I know what I did wrong. Think. No certainty there. So I bought all my other plants at the nursery. I have a curbside pick up for 2 more trays (I will keep them and reuse every year until they crack and are no good), and a bag of good soil in 2 hrs, then sowing will commence. I am going to start with 6 cherry tomatoes and 6 cucumber ( and hope 4 germinate and grow strong), 16 broccoli, 8 bell peppers, 8 snow peas, 8 sugar snap peas, 8 butter lettuce, and the rest to as many green bean plants as I have space. We have two grow lights: two trays on the shelf in the picture, and 2 on the shelf above, and I think that comes to 16 pots per tray. The cherry tomatoes will be started in the bigger cardboard pots and placed on some old saucers/plates. The spider plant and both aloes will end up on the top shelf which has a ton of light. The spider is up there now and thriving. IF I am successful, this will leave me direct seeding sunflowers, sweet corn, more green beans, carrots (in rows in front of the peas, one week apart), radishes (same way), chives, and scallions. I will buy 16 Amish paste tomatoes, 8 basil, 4 oregano, 16 nasturtiums, 16 marigolds, 6 celery plants, 4 mint, and 2 more blueberry bushes. So far so good in terms of my apple trees NOT budding out. The only reason they haven't done it during these insane warm snaps that were shattering February records was the overnight lows still got down to 32-35 degrees (0-1.67C) at night, and if the temp was going to move and maybe go a degree above at night depending on conditions in our little town, I ran a sprinkler on them to cool the branches. Of course the best laid plans of mice and men not to mention green things probably still viewing me with disdain and fear, I could end up buying ALL my plants!

Oops. Didn't think about that. My mother in law and mother have them planted closer to their driveways. My bad!

I find there are really aggressive people pretty much everywhere, and most of them, in my experience, are in our age group. It is disheartening. As a result, I do not like to shop in person. I do run into Aldi, which is never packed, for groceries, and into TSC when I need gardening things. TSC is kind of "salt is the earth" farming/gardening crowd and everyone is laid back and chatty in a good way. But I don't do estate sales, garage sales, big box stores. I use curbside pick up for Walmart, Kohls if I absolutely need something from them, Home Depot, etc. and drive through for the pharmacy and even the bank. I collect a few kinds of glassware, just looking for some more rare pieces, and I do that online since it is rare to find them in any kind of antique store. I have seen aggressive people at antique stores and their lunging for items makes me nervous that they will take down the entire display! The place I love to go is my favorite nursery and farmer's market. Different crowd, everyone happy, no aggression or snarkiness, and lots of room to space out and enjoy the offerings. The other place is ski slopes. We never have issues when we go skiing up north.