Well Spiderwoman, thanks for finding the article! :) I may have totally missed it if you hadn't brought it to attention. I did a search on a couple of names in that article and picture credits which are pretty interesting too. I find the whole earth home concept fascinating and a whole lot like a huge live-in sculpture :)

I love that magazine. You can get 6 issues for $10, which is a pretty good deal compared to the what you pay in the store. Lots of gardening, chicken and farming info. Here's the link: www.motherearthnews.com

Glenda, Your estimate of $1 a can for pumpkin was probably just a number picked to make the math easier, but in reality I doubt you will find it that cheap anywhere. When I have checked it, it was $1.37 for the smallest can and over $2 for the larger pie mix type. I have been watching it because I read an article from Libby that said that we might have trouble finding their pumpkin this year. It said that they believed in canning only the finest pumpkin and had planted huge crops but the weather conditions kept them from getting in the fields at the proper time for harvest. I think this is 2 years in a row with a lowered production. They said they would plant even more for next year. It's nice to know that we can plant our own and are likely to get a good crop. I am making room in my garden for some, and I know just which one I am going to plant. In fact, I probably know about a dozen people that will be planting the same one. LOL Since you have such a large place you don't have a problem, but some of us have to find a way to squeeze all those vining things into a smaller backyard space. I suspect that I will be stepping through a lot of vines this year because there are so many things I want to plant. I have a four foot chain link fence on three sides of my garden. The fence is ours so I can plant on it if I want. My two neighbors will have a choice, I guess. They can cut it back or harvest on their side of the fence. I know it is impossible to contain some of those winter squash vines and some melons. This year I had squash growing up the cages on my peppers and had made themselves quiet comfortable and impossible to move long before I noticed since I always picked the pepper from the path on the other side. Even some of the summer squash can get really big. I planted Zucchetta Rampicante Trombocino in a large tub size container in my yard this year. The vines ran up the five foot tomato cage, then down again to the ground then over 15 feet across the lawn. I kept picking them up and moving them back around the pot so I could mow the grass but finally had to give up and let the grass grow up near the pot because I had a mountain of vines there. I had three vines in the pot and every squash that came off of two of them was wonderful. The third one wasn't nearly as productive and would occasionally produce a hard squash. I will grow it again though because we loved it and it was extremely productive. I only had a few seed left so I let the last squash get larger than normal and haven't cut it yet, hoping I will get more seed to plant. Overall we were very pleased with the squash. It was great just sliced into sticks and stir-fried. I also pickled some and we just opened the first jar last week and really enjoyed it. Al liked it boiled, drained, and topped with parmasen cheese. I have heard some people say they don't like them, but we did.

Thanks for the link, it is an excellent article. The reason that I started a formal potager was my veggie garden was so much work. I edged it with brick to keep a neat edge. I also use the cardboard and newspaper with grass clippings to keep weeds down. I'm so much more pleased with it now and the amount of time that I need to spend to keep it looking good. I've also unsed the lasagne method to start new garden areas right over top of sod. Which is so much easier than digging it out. I don't own a tiller.