Regarding the beginning of your thread - peak oil. I presume this means you are concerned about possible disruptions in the commercial food supply. If so, you are right to be. I have been experimenting with low-input food production here on the east coast for aboput eight years now. I would term it permaculture because the best food plants are self-perpetuating, and if not one should learn to save seed. Some things I've learned: the most important food for human survival is grain. Grain is also the most problematic to produce in a sustainable and survivalist fashion, that is, without fossil-fuel or animal power or their derived fertilizers. It's no accident that civilizations developed on grain and that they took a long time to do so. I don't have personal experience of socal ag, but over here the small grains are easier to raise (far fewer pest problems and more drought tolerant) and are more nutritous than maize, but much more difficult to harvest. In a necessity situation, I would plan to raise small grains in garden-type beds, fertilized with urine in rain water. Harvest will be extremely time-consuming, but would know this and be prepared to allot the time. It is also work that children could do. Potatoes and squash would be key starch crops that will produce fairly reliably with small effort and low-input. They walking onion is a perrenial that will grow almost anywhere without help. A very important survival crop, as a reliable source of vitamin C and some greenery. Some other greens such as kale, chard, and lettuce take little space and are fairly easy though irrigation is generally necessary and saving seed for chard and beets can be problematic. Legumes are critical also, of course. Lucky for you, the soil out there is genrally balanced. 6.5 soil with fairly low organic matter will produce some legume food without any amendment. Here I have to make sure to have dosed well with wood-ash in the fall and winter before planting. The large seed size is tolerant of fresh twiggy, leafy ground. The most important thing for any of us anywhere, IMO, is to know what grains are most sustainable for one's region, and to keep a good supply always on hand. A least a year's eating supply, plus two seasons of planting stock (which doesn't amount to lot, actually). 50-100 lbs per adult should do it. The first season's growth will be doing well just to provide a good planting stock for the next season, I figure. Keep some maize on hand, because it has the advantage of doing better in coarse, just cleared and amended ground. The large seeds will germinate better than small grains in forest litter. The east coast indians did it that way for centuries, although they didn't have the pest problems that exist now.

I think I have decided on the vegetarian entree. I love the sound of Linda's butternut squash lasagna but I have all of this pumpkin puree so I went looking for a pumpkin lasagna. This one also includes Swiss chard. I'm thinking I might skip the green beans every pushes around on their plate because stuffing and mashed potatoes are more appealing. I'll add more chard to the dish as one review mentions it could use more. I will also add some rosemary as that sounds like a tasty addition. Pumpkin Lasagna with Ricotta and Swiss Chard 1 pound lasagna noodles 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for tossing 1 onion, finely chopped 2 pounds Swiss chard, stems discarded and leaves chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper 3 15-ounce cans pumpkin puree 1/4 cup heavy cream Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg Pinch of cayenne pepper 4 cups fresh ricotta (32ounces) 2 large eggs, beaten 2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (about 6 ounces) 2 cups shredded imported Fontina cheese (about 8 ounces) 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the lasagna noodles until just starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Drain well and transfer the noodles to a baking sheet. Toss the noodles with olive oil to prevent them from sticking together. 2. In a large skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and cook over moderately low heat until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the Swiss chard and cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until wilted and no more liquid remains, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Season the chard with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate and let cool slightly. 3. In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, heavy cream, nutmeg and cayenne. Season with salt and pepper. In another bowl, mix the ricotta with the eggs, 1 1/2 cups of the Parmigiano, 1 cup of the fontina and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. 4. In a well-buttered, 9x13 inch ceramic baking dish, spoon 1/2 cup of the pumpkin mixture in an even layer. Arrange 3 or 4 lasagna noodles in the dish, overlapping them slightly. Spread half of the remaining pumpkin mixture over the noodles in an even layer. Top with half of the Swiss chard and another layer of noodles. Cover with half of the ricotta mixture. Repeat the layering with lasagna noodles, pumpkin, Swiss chard, another layer of noodles and finish with the ricotta mixture. 5. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for about 40 minutes, until heated through and slightly firm. Remove from the oven and uncover. Preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmigiano and 1 cup of fontina on top of the lasagna and broil about 4 inches from the heat until golden brown and crisp on top, about 4 minutes. Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes, then cut into squares and serve. MAKE AHEAD The unbaked lasagna can be refrigerated overnight. Let return to room temperature before baking. Here is a link that might be useful: www.foodandwine.com

Well its still snowing on this side of Williamsburg! Just hoping my younger daughter gets back here from FL ok. She left there this morning and when I talked to her about an hour ago, she was somewhere in NC. The rest of the kids are supposed to come down here tomorrow for our Christmas.

kfrinkle, The latest rainfall projections for your area sure haven' gotten any better, and my part of Love County is straddling the line that divides the projected rainfall into the 3-6" category and the 6-9" category. Looks like the frogs are gonna be really happy and the gardeners much less so. Lisa, I imagine he is right. This year it seems like Norman floods at the drop of a hat. I imagine there will be lots of flash flooding and a lot of good old river flooding over the next few days. We had flash flooding overnight in part of our county (but not our part as most of that rain missed us too). Paula, It needs to be a big boat so it will carry a lot of potted tomatoes and peppers. All this rain has severely watered down the flavor of both tomatoes and plums. I suppose the tomatoes still taste better than grocery store tomatoes, but only just barely. Now that the peaches are breaking color and approaching the ripening stage, this big rainfall is going to come along and water down their flavor too. The rain hasn't hurt the quantity of produce we're harvesting but it sure has hurt the quality. As soon as they do the weather here on the noon news, it is back to the kitchen for me because I'm making plum jelly today. I probably should be outside building a plant ark and loading it up with 2 plants of each kind.... This morning, I heard on my county radio that a small amount of water (at that point, 1" deep) had just begun flowing across the Lake Murray spillway at Scenic Hwy 77. Hopefully that runoff from last night's very heavy rains north of us won't cause enough water to flow over the spillway that they have to close down the road. There's also a possibility that Lake Texoma may rise enough again to flow over the spillway again. The spillway is at 640 and the lake level currently is 637.70. It has taken it a couple of weeks to drop from the former high of 645.something and now it may go over the spillway for only the 5th time in its history. We weren't expecting the fifth time to occur so soon after the fourth time. We're expecting 3-6" in much of the area, with some areas getting 6-9". That much rain over a few days will fill up the lake quite a bit. It is funny. I thought it was mid-June and we were in the process of recovering from all the May rainfall. Suddenly, we're almost right back where we started, as if the two weeks of drying out never even happened. I feel sorry for anyone near the lake or river and especially folks downstream as they are about to have water damage and destruction all over again. On the bright side, all the rain made really nice-sized potatoes and lots of them which is wonderful since drought often causes smaller yields and smaller sized potatoes. Dawn