I agree that one needs to be very careful about what one brings to a potluck or contributes to the church supper but I've found that even the non-adventurous will accept certain new recipes. They might not ask you for the recipe but you will get a few honest compliments. My husband would be willing to eat the same thing every day but I just seem to crave new tastes. Here are some examples that people have liked: - parsnip cookies - garlic scape hummus - zucchini and raisin pancakes (almost like carrot bread) There's always the chance that a new flavor will hit the big time. First the recipe gets shared and then some regional manufacturer will put it into production. I'm thinking something like red pepper jelly. I think I first tasted it in the 80s but now it's in every "country" shop. For years, I've been buying corn rather than growing it (the racoons won) at a local dairy farm. One of the young relatives grows it to earn money but the relatives have changed over the years. At first, there was a variety of corn, usually 2 different varieties each week, sometimes a third as a new one was ready for picking. Signs would be posted so you knew what kind. I loved that although I didn't always love all the varieties. About two years ago, they switched to a supersweet variety probably succession planted. At the beginning of the season, the corn is a little on the too young side and by the end of the season, well, it's almost not worth buying except it's going to be the last corn until next year. I'm going to start trying other farmstands. I don't think I've had any silver queen corn in two years and I miss it. The price of berries is a good example. I've been making blueberry muffins from berries we picked last summer and next year we better pick more. I used the last ones last weekend and it's only February. I don't buy fresh blueberries at the supermarket. The berries are available but the price is too high for my pocketbook.

Since this is posted on the Market Gardener, I would ordinarily discuss in terms of plants, but you're talking about a sustainable lifestyle, so I'm going to broaden it a little to include livestock. The principles are the same, it's just easier for me to talk in terms of farming. While there are some lovely books to read on those lists, I would say as far as reading goes, practicality first, philosophy second. You might do some checking on the lists and prioritize the recommendations. Put in some heavy duty time with the county ag agents. Ours supply farm record books that are a wonder for calculating costs and profits, maintaining livestock and crop records, etc. You can do part of this for them. The agent will be able to give you some idea of the established markets and farming in the area. You'll see what is overloaded and where there's growth. It will also be helpful to know things like: If you're going to raise sheep, it may be helpful to raise the same breeds so you'll have a local source for replacement ewes and rams, or so you can be part of a wool-marketing cooperative. Look at the talents and abilities. I like sheep and can handle most of the care necessary, such as shearing, etc. But I have big hands--not good for helping deliver a tangle of lambs. On the other hand, there have been times when I've needed to wrestle a hundred pound ewe, who has decided she will not walk even if staying where she is will mean drowning, up a steep and muddy bank in the middle of a rainstorm in the dark. We solve this with a partnership that lets us concentrate on our strengths. BUT, in time of necessity, we've each had to tackle jobs we aren't suited for. Those are the preliminaries. As I understand there are 320 acres total, with 300 rented out. That gives the youngsters 20 acres to work with? The main thing I would do is establish a relationship with the farmer or farmers that are renting the land. Offer to work in whatever free time your son and DIL have for whatever wages the farmers can afford in return for learning. Do they raise hay? Learn how to judge when hay is ready for cutting. Learn what grass works in the area, what kind of hay sells, what size bales are easiest to handle on the farm, what size bales bring the best return on the market, what kind of baler to buy, where a used baler might be available, how to handle minor repairs, how to load the twine, how to grease and maintain the mechanism. Perhaps the farmer runs cattle. Could the property support more animals per acre? How? Find out what kind of improvements the farmer would make on the land. Liming? Reseeding? Would a water tank make it better? Should that stream be dammed or diverted? Would bringing in a herd of goats to clean up the weeds make it better? Would the farmer make the improvements himself as a substitute for the rent? Would he pay higher rent for the improvements? Would he pay your son and DIL to check the animals, haul feed in the winter, etc.? Look for improvements that can be made gradually. Does the fence need improving? Find out how to run barbed wire. (It's harder than it looks and there are some techniques that will make the work much easier and much safer.) The field needs new posts? Start putting aside enough money from each paycheck to buy one post. Get the posts in place and then replace one strand of wire at a time. Or one roll of barbed wire at a time. In this way, your son gets experience in farming, the land is improved, and he's working towards a time when he can farm the property himself. Okay, so you have a plan for the 300 acres, what do the kids do with the 20? Market research will be the key. Find either a group that will give you mass marketing strength or find a niche that no one else is doing. Don't go for a kind of medium where you have competitors and some do well and some fail but most do only okay. South Dakota--Are there Indian Reservations nearby? Have the kids considered raising Indian corn--sorry, ornamental corn? Forget cultural authenticity--we're talking tourists here. Most will easily make the connection. Grow one season, dry and store, sell the next summer season. Stores at campgrounds would be potential customers. Would a roadside stand be doable for you? They would also have the fall decorations market. They could sell at the local farmer's market and even if their supply didn't sell one weekend, they could bring the same back the next week with small loss because dried corn doesn't spoil the way cut flowers might. They can also market shocks of corn as decorations. Some of the ornamental corn has different colored stalks--take orders, charge for delivery. They could sell mail order, seeds as well as the ears. The seeds are used in making necklaces for the tourist trade. They might also raise some of the varieties of blue corn, which beyond decoration can also be used to grind blue corn meal for Mexican dishes such as tacos, etc. Since most of these varieties are not hybrid, they should be able to raise their own seed after the first order. Surplus, since it's good corn, could be fed to their own livestock--you know, those goats that are clearing the pasture? The relatively short growing season can be managed since in my experience the ornamental corn sprouts can handle some frost die-back in spring, and they'll need to have a couple of frosts before harvest anyway. Patches of different varieties will have to be separated to avoid cross-pollination--or you can cross them and develop your own variety. Print labels on the computer, put the corn in a baggy, and bob's your uncle. Add gourds and pumpkins, depending upon the growing season, to go along with the themes of Native American crops and ornamental crops. They can even be planted among the cornrows. Ray

Before you start planting: think about the hard landscaping and your advancing years (whether you're thirty or ninety - they're advancing!) Think about features you'd love to have - glasshouse or tunnel house, entertainment area, breeze-way, extra parking or a turn around, pergola or arches, decking, gazebo, pond, fountain, statuary or elegant pots, garden compartments and destinations. Think about how you will get materials to those sites - and what paving or four season walks you need to install so they give you best value. Think about clearing snow away and where you might need to pile it simply to get your vehicle to the road. If it makes a soggy patch, or an ephemeral wetland/rain garden, how would you like it to be? Or do you want to add a storm water drain? Do you want to install water capture tanks to help ease out drought and water restrictions? Where do your utility lines run? Do you have a septic tank? I don't know about your yard, but I do know that trees such as willows have these damp-finding roots and will be into places such as sewage pipes or leach fields leading to nasty bills Soon. If you plan to fetch foodstuffs from a store shed, tunnel house, or root cellar over winter - very safe footing and garden lighting are such a pleasure. Are they already there - or will you have to excavate to lay those lines for power and water? Look at the number of hose points in your yard. Do you need to increase them? Bring them up to working height? Garden shed and potting bench - is what you have working? Have you enough storage for pots, flats, media, chemicals, and amendments - plus yard tools? Plus, what every garden needs! - a nursery area and quarantine place for plants you need to check, or heel in while you prepare their sites, or grow on before transplanting. Or even a cutting garden, if you love to have flowers for the table or to give to others without disturbing the main garden displays. And protection from hungry creatures for your veg garden, as well as from hungry tree roots. It's easy enough to provide spot shade over summer. Much harder to cope with increasing shade and diminishing crops because your garden is maturing into a woodland. (Keep your neighbours' hedges and trees in mind, too.) Lastly: start keeping a daily journal, even over winter. Record the weather at your place, detailed, if you have the means whereby. What you planted. Where. Where you got it from. What happened to it, or the crop. Your running costs. Whatever else seems good to you to keep a record of. I absolutely guarantee you'll be very glad you did, several times a year. Before you think of planting. Because it is easier to map out those places and features in mind (and on paper) and then put them under grass or mulch, than it is to plant them in shrubs or treasured perennials, only to have to shift them or destroy them later. The other part is to pause until at least spring/early summer is through so you can see what you've inherited. There could be yummy clumps of spring bulbs and hardy perennials out there among the neglected bits. Then you can think about what style of garden you want, and how much work you want to do season by season.

Dawn I haven't found it anywhere around here yet. The Tractor Supply store has the others you mentioned but I never found Urban Farm unless it sold out quickly. I looked again today but was in a hurry. Saw the others again. I don't go to the Wally World in Guymon unless it is an absolute necessity. Maybe 4-5 times a year. And when I do it is usually for gardening supplies and I'm in a hurry. I will be in Garden City in a few weeks so will do some looking there. I emailed them asking about a subscription last summer and the lady said as of then they were selling subscriptions. Jay