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Old 10-30-2015, 11:46 AM
 
9,479 posts, read 12,223,164 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rigizug View Post
wow ... I know plenty with their gardens or the city garden if they don't have their own backyard or land. I'm surprised at how many actually do canning, including some men. I actually started growing my own tomatoes (easy), lettuce, and peppers when I had a yard ... something I never dreamed of doing in CA. I guess it's not as widespread as I thought it was.
When I was a kid I remembered seeing cans in the basement of an aunts house and was told that was how they used to preserve food in the "olden days" but never saw anyone do it.

As for growing food, other than people having a few tomato plants or something, I never knew anyone who grew their own food. (I don't consider having a few tomato plants as growing their own food for the winter) Even my parents who live on several acres have no food gardens at all. Just a few apple trees that the wildlife enjoys.

I am not saying it doesn't happen, just saying not everyone in Iowa does it.
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Old 10-30-2015, 12:54 PM
 
Location: Jonesboro
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I think that home gardening is a more common thing in smaller Iowa towns & with people who live on actual farms or on an acreage.
But, the greatest yard garden I ever saw was in Ames.
We had gardens in our yard from the time of the first house my parents bought until the last one they built in Iowa.
In one particular situation, the entire block of around a dozen homes was involved in a sort of "co-op" concept which allowed us to grow & share a great variety of vegetables in a large space in the center of the block.
When we left that home & moved to a new subdivision, my master gardening veteran grandparents came out from Wisconsin to help plan & layout our new garden.
My step sister complains about how hard it is north of Denver with lousy soil & all too common violent hail storms to garden in her yard & get any results that amount to more than the veritable hill of beans.
My own yard in Georgia is "challenging", to put it mildly with thick clay soil that is alternately too gooey or too hard.
Honestly, with the rich soil in Iowa, gardening effectively in a yard can be a snap as compared to what the experience can be like elsewhere.
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Old 10-30-2015, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Des Moines, IA, USA
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My mom did - had a big garden and canned a lot of things (fruits, veggies, jams). But that was 30 years ago, and while she did can many things, it was by no means everything we ate in the winter.
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Old 10-30-2015, 01:30 PM
 
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I grew up in a small town in Iowa, lived there until I was 29 and then moved to Des Moines, still never knew of anyone who grew food or canned!
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Old 10-30-2015, 05:07 PM
 
Location: Des Moines Metro
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Almost everyone in my neighborhood has a salad garden: peas and lettuce in the spring, tomatoes and herbs in the summer, and kale, radishes, and more peas in the fall.

Canning is heavy work. Most older people I know now either dehydrate or use a vac sealer for freezing the harvest. Many people freeze berries in June because they are $4 for a tiny bag in February.

Probably half of the people I know put away food and/or maintain some sort of winter pantry.
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Old 11-06-2015, 10:14 AM
 
215 posts, read 280,747 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rigizug View Post
wow ... I know plenty with their gardens or the city garden if they don't have their own backyard or land. I'm surprised at how many actually do canning, including some men. I actually started growing my own tomatoes (easy), lettuce, and peppers when I had a yard ... something I never dreamed of doing in CA. I guess it's not as widespread in Iowa as I thought it was.
It's widespread, it's just that it's so common no one talks about it much. I tend to freeze as much as possible to save the flavor and character.
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Old 06-30-2016, 06:55 PM
 
25 posts, read 26,781 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElleTea View Post
I grew up in a small town in Iowa, lived there until I was 29 and then moved to Des Moines, still never knew of anyone who grew food or canned!
I grew up in small town Iowa, my family, and all my aunts and uncles all over the state with or without farms had huge gardens and canned. We moved to the west coast in the late 60's and my mother continued until she was unable. I doubt if I had ever tasted factory canned green beans until I was an adult and out on my own. I still know plenty of people here in Washington that garden and can. A couple of them are fellow midwesterners. I even know educated upwardly mobile Californians that can. You musta been a rich kid or you're really young. BTW home canned foods would be in canning jars, not cans.
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Old 07-01-2016, 06:00 PM
 
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The co-op is great (especially their key lime pie, anyone ever tried it?). The only negative is that it is expensive. You pay for a yearly membership- I can't remember the cost- I think around $50 dollars or so. But then they give you a large coupon book full of free items. I took advantage of these and by far got my $50 worth. Also at the end of the year, they send you a check based on your spending for the year, as a profit sharing thing. We didn't shop there all that much but still got back about $40 or so. They have a decent size prepared food section and a sitting area with tables (at the location on the main strip in IC) so you can stop in for a quick lunch. They also have some hard to find specialty items like bison meat (check it out, it is so much healthier than beef), etc. It is a treat!

Since we lived in IC, a costco has come to Coralville. They have a suprising amount of organic foods- for so cheap! Plus so much is online now- through google express deliveries and amazon- besides perishables, it is nice to get it delivered.

Last edited by Midwestforme; 07-01-2016 at 06:12 PM..
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Old 07-02-2016, 04:33 PM
 
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Semi-related to this thread. Anywhere in CR, or even IC, to get good fresh fish, particularly salmon? Thanks!
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Old 08-18-2016, 12:07 AM
 
53 posts, read 94,041 times
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I have a gardening question: Since the soil is so fertile, I am wondering why there aren't more evergreen type privacy trees (pines, etc) in the suburbs? From the pics (of Waukee, especially) it just looks really flat with not much vegetation. I am wondering if the super cold winter temps or the high winds make it difficult for these to grow OR is it more of a local culture thing that people don't really like or want privacy?
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