Good Saturday morning to everyone out there.  It is nice and sunny, though cold.  Yesterday was gloomy but with one bright spot: the seeds we ordered came in.  We spent more of the morning with coffee than usual discussing when to clean off the patio, bring out the containers, what we had to get to get them up and running.  All that good stuff.  We will be starting our spring and summer seeds very soon.  That will be good.

Last week, I think it was, I noted that seed sales provided a bright spot in otherwise lackluster consumer sales.  According to a survey by the National Gardeners' Association featured on Green City Growers,  the number of people planning food gardens has increased dramatically.  Gee, I wonder why.  Couldn't be because people are getting tired of paying high prices for the tasteless produce the genetic engineers have created to meet the needs of commercial growers and shippers, could it?  Or the, apparently, increasing frequency of food borne illness from those sources?  Or that, as more people join the ranks of the un- or underemployed, a productive activity that saves on the food budget is more attractive?  Sign me up on all of the above.

The AARP Bulletin (on-line) has this little article on supermarket rip-offs.  Though the process described is 'old as the hills,' as they say, it really took off last fall.  We noted all of these over the last year.  These changes are part of the reason why we buy stick margarine instead of the tub, do not buy frozen pizzas at all, may not buy any ice cream this summer, and watch the weight or volume indications closely on everything else.  I love the last little comment: "I’m waiting for the day I open a carton of a dozen eggs and there’s only 11."