After cutting the green off your store-bought green onions, plant the roots. This is the regrowth you see.

Pantry staples

We're talking living off the land sort of staples. Like the guy in "The Poet of Tolstoy Park" by Sonny Brewer, or "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

From http://www.untrainedhousewife.com/the-homesteaders-pantry:
Whole wheat flour
-Baking soda
-Baking powder
-Sugar
-Salt
-Vanilla
-Whole wheat pasta
-Lentils or other beans
-A bag of rice
-Jug of oil (canola)
-Canned tomatoes
-Spices such as: good black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder, bay leaf, oregano
-Cooking onions
-Potatoes
-Carrots

In your freezer, you’ll want to have some butter and plenty of frozen fruits , vegetables and even jams."

So, what you can grow in the garden are: beans, tomatoes, chili peppers, maybe a bay bush?, oregano, potatoes, and carrots.

You can set up shelves in your crawlspace and turn it into a root cellar. Or bury a barrel on the south side of your home, fill it with straw (and cover it with straw) as insulation, and store root vegetables there. Tomatoes can be canned without a pressure cooker, as can fruit. But beware vegetables else you kill yourself with botulism. This summer I'm going to make a solar dryer and dry some vegetables.

In the old days, stew and bread kept people alive. It might be boring--guess you'll have to find your fun elsewhere...

Here's another list of suggested staples, from http://www.pioneerthinking.com/cooking/solutions/st_pantry.html:

"1. Beans and Lentils
2. Brown rice
3. Canned fish
4. Canola Oil
5. Cooking spray
6. Dried fruit
7. Low-sodium chicken broth
8. Nuts and nut butters
9. Popcorn
10. Whole wheat pasta
11. Whole wheat flour"

And here, just for entertainment, is a list of Japanese pantry staples from http://www.justhungry.com/2006/08/back_to_japanes.html:

"Medium grain rice
Japanese soy sauce
White miso (shiromiso)
Bonito flakes (katsuo bushi)
Konbu seaweed
Sake
Mirin
Rice vinegar
Dried shiitake mushrooms
Sesame seeds
Green tea leaves"
'Course, if you're LDS, you can skip sake, mirin, rice vinegar and green tea leaves.
I had a friend in Okinawa whose family made miso. I wonder if self-sufficient-oriented people in Japan know how to make their own miso. And tofu. Hmm.

Go out and plant!

Lettuce. For salads until the heat hits. The store cost is high right now.
Peas. For littles to pick and snack on in the garden.
Kale. For Olive Garden Tuscany Soup.
Bok Choy. For sauteing with a little butter and grated ginger, and a dash of soy.
Spinach. For salads and saute.
Radishes. For marking where you've planted so you don't plant over the top.
Chives. For garnishes.
Strawberries. For next year (takes 2 years).

spices

Health food stores can be a good place to buy spices. They are sold in the herbal area in 2 oz. bags, and smell fresher than their counterparts in the grocery store. It's also affordable to try more exotic spices that you might not normally be able to budget for.

Health food stores are also good for buying nuts in their bulk section. Sometimes you can get the raw nuts cheaper, and all you have to do is put them in the oven for 5-10 min (don't let them brown too much--almonds that are cooked too long smell like coffee), and you have the roasted version.

Asian markets can sometimes be good for spices too, but you have to cross-check.

compost the vegetables you like

If you want good, strong seed for your vegetable garden, let at least one plant for each variety go to seed in an inconspicuous spot in your garden, and collect the seed. This is a great time to plan for that in places where the cold weather plants are meeting the heat: lettuces, herbs maybe a bit later in the summer (dill, cilantro, basil, summer savory, etc.)

You can also keep the seeds from things you buy at the store--squashes, tomatoes, potatoes (pieces that are sprouty and not good to eat anymore), not seeds), peppers etc. It's nice compost, and free plantings too!

Tis the season for winter clearence

It is time to shop for winter clothes for the kids. I need to troll the nicer shops and see if there is anything left at 75% off. By now there will be little left. We do live in a large-family town, after all.

DI is good for shoes. I got Littlest some light-up Cars shoes for $3. I also accidentally drove around the neighborhood with a pair of his shoes sitting on the trunk. I didn't realize until I went out this morning to find only one still sitting there! Luckily, even though it was garbage day, no one chucked it, and I did find it on the path I took yestereve.