Category: Gardening

Key Elements for Self-Sufficient Gardening – Part 1, by B. C.

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I was blessed to grow up on a farm and later was fortunate to be able to receive an advanced degree in Agriculture. For the last 15 years my wife and I have been running a small diversified farm where we produce vegetables, fruit, and animal products for local markets and a C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture). During this time we’ve spent several years in several countries doing agricultural mission work, seeing how the rest of the world feeds itself, and doing our part to assist them with that. Over time we’ve worked hard to turn our own 30-acre farm into …


Letter Re: The Human-Powered Veggie Garden, by J.A.

Hugh, I would offer these suggestions to enhance the ease of preparation of the garden area. First, double digging the ground is a tried and true method, but it can be labor intensive. This can present a challenge to older persons or anyone with physical limitations. An alternative would be to use the layered or “lasagna” approach to change the sod into a garden. The book Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza covers this in detail, but a brief summary is to cover the grass with wet newspapers or cardboard and then build up layers of compostable material, allowing enough time …


Letters Re: The Human-Powered Veggie Garden

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HJL, Try straw bale gardening. It’s a lot less work and very productive. I had more tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers than I could handle in my first season. It also takes up less space and saves the back pain of bending over so far or kneeling to weed or trim et cetera. You can garden on your patio or roof, or just about anywhere. I’m 68, and I’ll never use another method of gardening. Note! Use straw bales, not hay! – GSS o o o HJL, Respectfully, double digging is a bad idea. It will destroy the soil structure. It …


The Human-Powered Veggie Garden- Part 2, by J.A.

Deep Digging and Rock Removal The second round of digging is the hardest work of the whole project. The process is much like the first round, except the goal is to be able to bury the whole head of your shovel in loose soil when you are done. This time, if you hit a rock in the process of achieving that, it has to go. As you back up, some of the rocks will expose an edge you can get under with the shovel. This is where buying good tools, and sharpening your shovel is really going to pay off. …


The Human-Powered Veggie Garden- Part 1, by J.A.

A small amount of land, in some cases as little as half an acre if managed correctly, could supply a bountiful vegetable garden even without the luxuries of fossil fuel-driven technology or animal power. The key to the survival of an individual or a family who is either under-prepared or through the course of events is somehow unable to use any fossil fuel-driven technology or animal power is being able to quickly produce edible crops on the ground that they have using nothing but hand tools. The methods necessary to do this are inexpensive to implement, physically rewarding, and beneficial …


Household Basics in TEOTWAWKI- Part 4, by Sarah Latimer

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The Physical Properties and Application I’m concerned about having yeast readily available in TEOTWAWKI. I like having dry yeast readily available by the measurable spoonful, and so I buy it in one pound bricks and then store it in a sealed quart Mason jars – one in my refrigerator door and one in my freezer– so that the yeast keeps for well over a year (if I haven’t used it up in that amount of time). It is no problem to use cold yeast directly in your recipes. It wakes up in the warm water just as if it had …


How to Plan and Plant a Hidden Garden, by Survival San

I don’t know if it’s just me, but as soon as the holidays have passed my mind turns to gardening. Too soon? Not in my opinion. Spring will be on us quicker than a tick on a rainy day, and it’s best we be prepared. It could be you’re hesitant to plant a garden because you’re worried about would-be poachers and/or vandals. Maybe you’re afraid that a garden will draw unwanted attention from wandering marauders or neighborhood children who may decide to commandeer your harvest or stomp on your tomatoes. Fear not! The solution to this disconcerting dilemma is to …


Letter Re: Growing Pineapples

Mr. Hugh, This is a very good post on growing pineapples. We have grown them in similar manner for several years. We don’t root ours in water but place them in large (3 gallon) pots with very moist potting soil. They are repotted as needed into larger pots to complete their growing time. Be sure to let the base of the “top” dry out as G.J. says. We prefer raising them in the pots because they can be moved easily to a warmer location as needed, weeds aren’t a problem, and the moisture is better controlled during times of drought. …


Growing Pineapple, by G.J.

In post-Columbian Europe, imported or greenhouse pineapples were a symbol of wealth, often being used for decoration rather than being eaten. Now, imagine a world gone crazy, where even the canned pineapple is only a memory. For those of us who are well-stocked and even have a garden, the loss of trucking and worldwide shipping means a lot of fruits, especially tropical ones, will be simply a memory, kind of like how generations ago received oranges at Christmas as treats. Citrus fruits are not too much of a stretch in parts of the U.S., but pineapples will be rare. What …


Roses Are Red and Healthful Too, by Sarah Latimer

We have had beautiful fall weather. However, my flower gardens are pretty well gone, as the brisk, cold fall winds blow and leave only a few dried flowers, seeds, and various remains to remind me of the brilliant colors that once adorned our property earlier in the year. If asked what is my favorite aromatic flower, I might say stargazer lily, gardenia, or rose. If asked what is the most beautiful flower, I would struggle to come up with just one or even three, as there are many I adore, but the rose would certainly be high on the list. …


Lessons Learned in Livestock – Part 2, by C.K.

(Continued from Part 1) The following are the varieties of livestock that  I would not consider for a prepared homestead: Guinea Fowl. I raised over 300 per year. Feed requirements can be met with them running loose, but that also meets the cat’s requirements on little keets. Also a guinea looks for the best hiding spot for eggs. And if allowed to roost outside they will help your owl population by supplying a midnight snack. And they wander to far from home and make way too much noise. The amount of bug reduction is nice but, chickens and ducks also …


Letter: Advice for Rural Retirees

Dear Editor: My husband and I are older, he is 84 and I am 70.  We are very concerned about the way this country is traveling and are even more concerned if Hillary Clinton is elected.  I realize that we need to start gathering supplies and storing them.  My question is: we live in a small, rural, agricultural community. However, we live on a main road and are within 50 miles of two major cities and about 70 miles of another one.  Our economy took an unusually hard hit in 2008 and is recovering at a slower rate than many …


Letter: Misadventures of a Green Thumb

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers: I’d like to address the idea of “prepare for the unexpected” using a real life example that happened to me. I hope this humorous example leads you to take some steps, however small, to begin taking steps to fill the gaps in your preparedness planning; because for all the good intentions you may have, a totally unexpected event could take place that makes it all worthless. So for me, I have never had what had been called a “green thumb”. I never have actually had a return from my spring and summer garden that I feel was …


I Love Sharp Things, by Phil M.

In any survival situation a defective tool is pretty much worthless and will cost you dearly in frustration or even your life. I’m sure you can think of a lot of examples. Effective tools are a big part of my life and most all of them need to be sharp, and some of them very sharp, like chisels and planer blades. When I started thinking of all the tools that I keep sharp the list started running into the dozens, everything from a potato peeler to a chainsaw. A lot of you are like me in one way or another …


Letter Re: Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a Retreat Locale

James, We lived along the northern shore of the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula  (UP),  in the Marquette area.  This was way back in the late 1960s. (We left in 1972.) We spent the last two years of that living in the middle of a fairly isolated 40 acre tract about half an hour drive (summer travel) from town. The great lakes, Superior in particular, have an enormous influence on the local climate. Varying by distance and prevailing winds, you tend to have cooler summer temps as well as slightly warmer winters.  The lakes effect precipitation, most noticeably snowfall, but cloud cover …