Category: Gardening

Our Experience Growing and Storing Our Own Food- Part 3, by Tennessean

Farming Equipment Farming equipment is useful in various functions of gardening, particularly when growing a large garden for a family’s self-sustenance. Mechanical Seeders Two months ago we were on a UT field trip visit to a farm several counties northeast of us. I was extremely impressed with “Farmer Bob”. He demonstrated a Jang Clean Seeder. it actually worked! Two other push hand seeders we have tried have been about as useless as a screen door in a submarine. This gizmo is NOT inexpensive, but it does the job. We bought a fertilizer attachment, a row marker attachment, a rough soil …


Our Experience Growing and Storing Our Own Food- Part 2, by Tennessean

Seed (continued) Winter Squash One needs to give these cultivars a LOT of room, planting on a grid 8’ by 8’ is about right. This year we are growing two winter squash cultivars that keep a long time in a root cellar. Anna Swartz is a C. maxima and Waltham Butternut is a C. moschata and will not cross pollinate (this is why you must have Suzanne Ashworth’s book!), so we will be saving the seed from these. Insects pollinate the cucumber family, and we’ve oodles of all sorts of pollinator insects in East Tennessee, and they fly for many …


Our Experience Growing and Storing Our Own Food- Part 1, by Tennessean

A recent post commented on how it is next to impossible to grow one’s own food. It’s very hard work, has a difficult and long learning curve, but it can be done. This essay explains how to efficiently grow and store your own food. You can learn from our mistakes. Both my sets of grandparents farmed with a team of mules. We know a couple in a county north of us who farm using with a team of mules; they are able to feed themselves, the mules, and also customers at a farmer’s market. About Me I’m 73 years old …



Little Things WILL Become Big Things, and Food Will Be Everything!, by L.T.

When everything falls apart there are plenty of plans for “bugging out”, “bugging in”, and so forth. Whatever path you choose, things won’t return to normal soon and quite possibly never. Much has been written on beans, band aids, and bullets, but there will also be a huge demand for little things that we take for granted. Of course, there will be an even bigger demand for fresh food. Decent food is a major issue; you can’t live forever on storage foods, and most people can’t live forever in the woods. The following is information from our experiences to help …


Two Forever Foods, by Northern Forager

2

Disclaimer: The author and SurvivalBlog take no responsibility for the information or use of information resulting in or from the following article. This article is intended for informational purposes only. There is a world of food that exists outside of the supermarket– types of food that people who only get their food from stores never see or learn about. In my effort of sustainable and self-reliant living, I have become an advocate and convert to the idea of eating local plants in the area where I live, even to the point of eating “weeds”. Doing the same will greatly improve …


Protecting Your Home, BOL, and Supplies from Pests, by JC

Pest control is an industry that touches almost every part of the average person’s life. From the food we eat to the items we buy, each step along the process chain is protected in some way by pest control services. So what will happen in an event or breakdown scenario? Will all those Pest Control Operators (PCO’s) unselfishly leave their families to report to work along with the truck drivers and grocery store clerks? The answer is “no”, of course not. That is why we prepare our supplies now. The coming dangers and breakdowns will effect so many aspects of …


Letter Re: So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After

Greetings Jim & Hugh: I read with interest the SurvivalBlog postings “So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI” by Dr. Prepper and was very happy to see a modicum of analytical insight on the concept of growing a garden for sustenance. Too often the “idea” of having a garden lulls us into a feeling of self-sufficiency, while the produce derived from this garden would be woefully inadequate for proper family sustenance, if the S truly HTF. Of course, growing one’s own food in any capacity is admirable. However, Dr. Prepper’s analysis of caloric necessity derived from …


Food Less Fortified: Vitamins in a Time of Grid-Down Existence – Part II, by PA Jes

Today, we’ll conclude the article reviewing the vitamin situation in a SHTF scenario and how to provide our body with necessary vitamins without bottled vitamins or vitamin-enriched foods. Vitamins D, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin E are reviewed in Part 1, so go back and read it if you missed it yesterday. Vitamin K Vitamin K is necessary for the body to produce blood clots. Blood clots are the body’s method to control bleeding. Without enough vitamin K, people could easily bleed to death. Worldwide, vitamin K deficiency is a major cause of death in newborns, a result of …


Survival or Sustenance Gardening, by D. B. Prepper

I’ve had a garden on and off again over the past 30 years, depending on where I lived, whom I was married to at the time, and whether or not my job allowed me to be at home frequently enough to care for it. So I have followed the recent spate of gardening posts with some interest, especially those who have struggled to start a garden. I thought I would take an opportunity to add my own two cents on how to create a garden that can support you and your family in good times or bad. It’s a Learning …


Three Letters Re: Prepping with an Unsupportive Spouse

Hugh, I appreciate this discussion, but it also frustrates me, because the head of my household thinks preparing beyond a few day’s worth is all hype and hysteria. I have put up a number of provisions but am unable to make many of the prudent improvements to our home for physical and energy security. I take my vows seriously, but this tears at me because I know we will likely suffer needlessly when, not if, it all comes apart. (Money is not an issue for us.) I would truly appreciate your wisdom on this “opposite” issue that I’ve never seen …


Why Trying To Start A Garden Now May Be A Little Too Late For TEOTWAWKI, by BPW

Here’s a little about myself. I work in law enforcement. I grew up in suburbia, was a Marine and outdoorsy person, yet I have never really, truly gardened. I can’t. I work full time and own a home (in a development). I have two children, who run me all over the place, and I have never had a green thumb. I do hunt, and I do that well. So, I figured how hard is planting some seeds in the ground and growing some vegetables. Well, my experience woke me up and am I glad that it did, because had I …


Letter Re: So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI

I have been meaning to post this information online and have not found a good venue for it, but reading the responses to the article So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI inspired me to contact you for your consideration of adding this little tidbit for your blog followers. The second letter response to the article stated that “We put dehydrated tomatoes and peppers in pint canning jars, put a tiny hole in the center of the lid, put on a Pump ‘N Seal seal, pump out the air, and place in our cool, dark, root …


LED Grow Lights for Indoor Food Production, by J.H.

Lighting products based on Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology continues to improve. Not only are lights getting cheaper, but the individual LED components are getting more higher powered and both efficiency and lifetimes/longevity are improving. Over time, LED technology is poised to replace the problematic and often loathed Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) as the preferred alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs. However, this article is not about ordinary lighting applications but rather LED lighting specifically used for indoor growing applications. The benefits of LED lighting for plant growth, particularly as the technology advances, are truly revolutionary and will change the …


Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hi, Mr. Hugh! I live in the hot, HUMID, deep South and have a couple of things to add to the conversation. 1) If you have a spring, dig it out and box it in with cypress wood or some other wood that should last in water. We did that back in ’75, and added shelving on the inside of the box, at just under water level. Our spring water is very cold and should keep milk and milk products nice and cool. I have to admit that we’ve never had to use it for that; we just pump the …