Category: Gardening

When most people think of post collapse survival, one of the major topics that first comes to mind is food.  The internet is full of articles and forums dedicated to canning, hunting, gathering, and of course, gardening.  What I don’t often find, are articles specifically dedicated to a particular item of food to be grown in a garden, explaining perhaps why it would be a beneficial plant to start growing now.  For me and my own gardening, I have gone from complete and utter newbie, to successful builder of soil and harvester of many delicious edibles.  Through out this period …

Dear Mr. Rawles, I’ve been an organic farmer in Ontario Canada for 12 years, and thought Chris S made some excellent points regarding underestimating the amount of fresh food required to sustain life.  I’ve ‘done the math’ myself, and found that a subsistence garden consisting of potatoes, corn, winter squash and beans would require a minimum of 5,000 square feet per person to provide 2,000 calories per day over the course of a year.   These crops were chosen with consideration for yield, nutrition, and storability. Another consideration is repeatability i.e. the ability to replant from your own stores.   Assuming you wanted 25% …

History is our best teacher and we can learn a lot about human survival strategies of the past. Our ancestors somehow survived famine, drought and a host of natural disasters. Some used brute force to take what they wanted; others were skillful thieves or were just lucky. A few of these ancestral survivors actually thrived. They thrived because they used their wits and prepared for any unforeseen disaster.         Beyond natural disasters there has always been the most un-natural of all disasters, war. War is arguably the most difficult of all conditions to survive, soldier and civilian alike. We can …

I keep coming across misinformation on some of the prep sites I’ve encountered and thought it would be helpful to set some things straight with regard to seeds, seed storage and growing food and other useful plants. Here are some myths I’ve encountered and my attempts at clarification. While the misinformation may not endanger you, it can prevent you from using all resources available or create some false expectations. Myth 1: If you save seeds from hybrid plants (commercial seeds, not heirloom), you’ll starve. Seeds from hybrid plants, in my experience, will not fail to grow – they’re just not …

JWR: Just a couple of ideas/notes on gardening, inspired by the recent article on New England Gardening: Land that was previously “Forested” and cleared is usually poor soil initially for vegetable gardening, even when adding compost and manure.  Forested land is fertile when many years of plant residue build up naturally, and then fertile for more trees and brush only usually, but lacking in desired nutrients for vegetable crops. Without the natural “compost” layer the trees provide the soil will become barren quickly from erosion etc. Essential nutrients/minerals to provide a balanced diet for both the vegetable plants one wants …

If you are not gardening now, those long term seeds you are saving is giving you a false sense of hope. We bought two acres on what was years ago farmland, sounds like it should be easy to return to farmland, Right? I discovered later what was raised on our property was the only thing which made sense after experience – Goats. Gardening in New England presents many challenges and unless you are prepared and have experience dealing with them you are out of luck. Even if you have gardening experience in the past, if you have moved you will …