A major part of living self sustained is feeding yourself. So, what do you grow?
You want to think about what you eat first. If you like potatoes, grow them. Grow a bunch of them.
What about tomatoes? Diced, stewed, tomato paste, tomato sauce... You are learning to cook healthy meals at home right? How many of those recipes use tomatoes? I have stew recipes, rice recipes, egg recipes, bread recipes that all use tomatoes or something tomato. 3 or 4 plants won't do it tho. If you're just wanting to eat a couple here and there, you're in luck. If you want to can up enough tomatoes to make those pots of chili, a few stews and italian sauce dishes, you better think more along the lines of 3 or 4 dozen plants.
I cook with onions and garlic. Everything has at least onions in it. So, you figure a dozen onions in a baggie from the store and you buy one bag a week? How many onions do you need to plant? A bunch of onions!
What about your mixed veges? I use carrots, peas, beans celery and such in several dishes I cook. These can all be grown easily. How about corn? Think about how much corn you eat a month. You would probably eat more corn if it didn't cost so much. Grow yourself some and it becomes free and it tastes sooooo much better than store bought corn.
Sweet peppers is another one. not only can you eat them fresh, they dehydrate very nicely and will add a wonderful flavor to so many dishes. I even use ground sweet pepper on my roasts and in stews and soups.
Do you like hot peppers? Have you priced them in the grocery store lately? Not only are they expensive, the variety is limited. Grow your own hot peppers and you can have habaneros, cayennes, what ever you want!
don't waste precious garden space growing things you are not going to eat. If you don't eat brussel sprouts, don't grow them! If you don't eat leeks or cabbage, don't waste the space to grow them.
Stick to what you are going to eat and use the space you have to grow as much of it as you can. The more you can grow, the less you have to depend on the "system" to feed you.
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I always grow a garden and can. I just watched Food Inc. and I think I will enlarge my garden. I like reading your blog and how you take care of yours.(family)
ReplyDeleteWondering about the dehydrating peppers. Do you have a dehydrater or do you have another way to accomplish the same thing?
ReplyDeleteHi DebbieO! Thank you for visiting! Oh, I saw that too, isn't it awful? The whole documentary had me glued to my seat!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly! I use a Nesco snack master dehydrator and it works out just fine. I put hot peppers in it whole and cut my sweet peppers into slices and dry them.
Great encouragement for folks!!!
ReplyDeleteI get a lot of strange looks for what I DON'T grow in my garden, but hey, if we don't care much for it, why waste the space. My husband (for some odd reason) doesn't like corn, so I don't bother to grow it. I hate winter squash, so why bother? We get what we eat and grow it, just like our storage method; "store what you eat and eat what you store".
ReplyDeleteGood post!
We grow our core foods- tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, corn. What isn't canned or frozen is dehydrated and cellared.
ReplyDeleteIn a society that is creating people that can't provide for themselves, it feels liberating to be able to do sustain ourselves.
Very good way to put it, my friend! Good points for all gardeners...!
ReplyDeleteSound advice! :) And remember to plant a few extras for the bugs and deer!
ReplyDeleteGood post! I like your blog! I grow our food, chicken feed and dog food. Its a lot to grow but saves us so much money!
ReplyDeleteAnd this year we are growing our own tobacco, too!
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