Becoming Self Sufficient

Learning to live self sustained and becoming self sufficient isn't as easy as it sounds. It's not really that difficult either, once you change your mindset for it. The biggest hurdle is in the way that we think. Some of the common responses I hear to the self sustaining ideal is; 1- I don't have any land. 2- I can't live without (insert your particular item here). It can prove to be very difficult to get over our notions of what we absolutely have to have to live. We are most certainly not used to going without or not getting what we want "right now".

Now, let's discuss what "self sufficient" really means. Self Sufficient-adj.-Needing no outside help in satisfying one's basic needs, esp. with regard to the production of food. Emotionally and intellectually independent.

One's basic needs, what are one's basic needs? I think of this as the fundamentals of life. 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food and you die. We all have to drink and eat, we have no choice on that. Our choice comes in when we get to choose what we drink and what we eat. We can choose to not consume food and drink filled with chemicals, artificial flavors, steroids, antibiotics or lab created sweeteners. We can choose to not consume the genetically modified monstrosities being pushed on us by companies such as Monsanto and Dow. Choosing to not consume these fake foods is the easy part. Getting your hands on real food can prove to be a daunting task.

For me, the outlets for real food are almost non existent. The seasonal farmers markets are full of fruits and vegetables trucked in from other areas and priced much too high. The high prices are a particular annoyance for me because I grow my own food here and I know that it does not cost more money to grow non GMO fruits and vegetables than commercially produced foods. So, why the huge price increase? Plus, all you have is some strangers word that they didn't douse those fruits and vegetables in some chemical pesticide or chemical fertilizer. So, what can we do then? Grow it for ourselves.

There are only a couple real living situations I consider to actually be difficult if not impossible without some serious help when it comes to growing any amount of food for yourself. Those would be living in an apartment and living with an HOA. Neither of these 2 situations give you much option or flexibility for growing yourself some food without creating an indoor growing area. Every other situation can be successfully navigated with container growing, raised beds or conventional, in ground gardens. While gardening in any form has a steep learning curve for people that have never tried to grow anything before, it won't take very long to learn and with a little effort, you will be growing food successfully in no time.

Making the conscious choice to become more self sufficient is just the beginning. Once you get going, you'll be amazed at the things you will choose to eliminate and learn to live without!

May-Git-R-Done

12 days gone in May already and I still don't have anything planted. Well, I did have some things planted but the garden killers ruined it all. They don't know it yet but their prison is coming. I've looked at 100's of pictures of chicken houses, chicken tractors, coops, runs, you name it and I've got an idea in my head of what I'm going to build. I even know, finally, where I'm going to put it! Now that's a big step, LOL.

The boy put the tiller together for me this morning. We're using clevis pins to replace the sheer pins it seems you can only get online thru Sears. Hmmm, why can't they order them? Not willing to wait 10 business days for 2 sheer pins to come in the mail (remember the priority mail box with the stevia?) I improvised. It worked, I have the garden tilled. I've been kind of half waiting for the neighbor to make the rounds with the big tiller but I'm done waiting. I made the first pass thru the more muddy than I'd like it to be garden and it's drying nicely. Another pass this afternoon and stuff is getting planted! This crazy spring has me a bit riled up since I don't have any future food in the making yet. I can hardly stand the thought of not having something to eat so when it's all growing, I'll be able to relax...

Spring Garden Progress

The restarted seedlings are growing well. just in time for some 40 degree weather coming for next week.

Just too cool

This home internet thing is just too cool! I forgot how fun it could be!

Not only can I read up on every little thing that runs thru my head during the day, I can cook and bake while I'm doing it!

This is a recipe called 'tasty buns" and I printed it from allrecipes.com 3 or 4 years ago. I really like that website, it's where I found the Gyros recipe and several other neat ones too. The nice rolls on the right are the ones I made like the recipe said to. The other are the dough left over, re-kneaded into dinner rolls. they came out soft and fluffy with great texture and a lightly sweet taste. I will definitely be baking more of these.

Tomorrow is the winter solstice but I'm already dreaming of my spring garden. I know, i do this every year! February 14th isn't that far off and I have soooo much work to do, planning, checking my seed supply, deciding where I'm going to plant what, how many new varieties I might try this time. Lots of work goes into growing everything I plan to eat! I'm sure I will change my whole plan 4 or 5 times before I even start any seeds (shup Scifichick), LOL. For sure I'm going to plant a few different types of grapes and new fruit trees....

Self Sustaining Food-tomatoes

ARG, my backspace button has decided to not function and I have written this post 4 times now. Every time I misspell a word, I end up having to start over! I read at several forum boards across the internet, mostly at the APN where we are all trying to help each other become more self sufficient. I have noticed a trend that disturbs me. People do not seem that interested in gardening or working on learning how to produce their own food. It seems to be the norm to continue to stock up on store bought items. Now, I don't have anything against that, to me it's all good if a person is stocking up store bought food. Everyone has to eat so it's all a good thing. The problem comes in when you think about how store bought food will sooner or later be consumed. It's not a sustainable source.

I promised to talk a bit about growing tomatoes so let's do that now. Tomatoes are easier to grow than people think. All you need is a 5 gallon bucket, some rich soil, good drainage and at least 8 hours of sunlight a day. Don't forget the fertilizer, tomatoes are heavy feeders and need some help thru the fruiting season. Tomatoes can tolerate a pH level as low as 5.5 but prefer closer to neutral (7). There are plenty of heirloom tomatoes available in either plant form or seed form. The bushy types of plants (determinate) or the vining types(indeterminate). Don't forget about those wonderful cherry tomatoes, they are great for fresh eating and will produce tons of fruits thru the season. Tomatoes do the best when they are supplied with even moisture. Not too wet tho, tomatoes hate wet roots but if they lack water, they simply do not produce or your fruits will have blossom end rot. You will know you lack moisture if your fruits have black spots on the bottoms. Even moisture also prevents the fruits from cracking from a sudden, heavy rain. Indeterminate plants that vine out will need to be supported in some way. You could always just let them sprawl but the plants tend to do better, contract less disease and are easier to harvest from if they are tied to a trellis or a stake. tomato plants can very quickly grow upwards of 5' so be prepared with a tall and well anchored stake or trellis to support them. Pinching off side suckers that grow off the main branch next to leaf stems will help you to keep you tomato plat growing up instead of out. Tomatoes prefer weather between 55F and 90F, above or below can cause poor fruiting.

Thinking about beans

Yes, I know I already posted this picture but my Mom and I were just talking about it and I realized what a truly great little snapshot it is(thanks Mom!). It's getting harder and harder to ignore the hard truth about the direction this country is headed. Our economy is in the tank, we're bleeding jobs by the hundreds of thousands, the middle class is all but sank to the new working poor. Folks are starting to accept the horrible truth that we are not in a recession but a full blown working depression and things are NOT getting better. Price increases over the past several months on all basic necessities have driven some people to pass on paying their mortgage and other bills to maintain their dietary habits. Food prices are not going down, drought, fire, floods all affecting the bottom line. Electricity rates keep going up and I even read a report just this morning that says the amount of people "paying" for television services is at the lowest level in history. Well, that's good, we all need to turn the dang thing off anyway, LOL.

There is nothing wrong with having a good supply of healthy food stored up in your pantry, cabinets, closet, someplace. Everyone should have a good food supply, it just makes sense. You just never know when you will find yourself out of work or be in some sort of other financial disaster. You have to eat so why not have a little insurance policy to make sure you keep on eating well?

Growing yourself a little food should not be an idea that makes you cringe, it's really not all that difficult. Look at that picture, there is probably just 30 bean plants piled in that truck bed. Beans are prolific plants, the bush varieties will produce a huge amount of beans, all at once and require just a small bit of attention. Beans like soil temperatures to be at least 70F, prefer a loose, moist soil and a pH slightly below neutral. The seeds like to be 1-2 inches deep, 5-7" apart and like to be watered regularly until sprouting which usually takes 8 to 10 days in full sun. Beans like to have some compost or well seasoned manure about half way thru the growing season. Mulching also benefits them as their roots are shallow and helps to retain moisture. Bush varieties grow well almost anywhere, including containers, raised beds and tire gardens. Vine type beans need some sort of support like a trellis or teepee that should be set up before starting the plants to eliminate disturbing the roots. The vine types have a longer production period but as just are good as the bush types, just more work.

Don't be afraid to grow yourself some food, if you don't believe me, just think about how much food gets grown on that tiny lot in California.......

Good news and bad

Some good news and some bad all wrapped up together today. So, I'll just share what's new and let the news fall where it may, LOL. My daughter got herself a job with her college education. I'm so proud of her. It will be tough for her to juggle it with her basketball scholarship and classes starting soon but I think she will do fine. I am still waiting for a call on the applications and resumes I already have out there.

I spent a little time on Monday catching up with some old friends and helped out at a food pantry this morning. 231 people came to the pantry this morning. I was pretty surprised and a little disappointed all rolled up into one. Every single person that came thru there had a cell phone and several had those bluetooth ear things. I helped people to their vehicles with the food and every vehicle out there was newer than mine. Way newer than mine. If they can afford the monthly phone bill, why can't they buy food? The bad economy is hurting everyone and now on top of it, food inflation is coming on strong. Check out this article about price increases on food at of all places, walmart. I despise Walmart for many reasons but the biggest one is- where ever there is a Walmart, there is no other venue to shop. Walmart wipes out every bit of competition, leaving you with no where to shop but there. Anyway, the food pantry was giving away a bag with 2 cans of corn, 2 cans of peas, a can of green beans, a can of pork, a can of chicken soup, 2 loaves of bread, a box of mini corn dogs, a bag of powdered milk, a box of doughnuts and some cookies. Folks, this country is in trouble. That is a 30 day food bag, one visit per month allowed.

We've not had any rain and this heat is really drying everything out. I have run out of rain water and have not watered the garden in almost a week now. It's dying and there's nothing I can do about it. I have even put off cutting the hay because of the lack of rain. I hope we get some this weekend like the weatherman says we should. We need some. The critters are all hanging on thru this horrible humidity. They aren't moving around too much and I can't blame them. Even the poor rabbits look rough. I broke down and put a fan on them after I lost a breeding doe to the heat. I can't afford to lose any more, they are part of my winter meat supply.

I have a line on a Jersey milk cow. I just need to figure out where to come up with $200. Such a small amount to stand between me and a constant milk supply for drinking and cheese but broke is broke. I'm doing all I can to make it work out.

One small blessing is the chickens. They are really coming thru for me with their egg production. I lost a few hens to a neighbors dog so I was worried for a bit when they all quit laying from the trauma. A couple days and I am back to a dozen and a half. The dog deprived me of 7 eggs a day. The owner of the dog passed away and her son decided the best way to care for her dog was to turn it loose and I paid for his ignorance. I so hate that. Seems to be a trend lately tho.

The field corn is coming close to harvesting. The crop looks decent too. I should start harvesting in the next 2 weeks....

Still Icky Humid

The center of our country is still stuck in this awful heat and humidity trend. Yep, it's still nasty here. Kind of makes me wish I had the 7" of rain my family up in Chicago got just the other day. Today the weatherman is calling for a 40% chance of rain but with a light breeze and the sun blazing, I seriously doubt we will see one single drop of rain here. I did see some lightning way up north of us last night, the reflection of it lit the horizon up for more than an hour. Wish it would have dumped a little rain down here.

The truck bed is full of green bean plants from a neighbors garden. They picked 20 gallons of beans and gave up. I stopped in for a visit and ended up with a truck bed full plus some hybrid tomatoes and some end of the season sweet corn. It's a bi-color hybrid they planted, didn't do anywhere as good as my golden Bantam did. The bean plants netted my 9 gallons of good green beans for canning. The 2 buckets of corn is the last of what was good out of my own corn patch. The heat has ruined the second planting with the stalks only getting half size and the ears are pitifully small. The corn worms and weevils are hard into what's left since I don't use commercial pesticides. My own mix only works if you catch the bugs right away and I didn't check the patch as often as I should have this year due to the extreme heat we've been suffering thru. Yes, I know, shame on me but a person can only sweat so much in a single day before enough is enough.

Nope, I still haven't butchered any bunnies. they are still hopping around, trying to stay cool just like the rest of us. Stephanie asked what I do with the rabbit hides. Nothing Stephanie, I throw them away. It takes way too much time and effort to cure the hides the old fashioned way and commercially purchased chemicals are too expensive for my budget. If you want them, just say so and I'll save them for you.

Not much else going on around the farm this past week, just the trying to stay half way cooled down. I hope this awful heat wave breaks soon, I'm about out of bread!

Thunder Boomers

Okay, blogger cooperated today so here it is, the big tree laying in the yard. Lightning blew that poor thing right in half. It was a really nice tree too, a darn shame. Hubster and the boy spent about 2 hours cutting on it, got all the branches cut off and piled up and part of the main section cut for firewood. It's still a mess and a work in progress. As hot as it's been, it's going to stay that way for a little while.

We've got between 10% and 30% chance of rain this week but I went ahead and cut hay anyway. I got 12 acres cut before a keeper broke loose. I did my best to straighten it and put it back together but the stress on the injured part was too much and I ended up spending $15 on parts this morning. Not a stitch of shade out there so the repair is going to wait until I get done on the internet ;)

The boy and I ate the first of the cucumbers last night as a snack. We make a sour cream, onion and dill mix and dice the cucumbers into it. Now that's a piece of heaven! We never get tired of eating it and I'm looking forward to a whole summer of cucumber salads :) Our first zucchini is in the fridge waiting to be made into a sweet bread. Tomatoes are teasing me, still a light orange red, just not quite ready to go. The ducks and chickens killed my melons so a replant is in order for sometime this week. I will put those row covers on the replant to protect them. Darn critters, LOL.

Last nights bath was one I honestly have to say I did not miss the hot water tank for. The cold water was truly a blessing after a whole day of pouring sweat in the hay field. Tonights bath will be the same way.

I'm thinking of planting the second round of cornmeal corn. I might get around to tilling the spot up in between the 2 bean spots tonight or tomorrow night. It will be a late September harvest, just perfect. Hopefully i can fit everything I want to get done in......

What to Grow- Self Sustained Living

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.

pacing a hole in the Floor

I've got 2 shelves worth of seedlings waiting for me to get screens built to protect them from the ducks, chickens and cats. I'm also needing a few things I don't have to finish the 2 separate arbors for the cherry tomatoes. The multi colored sweet peppers still aren't big enough to go out yet. I did set a bowl of kidney beans out and the ducks proceeded to step all over them. Hopefully they will live thru it. I have 2 more bowls of kidneys not quite ready to go out to finish out the 2 rows I want to plant. The scrap chicken wire is working beautifully on the tater tires. The taters are sprouting up above the soil in all 4 tires. I'm pretty pleased with the whole thing at this point. I just can't see how growing them in tires is not going to be so much easier than traditional in ground planting. I like it so much, I may never go back to conventional potato rows again.

I'm a little disappointed, it's been 30 days and I do not have a single gourd seed sprouted. Apparently, gourd seeds do not like peat pellets. I've always just scattered the seed in the fall but now that I have ducks and chickens, I have to do something different. I restarted some today using the old tried and true paper towel in the ziploc bag method.

Since viewing that History channel film I talked about the other day, hubby has decided I need more garden. He ran up the road and got a subsoiler from a friend of ours and subsoiled the entire horse paddock. Where am I gonna put the horses now? Ah, it's a good idea and I'll probably move the fencing panels over a bit and use a 40x100 strip down the backside and plant extra sweet corn there. It will double the amount of corn I normally plant and leave my old corn patch open for more pumpkins and melons. A good thing I hope!

Off to get more little chores done......

Seed Sprouting

There's tons of ideas and even more ways to sprout seeds out there. Fancy little seed pots and plastic green house trays etc. All work as far as I know but I frequently don't have the money to buy all those things. So, how do I get my seeds sprouted? Here's what i do, it's simple and it's cheap and it's things I use around here every day. I use ziploc sandwich bags and peat pellets. I use the cheap, generic ones and buy up all the peat pellets i can find on clearance at the end of every season and just store them for use later. I just soak the pellets in warm water, put them in the bags, add the seeds, close them up and set my baggies up on a table next to my south facing windows and wait. No special lights, no special heating pads, just the table and sunlight. That is, if we get sunlight. Even on overcast days, the seeds are still "cooking". The bags work like little greenhouses. When the seeds sprout, i open up the bags. The baggies work to hold water without making a mess as the seedlings continue to grow. It also keeps them grouped nicely and positively identified, no wondering what's planted where.

Unless we have some seriously unpleasant cold weather, the seeds sprout every time with this method. For the cost of one box type seed starter green house, I can start 5 times the seeds with the baggie method and have every seed sprout.

Self Sustained-Growing a Little Food

I grow food for myself. I talk about it all the time. What I get away from and forget to talk about is why I do it. So, why do I grow my own food? Hehehehe actually for several reasons. The first and foremost is quality. The food you buy from the grocery store is nothing compared to what you grow, pick and eat from your own garden. Those store bought tomatoes with the thick skin and very little taste, those aren't what tomatoes are supposed to taste like. The spagetti sauce with hydrogenated oils, soy fillers and MSG etc in them, that's not good food. Cataloupes that cost you $4 and they taste like watery cardboard. Strawberries that cost you $5 and they spoil in just a day or 2. Why would anyone want to buy "fresh" vegetables that have a coat of wax on them? Onions that mold, potatoes with black spots and squishy spots, that's not good eating.

The next thing is availability and cost together. People have this idea that they shouldn't bother to take the time to grow food for themselves when it's so easy or convenient for them to just go buy it. Well, what if the whole world thought like that and quit growing food? What is entire countries discouraged their farmers from producing because they think they can just buy food from other countries? What if they stop growing food and develop all the land so none can be used to grow food? Who will feed all those people? Read this article from the UK Telegraph, you'll really be surprised. A government Minister has to have a symposium on growing more food. Well duh............

The 3rd and for me the most important reason why I grow my own food is- chemicals. I don't want to eat food that is grown with chemicals. The fertilizers, pesticides and growth hormones in commercial food is poisoning our entire population and we still keep buying it. Our meat has more antibiotics in it than the walmart pharmacy, we still keep buying it. It's infused with ammonia and we still keep buying it. Our bread is made with flour from GMO(genetically modified organism) wheat and we still keep buying it. Our eggs, milk, cheese and butter are overflowing with growth hormone and steroids and we still keep buying it. Why do we do that when we can grow safe and chemical free food for ourselves?

This coming season I am going to grow several items in containers so everyone can see how easy it is to have good food right at your fingertips.

Self Sustained Urban Living

As many of us have realized, things are getting pretty expensive lately. Fuel and food take up most of our paychecks. Life in the fast lane of Blackberries, fast food and video gaming is getting harder. Some would say that is a good thing. Either way you like it, something has got to give.

I can help you with the grocery bill no matter where you live, even in condos and apartments. It is not difficult to grow things such as tomatoes and peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, even melons in small spaces and containers! A sunny spot is all you need. If you don't have a sunny spot, a florescent light or 2 will do.

For people living in rental homes, you can expand a little with a small chicken coop built like a dog pen or even rabbits in wooden hutches. The hutches even work well for a few chickens. Remember tho, if you have crabby neighbors, don't get a rooster! It's also a good idea to check your city or town ordinances to make sure having chickens doesn't violate some unknown law because you don't want to have to get rid of you egg layers as soon as you get them settled in. Chickens are daylight sensitive and lay an egg every 24 to 28 hours so plan accordingly for your egg consumption. Just 6 hens give me 3 dozen eggs a week, give or take an egg here or there.
In an 8x10 coop with a 10x10 run, I have 10 to 14 fresh eggs every day and fresh meat whenever I want some chicken. How to kill a chicken will be another days post.

Remember my post on raised bed gardens? For those of you that have the opportunity to make a raised bed, I forgot to mention how easy they are to maintain! It is easy to cover the garden in the fall with grass clippings, even newspaper or paper sacks, anything organic that will decompose, kill off the weeds, add to the nutrient value of the soil and keep your soil easy to turn. Just one small raised bed garden here produces literally hundreds of pounds of healthy, pesticide free food for my family.

Now to rabbits- I keep 4 does and 1 buck, I breed every other month for 32 to 40 kits for the table. Rabbit is high protein, low fat and can be served up just like any chicken recipe you have.
Rabbits don't make any noise, their manure is high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potash and can be used right out of the rabbit, no composting needed. It will not burn your plants like cow, horse or chicken will. Rabbit is a win win situation! Small spaces work out well as a medium sized meat rabbit needs just 2'x2' to stay healthy and produce for you.

All these things add up to savings. Think about how much money you spend on food stuffs like meat and veges. Canning is easy to do and cooking is just as easy. Think about how much money you spend eating out. A healthy and tasty meal can be whipped up in your own kitchen for a third of the price if not cheaper than that, for just 20 minutes or so of your time. Plus, you get to spend a little quiet time at home relaxing while you do it! Don't under estimate the stress relief of producing your own food.

Self Sustained Living-Cooking with what you've got

Here's supper for today. It's a nice deer meat sauce with some pasta. Simple to whip up and everybody enjoys it. Just throw some stuff from the garden in the pot. Diced tomatoes, some tomato sauce I made with the squisher thingy, some dehydrated sweet peppers, oregano, rosemary, thyme, some diced onions and of course the meal maker- browned ground deer meat. I like to let my sauce simmer for a while to blend the flavors and cook off extra water from the tomatoes and sauce. I sometimes put chopped up dehydrated mushrooms in too but hubby doesn't much care for them. Just an example of a simple and tasty meal you can whip up easily. This meal also works pretty darn good on a wood fire.

How about the Christmas presents under the tree? 2 cats and a dog, hmmmm, can I exchange those? hahahaha Ole' Polar Bear wants to make sure those cats don't steal the tree I guess...

There's some cold weather coming in on us again with a hint of a snow flurry on Saturday. This might get interesting. Snow cover is better than ice any day.

Dodging the Bullet

Whew, the severe winter weather that was full of ice and snow went north of us. We did have some nasty winds and it's pretty darn cold now but I'll take sunny and cold over 2' of snow anyday!

So, what are we doing around the farm today? Oh, the usual stuff- feeding the animals, chopping a little firewood and baking bread. Plus my all time favorite winter passtime of garden dreaming. Yes, I know it's just December but it's never the wrong time to be thinking about and making plans to start those precious seedlings for a new garden.

The garden is the very heart of this self sustained lifestyle. Without the garden, all I would be is a consumer. Buy it, use it up and buy some more. Breaking that cycle wasn't easy since it's what we all grew up believing was normal. I choose to feed myself and accept the responsibility and all the work that goes with it. So, I must constantly think about last years garden and how i can improve my yields. What worked good and what didn't work so good. Like my potato crop for instance. I also constantly work on how I can beat Mother Nature. What? Yep, I am always trying to get around her, every chance I can get! I want my plants to hit the garden and produce as quickly as I can make them. The sooner I can get tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc, the more I will have for the table. How do I do that? I start my seeds early, way before the last frost in the kitchen window garden. It takes up a bunch of space and usually by planting time, my kitchen is literally taken over by plants. I have a small table full plus a variety of shelves and the "indoor garden" always ends up sprawling over to the dinner table and my counters. It's lots of work tending and watering all those plants but if I didn't do that, I'd not have ripe tomatoes before July around here.

Sounds like a big fuss, doesn't it? It would be if I didn't have that whole line of southern exposure windows. Is it worth it? I think it is. Eating only from what you grow isn't a small accomplishment. It takes 20 tomato plants producing full time to cover just the sauce, paste and diced tomatoes we consume in the course of a year. If my first red tomato doesn't come until July, that just gives me 3 1/2 to 4 months to produce enough to last the 9 months until the next round of tomato plants start producing.

Self sutained living isn't any different than the way everyone lives, we just don't go out and buy what we need, we create it for ourselves. Yes, it takes more time and effort to do it for ourselves and sometimes it's no so much fun but in the end, it's worth it. If it weren't for my dedication to doing it for myself, I would most likely be among the thousands across the country in mortgage default right now. Growing my own food has allowed us to stretch what little money we have much, much longer than what it would for people that are consumer based. All the animals here are fed from what we can produce. In turn, that gives us free chicken, free eggs, free rabbit, free sheep, free pork, free beef, plus free produce! When all you have is $100 to make it the whole month, that sure does mean a bunch! Especially when fuel is $2.80 a gallon...

Survival Gardening- Self Sustained Living

That is a picture of some Roma tomatoes I grew in a bucket this summer. The seeds came from what I saved from my harvest last year. I'd like to share my thoughts on seeds, gardening and seed saving with you tonight.

How do I grow all my own food and how can it be free? Well, it's not free the first year of planting because the seeds have to come from somewhere. I bought some and traded for some. All the seeds are what is considered heirloom seeds. So, what's an heirloom seed? It's a seed that will produce the same quality plant as it's parent plant. For instance, the tomato. I plant a seed and it grows. Then it produces fruit. I save the seeds from that fruit, replant them and they grow a plant just like the first one I grew. Same quality fruits, same growing habits.

Nature all on it's own cross pollinates plants all the time. It's normal evolution. The problem with a hybrid is that the fruits of such a cross very rarely grow a plant like it's parent. The seed will grow a plant that reverts back to one of it's parent plants. So, if you plant a hybrid tomato that grows quickly, produces an early tomato with good flavor, the chances of a saved seed producing the same results on the next generation is kind of slim. That's why I plant only heirloom seeds. I want to have the same quality and performance year after year so I know what to expect and I know how much food I will produce. That's a good thing to know when you are eating only from what you grow.

Now, here's a type of seed that is what I consider to be the root of all evil. A GMO(genetically modified organism). This seed is the product of molecular genetics and can often have other organisms spliced into it such as pesticide genes that would never occur naturally. There is no scientific proof that plants and fruits produced from GMO seed do not harm organisms that would normally feed from these plants. Monsanto is now producing GMO seed that grows a plant to produce fruits that are sterile. The resulting fruits from the original GMO seed will not produce a plant. Hmmmm, don't fool with Mother nature boys, it never turns out well........

It makes sense to plant heirloom seeds, grow your garden and save seeds to grow next years garden from your bounty. All the following years you plant, you food is then free. Wouldn't you like to have the same bounty every year? Only use and save heirloom, open pollinated seeds for your self sustaining, survival garden.


Okay, where do you find heirloom seeds? Reputable seed companies such as Johnnys Seeds, Burpee and Seed Savers Exchange are good sources. Seed Savers is exclusively open pollinated. Other companies will tell you in the description and on the seed packet if the seed is hybrid. Never trust a packet or company that does not disclose which kind of seed they are selling. Do your research, read and read some more!

Another Tree Day

We're on the second tree now, this one is a small/medium sized red oak. Hubby decided he was too tired to pack the saw down the fenceline today so he just picked the tree truck up with the tractor and brought it to the saw. I think he just wanted to freak me out.

I'm not even half way done with splitting the 35' birch he already cut and now I've got a 30' oak to go with it. Plenty more still laying in the fencelines. There's even a big hickory down in the back but it's got a couple other trees on top of it. Boy will that wood be nice for the smoker! I'll snap a pic of the split pile later today...

The 3rd bunny kindled today and so far, so good! She pulled hair and they are all wiggling under it. I hope she tends them and doesn't let them die.

Tonights supper is fried chicken(butchered last night) and potatoes with a side of bean salad and some cornbread. I still haven't ground the corn so I better get after it!