I've been ordering heirloom seeds here and there the last few weeks for a new variety of items to grow. Now is the time to buy. Last spring you
could hardly get the items you want. I have a feeling it will only get worse. A tip to the wise, grow a few sacrificial plants to gather your own
seeds from and dry and label them properly so you won't need to purchase them in the future. This is the way to be truly self sufficient in your
garden.
I've narrowed my gardening down to about 15 items or so. I want it to be sustainable, grow foods I eat often and grow foods I can easily process in
one way or another for the coming year. I also want to grow the most nutritious and proficient items that aren't more work than it costs to buy.
I've given up on 'oh that looks fun/interesting/cute'. I'm seriously going on the straight and narrow. Also, no grains, soup beans, corn. They are
still cheap and easy to buy in bulk. I also live in a farming community and get many things when they sell at the farmers market like onions, corn
and such. Also, there are things I like to eat but rarely such as Peas and Okra so I won't waste time and space growing those either but will instead
purchase them when I want to eat them.
Here is what I'm growing this year. I'm trying to focus on things that don't have to be frozen because my freezers are full and I like to save them
for meat. All my seeds are heirloom.
Carrots -- canned, fresh, frozen, dehydrated
Cucumber - fresh off the vine all summer
Green beans - heirloom bush - fresh, canned or frozen
Kale - can be dehydrated, Kale chips, added to soups and sauces, canned, frozen
Sorrel Large Leaf - same as kale
Mammoth Grey striped sunflower seeds - dried
Zucchini Black Beauty - frozen, fresh - lasts like a winter squash when allowed to grow large and stored properly, can be peeled and cubed if large
and older and fried like potatoes.
Butternut squash - you get the most meat for the effort with these and store all winter. Can be used as pumpkins and other squash in prep and
flavor.
Variety of tomatoes - canned, frozen, fresh, dehydrated - many are perennial
Fingerling potatoes - fresh, lasts in storage if properly done
Radish - fresh all summer and fall
Green peppers - fresh and dehydrated
Cauliflower - dehydrated, frozen, pickled
Lettuce - a couple of leaf varieties
Green onions - volunteers, come up every year - perennial
Asparagus - plant once and eat for years - perennial
Easy to grow herbs.
I currently regularly grow sprouts of Alfalfa, Radish, Broccoli. These are nice to have especially through the winter and in these expensive times.
Lettuce here is 6$ a head and they are SMALL. Sprouts can be used on sandwiches, in stir fry, omelets etc. I purchase chickpeas in a 25# sack and
use for soups, salads and humus, roasted for snacks. Pinto and Northern beans, split peas, lentils, oats, flour, rice, salt I also purchase in bulk.
My meat is canned, dehydrated and frozen.
I can survive a long time with these items with good nutrition and variety. I have my own chickens and geese. Rabbits and deer are prolific around
here. I take advantage of indigenous plants such as stinging nettles, catnip, and have a huge grape arbor and apple trees.
If you plan well, you don't need to spend a fortune all at once. Buy a few hens and a rooster. RIR is my preferred variety. Brown eggs, proficient
layers and can be used as meat birds. They are friendly and healthy.
Invest in heirloom seeds and keep them organized and catalogued. Only grow what you will eat. Find neighbors that garden and see about trading items
at harvest.
I still buy things from the grocery store that I happen to like because of taste or ease of use and will continue to do so until I can't.
edit on 4431202200000031bWed, 28 Dec 2022 19:00:44 -06002022000000x by StoutBroux because: (no reason given)