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Rather Than Focus on What You Don’t Control (“The News”), Focus on What You Do Control: What You Grow, Eat and Own

August 7, 2022

Rather Than Focus on What You Don’t Control (“The News”), Focus on What You Do Control: What You Grow, Eat and Own

Now that globalization and financialization are finally unraveling, people are slowly awakening to the national security foundations of localizing production.

What exactly is “the news” other than an inducement to passivity, despair and derangement? Since we exert zero control over what happens in distant lands and global economies, why waste time passively consuming “if it bleeds it leads” offal designed to addict us to a steady stream of despair and derangement?

Why not ditch “the news” in favor of focusing on what we do control: what we grow, eat and own? It’s almost a binary choice: either focus on screens of addictive offal for hours every day or act on our own behalf in the real world.

Food inflation is highlighting the financial value of home gardens. Paul of the Silver Doctors and I discuss turning gardening savings into more ownership of something we control (for example, precious metals) in Save Money On Food, Get Free Gold & Silver, Beat Price Inflation (1:08 hrs).

I’ve been posting about the value of gardening for over a decade, describing the financial and health benefits. I Dig Dirt: The Remedy for Derealization (July 23, 2011) The Hidden Value of Gardens (September 13, 2014)

Food inflation simply increases the gains: One Solution to Soaring Food Prices: Start Your 2022 Garden Now (November 6, 2021).

Municipalities can either encourage or hinder local food production. Cities once grew between a third and a half of their own food within city limits: Could Urban Gardens Supply 1/3 of a City’s Food? Yes. (March 13, 2010).

If we’re not allowed to grow food, that’s a problem that can be solved by local lobbying or moving to a place where there are fewer restrictions on growing our own food…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 55

March 7, 2022

Marti’s Corner – 55

NOTES:

* I thought I’d share some gardening adventures. I planted tomatoes on Jan 5, and have been babying them along. They are still small. But the tips of the leaves are turning yellow. Sometimes that means they need to be fed. So I thought I would “pot-up” and feed at the same time.

By contrast, here are the tomatoes I bought at Lowe’s last week. Makes ME wish I had a greenhouse! Lowe's Tomato plants

Again, why bother with planting your own? For one reason, you have access to better variety. For another reason, the Lowe’s plants are about $5 each, which can be pricey if you are doing several plants (my goal is 12 tomato plants this year). By the first of April, you won’t be able to tell the difference.

We still have cold nights ahead. In fact, we are expecting freezing temps this week. So, don’t plant “warm” plants outside yet, unless you are prepared to cover them on cold nights.

* What’s the difference between storing something in a #10 can, or a Mylar bag, or in a jar? They all have advantages. The #10 cans are easy to stack and store. Most items you buy online will come this way. We “used” to be able to do this canning at home, but unfortunately, you can no longer get the empty cans and lids. Especially now. Even the church is having trouble getting the raw materials for the cans, or so I heard. Plus, there are some things I don’t like to store in the cans. I don’t like how the flour or the oats smell after being in the cans for long periods. Some say you can get rid of that smell, but I was never able to do that.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Do This If You Want to Be Self-Sufficient

January 24, 2022

Do This If You Want to Be Self-Sufficient

Wishes for a beautiful, safe, and productive 2022 for you and your gardens!

January 2, 2022

Wishes for a beautiful, safe, and productive 2022 for you and your gardens!

This week is the end of 2021 and the start of the new year. What a year 2021 has been! Without even talking about politics, COVID-19, sports, or the economy, it was certainly one to remember from the standpoint of weather and climate. No matter where you live, you probably saw some extreme weather during the past 12 months.

Fireworks in the sky

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Exploding flower bed fireworks, Eric Kilby via Commons Wikimedia.

Extreme weather in 2021

In the United States, the map below shows just the 2021 billion-dollar disasters through October 8. That does not include the tornadoes that ravaged the Midwest, including Mayfield KY, in early December or the fires that burned through the suburbs between Boulder and Denver CO, earlier this week, since those losses have not yet been tabulated. This also does not include the terrible disasters that happened in other parts of the world, such as the devastating spring frost in France’s wine country or the awful flooding in parts of Germany and Belgium last summer. While there is no doubt that a warming climate is partially to blame for many of these disasters, we are also putting ourselves in harm’s way by building in areas that are prone to flooding, wildfires, and other natural hazards that can lead to human disasters. Even if the climate were not changing, we are making matters worse by putting ourselves at higher risk in the way we build and develop land.

Diagram

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Looking back over last year’s climate

Climatologists are generally very busy this time of year, since everyone (especially the media) wants to know how the year that just ended compared to previous years…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Three Sisters Planting Technique – The Most Efficient Way To Grow Food

January 2, 2022

The Three Sisters Planting Technique – The Most Efficient Way To Grow Food

Companion planting is all the rage these days, but did you know this practice goes back thousands of years?

The three sisters garden is one of the oldest and most well known companion planting styles.

Believed to be named by the Iroquois well before colonials landed in America, this style of companion planting works by growing three crops together in a symbiotic relationship.

What is a three sisters garden?

A three sisters garden is one of the most traditional forms of companion planting, where all the plants in one area contribute to the growth and success of the other plants.

The three sisters garden contains three plants: corn, beans, and squash.

All of these plants work in harmony to support each other while they grow.

The Plants In A Three Sisters Garden

Corn

Corn provides the support system for the other two sisters. Corn grows fast, strong, and tall. All its nooks and crannies provide the perfect support for the twirling vines of pole beans to climb.

Flint or flour corn work best in a three sister garden, as they’re to be harvested at the end of the growing season.

Beans

Beans need to climb in order to reach enough sunlight to produce their crop. The beans climb the corn and wrap and wind their way around the plant in search of sun.

The beans give back to the corn and squash because they’re a nitrogen fixing plant. Beans put nitrogen into the soil at their roots, which helps to feed the corn and squash.

When growing a three sisters garden, always use pole beans, not bush beans. Pole beans are the type to climb, where as bush beans stand on their own, but take up more space with their bushiness.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 40

October 30, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 40

* So I decided to follow my own advice and can some vegetables this week. I bought 20 pounds of potatoes for $6 and then went here: Canning Potatoes Last time I canned potatoes, I did NOT soak them first to get the starch out. When I opened them, I had to rinse them really well to use them. PLUS, after about 6 years, they have “grayed” somewhat. I have to kind of sort them and discard the gray pieces. This week’s final tally: 20 pounds of potatoes = 33-pint jars.

* AND I dehydrated some corn. It was $1.39 at Winco. (prices are climbing!!) This was all sparked by a recipe I found for Wild Rice and Vegetable soup. I’ve included the recipe below. Add meat if you want. But I’m thinking I’ll make some “Mylar Meals” and give them to my kids for Christmas. The recipe says it serves 6-8 (that will work for all my kids) and it only uses 1 TB of corn, carrots, etc. So the 5 pounds of corn that I dehydrated should work. LOL

* My garden is still producing. The cooler temps are allowing the plants to set fruit again. My lettuce is growing again. Here is an October guide for zones 9-10. October Garden Checklist Zones 9-10 | Kellogg Garden Organics™

* THIS week is the Great California ShakeOut. The official event will happen on Thursday, October 21, at 10:21. Your church or school may choose to have their drill on another day, but it will be sometime around then. Be SURE to talk to your family members about what to do when there is a real emergency.

* Paul Diffley shared this link with me. He says they still have stock. He asked for a discount and they gave him 10% off his second order…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

2 Ways to Preserve Leafy Greens From Your Veggie Garden

October 19, 2021

2 Ways to Preserve Leafy Greens From Your Veggie Garden

In my experience, leafy greens are among the easiest kinds of veggies to grow. But they don’t keep for very long and after you’ve given basketfuls of them to your friends and eaten stir-fried leafy greens, leafy greens in soups, in stews, and added to salads, and they’re still coming, what do you do with them next?

Below is a basket of produce from our modular veggie garden. I’ve lost count of how many of these I’ve brought to the kitchen or given as return gifts to friends in exchange for music lessons, fruit, preserves, and general good-will.

But lately I’m finding that I even have more green leaves than I can reasonably give away. Here are two ideas for preserving leafy greens when this happens to you. The first is a bit of an experiment. The second is a tried and true favourite in my kitchen.

The experiment: can you make sauerkraut with green cabbages that haven’t formed heads?

There are quite a number of cabbages like this one in the garden that haven’t had time to form heads yet and are starting to get a bit chewed by caterpillars. We’ve been eating the outer leaves from them for a while but yesterday I decided to harvest some whole cabbages and use them to make ‘kraut, even though they haven’t headed yet.

Because:

I’m not certain they will head at all; our hot, dry weather is approaching and they may not have time to form heads before they think about going to seed.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

No land, no problem: How a lady farmer converts an idle backyard into a productive urban vegetable garden

October 9, 2021

No land, no problem: How a lady farmer converts an idle backyard into a productive urban vegetable garden

Abi Byrne and her Ocean Grove Farm in Sydney’s Northern Beaches are living proof that you don’t need to own a piece of land to practice permaculture to produce healthy and nutrition-dense food.

Since 2019 Abi has been growing an abundance of fresh and chemical-free veggies in what used to be an idle backyard of her elderly neighbour.

“I’ve always been passionate about the land,” said Abi.

For most of her time, Abi has been involved in pursuing regenerative land management. She event went into broadacre and permaculture practice.

“I always see myself living on the land at a later stage in my life,” she said.

But the confluence of circumstances made Abi stay in the city instead of the farm, though this didn’t stop her from her being involved in farming and food production.

“Start where you are and do what you can is the motto that I have adopted to ease my need to grow. I became a horticulturist and permaculture consultant and bush regenerator, as I don’t have my own garden, I’m so happy to tend other peoples’ gardens,” she said.

However, the farmer in her must still be crying out to be expressed. She tells everyone who will listen that she’d rather be tending a tiny farm and producing fresh healthy food to share in her community.

“A food garden is my happy place,” Abi says.

When a retired neighbour listened to her dream of growing food and about urban permaculture and offered his idle backyard to be tended back to life, Abi grabbed the opportunity.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 35

September 25, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 35

Marti's Corner at City Prepping Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* More reasons to stock up. And Now It’s Oats
* Time to feed your garden again. I use a vegetable fertilizer with mycorrhizae fungi. I just buy it at Lowe’s. I like Kellogg’s brand, NOT this one, but similar. Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato Fertilizer. In addition to the fertilizer, I give them some nitrogen (DO NOT feed the beans). Either compost or worm castings. I usually do the worm castings. You should be feeding at least once a month.
* If you’ve kept your plants alive through the heat, they should start to produce again. Some things like the beets, beans, and cucumbers, I just started over. It’s like a “do-over”.
* EVERY week, as you shop, you should be thinking, “If I have to hunker down again for a month, can I do it?”

LONG TERM FOCUS: Milk
Milk - Powdered Milk

There are two types of powdered milk. There is instant powdered milk, and non-instant. She mixes her milk in a blender. 2 c. hot water + 1 heaping cup of powdered milk. Mix in blender. Pour into a milk jug, then add an additional 8 cups of water. Mixing Powdered Milk – YouTube

Instant milk is more expensive. But you can just stir it into cold water with a spoon, no heavy mixing is needed. Also, it takes more.

Here is a blind taste test: 8 Best Powdered Milk Brands: Taste Test RESULTS! But remember he does not include Emergency Essentials, or Honeyville or any other large Emergency Food Company.

I have always mixed my non-instant milk in a blender. It creates a ton of foam on top. Just let it sit and it will calm down. Best results come from letting it sit overnight in the fridge. It is NOT cost efficient. It is cheaper to buy fresh milk. And you should try to rotate it, or just be prepared to buy new milk every 3-5 years.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“PoP” Goes the Weasel

July 5, 2021

“PoP” Goes the Weasel

How do you plan your work in your garden? One of the things that is most likely to affect what you do is rainfall. But how do you know when and how much rain is likely to fall? One way to get an idea of the possibility of rain is to look at something called “Probability of Precipitation”, or as we call it, “PoP”. How often have you heard someone say that the weatherman (or woman) was wrong because they predicted 30 percent chance of rain and they did not get anything? Or someone else says there was only a 10 percent chance of rain and they got flooded? If you understand how these forecasts are made, it might help you plan your outdoor activities, including your garden work and when you water.

*Source: John Robert McPherson, Creative Commons*

How is “PoP” defined?

According to the National Weather Service (NWS):

PoP = C x A where “C” = the confidence that precipitation will occur somewhere in the forecast area, and where “A” = the percent of the area that will receive measurable precipitation, if it occurs at all. The forecast is what we call a “conditional” forecast—that means it depends on two different things, one of which requires the other to occur. It’s important to keep in mind that these forecasts are made for a particular period of time (often 12 hours) and for a particular area (the forecast zone). The first part of the calculation is whether or not it will rain at all anywhere in the forecast zone during the time that the forecast covers. The second is how much of the forecast zone will be hit by precipitation sometime during the forecast period.

How likely is it that precipitation will occur?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Contain Yourself: Vegetable gardening in containers and small spaces

June 10, 2021

Contain Yourself: Vegetable gardening in containers and small spaces

Given the growing (haha) popularity of vegetable gardening over the last several years, which has gone into overdrive during the pandemic, more and more people are looking for innovative ways to grow in all kinds of spaces. Container vegetable gardening can be as simple as popping a tomato into a bucket, but there are lots of different ways to successfully grow crops in small, mobile containers. It is possible to grow full sized crops in containers, given a large enough container and space to grow. But more and more plant breeders have been developing small and dwarf cultivars of lots of different kinds of crop plants to meet the burgeoning interest in container and small space gardening. Let’s talk a bit about growing in containers, about some of those crops that do well in containers (including some dwarf/small cultivars, and even some design to make those vegetable containers attractive on your patio or porch.

Container Culture

Growing vegetables and fruits in containers follows the same general rules that ornamentals and houseplants follow. We’ve covered several container questions here on the GP blog, which you can find here. Probably one of the biggest questions (and myths) that we encounter is the placement of rocks or other items in the bottom of pots for drainage. It is a common question over on our social media. So to just get that out of the way, don’t do it – it actually makes drainage worse. The only exception might be if you are using a really large, deep pot and need to fill it with something so you don’t have to fill it all the way with soil – but you still need to ensure that the soil is sufficiently deep so that you don’t end up with waterlogged soil in the root zone.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 15

April 30, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 15

Marti's Corner at City Prepping Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* All of my vegetables are planted in containers. Here is a good article about planting in 5-gallon buckets. Bucket Container Planting Vegetables – Using Buckets For Growing Vegetables These buckets are under $3 at Lowes and Home Depot. Considering the cost of planting containers, and if you don’t mind having buckets in your yard, it might be worth it. We’ve collected a lot of our containers at estate sales and such. I’ve also used those fabric bags. I like the 7-gallon size. They are deeper and seem to give the plants more room to grow.
* I also found this FaceBook page: Tomato Bible. It is NOT just about tomatoes. There are a lot of interesting facts about insects, nutrition, etc. of your garden
* I found this website where you can download a guide explaining 5 steps for getting prepared Listos California | IECF

Get official alerts
Make a plan
Pack a GO bag
Build a STAY box
Help friends and neighbors

There is information explaining each of these things in more detail.

LONG TERM FOCUS: Eggs

eggs-in-a-basket

So, let’s assume you have run out of eggs, you are allergic to eggs, or you are now vegan and won’t eat eggs. How do you make your favorite foods? There are substitutes. Check out this article, 13 Effective Substitutes for Eggs. Eight of these substitutes are listed here: applesauce 1/4 c. = 1 egg; mashed bananas 1/4 c. = 1 egg; ground flaxseeds or chia seeds 1 TB seeds _ 3 TB water until fully absorbed; silken tofu 1/4 c. = 1 egg; vinegar and baking soda 1 tsp soda + 1 TB vinegar; yogurt or buttermilk 1/4 c. = 1 egg; Arrowroot powder (it resembles corn starch. 2 TB + 3 TB water = 1 egg

You can buy dehydrated eggs here: Amazon.com: Augason Farms Dried Whole Egg Product 2 lbs 1 oz No. 10 Can: Sports & Outdoors.

SHORT TERM FOCUS: Peanut Butter

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Easiest, Most Abundant Food to Grow – Gardening in a Cold Climate

October 11, 2020

The Easiest, Most Abundant Food to Grow – Gardening in a Cold Climate

In this video I share the easiest and most abundant foods to grow in your garden in a colder climate.

If you are gardening across the Northern states of the United States, Canada, Western Europe or similar climates then this information is very applicable to you. However, I also have grow many of these foods in Southern state of Florida and have seen abundant gardens in Southern California growing many of these foods. I share about 40 plants to grow and I focus on two main criteria – easy and abundant. These are foods that are great for beginner gardeners and are likely to produce a large amount of food. I also cover some information on preserving the bounty, which is an absolute key to success in climates where a shorter growing season exists. By applying this knowledge you can decrease your trips to the grocery store drastically and eat the healthiest and most delicious fresh food around! Make sure to share with your neighbors.

Get more tips for growing food in this guide.

See my new video, Beginner Gardening Tips for a Successful Garden, as well.

Nature’s store of wisdom: The value of open-pollinated seeds

September 11, 2020

Nature’s store of wisdom: The value of open-pollinated seeds

Walk through the produce section of a supermarket or stroll through a farmers’ market and at first glance there seems to be an abundance of choice. Year-round, you will be able to find any vegetable or fruit you might desire. But look closer and you will see how limited the choice actually is: there will be one, maybe two varieties of carrots, you will find green courgettes, occasionally yellow ones, with a bit of luck there will be cherry, beef and plum tomatoes, but with broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers or celery you will rarely find more than one variety. Old seed catalogues give you a glimpse of the wealth of choice that there used to be: dozens of varieties of each vegetable, different in size, colour, taste and growing time, suited to this soil and not to that soil, demanding light or shade, requiring plenty of water or content with little.

Over the decades, seed saving gardeners have maintained many of these heritage varieties but very few are commercially available. One reason is that selling such seeds isn’t very profitable – you can’t make much money with something that is widely available for free: most heritage and some modern varieties are ‘open pollinated’ so anyone is free to save the seeds for the next growing season. Contrast that with most of the varieties that you buy in a supermarket or on a farmers’ market. You could save the seeds, but even if they were to germinate, don’t expect the crop to look anything like the produce you initially bought. Most modern varieties are hybrids, which means their seeds are either sterile or the offspring are not ‘true to seed’.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to Have a Garden When You “Can’t” Have a Garden

August 9, 2020

How to Have a Garden When You “Can’t” Have a Garden

Are you itching to grow something for the table in these times of bare shelves, but don’t have space? Well, you’re definitely not alone. Gardening is suddenly very popular, both for the calories and the many other benefits.

Are you renting and your landlord isn’t interested in plowing up the lawn? Or, maybe you’ve only got a small yard that has to double as pandemic playground for the kids. Perhaps the covenants in your neighborhood restrict the area you can put into beds. Or you’re limited to just a balcony. Whatever restrictions you’re dealing with, I assure you that something yummy can be grown!

Let me show you how. Or rather, let my mom show you.

My parents retired from the frigid North to the baking South only recently, and though they own their house, they are prudently moving quite cautiously in altering the outside space. My father Randy is still figuring out what their ultimate needs and abilities are going to be. It would be a real shame to go to the effort of putting in beds and improving soil, only to have to scrape it away because the best garden spot is also the only workable garage site.

But my mother Rose is indomitable. Salad must be eaten, and so it will be grown, whether or not there is a space in the ground for it this year.

First, she made full use of her existing ornamental beds around the east, south, and west of the house. There was crepe myrtle, iris, azalea, and daylily already in those beds. She filled in the gaps with high bush blueberry as well as tomatoes, beautiful red okra, herbs, lettuce, onions, peppers, and even a pumpkin.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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