Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[su do <speakingbeareturns@yahoo.com>]

Many ppl can live on a macrobiotic diet which consists
mosty of grain. I've been getting into food
preservation and dehydrating. I also have a vacuum
system for storing food.

--- Pumpkin Lady <pumpkin@xanadoo.com> wrote:

> E. E. Mitchamore Jr wrote:
> > These kinds of conversations always make me
> question how much of our 
> > food I can grow.  Jeavon's work is the only
> quantitative information I 
> > have found on our needs vs. what a home gardener
> can do, and I'm not 
> > optimistic that I can produce a healthy, diverse,
> year-round, diet.  
> 
> You do what you can as you can. Do remember that you
> can do some 
> stockpiling now if you have the money. I suspect
> that if it all goes 
> pear-shaped, you'll have more time to put in new
> garden space then than 
> you do now.
> 
> > Most of us on this list are growing gardens; some
> are raising animals, 
> > but I'll bet most would like to have some
> discussions about what, and 
> > how much, we should be producing in order to feed
> ourselves. 
> 
> What you feed yourself depends on what you like. >I<
> like winter squash. 
> It takes up a lot of room for the most part, but it
> stores well and 
> there are some bush varieties that are OP. I also
> like amaranth grain, 
> good thing for me that the wild version is a local
> weed, so I will be 
> playing with growing that this year and hoping that
> I can figure out how 
> to isolate what I'll need to save seed that will
> produce good grain.
> 
> I could raise rabbits for meat, if I would eat them,
> but I know myself 
> well enough to suspect strongly that I will be a
> vegetarian if 
> pre-slaughtered meat is not available to me. I would
> kind of like some 
> chickens or ducks, but I have some concerns about
> H5N1 (bird flu).
> 
> > I only have about 10% of the garden space that
> Jeavons says I need, but 
> > I don't think I can add more than about 10% a
> year.  Yeah, I'm ahead of 
> > most folks, but I don't think that's good enough
> for this situation.
> 
> Again, stockpiling nonperishables will get you
> through a transition 
> period. Also, you should get seeds that will store
> and keep them in the 
> freezer. Play with seed saving now as well, and you
> will be ready for 
> when you have to be.
> 
> > True, Tomatoes are the #1 market garden item, but
> they don't offer many 
> > calories.  I've never eaten a Turnip, or many
> other root crops.  Beans, 
> > squash, greens, tomatoes.  Corn is not a good use
> of space.  What else?
> 
> Get small packs of seeds and experiment, find what
> you like that grows 
> well for you and then look up the nutritional
> values. See what you can 
> do towards getting fruit trees/bushes and learning
> how to preserve your 
> harvest. Tomatoes may not have a lot of calories,
> but they are the basis 
> for a lot of soups and cooking that we do these
> days. They are very 
> worthwhile for that alone.
> 
> Look thorough old books and old cookbooks to see
> what people used to eat 
> in the days before frozen foods and year round
> "fresh" fruits. Learn to 
> can if you don't already know how.
> 
> Look into a winter garden. See what you can grow in
> a cold frame or, if 
> you have one, see what you can make produce in a
> small greenhouse.  I 
> have heard that you can "heat" a greenhouse with
> rabbits. If you can 
> slaughter and eat them, that would be 3 things you
> could do with them - 
> poo for gardens, heat for greenhouse in winter, and
> meat. If I spun 
> fiber, I'd get angora rabbits and use them for that.
> 
> Look into expanding in to "non traditional" uses of
> foods. I hate okra, 
> but I am going to grow some and grind the seed into
> flour and see if I 
> like to eat it in breads.
> 
> There are some "fruits" that are annuals, garden
> huckleberries have been 
> improved to the point the fruit can be eaten raw
> (old varieties have to 
> be cooked).
> 
> There's all kinds of stuff out there. We just have
> to find it again. :-)
> 
> Happy growing!
> Morgan
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