Gardening For Self-Sufficiency - Growing What We Eat

The last few days have been absolutely tragic here in the PNW with torrential rains, catastrophic flooding, structural failures to our road systems, a devastated agricultural community. 

The panic buying and empty shelves really scare me, make me super nervous. What are we going to do if something happens to our food chain? Are you worried about keeping your family in food? 

We first started thinking about this in early 2020 when the pandemic began and the grocery store shelves were bare throughout North America, and made a very conscious decision to become more self sufficient and really put more thought into what we growing to stock our pantry. 

The goal was to grow a whole lot of the stuff we eat fresh but also process, gift or share and drop much of the rest. Seeing those bare grocery shelves was a huge eye-opener, something I never thought I would see here. 

It's not that we hadn't been growing a whole lot of food before and stocking the pantry, but we were definitely growing differently. In addition to growing food for us, I was trialing all sorts of fruits and veggies for my greenhouse business. To see how they fare in our area. I was also growing food for my adult kids to come shop the garden so they could save money... but they rarely ever came. It was time to get real!  

So, I still grow about the same amount of tomatoes... well, I actually grow a few more plants but less varieties. I have been testing new varieties for well over 12 years now so it was time to grow more paste tomatoes for canning and drop the tomatoes that we do not eat, do not use, and already know grow well here. I can still tell you the best cherry types for your purposes without growing all of them myself each year. 

I will always keep testing tomatoes but now I have the space to do so without giving up on the tomatoes I need for saucing (and selling or bartering).     

We have grown a whole lot of potatoes, beets, cucumbers, carrots, garlic, onions, peppers, and squash over the last two summers. 

We love these veggies... we eat them, share them with family and friends, and process them. Some we can, some we dehydrate or freeze, and others are great keepers... carrots, potatoes, and squash keep for an extraordinarily long time so are the perfect veggies to grow for year round homegrown food. Best of all, they are easy to store, as well. The carrots stay in the ground, the potatoes are in an old big cooler in the garage, the squash are into the pantry, and they all last easily through till next summer. Oh, and Brussels sprouts. Love them and they stay in the garden through snow, rain, and sleet, till we are ready to harvest.    

In lesser amounts, we grew what we eat fresh throughout the year but do not can, dry, or freeze. These are cole crops like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, plus beans, peas, lettuces, radishes, eggplants.

However, said good bye to kale, good-bye to beans we don't love (still growing a bit of green and yellow wax but less of them), good-bye to root crops that we do not eat much of. I dropped turnips and parsnips from the grow-list as no one else loves them but me. Is more worth my while to pick up a few parsnips from the market than to save that garden space for them. That space gave us room to grow more cucumbers so we now have a shelf full of pickles in the pantry instead.  

This does not mean that I do not get to grow cool things or trial new things like luffas or ornamental gourds, melons, and fun stuff... I actually have more room for them as I am no longer growing things that we eat very little of. 

Your list of what to grow may well be very different depending on what your family likes to eat and how much space you have to grow. You may love kale and greens so have your winter garden bursting with green smoothie making goodies right now while I eat carrots and brussels.

Garden journal photo from thisblessedplot.wordpress.com

That brings us to now.... The catastrophic flooding all around our lovely province has caused panic buying to ensue and our grocer's shelves are bare once again. Anxiety levels rise and I again start to think about what to tweak and change... time to become a prepper, I think ; ) 

After the holidays, I will have another look at my journal and start making plans for next year's self sufficient garden. I have been jotting down ideas throughout the season as they occur to me and will be keeping an eye on the pantry shelves, keeping notes of what I need more of and what I buy from the shops that I can instead grow more of. By the way, ever so grateful for those keeping tomatoes sitting nice and fresh in my pantry!  

A well stocked larder is what (my) dreams are made of. This picture and article can be found at gdonna.com 

I hope that you all are having a look at your own pantry, getting ideas on how to grow a bit more foods to stock it with. Making notes on what to intensively grow to eat and stock your larder with.

If you don't know where to start, have a look on line, get some ideas, start jotting down ideas. I will be running workshops in the new year on intensive gardening and self sustainable gardening. How to make plans, where to start, and how to go forward. Bring your notes and questions. 

Take Care and Be Well ~ Tanja