What we need to grow to be more self-sufficient

[Labradors]

In these uncertain times, I am thinking about what I should be planting this season that we can keep us going beyond the summer/fall.

Hubby wants potatoes (ugh! as I am the one who has to take care of them). It's too late to order, so I'm saving some of the little ones that have tiny "eyes" with life in them from my store-bought ones. He will have to prepare a new bed for those!

Beets
Carrots
Eggplant
Garlic
Kale
Peppers
Tomatoes
Zucchini

Greens could be grown under grow-lights.

I normally dehydrate eggplant, zucchini, cherry toms and apple slices. Large toms and apples/pears are canned/frozen. Peppers are chopped and frozen.

Is there anything that you rely on to keep you going through the fall and winter?

Linda

[worth1]

Not that I grow that many but onions.
The onion is one of the most healthy things you can eat.
I simply cant say enough good about onions.
The stronger the better for health.
I have ate so many onions I smelled like onions and I dont care.

[Rajun Gardener]

Right now I see you forgot beans, peas and okra. Grow top pick purple hull peas(easy to pick), you can shell and freeze them raw, can them, cook and freeze in bags or use as a dried bean.

Greenbeans are easy to can and taste better than anything out of a can.

Okra is always the biggest thing for me since we eat it smothered as a dish dish, in gumbo or cooked with shrimp served over rice. You can also batter and freeze on a tray then bag for fried okra.

[SusieQ]

Don't forget your winter squashes... butternut, kabocha (Sunshine is great), acorn types, etc. These last a long time if cured properly.

[Labradors]

I did forget to mention peas, beans and squash . Do you freeze the raw peas directly or do you have to blanch them first? I could do that if I had any extras so I'll have to grow more this season.

Worth, I didn't even think about onions because they are so easy to buy from the store! I'm off to check my seed stash right now. Hope it's not too late to plant them now!

Thanks folks ,

Linda

[MissS]

Okra is always the biggest thing for me since we eat it smothered as a dish dish, in gumbo or cooked with shrimp served over rice. You can also batter and freeze on a tray then bag for fried okra.

A bit OT but I think that okra will be available throughout the stores up here. I went to the grocery yesterday and the ONLY frozen vegetables left in the freezer were okra, black eyed peas and one package of pearl onions.

[Growing Coastal]

Edamame or soy beans freeze well in their pods, or without. I have only bought them this way but that's a nutrutious vegetable to grow. Am trying some for the 1st time this year.

[worth1]

Rutabagas and turnips.
Cabbage for sauerkraut.

[bower]

I am trying to grow some more staples this year as well. Things we eat all winter but currently buy. Potatoes, carrots and onions are among the crops that grow well here (normally) and we should be able to grow and store in the root cellar.
Since we can't grow beans, I'm trying for some peas that can be dried and used as a bean. Still waiting on some seeds I ordered... hope they are not hung up by store closures.
Another veg that stores well is Chinese Cabbage. Boy does it keep well. I had some my friend brought me from the farm cellar in midwinter.. what a delight.

[Labradors]

Chinese cabbage huh? I always pick all the chard at the end of the year and stash it in grocery bags in the freezer, then I use it to add to doggy dinners. After freezing, it still looks good enough to eat and I really should try cooking some of it for us the hoomins .'

Linda

[Cole_Robbie]

I am glad someone started this topic. It looks like I should try to grow more than hemp this year. I do have one fenced garden, but most of my space has heavy deer pressure and no fence. So crops like potatoes that deer don't eat are ideal. Everyone's deer pressure is different. My deer even dig up sweet potatoes. They usually leave winter squash, maybe summer squash, cukes and anything itchy like okra. Everything else is a deer feast, except for sweet corn, which the coons always get.

[Blackbear]

For me : (to start)
early volunteer parsley Italian and regular
Sorrel
Garlic (s)
chives
welsh onions
kale
chard
NZ spinach
beets (roots &tops)
keeper tomato varieties (to extend the regular availability )

of course : potatoes onions beans …

asparagus (perennial )

Good King henry (poor mans asparagus)

[bower]

Speaking of beets - after trying all the chard related things, we discovered last year that sugar beets produce simply the best tops you ever tasted. Not a bit beety, very very nice!
I had a few thinnings from the farm "for the tops" but they were so good I managed to plant a few of those little roots in a pot. They stayed alive in my greenhouse until I brought them in a couple weeks ago just to get them going faster. So they seem to be super hardy, hardy as a chardy, and a lovely green. I am thinking to try growing as a perennial - forget the roots who needs em.

[rxkeith]

basic focus is to grow what does well in the area you live.
foods that store with minimum work such as root vegetables, and winter squash.
we like rice, but potatoes would be the rely on food for us. they store very well in
our basement. we are still eating them.
deer will not touch garlic. onions they will munch the tops off of here, but garlic you
can grow unprotected i have found to be the case.

natural forage should not be over looked. we pick as many wild blue berries on our property
as possible. we store in gallon bags in the freezer, and use them all year.
we have an abundance of apple trees up and down the road, and along side trails, and two tracks.
apple sauce, cold storage, or slicing, and dehydrating would keep us in apple products for a long time.
we also pick and freeze strawberries, raspberries, and wild thimble berries. they could also be dehydrated
if need be.
some basic knowledge of edible wild plants, and how to use them would be helpful. people go hungry when
they are surrounded by an edible landscape.



keith

[maxjohnson]

From my point of view, I would look at having access to the most nutrient and caloric dense foods, that also lasts long. Tubers are good candidate, I would look at potatoes, sweet potatoes (leaves are edible), beets, yam, taro, and others. Various large squash that can store for a long time may be good. Secondly look at perennials, which is probably crucial for subsisting long term. So perennials crops and fruit trees, this ties in with permaculture. But what you grow for best yield depends a lot of where you are. I'm guessing up there, one should consider hunting and fishing too. At a time like this, I wouldn't waste a large amount of effort in difficult to grow veggies that require a lot of maintenance, but growing a lot of easy to grow greens that aren't affect as much by pests and diseases.

I'm not doing much of this though, the way my neighborhood is designed, I can't go too crazy otherwise the neighbors won't like it. Maybe one of these days, I'll build fencing all around so I can garden with more privacy. Most cities don't allow keeping chicken, otherwise you might consider keeping chicken or a quiet breed of quail.

Organic potatoes was the first to be sold out during the panic buying, so I'm growing regular potatoes for the first time. Never bothered to grow it myself since they're so cheap in the store.

[Clkeiper]

basic focus is to grow what does well in the area you live.
foods that store with minimum work such as root vegetables, and winter squash.
we like rice, but potatoes would be the rely on food for us. they store very well in
our basement. we are still eating them.
deer will not touch garlic. onions they will munch the tops off of here, but garlic you
can grow unprotected i have found to be the case.

natural forage should not be over looked. we pick as many wild blue berries on our property
as possible. we store in gallon bags in the freezer, and use them all year.
we have an abundance of apple trees up and down the road, and along side trails, and two tracks.
apple sauce, cold storage, or slicing, and dehydrating would keep us in apple products for a long time.
we also pick and freeze strawberries, raspberries, and wild thimble berries. they could also be dehydrated
if need be.
some basic knowledge of edible wild plants, and how to use them would be helpful. people go hungry when
they are surrounded by an edible landscape.



keith

this is very true. there is a lot out there that we can grow but it takes a lot of effort to get a crop because they don't grow easily where we are. grow what grows well or easy for you. and look around for things that you can forage for is great advice.
this situation is a real wake up call to how dependent we have become on the big farmers. right now our food supply is good but what happens if they can't supply as they always have? we as a group here are pretty capable of providing for ourselves but we are a very small group in the big picture. how many people does each of us know that has a garden of any size?

[brownrexx]

I already grow 25 different kinds of vegetables. We have been fairly self-sufficient in that category for several years. There are a couple things I don't grow such as celery and broccoli just because it's easier to pick them up in the store but I have grown them in the past successfully. We also have several pear trees and I save dehydrated pear slices and freeze pear slices in a sugar solution. My basement always has several baskets of winter squash potatoes and garlic. I quit growing onions 2 years ago when the allium Leaf miners came to town.

[Growing Coastal]

Parsnips have not been mentioned. They are easy to grow and last well long into winter.

[kath]

Lots of great ideas here, Linda, and I don't want to repeat what's already been mentioned. Green shell peas must be blanched first, yes. They are wonderful and worth the freezer space for me. Greens can also be dehydrated if freezer space is tight, especially if you are going to use them in soups/stews- cabbage also rehydrates quite well and tastes a lot like fresh. I grow a lot of the potatoes that are blue/purple inside and red in and out instead of just white ones for more antioxidants. Sweet potatoes keep even longer than regular potatoes and can be grown in large containers if you run out of garden beds. Butternut squash can easily be trellised and usually last through April before they get a little dried out inside. Also, since you have a dehydrator, a mix of diced celery, carrot, onion, and pepper pieces is handy for adding flavor to grains and lots of other dishes.

[Growing Coastal]

Celery also freezes well for cooking. I chop and cook it up with onions and freeze it when celery goes on sale. That also saves on meal prep time.