Grow Your Own Food: How to Live a More Self-Sustainable Life

COPYRIGHT © 2011 Cherie Kuranko ~ "InkSpot"

All Rights Reserved.

As food prices rise and employment shrinks it becomes more apparent to the bread winners in the family that simply putting food on the table is a lot more challenging than in good times. Below are some ways you can feed your family for less money and eat healthier at the same time.

Living a self-sustinable lifestyle provides a great sense of security, increases your knowledge and skills and saves more money than you could possibly imagine.You will be amazed at how little garden space is needed to provide your family with enough fresh vegetables through summer and fall and still have enough left over to can for eating during the winter months. To get started follow these steps:

• Grow organic vegetables every year. Eat fresh while in season and preserve the rest for the winter. Start with a smaller plot (20 x 30) and work into a larger garden as you learn new skills. Plant vegetables your family enjoys eating. Get the whole family involved in the gardening, harvesting and preserving.
• Invest in a canner, canning jars and other canning equipment. Don't know how to can? Learn. It is easy and most people find it a fun family activity--in addition to being the most rewarding experience to be able to grow, harvest and can your own food. Food you know is growing without chemicals. Healthy food you can rely on year after year.
• Learn how to save your own vegetable seeds from the vegetables grown in your garden. This may take a bit more time, but it will save you the expense of buying new seeds each year. It also provides your family with a backup food supply in case of long-term food scarcity due to unforeseen events. Saving seeds from your own plants also helps acclimate the vegetable to your growing area and allow it to grow better every time you plant it. Start Your Own Seed Bank Article.
• Learn how to identify and preserve the wild foods and mushrooms available in your area.  A good place to learn is through tours with professionals, mushroom hunting groups, library books and a lot of research. Your tastebuds will go crazy for these wild foods, most of which you have probably never tasted. It will surprise you to learn just how many things in your woods, pastures and such are edible and very healthy food sources.  You might enjoy the article, Where to find Chanterelle Mushrooms.
• Start an herb garden either outdoors or indoors. Window herb gardens are great and handy for snipping a bit to add to a dish while cooking. Or you can grow herbs outdoors among the flowers in your flower beds. They add color to the beds and food on the table. Start your herb garden for free using cuttings. See article, Propagation of Herbs: How to Start Herbs with Cuttings.
• Plant fruit, berry and nut trees. Start an orchard to help feed your family. Many people are using dwarf fruit trees because they will produce fruit sooner than full-sized fruit trees and they are shorter--making it easier to pick fruits and prune the trees. There are many excellent books on starting an orchard and if you speak to an experienced nursery grower they can usually help you pick out the right type of trees to meet your goals. 
• Invest in a dehydrator or learn to dry foods outdoors in natural sunlight. Dried foods don't have to be canned and will keep for long lengths of time if preserved correctly.
• Raise a small flock of chickens as laying hens. You just can't beat fresh eggs.
• If you have the land it would also be a great idea to raise some livestock. Beef, pork, chicken and grow the hay, alfalfa or other grains they need on your own farm if possible.
• Grow grains. Grains can be grown even in chilly, northwestern areas like Washington State. Spring barley, winter wheat, amaranth, quinoa and more. Test plot to see what grows best where you live. Grains are very important in human and livestock diets. If you grow grains, invest in a grain grinder to make flour.

Here is just a short list of the many foods you may can, freeze, dry or otherwise preserve. Fill your pantries with healthier and less expensive alternatives to processed, store bought foods:

• Vegetables: artichoke, beans, beet, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, corn, cucumber, eggplant, endive, greens, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, muskmelon, mustard, onion, parsely, parsnip, peas, peppers, potato, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb, rutabaga, spinach, squash, sunflower, swiss chard, tomato, turnips and melons.
• Meats, Stews, Soups: Check your canning book to see just how many wonderful meats, soups, stews and other things like home salsa and kraut can be preserved. Tuna, beef, rabbit, chicken, cream of mushroom soup, vegetable beef soup, tomato soup and many more.
• Fruits, Berries, Vines & Nuts: Apricots, apples, nectarines, plums, oranges, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, sunberry, huckleberry, elderberry, grapes, kiwi and much, much more.
• Edible Flowers & Bulbs: Rose, sweet pea shoots, pansies and dahlia bulbs are just a few of the many edible flowers you can dry and add to dishes or eat fresh.
• Wild Foods: Edible mushrooms, wild greens and vegetables, berries, fruits, roots, bulbs and flowers. Many wild and domesticated flowers are edible and delicious. LEARN what is and isn't. This is very important because many are also poisonous. Never eat anything you uncertain about. Check with your local university or extension office for help.
• FREE Food: Free food is every where. When you see an apple tree loaded with apples what do you think? I think applesauce and apple butter. So, I stop and ask the owner of the property if they plan on using their apples. If they say no, then ask if they will give you permission to harvest them. Always offer to bring a basket of apples to the house. Often it is elderly or just busy people with overloaded apple trees. They appreciate you picking them for them and you get free apples. Each season I find free apples, plums, nuts, wild foods galore and I seldom buy anything to make the 200 plus jars of jam I preserve each year.
• Trade and Barter: Trading and bartering for excess garden produce has become popular as more people garden. Whatever you have in excess, offer up to someone that has another vegetable or fruit you don't have, but would like to preserve. I've swapped a few farm chores for free produce before too. Just lend a hand and people don't mind sharing what they have with you.

A person could very easily sustain them and their families on a small piece of land. You just have to be willing to take the time to learn new skills and then take the first step to giving it a whirl. Don't wait until there is a natural disaster to learn these skills. If you plan on using what you learn, you must practice growing, harvesting and preserving food. The best way to learn gardening is from first-hand experience. Good luck in the garden and questions are always welcome in the comments section.

Other Articles of Interest

Forest Gardening: Shade Tolerant Vegetables & Herbs

How to Grow, Harvest & Save Lettuce Seeds

How to save Pumpkin Seeds: Squash, Gourds & More

Old-Fashioned Dill Pickle Recipe for Snappy Dill Pickles

COPYRIGHT © 2011 Cherie Kuranko ~ "InkSpot"

All Rights Reserved.