winter natural food..home grown

[Guest guest]

> Survival Gardening,>>> by Delia L. in Oregon>> By Wesley, Rawles <http://www.survivalblog.com> on November 18, > 2010 7:22 PM> As we near to the end of the days of the dollar as reserve currency > for the world, feeding our families becomes much more important. Most > gardens go in over a late spring weekend with little thought given to > trying to keep a family fed during the winter. My focus is on growing > food year round with an emphasis on nutritional content. There are > ways to keep tomatoes growing later in the season, or trying to keep > greens growing year round. What can we grow that can be stored without > electricity or canning. What can we save seed from in order to

become > more self reliant. Gardening can save you a lot of money while > improving your health. Talk about a win-win situation! We use small > raised bed garden areas for winter gardening 4' wide with almost a > foot of elevation. We live in Oregon and the winters constant rains > can flood everything drowning your dinner. I use ½†PVC sections cut > 10' long and hooked onto short rebar sections beat into the dirt and > covered with clear plastic to keep off the produce rotting rains and > help keep it a few degrees warmer inside the hoop house. The ground > stays a bit warmer anyway so low to the ground hoops work well. I also > save gallon jugs filled with water to use to hold the plastic down and > act as a heat sink to help keep things from freezing. So fold the > plastic in and put the jugs inside the hoop. Spinach, lettuces, > cabbage, carrots etc will

all take some light freezes. This gives you > some fresh foods coming in all winter long.> For winter focus on spinach, mustards, dandelions and other nutritious > greens. Many started mid-summer can be kept growing slowly under a > cloche in the winter. Low levels of light drastically limit plant > growth rates. So pre planning and spacing become vital. I start > planting for winter harvest in July. when the heat is on, few of us > think about starting seeds. July is a good time to start carrots, > cabbage, broccoli, lettuce and potatoes for overwintering. I also like > to start Walla Walla onions and garlic in September. If you have never > had fresh, home grown garlic you are in for a treat. It is up there > with home grown tomatoes and corn for taste improvement over the store > bought veggies. It is important to keep the winter garden seeds moist > while

germinating, which can be a little tricky when it is hot. I > bought a new timer from Bi-mart that has a 6- hour setting. It worked > quite well keeping my seeds moist. This works on batteries so put away > several or set up a battery charger you can crank by pedaling a > bicycle, or get a small solar charger. I try to automate as much as I > can. You will want to get most vegetables planted by the beginning of > August, depending on the maturity dates of the varieties you select. > Varieties that have around a 60 day expected maturity can go in as > late as mid August. I like to try to plant spinach and lettuces every > two weeks almost year round.> Potatoes and carrots can be kept out in the garden and harvested as > needed all winter long. I grow a lot of garlic and onions to store in > a cool dry area, One of the best things to grow are winter squashes. >

Acorn squashes are high in vitamins and minerals and are easy to store > for the winter, there are many winter squashes our grandparents used > to grow to have food for the winter.> Sweet meat, pink banana delicata the list goes on. All are nutritious, > easy to grow, easy to store and easy to save seeds from. Cabbages can > be grown for winter use and kept in the garden under a plastic cover > for quite some time and get sweeter with frosts. Or they can be piled > in a card board box in a cool garage or basement. When one starts to > go bad you can slice it up for /sauerkraut/ or /kimchi /fermented food > have additional health benefits.> I have shelves in my garage and pantry about 18†apart. I get card > board boxes and use an X-acto knife to cut holes for ventilation and > fill them with onions, squashes, apples, beets, pears and other food > that stores in

a cool dry place. Carrots, potatoes and other root > crops can be stored in damp sand in a plastic barrel or tub if you > need the space open for your winter garden. The winter garden needs > more space than a summer garden because sunshine is at a premium. > Space is also needed in order to allow ventilation to avoid mildews. A > spray of baking soda and water can be used to treat mold and mildew. > *I use a table spoon of baking soda in a quart spray bottle. My secret > weapon for amazing plant growth is manure tea I use a cheap aquarium > pump with air stones in a barrel with a bit of manure (I use horse > manure,* since we have loads of it,) and water. Using this I would > have orchids bloom for months on end. Things got too hectic to > continue with my normal garden activities and I started using a *store > bought fertilizer and my orchids quit blooming*.>

The planning is most important and often not done. How much of what do > you need to feed a family for a year? How much space will it take to > grow it? How much space will be needed to store it? What conditions > are needed for the best storage cool/dry? Cool moist? Say for instance > you want to have cabbage every week so you need to grow 52 cabbages. > Do you need to plant them all at once? A long season cabbage? Or do > you grow a 60 day variety? Do you plant out 6 every month and then > plant enough to get you through the winter July 15? Will you cover > them with a plastic hoop house and store them in the garden or put > them in card board boxes and create a type of root cellar storage > area? How many winter squashes and of what kind? I plant acorn > squashes in the middle of a section of field fencing formed into a > circle, the vines climb the wire and keep the

squash off the ground > and save a lot of space.> If you want to have squash every week you will need to grow 52 of > them! Maybe 10 acorn and 10 pink banana 10 sweet meat 10 pumpkins 10 > Butter nuts and 10 sweet potato squash. I grow most of my squashes > even pumpkins on fence rounds I grow cucumbers on them and tomatoes in > them. The holes are big enough I can get my hands in for picking, they > hold the fruit up off the ground and save space. I will get 10 acorns > off 2 fence sections depending on the growth style if the plant is a > vining type I can grow three plants in one fence section. You must > stake them down I use regular T posts beat into the ground.> *I cover my garden area with black plastic to warm the soil and cut > down on weeding.* I have drip tubes on a timer under the plastic to > help block them from the UV rays so they last longer. These

go on > automatically. I have the same set up for my orchard. I have a gravity > fed spring with a holding tank and high water usage mid summer when > water production is lower. My timers go on in the middle of the night > when everyone is sleeping and water usage is low. The tubing is black > so I worry if the water went on mid afternoon the water would come out > too hot it would harm my plants. I have built a test solar heater out > of black 1 ½ “ abs pipes glued together and laid on the ground with a > small tank on a chair to see if we could heat water that way, how long > it would take etc. It heated water surprisingly quickly. So I started > worrying about the black drip tubing scalding my plants after that! So > for acorn squash I can plan on two fence sections for growing area and > 1 card board box on the wooden shelf will hold 10 squashes and they >

generally will last till they are eaten. Pink banana squash are > delicious and easy to grow. The label says not for the space conscious > it should say when planted in Oregon some vines may reach Kentucky! > Plant them on the edge and watch them go they are very productive. > They are also quite large so 1 squash would feed many people or have > leftovers that could need to be canned or? If there is no electricity > and we were having to make due without refrigeration. So with every > pro; big feeds a lot. There is a con; may need to can up leftovers. If > the SHTF and the refrigerator is kaput! In the winter we could use a > plywood box in the back of the house (north side under the firewood > storage area) as a refrigerator. I don't know how far along you are in > your long term survival planning. Try to think of as many things to be > ready now.> If you want

the most bang for your buck plant fruit trees. A few fruit > trees can be placed quite close together and provide a lot of food > every year with little work. I surrounded my fruit trees with a fence > to keep deer out and my chickens in! My coop is located on the edge of > my orchard so my chickens act as pest management and dropped fruit > clean up system. Many fruit tree pests will go into a larval stage and > be in the dirt at the base of the tree where the chickens can scratch > them up or climb up the trunk where the chickens can pick them off. I > use a heavy oil to help smother other bugs and avoid most poison > sprays. Also berries, I have blueberries and grapes and as many other > foods as I can incorporate into my landscaping. I also have planted > nut trees a good protein source once they start producing. Also > consider medicinal herb plants. Witch hazel and

cramp bark are two > good ones to have witch hazel helps clean wounds and kill germs, and > cramp bark is good for menstrual cramps or cramps from wounds or back > strain. A preppers knowledge should incorporate medicinal herbs in > plant form. God makes better medicines than men. It is high time we > learned how to use them, before we really have to.> A myth has developed that you can not grow food from vegetables grown > from saved hybrid seeds. That is not quite accurate. The fact is a > seed taken from a hybrid tomato will grow a tomato just not > necessarily a tomato the same as the one it came from. When you are > hungry even a lousy tasting tomato is food. If you plant several seeds > you can get several different tomato plants growing. Save one of the > best tomatoes from a plant that grows and plant seeds from it. In > three generations it will grow true.

You can plant garlic or potatoes > from the store and get starts that way. They are often treated with an > anti-sprout chemical but at some point nature will over ride the > chemical and if that is all you have use it. I have done this with > sweet potatoes as well. Not great sprouting results but once you get > some growing you can save starts from them. The most important thing > is to get going! The sooner you start the more prepared you will be.> *Vegetable Seeds *> I agree with an earlier SurvivalBlog posting on the hybrid seed issue > they do grow well. I have a friend that has grown his own seeds now > for five years and his garden is amazing all the plants now have been > bred specifically for his micro climate so if you have some hybrid > seeds save them for when you can not get food and must grow some to > survive. Practice now growing your own

seeds!>> *Some good seed suppliers:*>> * SuperSeeds.com <https://www.superseeds.com/>> * ParkSeed.com <http://www.parkseed.com>> * TerritorialSeed.com <http://www.territorialseed.com/>> * GoodwinCreekGardens.com <http://www.goodwincreekgardens.com/> (A> good place to get medicinal herb plants)>> I am attempting to grow my own varieties of seeds so we will see how > that works out this spring, I also have other seeds saved just in > case. I store my seeds in a gallon jar in the pantry cool dry and I > put *baked drywall cubes* in as a desiccant. You can store

beans rice > etc in trash cans lined with plastic bags with a bowl of baked drywall > cubes in it secure the plastic with a metal twisty after sucking out > excess air. To make baked drywall cut drywall into 1†cubes and bake > on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 350. Beans stored this way last > for decades. If you read any of the survival blogs from Argentina when > Goldman Sachs and Citibank looted their country privatizing the > profits and publicizing the debts (sound familiar?) They all say I > wish I had more food! Buy food.... think beans and wheat, since gold > and silver are worthless when you are starving.>>> *Firefly* (Lilia Adecer Cajilog)> *Tawo Seed r*> *POB 1456*> *South Pasadena, CA 91031*> **

living in the cosmic swirl,going round and round,singing my song,Dancing my dance...Stompingelk,

[Guest guest]

an Oregonian farmer, Marty..thanks for the post...good suggestions here!From: Marty Cline <stompingelk@...>Subject: [health] winter natural food..home grown"natural remedies" <health >Date: Friday, November 19, 2010, 5:43 AM

> Survival Gardening,>>> by Delia L. in Oregon>> By Wesley, Rawles <http://www.survivalblog.com> on November 18, > 2010 7:22 PM> As we near to the end of the days of the dollar as reserve currency > for the world, feeding our families becomes much more important. Most > gardens go in over a late spring weekend with little thought given to > trying to keep a family fed during the winter. My focus is on growing > food year round with an emphasis on nutritional content. There are > ways to keep tomatoes growing later in the season, or trying to keep > greens growing year round. What can we grow that can be stored without > electricity or canning. What can we save

seed from in order to

become > more self reliant. Gardening can save you a lot of money while > improving your health. Talk about a win-win situation! We use small > raised bed garden areas for winter gardening 4' wide with almost a > foot of elevation. We live in Oregon and the winters constant rains > can flood everything drowning your dinner. I use ½†PVC sections cut > 10' long and hooked onto short rebar sections beat into the dirt and > covered with clear plastic to keep off the produce rotting rains and > help keep it a few degrees warmer inside the hoop house. The ground > stays a bit warmer anyway so low to the ground hoops work well. I also > save gallon jugs filled with water to use to hold the plastic down and > act as a heat sink to help keep things from freezing. So fold the > plastic in and put the jugs inside the hoop. Spinach, lettuces, > cabbage, carrots etc will

all take some light freezes. This gives you > some fresh foods coming in all winter long.> For winter focus on spinach, mustards, dandelions and other nutritious > greens. Many started mid-summer can be kept growing slowly under a > cloche in the winter. Low levels of light drastically limit plant > growth rates. So pre planning and spacing become vital. I start > planting for winter harvest in July. when the heat is on, few of us > think about starting seeds. July is a good time to start carrots, > cabbage, broccoli, lettuce and potatoes for overwintering. I also like > to start Walla Walla onions and garlic in September. If you have never > had fresh, home grown garlic you are in for a treat. It is up there > with home grown tomatoes and corn for taste improvement over the store > bought veggies. It is important to keep the winter garden seeds moist > while

germinating, which can be a little tricky when it is hot. I > bought a new timer from Bi-mart that has a 6- hour setting. It worked > quite well keeping my seeds moist. This works on batteries so put away > several or set up a battery charger you can crank by pedaling a > bicycle, or get a small solar charger. I try to automate as much as I > can. You will want to get most vegetables planted by the beginning of > August, depending on the maturity dates of the varieties you select. > Varieties that have around a 60 day expected maturity can go in as > late as mid August. I like to try to plant spinach and lettuces every > two weeks almost year round.> Potatoes and carrots can be kept out in the garden and harvested as > needed all winter long. I grow a lot of garlic and onions to store in > a cool dry area, One of the best things to grow are winter squashes. >

Acorn squashes are high in vitamins and minerals and are easy to store > for the winter, there are many winter squashes our grandparents used > to grow to have food for the winter.> Sweet meat, pink banana delicata the list goes on. All are nutritious, > easy to grow, easy to store and easy to save seeds from. Cabbages can > be grown for winter use and kept in the garden under a plastic cover > for quite some time and get sweeter with frosts. Or they can be piled > in a card board box in a cool garage or basement. When one starts to > go bad you can slice it up for /sauerkraut/ or /kimchi /fermented food > have additional health benefits.> I have shelves in my garage and pantry about 18†apart. I get card > board boxes and use an X-acto knife to cut holes for ventilation and > fill them with onions, squashes, apples, beets, pears and other food > that stores in

a cool dry place. Carrots, potatoes and other root > crops can be stored in damp sand in a plastic barrel or tub if you > need the space open for your winter garden. The winter garden needs > more space than a summer garden because sunshine is at a premium. > Space is also needed in order to allow ventilation to avoid mildews. A > spray of baking soda and water can be used to treat mold and mildew. > *I use a table spoon of baking soda in a quart spray bottle. My secret > weapon for amazing plant growth is manure tea I use a cheap aquarium > pump with air stones in a barrel with a bit of manure (I use horse > manure,* since we have loads of it,) and water. Using this I would > have orchids bloom for months on end. Things got too hectic to > continue with my normal garden activities and I started using a *store > bought fertilizer and my orchids quit blooming*.>

The planning is most important and often not done. How much of what do > you need to feed a family for a year? How much space will it take to > grow it? How much space will be needed to store it? What conditions > are needed for the best storage cool/dry? Cool moist? Say for instance > you want to have cabbage every week so you need to grow 52 cabbages. > Do you need to plant them all at once? A long season cabbage? Or do > you grow a 60 day variety? Do you plant out 6 every month and then > plant enough to get you through the winter July 15? Will you cover > them with a plastic hoop house and store them in the garden or put > them in card board boxes and create a type of root cellar storage > area? How many winter squashes and of what kind? I plant acorn > squashes in the middle of a section of field fencing formed into a > circle, the vines climb the wire and keep the

squash off the ground > and save a lot of space.> If you want to have squash every week you will need to grow 52 of > them! Maybe 10 acorn and 10 pink banana 10 sweet meat 10 pumpkins 10 > Butter nuts and 10 sweet potato squash. I grow most of my squashes > even pumpkins on fence rounds I grow cucumbers on them and tomatoes in > them. The holes are big enough I can get my hands in for picking, they > hold the fruit up off the ground and save space. I will get 10 acorns > off 2 fence sections depending on the growth style if the plant is a > vining type I can grow three plants in one fence section. You must > stake them down I use regular T posts beat into the ground.> *I cover my garden area with black plastic to warm the soil and cut > down on weeding.* I have drip tubes on a timer under the plastic to > help block them from the UV rays so they last longer. These

go on > automatically. I have the same set up for my orchard. I have a gravity > fed spring with a holding tank and high water usage mid summer when > water production is lower. My timers go on in the middle of the night > when everyone is sleeping and water usage is low. The tubing is black > so I worry if the water went on mid afternoon the water would come out > too hot it would harm my plants. I have built a test solar heater out > of black 1 ½ “ abs pipes glued together and laid on the ground with a > small tank on a chair to see if we could heat water that way, how long > it would take etc. It heated water surprisingly quickly. So I started > worrying about the black drip tubing scalding my plants after that! So > for acorn squash I can plan on two fence sections for growing area and > 1 card board box on the wooden shelf will hold 10 squashes and they >

generally will last till they are eaten. Pink banana squash are > delicious and easy to grow. The label says not for the space conscious > it should say when planted in Oregon some vines may reach Kentucky! > Plant them on the edge and watch them go they are very productive. > They are also quite large so 1 squash would feed many people or have > leftovers that could need to be canned or? If there is no electricity > and we were having to make due without refrigeration. So with every > pro; big feeds a lot. There is a con; may need to can up leftovers. If > the SHTF and the refrigerator is kaput! In the winter we could use a > plywood box in the back of the house (north side under the firewood > storage area) as a refrigerator. I don't know how far along you are in > your long term survival planning. Try to think of as many things to be > ready now.> If you want

the most bang for your buck plant fruit trees. A few fruit > trees can be placed quite close together and provide a lot of food > every year with little work. I surrounded my fruit trees with a fence > to keep deer out and my chickens in! My coop is located on the edge of > my orchard so my chickens act as pest management and dropped fruit > clean up system. Many fruit tree pests will go into a larval stage and > be in the dirt at the base of the tree where the chickens can scratch > them up or climb up the trunk where the chickens can pick them off. I > use a heavy oil to help smother other bugs and avoid most poison > sprays. Also berries, I have blueberries and grapes and as many other > foods as I can incorporate into my landscaping. I also have planted > nut trees a good protein source once they start producing. Also > consider medicinal herb plants. Witch hazel and

cramp bark are two > good ones to have witch hazel helps clean wounds and kill germs, and > cramp bark is good for menstrual cramps or cramps from wounds or back > strain. A preppers knowledge should incorporate medicinal herbs in > plant form. God makes better medicines than men. It is high time we > learned how to use them, before we really have to.> A myth has developed that you can not grow food from vegetables grown > from saved hybrid seeds. That is not quite accurate. The fact is a > seed taken from a hybrid tomato will grow a tomato just not > necessarily a tomato the same as the one it came from. When you are > hungry even a lousy tasting tomato is food. If you plant several seeds > you can get several different tomato plants growing. Save one of the > best tomatoes from a plant that grows and plant seeds from it. In > three generations it will grow true.

You can plant garlic or potatoes > from the store and get starts that way. They are often treated with an > anti-sprout chemical but at some point nature will over ride the > chemical and if that is all you have use it. I have done this with > sweet potatoes as well. Not great sprouting results but once you get > some growing you can save starts from them. The most important thing > is to get going! The sooner you start the more prepared you will be.> *Vegetable Seeds *> I agree with an earlier SurvivalBlog posting on the hybrid seed issue > they do grow well. I have a friend that has grown his own seeds now > for five years and his garden is amazing all the plants now have been > bred specifically for his micro climate so if you have some hybrid > seeds save them for when you can not get food and must grow some to > survive. Practice now growing your own

seeds!>> *Some good seed suppliers:*>> * SuperSeeds.com <https://www.superseeds.com/>> * ParkSeed.com <http://www.parkseed.com>> * TerritorialSeed.com <http://www.territorialseed.com/>> * GoodwinCreekGardens.com <http://www.goodwincreekgardens.com/> (A> good place to get medicinal herb plants)>> I am attempting to grow my own varieties of seeds so we will see how > that works out this spring, I also have other seeds saved just in > case. I store my seeds in a gallon jar in the pantry cool dry and I > put *baked drywall cubes* in as a desiccant.

You can store

beans rice > etc in trash cans lined with plastic bags with a bowl of baked drywall > cubes in it secure the plastic with a metal twisty after sucking out > excess air. To make baked drywall cut drywall into 1†cubes and bake > on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 350. Beans stored this way last > for decades. If you read any of the survival blogs from Argentina when > Goldman Sachs and Citibank looted their country privatizing the > profits and publicizing the debts (sound familiar?) They all say I > wish I had more food! Buy food.... think beans and wheat, since gold > and silver are worthless when you are starving.>>> *Firefly* (Lilia Adecer Cajilog)> *Tawo Seed r*> *POB 1456*> *South Pasadena, CA 91031*> **

living in the cosmic swirl,going round and round,singing my song,Dancing my dance...Stompingelk,