Partial Food Independence

It's that time of year again!

Any of you who have been reading The Rumble Strip for any length of time know that a couple times a year I post about gardening.  I will preach it until I can’t crawl out to the garden anymore:  Gardening is one of the most important things we can do for our health and it’s one of the best ways to say NO to the man.  If we limit or eliminate our need to spend money on something we can do for ourselves, we buy ourselves a bit of liberty.  And, with gardening, we buy ourselves a bit of health!

If you are still new to growing vegetables, I always recommend starting small.  Get a nice pot and grow a tomato plant.  There are many varieties that are bred to be “dwarf” in size and won’t take up a lot of room.  If tomatoes aren’t your thing, you can certainly try some herbs or lettuce.  Anything grown is one less thing you need to buy at the grocery store. 

If you have graduated to starting an “in ground” or raised bed garden, congratulations!  You will be amazed at the variety you can fit into your patch of ground.  I highly recommend getting a piece of paper and doing a rough sketch of your garden patch.  Then, what I do, is  plan and “diagram” where I am going to place plants and/or plant seeds.  If you are still a bit “green” (inexperienced), you will need to do a bit of research to find out how tall the vegetables you are planting will get.  Always put the tallest items on the North end of your garden plot and work your way south with subsequently shorter plants.  In other words, I would plant my corn on the north end and things like peppers on the south end.  It may be obvious why you would do this but, just in case, it’s so that all of your plants will benefit from the sun!  Once you get more experienced, you can start playing around with using some of your taller plants to provide shade to others that don’t need as much light.        

If you are growing in a small space, I recommend a great book called “Square Foot Gardening”.  It has some good information on how to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to growing in small spaces.

I have a 10’ X 30’ “in-ground” bed and I also have a rather large raised bed that I use.  I get enough vegetables to feed myself most of the summer and far into winter using just this space.  I am also able to give vegetables to neighbors and friends. 

You will be amazed at how much produce you can grow (depending on your climate).  Typically, most home gardens will produce much more than a person needs, depending on conditions and the size of your garden, of course.

Gardening is *not* hard.  The most difficult part of gardening is the weeding.  But even weeding isn’t overly difficult as long as you keep up with it.  Plan to spend a few minutes every day pulling weeds.  Personally, I find this work relaxing.  It gives me time to think and enjoy the sound of singing birds and buzzing insects. 

Once you have become proficient at gardening it’s important to learn how to freeze, dry and can your bounty so it doesn’t go to waste.  That for another time though.  

With all of the garbage in our food today (the sprays, the GMO, and the substandard fertilizer), it’s very important that we take the steps necessary to be proactive with our health.  I promise that if we grow and eat food we have produced/processed ourselves health *will* improve.  Our bodies were not meant to thrive on chemicals and pharmaceuticals.  

In my opinion (besides the obvious benefits) the most important reason to grow your own vegetables (along with possibly raising a few chickens, etc) is to have *independence*! Gardening is just one more way we can find our freedom in an un-free world and I highly recommend it. 

As always, if you would like more information about gardening, I am always happy to assist.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions.  If I don’t know the answer, I will definitely help find the answer.  And, most of all, *don’t give up!*  If you fail one year, try again the next year.  I promise, it’s worth it!