14/11/2022
A few thoughts on āgrow what you eat/ eat what you growā.
So whether you are a long term food gardener or just starting out, getting the right balance between growing and eating is something akin to an art form.
It takes time and experience, practice, practice, practice.
But also like art, intention is important and ultimately context is everything.
So if you are working on having a large food garden I challenge you to write two lists.
One is what you eat now, one is what you grow well.
There are going to be some obvious differences between those lists.
So what are you going to change in an effort to become more self reliant??
I know Iām working on more staples and starches at the moment.
I wonāt be doing many potatoes in the future because the physical effort is too great for me now, but I sure can do lots of pumpkins, carrots and corn.
Phillip loves salads and pickles, so getting a good salad rotation system going in the new raised beds is a priority, along with some mass plantings of beetroot and cucumbers, for pickling as well as fresh eating.
We have spent years growing up the fruit trees and many of them are now coming into good production, as well as the berries that have been a booming success for years now.
Preserving those fruit surpluses through Fowlers bottling has been a great love of mine for a long time.
As for greensā¦..I can take them or leave them, what some consider lunch I consider chook foodā¦..getting enough greens to grow is too easy. And things like silverbeet and kale are little better than w**ds in my book.šš¤£
One plant type on the lists where there is a real difference is onions. I remember growing brown onions once, about 35 yrs ago!! Iāll never bother againā¦ but I do love spring onions and leeks, along with garlic, all relatively easy to grow and have great potential to grow enough of these to cover our personal food needs.
I know Iād love to grow produce to sell, as there is huge potential to supply locally, but at the end of the day Iāll have to stick to growing for our own needs, trading some surpluses for labour, seed saving, and teaching and encouraging anyone whoās interested.
Photos, nectarines still holding on, this tree is a seedling and growing in a well drained spot, Iāll probably eat every one of them fresh!!
The chocolate mint howeverā¦.. is approaching w**d status, Iāve never done anything with it beyond sniffing a sprig I pluck every now and again, and giving away the baby plants that keep germinating around it.ā¦..I need to get a bit more creative with that one.
šš ā¤ļøCarolyn
