I know that we're having a market day on day one, but there will probably be some foods that are pretty much staples for everyone, and having a variety of seed types/ plants of those foods will help to ensure a productive garden. What do you think?
I just found out that black beans and lentils should grow here, solving my protein issue, but all you carnivores may want to consider growing some too just in case the hunting/ fishing doesn't go as planned. You can make lots of lovely foods with lentils and black beans, and I found a place for organic starter beans if anyone's interested.
I plan on growing mainly heirloom and/or organics; if anyone else wants to go that route, Seeds of Change www.seedsofchange.com has lots of nice veggies, and Trees of Antiquity www.treesofantiquity.com has some great selections of berries, grapes, hardy kiwis, as well as trees of course (not that most of us have any more room for trees in our yards, but the berries and such could be great!).
I know that finding salt in some way is encouraged, but you may also consider adding veggies that are naturally high in sodium such as beets, kale, chard, celery, artichokes, corn, dandelion greens, carrots, and endive to your dishes. This of course won't help you out when using salt for preserving, but for dietary needs, it may do the trick.
Also, at the end of summer growing season, when we all have this amazing harvest, would you all like to do some preserving together? We have a great pressure canner, and Todd has plans to build a solar food dehydrator. Your thoughts?
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Yes this is a great idea - we should schedule for mid to late February though. I like planning out gardens and want to have all my seeds lined up well before planting starts. I have 3 seed catalogs to share with everyone as well - Burpee, Stokes, and Thompson-Morgan. Anyone can get a copy free from their websites, and my Burpee catalog included a $5 off your $30 order coupon.
ReplyDeleteFebruary sounds great... the only weekend I have free is that of Valentine's day-- the other weekends I'll be in a Permaculture class in either Youngstown or Cleveland (it's split between the cities). If you want to do it on a family dinner night, just pick one and it will be great. :o)
ReplyDeleteI would be interested as well. In fact, we should have a gardening planning meeting beforehand. I'd like to pick some brains about how you've planned your gardens, and talk more about vertical gardening.
ReplyDeleteGood plan :o)
ReplyDeletePete you should start by checking how much sun different areas of your yard get - if it isn't getting about 7 hours of direct sun right now you might as well save the labor of digging up the plot, your food production there will be poor. Trust me, I know this from experience. One of these weekends stick a few stakes around in your yard and check them every hour or so during the day to see which areas are getting good exposure. You won't be able to anticipate the shade coverage of your giant tree, but at least you'll get a rough idea.
ReplyDeleteOh wait, this is Cleveland, we won't see the sun for another 60 days. Well as soon as you find a sunny weekend, I'd advise you do this. Then get a square footage measurement of those areas - I have a book with a variety of pre-planned gardens.