The Farm - Garden from the Heart

    When the seed catalogs start showing up in January and February, it's like Christmas for the homesteader or backyard farmer. But it is also overwhelming. Ordering from several companies means finding heirlooms or organic seeds and suddenly you find yourself with 7 varieties of tomatoes, 3 of kale, and 5 of carrots. 

    But there is a cure for this dread seed catalog mania. And my favorite cures come from the ART and BRI You Tube channel and from Justin Rhodes who also has a You Tube channel as well as a thriving online community space filled with videos about homesteading and raising meat and community forums: Abundance Plus), and a brand new book, The Rooted Life, that can help any newbie start with those gateway drugs to food security: gardens and chickens.

    Uncle Justin, as many call him, has outlined how to start gardening (or get out from under ineffectual gardening practices). First, he says, we need a plan. Do we have a large area, a balcony, or some raised beds? That determines how much we can grow. Then he says something really sweet: garden from the heart. He says, just because growing kale is the cool thing, maybe, doesn't mean you have to grow kale. You should grow what you love to eat. He adds: where does your dollar go at the grocery store? If you love and buy lots of tomatoes, grow tomatoes. If you buy lots of cabbage, grow cabbage. Your garden should be where your heart is.

The Challenge: 

    And then there's Art and Bri. Art did a video in 2018 If I had to Pick ONLY Three Crops for a Survival Garden... You'll have to watch it to see what his top three were and lots of people shared their three in the comments below the video. But this idea also got me thinking about my top three based on my knowledge of human nutrition. Humans need these food categories to survive: salt, fats, starches, protein, vitamins & minerals. So my three? 

1. potatoes and other roots and tubers 
2. stinging nettle
3. nuts and seeds

    I will say Art had beans as one of his top three for the protein and I completely agreed, until I realized that if this was ALL a person had to eat, they would be starving themselves without fats. So I changed my third to nuts and seeds which have both protein and fats.

    Now, let's be real. He wasn't talking about that gorgeous homestead dream of shelling peas on the porch and canning jam. He was talking about survival. Weather, supply chain, drought, Great Depression, illness - survival.

    But these two advices could be combined. If you want to simplify your gardening, what are your top three foods you could grow that are close to your heart?

    If you are overwhelmed by all the varieties and choices in seeds, this could help you make up your mind so you can garden for the abundance of what you really love to eat.

 

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