This may be the absolute most difficult thing I've ever
done. And for a whole year... In starting this endeavor, I'm fully aware of
the challenges I'm facing. This is why
I'm going to document about 6 months in advance in preparation for what's to
come. My preparations this year will in
every way affect my success with this project in the coming year. My goal is to eat only what I grow and
produce myself on my 2 acre property. This has been something I've always wanted to
do and I hope I'm up for the challenge. I have only a very few exceptions and a few
rules to get me through this journey.
Rule #1. Once a
month, I can barter something I grew for something else. The item I receive, however, must be
grown/produced by the person I'm bartering with. For example:
I cannot barter with my neighbor for milk that she bought from a
store. I can also barter something I
make from scratch for something someone grows or produces. For instance, I can trade a wreath I make
from scratch for a gallon of milk produced by that person's cow or goat.
One Exception I'll have to consider is water. We have public water here. I will be drinking and using tap water that
is not produced by me or this farm. However,
I will use rain water as much as I can.
Exception #2.
Salt. I have no way of producing
salt on this farm, and I live nowhere near salt water, so I'll be using salt
that I buy in for preserving, pickling and fermenting. I am starting my one year journey on January
1st, so I will be relying on food I preserve in the next six months to get me
through the winter.
Over the next few months, I'll try to keep lists of what I
think I'll need to survive until I start producing greens in the spring. I'll have to stockpile herbs and leaves that
I dry to use for teas and coffee substitutes.
Canning, freezing, drying, fermenting and storing food in the
cellar. This is the time I need to grow
as much as possible to preserve what I'll need.
I will not be buying in anything except salt and water for my preserving
needs, so my herbs will come in handy for flavor.
I'm sure you are wondering why I would ever do such a
thing. We have so much abundance in this
country and so many things to choose from.
So much convenience. Why would
anyone care about growing everything on site?
Well, one reason is because most people are convinced that it is not
possible. And I hate it when people tell
me what to do or not do. So, I'm in
defiance, sort of.
Another reason for doing this is there is SO MUCH abundance
and so many things to choose from without even thinking about it. We are not doing ourselves any favor by
importing virtually everything we eat from hundreds or thousands of miles
away. In my cupboards right now I have
coconut oil from Indonesia, Chia seeds which has a label that says
"product of Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and Bolivia". Green Olives from Spain, Olive Oil from
Italy. Tuna from CHINA!!! Organic brown rice from Argentina, Banana
Chips from the Philippines, and Hazelnut spread from Germany. That is just the stuff in my cupboards that
is from outside this country. It doesn't
list the many, many, many different and quite far away states some of the other
food is coming from. This is a wake- up
call for me as I'm writing this and going through my present food supply. If I can get just one person to go through
their pantry and pay attention to where their food comes from, I'll have accomplished something, indeed.
If you think it's not a big deal for us to buy food in huge
quantity from far away from our gardens, think again. And think.
Think about the fossil fuels used to grow the food in huge fields. Huge fields need tractors and big machines
which all take gasoline of some sort.
Processing takes water and fuel.
Packaging is almost always plastic which is made from, can you
guess? Yep, petroleum. Transporting from farm to factory and from
factory to distributer and from distributer to grocery store and from grocery
store to your home, all takes fossil fuels. I haven't even mentioned gmo food and the
pesticides needed for them to grow. And
the additives that come from...
somewhere??? in processed foods.
Now think for a
moment what I'll be using when I grow everything I consume for a year. I have no need for a tractor or large
machine, as I will be using a combination of methods to grow my food. Such as straw bale gardens, the Ruth Stout
method (covering the soil with straw to retain moisture, suppress weeds, add
fertility) and the Back to Eden garden technique which uses wood chips or any
cover for a "no till" process of growing. Even though the straw we use is not grown on
our property it is grown in the same town as us and is brought in all at once
in one trip. We have used our lawn mower
with a tow behind tiller for spots in the garden that we have run out of straw
or covering, but it gets used once or twice a year for 15-20 minutes. I don't know how much gasoline that uses in
that amount of time, but I bet it isn't as much as I use to get to my shop and
back.
I'm also using nothing but water on my gardens. I mean NOTHING but water. I have no use for insecticides, fungicides,
herbicides, chemical fertilizers, soil additives or anything I else I have to
buy in. When needed, I use the compost from my chicken run. The chickens eat a very small amount (I mean
small) of organic grain, and the rest is bugs, worms and vegetation from the
property. I use some straw which
composts and fertilizes in place. There is
no miracle grow. None. Ever. We use wood to heat the house and we spread the
wood ashes in the garden to supplement the minerals.
The containers I'll be using for canning, freezing and
pickling or fermenting are made of glass and I've saved them over the
years. Most of them are canning jars
I've purchased at yard sales in this town or the next. So,
not much footprint there. I'll
use a bit of electricity for freezing and canning. I'll use my rocket stove outside for much of
the canning. Wood fire from wood grown
right here. And my cellar in this house has a dirt
floor. Perfect for keeping root
vegetables.
So, the many reasons I'm doing this is because people say I
can't, I'll be creating less of a use for fossil fuels, chemicals, pesticides
and gmo's. And another thing. My health.
I'm curious to see if I can carry on as a healthy person eating only
stuff I grow here. No health food fads,
no supplements from other countries, no protein except for what I can barter
for, or what eggs my chickens can produce, no sweets, no exotic fruit, no
grains, no alcohol except my wild yeast wine that I make here, no coffee, no oils. I'm defying the FDA's "Food
Pyramid" and I'm going with what people have eaten for centuries before
the industrialization of our food. My
very least and secondary reason for doing this project is to lose a few
pounds. Of course, my priority is to be
healthy, but skinny and young is always a bonus. lol.
In the next few months, I'll be updating and writing lists
of things I'm Preserving or "putting up" for the winter. As well as what I'm growing and planning for
the coming year. I'm so excited about my
journey and I hope you'll come along for the ride. I'm sure we'll both learn some new things in
the process.
Until tomorrow.
k.
