A big topic is self-sufficiency, especially when it comes to growing your own food. In this video I want to show you a simple way to become self-sufficient, but also why self-sufficiency may not actually be worth it for you. There is nothing better though than going into your vegetable garden and harvesting an abundance of delicious homegrown fruits, vegetables and herbs for you to enjoy.
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0:00 Introduction
0:42 What even is self-sufficiency?
2:00 A different approach
3:38 5 Crop intro
3:59 Crop 1
4:35 Crop 2
5:07 Crop 3
5:34 Crop 4
6:21 Crop 5
6:53 The problem with prediction
7:41 How much to grow formula
9:11 Dealing with leafy greens
10:22 The best tip for self-sufficiency
#selfsufficiency #vegetablegardening #permaculture
I absolutely agree to start smaller and with experience you can move to fully self-sufficient before you know it.
Self sufficient in squash is pretty easy. I enjoy a squash soup so now I grow it every year. I still have two of the squash in my pantry right now, perfectly fine.
YES !
Even if all someone does is grow a few tomato plants… during the harvest time, they are flush with tomatoes.
This reduces demand on purchased produce and increases taste and health for a period of time.
Canning also will yield sauce for later use.
I alsi like the idea of someone doing really well in growing a specific crop and bartering with others who do a different crop.
Wow, in America, the first thing home gardeners think about for providing for their family's needs for a whole year is tomatoes. Kale is WAY down the list, LOL!
I'm happy to produce around half my requirements for fresh veg & fruit for a year from a 12m x 3.5m plot.
I also fish & hunt, so more than half of those needs come from my own efforts.
Needless to say, there are times & types of food I cannot grow, which is why self sufficiency isn't a target I aim for.
one of the ways we can create 'self-sufficiency' is by comming together as communities to create 'comunity resiliency' by openly sharing knowledge, work and support across a number of people/famlies so that no one person/family needs to do all the work or have all the knowledge. Over time, sharing work and knowledge across the community means that in the end most people learn most of what they need to know to be self-sufficient without having to crash-course and risking possible catastrophic failure. When we work as resilient communities, where there is failure in one part there is often success in another and the weight is spread across the totality of the communitee/participants. We may need to know how to do this going forward as our climate changes. In time it also means that the resilient communites can share with those who individuals or communitees who have not yet become properly resilient. We are herd animals in the end and we do best when sharing our experiences. And it means that our ultimate wellbeing isn't all on our own shoulders – the wellbeing of everyone in the communitee is shared across the energy and strenght of the whole communitee.
Amazing tips, thanks!
Great advice to start small! My mom and siblings have been gardening for multiple years now, and we did when I was a child. But, we are just start this year with our kids and decided to keep them happy and interested, will just be doing two 9 foot raised beds with our favorites, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, and herbs for eating. Keeping my fingers crossed my kids will enjoy it and we can keep the deer at bay! lol.. ๐
Wow I like the way you explain becoming self sufficient. God bless you!! I live in a very hot/humid South Florida and my garden is in a west balcony. Any input for me on growing greens? Thanks. Martha
Thank you so very much for this practical advice. It helped ground me in my goals of self sufficiency. I like the concept of being self sufficient in certain crops or being so part of the year. Blessings to you!
Every place has its own microclimate. I've been here for a number of years now, and STILL learning what works best.
Amazing video. One thing about garlic, it Is a very powerful medicine. We should only take garlic as needed. If you get garlic in your blood you will have to go to the hospital. If you put a clove of garlic on your foot you will smell it on your hand. Garlic is deadly poison in the blood. If we gather and eat as much medicine as possible we are planning for ourselves to be sick. The thing about medicine like garlic is to only use it when you need it. I love it myself and eat it, but 2 cloves a week is a lot of garlic If your only eating it and not using it for anything else.
Well said
Love the concept of "Part-time" self-sufficiency.
Something else to consider with garlic is growing the bulbs you need to provide the cloves you'll be planting for next year's garlic crop. I've been growing on the same garlic for 27 year now, the numbers have changed over the years as the number of cloves and their size per bulb have increased, i now need fewer bulbs. Presently a bulb a week to eat for 52 weeks, average six large cloves per bulb so i need another ten bulbs for seed, and like you've done add in a few more as insurance, around 65 works fine, usually still have a few bulbs left at the time of the next years harvest, not the greatest at this point but still better than whats available for sale.
I started by growing my favorite herbs, lettuces and edible flowers. Later, I added string beans and mini-cucumbers. Lots of fun!
Thank you for the content of your videos lately. They have been very helpful.
You really broke it down! Thank you!!! Made it so much easier to plan out.
I always grow extra in case of failures, as you day, and more happily to give away.
Garlic has to include what you want to replant to have the same crop or more next year, extra number planted depends on number of cloves per bulb.
Super concise practical videos thank you. The only thing I would add, there a benefit to planting hardness in the autumn and then some softneck in spring. That way you'll easily have garlic all through the winter (softneck will store longer from the late summer harvest).
Thanks, Huw, for another brilliant video. I agree with Tina (below): the joy of growing is when you get a harvest you can share with neighbours! It's the fun of community engagement that makes it a pleasure, and learning from each other's failures and successes – and sharing the excess produce. I was touched when a neighbour blessed me with broad bean and runner bean seedlings, and another built a cold frame for me. I've been able to give away loads of apples from our bumper crop, and my neighbours love our rhubarb more than me. It was fun learning how to use a friend's apple press, which they came round to demonstrate, but I may not be so popular if I invite someone round to process my horseradish roots!!
We were raised eating in season. My Mother, and now I, canned food for winter. We had onions, and potatoes in storage. They lasted until spring. Then we ate fresh greens, and started all over again. The thing I learned from my Mother was to grow what we enjoyed eating. We also tried things to see if we would like them. At that time, we had never heard of raised beds or any of the modern methods. We did, and still do, practice Companion planting. No sprays, or anything. The only problem was always animals. Deer, Raccoons, and Groundhogs were the worst.
GOD bless
Do you allow for apprenticeships in person? Or listed on WOOF?
I needed to hear that.
im confused ๐ im new to gardening and hoping to start growing as much fresh produce as i can for me and my family, im in the planning stage of what raised beds to have for production but i dont know how to find out what 'zone' the northwest (greater manchester) is so i dont know what to plant that will grow here ๐ can anyone please advise me? thanks.