Anyone stareted on their "survival" gardens yet?

I have toyed with the idea of a freeze dryer for the last couple of years. I just haven't been able to justify the cost with the small amount of vegetables and fruits that we currently produce. I would love to be able to store blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, etc. for use in the winter. We currently freeze them.

Freezing is fine for a lot of stuff. Canning beans and tomatoes seems to give a better product in my opinion. As for cukes, pickling and relish is about the only two options, plus it gives me a chance to do some experimentation with different kinds of stuff.
We freeze blueberries, blackberries and zucchini, squash and sweet corn(off the cob). All of them do very well frozen.

We buy chicken breast on sale and pressure can it about 50lbs at a time. Same with beef and venison. Raw pack to 1/2 headspace in sterilized hot jars, 1tsp salt and process 90 minutes @ 13psi.
The chicken is the best for chicken salad and the beef and venison come out tender as can be. It's work but you know what you have.
 
Made 90 pints of sweet and hot/sweet relish so far(peppers and onions too cheap locally to use my own), 120 guarts of dill and garlic dill spears, 46 quarts of pickled beets, canned 3 bushels of Roma green beans with a few rows still to pick, shredded and froze about 150lbs of zucchini (running out of,freezer space), and the tomatoes haven't even started ripening.

Watermelons didn't do worth a damned, nor did cantaloupe or turnips. Wrong planting spot for both....live and learn.

Soybean and millet planting in hay fields is off and running and will be cut and rolled for hay in early Sept.

Woodchip mulch piles doing great amd steaming away producing that nice rich black compost to grow food.

Life is good!
 
The weather is getting pretty nice here in Kentucky.
About ten days ago a local friend turned my garden over with a three bottom plow. I tilled in about 6000 cubic feet of well composted woodchip compost into it along with 19-19-19 and pelletized lime.

Planted 50 ft of beets a week ago and they are up about 2 inches as of today. Started pickling cukes in pots, kale, cabbage and romaine in half barrels and today I prepped the cuke planting area and built 3ft diameter cages out of 4x4 heavy wire fencing. Same stuff I used last year, just made 7 more for a total of 10.
One hundred feet (2 rows) of mammoth sunflower seeds are up three inches apready.
Tomorrow, a second planting of beets goes in, and cabbage and prep for the tomato area. I've got Rutgers tomato volunteers from last year coming up( they are an heirloom variety) so when they reach the point of being transplantable I'll move them to another area.

Going to be a busy season this year, my garden space has more than doubled from last.
why not get into aquaponics? more effecive if you get it running
 
why not get into aquaponics? more effecive if you get it running

Been thinking about it since I got here, just don't have a building to house the system in yet. I've got 8 of the IBTC containers, the pvc piping, the pumps etc. just need an out building to put it all in out of the sun and winter cold.
I need a greenhouse to start plants in first, then a hay barn/tractor/tool/ dry space.
 
never been to KT similar to TN? you should be able to run everything on solar if you want to go that route and stash seeds you would not need to go to the store anymore for lots of things when its up and running, put in rainbow trout and all set
 
never been to KT similar to TN? you should be able to run everything on solar if you want to go that route and stash seeds you would not need to go to the store anymore for lots of things when its up and running, put in rainbow trout and all set

It's KY and yes similar to TN but maybe a little slightly cooler winters.

I plant only heirloom varieties and do save seeds from everything I plant. No real need to go solar, electricity is very cheap here and for rural servive its also extremely reliable. Any solar here would be strictly dedicated to radio operation. I've got 2 10kw diesel MEP803a generators, 2 5kw gasoline gensets and plenty of fuel storage for each.

Not sure what fish I'd use, trout might not do so well in the summer heat. Easier to heat the fish water in winter than cool it in summer so a higher temp fish would probably do better like tilapia or maybe even crappie or perch.
 
It's KY and yes similar to TN but maybe a little slightly cooler winters.

I plant only heirloom varieties and do save seeds from everything I plant. No real need to go solar, electricity is very cheap here and for rural servive its also extremely reliable. Any solar here would be strictly dedicated to radio operation. I've got 2 10kw diesel MEP803a generators, 2 5kw gasoline gensets and plenty of fuel storage for each.

Not sure what fish I'd use, trout might not do so well in the summer heat. Easier to heat the fish water in winter than cool it in summer so a higher temp fish would probably do better like tilapia or maybe even crappie or perch.
yep,

Tilapia would be your best bet then, I tried trout wasn't a success i just have comet goldfish now and you won't need a lot to have it started. I harvested a good amount already and I am trying some new things out since i am fairly new to it but this is my set up that's indoors
 
It's KY and yes similar to TN but maybe a little slightly cooler winters.

I plant only heirloom varieties and do save seeds from everything I plant. No real need to go solar, electricity is very cheap here and for rural servive its also extremely reliable. Any solar here would be strictly dedicated to radio operation. I've got 2 10kw diesel MEP803a generators, 2 5kw gasoline gensets and plenty of fuel storage for each.

Not sure what fish I'd use, trout might not do so well in the summer heat. Easier to heat the fish water in winter than cool it in summer so a higher temp fish would probably do better like tilapia or maybe even crappie or perch.

Some type of sunfish? Catfish, LOL? You are right that summer will be too hot for trout unless they are in a cool spring-fed or tailwater water source. Tilapia are very fast growing and great for summer, but TN and I'm sure KY winter temps will kill them off. I have friends back in TN that stock their (huge) fishing ponds with Tilapia as soon as it's warm enough. The tilapia are essentially feeder fish that make the bass massive, though by fall the tilapia will be big enough to eat. You can grow fingerlings to edible 1 lb to 1-1/4 lb size in six months.
 
Some type of sunfish? Catfish, LOL? You are right that summer will be too hot for trout unless they are in a cool spring-fed or tailwater water source. Tilapia are very fast growing and great for summer, but TN and I'm sure KY winter temps will kill them off. I have friends back in TN that stock their (huge) fishing ponds with Tilapia as soon as it's warm enough. The tilapia are essentially feeder fish that make the bass massive, though by fall the tilapia will be big enough to eat. You can grow fingerlings to edible 1 lb to 1-1/4 lb size in six months.

Ive got the acreage (110) and year round spring water source to fill a pond if I dug it and lined it with bentonite clay. Just can't do everything at once.
I'd like to start out by using the IBTC totes as fish tanks pumped into half barrel grow beds. I'd put the setup in an out building with a clear roof area for sunlight and be able to heat it with a small wood stove.

Lots of possibilities.
 
Survival garden? I can't survive without dessert...

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Feels like back home today- a bit toasty when picking these. Berries are mine, peaches from somebody at Mrs. Mountain's work.
 
Nice^^^^^^^^^ Are those wild berries or domestic type?

I harvested all my sweet corn the past three days. The ears were about medium size but they were sweet as candy.

We cut the corn off the cobs and froze it (about 16lbs), then brought the cobs, husks and half of the stocks I cut down over to a friend's cattle......they love it.

The other half of the stocks will be chopped a couple of whacks with a sickle and turned into the woodchip pile to add some green matter. It keeps the piles working.

The raccoons were already getting into it too.....they know exactly when its ready to pick. Didn't lose many to them but they always get the biggest ears first.
 
Domestic, though I do need to check some wild blueberries that should be ready.

Nice of the ‘coons to let you know when your corn is ready. They’re good like that.

On a day like today, I think I can hear those sunflowers growing. Some are already 7 foot tall.
 
Domestic, though I do need to check some wild blueberries that should be ready.

Nice of the ‘coons to let you know when your corn is ready. They’re good like that.

On a day like today, I think I can hear those sunflowers growing. Some are already 7 foot tall.

I'd be surprised if there are many blueberries left with the birds and critters.

Yes, its amazing the raccoons know exactly when to start chowing down.

My sunflowers are doing pretty good. I was skeptical of them early on but they seem to have thrived with all the rain we've had. Seven to nine feet here with some decent size heads.
 
I'd be surprised if there are many blueberries left with the birds and critters.

Yes, its amazing the raccoons know exactly when to start chowing down.

My sunflowers are doing pretty good. I was skeptical of them early on but they seem to have thrived with all the rain we've had. Seven to nine feet here with some decent size heads.

For some reason, the birds seem to prefer the blueberries. Probably because I don't have as many blueberries as raspberries.

No heads on the sunflowers yet, so who knows how tall they will go. Some are a couple feet shorter but that's because I lost some to critters and had to transplant a few when it was time to thin the sprouts. At least the transplants didn't croak.
 
While on a trip to the big city (Pittsfield) I happended to be in the Walmart parking lot and saw apple trees marked for clearance at $15 so I brought the tag in and said I'll take 4 of these clearance sale trees. The nice lady informs me they are no longer $15. Now they are 6 bucks. Well Hot Damn! Give me a dozen! So now my Saturday will be spent planting apple trees along my road frontage. And I will now have an edible fence.
It sure pays to check the box stores for end of season clearance plants. View attachment 289923

Years ago, I read a book, where in circa-Revolutionary times, someone (Franklin?) extolled the virtues of using fruit and nut trees as fence posts, with estimated long-term payouts.

All that was old, is new, again.
 
I was inspired, in part, by this MeWe group. The Ten Percent Project.
The ten percent project is designed to increase the amount of food we grow in our own backyards, based on a simple premise. We encourage people of all walks of life to plant enough bushes, trees, vines and shrubs on their property to make up at least 10% of their landscapes.

While this may sound like a small action, our suburbs in America alone could produce an estimated 500,000 tons of food if every home owner would simply plant a single fruit tree.

This group is designed to encourage everyone to take part. Please note that 10% is a minimum, a starting point but a great place to start. Please encourage your friends and family to take the 10% pledge.
 
I was inspired, in part, by this MeWe group. The Ten Percent Project.
The ten percent project is designed to increase the amount of food we grow in our own backyards, based on a simple premise. We encourage people of all walks of life to plant enough bushes, trees, vines and shrubs on their property to make up at least 10% of their landscapes.

While this may sound like a small action, our suburbs in America alone could produce an estimated 500,000 tons of food if every home owner would simply plant a single fruit tree.

This group is designed to encourage everyone to take part. Please note that 10% is a minimum, a starting point but a great place to start. Please encourage your friends and family to take the 10% pledge.

If city governments stopped building paved, fenced in, night time lit basketball courts and instead plowed those areas and put in a cursory irrigation system( even a few spigots would do) those neighborhoods could have some fresh produce( which many say is lacking in inner city hoods "food wastelands") and the kids would learn something about gardening and growing food.

I cannot even imagine living in a city or even suburban environment ever again.

When I was a kid, almost every family's yard on my street had some kind of fruit trees or bushes, peaches, plums, blackberries, cherries, concord grapes, apples, two or three different kinds of pears. At least 3/4 had spring and summer gardens and nobody really cared if us kids picked and ate the fruits. Such different times back then.

My yard had cherries, a very nice grape arbor, blackberries, and always a garden with tomatoes. On one corner of the lot were apple trees that belonged to a neighbor that never kept up with them and they let us pick and eat all we wanted.
We were rarely at want for a snack during the spring/ summer seasons.
 
Picked, blanched and froze the second crop of green beans yesterday and this morning. This second crop was a lot less bug blemished and a bit sweeter than the first. Netted a little over 1 bushel from two 40 foot rows, minus the several plants eaten by deer and rabbits just after planting.
 
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