Home Grown?

[Hawnjigs]

With risk of GMO or toxin contamination, not to mention prices, more and more we're growing our own edibles. Altho our lot is only 8,000 sq. ft. our little 2 bdrm house allows most of the yard to be a food production machine. Tree harvest includes coconut, breadfruit, bananas, mac nuts, Surinam cherries, mountain apples, avos, oranges, lemons. Ground crops are mostly kalo(taro) & pineapple. The 150"+ rainfall is hard on vegies so only collards survive wet rot. Surprisingly, sweet & hot peppers also do OK.

Quote Redman "Real freedom is self Reliance and the ability to survive." Besides fish of course, I was wondering what others harvest or grow?

I can take some yard pics if anyone is interested.

 

[redman]

Hawn: We grow big garden. This year was disappointing as the Texas Drought took it's toll. In a good year we have onions, Radishes,Beans, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Hot and sweet peppers, Okra, and Sweet corn and Squash. I have to do a hill or two of cukes and watermellon (yellow meat) My garden takes up a plot 70' by 40'. We have elderberrys and boysonberrys. I harvest Mayhaw and make a bunch of jelly along with corn cob jelly and like to turn the boysonberrys in to syrup. The national wildlife refuge has a large amount of hickory trees which we harvest the nuts. We found a bunch a black walnut trees that the owner has let me have some nuts which I share with him. Along with a few Ducks and fish and Venison that I eather kill or trade for we do eat good.

Now if the wife would let me have a cow and a hive of bees I could trade for about every thing that I need. You might say how about eggs well my Neighbor Mr. Maurice and I went in and have a flock of chickens so thats not a problem. Just coffee, flour, milk, tea and a few other things that we buy at the store.

I saw that if I was to ever be free I needed to do this. Sold everything we had got out of debt. Bought this place and have never looked back. BTW I run a 18HP Evinrude outboard that is 41 years old I can fix the thing myself and have all the major parts I need. Right now I am working on a wind system to get completely off the grid. That might take me awhile.

Redman

 

[toadfrog]

For the most part I pretty much follow in redman's foot steps couldn't have said it better .

 

[JSC]

You Guys are doin it up right ... My back lot is fill dirt and an old buddy of mine said it would take 2 chicken house of manure to get it started ...

 

[redman]

JSC Use sheep manure if you can find it. Chicken manure has too much urea in it and will burn the heck out of the ground. Don't be afraid to put some plants in it any way.You will be surprised how well that they will do. I have a big pile of grass clippings that I compost along with garden waste and ground up leaves and coffee grounds. When we get rain it is a joy to behold. Enough for us two and I spread the plenty with all the neighbors. Most of them really appreciate the produce.

Redman

 

[AtticaFish]

We do a garden i would guess around 15' x 30'. Not much, but i pack in as much as i can. Have one small section for herbs as well... oregano, sage, tyme & lemon herbana are perenials. Plant some basil as well, but that is an annual and have to re-plant each year - if i remember.

Half of our garden is for peas and green/wax/roma beans. Whatever we don't eat right away gets blanched and frozen. The other half is split up for some hills of zuchini and summer squash, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. Each year i end up tilling a little more of the yard - would love to be able to grow my own potatoes.

Other than that, 1 pear tree and have been planting black raspberries every where i can on my property. Have about 20 new plants that will be ready to go out in full sun next year and grow some fruit! Only have a few red raspberry plants, they don't do very well for me.

Here is my garden from this spring right after i planted it.

 

[AtticaFish]

Hawn - Wouldn't mind seeing your little plot of land - but would like the fruit even more. 150" of rain a season..... you must be living in one of the rainforest areas up the mountain? Thats alot of rain!

Forgot to mention, my kids love to eat veggies but they pretty much refuse to eat them cooked. I try to keep my garden somewhat organic..... so only humus and compost for soil amendments and NO herbicides or pesticiedes (??spelling on both of those??) in my garden. Sitting down right in the garden and shelling peas is one of their favorites.

 

[redman]

Hawn would be interested in seeing the trees also. 150" of rain is a lot. We get or are supposed to get 26 inches a year.

Attica The potato patch here is 15 feet by 40 feet this last year with as little rain as we had I still got 75 pounds of potatoes. We grow the Pontiac Reds. Looks like you could dig up more ground and have a good patch. I would put the tomatoes on the low side of that slope and the potatoes and other root crops on the level ground. We are totally organic don't need any nasty chemical in our food. Next spring I want to try some cabbage and cauliflower. BTW most of us will have a USDA extension service near us. They are a wealth of information on gardening. We here in East Texas have a web site that is as good as any that I have seen.
http://easttexasgardening.tamu.edu/

Redman

 

[blt]

I just grow sweet and hot peppers. Guys love when I bring ABT's to work for them. (Atomic Buffalo Turds) It's a stuffed jalapeno with bacon on top, seasoned then smoked.

 

[Jig Man]

Majority of our meat is wild: deer, rabbit, squirrel, quail, dove, turkey, wild hog, and fish.... In west Texas if you don't have a well it's tough to grow a garden and living in town our city water is WAY to high, but I do raise tomatoes, peppers, squash, and okra from rain water I catch. But we have friends that share and trade from their gardens. The farmers market is another great place to pick up fresh fruit and veggies to eat and can.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Yuno, seems like we have grow/harvest in common. Mainland has more wild game - I've not had the opportunity to bag 4 legged food here yet. Could try wild pig someday, but tropical rainforest terrain is treacherous and thick.

Here's some pics I just took in our yard. Sorry, low res cam.

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[snake River]

redman your talking know just to give an ideal on how big my garden is here we raise anywhere from 1 acre to 2 acres a year in garden I have over 89 fruit trees we raise approximately one or two ton potatoes sweetcorn we raise about a half acre we do raise watermelons cantaloupes and everything else that would grow in the garden green beans beets tomatoes hot pepper sweet peppers it makes no difference where I live are climate here in the summer is very hot we average over 90 days of 90+ in about 2 to 3 weeks of hundred degree weather the top it all off I have a River in my backyard that has some of the best bass fishing for smallmouth bass I have over 230 acres to play with and then about 15 min. from here I have Brownlee reservoir which is the hottest crappie fishing in the North West and of course I have all the wildlife in the world we have deer and elk course lots of coyotes we have choppers China pheasant and quail geese and ducks all in my yard it is a sportsman's Paradise you might say I live in paradise the year-round we do not get that much rainfall corsairs high desert country yes just like you see in the cowboy movies we do not get that much snow but we have an all around us but it usually snows one day and melt right off they call it the banana belt of Eastern Oregon.

 

[LedHed]

We grow a lot out here also. Right now citrus is coming in; tangerines, blood orange, tangelo, avocados, and mandarins Also grow chilies; jalapeño, habanera, Serrano, and Tai. Have about 6 different tomatoes and 4 types of peppers. We are finishing Italian everbearing & black moor figs, and pale & red pomegranates. Have year around lemon and Mexican lime.

Early stuff is Pluot, Plucot, peach, Asian pear (2 type) and 2 other avocados (bacon & hoss). Trying dragon fruit – did better last year. Finally got one guava.

 

[AtticaFish]

Looks like you have a good crop this year Hawn! Couple of fruits mentioned in this thread i have no clue what they are... Bread Friuit, Mountain Apples, Pluot, Plucot, Dragon Fruit.

Redman - for whatever reason, i have always put my cukes, zukes and squash (& occasional watermelon) on the lower side of the little hill. Just added 2 acres to my land last year..... i have room to add on to my little garden. The 2 little squares in the middle closest to the camera were each of my kids plots. My daughter grew only peas & beans. My son had room for 6 rows and planted 6 different crops. Peas, sweet corn, onions, radishes and 2 types of beans.

Atomic Buffalo Turds - need that recipe - mouth watering.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Wow, kids gardening is wonderful on so many levels...

Breadfruit is the middle pic I posted - Capt. Bligh's cargo. Staple carbs on a tree - boil or steam for 1 to 1-1/2 hours and use like potatoes - cubed in salad, mashed, hashed, fried.

Mountain apple is too delicate to ship, so local consumption only. Flavor is also delicate with the best ones having a rose like scent. Our tree not in season, but found a pic online.

Man you guys are growing some good stuff - nothing like fresh picked fruit or vegies.

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[redman]

Hawn those are great pictures. Now it we could just get to taste some of them. I bet they are really good. Fresh is the key. Not like the store bought pineapples that we have to use.

Snake I sure wish that I had that much ground to work with but we could only afford to buy 1 acre down here. Any where you go the closer you get to the water the more expensive the land gets. My goal is to get to the point that the garden equals our total use for the year. Not quite there yet. Will say that 20 more feet in both directions will get use very close. My question to you is how the heck to you two eat a ton of potatoes every year? We got done with the last of our potatoes for Thanksgiving. That was five months worth. Which means that I have to grow about 200 lbs. a year for us two. But your garden sure sounds sweet. Bet you have to weed with a tractor and cultivator. Mine is small enough that three hours and it is weeded. Dang I hate to weed onions.

AF They can use the most water and should be on the low side of the slope. We do a lot of our garden in the old Indian style. Sweet corn and Indian corn, Climbing beans and Squash. Works out very well as the corn and beans do well and the squash will take out the weeds. After the first few weeks we just leave it alone it takes care of it's self and I can work on the other stuff. Glad you are teach them young ones to grow a garden. That was one of the greatest gifts my father ever gave me. Didn't appreciate it at the time but sure do now. Now that you have two acres to work with get that tiller out and get to work.You may want to get some one with a three bottom plow to come in and help you out.

Redman

 

[AtticaFish]

Garden is all in for this year - just planted my last round of green (Roma-Yellow) beans tonight after i tilled under the leftover spinach that went to seed from the spring. Nothing left to do but water, weed and harvest!

Here is a pic from last week...

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...had a decent rain event over the weekend so everything including the grass has greened up alot. Also let the weeds come up full force - been weeding the past 2 evenings after work. Kids have already eaten several meals worth of snow peas and the snap peas are decent size now also.

Got to work earlier this spring on making a 2-row swatch down a 140' section along the back of my property..... sweet corn and pumpkins for the kids. Got my daughter out running the tiller. I turned over the (heavy) clay with a shovel and she followed behind and broke it all up. She enjoyed it but i did not turn my back on her - the tiller got away from her a few times.

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And......... don't forget the 'free' crops that just take a little leg work to get.

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Black Raspberries are at their peak! With an odd hot and dry weather pattern, they are at a peak almost a full month early. I have spent 3 seperate hour lunch breaks out along the river in areas that i know have good bushes just picking berries. My daughter eats them as a snack instead of eating chips/sweets so i pick all that i can. For FREE!!!!!

 

[hookup]

I'm a city boy & have a small house on a postage stamp lot.

Do manage to grow my own chili peppers though and get a batch every year. This year its habaneros, tabascos, & seranos. Still looking for some seeds to grow Ghost Chilies.

Attica - would love to live in an area like that with space & open land around.

Maybe that's why I always drive out to the country in west by God Virginia to fish?

 

[Fatman]

Have some herbs, 6 tomato plants (although I don't eat them) might can and use for sauce but not eat raw. Put garlic in 2 years ago as a joke telling my wife it would take about that long and all along the fence you can smell it. Also have 2 zuchini, 1 squash and 3 green bean plants. Tried califlower and broccoli but they just didn't want to grow plenty of flowers but nothing else.

Lady next door had 2 big rheubarb plants and just pulled them up. My wife got the stalks and made pies but I don't like it, and took the roots put em up on the side of the hill and they're going good.

Usually end up with way to many tomatoes so I trade them for the cali and brocc with a guy down the road.

 

[stanger1944]

I'm a city boy & have a small house on a postage stamp lot.

Do manage to grow my own chili peppers though and get a batch every year. This year its habaneros, tabascos, & seranos. Still looking for some seeds to grow Ghost Chilies.

Attica - would love to live in an area like that with space & open land around.

Maybe that's why I always drive out to the country in west by God Virginia to fish?

Wow ghost chilies, those things burn from start to finish.