Living off of your garden

[hoodat]

Don't neglect the greens. They give you food quite fast and by succesion planting you can have some to eat every day all year long. This is the right time to be thinking about most of the cool weather ones; also don't forget there are a lot of ways to eat greens besides salad, steamed and boiled. If you think you don't care much for greens you probably haven't explored different ways of using them.

 

[journey11]

A good book to read is Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel. I have an older copy my FIL gave me and I've gotten a lot of good ideas from it. It's not just about the root cellar though, it will teach you other techniques like extending season, forcing greens and how to keep carrots over winter in the ground.

 

[gardeniasandhens]

Check this chart out......

http://www.humeseeds.com/seedneed.htm

Oh wow thanks That helped alot

 

[gardeniasandhens]

Don't neglect the greens. They give you food quite fast and by succesion planting you can have some to eat every day all year long. This is the right time to be thinking about most of the cool weather ones; also don't forget there are a lot of ways to eat greens besides salad, steamed and boiled. If you think you don't care much for greens you probably haven't explored different ways of using them.

Thank ya sir. I agree. I LOVE my greens

 

[obsessed]

I used to love my greens then I grew collards greens. I am so tired of them the just keep growing and growing. When are they gonna die and give me a break.

 

[thistlebloom]

 

[Greenthumb18]

I used to love my greens then I grew collards greens. I am so tired of them the just keep growing and growing. When are they gonna die and give me a break.

obsessed,

My collards greens are buried in snow! If you have too many, send some my way I'll take care of them..

 

[chicken stalker]

This is my 2011 goal. Can, Freeze and put away enough to get us through the winter.

 

[digitS']

I have kind of been curious about this question for a long time. The other day, I spent a little time trying to refresh my memory on what I'd looked at decades ago and once or twice since.

First of all, as you have said, you wouldn't want to only have your 2 favorite vegetables to eat for 12 months. Maybe you are an average American. So, why not look at what the average American eats each year. The USDA tells you that: Table 13-7. Per capita consumption of major food commodities (10 page pdf)

You will find all about consumption of red meat, flour, fats, coffee, etc. etc. This is our diet. Could we ignore that and eat entirely out of our gardens? Well maybe . . .

However, out of about 1,800 pounds of food each year (!), the average American only eats about 725 pounds of fruits and vegetables. Now, I am "rounding" for a purpose . . . and in more ways than 1 .

Of the 750 pounds, nearly 300 pounds are fruits and 425 pounds are vegetables. Of those vegetables, about 125 pounds are potatoes.

Actually, I like to think of these food groups in units of spuds. Since "spud" isn't a real word, I use it as equal to the annual consumption of potatoes/American, 125 pounds. But, I won't confuse you with that

Anyway, and approximately, an American eats:
125 pounds of potatoes,
250 pounds of other vegetables, and
250 pounds of fruit.

You see, an American also eats:

125 pounds of red meat
125 pounds of other animal protein (including poultry, fish, eggs, & cheese)
125 pounds wheat flour
125 pounds sugar
125 pounds other foods (fats & oils, rice, nuts, etc.)
(remember, 1 spud = 125 pounds)

Then there is milk . . . but that's a liquid. So is beer . . .

Now, if you increase how many spuds you consume of any 1 group, you can hope that the other groups will decrease. Certainly, if you increase the spuds of potatoes, you can decrease the amount of wheat flour. I can testify to that. When I was a kid, we ate very little bread but had potatoes every day. Of course, there are people in the world who eat very little flour or potatoes but eat rice with every meal.

Anyway . . . . . . if you are going to consume as many fruits and vegetables out of your garden as the average American eats each year, you need about 750 pounds per person.

Steve's digits

 

[gardeniasandhens]

I have kind of been curious about this question for a long time. The other day, I spent a little time trying to refresh my memory on what I'd looked at decades ago and once or twice since.

First of all, as you have said, you wouldn't want to only have your 2 favorite vegetables to eat for 12 months. Maybe you are an average American. So, why not look at what the average American eats each year. The USDA tells you that: Table 13-7. Per capita consumption of major food commodities (10 page pdf)

You will find all about consumption of red meat, flour, fats, coffee, etc. etc. This is our diet. Could we ignore that and eat entirely out of our gardens? Well maybe . . .

However, out of about 1,800 pounds of food each year (!), the average American only eats about 725 pounds of fruits and vegetables. Now, I am "rounding" for a purpose . . . and in more ways than 1 .

Of the 750 pounds, nearly 300 pounds are fruits and 425 pounds are vegetables. Of those vegetables, about 125 pounds are potatoes.

Actually, I like to think of these food groups in units of spuds. Since "spud" isn't a real word, I use it as equal to the annual consumption of potatoes/American, 125 pounds. But, I won't confuse you with that

Anyway, and approximately, an American eats:
125 pounds of potatoes,
250 pounds of other vegetables, and
250 pounds of fruit.

You see, an American also eats:

125 pounds of red meat
125 pounds of other animal protein (including poultry, fish, eggs, & cheese)
125 pounds wheat flour
125 pounds sugar
125 pounds other foods (fats & oils, rice, nuts, etc.)
(remember, 1 spud = 125 pounds)

Then there is milk . . . but that's a liquid. So is beer . . .

Now, if you increase how many spuds you consume of any 1 group, you can hope that the other groups will decrease. Certainly, if you increase the spuds of potatoes, you can decrease the amount of wheat flour. I can testify to that. When I was a kid, we ate very little bread but had potatoes every day. Of course, there are people in the world who eat very little flour or potatoes but eat rice with every meal.

Anyway . . . . . . if you are going to consume as many fruits and vegetables out of your garden as the average American eats each year, you need about 750 pounds per person.

Steve's digits

Oh my.....wow. Thanks for the info, haha. EXCEPT. I don't eat meat And yay potatoes! I love them