An intense study into the role of who I am.
There are many, many prophetic voices now giving warning about what Three Crosses Canada has been saying over the last couple of years. In 2022, our theme was, “You are not powerless over anything.” In 2023 we said, “Be in Season, out of SEASON.” Now we are saying, “Remove the fear, and be prepared.”
I have lived in many different areas of our country, including cities, small towns, and country acreages. No matter where I lived, I always found things of beauty in all of them. My deepest desire is to live in the country once again where I can raise chickens again, have livestock, my dogs can run free, and I can have a larger garden and orchard. But not having a homestead in the country hasn’t stopped me from homesteading.
In this lesson, we are going to discover ways you can be more self-sufficient. DON’T TURN AWAY FROM THIS LESSON, GRAB HOLD OF IT! There is more to see and know than you might think.
We have basic needs: water, food, shelter and as much as I shiver when I write this, money. Money buys everything. Nothing comes free. Even the free things you receive cost someone something. If you are receiving benefits from the government, someone had to work for that money you are receiving, and it was taken out of their paycheque/paycheck for you Americans. The trillions of dollars our governments have overspent will need to be paid back with high interest rates and that money will come from the backs of your children and grandchildren.
The bible says, that if you don’t work, you don’t eat. That idleness leads to poverty. There is a YouTuber who drives around the United States, showing you small towns and cities. He drives through towns where most of the people live below the poverty line. Some towns that live below the poverty line, look like middle class neighborhoods, (for you Canadians; neighbourhoods), the lawns are mowed, the yards are well kept, and I noticed very few flowers or gardens are growing. In some low-income towns, houses are abandoned and left to rot, garbage lies on the side of the road, and houses look like junk yards. Also, I noticed no flowers or gardens. I am not saying no one has them, as I can only see what is shown as he drives through these neighbourhoods, but I wonder why more people are not taking advantage of sowing a two-dollar package of seeds in the ground and producing hundreds of dollars of food.
I get the whole, my soil is all sand or clay thing. My garden is mostly sand and small rocks. Yet is producing hundreds of dollars’ worth of food every year. Here is what I did the first year. With a spade, I removed the sod and put it in the compost pile. I turned the soil and broke it up with the spade. Smoothed it out. Planted my seeds. Watered as needed. The seeds sprouted, and the weeds came. I weeded. I watched the plant do its thing. I harvested.
Year two, I added the sod from last year that was now compost. I dug up more of the back yard. I sowed seed, weeded, and watered as needed, and harvested hundreds of dollars of food. My soil is mostly sand, and yet it produces food. Tasty food.
Now I have gardened in high clay soils, and they are difficult to work with. Rotavating in anything to help lighten the garden was expensive and time consuming. If this is the kind of dirt you have sitting in your backyard, I suggest putting your money into building raised beds, pots, or a vertical garden. If you are renting or just want to see if this is something you enjoy, try gardening in a kiddy pool or large plastic bins, fabric pots, or purchase a garden stalk vertical planter.
Most of the time people can garden right out of their own backyard soil. Now there are as many ideas on gardening as there are gardeners and zones. What works for someone in zone 3 Canada or zone 4 US, will be different than someone in zone 9 Canada or zone 10 US. What works for you in one neighborhood in your city will not work for someone in another. Soil can vary greatly from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, and the amount of sunlight on your garden will determine your success as well. Our neighbours have a pine tree that is ugly, growing right beside the backyard fence, that casts a shadow over our garden during part of the day, which hinders what grows well in our garden.
When your house was built, the topsoil may or may not have been replaced before sod was laid down. This isn’t as much as a ‘thing’ in older neighbourhoods, but in newer built neighbourhoods it might be. There is money to be made from selling topsoil. If you find yourself in this position, you can add topsoil to your garden, or begin to slowly amend your garden. That means, compost your cut grass and leaves. Compost your garden waste, as long as it doesn’t have bugs or diseases on the leaves. Every year add some compost to your garden, but don’t over do it, so your plants are over fertilized. That is not good either.
Don’t waste your fertilizer either by adding it when you prepare the garden for planting. Wait until the seedlings are growing before adding any and go mildly with the dose. It is better to add it occasionally, than all at once. This goes for those using potting mixes or potting soil. Some manufacturers add enough fertilizer to last the entire growing season. If you need to add some do so in very light doses to things like peppers, tomatoes, and squash, because they are heavy feeders, don’t think more is better. Too much and your plants will produce more leaves instead of fruit or can cause too much fruit that the plant cannot sustain them. Organic potting soils may not have any fertilizers added to them at all, so you will definitely need to add them. Again, choose the right fertilizer for the plant and less is better than more.
Deciding what to plant may be your hardest decision. You walk into a hardware store, greenhouse, or flip through a catalogue, and you are presented with hundreds if not thousands of choices. The cheapest seeds I have ever found are at the dollar store. I have used them, and they grow just as good as any other seed out there. MIgarden sells all their seeds for $2.00 a package. I have tried many different companies, both in Canada and the United States, and found they all do about the same.
READ the information carefully on the seed package. Know how much sunlight they need to be successful, and if your garden doesn’t receive that much sunlight choose something else. Some plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, onions started by seed, pumpkins, need to be started indoors weeks to months prior to planting them outdoors. There is no shame in buying plants from a farmers’ market or greenhouse or a grocery store. The only difference is you are limited in the choice of plants, such as only having a few options of tomatoes.
Things you need to know:
Tomatoes: There are two kinds of growing habits for tomatoes, indeterminate and determinate. An indeterminate plant continues to grow in height, thus you might have a plant reaching six or more feet, whereas, a determinate tomato plant will grow to a certain height, and produces tomatoes for about one month, making canning season of these tomatoes simpler for canning fresh. However, putting ripe tomatoes in a bag and putting them in the freezer to can later is very common among people who can them. Determinate tomatoes do not necessarily need to be caged, and are better suited for pots, small gardens, or vertical planters.
If you are just starting out, don’t get too overwhelmed with how to prune, the right soil pH level and what is the best fertilizer for tomatoes. Tomatoes know how to grow and produce for themselves, although gaining knowledge is helpful, experience is even better. And one year is different than the next. You might have a bumper crop one year, and the next will be a flop due to the amount of sunlight, days are too hot or too cool.
What kind of tomatoes do you use in your kitchen? If you eat mostly salads, you may want to grow cherry tomatoes. They grow well in pots, and I grow Red Robin in my window and under lights in winter in the house. If you are planning to can tomato sauce, I recommend Paste Roma tomatoes. They are meatier and less watery. Slicing tomatoes can be made or added to Roma tomatoes that are being turned into sauce, but the cooking time will increase. Slicing tomatoes are ideal for sandwiches and can be canned as stewed tomatoes or whole tomatoes.
Peppers need to be started indoors, and the starting date depends on your first frost free day. Most peppers are happy growing in pots and enjoy lots of sunshine. The most common bell pepper is red. They are green when growing and then slowly turn red.
Squash can be started indoors in peat pots, depending on your first and last frost dates. Because most squash, not all, needs 90 to 120 days of frost free growing, direct sowing is not recommended. Starting the plants in peat pots means less root damage when planting out, and they don’t like to have root disturbances. Gently remove the bottom of the peat pot, and the top of the pot until it reaches the soil level in the pot and plant out well after the last frost date. They do not handle frost at all. If you hear of probable frost in your area, cover with a pail until it is over.
I live in a zone 3 Canada, zone 4 US and last year was my first successful pumpkin harvest because the summer was hot, and I had a longer frost-free summer. Most pumpkins need 105 to 120 days, so even finding one with less days can be very helpful. For me, our area frost free time is May 21 to 31st until September 11th to 20th.
Corn is another long season growing crop. Most corn needs 85 to 100 days. I have tried many times, in different areas of the country and have never had success growing it. It is a wonderful looking plant in the fall, as it gives that natural fally feel, but I gave up. I would rather plant something that grows well for me. Corn needs to be planted in blocks not rows, and harvest when the silks of the ear are dry brown.
Read the packages carefully and know what you are buying. There is hybrid corn, low sugar and supersweet corn. There is popcorn and ornamental corn.
Beans are a staple for most gardeners. There are pole beans which need something to climb and bush beans that grow a couple feet tall, depending on the variety. They are easy to grow, direct sow. You can pressure can them, freeze them and dehydrate them.
If you are new to gardening, depending how adventurous you are, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are easy to grow, however, cabbage moths must be kept in check, or they will eat every cabbage you have. Cauliflower needs to have their leaves either tied or clothes pinned together over the cauliflower to keep it white or purchase self-wrapped varieties. Broccoli in the home garden grows easily, however, I have never had ones that grow as large as the ones in grocery stores. After your first picking, leave the plant and harvest the smaller heads that will form.
If you have never pressure canned before, it is wise to start off with recipes that have been tested. Suggestions include Bernardin or Ball. These books follow the rules of pressure canning in a safe way. I am not saying other recipes are not safe, but if you have never canned before, these will walk you through the process so you learn the standards and can measure safety as you explore recipes.
DRY CANNING IS NOT SAFE. Water bath canning is for fruits, jams and jellies, pickles, chutneys, relishes, and tomatoes. The books mentioned above have these recipes in them too. If you visit their websites, you will find most of the recipes there that are in the books.
Another way to harvest fresh greens is to grow sprouts. Sprouts are grown in jars in your kitchen. It is a cheap and simple way to have a fresh supply of veggies.
The garden does take time and patience. You must weed at least weekly and water sometimes daily, depending on the heat. The more you tend to your garden the better crop you will have to enjoy from June to September. Don’t be disappointed when your lettuce bolts in the heat of July. Learn how to provide shade from the afternoon sun or plant successions of lettuce, or other greens that can handle the heat of summer. Harvest what you plant. Don’t let the beans dry on the plant and the radishes go to seed. That is wasteful. All gardeners by the end of harvest season are tired and ready to put the canner away for a little while.
Expect to lose a day at least a week during harvest time, canning and freezing your vegetables. Don’t forget to watch for sales on fruits to can or make jam with, or pie fillings. Or better yet if you have room plant strawberries, raspberry bushes, blueberry bushes and rhubarb. If herbs are your thing, consider purchasing a cheap dehydrator to see if you enjoy drying. Try bananas, peppers, beans, and fruit leather as well.
The best way to try something new and experiment if you enjoy it, is to try it in a small away. As stated before, buy a kiddie pool, and fill it with dirt. It is amazing how much you can grow in that small space. Do a YouTube search on gardening in a kiddie pool. If you live in an apartment, you can still garden in your window or on a balcony. Townhouse, use a green stock vertical planter. If there is a way you can find it.
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