Well this has been a hard summer for our farm. Our wheat experiment totally failed (suddenly at the last minute, the wheat all molded).
One of our large grape vines has black spot and we have lost at least 4 gallons already.
Our blueberries took a huge hit from the heat and dryness last month and we have lost most of them.
It was too wet to get our flint corn in the ground in time.
All but three of our SIX HUNDRED onions failed.
The sweet corn is marginal at best.
We lost NINE orchard trees this year.
But like someone said, it is always a good year for something....
Our potatoes came in early and well.
Our new strawberry bed did fabulously.
Our muscadines are leafing out to beat the band.
Our green beans are producing like mad.
I have learned, though, that if one wants to actually live off of what one grows, to follow the Redundancy of Three that is used in preparedness planning: three times what you need and three different sources.
What this means is that if one is growing, say, something to provide starch, plant three different types (say wheat, corn, potatoes) and three times as much as you will need to get to the next growing season (so if both wheat and corn fail, you still have enough potatoes to get to the next growing season).
Of course that is if one is actually trying to grow ALL their own food. Thank the Good Lord that we have grocery stores.
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