Jeff Marchand

I found this thread today on a break from building mounds for a three sisters garden.  As I was digging up soil to make the mounds I was thinking "This sure is a lot of work, I dunno if want to do this every year as I rotate through my garden!"

I think where it's easy to rotate crops then why not? But if you need to make special infrastructure  like mounds or supports for vining plants etc then don't bother and research landrace cropping and seed saving to evolve past any local pathogens.

just my 2 cents and for what's it's worth I'm no master gardner😀

That is an awesome observation Christopher! After my last post I did some more research on the St-Hubert pea and they need a long growing season. In a 3 sisters garden you need to wait a few weeks before planting the vining plant so the corn can get a head start. I dont have that kinda time so my idea wont work.  Back to beans it is.  Enough with the over thinking things Im just gonna plant the beans with the painted mountain and see what happens .  Experiments=science=learning!  Ill report back.

I'm also growing St-Hubert soup peas (traditional variety my French Canadian ancestors used for pork and pea soup) and maybe I could substitute them for beans?

Hi I was excited to get some painted mountain corn to plant this year for my three sisters garden.  Ive never raised them before.  But I had nt realized that they only grow 5 feet tall.  Seems  kinda short to grow beans on.  I am also growing sweet corn so maybe Ill use those in the three sisters garden and painted mountain elsewhere.  I am on the fence whether this is right variety for me as I like idea of 3 sisters..  Maybe I wont bother keeping trying to save their  seed and get different variety next year like bloody butcher.   Any corn varietal recommendations for 3 sisters?

Thank you all for the great encouragements.  Its very satisfying to hear that root veg make tasty snack when dried.  I would never have guess that dried turnips were tasty.  Are they peppery?  I made turnip kraut one year and it was very peppery.  I watched a video recently where they said in medieval times people dried apple rings on strings indoors over the fire place.  I have planted an apple orchard that will come in production this year and will try that too!

Keep the suggestions comming!

Hi I am exploring the idea of preserving as much of my garden produce with a dehydrator (DIY solar or bought commercial TBD) but I am a little concerned that I wont like the dried food.  No point in drying it if I wont eat it.

I'd love peoples feed back on A) cook books featuring dehydrated foods and B) which food staples dry well and taste good when cooked.
My garden staples are tomatoes (OK I know those taste awesome when dried, esp cherries) but what about turnip, beets,  squash and potatoes?
Do you have any personal recipes to share?

Many thanks.

Id want my potatoes, winter squashes & apples to last till May. I dont own a garage and I'd have to heat it if I did.  My woodstove is in my basement so I cant keep my produce down there as its too warm.

paul wheaton wrote:
What if the price of food goes up 10x?

Naturally, if you have a humble home and a large garden, this isn't such a big deal.  In fact, with a humble home and a large garden, all of politics becomes small and far away.

The third leg of the stool that I humbly suggest Paul is missing is storage.  In 2024, I grew a massive garden and had a fantastic yield and watched it rot away as I did'nt have a good way to store most of my produce.  A real bummer, in fact it put me off gardening in 2025.  I share peoples' concerns about food prices in 2026 and 2027    so this year I am biting the bullet and putting in a root cellar. I have seen the MotherEarthNews plans for a new septic tank converted to root cellar and I think thats the most economical way to go.  I can buy a new 2300gallon septic tank locally for C$4800 plus delivery.  If anyone has better ideas for a root cellar I'm all ears as I have nt bought the tank yet.

The other thing I am doing is learning how to bake.  I was that guy who bought too much flour during the pandemic and this might be the time to put it to good use.
If I did nt already have a good supply of flour Id stock up now before scarcity kicks in.  Making your own bread and pasta must be cheaper than buying as you are cutting out the middle men.

I am lucky enough to be in a spot financially where if food prices skyrocketed I'd still be able to make ends meet (was nt always that way--- I have a multi-year war against debt to thank for that) but by providing my own sustenance I reduce the demand and maybe ever so slightly help those less fortunate.  

As a group I have to believe us permies will weather this storm better than most, but I am concerned for those that dont have the physical or informational resources that we have.  

Anyways just my 2 cents.

Interesting thread.  In my area (Canadian Zone 5b) the traditional frost free day is May 24 .  Its often a long weekend here and I normally go nuts trying and failing to get entire garden in. If I can get my potatoes in the ground BEFORE then well thats one less thing to do that weekend.  Im gonna experiment this year inspired by this thread and plant them about a month early under a thick mulch of spent hay.

I grew a large garden in 2024. Great success. I grew far more food than I could eat.  Problem was storage.  Too much of it went to waste. This year because of global events I want to be food self sufficient since I believe food will be scarce and people will go hungry during the winter and spring of 2027. So my big project for 2026 will be a root cellar.