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Summary
part 2 of a 3 part podcast.
Continuing the discussion about growing enough food for a family.
Paul notes that corn didn't make the top 3 for any of them. Samantha likes corn, she personally doesn't eat much corn but it could maybe make the top 3 for a family. Beau comments that corn needs human intervention to keep it producing. Samantha comments that corn, beans and squash work well together.
Paul says that although people aren't keen on corn, it has many advantages: it keeps a long time, and the calorie count per gallon is high. Liv comments that she grows corn, it has many uses: the animals eat it and it makes flour. She also eats field corn like sweetcorn early in the kernel development. Her corn is from her grandmother in eastern Europe.
Paul has a figure for the average human's calorie need for a year, which is 730,000. He feels that aiming at 70% of the food from the garden is doable if you start small and overcome the resistance you may get to begin with.
He asks the others how much of the food the family would be willing to eat from the garden. Beau feels that he could achieve 95%, maybe more in a community where people can trade for stuff.
Samantha grows organic wheat, but mainly to sell, not to eat herself. The animals eat it and that can raise meat. In summer she feels that you could achieve 50% from the garden in summer when there's salad and fruit. Winter would be harder.
They move on to talking about animals vs crops. Liv raises cows and loves it but they are hard work although the returns are good. She also raises meat chickens which get to eat some of the dairy by products.
Relevant Threads
Gardening for Beginners forum
Cattle forum
All About Corn
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Paul Tipper
Podcast 702 - Permaculture Smackdown 31 - Strategies for growing enough food for your family- Part 2
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