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Podcast 703 - Permaculture Smackdown 31 - Strategies for growing enough food for your family- Part 3

posted 7 months ago

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Summary

part 3 of a 3 part podcast

Continuing the discussion about growing food for a family.

Paul mentions that butter takes a lot of making, and asks Liz how she makes butter. Liz describes the process and comments that the diet the cows eat affects the quality of the butter. Beau doesn't make much butter but he describes the butter churn and butter press which he has from his great grandparents. These were their primary source of money.

Liz preserves a lot of meat by freezing. Paul isn't over keen on freezing which costs money. Liz and Beau discuss non-refrigerated meat preservation. Liz isn't currently interested in the extra work that involves. Beau makes the point that currently the energy cost of freezing isn't too high; if it cost more or your supply isn't reliable they agree that would be an incentive to explore more traditional preservation.

Paul makes the point that dairy is not really for beginners, and Liz agrees, it is a lot of work and a lot to learn.

Beau agrees with Paul that chickens are a good way into raising animals for meat. He comments that you have to be careful where you learn about chicken keeping, some advice on the web is labor intensive and costly. You can also start small, with just a few chickens. Samantha comments that rabbits are good.

Paul recommends that even if you have plenty of land, start with a quarter acre to focus your gardening. That's plenty of work to start with.

To finish with they talk about different methods of food storage and preservation.

Relevant Threads

Gardening for Beginners forum

Chickens forum

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COMMENTS:

Kenneth Elwell

pollinator

Posts: 1198

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

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posted 6 months ago

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Beau’s comment about “commitment to planting year two, despite year one being disappointing”, and to see it as cultivating your own knowledge as well as growing plants/food, really resonates with me.

Recognizing that each year presents specific opportunities to learn, especially the seasonal ones, and that if not tried/taken advantage of, then it’s not possible for another year. Seasonal availability of seeds, plants, animals, or times for pruning, planting, collecting… each an opportunity to learn and grow.

I have a long-term project of alternative heating ( mainly composting centric, but with the aim of incorporating solar and wood) and have done multiple experiments each year in the fall with a giant water tank, leaf mold composting, wood chip composting and water circulation. Not one of them successfully completed, or applied for a useful purpose… other than learning how. How much: leaves, effort, space, time, does it take? Each year a new answer, but building upon previous attempts. Each failure is a lesson, mostly to begin sooner in its many flavors: beat the frost, the snow, other more urgent matters, getting the timing right. I keep at it, each year a step closer? If only knowing what NOT to do again…

Nails are sold by the pound, that makes sense.
Soluna Garden Farm -- Flower CSA -- plants, and cut flowers at our farm.

I agree. Here's the link: http://stoves2.com