Listen Online 
Download 
Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files 
Subscribe on iTunes
Summary
part 2 of a 2 part podcast
Grow Our Own Food
Continuing the discussion about growing food.
Miranda describes her property; she has about 2½ acres with perennial food crops, out of about 10 acres total.
Alexandra describes her area where most places 20 years ago had fruit trees, but now almost all have been cut down - people can't be bothered with them. She doesn't know how to get people interested again.
Paul talks about polyculture, which is what he's aiming for. In his view each plant species helps to feed the others. He likes a more chaotic aesthetic. However that's not a popular thing among "gardeners" who want everything in rows with no weeds.
Alexandra says she has issues growing carrots in a chaotic environment as they don't compete well, but others find that they grow well.
M mentions that where she lives Parsnips grow wild and invade everyone's garden.
Paul wants to broaden the automatic backyard food pump; the idea of which is to have food all year round. However it's challenging to convince people that it works.
Miranda comments that where she lives, the ground can be frozen solid so it's impossible to dig in the winter. Paul says although sunchokes don't keep too well there are ways to store them for a while. You can also use hot water to thaw the ground to be able to dig the sunchokes.
Alexandra dries a lot of her produce. Paul likes dried food, as it gives more variety in addition to preserving the food. There's also the rocket assist food drier which dries food about four times as fast.
They move on to foraging. Paul mentions huckleberries that are popular in Montana, but acknowledges that there are multiple fruits called that. M maybe gets 70% of her food from foraging during the growing season.
Relevant Threads
Hugelkultur forum
Automatic Backyard Food Pump
Build a J-Tube Style Season Extender in a Hugelkultur - PEP BB rocket.wood.hugel
3D Plans - Solar Food Dehydrator with Rocket Boost
Support the Empire
Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle
here in the digital market at permies.
To support production of these podcasts, make a donation
here at Paul's Patreon page.
This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
David Lucey
Janelle
thomas adams
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Keith Kuhnsman
Cindi Duehmig
Banter Couch
Eric Tolbert
Paul Tipper
Paul F
Gerald Bernard
4
