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Indoor Vegetable Gardening and Self Sufficient Living


2010
06.17

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Posted in Seed and Garden, self sufficient living | 2 Comments »


Since food is an important consideration in self sufficient living, what do we do when we need to grow food but the conditions won’t allow it? Simple – grow indoors. While there are a variety of ways to do this, we’ll look at just two methods of indoor vegetable gardening.

The first approach we’ll consider involves the use of grow lights. While this can be very effective, it also requires a significant amount of electricity which can present a problem in terms of being self sufficient. The advantage, of course is that you can grow pretty much anywhere indoors, regardless of windows or other natural light sources. If you’re off the grid, this option probably isn’t appealing. On the other hand, this is a great way to increase your learning speed as you can continue to gain experience growing year round.

A much better approach which is more consistent with sutainability, is to attach a greenhouse or solarium to your home. This enables you to take advantage of natural light and the heat source for your home. You can start with something simple – like a bay window, or go “all out” with a full greenhouse attached to the house. It may be that you just need a place to start your plants before moving them to the garden.

Want to get started today? Why not begin with sprouting? It’s simple and fun for the whole family as well and offers a great source of nutrition to add to salads and sandwiches. You get results quickly – within days rather than waiting for months. The Sprout Garden 3 Tray Family Sprouting Kit includes sprouter, drainboard, covers, 3 sprouting trays, 2 oz. of certified organic alfalfa seed, and instructions. Once you’ve got the idea, expand your crops and try sprouting beans along with other grains. What’s nice about sprouting is that any window will do – you don’t need any special construction for this form of indoor vegetable gardening.

Have fun!

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Self Sufficient Living and Food


2009
01.26

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With food shortages looming around the world, there’s no better time to adopt self sufficient living and start growing your own food. Just last spring, the Wall Street Journal published an article addressing the prospect of a food crisis right here in the United States. The article written in April of 2008 pointed out that food prices were already rising faster than the returns a person would likely expect by keeping money in the bank or a money market fund. Manu Daftary, a top Wall Street investor and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund stated, “I think prices are going higher.  People are too complacent.  They think it isn’t going to happen here.  But I don’t know how the food companies can absorb higher costs.” Couple that with the reports which followed in the summer warning that crops were only average at best.  Soy beans in the United States were running 16% behind when the article was written in June of last year.

So here’s the question – is it really practical for families to think about growing their own food?  While it’s unrealistic to think that you will grow everything – fruit, vegetables, grains, etc., you can certainly grow more than you might think. What’s more, you can have enough surplus to share or trade with others who grow the things you don’t manage to produce. To do that will require careful planning, preparation, and yes – hard work.  But those who do it agree that it’s well worth it.

Where do you start? I want to recommend an excellent book written by an expert who’s been growing much of his own food for a long time and making a living with the surplus. I consider The New Organic Grower a must read for anyone who wants to make a serious dent in their food bill, and explore the idea of becoming more self sufficient, perhaps even making some money to boot. The book covers everything from the tools you’ll need, crop selection, planting and crop rotation, and pest control. The beauty of this book is that Eliot Coleman shows you how to have a successful small family farm which can provide both food and a living. With spring just around the corner, it’s not too early to get ready for your garden now.

 

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