This list does not mean that you have to have absolutely every item on it in order to survive if the worst would ever happen. It is simply a list of items that will help you to be able to survive in times of disaster or economic struggle. The more items that you have, thus the better prepared you are to face adversity and the easier it will be for you and your family to get through tough times.

If you are well prepared then it won’t matter if there is a storm, an earthquake, loss of a job, illness-whatever happens you WILL get through it.

There is no better insurance than to know that no matter what happens that your family is prepared.

You may already have health insurance and life insurance so why not add your own brand of survival insurance?

Okay, Josh & I have researched and talked about it and here are the items that we want to have in order to be self sufficient.

-wood

-corn

-pellet

-solar

-wind

-generator

For the best protection it is a good idea to have 2-3 extra alternative heat sources

-solar

-wind power

-generator

-hand water pump

-water barrels

-cistern

-protection from storms

-storage for canned food

-storage for garden produce

-area to grow mushrooms

-to extend growing season for months

-when attached to your home could provide extra heat during winter months

-provide food during the growing season

-grow enough to feed your family during Winter months

-control over how fresh your food is

-control over whether your food is organic or use of less pesticides

-grow a wide variety of fruits

-use for fresh eating; can or dehydrate for use later

-growing your own nuts can save you LOTS of money, provide protein and good nutrition

-good for snacking, make nut butters (like peanut butter) and add flavor & crunch to dishes

With nuts costing $8 and more per pound it won’t take long for a nut tree or shrub to pay for itself

Once you know that you have food, water, heat & lights no matter what happens you will have peace of mind.

A means of protection to keep your family safe is another good idea

Pay down your debt and try to be debt free

If you can then try to get your home & your car paid for asap. This could mean buying a little older model vehicle or a less expensive home.

When you are debt free and have food put aside as well as alternative heat, lights, etc. then if you would lose your job or have an illness in the family you can get by on little money but still be able to eat well and stay warm

If you can, it is nice to have a bit of property so as to raise your own chickens for fresh eggs and meat or to raise other animals and to grow your own food.

If you don’t have much property then you can still grow at least some of your own food. Plant a fruit tree or two & maybe a nut tree. You can grow a nice amount of vegetables by growing upward. Grow beans, squash, cucumbers & such on fences and you will be able to grow a LOT in small spaces.

You can also tuck vegetables into your flower bed, plant a strip of vegetables next to the garage. Every spot that you can grow something will help you to be more self sufficient. AND home grown foods will help you to be healthier too

Mushrooms are another crop that you can grow. These can be grown either in your basement or root cellar. They can also be grown outside in a shady area

And you realize that growing your own food is a great place to start and  and is probably the best way to be more self sufficient. What better way to be prepared for the worst than to have the knowledge that you and your family will eat no matter what?

But, if you don’t have a lot of room you may wonder what you should grow. What will provide the most food in the least space? What provides good nutrition? What is easiest to store?

Well, to get you started you need to make a list of what you and your family love to eat. It dies not matter how great a vegetable is if no one in your family will eat it. It will be a waste of time, space and money.

The less space you have the more careful you need to be about that.

If you have more room you can grow some other things but concentrate the most of your favorites and those that can be used in numerous ways.

So, I will give you a list of some top crops to grow in a self sufficiency garden but always check it against what you and your family will actually enjoy eating.

The best self-sufficiency garden will start with crops that can be turned into a wide variety of dishes.

Potatoes tops our list. You can grow a lot of potatoes in a relatively small space. For years people have talked about growing food crops in used tires.

Some people think that it isn’t safe while others think that it is. Use your judgement as to what answer you are comfortable with.

Personally I have read that you can grow as much as 50 pounds of potatoes in an area less than 2X2 ft.

How you wonder? Well, you plant 4 potatoes evenly spaced inside a tire. WHen the potatoes get tall enough you simply add another tire and fill in around the potato plants being sure that the tops are above the soil line. Keep doing this all summer untill you have it 4 tires high. Let the potatoes flower and grow all those fabulous potatoes. In the Fall they are so easy to harvest.

Potatoes can be baked, fried and boiled. You can use potatoes in so many ways that it is hard to get really tired of them. That is the mark of  a great self sufficiencey crop.

Next?

Beans

Personally I prefer pole beans as you can grow more in less space and you don’t have to bend over to pick them. Grow them on fences or use posts to make bean tepees. Kids love them.

You can grow all types of beans. Yellow beans, Green beans, Purple beans, dry beans, soy beans, mung beans.

You can grow beans for fresh use, to freeze, to can, to dehydrate. You can evenn pickle them. Yes, I said Pickled Beans.

My Mom used to can pickled beans for me. They make a great side dish or snack and they are super easy to can.

Dehydrate and not only are they super easy tostore but they are quick amd easy to refresh too. You vcan use them in soups, stews, casseroles or as a side dish.

Beans have long been considered poor man’s meat as they are high in protein but they are very low cost.

Your best bet is to grow several different colors and types for a nice variety of meal choices.

Mung beans can be sprouted for using in stir fries or chop suey. You can use different types of bean sprouts fresh or in dishes.

Sprouts are also a great way to take a small amount of seed provide you with a large amount of food.

I cup can be turned into 2-3 cups and, depending on the seed you can turn as little as a spoonful into several cups of sprouts.

During the Winter a wide variety of dried seeds can be a great insurance policy that your family will have fresh vegetables to eat. When you can’t grow fresh vegetables you can still eat fresh vegetables and it is very low cost while providing great high quality nutrition.

You can use them fresh to snack on, use them in sandwiches, meatloaf, soups. There are a wide variety of ways to prepare them.

So, while saving seeds for next years crops remember to store some for soups and fresh eating.

Always make sure that any seeds that you use for cooking whether they have been sprouted or not, are NOT TREATED with chemicals.

Well, I must get to bed as it is late and I am tired.

I will add to this asap as there are lots of other great vegetables to add to the list for your self-sufficiency garden.

Free $20 Garden seed & plants with any $40 Order

Of course if it is too shady then you may need to cut some branches, remove a tree or try growing in a different place. But, if you have an area that is a bit shady but not a deep shade then you can try the following crops and you should be able to produce some very tasty and nbutritious food there.

Shady Garden Plants:

Beets

Broccoli

Lettuce

Spinach

 Swiss chard

Arugula

Endive

Radiccio

Kale

Kohlrabi

Potatoes

Turnips

Mustard

Cabbage

Carrots

These crops will grow in partial shade. and will do well with

Your leafy greens will tolerate more shade than the root

vegetables. So, if the area gets a half a day or more of shade then you will need to stick with leafy greens.

Deeper Shade Gardening Plants

Lettuce

Kale

Swiss Chard

Cabbage

Mustard

Arugula

Radicchio

Endive

Some Shade Tolerant Herbs:

Mint

Parsley

Chives

These herbs are supposed to grow if they get 4 hours of sunlight a day. So, no matter where you live you should be able to grow something to help to feed yourself and your family.

BTW, this blog is to help everyone to become more self sufficient no matter where you live. We live in the country and so are able to take this to a level that someone in the city might not be able to.

If you are unable to raise cows or goats then that is ok. If you can’t grow a 1 acre garden then that is ok too.
Don’t have much money? We don’t either. We have certain self sufficiency goals in mind and are working towards attaining them. We can’t afford to do everything right now like we would like to but we do what we can continually striving towards our goal of becoming pretty much totally self sufficient.

If all you can do is grow a few plants in containers then by all means do so. Everything that you can grow yourself will help you to save money and increase your health.

This year is no different. We are in the process of enlarging the garden by cutting down some of the trees near the garden and adding on to, and moving where it is needed, our fence around the garden.

We would like to have that whole area that we are adding to the garden be filled with raised beds. We will do this as we are able but it will be a big job. It may be next year before we have them all done but we will work toward our goal and accomplish it.

Last year we planted more cabbage than ever before and it STILL was not enough. Course part of the reason was that our chickens got into the garden and made complete pigs out of themselves by eating numerous heads of cabbage as well as some other vegetables.

So, this year we decided to plant a LOT more cabbage as well as other crops.

We are hoping to have a root cellar/storm shelter ready before Fall in which to store as much of our garden produce as possible for eating throughout the Winter months.

I read recently that for every $60 spent on seed and plants that you can harvest as much as $2,000 worth of food.

THAT is incentive enough for everyone to plant and grow something for their family to eat. With food prices being about triple what they were just a few short years ago we all need to do what ever we can to save money.

Growing your own food also ensures that you and your family are getting the freshest, most nutrient dense food possible without the loss of nutrition that comes with long transportation, picking while green and covering with waxes like you find at the market.

This year Josh and I have been doing some studying to try to determine which crops produce more for the space they require & the time needed to grow.

Beets & turnips-

We also are looking at crops that are easy to store in a root cellar in order to cut down on any processing needed.

Our freezer went this year without warning and we had $1-2,000 worth of food put aside, in order to be stocked up for emergencies,. that was lost.

This was food that we have bought on sale, had given to us or grew ourselves. It didn’t cost us that much at the time but to replace it would. We cannot afford that so we want to use methods where we will not have to worry about that happening again.

We hope to pick up another freezer if we can find a good deal but we don’t ever want to rely on just that 1 method of food storage again as the loss of all of that food hit us hard

Here are some of the crops that we have found to be good for storing in a root cellar

Onions

Garlic

Winter Squash