Food Self Sufficiency: How We Do It In a Severe Climate

By Lee Garrett

In this world of continuously escalating food prices, and the ever increasing knowledge of the detrimental effect of pesticides on our bodies, our family has endeavored to become a little more self-sufficient.

We live in a severe high desert climate where the winter temperatures can reach -25 degrees, and summers are short and windy. We have learned through trial and error how to significantly increase our vegetable and fruit production, and have had increased success with the animals that we raise for food. We have succeeded in growing foods that traditionally have not survived in our area.

Through our efforts we are now able to raise fresh fruits and vegetables typically nine months of the year. We give a detailed description of how we do this in ‘Food Self-sufficiency: How We Do It in a Severe Climate.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304979506

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Food Self Sufficiency: How We Do It In a Severe Climate

FOOD SELF SUFFICIENCY: HOW WE DO IT

IN A SEVERE CLIMATE

COPYRIGHT:

Copyright, Legal Notice and Disclaimer:

This publication is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws, and all rights are reserved, including resale rights: you are not allowed to give or sell this publication to anyone else.

Please note that much of this publication is based on personal experience.  Although the author and publisher have made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the content in this publication, they assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Also, you should use this information as you see fit, and at your own risk. Your particular situation may not be exactly suited to the examples illustrated here; in fact, it's likely that they won't be the same, and you should adjust your use of the information and recommendations accordingly.

Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference.  There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

Finally, use your head. Nothing in this publication is intended to replace common sense, legal, medical or other professional advice, and is meant to inform and entertain the reader. So have fun with our story and the information that we share, and put it to use.

Copyright © 2013 E. L. Garrett. All rights reserved worldwide.

SECTION 1: OVERVIEW

To the Reader:

We, Lee, Becky, and Nick hope that you find enjoyment from our experiences, and that they inspire your endeavors toward self-sufficiency.  If you have had the dream to live in the country and are almost ready to take that first step, it is our hope that in some small way our experiences will help you decide to venture into this great lifestyle.  Or, if you live in the country and want to be self-reliant we hope that the problems that we have encountered and the solutions that we have tried, and share with you, will help you in your venture.  We have had and continue to have many great, interesting experiences and challenges in growing and raising our own food in the harsh climate in which we live.  We continue to learn and adapt to the obstacles that this region presents, and make small changes to continue our success.  We are blessed because of the enhanced way of life that we have developed for ourselves in spite of its challenges, and would like to share what we have learned. 

Since you have started reading this book about our experiences you must be interested in making some changes toward living self-sufficiently.  In truth, no one can be totally free of some form of interdependence.  But, our idea of self-reliance is to get as close as possible to independence, in the food we provide for ourselves.  If you are waiting until the time is right to start actively working toward it, congratulations you may have already started with taking this first small step! 

We cover important points about the country lifestyle that we have developed for ourselves, in which we have had good success.  The topics, which are actually not separate but are interrelated are; growing and raising food for sustenance, and overcoming the obstacles of growing food in a severe climate.

What you will find throughout this book is that we have tried to use every day, straightforward language, and have avoided inflating it with unnecessary information.  Where needed, pictures have been used to provide a better understanding of the topics that we have covered.  We have also included in each topic section, problems that we have encountered and solutions, which we came up with that, have worked for us, and also our solutions that didn’t work.  Additionally, we have included some anecdotal stories of things that have happened to us along the way.

In several parts of our book we have supplied examples of the things that we use, and are able to get at no cost.  And, we also included information about the cost saving routines that we have in place in order to live a little cheaper.    

We anticipate that you will find useful information in reading our book.  This life in the country continues to be extremely interesting and very rewarding.  What we would like you the reader to realize in reading our story is that if we can do this, you certainly can do this too.

Why Live This Way?

There are many reasons to want to live the way we do.  We have the ability to easily survive and thrive during tough and uncertain economic times.  Escalating food prices and shortages have little effect because of the way that we provide for our future needs.  The manner in which we stock up on our food and household storage items has given us the ability to live normally for 18 to 24 months if necessary, without having to buy or add any more to it.

There are also several less obvious beneficial byproducts of the self-reliant life.  Inasmuch as grocery stores generally only keep 3 or 4 days’ worth of food on their shelves, we will not be affected by panic and excessive hording of food and household items during a pending or existing crisis.  Most people wait until the last minute to act, and then they panic. 

The food within stores is also grown in other areas, and in fact much of the food comes from outside the country.  Normal food production and distribution can be disrupted for many reasons, and when the food in the store is gone, people will have to rely on themselves and what they have on hand.  

Due to the fact that we grow what we eat, we are not susceptible to things like imported crops, which are coated with pesticides, products which are contaminated with salmonella or E-coli, or genetically engineered crops that are poor in nutrients and contain pesticides internally.  

As a more noticeable and bigger benefit from this style of living, we experience great health, and have much more control over life.  We have gained a sense of peace, contentment, and well being, and no longer have the feeling as most people do, that we are the innocent victims as a consumer.     

Some of Our Challenges:

In the learning process of growing and raising our food, many obstacles that we have encountered are due largely to the zone 3 climate that we face here.  Our place is at 43.9 degrees latitude, and at an elevation of just under 5,000 feet, which makes for cold winters and short growing seasons.  This is an area where overnight middle-of-the-winter temperatures can fall to 25 degrees below zero.  We also have the incessant wind that causes large snow drifts in the winter, knocks the blossoms off of our fruit trees in the spring, and then knocks the fruit off in the fall.  Another phenomenon that makes growing our food difficult is the inconsistent types of weather we have from year to year, which creates a problem in deciding on a safe date to start planting outside.  The short growing season due to our latitude, unusual weather patterns, and guaranteed mid-summer freezes leave very little room for mistakes in producing our food.

Another continuing challenge that we face is the sterile soil conditions in this area due to the deep volcanic sand.  In order to get things to grow, routine and consistent mulching and fertilizing with manure is required. The deep sand also requires a more vigilant watering routine.

We have had setbacks to face and overcome in many of the projects that we have tried.  But, most of these endeavors we have been able to make work through perseverance, some creativity, a lot of research, and an open mind.  Eventually, we become successful with these new things, and they evolve into the day-to-day routine of our country life. 

Our History:

In order to put our current success with our country life in perspective, it is necessary to give an overview of the steps of how we got here.  When we got serious about growing and raising all of our own food, we realized that we should start slow, continually moving forward, but taking very small steps.  This was because we were raised in the city and knew absolutely nothing about country life. 

On our city lot in Northern California we started with a small 20 x 30 foot garden in the back yard, and then took the plunge of raising two laying chickens for their eggs.  We quickly realized that we needed to educate ourselves, so we researched