A Change of Season - Growing Food To Survive

By Denese Sheree

Have you ever said, "One day we'll all need to grow our own food?" A Change of Season is for you, your children, and your family... This book is designed to teach people with no previous experience how to grow their own food. 

 

The book is full of real-life photos of the author's family growing vegetables, saving seed, and storing and preserving vegetables with the most basic tools. The information comes from forty-five years of hard toil and includes traditional hints, tips, and methods. It contains a moon calendar template, maps and plans, a monthly guide with suggestions on how much to plant and when, and specific information on each group of vegetables.  

 

This book comes highly recommended by the Garden Gleaners, a group who used this information for a full year to grow food for their families. 

 

There are 184 pages with 129 pages of full digital photos. 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Denese Sheree
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9780473672522

Denese Sheree

I was born in West Auckland. One day, Uncle John asked me, “What are you going to do when you grow up?” I was about four years old, and I had just discovered his impressive veggie garden. “I'm going to grow vegetables.”  “Well,” he said, “people will always need to eat.”   I grew a garden in Auckland’s volcanic soil. I grew a garden in Papamoa’s sand. I grew a garden in the High Country above Rotorua and Tauranga, with frosts and thin, gravelly soil. I had two children in my 40s, and grew a huge garden in Hokianga’s heavy clay and high humidity. I stored lots of vegetables, milked a cow, bottled everything, made cheese, and raised poultry, which my husband and children processed for the freezer. I grew many sacks of spuds, onions, and kumara every year. We had plenty; we fed many, and we gave away food. I grew and dried maize, millet, and amaranth. We had more than we needed. But you don't stay young forever. Seeing the need for many to feed themselves, I have written down what I learnt. In my mind, God was showing me ways of doing things when the supply chains broke. And I know so many of these skills have been lost. Support each other through this time. Pray and rejoice, and the Lord Jesus be with you.  

Book preview

A CHANGE OF SEASONS

GROWING FOOD TO SURVIVE

DENESE SHEREE

ISBN 978-0-473-67252-2

Copyright © 2023 by Denese Sheree

The author asserts her moral rights in the work.

Published by Denese Sheree ([e-mail])

Published in 2023

This book is copyright. Except for the purpose of fair reviewing, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version.

Cover art by Sharon O’Callahan

Cover design by Lisa Kemp (www.creativeclicksnz.com)

Edited and typeset by Susanna Schollum (www.linebyline.co.nz)

ALSO BY DENESE SHEREE

Just Add Salt

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my family: Bob, for his amazing knowledge of land and soil, animals, and seasons and for his tolerance of seeds, herbs, and grains draped all around the lounge, sheds, and verandahs. Thanks to Holly May for telling me I should write stuff down and for giving me a sense of value in what I do. And Robert, for his beautiful spirit and our great many discussions about how to invent stuff to support people in the future.

Thanks so much to the Garden Gleaners, a little group that gathered to encourage and bounce ideas off each other. Thank you for your prayers, support, and huge encouragement. I give thanks to God for how He has brought this book about. Sharon O’Callahan, for her breathtaking cover art and constant support. Lisa Kemp of Creative Clicks, for her text and graphic skills on cover. Bless your future. Thanks especially to Susanna Schollum who, with extraordinary patience, compiled, edited, and typeset this book. It’s been a wonderful journey to make with all these incredible, gifted people. I am humbled and very grateful.

Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain,

from the Lord who makes the storm clouds,

and he will give them showers of rain,

to everyone the vegetation of the field.

Zechariah 10:1

Conversion table

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Breaking in new ground

2. Maps, plans, and the lunar calendar

Understand and make your own lunar calendar

3. Vegetables

Brassicas

Cucurbits and cucumis

Garlic and elephant garlic

Kūmara

Leafy greens and salad mix

Maize, corn, parched corn, popcorn, and sugar

Onions, shallots, and leeks

Peas and beans

Potatoes

A few roots: beetroot, carrots, parsnips, swedes

Tomatoes and friends

4. Calendar

January — summer

February — summer

March — late summer, early autumn

April — autumn

May — early winter

June — winter

July — winter

August — late winter, early spring

September — early spring

October — spring

November — late spring

December — early summer

INTRODUCTION

Introduction image

My brother and I in the garden.

I was born in West Auckland. One day, Uncle John asked me, What are you going to do when you grow up? I was about four years old and had just discovered his impressive veggie garden. I'm going to grow vegetables, I told him. Well, he said, people will always need to eat.

I grew a garden in Auckland’s volcanic soil. I grew a garden in Papamoa sand. I grew a garden in the High Country above Rotorua and Tauranga, with frosts and thin, gravelly soil. In my forties, I had two children and grew a huge garden in Hokianga’s heavy clay and high humidity. I stored lots of vegetables, milked a cow, bottled everything, made cheese, and raised poultry that my husband and children processed for the freezer. I grew many sacks of potatoes, onions, and kūmara every year. We had plenty, we fed many, and we gave away food. I grew and dried maize, millet, and amaranth. We had more than we needed. But you don't stay young forever! Seeing the need for many to feed themselves, I have written down what I learnt. In my mind, God has been showing me ways of doing things for when the supply chains break. I know so many of these skills have been lost.

This book is ideal for Northland, New Zealand, but the information is of great benefit to any part of New Zealand. Perhaps you will need to plant a little later in spring if you are elsewhere in the country, and the winter garden may also need to go in earlier.

Support each other through this time. Pray and rejoice, and the Lord Jesus be with you.

1

BREAKING IN NEW GROUND

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love;

break up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the Lord,

that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Hosea 10:12

And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also,

until I dig around it and put on manure.’

Luke 13:8

It is current fashion not to dig soil or turn it over, but in God's Word there are a number of references to turning over the ground in both a physical and a spiritual sense. I’m all for mulch, mulch, mulch. The soil under mulch needs to be loose for plants to penetrate their roots. Your production may be stunted in hard or heavy soils. After four or five years of being under mulch, your soil should be loose enough to plant into.

Bob on tractor

Breaking in a new garden. Ash and dolomite have been thrown over this slightly sour soil.

Digging over earth allows air in, refreshing and revitalising the microbes. Oxygen gives microbes a chance to easily repair and replenish themselves. I’m not afraid to leave soil uncovered for just a few days in the sun, but as a general rule it’s good to keep all gardens covered in mulch to protect the microbes from sun or weather damage. Bare ground should always be covered. Adding garden scraps to the soil returns some minerals. If the garden is fertilised and regularly mulched like this, after a few years the need to add fertilisers is much less. Eventually, it won’t even be needed.

Silage on a truck

My favourite mulch is old silage. You can apply it 8″ deep in early spring or autumn.

Clay is full of minerals and is a real blessing as long as you have a strong back! Lots of so-called experts say not to use a rotary hoe. Well, they probably don't have a family and are not breaking in a large plot of clay for a long-term, voluminous garden! Having said that, put your hoe away after a few years. It may damage the structure of the soil, and it kills heaps of worms.

A well-known gardener in the Hokianga, who passed recently, had a wonderful, productive garden on clay. I asked what her secret was. Pine needles! Many people would say pine needles are too acidic or not good for soil, but in Northland I find it's a good mulch and breaks down quickly.

Tips for preparing soil

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

Luke 6:1

Enjoy your garden on the Sabbath. Enjoy what the Lord has helped you achieve. But know that this day is different; keep it holy. The Sabbath is mentioned 172 times in the King James version of the Bible.

Never hoe wet soil. It will turn to cement in the summer, even if the turning over or hoeing was done in spring. This applies to all soils, not just clay. Also, don't walk on growing beds or rows. It's like walking on a living creature; it suffocates.

To add nitrogen, you can add fresh green matter to your garden, or—sorry, vegans—when you thaw out meat, put a dribble of blood just under each plant. Never do this on root crops, however. Commercially prepared blood and bone has some nitrogen, but it comes from animals that probably had lots of antibiotic shots and died from who-knows-what disease. Not great. Uncovered or exposed soil leaches nitrogen. Lightning releases nitrogen in the soil and is a real blessing.

I note specific fertilisers are becoming very hard to get. There are lots of bags of stuff called citrus fert, rose fert, potato fert, or tomato fert. Well, what’s in that stuff? Heaps have no list of ingredients. Don't be a sheep and chuck on what some expert says! It’s probably okay for ornamentals but not in my food garden, thanks. It may have urea or superphosphate in it.

Never use superphosphate; it’s a huge poison and is at the root of many cancers, especially skin cancer. It steals the body’s ability to protect itself from sunlight. (May the sun not harm you by day—Psalm 121:6). Don’t use urea either. It makes plants grow fast and reduces their nutritional level. It also makes vegetables more likely to cause acidity in your body. My veggies are ready a bit later than others, but I know they are strong and nutrient dense.

Northland is very short of copper. There are almost no wild deer in the Far North, as deer have a high copper requirement. There are some deer in the high country. Copper deficiency is very serious. It results in sway backs in horses, and it causes people to go prematurely grey, afflicts them with poor joints, and affects the bones, metabolism, nervous system, and digestive system (many coeliacs are short of copper). Zinc competes with copper, but too much copper is also dangerous.

Start building up your bonfire for autumn. It’s so exciting to rake up and store all that ash! (Note: don’t store hot ash, duh.) Ash contains potassium, phosphorus, and some other stuff that's good. It helps germination. It also improves soil that is too acidic. For many years, I never purchased any additional minerals, not even lime, but ash is very important. Chook poo also contains potassium, nitrogen, phosphate, and calcium, and is something that makes my tomatoes grow really well. Potassium gives flavour, colour, and perfume to the flowers and fruits of all plants. Ash is wonderful, although never if you burned plastic or tanalised timber; that’s very toxic indeed.

Watching the bonfire

Supervising the bonfire.

Bones are a powerful addition to the fire. Any bones will do: fish frames, skins, hooves, bones, possums, old dog bones, shells, or poultry. All this adds a powerful amount of lime in a number of forms, as well as all the nutrients found in bones: calcium (which helps veggies store well and keeps your bones strong), phosphorus, and magnesium. Burning bones is best done longer, not hotter. After a time the bones will crumble. An intense burn can reduce the quality of this mineral-rich resource.

If you go to the beach over summer (or any time of year), don’t come home without seaweed and a bucket or two of sand. Sand is great for mixing with seed or sprinkling on new gardens, as it contains minerals. I drape seaweed around most of my veggies, providing trace elements and building pest and disease resistance in plants. This also works for fruit trees; adding seaweed when planting and draping it around as mulch under young trees is a huge benefit.

If you are able, collect cow or sheep poo. Chicken poo is gold (but can be hard to find in the North). Note: I never use horse poo where my hands go in the earth, only where it will be well buried under trees and the like. My grandad said not to, and he knew stuff. Horse poo contains lots of parasites. I don’t use it simply in his honour.

If you have an abundance of a few specific weeds in your garden, these weeds are trying to heal the soil. Carrot weed, for example, draws up magnesium, among other things. You can tell by the paddocks there are lots of magnesium deficiencies in the North. People then weed spray carrot weed, and that's not clever. In the Bay of Plenty, the hills are full of ragwort. This also has a tap weed and is especially a problem for dairy farmers. I have a suspicion it’s keen on calcium-deficient land. There will be some mineral it is desperately trying to replace. Can you see gorse growing on clay banks and hills or on road-side gravel and gravel dumps? Gorse has a great super-power; it can fix nitrogen in the soil. So every weed