Increasing Food Production/Garden Project for Resiliency

Increasing Food Production/Garden Project for Resiliency-

I found over the years that gardening is definitely a learning experience. With spring around the corner, and some temperatures in the 60's, we're looking ahead. Last fall I started thinking with the state of the world. I felt we really needed to increase our food production on our Little Homestead. Because we have a really large maple tree in our backyard we have very limited sunlight. When we first bought the house we laid out the back yard garden logically because that's where the sun was. Later we put up the coop which fit in that area well-

Sunroom will come down next month

Last fall I was looking critically at how, and why, we use the space we have. I love having the chickens in the garden because they pull the weeds and eat the bugs, but you do have to protect your plants. Protecting the plants eats up space and requires monitoring-

lots of useable space!

more protection

I finally came to the conclusion what we needed to do was extend the run that goes along our fence line further down about another eight or ten feet-

current run in the shade area

During planting season we will cut off the coop access to the main garden. We will close the main door and they can use the sunroom entrance. We can plant more intensively and the chickens would have a larger run to hang out in. I can do some supervised free-ranging in the garden. Late in the fall when we put the garden to bed we can open up that area again to the chickens. They will have lots of space over the winter and into spring. We need to feed ourselves more as a priority. Dave and I went out in the fall and bought another set of panels to match the existing ones we added last year-

With the matching panels it will look nice and fit in with the landscaping. Here's the extension area we will use-

you can see the arrows

This will create a longer run in a dead space, the hens can rototill the area, has more nice shade in the summer and the rest of the garden will be more protected. All in all I think it's a good compromise! We will also have the south side of our maple tree trimmed back soon. It's expensive but you need a pro with a huge bucket truck-

Tree hanging over garden

The trimming will remove some of the branches to open up more light, but still give shade to the coop. I will schedule when I'm home to supervise. Looking forward to gardening season!!!!

Update, Food Prices Rising/ Canning Lids & Coffee Shortage/ Preparedness 3.0

 

Update- 

We finally got a break from the heat! It was 51 degrees the last three mornings, what a treat! After the heavy rain we real growth spurt in the garden. We're running really behind with our tomatoes since they don't set fruit over 85 degrees. We had 100 degree days for so many weeks I actually don't remember. We recently set a record of the driest three months in the spring in the last 99 years. Not going to be good going into a long drought. Will be re-thinking if we need to redo some of our landscaping to more drought resistant. We've quite a bit, but more is better. It takes planning and we will get some ideas. Our Red Haven peaches have gotten the ripe the last week! Will be doing some canning of the peaches soon. We've already frozen several one gallon bags. We also got six gallons of our neighbors rhubarb we froze as well! She always throws it away so we take it off her hands.  Chickens still laying, freezing more eggs. 

Food Prices Rising/ Canning Lids & Coffee Shortage/ Preparedness 3.0-

I've been trying a few more things to add to our pantry closet. I found this great deal at the local grocery outlet on flour (see above)! I just did a double take when I saw it was King Arthur whole wheat flour, 10 Lbs for $3.00! I bought one, it's in the freezer for a few days to get rid of any critter eggs. I may actually leave it in the freezer for longer-term storage to keep it fresher. We bought two more. Been stocking up on a few more things. I should note we're on a budget like everyone else, and it's been a stretch to stock up and be more prepared. We make it work though, it's buy now and save $ later. I saw boxes of brownie mix too for $1.00 at the Outlet, bought a few. At Albertson's they were almost $4.00! Holy cow. I saw some apples that were almost $4 a pound as well.  I'm glad our apple tree is loaded! I will definitely be canning and freezing apples. With our bumper crop I may also get out of a food dehydrator which I don't use is often. Be nice to have multiple types of fruits. I'm so glad we're getting a good harvest this year. Tomatoes will have to wait and see, but it looks like there's quite a few green ones. Interesting list here of prices that have gone up recently- July Rising Prices  Shocker hot dogs went up almost 5% in July! Glad I'm not a fan (I like polish sausage instead!). 

Canning Lids- Like a lot of people I've been really concerned with seeing a lack of canning lids in store. Some have mentioned the canning lid duration changing. I've noticed some canning lids that are new Mason and Kerr brand saying that they are good up to 18 months. Some I saw tonight are good for one year. Is this normal, did I miss something? I've had cans for four/five years on my pantry rack that are still fine. Were they always labeled like that?  Is a result of shoddy workmanship and poor quality? I may have to shift toward buying reusable canning lids. Time will tell...

Green beans

Coffee- I've been hearing thru various social media that coffee is going to may be in short supply soon, if not already. Prices should go up, bad crops in S. America, etc. I saw you can buy green coffee beans, unroasted. You can store them long-term without going bitter, just roast in small batches in a hot skillet. Might be a good idea for any real hardcore coffee drinkers. You can also buy regular beans to the freeze, but some people say that makes them bitter. If you're not much of a coffee drinker you can also buy instant, if you don't really care that much. Lots of videos out there on how to roast your own green coffee beans. I saw beans for sale on Amazon/Etsy. The prices seem to vary depending on where the beans came from. So if you're hardcore coffee drinker you may want to invest in some beans! And of course do you need a grinder! Glad I'm a tea drinker!!!