Grow Your Own Food

thevetchling

There seems to be lots of branded foods claiming to be good for dieting, where someone else makes lots of money out of other peoples problems.
Making food from scratch takes time and a little bit of effort, but it may change your relationship with food. And you save money. And you get better at it. And it's fun.
I've also found picking, cooking and eating food we've grown ourselves a very positive experience. It leads to a much more healthy relationship with food.
Its all something that I'm creating and doing myself, rather than choosing from someone else's range of "solutions" which make someone else lots of money.
Oh, we've a little garden with a tiny plot turned over to vegetables and salads, about 20 square feet or so.
Does anyone here try to avoid branded stuff, and make as much as they can from scratch, or even better, grow it themselves?
Discuss.
Please.
I've probably got a very simplistic view of the whole food/lifestyle/politics thing. Tell me it's a lot more complicated than that, if it is. It usually is.

CoryIda

I do a garden every winter. I am getting the bed ready this weekend. I'm planning on growing broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, radishes, beets, and peas. I don't mind buying stuff in the store, but homegrown tastes so much better and you KNOW it doesn't have pesticides or other junk in it.

I make most things from scratch except breads. I have a milk allergy, so it's easier to make things myself than have to worry about hidden ingredients in store-bought foods.

thevetchling

Bread is easy. Well, I admit to using our Kenwood Chef machine to make it in, which is cheating. But with something like that, it is easy. Just requires organisation.
I have to admit I'm not always that organised.

thevetchling

Waiting for winter to grow that stuff. Blimey. Sounds like springtime in the UK. Hope you take pictures of the plot at full production. I'm intrigued.

CoryIda

I live in Tucson, Arizona - it was 104 degrees on October 1st! We are down to around 90 now, but typically don't get below 65-70 as a daytime temperature during the winter. It gets too hot for most things during the summer except root veggies.
For our family of 3 (me, hubby, 8 year old son), we just have a small garden (16 sq ft, and the tomatoes separately - they just about took over an entire corner of my yard last winter, so they'll get plenty of space this year) and we ended up giving away tons of our salad greens (beet greens are my favorite and we also grew romaine last year) because it was way more than we could eat on our own.

thevetchling

Our tomatoes got blight this year. A common problem in our damp summers. Now we have jars and jars of Green Tomato Chutney to keep us through the winter and spring and summer.. and .. and..
French beans and Zucchini have been the most productive things: 20lbs of zucchini of 3 plants (most off the ONE plant actually) and 25lb of purple french beans of a row that's only about 8 feet long. Our freezer's bursting.

maurierose

I'm going to sound a little bit like a commercial, but here I go :laugh:

Last year, my hubby and I build the garden box I had been wanting. Hauling 40+ bags of dirt in the back of a sedan is love and dedication on my hubby's part, lemme tell you.... :smooched:

I planted "starts" from the local nursery - bugs ate them, they died. Didn't get more than a gallon bucket of produce off the thing the entire time it was alive.

This year, turned the dirt, added more, tossed in fertilizer, composted ahead of time.... turned that in too...... and planted my own seeds. WONDER OF WONDERS, they did soooo much better than the expensive, "organic" seedlings and starts I spent $3-5 EACH on the year before...... used miracle grow in my watering can every couple of weeks..... picked up every lady bug I could find out on our lawn and carefully showed it where to find the aphid colony that threatened my garden a few times..... lo and behold, it's been a delight and a joy to have our own fresh tomatoes, yellow crookneck squash, and zucchini, and one of the best surprises was a spaghetti squash abundance that came from the composted seeds I had tossed into the garden in early spring.... :noway: :laugh: :bigsmile: I've gotten about 16 or 18 beeeeautiful spaghetti squashes, with more growing and overtaking the outside of my garden box. They store nicely in the cool dark of our pantry. Everything else freezes well, and will keep us in fresh, pesticide-free produce long into the winter months.

I've learned to "grill" my squash and zucchini along with hamburgers/hotdogs/steak/chicken/etc..... so incredibly sweet and delicious! We've had the most delicious tomato-cheese sandwiches, delightful salads (store-bought tomatoes now officially taste like water - nothing like a homegrown tomato!) I've enjoyed my spaghetti squash in place of pasta/noodles (hundreds less calories per plate), we've had zucchini in casseroles, breads, heck, even snuck it into meatloaf with no one the wiser, even the two in our house who usually don't "choose" to eat most veggies other than corn or peas.... :devil: I have enjoyed my little garden box sooooo much, and have taken a lot of pride in it.

We also planted fruit trees two years ago - got 8 cups of peaches off our little baby tree (just enough for the perfect fresh cobbler), lemons, limes, oranges, apples.... it has been ABSOLUTE HEAVEN having our own fresh foods. I can't wait to take over more of our back yard next year - muhahahahaaa!!!!! :drinker: :bigsmile:

:flowerforyou:

EDIT: Oh, we have a bread machine too...... with a timer :devil: which means I can set it up in the morning, and have a fresh, warm loaf of bread ready exactly when the crockpot or oven is done....... $16.88 at Target, on clearance..... it's on it's 5th year. :drinker:

maurierose

I also kill threads in my spare time. :ohwell:

CaptainJSK

This thread is awesome! I have been thinking about growing some stuff. I live in Tucson AZ as well and last weekend I bought a basil plant to see if I could take care of it without killing it ;-) I would love to try growing other things but we don't really have a yard, just rock, so I would have to buy some pots and plant things that would do well in pots. Thanks for all the info everyone!

CoryIda

This thread is awesome! I have been thinking about growing some stuff. I live in Tucson AZ as well and last weekend I bought a basil plant to see if I could take care of it without killing it ;-) I would love to try growing other things but we don't really have a yard, just rock, so I would have to buy some pots and plant things that would do well in pots. Thanks for all the info everyone!

Peppers grow well in pots and do really well here in Tucson. Tomatoes aren't supposed to be a winter veggie but my tomato plant went crazy last year. They do well in pots if the pots are big enough. Besides basil, other herbs like parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (now that song is going to run through my head) grow well in pots.

niknok28

We have a tiny garden and have grown various tomatoes, peppers and strawberries this year. We are in the process of building a 1/4 acre garden (all raised beds) and planting fruit trees and berries.

We currently also have chickens for meat and eggs and rabbits for meat and buy all of our meat and 90% of veggies from farms within 100 miles of our house.

In the next five years we plan to expand to turkey, quail, milk goats, honey bees and nut trees.

We noticed an immediate difference in how we felt after switching to a diet of mostly fresh foods. It certainly helps us appreciate and respect it. I remember the feeling of picking our first tomato and eating our first meat that was born and raised in our yard that I knew was treated with love, good food, tons of room to run and sunshine. If you can do it I say go for it!

Utahbeth

I wish I could say that I have a huge garden like all of you seem to have. I do have a peach tree though, that produces 40-50 gallons of peaches each September. So I've recently become acquainted with canning. And , btw, Chiptole Peach Salsa kicks *kitten*!

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chipotle-peach-salsa-with-cilantro/Detail.aspx

I started a really small container garden in May... a bit too late I think. My tomatoes never seemed to ripen on the vine, same with my bell peppers, but my zucchini took off. I enjoyed quite a bit of extra zucchini around the kitchen. I only got 1 watermelon, which stopped growing when it was about the size of a cantaloupe.

Next year I was hoping on tripling the size of the garden, planting earlier and adding some compost to my soil, and even attempting to grow some hop bines for my husbands beer making, but unfortunately we will be out of the country until mid-April.

I guess farmer's markets will have to do.

niknok28

Utahbeth- This was my first year with a garden and it was all containers. We did have some success but alot of casualties too. I LOVE our farmers market. Great thing to support. Chiptole Peach Salsa looks amazing.

I also have to take back what I said about ALL of our meat being local. Justin made me SPAM for an after workout meal. I'm pretty sure it's meat enough to count.... :ohwell:

thevetchling

Loved hearing about what sounds like an amazing project. You are taking control of your life and are getting closer to the real things in life. Love to be kept informed of your highs and lows as you expand your production, oh to have that space to play with.
Makes me hopeful about Americans. I sometimes wobble on that one, just don't tell me that you are a member of the NRA!
From an old fashioned wooly liberal.

Beebee78

We follow a paleolithic way of eating - if you can pick it or kill it you eat it! My father in law has an amazing allotment and they grow all our veggies! xxx

thevetchling

Really? What have you killed and eaten recently then? Love to see your food diary!

niknok28

Loved hearing about what sounds like an amazing project. You are taking control of your life and are getting closer to the real things in life. Love to be kept informed of your highs and lows as you expand your production, oh to have that space to play with.
Makes me hopeful about Americans. I sometimes wobble on that one, just don't tell me that you are a member of the NRA!
From an old fashioned wooly liberal.

Thank You!!! No I am not a member of the NRA and never will be but we do own guns and plan on hunting this Fall.

I will be starting a blog soon for my friends, family and people of similar interest to hear about our trials and successes. I'll be sure to post a link when that happens. :flowerforyou: