[AT] Jobs/ Stores (now gardens)

[Ralph Goff]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Dunlap" <jsdunlap at roadkill.org>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Jobs/ Stores


> To all.....this is my first year to do a large family garden, well
> large to me. I am in North Texas and I need input from you experienced
> farmers. I'm not looking for cash crops but stuff that'll freeze up
> and hold their nutritional value for a while. It will be a version of
> Victory gardens, for those of you who remember those. I am
> conservative in my politics and this is a driving point also. This
> isn't open for political discussions but for family garden and long
> term survivability.

John, just my own opinion based on wht I have grown for myself for years. 
Potatoes are the biggest crop in my garden. What I don't eat myself, the 
cats will. They keep pretty well in the cold room of my basement well into 
the next summer. And by the time your tired of them the new crop will be 
ready to start using. I've heard you can dehydrate them and save them for a 
long time that way too.
Green and yellow beans are probably next most common as I can cook and 
freeze what I don't use right away. They last a long time in the freezer. 
Same with peas and carrots. Corn also can be cooked, removed from the cob 
and frozen in freezer bags or containers for future use.
No fertilizer or pesticides used on my garden, not that I'm organic farmer 
but figure the less we have of that stuff in our system the better off we 
are. I do have my own "organic fertilizer" not too far away in the cattle 
sheds and have made use of that on occasion to increase the organic content 
of the soil.

Ralph in Sask.