Annuals, Biennials and Perennials. Annuals are planted as seeds, emerge in the spring and die back in fall or winter. Biennials become established in the first year, then they produce seed and die in the second year. Perennials live for more than 2 years and produce seed most every year.
Reasons to Grow Perennials;
They require less work – once perennials get growing, all you have to do is keep the “weeds” back, perform some basic regular pruning and enjoy the crop when harvest time rolls around.
To increase your food production – perennials are often some of the first foods to emerge in the spring (ramps, chives, rhubarb and sorrel come to mind) and they are also some of the last harvested foods of the season (pears and apples).
Deeper roots = less watering – since perennials stay put in the ground, they are able to extend their roots deeper into the soil. If you live in an area that experiences drought, perennials may be the key to your gardening success.
Soil improvers – when you stop disturbing the soil, such as in no-dig gardening, you will improve the health of your soil every season.
Nutrient gatherers – the deeper roots of perennials will help to bring essential nutrients closer to the surface of the soil. This, in turn, favors the germination of annuals and biennials.
Rhubarb – Rheum rhabarbarum
Sorrel – Rumex acetosa
Chives – Allium schoenoprasum
Asparagus – Asparagus officinalis
Jerusalem artichoke – Helianthus tuberosus
Globe artichoke – Cynara scolymus
Horseradish – Armoracia rusticana
Watercress – Nasturtium officinale
Garlic (typically grown as an annual) – Allium sativum
Kale (typically grown as an annual) – Brassica oleracea var. sabellica
cover something to sleep on to sleep in to sleep under
container
cordage
cotton bandanas
cargo tape
compass
cotton sail needle
candling device
Based around the 10cs from the Pathfinder School packed within a 511 tactical Rush 12 which also contains a medical module and a hygiene module with a few pieces of food to last a day. This is set up to stay permanently in my vehicle in case I have to hike out.I still need to purchase a Bic lighter not being a non smoker and stock it with a few days of my personal medications in case of being stuck over night.
Proteins have two main functions, firstly to promote growth. Secondly they maintain supplies of enzymes, hormones, antibodies to regulate body functions. Proteins are made up of amino acids, approximately twenty act like building blocks. Eight of these are essential, that our bodies cannot do without or synthesis them itself.
Proteins from animal sources contain all essential amino acids. No single vegetable contains all of these and need a combination to provide a complete protein.
Rice / Chickpeas
Corn / Lentils
Corn / Rice
Corn / Beans
Beans / Rice
Rice / Lentils
Pasta (Wheat) / Chickpeas
To achieve a complete amino chain with vegetables; beans, corn and squash need to be used in combination. These are also referred to the three sisters. Corn, beans and squash also complement each other nutritionally. Corn provides carbohydrates, the dried beans are rich in protein, balancing the lack of necessary amino acids found in corn. Finally, squash yields both vitamins from the fruit and healthful, delicious oil from the seeds.
Carbohydrates consist of two types 1) Simple e.g.; sugars and 2) Complex e.g.; starches. Sucrose the most commonly eaten (sugar) have no nutrients and is used mainly for taste and fast energy. Complex carbs are from potato’s wholemeal bread and flour products.
Before being used by the body must be broken down into simple sugars and absorbed through the small intestine. Then used as energy or as a reserve to maintain blood sugar levels, between meals or during exercise.
Apart from providing energy, carbs are needed to metabolize protein, so they can be used for the above functions. To release the energy from carbs the body needs sufficient quantities of vitamins. Everything is connected.
Wheat
10 cups of wheat makes 14 cups of flour
1 Litre = 1 Kilogram
4 cups per 1 litre/kilogram
60 cups per 15 litres/kilograms
60 cups of wheat should make 84 cups of flour or
42 loaves of bread per 15 litre bucket.
Rice
7.4 Pounds dry per Gallon
37.0 Pounds dry per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
24 2 Cup meals per Gallon
120 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/3 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
2/3 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Beans, Great Northern
6.7 Pounds per Gallon
33.5 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
32 2 Cup meals per Gallon
160 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/2 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
HEALTHY PINTO BEANS – and PEOPLE
Someone noticed that the people in one remote village (A) on the East coast of Mexico were very healthy, yet the people in another remote village (B) about 70 miles away were not healthy. Their diets were virtually identical: a little fish, their home grown beans, some corn, and a few vegetables. The soil conditions and water available for gardening were virtually identical, and the villagers used similar clay crocks or jugs for storing their harvests.
Another obvious difference between the two villages was that the first one was able to store beans from one harvest to the next, but the poorer villagers often ran out of stored beans, as bean weevils destroyed their dried beans.
The people in village A were healthy and industrious, their children full of energy, with strong limbs and teeth, ran to their tasks and games as healthy children do. Meanwhile, in village B, the people were listless, did less work, and the children all had symptoms of rickets and scurvy.
So what could make such a tremendous difference in the health of people in two neighbouring villages? After considerable study, it turned out there were two things the people of the distant villages were doing differently.
In village A, a watchful villager had noticed that bean weevils had to brace themselves against one bean in order to gnaw through the hard outer shell of another bean. So they only filled their storage crocks three-fourths full, and once a month would shake them. The shaking of the beans would by itself kill the been weevil larvae, and thus their beans would remain unharmed in storage.
Again, in village A, persons long before had noticed that beans were hard to digest, which meant that all of the food value was not being extracted from them. So they added a teaspoon full of wood ashes (lye) to the soaking water for their beans, then rinsed the beans and discarded the soaking water before cooking. The lye altered the state of the lysine in the beans, so the available amino acids were much more readily assimilated by the human digestive tract. It worked: they were healthy.
You are wondering if the researchers took those lessons from Village A back to Village B, and everything turned out just fine, like in a fairy tale, right? Well, they tried, but the B villagers said they had been growing and saving beans for years, they knew what they were doing, and something as simple as shaking their beans was dumb, and they weren’t going to put any wood ashes in their beans. Sounds like the tale of the ant and the grasshopper.
Toxicity
Before they are eaten, the raw bean seeds should be soaked in water for several hours and then boiled for at least ten minutes in new fresh water to degrade a toxic compound – the lectinphytohaemagglutinin – found in the bean which would otherwise cause severe gastric upset. This compound is present in many varieties (and in some other species of bean), but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans and white kidney beans (Cannellini beans). Although in the case of dry beans the ten minutes required to degrade the toxin is much shorter than the hours required to fully cook the beans themselves, outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with the use of slow cookers whose low cooking temperatures may be unable to degrade the toxin. Sprouts of pulses high in haemaglutins should not be eaten. Kidney beans, especially, should not be sprouted.
This is the most commonly used bean used for refried beans (fresh or canned) and in many dishes. Rice and pinto beans served with cornbread or corn tortillas are often a staple meal where there is limited money for meat, as the combination of beans and corn creates all the protein amino acids needed in a meat substitute.When it comes to making chilli, if a bean is added, this is the one typically used, although the kidney bean, black bean, and many others may also be used in other locales.
Ill give these guys a plug. After trying to find something to freeze ticks off,all I could locate was wart spray and the containers were too large to actually carry in a pack. These are only 90mm tall, easy to carry. Id recommend having in the bush any where along the East coast of Australia.
When The C word happened everyone went berserk and brought every seed in the shops but had no idea how to grow them. What to grow or at what time of year to plant. When everything settled I thought it was a good time to buy seeds for myself.
Im going to compare this to bug out bags. How Independent do you want to be?Do you just want to feel safe or do you want something that works? I can see of most Bug out bags on the net, they dont work! Theyll get you home or to some where your headed but not for what their intended for. Look at long distance hikers. The amount of food they require for 8 to 10 days of hiking to keep up calories. Then they have food drops every week.
So this is going to be based around several layers. If you just want to feel safe then its an easy $40 for the survival seed pack. This will require some study as to when to grow the seeds. Or the next level are the seasonal seed packs with directions on when to grow.
The other questions to ask yourself are. Are you growing vegetables for yourself, a large family, are you intending to sell or trade surplus. Will you be saving seeds for the next year.
I cant answer all these question but I can point you in the right directions of which to ask. I could give a specific number of seeds to purchase but Id have people arguing the numbers so to make it easy Ill do it this way. Purchase one packet of say winter vegetables for one year, two packets for a large family, three packets if your saving seeds. Four packets if your intending to trade produce.
Other things to consider are. Medicinal plants, Green manure crops, Bug repeal ant crops and companion Planting. Staple crops such as corn and burdock roots.How far do you want to go and how much do you want to spend.
The three sisters or as I call them the five sisters. Corn grown with squash and beans to provide a complete amino acid chain. Grown together with rat tail radish and amaranth. Sun Flower can also be used in the mix. The last two are to help with disguising against pests.
Ive steered away from potatoes as a staple for the need of seed potatoes. Preferring Burdock, okra, corn and yams. Growing corn varieties that are designed for bread making. Youll notice three varieties of corn these need to be planted two weeks apart to prevent cross pollination.
What Ive done
Essentially what I’ve done is, Brought one each of the summer, winter, spring and autumn seed packs. These are for the first year. Ive purchased one packet of the Survival Seeds mix. These are to cover me for the second year, if I cant collect enough seeds from the first year or pests destroy too many seed heads. Of the smaller packets such as tomatos and salad crops. Ive brought 4 of each to have enough seeds for two years. Everytime I see a sale of heirloom seeds at a hardware store I then buy more of my favorites such as cherry tomatos. Eventually getting into berry crops, being faster to grow and crop than tree fruits.So far Ive spent close to $600 on seeds and as yet to purchase green manures or berrys and Im not qualified to even think about medicinal herb use.
Summer Legumes: cowpea, lablab, mung bean, soybean, lucerne Summer Grasses: buckwheat, French white millet, Japanese millet Winter Legumes: fava bean (broad bean), fenugreek, lupins, sub clover, red clover, white clover, woolly pod vetch, chick pea Winter Grasses: barley, oats, rye, wheat, buckwheat Winter/Summer other: Biofume mustards, beets, corn salad, endive, kale, mustard, purslane, rocket, radish, spinach, turnip
Reasons to grow a Green Manure Crop’ to protect and feed soil when it is lying fallow between crops to aerate soil to improve moisture holding capacity of soil to increase organic matter in soil to suppress weeds to provide flowers and habitat for beneficial insects to increase worm population in the soil to increase micro organisms in the soil to add depleted nutrients to the soil to prevent erosion to reduce pest and diseases to make your own mulch
· Alyssum, Carpet of Snow – attracts beneficial insects · Basil, Cinnamon – repels mosquitoes and deters potato beetles · Basil, Genovese – all around my favorite to repel almost everything · Borage- repels tomato hornworms and deters squash bugs · Calendula- to deter cabbage moths and aphids · Chamomile, German · Chives- to deter aphids and Japanese beetles · Cilantro – to attract hoverflies · Dill- helps cabbage family and attracts beneficial insects · Marigold- to repel cabbage moths, potato beetles and squash bugs · Nasturium- to repel aphids, potato bugs and squash bugs, but also to attract a lot of bugs away from your other vegetables · Oregano- to deter a wide variety of insects · Painted Daisy · Parsley- to attract hoverflies · Petunia, Dwarf Mix – repels aphids · Sage- to deter cabbage moths and carrot flies · Sunflower- to attract bug eating birds · Thyme- to deter cabbage moths · zinnia- to attract Japanese beetles away from your beans
Plant near: most garden crops Keep away from: rue Comments: improves the flavor and growth of garden crops, especially tomatoes and lettuce. Repels mosquitoes.
January: Capulin cherries, blueberries, plums, plumcotts, late apricots, pawpaws, lemons, lychees, strawberries and all the brambleberries, peaches, nectarines, plums.
February: Apples, figs, blueberries, jackfruit, jaboticoba, guava, pepinos, lychees, nashi, pears, rockmelons and watermelons, more berries.
March: Apples, olives, avocadoes, custard apples, lychees, brambleberries, early quinces, early persimmons, pears, melons, grapes, strawberries and brambleberries.
April: Pomegranates, medlars, pears, Valencia oranges, lemons, early limes, olives, late figs, quinces, Granny Smith and other medium late apples, passionfruit, tamarillos, late grapes, chestnuts, walnuts, persimmons, grapefruit, guavas, feijoas, strawberry guavas, carob, chestnuts, Brazilian cherries, pomegranates, guavas, jackfruit, early calamondins, lillypillies, kerriberries, late strawberries, raspberries, bananas, avocadoes, Irish strawberry-tree fruit, melons, pistachios and pecans.
May: Figs, early mandarins, limes, pomegranates, late apples, late Valencia or early Navel oranges, tangelos, citrons, kumquats, tamarillos, early kiwifruit, late passionfruit high up on the vine, late raspberries, late strawberries if grown on a high garden away from early frost, olives, persimmons if the birds havent finished them, feijoa, bananas, medlars.
June: Apples (Lady Williams, Sturmer Pippin, French Crab), feijoa, Navel oranges, kiwifruit, limes, mandarins, citrons, grapefruit, bananas, avocadoes, late passionfruit high on the vine, banana passionfruit, guava, strawberry guava, pomegranates if the birds havent eaten them, lillypillies in warm areas, citrons, medlars, olives, late tamarillos above the frost, winter rhubarb.
July: Apples (Lady Williams, Sturmer Pippin, French Crab), feijoa, Navel oranges, kiwifruit, limes, mandarins, citrons, grapefruit, bananas, avocadoes, late passionfruit high on the vine, banana passionfruit, guava, strawberry guava, pomegranates if the birds havent eaten them, lillypillies in warm areas, citrons, medlars, olives, late tamarillos above the frost, winter rhubarb.
August: Sturmer Pippin or Lady Williams apples that improve when stored and wrinkled, unlike most other fruit, stored quinces, Navel oranges, lemons, lemonade fruit, custard apples in warm areas, tangelos, mandarins, cumquats, calamondins, pomelos, shaddock, satsuma, lillypillies in warm areas, Atherton raspberries in warmer areas, Japanese raisin fruit (swollen stems), kiwifruit, grapefruit, avocadoes, a few macadamia nuts, rhubarb and Tahitian and kaffir limes.
September: Navel oranges, lemons, grapefruit, cumquats, calamondins, limes, tangelos, tangor, mandarins, avocadoes, small alpine strawberries (not the large, new varieties that fruit later), Japanese raisin fruit, lillypillies, pawpaw in warmer areas, Cape gooseberries if they havent been frosted off (autumn will mature now), ditto tamarillos, early loquats and rhubarb.
October: Loquats, Navel oranges, lemons, limes, tangelos, tangor, mandarins, grapefruit, cumquats, calamondins, pomelos, citrons, Tahitian limes, kaffir limes, citrons, early blueberries, lillypillies, Japanese raisin fruit, avocadoes, early strawberries, early raspberries in warm spots, rhubarb, banana passionfruit and tamarillos ripening from last season. Keep eating stored Lady Williams apples and nuts.
November: Cherries, early peaches, early nectarines, early apricots, small early plums, loquats, oranges, mandarins, citrons, bush lemons, early Capulin cherries, lemons, limes, grapefruit, tangelos, avocadoes, strawberries, blueberries, early loganberries, Japanese raisin fruit, lillypillies and early raspberries.
December: Cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, apricots, passionfruit, banana passionfruit, gooseberries, Cape gooseberries, Valencia oranges left on the tree, lemons, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, boysenberries and other brambleberries such as loganberries, Capulin cherries, lillypillies and sometimes early figs. JF 2012
