Well, for our family, things work a little differently. We grow a LOT of the food we eat. Our children grow up in the garden and in the kitchen. It's not just a matter of growing our own food, but preserving and cooking it. No, this is not an easy job. It takes everyone pitching in to make it happen. But, hard work builds character and the memories we make working along side of each other, AND knowing where our food comes from is far worth the extra effort.
Every year is different as to how much we grow and preserve. After all, ultimately only the Lord can make our gardens grow. But we usually fill several hundred jars and 2 freezer full of food. And for that I am very grateful. We plan our meals around what we can, dehydrated, and freeze. Over the years we've learned how to really focus on eating fresh as well as from what we preserve. Our main garden is our summer garden, but we also have a small fall/winter garden and a small spring garden to help buffer our food supply. The majority of the produce grown during the fall, winter and spring doesn't really lend itself to preserving; although some years we do some minor canning during the off season.
The simple life can easily be confused with an 'easy life', but I can assure you, it isn't! It's non-stop hard work. Working when you're tired, sick, or there's yucky weather. Some days you really have to force yourself to be the voice of encouragement even when you're just as burnt out and exhausted as the rest of your family. But, the reward is oh so worth it. Knowing where our food comes from as well as cultivating strong family bonds through working hard together is a priceless gift we receive through this nontraditional lifestyle.
I'm often asked where a person should start with their home-growing food efforts and I aways say make a list of produce you enjoy eating and then learn how to grow it in your region. There's no sense in trying to grow something you aren't going to eat. Funny thing is the more you learn to grow, the more you want to grow AND as you are growing your own food the more you want to learn to cook and eat what you grow. It's a beautiful round robin of learning and adapting. At least this is how it happened for me. When I first started out homesteading I didn't even know the beginning of all the wonderful, delicious produce God created that we can grow with our very own hands! And I'm still learning every year!!
From there it's as simple as trial and error, perseverance and never giving up. You may be blessed and figure out gardening and growing your own food quickly, but most likely it will take time. Time to build your soil, learn your region, when the best time to grow, and so much more. It's a never ending process. I highly recommend keeping detailed gardening journals. Including what you did to your soil, where you planted crops, when you planted, the weather, and the outcome and any other notes you may find helpful for future plantings. Growing your own food isn't complicated it just takes commitment and dedication to work hard and follow through.
Despite the few people growing their own food these days there are endless resources available to learn how to garden. Anyone really can learn how to grow their own food. 20 years into this lifestyle and we are always trying new methods and planting new crops. Sometimes the new attempts work and sometimes they don't, but we keep trying and plodding forward adapting and regrouping to make our gardens the best they can be to meet the needs of our growing family. Lord willing our children will continue to pass down the knowledge adding to it as they work the soil, plant, and harvest the blessings God gives them.
At the very least may God restore in us all
the desire to be good stewards of the earth He has given us.
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
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