Understanding Companion Planting

From bacteria in yogurt making to the Amazon anywhere something grows there is an ecosystem. As homesteaders our goal is to cultivate the perfect ecosystem for plants and repelling the pests that would destroy it. Companion planting is more than not planting cabbage where you planted tomatoes. It is giving your garden a healthy environment from soil acidity to 

succession planting. 

Ecosystems and Monocultures

An ecosystem is a biological community of different organisms and their physical environment. Like the human body any ecosystem needs to maintain a careful balance. Too much of anything could harm it irreparably. In traditional agriculture monocultures are developed that skew the balance and cause pest and disease to take over. The pesticides kill the good with the bad and as the diseases become more virulent they use stronger pesticides.  Studies have shown the effects of different waves of environmental damage from monocultures. This is an extreme example of how important maintaining balance is. 

What is Companion Planting? 

There are complicated charts and whole books about  what should be planted where. Each plant has its own preferences and needs which are provided by others. Taking the time to plan garden styles and placement all comedown to the details of plant placement. Taller plants can shelter shorter ones, space can be used more efficiently, pests can be repelled, and pollinators can be attracted. 

Know the Main Plant Families

The Allium family is made up of onions, leeks, garlic, leeks, shallots, chives, and scallions. Brassicas include cabbage, Brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, and cauliflower. Some of the more well known Legumes are lentils, pole and green beans, and peanuts. Nightshades include tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Each of these families are very large and include many more fruits and vegetables. The Gourd family includes cucumber, melons, squash, and your handy dandy luffa sponge. There are always exceptions, but here is the general rule.

Alliums like Brassica and Solanum, but dislike Legumes

Brassicas like Alliums, but dislike Nightshades

Nightshades like Alliums, but dislike Brassicas and Legumes

Legumes like Nightshades and Brassicas, but dislike Alliums 

Gourds like Legumes and Alliums, but dislike Nightshades

Some of these are so repellent you can’t plant them in the same ground like Brassicas and Nightshades. Others, like Legumes, are more selective for example bush beans like Brassicas less than they like Nightshades. 

2. Carrots and Beets

Carrots and beets are from different families, but both families are difficult to just plant by family. Carrots are from the Apiaceae family which also includes parsley and celery. Alliums like Carrots, but hate Parsley. The similarity is the division. 

Beta vulgaris, the family that contains chard and beets, like bush beans, but dislikes pole beans.   

3. Radishes Drive Off Pests!

Planting radishes near Gourds, Legumes, Brassicas, and Nightshades will drive off many types of beetles. It is best to let some radish go to seed to drive off the pests through the growing season. 

Many plants drive off pests and discourage other infestation. Potatoes drive off the Mexican Bean Beetle and Beans do the same for the Potato Beetle. 

4. Always use Marigolds

Not only do they drive off beetles, nematodes, and flies, but their roots excrete a strong natural pesticide  

This is the end of our Early Garden Planning series, so we will be looking at future series and other posts after Christmas. 

Square Foot Gardening vs. French Intensive

While there are many alternative methods we will discuss in future posts like straw bale gardening, today we are focusing on the main ones, Square Foot Gardening and the French Intensive Method. Each system is a tool that gives something to your garden like time management, companion planting options, and food production. They also leave something wanting whether it is water use or space.

In my first garden we used raised beds to grow tomatoes and sunflowers at the bottom of a revine behind our house. The hill was steep and I remember long hikes up and down the hill to bring water and haul produce.  Even then we had our garden far away from our house. Raised beds are a staple in a high dry mountain town like ours. The dirt is hard and rocky for the most part and it takes years to rebuild topsoil eroded away. The only thing that does love the dirt are the gophers whose holes turn the ankles of unobservant adventurers.

Raised beds at their simplest are a sturdy wood box with gopher wire on the bottom filled with clean dirt. The soil is in good condition, it drains well, and is easy to work with.  Season extending is made easier in both spring and winter by warmer soil and easily contained areas. Dormant weeds aren't a problem and the loose dirt makes new weeds easy to handle. The only draw back is the investment and periodic replacement. 

Square Foot Gardening
I have used wood scraps to build a small raised bed in my front yard for my cold weather crops with Square Foot Gardening. The Square Foot Method is a way of using the raised bed space as efficiently as possible. We have a 4'x4' square box with twine dividing each square foot off. The best way to divide the box up is to use a simple wooden grid as seen in Amy's garden below. 

Each square can be divided even further for plants with closer spacing like radishes and carrots. Bigger plants like squash or cabbage take a full square while smaller produce is planted close together to create a mulch like covering for the soil preventing weed growth. Mel Bartholomew, the author of The All-New Square Foot Gardening Book, also uses a soil mix of one third peat moss, compost, and vermiculite. He says you should switch it out every year in order to reduce weeds and ensure enough nutrient for the next crop. 

There are drawbacks to Square Foot Gardening. Like raised beds there are start up and maintenance costs. Not only the materials for the raised beds, but also the soil, a.k.a. Mel's Mix,  which runs eight dollars per cubic foot.

The biggest issue with square foot gardening is that it does not give back to the land around  and it drains the nutrients from the raised bed with no long term return. While cover crops are suggested, the emphasis is to continue bringing in the best, use it, and ditch it. This does make gardening prep easy, but it is not very responsible. 

The French Intensive Method
The French Intensive Method is incredibly detail oriented. I like this one because it uses the land and feeds it with loads of compost and aeration. It is very water conscious and also very productive. It is not related to the raised bed methods and requires more patience as well. Like the Square Foot Method the plants are spaced so that the mature leaves barely touch leaving a vegetable mulch on top of the compost soil. Double digging came from this method where they turned over 24 inches of dirt for deep aeration. 

A clever combination of raised beds and the French Intensive Method was developed by Alan Chadwick called the Biodynamic French Intensive System. He includes beds planted north to south for maximum sunlight, careful cultivation of a luxurious green house layer, management of water so the plants receive just enough. Like the Square Foot Method beds are planted to be comfortable to reach into and everything planted closely together. Slim walkways only inches wide allow the beds to keep the right temperature and foster a warm environment. Of all of the methods this one is the most labor intensive involving double dug beds slightly raised for good drainage and, most difficult of all, the ability to straddle and squat over your beds while planting. 

Each system we have looked at has a unique purpose and goal. Square foot gardening is made to be easy on the gardener while French Intensive gives back to the land a lot more. I agree with Alan Chadwick that there is something worthwhile in both of these methods. At my house we double dig and then mix all of our dirt with peat moss, worm castings, and compost. The compost is from horse, goat and chicken manure and kitchen scraps. There are Square Foot Gardening years and French Intensive years. The most important thing is to keep growing. 

In our next post in the series we'll be talking about companion planting!

Do You Have Extra Space?

For the last ten years my family has lived on 4.6 acres, raising animals and food. Our beautiful home is at the foot of our property and the garden is set back into the mountainside. Nearly a decade later there are a few things that would have worked better and some we got right.

1) Location, Location, Location!!!
No matter how much space you have, keep your garden somewhere you will see it from your living room. There is no greater inspiration than the possibility of the local homesteading group seeing your untrellised tomatoes and eggplant sprawling together in a weed patch.

Our garden is almost out of site of the house. It is set back into the far corner of the fenced area and that is probably our biggest regret. Proximity is important. Out of sight, out of mind. When life got busy, we didn't have wilty plants reminding us to check drippers and fallen onions in full view.
It made it difficult to just go out to the garden for a little bit and in time the work would pile up until it was one big bramble. Basil would bolt and squash would get too big to use.
Ideally, the garden would be right outside the house, making it easy to maintain and use produce in the kitchen.

2) Start Small  
Different seasons in life determine how much you can do. As you plan and develop your garden start small the first year and figure out the basics: compost, water, and sunlight. Once you have these things in place expanding will become more natural and sustainable. Finding what works for you could mean growing an orchard, vineyard, or multiple raised beds.

Take the time to learn about your land. What are the pests? Are you able to use water catchment or is there a natural spring? What natural pollinators are there? Are there any local varieties to try? Meet your neighbors and learn about their gardens. Learn to do a few things really well.

Small spaces force you to get the most out of every inch of your garden. Using space well is a learned skill and another reason to start small. No matter how large your garden is, if it is poorly maintained or difficult to access, you will not get the full yield. Using a space well goes beyond weeding, it is using planting methods,  companion planting, and sustainable systems. (These things will all have their own post, so stay tuned to learn more!)

Each of these things gives back more than it takes. Planting methods bring out superior yield. Companion planting uses different vegetables to drive off pests and increase pollination. Each tool overlaps into the others to create a system. For example, if you plant radishes by a cucumber it will make the soil too hot for the cucumber beetle. In Square Foot gardening you might plant one foot of radishes next to a trellised cucumber. All of this together creates a tiny system that keeps beetles away.

3) Dry Farming
Currently, many gardeners will testify to the value of stressing crops to make them sweeter and now in California a larger market for dry farmed produce is growing. In Europe most of their wine grapes are dry farmed.  Water is a big issue in California and most of the United States. Just a couple years ago, the water table was so low in Georgia the residents had to limit their showers. When it did rain, the pavement filled state flooded and the ground eroded. With plentiful accessible water, more people have filled there land with grass, landscaping, and food. Before this Indians in the Southwest used dry farming methods in areas with low precipitation.

In his book, Gardening When It Counts, Steve Solomon says that before modern water methods developed farmers needed large portions of land to spread out there crops. The orchards and fields were spread out so that the roots could feed off of the ground water. This developed smaller, intensely flavored fruits and vegetables.

This system is directly opposite of most gardening methods. The intensive methods require large amounts of water and high maintenance. Putting large amounts of food in one area drains the soil of nutrients and requires large amounts of amendment and compost.

Will you consider taking this route?

4) Please, Don't Plant A Lawn

40 Million acres are currently covered in turf grass.

17 Million gallons of oil are spilled trying to maintain it per year.

700,000, 000 dollars are spent on pesticides for lawns (This is about ten times the amount of pesticides per acre on farms)

5 billion dollars is spent on fossil fuel derived fertilizers per year. 

30-60 percent of potable water is used on lawns. (It varies by the city)

This is 60 million acre-feet of water per year. That is enough water to cover 60,000,000 acres in one foot of water. 

 40-50 Million Americans have allergies related to grass, but they still spend water and money keeping it alive!

According to the UN Water Cooperation Project, "783 million people do not have access to clean water and almost 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation."


We can use our resources better. Our land is dry and people around us need food and water. Let's take the time to be thankful for what we have and ask for the wisdom to do what is best with it. If you would like to donate to help a few great water projects, check out water.org or WaterisLife.

Our next post in this series will be publish the Monday after Thanksgiving. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Small Space Gardening!

Earlier this year I moved into a second story two bedroom apartment. It is perfect for my husband and I with plenty of room for books, a good kitchen, and lots of beautiful views. The only drawback is the garden space - a small deck space for potted plants and start thistle everywhere else. It was clear that we would have to get creative if we wanted anything besides African Violets in the window sill. I had to start thinking about gardening differently and it has made all of the difference.

A small space doesn’t mean you can’t have a garden. Many people who have hundred of acres are unable to use what they have well. The best part of having a small space is learning to make the most of every nook. The old addage of "Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do with out" rings true here! We have used wall and ceiling space, culled out the extra bits, and enjoyed living a simpler, clutter free life. When it came to gardening, I was ready to rewrite my opinions on what had to be a certain way. 

When you plant anything and care for it you have a garden. 

You don't have to have rows, grow the right plants, or even have it all outside!  When looking for a good gardening apartment, keep an eye out for lots of windows and southern exposure. That will help out in the winter when most growing grinds to a halt. Small apartments are perfect for live-in green houses. With lots of light and a little extra warmth you can keep harvest all through the cold dark winter months. Nothing like green growing things to push the winter blues away.  

We started with shallow rooted greens in our windowsills and after some trial and error figured out a few simple changes to the traditional garden methods. We are using as many alternative methods as we can - containers, pallets, raised beds, and straw bales. As Anne Shirley would say we have been given a lot of scope for the imagination. Each of these methods has pros and cons. 

We mix the plants we want to the method that fits.

Pallets can hold trailing plants like strawberries and squash as well as containers of shallow rooted veggies. Straw bales are good in case you have to move and raised beds can double as cold frames. 

1. Container Gardening

     Terra cotta pots are beautiful and porous which makes them good for both sunken clay watering vessels and lettuce greens. Recently my husband repurposed a wood pallet into a pot rack to hold my next flat of seedlings. The best part is that as the pots drain they will 'rain' on each other keeping the greens moist and lovely.  Different sized pots can hold anything from lettuce and brussel sprouts to beets and onions.

Also, I grow herbs in containers in my kitchen.  I am going to try leeks this year by planting them at the bottom of a big pot and hill them every few weeks, until the pot is full. You can use them indoors or outdoors and with a dish underneath save water by using creating a small reservoir.  Container gardening gives you so much freedom - to create, to move, and to give your porch some curb appeal! 

2. Grow Vertical
     My kitchen doesn't have a lot of drawer space, so we hung up all of our utensils and dishes on pegboard or a ceiling rack. There are so many ways to hang herbs on the wall or  strawberries from the ceiling. I use a cute herb rack from Home Goods for instant fresh flavors.

This doesn't just apply to the full grown plants. I grow my seedlings in a bookshelf with grow lights hanging from the shelf above. So far I have everything from kale and chard to St. John's Wort popping up. Don't negect the higher spots in your apartment. Hot air rises and if you have enough clearance, the top of bookshelves, extra dresser space and hanging baskets are perfect for those warm weather veggies. 

3. Communicate 
     Just recently I got permission to put a raised bed in below our apartment! We also have a compost pile and a worm hive. I am hoping to turn our raised bed into a cold frame for winter crops, but all of this would have been impossible if I hadn't picked up the phone and asked. 

      Gardens give a property more value and purpose. They look good and that is an asset to your land lord. We keep everything cleaned up and make sure nothing smells funny. By fostering our relationship with our realtors (and giving them seasonal goods) we are opening more oportunities to expand on the property and maybe get chickens!

       This summer we are going to use straw bales and five gallon buckets to grow corn, tomatoes, eggplant, and more of summer's bounty!

4. Compost

     We have talked about composting on Homestead Revival before. Right now I compost in two different places. We buried a rubermaid container about six months ago and inside we started a worm hive.

 By having two at the same time, I can mix vermiculite and compressed compost with a little peat moss to make a good seedling mix. In our raised bed we have horse manure and seasoned goat and chicken manure. Our  goal is to rebuild the soil where ever we live, so double digging and mixing in the good stuff is worth the extra effort. We won't live here for long, but we will leave it better than when we came.  This next year I want to cover our raised bed area with newspaper, straw, and wood chips, so it composts into beautiful dirt and defeat the star thistle. 

Small spaces have so much potential! Enjoy the space you have and fill it with as much beauty as you can. On Friday we will talk about using larger spaces well. 

What do you like about your space? 

Early Season Garden Planning: Reading Seed Catalogs

Seed catalogs are a love language of their own, filled with tiny time capsules promising me purple speckled pole beans and peppers that will make my husband finally admit their is a hot sauce too hot. In a perfect world I would buy one of everything and find out what I like through trial and error. Alas! Budgets, time, and my small apartment scheme against me. While I still buy a large amount of seeds every year, I have learned some of what to look for.

     Between the pictures of purple carrots and multicolored tomatoes its easy to look for the strangest and most stunning pictures and skip the print, but there are a few things to know.

Open Pollination

 These seeds are pollenated by anything, the wind, bees, and people. They are able to develop characteristics that fit their environment better and adapt over time into a unique heirloom.  

Open pollinators give you a little more control over pollination and are what you need for seed saving. Left to themselves different varieties of the same species will cross polinate, but there are different ways to manage this without having to buy seeds every year.  For example, there are four species of squash and if you’re letting nature take its course you can only plant one of each. The Pepo species has many of my favorites from Patty Pan to Black Beauty Zuchinni. If you want to save the seeds, it is easy to rub the male flowers of each plant into the female ones and cover them with a brown bag until the fruit forms. 

Heirloom

An heirloom variety is an open pollenated plant that has developed particular traits which makes it unique and desirable. All heirlooms are open pollinators, but not all open pollinators are heirloom varieties. 

One of  my goals is to develop varieties particularly suited to my area. All of the heirlooms I love were bred especially for their area whether it was planned or accidental. We are losing varieties all across the nation as corporations plant mono crops  that slowly ween out the unique attributes of local seed. 

Hybrids

These are different variety of a species that have been bred together to develop a particular trait like higher yields or larger plants. In a catalog it will be described as F1 Hybrid. The seed from hybrids will not grow true to the original product. Gardeners who use them have to buy seed every year. 

There is no one size fits all form for choosing varieties. When you are reading the catalog, think about what problems you usually have. In my parent’s garden, they don’t get enough sunlight to fully ripen tomatoes, so my mom looked for varieties known for early maturity. The most commonly known variety is Early Girl which is an F1 Hybrid. The patent for the genetic strains behind this beautiful fruit are owned by Seminis, a seed house purchased by Monsanto. According to farmers who work with Seminis they were unable to provide untreated organic seed to the farmers which means we will have to start looking at other varieties to get tomatoes in June. Baker Creek and Seed Savers earliest varieties are beautiful and tasty. I am growing Black Cherry Tomatoes which mature at 65 - 70 days from their transplanting date.  

Other characteristics are dwarf, long season varieties, and great producers. 

Another good option is to look for varieties that come from your area or an area similar. I live in a wide valley that has long hot summers with full sunlight for twelve to seventeen hours in the summer. I have chosen varieties from Iraq and the south west. There are micro climates in every area, so get to know the extremes and use them as assets. I am so excited about my Iraqi variety!

I bargain shop for everything, but when it came to seeds I was ready to just buy from the place that had what I wanted. The thought of trying to do anything else gave me a headache. 

I researched all my varieties individually to look for reviews and more information about growing them in my area. While some were only sold by one company, most websites had a close variety. This year I have planned my garden from two companies, Seed Savers Exchange and Baker Creek Seeds. For the most part their prices were comparable, but each seed house had a vegetable that they grew more and sold for less. 

I am still checking out local seed companies for late season crops and can’t wait to discover new favorites. Exploring new catalogs is exciting and familiar and the first step of a year of adventure!

     In a previous post, we talked about gardening like your life depended on it. While many of us have option of buying from the store, it is not one I like to use. Whether the reasons are ethical, nutritional, or economic, the most important thing is to do as much as you can. I love to grow things and watch life spring up under my care. My goal is to have a continuous garden next year and grow enough to provide for my family.

Even though I hope to save my seed, I will never be done with catalogs. There will always be a new variety to try or back up seeds to buy. Seed catalogs are full of potential and challenge; they inspire me to try new things and keep trying until I find the plant that works the best for me. Producing pitch black tomatoes and turnips the size of an ostrich egg doesn't hurt. 

Next time we will look at where we plant our gardens. 

Early Season Garden Planning: Why Plan Early

After the winter crop is in, it’s time to pull out the garden journal, seed catalogues, and notebooks to prepare for the next season! While some people wait for January and February to start planning, I choose the brisk and beautiful month of October. The first frost on spinach leaves fills me with anticipation for sweet leafy greens and a new year of planting. With a hot cup of tea I get down to business concocting new ways to grow food for two in our two bedroom apartment.
   It is easy to let the months drift by until all of the sudden plants need to be in the ground and all you have are the seeds you didn't really like from the year before. I have done this too many times to get caught again. Early planning starts out every season well and prepares both the garden and the gardener for the work ahead.

 




        Every year seed catalogs are sent out in January and February just as the winter blues set in. As a seed catalog enthusiast, I order early copies and keep the previous year's religiously. Favored varieties like Amish Snap Peas and non-genetically modified Early Girl Tomatoes are snapped up by gardening ninjas leaving those who savor each catalog description in the dust.
     Seed availability depends upon where and when you order. Larger companies, like Johnny's have a larger store of seed, but there is a trade off. Some of their seeds are genetically modified and Johnny's is owned by Monsanto involved with Seminis, a seed house owned by Monsanto (9/10/14).  I prefer to support smaller companies that cultivate dying varieties, both unmodified and rarely hybridized. My current favorites are Seed Savers Exchange and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.   Orders late in the season long after the spring blitz are less likely to have unavailable varieties.

    When I plan my garden and order my seeds early, I know right away if I need to change a variety or plan a second order for late winter. After my seeds arrives, I can have an order form or online cart for any last minute needs. This gives me extra time to double check my plan and make sure I have every seed I need before the seedlings need to be planted. This year I realized after two different seed orders I hadn't ordered any Patty Pan squash and my favorite variety of snap pea wouldn't be available until next year. Fortunately, I am planning in October for what I need in January and there is still plenty of time to find the best plants.

      I am a dirt nerd and have been known to romanticize long days of canning, weeding, or hauling prickly dead squash plants. I like to focus on what is going right whether it is germination rates or bumper crops of tomatillos.  While these things are great, in order to improve my skills and grow better food I need to be closer to the hard moments. It is also easy to cloak an entire year in failure because tomatoes rotted, the corn had worms, and for every weed you pulled five more came up.
The longer we wait to plan for the next year, the more rose colored (or bleak) the previous year becomes. Gardening is hard work!
 I keep a detailed garden journal of every plant from germination to yields to avoid letting my memory color the reality of the season.  Every year as the garden becomes more consuming the journal gets less legible. By planning early, I can still remember what most of my notes meant.

     Whether you garden year round, use season extenders, or enjoy summer's bounty there is always a cycle to get the most from the ground. It needs rest, feeding, seeding, weeding, and harvesting. All of these things find their natural place in the cycle of the seasons. In order to get the most out of their garden, summer gardeners need to compost and mulch in the winter, prep seedlings through out the spring and summer while they plant, maintain, and harvest during the summer and fall. The more seasons you work, the more of these things you will be doing at any given time.
 

     The longer you give yourself to plan, the better the product will be. There is a ton to manage every year from compost to companion planting. I can prepare in case things go wrong. I have had mice eat all my peas, tomatoes freeze because we planted too early, and whole flats of seedling die unplanted. Nothing ever goes perfectly, but I have learned to plant lots of extra seedlings and have seeds in reserve. Planning gives me more room to recover. From a sustainable approach early garden planning prevents me from having to use potentially harmful products and helps to work on my longterm goals to steward the land around me.  This creates a natural flow to my garden from season to season in order to reach its full potential.

     By late fall saved seeds and stored food are ready to be assessed for the coming year. The cans of sauces, jams, pickles, and ferments have started coming off the shelves for fall meals and winter gifts. As each can is used we can determine how much time and work went into it and what we got out of it. A quart of tomato sauce from a pound of tomatoes made with a couple dozen others on a sixteen hour work day in July will be gone in an hour or two, barring leftovers. Every family will value different things. What do you miss? What was gone before the jar lids had time to seal? Will you have enough applesauce to make it to the next autumn? You can buy more or less seeds depending upon how you answer these questions. Also, you can determine whether it was a better use of time to make your own or buy from a local provider. I usually reassess every couple months and adjust the next season's plan accordingly.
  It is time to do germination tests on the new seeds. Seeds from open pollinated plants will develop characteristics suited to your area. However if the germination rates are on the low side, it is good to buy a few back up packets.

 





    When Homestead Revival began, I lived in a chilly zone 4 microclimate where we grew seedlings in February or March to plant short season varieties in late May, but we could still get snow in June. We could grow broccoli year round. Now I live in zone 8b with roughly four months of frost threat. This week marks eighteen weeks before the Last Frost Date, so I have seeded all of my brassicas for next year and hope to get broccoli and cabbage before it is too hot for either.
    Zones are usually discussed in landscaping, but it is a huge factor in food crops. Extreme weather causes buds not to set and limits which foods will thrive. If I waited until March to plant, none of my early season crops could survive. In my zone I can plant an early spring garden, plan two summer harvests, a fall crop, and greens all year.
    Early planning helps me get the most out of my zone, avoid prime pest and disease times, and ensure that my plants will set seed at different times, so I can save them for the following year.

      Early planning is key to the success of any garden. Knowing what I need to do to feed my family reduces stress and increases my productivity. After the months of hard work it is tempting to take a break. I would encourage you to take a little time each day to plan and prepare to reach your next garden goals.

In my next post we will be looking at seed orders and how to determine what is best for your garden.

Why You Should Shun Cheap Groceries

I'm sure by now, everyone has heard we can expect an increase in food prices before the summer is out. As if they don't seem high enough already! But what we fail to realize is that historically, food prices have always been high and it's only in the last 30 years or so that we've enjoyed the benefits of a lower grocery budget.

At the turn of the 20th century, families spent approximately 43 percent of their income on food for the table. Woah... let that sink in a minute. That's more than the average house payment. In fact, that's nearly HALF one's income! Take out another 10% for tithe and 10% for savings and you're left with only 37% of your salary. Of course, taxes were much lower then, but how many of you could pay the utilities, gasoline (much less buy a car), clothe your children, and provide the other "necessities" on that kind of money.

You may have to soon. And perhaps it wouldn't be a bad thing.

With the dawn of regular farming subsidies, prices at the market started falling. Today, only about 11 - 19% is spent on food. And what did we do with all that "extra cash"? We began entertaining ourselves. (I have a LOT to say on this topic, but I'll reserve that for another day).

But what's worse is that it's come at a price. Perhaps delayed, but unavoidably obvious... our health is on the line. The health of the soil, the animals, and our bodies.

And there's more! All those government subsidies opened the door for our government to control crop production. And whoever controls the food production, controls the world. Hmmm... I don't think this is what God had in mind when He said, "Take dominion over the earth".

Really, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe in human greed. It's in the heart of all men (and women). Over time, the way we've managed food has become a vicious cycle allowing greed to flourish, not only on the part of government, but farmers, and yes, even consumers. We want cheap food and lots of it! In fact, we want any food, at any time, at a cheap price. We even want "healthy" food at bargin prices.

Can anyone say "gluttony"?

Just what do we think that word means, anyway?

At this point in time, we've convinced ourselves as a nation that government subsidies and scientifically modified, chemically laced foods are the only way to farm and feed people. Perhaps YOU may be enlightened, but the majority of the population still believes this.

For example... I pulled over on the side of the road to buy some "local" honey from a man on the corner and I asked him a bit about his product. I only needed to pose two questions to know I was NOT getting what I had hoped... "Where do you keep your hives?" (turns out it was "a friend" over 135 miles away) and "Does your friend use chemicals to treat them for mites and disease?", at which point he started to tell me that you really can't raise bees without treating them, blah, blah, blah...

If he was using natural methods, I'm sure he would have been quick to offer this up, but instead, he started in on a long, round about way of trying to convince me that there really wasn't such a thing as naturally raised honey. Now, I'm a beekeeper myself, and I know very well I can't control where my bees fly. But I can control what methods I use in the hive itself.

Look... I think most of you already know this stuff. Even if you've only had a nagging feeling, tugging at you in the back of your mind... you've known for a while something isn't right with all that food in the supermarket.

Why am I addressing this, yet again? 

• Because I need a constant reminder why I'm going to pay more to a local farmer for in-season, non-GMO, grass fed, pesticide-free, non-subsidized, real, whole food.

• Because I need constant encouragement to grow my own, especially when it's hot outside or a crop fails. And I need to keep at it until I produce food my family can eat and eventually, provide 80 - 90% of what we need.

• Because I need to adjust my budget so I set aside a larger percentage of income for our food. And accept the fact that the "golden age" of food is over. Something else on the budget will have to go (or be cut back).

• Because our current food system is fragile and the warning system is going off - loudly! Too many of us assume that a famine only occurs as a result of drought. Oh, we have that alright, but what about a famine as a result of the fact that our food has very little nutrition anymore? Or that it fails to reproduce? Or that it will kill bees and butterflies when they try to extract it's nectar?

• Because I'm voting with my dollars and my fork. And I want to encourage you to do so as well. There is power in numbers and where greed has a hold of a system, money talks.

• Because I do not want to be slave to the system. Freedom always comes at a price. Even food freedom. And we have our head in the sand if we don't acknowledge the importance of this fact. A while back I read Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky and I must say, I got a real education about life and food in general. It's really amazing to a 21st century American that entire wars could have been fought over a product on the bottom shelf of the grocery store that sells for just a few dollars and is so common that we use it to make play dough and any number of other things just for the fun of it. We (I) really are clueless...

• Because food can become an idol. While shunning "cheap" groceries and spending more on it may seem idolatrous at first glance, the opposite is more likely to be true. By recognizing that the system is fragile, that quality food is of great value, and that it requires extra time and effort to obtain nutritious groceries, we begin to realize that it's not something we should take for granted.

The harder we work for our food, the more we appreciate it as a gift from a loving God who provides daily for our needs. Few things help us to see this as much as trying to actually grow our own food. Perhaps that's why God designed Adam and Eve to toil in the garden, fighting weeds. The punishment was actually a gift; an antidote for their souls when they took their food for granted and ate whatever they desired. Ever since, man has labored in the dirt and often met God in the process, realizing that it all comes from Him. Unfortunately, our modern food system makes it difficult for us to make this connection.

What can you do?

• Do not buy the cheapest groceries you can find. Please. PLEASE! Invest in your food. That does not mean you should pay the most expensive prices out there, either. But you should be willing to pay a fair price without grumbling or complaining to the small farmer. They're not making a killing on you, but rather they're trying NOT to depend on the government. The sooner you adopt a mindset that food costs good money, the sooner you'll be on your way to real food freedom.

There are lots of different avenues to securing good food (and most of us will do this in combination)...

• CSAs (farm subscriptions)
• Farmer's Markets
• Roadside stands
• Bartering (neighbor to neighbor)
• Food swaps (group events)
• Food co-ops (such as Azure Standard)
• Direct from the farm
• Community gardens
• Grow your own

• Make a plan to gradually increase your food budget. Which means you're going to need to cut back somewhere else (unless you have a money tree in your backyard?). This also means you'll need to make sacrifices. We really need a reality check on NEEDS v. WANTS and what that should look like. I fear we're all much better at talking the walk and not so good at walking the talk.

• Cut back in consumption of expensive items such as fruits, meats, and dairy products, and increase your vegetable intake. (If I'm not mistaken, that's what the doctor REALLY would like to see you eat.) The good news? You'll appreciate the more expensive items when you do eat them.

Both my husband and my daughter have traveled to various third world countries where they were guests in the home of some local family. In both cases, they were served chicken. This was a feast to these villagers, an offering of their very best. Something that they had on rare occasions, not 3-4 times a week (like most Americans). At first, this baffled me a bit... why was it such a rare treat?

I totally get that now. I'm raising White Rock chickens (not Cornish Cross) and its going to take about 5 months to raise a modest bird for the freezer. That's a lot more feed, which translates into one expensive meal. Even with free ranging as much as I can, it would be outrageously priced if it were to end up in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Honestly, I've quit tracking my feed costs for the most part, knowing that I need to free range these guys every chance I can, even sending the kids out to "chicken sit" every now and then so the wild animals don't get the birds. (I'm sure someone would like to notify child protective services on that one!)

When we sit down to eat that meal, I guarantee you... it will be appreciated! I'll be thanking the Lord that the bobcat didn't get it before us, that I had grain to feed it when the grass was lean, that it scratched in the dirt and ate my bugs, that we saw it from chick to table and know how it lived, and that we had the physical strength from God to labor over it all those months.

It will not be cheap and it will not be taken for granted.