Sustenance gardening and folk helping folk.

Been sustenance gardening for about a decade. Is how I got serious about gardening.  Got all gimped up and needed a way to help my family put food on the table.  Over the years, figured out some of the ins and outs of preserving food.  Very fond of dehydrating, then packing in mylar with O2 eaters.  You would be amazed at how long potato and onion keep this way.
 
Like many, we have good years and we have bad years and bad years for the garden.  So long term stores help a great deal.  Friend used to have an apple tree that produced way too much for his needs.  Put up lots of apple pie filling.  He sold his property two years ago.  I am still eating apple pie as my apple trees mature.

So curious to know a few things about folk here:

1. Does your garden provide a signifigant volume of your family food?  Do you grow for sustenance?
 
2. Do you grow n stow?  Do you long term store or just for the winter?
 
3. Would you be interested in an informal system where folk who are in need could identify themselves and you'd informally send them some dried goods? 

On item number 3 - Formal food pantry will not generally accept value added goods unless they were prepared in a commercial kitchen.  Generally they welcome produce, but nothing dried or processed in any way unless it is commercial.  Sounds like a great idea, but when your choice is between breaking the rules and starving, I am thinking breaking the rules might be the best way to go.  That and I do not think there are rules that apply to informal giving.

Thoughts?

 

I'm 55 and getting a late start on my garden . Our dog died this winter and he tore up our yard so a garden was not possible . I have several young fruit trees that I've added the past year. Mandarin, lemon, lime, 2 avocado, peach, nectarine, plum , gala and Granny Smith apples. I have approx 30 different tomatoes, 100 peppers and cucumber and strawberries. My wife has put a limit on the above. I share the wealth with friends and neighbors . So far I just dehydrate or freeze my peppers . This is my second year growing them. I also grow basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary. I'm trying garlic from winter and hopefully they will be ready to harvest in a couple months .

In season our gardens produce about 90% of the vegetables/fruits our family consumes.  I don't grow enough of anything to have extra throughout the year save peppers/tomatoes/sometimes cuckes or whatever else might've yielded abnormally well that summer.  We put up pickles and tomatoes and freeze tomatoes/salsa/marinara and I make sauce/dehydrate most of the peppers.  The garlic we grow usually supplies us for about 4-5 months on average.  I'd like more land to grow and make more, but summer can get really busy for me so there's a limit on hours I can put in.  

I can remember as a kid going from California to Minnesota every year on vacation for 3 weeks. It's where I learned to fish and all the fish guts went straight into the garden and buried it there . It's where I learned to love fresh vegetables . My grand parents and uncles all had allot of land and had great gardens. The corn and potatoes from the garden were amazing. I wish I had the land and local lakes to plant and fertilize with fresh fish like they did. I don't think they did anything else and they had the healthiest plants. Those were the best times growing up in the 60's -70's.

The big 4 that will supply most all your calories are potatoes, squash, beans and corn.  I only grow green beans.  The rest are cheap, always available, take up a lot of room and really don't taste that much better if you grow them yourself.  If I had the space I would grow them.
 
I know we need 150 lbs or so of venison for the year.  I kill, butcher and make the sausage each year for the freezer.  This will give me burgers, tacos, meatloaf, spaghetti, stews, sausage, stir fry etc....Then I grow what veggies and herbs are needed for the dish to avoid buying.   This will feed us 2-5 days a week.  We stock up on chicken and pork when on sale for the rest.  I try and use fresh caught fish a few times a month. 
 
I rarely buy any produce.  I buy herbs that don't grown well in my area.  New goals would be chili powder, fruits and fermenting.  There are a lot of great cooks on this site and it has given me  perspective to add some new dishes.  The challenge to me is to cook a sustenance meal.   I don't mind buying rice, flour, milk and other staples.   I dang sure aint gonna run to the store and buy a list of ingredients for some throwdown. 
 
I spent 100 bucks the other day at an Indian grocery.  That is 6-8 months worth of flour and rice.  It was all the spices I can't grow for the next year plus.  I will work backwards and base meals around it instead of coming up with a meal that sounds good and running around looking for all the ingredients.  I think this is the most important way to learn how to feed yourself.  We are in a society that offers fast food and steaks easily.  If we want to cook some fancy meal we run to the store and spend more money than it is worth.  When you learn to plan, grow and then cook accordingly it gives a new perspective.  
 

So far, you all make me very happy to be here.  Like growing peppers, but it is really only a small part of what I do.  Love growing anything, but in particular the things that put food on the table.  That can be the peppers we sell, the seeds we sell, or the food that goes right from the garden to the table without the middle step of selling something.  God is great.

Once I get the room to do it, I plan on growing mine for sustenance and hopefully have enough to supply to my friends and neighbors if need be. Down here in south FL on a small lot it's just to hard with the humidity and bugs to have a substantial crops. 

I've never had a garden big enough to substitute what I eat.
BUT my gardens over the years gave me a LOT better stuff than you could buy anywhere at any price.
Nothing like picking anything FRESH and RIPE off the plant at peak freshness/taste etc.
 
I never had a garden that did more than grow me the stuff I couldn't buy that I liked to eat.
Had 1 acre of garden at 1 time.
 
A lot of the stuff in stores sucks in taste compared to home grown BUT the trade off is,It costs the same for a small gardener to grow the same stuff in the long run.
 
I grow stuff I can't buy that I like.
 
My garden is in south facing pots and since Chemo has gotten down from 800 pots to 200 (#15 pots- 7 1/2 gal.)a year-2 grows of 400 and 100.
Pots don't work for a lot of stuff like greens etc.
People steal my stuff too.
My grow is in a public place-where I live and work.

Spicytiger - About the heat n bugs: Even here in KY the day heat starts to get to me in June.  I try to get started way early in the AM, nap during the afternoon heat, and then back out in the evenings.