How much food do you grow yourself?

I grow that much but I am keen on... At least I do plan to work on a garden where I may grow my own.

 

I have a small backyard, not much room for a full fledged garden... but I could grow a few things if I really wanted to.

 

Does Pattymary live in the caribbean? I bet she can grow some very awesome things there. Shame about the pirates though.

 

I don't want to piss you off anymore than you already seem to be about a garden thread but I do feel the need to point out a few things here.

Those blind taste tests, that you haven't listed citations for, you say where between "organic and commercially grown produce" (I think you meant conventionally grown) but that has nothing to do with homegrown food. Most varieties that are available for purchase at the supermarket, whether conventionally or organically produced, have been breed for durability during shipping and uniform size, shape, and color. What you choose to grow at home is up to you but most gardener's choose varieties that are different than the ones available in stores because they have been breed more often for taste or higher nutrient content. You want proof, grow one heirloom tomato plant, it can be done anywhere that gets at least 6 hours of light (8 or more is better but 6 will do) in a five gallon bucket or an equivalent sized pot. Once it produces, buy a similar tomato from the store and taste them side by side. Tomatoes are one of the larger plants to grow but one will still only take up a footprint of one square foot or so. There are plenty of garden plants that take up much less space, lettuce for example can be grown in a small window box. Vertical gardening is ideal for small spaces. Growing all your own food is impractical for most people but growing something, no matter how small, anyone can do.

"good health is a balanced diet, exercise, and something to stimulate your mental health," all of which can be provided by gardening if you so choose, that doesn't mean you can't obtain those things elsewhere. As far as the french fries go, theoretically, if I where to grow purple potatoes that have more antioxidants and fry them in a grass fed beef tallow or pork lard from heritage pigs (not factory farmed animals) instead of canola or peanut oil that is most often used, then yes the french fries would still be healthier than their commercially available counterpart.

I suppose it could be considered "revolutionary." To define it, revolutionary means involving or causing a complete or dramatic change. It could be that the OP feels growing their own food is a complete or dramatic change for them or they feel that if enough people grew their own it could be a huge change for the food industry or the world at large. There is a certain power and freedom that comes when you know you can sustain yourself even if food becomes scarce but if you don't want to that's fine too, I don't think anyone was implying that you had to or that you suck if you don't.

 

I find it very rewarding to grow my own vegs and reap the harvest of fresh food. So anything I grow myself, is going to taste better.

 

MoonGoddess, Thanks for the like. Want to tell you how nice your garden looks. Do you have access to the large rocks, stones, or do you get them from landscape store? very nice either way.

 

Thank you, we have worked hard to get it to how it is now but we still have a lot to do before its done. Some of the rocks were given to us by people who didn't want them anymore but a lot came from a stone and gravel place where we bought them by the pallet. We would pick a pallet and they would load it on our truck, the hard part was moving them all when we got home. We have a couple places that we want a few more really big stones but we already decided that we are just going to pay for them to be delivered and placed. It really sucked having to place the last big one. My dad just brought us a bunch of stone that we haven't used yet but they are completely different from what we already have in the back, so we are just going to use them in the front yard which has been sorely neglected.

 

Just starting to run out of several things in the freezer. Cabbage was gone end of Jan., carrots in dec. onions in March along with taters. Seeing how I consume 3-4 cups of veggie juice daily I Can freeze Cukes, peppers, tomatoes, celery, kale, beets broccoli, carrots and chickweed juice.

 

This year had been better than last year, when we only canned 5 pints of salsa.

So far we have 20 pint bags of frozen corn. several pints of dill pickles, 7 quarts of tomatoes, and 10 pints of salsa.

Tomatoes are still doing good, so will get more tomatoes, and a few peppers.

 

Pretty well cover 8 months on most veggies, all fish and meat except bacon. Some veggies I get a year worth out of.

 

Few pics of this years harvesting

 

We have had a good year, not great, but have canned and froze lots more than last couple of years. Have had to pay elevated price for canning flats. When we find them. Something we will buy in the off-season for next year.