The Emergency Garden

March 23, 2022 Sarah

It’s the end of March, and the news is filled with doom and gloom every day. Maybe you have never grown food before, and suddenly feel the need to do it. Or you have, but not recently.

Gardening can help control anxiety from news of inflation and food shortages by giving you something beneficial to do, get exercise and receive fresh air/sun.

The Emergency Garden is a simple thing: To get food growing as quickly as possible, that will give you nutrients and calories. Without deep planning. You can do longterm planning while the emergency garden is starting to grow. It’s two fold. Build for now, and build for the future. Gain skills and grow confidence that you can take more on. As the emergency garden flourishes, you can be working behind the scenes, building more space and learning to grow trickier seeds, but having food to eat while you do it.

To Start:

Figure out where you can start growing. If you have a yard, raised beds made quickly work fastest. If you only have a deck, pots will work. Ask before buying if anyone has things they don’t need – be it cinderblocks for beds, or used pots. Often people have things they want gone, and gone for free. In the emergency garden, we don’t have time to till land to make in ground beds. Save that for part 2.

Go buy potting/garden soil and compost immediately. This is where you need to spend money – your soil will determine your success. A mix of garden soil, potting soil and compost will provide a nice base in raised beds. For pots use potting soil to avoid heavy soil. If you can afford organic, choose that.

Buy organic fertilizer to have on hand. You don’t have time to wait for your compost pile to cook down. That is for part 2. While the first vegetables grow, start a compost pile if you don’t have one already.

Buy seeds Immediately. This is no time for the fancy seeds. You want easy to grow, short grow season seeds. Preferably F1 hybrids, that are designed for where you live. In the PNW, Ed Hume seeds are the best choice for this. Read the packet of seeds carefully and look at each variety and compare how many days it takes to grow. Always choose the shortest.

Growing heirloom/heritage/open pollinated seeds you can save seed from, that is for part 2. Buy both types, grow the fastest first, then plant the heirlooms.

As with shorter grow times, consider size as well. Grow smaller carrots, beets, pickling cucumbers over slicing cucumbers. Bush peas and beans over pole ones. Look for dwarf varieties.

Normally I would say “grow the rainbow” when it comes to colors, but in the emergency garden, stick to lighter colors, they will take less time on average. Green peas versus deep purple ones. White, yellow or red versus blue-purple tomatoes. Orange carrots versus those gorgeous dark as night ones in the seed catalog. Stick with small potatoes such as white, red, or Yukon Gold, instead of Russet baking potatoes.

Also see: Building a Garden Quickly.

What To Grow:

Lettuces (Many lettuce types can be cut multiple times, and let regrown, before the heat zaps them till early fall crops)
Greens (Arugula, kale, spinach, bok choy, swiss chard, mustard greens)
Peas (grow bush style for quickest) (can eat pea shoots, then the peas)
Beets (both the greens and the bulbs are edible)
Radishes
Evergreen Onions (Scallions, Green Onions, Spring Onions) (They can be cut and regrown multiple times)
Carrots (grow smaller varieties and avoid the deeply colored ones as they take longer) (Carrot greens are edible and make a great pesto)
Garlic (can be planted in early spring for a late summer harvest, it will be smaller but delicious none the less, grow hard neck for garlic scapes)
Mushrooms
Herbs (Grow in pots, they can be snipped as needed and air dried in summer) (Parsley, Basil, Chamomile, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme and such)
Potatoes (Can be grown in buckets, pots and be harvested as new potatoes or let grow all season. Can plant multiple crops a year)
Turnips (Not a sexy root, but they last a long time and are great in soup or mashed up like potatoes, greens are edible)
Summer Squash (grow it up a trellis, or hog panels, to save space)
Tomato (grow smaller, bush tomato plants that produce smaller fruit)
Beans (bush green beans)

Wondering how much to grow per person? See here for that post.

Right Now Starts Are In Stores and more are showing up in the coming weeks:

Cabbage
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Brussels Sprouts
Lettuces
Kale
Spinach
Peas
Onions
Tomatoes (usually in April)

Bring home the starts, plant the onions, spinach, and peas. The greens and brassicas, pot them up into 4″ pots and let grow a bit more before planting. Tomatoes should be potted up and protected in at least an unheated greenhouse or pop up shelter/or sunny window until at least May 1st. I plant tomatoes in ground around Mother’s Day weekend.

Buying starts can cost a little more, but give you a head start while you get seeds going. It also builds confidence as they grow.

And to that….may your garden grow and bless you!

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Upcycling

Garbage Can Taters

February 15, 2022 Sarah

Our island is about a decade behind the rest of the civilized country. Until recently we still put out old school garbage cans to be picked up – and dumped into the garbage truck by a grown person killing their back. Finally the company announced they were going to provide the square plastic cans and they’d have a modern set of trucks with arms to pick them up with.

Which means…suddenly a lot of people have 1 to 2 old garbage cans with no idea what to do with them.

Sure…you could use them to put paper and metal recycling into, for the monthly trip to the transfer stations. Which is a good use.

Or you could grow potatoes!

Ozette potatoes. A Washington State heritage potato. I love when I harvest these gnarly taters.

Two years ago as spring approached we had an old can, that had finally cracked on the bottom. Kirk cut the bottom off with a saw – a Sawzall would work as well. Doesn’t need to be perfect. Just cut across.

Wash the can really well out. You can do this before or after you cut. Up to you!

Then find a spot in the garden to plunk it down. We put it the end of a row. I pushed it down a bit into the dirt. If you have grass, do a thick layer of cardboard first to smother the weeds/grass first.

Then add in some soil. I use well aged compost. Then add in your seed potatoes as you wish, across the dirt.

You have two methods from this point: Either fill it up to the top, or cover the potatoes and wait. Both methods work (I have tried it both ways). The first method, you just water and eventually the potatoes grow to the surface and the green opens. The second you must keep “hilling up” with more soil as the potatoes grow. I usually go version 1 as I don’t want to forget to add soil. It works for me.

As summer progressed the potato leaves shot up.

Harvesting is easy when the tops die back. Just gently shake the can to loosen up the soil. Then pull up and wiggle off. You can then dig thru the soil to get all the potatoes out. I try to salvage the soil and reuse it at least once, then send it to the compost pile.

In mid to late summer I plant another crop for fall, and even to overwinter till spring (for an early crop).

Upcycle those garbage cans….you’ll love how easy it is! (And bonus? You can grow larger potatoes this way, including Russets.)

~Sarah

Backpacking · Prepping · Recipes

Instant Mug Meals: Taco Chicken

January 18, 2022January 5, 2025 Sarah

I have been working on recipes for our sister site, TrailCooking, that I realized work well for prepper and on-the-go meals. Easy to prepare, easy to pull together – yet all they need is hot water and a few minutes of sit time (and can be prepped with cool water in a pinch). No need to worry if the power goes out; grab a prepared bag or jar, and you won’t have to worry about going hungry. And no need to find a place to get food if in town – if there is a latte stand/coffee shop around, you can easily ask for some hot water, and in hotels, you can heat water in the coffee pot – or get hot water in the lobby set out for hot tea. The meals are gluten-free and carb-friendly (only carbs are from the vegetables).

In this recipe, I use freeze-dried ingredients to get a quick meal.

I’ve also added a mason jar method for taking meals on the go with you, a green alternative to using plastic bags to store ingredients in.

Taco Chicken

In a snack or sandwich bag or 8-ounce mason jar:

Insulated Mug Method:

Pack all ingredients in a bag or mason jar.

Add dry ingredients into an insulated mug, add 1/3 cup boiled water, stir well and cover tightly.

Let sit for 15 minutes. Stir before eating.

Taking on-the-go:

Pack the meal into an 8-ounce mason jar. Add 1/3 cup boiled water to it, stir, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. Stir before eating.

Serves 1.

~Sarah

Backpacking · Prepping · Recipes

Instant Mug Meals: Taco Beef Bowl

January 17, 2022November 10, 2024 Sarah

I have been working on recipes for our sister site, TrailCooking, that I realized work well for prepper and on-the-go meals. Easy to prepare, easy to pull together – yet all they need is hot water and a few minutes sit time (and can be prepped with cool water in a pinch). No need to worry if the power goes out, just grab a prepared bag or jar, and you won’t have to worry about going hungry. And no need to find a place to get food at if in town – if there is a latte stand/coffee shop around, you can easily ask for some hot water, and in hotels you can heat water in the coffee pot – or get hot water in the lobby set out for hot tea. The meals are gluten-free and carb friendly (only carbs are from the vegetables).

In this recipe I use freeze-dried for the ingredients to get a quick meal made.

I’ve also added a mason jar method for taking meals on-the-go with you, a green alternative to using plastic bags to store ingredients in.

Taco Beef Bowl

In a snack or sandwich bag or 8-ounce mason jar:

Insulated Mug Method:

Pack all ingredients in a bag or mason jar.

Add dry ingredients into an insulated mug, add 1/3 cup boiled water, stir well, and cover tightly.

Let sit for 15 minutes. Stir before eating.

Taking on-the-go:

Pack the meal into an 8-ounce mason jar. Add 1/3 cup boiled water to it, cover tightly, and shake well. Let sit for 15 minutes. If the room is cool, wrap it in a towel. Stir before eating.

Serves 1.

~Sarah

Backpacking · Prepping · Recipes

Instant Mug Meals: Chicken Fajitas

January 13, 2022January 5, 2025 Sarah

I have been working on recipes for our sister site, TrailCooking, that I realized work well for prepper and on-the-go meals. Easy to prepare, easy to pull together – yet all they need is hot water and a few minutes sit time (and can be prepped with cool water in a pinch). No need to worry if the power goes out, grab a prepared bag or jar, and you won’t have to worry about going hungry. And no need to find a place to get food if in town – if there is a latte stand/coffee shop around, you can easily ask for some hot water, and in hotels, you can heat water in the coffee pot – or get hot water in the lobby set out for hot tea. The meals are gluten-free and carb-friendly (only carbs are from the vegetables).

In this recipe I use freeze-dried for the ingredients to get a quick meal made.