SURVIVAL GARDENING PART II

I am planting a lot of green beans this year. I ain't going old fashion and going for pole beans, I'm going for bulk product. I intend to plant my beans about two weeks apart. I should get 3 plots of bush beans. I am planting way more than I will need so that I might share with others of my clan and have an easy harvest. When a plot comes ripe for picking I will pick every bush in the plot. They will go to a place where there is a table that I might comfortably sit at and strip the bean pods from the stalks of the bean plants. The stalks and the immature bean pods will then go into a compost heap for future use. This is an efficient way to harvest green beans and the compost is a double dip in good things as far as I am concerned. I sheet compost that sort of stuff. It gets thrown on the garden when the season is over and it breaks down over the Winter and early Spring and then gets tilled under for its fertilizer qualities. Makes good humus too. Hard to get too much humus in your garden. Studying humus is a great way to spend your time. It is SO beneficial for feeding your plants the nutrients they need.

I will harvest my beans, God willing, in parcels so that the work of snapping and canning them can be divided and the labor broken up a bit. No sense in overworking yourself. And a garden will give you every opportunity to overwork yourself. Until the SHTF or TEOWAWKI comes, I will use any labor saving method I can. Maybe after all hell breaks loose I can trade some cigarettes for a couple of good slaves.

The beans I am planting are Blue Lake Bush Beans. We order them from Seeds of Change at http://www.seedsofchange.com. You make your order and you get your stuff. They are organic certified and they reproduce themselves if saved and planted again. I ain't much for hybrid seed. Next years crop is just as important as this years. Maybe even more so.

I am also intending to plant Pinto Beans. I like a good pot of Pinto Beans cooked with a little pork nd served up with some Cornbread. We get them from http://www.heirloomseeds.com . You order them and they send them to you. Nice deal. One of these days that won't be possible but it is now so go for it. I also like Tacos and Pinto Beans make good bean mash for your Tacos. Mash 'em up and then mix in a handfull of shredded Cheddar and you have it right. Grow Cilantro if you want authentic Taco Sauce.

I like green beans and pinto beans and the main reason I like them is that they are loaded with protein. Especially if you serve your beans with rice. Then the protein is complete and you are ready to go! Never pass up an opportunity to cook a little meat in with your beans. You want to assure yourself of that much needed protein as much as possible. Put the cow and the pig and the deer on the vegetarian diet and put ME on them. Thing will work out just fine.

My Cayenne is coming from Heirloom Seeds again this year. Worked just fine last year and I see no reason to break off a good relationship. I will be planting the Long Red Cayenne Pepper. They are prolific and that counts. Grow a lot of them. Good for your Pancreas and good for your feet on a cold morning. High in Vitamin C when eaten ripe from the plant. Linus Pauling said Vitamin C was good for us and I believe him.

And speaking of Vitamin C reminds me of my next crop...TOMATOES. Big ol' juicy red devils that just melt in your mouth when eaten ripe from the vine. Not too good for canning as they have a lot of water in them but they make fine tomato juice and wonderful eating. I will plant Roma's for my canning tomatoes. A much higher percentage of edible pulp on those babies. Plant a lot of tomatoes. They are easy to can and they are very good for you. You can't hardly go wrong with growing tomatoes. Good food.

We will be growing a pretty standard mix of salad vegetables. We get the seeds from Seeds of Change. This year we will be going with Spinach, Red Drumhead Cabbage, Radicchio, Mustard Greens, Carrots and Jalapeno Peppers.

More substantial fare from the garden wil be Golden Scallopini Bush Squash, Bulls Blood Beets, my favorite Royal Acorn Squash, and the Queen of the Winter Table, Joan Rutabaga. I love Rutabaga. Hot and mashed and butter and salt and leave me alone! I'll take it from there. No problem.

I also intend to plant a clutch of Potato Onions. Should be a good way to plant onions. You just don't run out of onions. And who wants to run out of onions?

That's about it for the garden seed this year. I will probably buy my tomato plants at a store and to hell with trying to start the from seed. I know how to do it but I ain't in the mood.

Stay fed and stay alive.

Michael