Next Years Disaster Planning?

Just a quick post regarding your preparedness plan for next year. I know everyone out there on the planet wants to sell you something. However our goal is to become more self sufficient. One way we can be more self sufficient is to plant a garden. Hopefully you got a chance to plant a garden this year. Better yet I hope you purchased heirloom variety seeds. Why heirloom varieties? Many seeds on the store shelves are hybrids. If you choose to save seed from these hybrids many times the plants you will get from those saved seeds will not be the same as what you planted the first time and saved seeds for.

So the best insurance you can get is to save seeds from this years garden. This will be your garden next year. This is part of our disaster plan and part of our being prepared and sustainable. This isn't about what you can go out and buy, but about our taking actions to allow some plants to go to seed and save it. It is about selecting the best fruits and veggies and saving seeds from those best examples. This insures your saving the best genetics and hardiest varieties.

By using heirloom varieties of seeds you have the ability to save seed from season to season. By having your own seed and ensuring that you have a good seed store your taking probably one of the biggest insurance policies out you possibly can. Many times when you see a disaster take place people will just say, but they can just grow a garden for food. Nice thought, but where will they get the seeds for that garden? And what do they eat while they wait for that garden to grow?

Food security is probably even more important now than during an emergency. Your planning and action while things are amply available ensures that you will not be one of those people caught off guard no matter the circumstance. Of course we can buy food at stores, we can copy can each trip and make sure we have supplies, but ultimately we are still relying on the food system to keep delivering food. Now is the time to diversify.

It doesn't matter if you live in an apartment, a house, a condo, townhouse, or on a farm. You can grow some of your own food even if in a window, on a patio, a deck, a small yard. We are now in the fall crop planting time frame and you can still be planting. You will need to know your growing zone on a map so you know what and when you can plant specific items. You can be planting cold hardy plants, lettuce, spinach and those that can handle the colder temps. If you use row covers or simple hoops you can cover and protect your plants even from those early frosts.

So how do you save seeds? Well here is a cool video on how to save tomato seeds:


Gardening for the Survivalist explained:


Survivalist Seed saving:


If you haven't checked out survivalistboards.com hop over there and check it out. It is an active forum with lots of great information and experts there on just about any topic imaginable. Saving seeds isn't complicated and it is one of those skills we all should know how to do. I want you to think about something maybe a little broader than your plan, but what about those around us? Saving seed and having extra seed could be one of the biggest gifts you could give someone in these hard times and those times that are approaching on the horizon. Have seed to give to your neighbors, friends, relatives. Show them how to save seed themselves. These skills are sought after today. Your not as odd or unique as you think you are anymore. More and more people are coming around and starting to realize what is going on and they will be looking to anyone who has the ability to help. Growing a garden and saving seed is a life preserving and life saving skill. Having the ability to give a gift this important could mean a world of difference for how your community, neighborhood, and family takes on the challenges ahead. Food will be either a destabilizing factor or a stabilizing one. Having emergency packs of food to help your neighbors, and seed packs to make sure that they have the ability to grow food could be the game changer for you and your family. Remember we get back what we give!

So if you grew a garden this year I hope you chose heirloom seeds. You can start your disaster planning for next year by saving seed this year. If you didn't get started with your garden this year it isn't too late to do a square foot garden with simple raised beds that can be put anywhere. Get started in your quest for self sufficiency now by starting that fall garden. Your action now with a garden is one of the best things you can do in your disaster planning right behind securing your water supply. Saving seed is not hard and it will save you a lot of money. Besides what could be better than knowing your fruits and veggies are taken care of as long as you do your part to collect and keep those seeds and make sure they are stored and kept fresh? And since you know where the seed came from you don't have to worry about pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers that can contaminate your food. Keep your garden organic and it will pay you back many fold. I recently purchased a few videos on farming and gardening that I will share my take on those in a future installment of the blog. There are few things that are more liberating than having your own renewable sustainable food supply. So get started today!

God Bless,
Longsnowsm