Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Gardening Fail

Okay, I have to admit I'm pretty bummed out.

My wife and I are trying to learn how to garden. I've read a lot, purchased four raised bed kits, put them together, bought a cubic yard of  'planting mix', planted tomatoes, peppers, cukes, zukes, squash, basil, lettuce, spinach, bush beans and carrots. (Based on different 'square foot gardening' principals of what spacing you should do, what should be planted next to what etc.)

I set up a soaker hose system on a timer, got it working well, and then we went on vacation for a week. What could go wrong in one week? We got home from vacation, and I noticed that everything in the garden (well, almost everything) was dead. It had dropped to below freezing three mornings in a row where I live.) This is June, people! It's not supposed to freeze anymore!!! I had a beautiful 'German Giant' tomato that was almost three feet tall. Dead. Other tomatoes, dead. Peppers, dead. Basil, really dead. The only things that lived are the things I planted from seed. Spinach, lettuce, carrots and my bush beans.

I'm thankful that I wasn't counting on this experiment to keep me alive.

So--now I'm thinking of what I can do to prevent this from happening again. I'll buy some 'Wall-O-Waters' from the feed store. I'll convert an old dog kennel into a greenhouse. I've seen plans on instructables.com where you can have the greenhouse doors open and close automatically. I may have to build something like that for where I live. My buddy CopperKnight didn't lose any of his plantings--but he does live 'in town' where there is a little more heat contained overnight.

What would you do to make sure your garden doesn't get killed off by an unexpected event?

Like I said...I'm glad this is a learning experiment for me. Hopefully if/when the SHTF...I'll have some food to store for the winter.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

If I Wanted to Save America

Not too long ago a video was posted on YouTube called If I Wanted America to Fail.  This video holds a lot of truth about These United States, but presented the information in a negative manner, without answers on how to fix the problems that it brings to light.  Sure, you can read the photo negative of the comments on why America has the problems that we do and see what the solution is, but it doesn't really present things that the individual can do to help. 


Jack Spirko did a segment on it during one of his TSP podcasts where he called the survival podcast community to action to create a video response that highlighted some solutions and some specific actions that each of us can take to make things better.  This is the best video response as chosen by the community: If I Wanted to Save America.

I'll tell you that Jack and his Survival Podcast have been an inspiration to me for the past couple years.  If you are looking for something helpful to listen to, or even something more than talk radio, commercials, and an occasional song to fill your commute or to listen to while you mow the lawn, give it a shot. 

So, as this is the Survival:WWYD blog, may I suggest that you watch the two videos, especially If I Wanted to Save America if you don't want to watch both, and let's hear what do you plan to do to make your place better.  Start with yourself, your family, your community.  I'll warn you, though, even a small step towards more freedom... more self sufficiency can be addictive and cause you to want even more.  Give it a try, it may just be the best addiction you can have.