Emergency Preparedness and Self-Reliant Living: Cold Climate Gardening: My Adventures in Gardening

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Cold Climate Gardening: My Adventures in Gardening

I have been growing flowers in containers each summer, in the front of the house. However, that is about as far as I was willing to go regarding gardening. I usually spend around $100 per season on flowers and hanging baskets. I have learned to wait until June to even buy my plants; the earlier ones just don't seem to make it.

For several years, I have been wanting to try planting a vegetable garden here in La Pine, but I knew that was going to be a difficult challenge. The reason being is that we have a short growing season and big temperature fluctuations that include freezing temps at night, even in the summer.

Last summer, I seriously studied our property, figuring out where to put the garden. I have decided to use livestock fencing, and block off part of the back yard that gets lots of sun. My idea includes a long rectangle of space backed up against the wood fence. It will be filled with raised beds, drip hoses, a portable greenhouse and a chicken coop. We'll put chicken wire along the livestock fencing so that the chickens stay in and the dogs stay out. Cary has always wanted chickens, and now that I am trying to become more self-sufficient, I think that chickens are a good idea. Fresh eggs. No roosters.

I was so happy to find this book at Round Butte Seed Company in Bend yesterday. It is written by Linda Stephenson, the owner of L & S Gardens here in La Pine. Linda tells it how it is, in plain language, exactly how to garden here. It cost $16.95, but that is pretty inexpensive for all the information that she has put there.

Last night, as I was reading the first few pages of this book, I realized that the raised bed idea was actually a pretty good one, and figured out how many boxes that we need to make, and which kinds of plants to put in each box. I learned that root plants need different fertilizers than plants that grow on top, like lettuce. Keeping them in separate beds will make it easier to give everybody what they want and need.

To say the least, I am pretty excited about this new project. This is the year, if everything goes the way I would like it to. Hopefully, by the end of the season, we will have some home canned veggie's from our own garden. That sounds like fun to me!

Here is a link to Linda's website. I just learned that she has several books out, including a couple on dutch oven cooking. I guess that I'd better go to their nursery and get some of those too.

http://www.lsgardens.com/

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Tips:

* When a wind or snow storm is on the way and you live in the country, fill up the bathtub with water. That way, you can fill up a bucket with water and use it to flush the toilet if the electricity goes out and the pump quits working. You can also use the water from your hot tub if you have one.

* Keep an old phone (with a cord) around the house to use in case the power goes out - for when your cordless phone will not work. For other reasons, your cell phone may not work either in case of a disaster. Make sure to have a list of phone numbers written down (in addition to having them stored on speed dials).

* Stock up! Some people strive for 3 days worth of food and water, others 3 months, others 2 years. Remember, you may be asked to share with others, so start preparing now.

* Have kerosene oil lamps and lamp oil on hand. They look pretty in the home, and give good lighting when the power goes out.

* Make cheap and easy lanterns by filling a canning jar halfway up with sand and placing an emergency candle in it. You can put a lid on it for easy storage in the cupboard until it is needed.

* Keep a couple of those long lighters (used for BBQ's) in your home for lighting candles and lanterns.

* Have the number of the electric company in an easy location. Call as soon as your power goes out (using your old phone or your cell phone)... don't assume that somebody else already has. I have been the first one to call several times, and after one really bad windstorm I had to call again the next day because they thought that everybody had been taken care of, but we were not.

* If you experience a "brown-out", where the lights dim, unplug your refrigerator and freezer! We had the motor burn out of our fridge one time due to a brown-out and had to buy a whole new fridge.

* Learn about cooking with cast iron dutch ovens and how to use charcoal as a heat sorce for them. There is a link on the bottom of this page with information about this.

* Buy boxed soy and rice milk to have with your extra food supplies. They stay good for quite a while and you are not stuck with only powdered milk.

* If you have a baby in diapers, have a several dozen cloth
diapers on hand, along with diaper pins, plastic pants or diaper wraps. If you can't go to the store to buy more disposables, you can always wash and reuse the cloth ones.

* Just think about what your grandparents or great-grandparents must have done or used when thinking about emergency preparedness ... make it fun when it is not an emergency. Get creative! Share your ideas with friends, and email them to me so that I can put them on here. Thanks!