NOT BORN WITH A GREEN THUMB? ME EITHER, BUT I LEARNED . . .

HOW TO BE READY WHEN THE FOOD RUNS OUT!

In a protracted emergency, Job #1 is to feed yourself and your family. If you are able to grow a significant portion of your own food, you are that much more likely to survive and thrive.

I think we all saw evidence of our ‘leaders’ complete fecklessness in the face of the pandemic. The agencies whose ONLY reason for being is contingency planning and emergency response came up woefully short during Covid-19.

Remember ‘2 weeks to flatten the curve’?

At least HIS mask was cool.

Politicians at all levels appear more interested in scoring political points and headlines than actual leadership.

I was in that world for 20 years. As a consultant, I worked in just about every federal government department and agency (but I'm reformed now, brother ;-)

Trust me, these are NOT the people you want to depend on in a crisis.

Summer at the farm. I'm not counting on anybody else to feed me and mine.

A Lesson From Y2K

Oh noes! We all gonna die!

So you probably remember the premise of Y2K; the world is going to end because algorithms that run computers all over the world won't be able to handle date functions shortly after the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999.

I was hired by a number of federal departments to create business continuity plans to keep government operations running if the compost actually hit the fan.

Now this planning was supposed to comprise the whole ball of wax; backup work space for an extended stay, communications, security, etc.

A funny side note: I reviewed a set of plans developed by a facilities manager for one of these departments.

This guy had thought of everything ; he had planned for office space, computers, back-up power, satellite phones, secure vehicles and parking, etc etc.

He had covered it all . . . . except for FOOD! He had not factored in so much as a coffee pot for this 'extended stay'.

Coincidentally, right after I pointed this out they decided to hire me to check and build a few more plans.

I used to look almost respectable

But it Quickly Became a Joke , , ,

However, continuity planning quickly became a status game.

ONLY essential workers were supposed to be included in the plan; i.e. those lucky and talented individuals who were deemed absolutely essential to the continued working of government.

So Director A and his core staff were essential; Director B, not so much.

This got Director B's panties in a twist. Wasn't he as important as Director A? Wasn't his directorate every bit as essential to the continuing survival of our great nation? He was essential too, dammit! etc, etc, etc.

The upshot was what we in the consulting game call scope creep.

Pretty soon, I was trying to make plans to accommodate not only Director A and Director B, but also the administrative assistant to the executive assistant to each Director, plus their appointment secretaries.

It's the end of the frickin' world, who's he making appointments with?

Right about there I stopped taking it seriously.

Then I became this guy. He's a happier guy.

In another big coincidence, in June 2000 I bought New Terra Farm (Y2K made a lot of money for a lot of consultants; dark cloud, silver linings etc).

And then I started learning how to feed myself and my family if worst came to worst.

Yeah, I learned how to grow stuff

Food is Job #1 (he repeated)

Food is fundamental to any survival plan. Ensuring you can secure enough calories for survival is therefore a priority.

But is a survival garden necessary? Can't we just store up food to get through a crisis?

Storing food is an excellent idea, New Terra Farm has cold storage for onions, potatoes, carrots, beets and garlic, warmer storage areas for sweet potatoes and winter squash, and about 200 jars of preserves in our pantry, plus 4 freezers full of beef, chicken, turkey and pork.

But being able to produce your own food is critical to long-term survival.

Fall and winter stores. But you gotta grow it before you stow it!

It Starts With a REAL Garden

Suzie and I learned how to feed ourselves one step at a time. We started with growing a substantial portion of our own food in our garden.

We wanted to learn how to grow a lot of calories, and provide robust nutrition, in a sustainable and efficient manner.

We put the lessons we learned into Bootstrap Survival Garden.

By the Book . . .

From page 12 of Bootstrap Survival Garden:

"What do you need to know to grow a productive garden"?

WHAT. What are the best vegetables to grow for maximum payback for my time and money? See the Core 4 and Great 8 And what tools and techniques do I use to make that happen? See Tools and Techniques

WHERE. Where do I place my garden in my yard to get optimum growing conditions? Or if optimum conditions don’t exist, how do I create them? See Site and Soil

WHEN. When do I start seeds and when can I plant outdoors? See Seed Starting Schedule

HOW. How do I start seeds, and transplant them, and care for and protect my plants? See Seed Starting in Chapter III.

Plus:

Multiple plans to grow a subsistence i.e. survival diet

How to grow, store, and save your crops for replanting

How to make efficient use of time and space

How this plan fits in with other preps.

And:

All about the Gardener's WWF - Weeding, Watering and Feeding to produce a bountiful harvest.

In short, this book is packed full of extensive practical information on crop choices, tools to use, and growing, harvesting and preserving food and seeds to create your own survival garden

So Buy the Book (it's 100% Guaranteed)

I squeezed this book down to put in only the practical information you need to grow your own survival garden, but it still runs to almost 150 pages of instructions, recommendations and pictures.

The crops I choose for my survival garden provide lots of calories and good nutrition.

You will not find kale in this book. Like the old joke says, kale is not food; kale is what food eats!

Oh Yeah, One More Thing . . .

You might not think you have enough land for a substantial, practical garden. I gotchu fam! I'm including my Survival Garden Plan Book with layouts and plans for gardens from 1,000 to 5,000 square feet. Even a modest back yard (or rented plot) can accommodate one of my plans.

I've included 10 garden layouts in different sizes to accommodate your space and your preferences.

They include crop choices, bed layout and suggestions for crop rotation to maintain soil fertility and keep the harvest coming year after year.

This is farm-tested, real-world practical information that you can take and start planning your next season's Survival Garden right away.

Here's a simple garden layout

Simple, sustainable small garden layout

This simple design lets you grow 12 important staple food crops and easily supports crop rotation (explained in the book) to keep the garden producing. If you have a limited area (this design fits in a 25'x40' space) this is a good flexible design to produce a LOT of food, season after season.

Or You Can Be a Little More Creative. . .

Our personal small garden for 2020

This was our personal small 'experimental garden' for 2020. This layout is 35' x 35', about 1,200 square feet. And that includes our little farm-built Cattle Panel Palace hoop house.

You get details of crops and crop management for these 2 gardens, plus 8 more practical garden plans.

We Show You How to Apply Advanced Gardening Techniques (with easy to understand - and COPY - examples)

Learn what the pro's do to ensure a successful crop. If you have always wanted to 'upgrade' your gardening knowledge, here's a chance to learn about:

crop rotation
integrated pest management
companion planting
using mulch and drip irrigation
using row cover to protect crops

'Advanced' doesn't mean 'complicated'; we explain each of these work-saving, crop-saving techniques so they are easy to apply to your own survival garden.

Looks Good, But I Don't Wanna Skip Meals to Afford This. HOW MUCH?

You might have read elsewhere on my site that part of the mission of New Terra Farm is to grow more growers. I price my practical farming and gardening books so that just about anyone can afford them.

So you can get Bootstrap Survival Garden and the Survival Garden Plan book together for just $17.

You can use Visa, MasterCard, PayPal or Visa Debit and download and start using your books to plan your own Survival Garden right away.

But don't wait for the emergency, learn how NOW!

Real-World Caution . . .

This book will show you the techniques the pro’s use to plan and manage a productive garden. We put a lot of emphasis on proactive and preventative measures to avoid many common garden problems.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of carrots, I always say.

BUT . . .

Gardening is still WORK. You can't get there by just reading a book (even mine;-). You will have to get your hands dirty. You can work smart (Bootstrap Survival Garden can help there) but expect to put some hours in to get started.

Once you have some experience under your belt, our straight-forward plans and work-saving and time-saving techniques mean you will probably be able to manage your garden in about an hour a day.

If you can commit to that, you can create grow your own productive survival garden. And this investment will pay you back year after year.

OR . . .

If you think you might want to EXPAND your food self-sufficiency plans, Bootstrap Survival Garden is included in my Homestead Book Bundle Deal. More valuable 'grow-how' including raising small livestock. Check it out and save up to 60%.

NEW! MAKE A LITTLE SIDE CASH IN 2021 BY PROMOTING NEW TERRA FARM BOOKS. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW.