Growing your own food is the only viable option in today’s society. The food we have available to us is not real food. It’s manufactured by man. Genetically modified to save a penny on every kernel of corn. Eating these foods won’t work in the long term.
It’s not sustainable.
Long-term survival is about doing what works in the long run. NOT what feels good now.
Growing your own food is the only viable option in today’s society. The food we have available to us is not real food.
It’s sold
It’s not sustainable.
Long-term survival is about doing what works in the long run. NOT what feels good now.
Growing your own food is the future. It has to be. Because eating the food we have in America has not been working and is increasingly making us sicker by the minute.
I didn’t fully understand this until I stopped eating most foods and stopped eating “normal” foods from grocery stores.
It’s not real food.
Do you think that tomato in the produce section at Publix is a real tomato?
That tomato is green, they take the green tomato that hasn’t developed any of its nutrients yet and manually “ripen” it with methane gas and other chemicals to make it look red.
Think about that…
But it’s just that, it looks red. It looks fresh and vibrant. That’s what it’s supposed to be, not just what it looks like. Learning how to grow your own food isn’t just ideal. It’s mandatory for long-term survival, sustainability, and overall health of not just you, but the planet.
Want honey? Become a beekeeper.
Want to eat eggs for breakfast? Take a few fresh ones from your chickens that you’re raising.
Want a salad that’s actually healthy for you? One that’s not loaded with carbs from man-made bread and more grams of sugar than what’s in a can of coke?
Start your survival garden. Grow your own fruits, herbs, and spices.
Imagine being able to walk out your backdoor and pick a tomato off the vine from your backyard garden. Grab a couple of herbs too. Take it inside and eat it.
That’s what real food is my friend.
Don’t know how to garden?
Don’t know what soil to use?
What tools do you even need?
Learn.
That’s what we’re going to cover in this survival food guide.
Self-reliance is about being practical as well. So I’m not suggesting you stop everything you’re doing in life and go live off the grid on a homestead. Although you could and I’d salute you for it…
I’m talking about planting a tomato seed and grow one or two herbs so you can start benefitting from food that you’re producing yourself. So that you can become more self-sufficient. More healthy. And more prepared for future disasters.
So welcome to the Survival Food Guide where you’ll learn how to grow your own food in your backyard
- Importance of Producing Your Own Food
- Survival Gardening Basics
- What You Need To Know First
- Types of Gardening
- Preparation
- Gardening Tools
- Urban Gardening Skills Tips, Tricks, and Techniques From Living Off The Grid
- Garden Hacks
- Know Your Veggies
- How To Grow Vegetables
- Vegetable Year Planner
- Composting
- Food Production With Farming
- Conclusion
Importance of Producing Your Own Food
Imagine not having to worry about food because you’re handling your own food production.
You don’t need to click on an ad for a “1-year emergency food supply” that’s actually just 1 year of rotten food that you really couldn’t live on for more than a day because it’s not real “survival food”.
You don’t let the government take your safety and personal defense out of your hands do you?
No. That’s important. You take that matter into your own damn hands with a recently cleaned “shotgun” next to your bedroom door.
It’s time to take your health and your food into your own hands, even if your hands get dirty. Literally… gardening can be messy.
Not to mention all of the secondary benefits you’ll get with growing and producing your own food. Growing herbs will not just give you herbs to give the food a specific flavor. But all of the natural home remedies you’ll be able to make with them as well.
Instead of reaching for a pill bottle, you’ll reach for an herb in your backyard.
Survival Gardening Basics
There are different methods and strategies you can use for food production depending on the type of food you want to produce.
If you’re thinking you need an entire 10-acre farm and garden on a homestead to produce your own food, fear no more. You don’t need much land at all to start growing and raising your own crops and animals for food.
And you definitely don’t need much to start growing some potatoes.
The different farming and gardening activities and the foods they produce are as follows
Primary Categories Of Food Production
- Farming
- Raising livestock
- Chickens
- Goats
- Cows
- Beekeeping – For producing Honey
- Raising livestock
- Gardening
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Herbs
- Spices
Farming and gardening are the big boys and you’re two paths of mastery for producing your own food.
Gardening will allow you to grow foods like:
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Herbs
- Spices
Farming will allow you to produce other foods like:
- Meats
- Milk
- Eggs
What You Need To Know First
Getting started with growing your own survival garden is ideal. The barrier to start is very small. You can start with nothing but a pot of soil and a couple of seeds to start growing and producing good natural healthy food.
Types of Gardening
There are different types of gardens for different purposes. What you wish to grow, how much work, space availability, etc will determine what type you pick for your garden.
Container Gardens
A popular type of gardening in the last few years.
Square Foot Gardens
The idea behind square foot gardens is to grow as much food as you can with as little as a one square foot dimension. Efficiency at it’s finest. You don’t need much to produce a food supply that will last you.
Vertical Gardens
As the name suggests, vertical gardens allow you to grow your crops vertically as opposed to growing them in a horizontal type fashion. Excellent choice for indoor gardening and those with minimal space.
Preparation
Like any other area in survival. It starts with prepping. And it’s no different if we want to grow the best survival garden.
We want to prepare the space where we’re going to plant our food producing garden.
We’ll prepare the area so the seeds can grow vibrantly and strong.
Home Landscape
Preparation of your home landscape comes first and prepping always starts with knowledge.
Knowledge is the most important tool we have for survival. So we must acquire it first, then implement it.
Let’s start with the zones.
Get in The Zone
In gardening, there are places called zones, like the Cold Zone for example, that you’ll get very familiar with. Get in the zone.
The USDA has a guide on zones for gardening here.
Garden Structures
There are different types of structures for gardening. Structures that allow you to plant certain things in a certain way. It will depend on the type of gardening you’ll want to do.
What Can Go Wrong
Just like talking about all the great things that will happen from growing your survival garden. It’s also important to learn and think about what can go wrong in the process.
The more you know the more you can prepare and prevent a garden disaster.
There are many seeds that have to align for reaping a nutritional, healthy, and food surplus from your survival garden.
Taking into consideration of what can go wrong helps align those seeds so you can collect what you harvest.
If you have pets, learn what plants are poisonous to them. For example, garlic is toxic to dogs and cats if they eat it.
Gardening Tools
Like any other area of survival, tools are needed. Knowledge itself is a tool and is important, but so are tools we can use to be more efficient.
For gardening tools, there are a few that are essential and a few that are not so essential. We’ll stick with the essential ones first.
Trowel
One of the best garden tools you’ll want to pick up is a trowel.
For more essential garden tools that every gardener needs, watch this video.
Urban Gardening Skills Tips, Tricks, and Techniques From Living Off The Grid
Since you’ll be gardening. You want to start learning and developing the skill sets that will allow you to drastically reduce the time and money it will take you to start benefiting from all the calories your garden is going to provide you.
There are some large areas of gardening that are important to start learning first.
Here are a few skills and tips you are crucial for beginner gardeners to learn.
Pruning and Training
These techniques are the meat and potatoes for keeping your garden plants as healthy as they can be. Some of the benefits of pruning and training are:
- It makes sure they are as healthy as possible.
- That they grow as strong as they can.
- That they have as much vitality and resources they need to produce the best possible food they’re capable of.
- Helps to stimulate growth in the plants.
In a nutshell, the purpose of pruning and training is to make sure your plants grow the best they possibly can.
There are dozens of different techniques and skills for pruning and training. For now, watch this video on the basics of these skills.
Location, Location, Location
Picking the right spot to plant your harvest is just as important as growing the harvest itself. The location is much more important than the survival garden design.
Here’s how to pick a good spot to plant your garden so it grows quickly in massive rows.
When scouting the area for your survival harvest, there are two key components to get right in the location.
- Sun and Light Exposure
- Soil Composition
The goal is for your garden to be exposed to sunlight for 8-12 hours per day.
After you find the area on your property with the highest quality soil composition, time the duration of sun exposure it gets before planting your harvest.
This video has some good tips on how to choose a good location.
Get Dirty
Learning about soil is an art in and of itself. No need to become Picasso though, learning the types of soil and how it works will be sufficient to use it.
This video is excellent at showing you the different soil profiles so you can start familiarising yourself with them.
After watching the video and before tossing some seeds on the lawn and wishing for miracles. Make sure the soil composition is up to par.
You can test the soil for its quality and nutrient density with a soil testing kit.
Seed & Plant Suppliers
Select The Right Veggies
Picking the right vegetables to plant in the first place is crucial to the process. Get the first part wrong, and the rest of it can go haywire.
Build a Food Wall
This is one of the gardening structures I mentioned above.
Think of it as a method of vertical gardening. You can make a DIY food wall structure which will then grow your food vertically. This guide will show you how to get started.
Setting The Seeds
There are just two ways you can go about placing and planting the actual seeds.
You can go straight into the dirt. Or you can place them into containers which will go on the dirt.
Go Easy At First
At first, to get your hands dirty, grow some plants that are easier to grow than others at first.
Since you’re likely growing your vegetable garden in an urban environment, you’re going to be limited to a degree by the quality of soil, amount of space, and the amount of sun exposure your garden will be getting.
With that being taken into consideration, start with some easier plants to grow.
Here are some vegetables that are easier to grow:
- Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Pease
- Peppers
Build a Raised Bed Garden
Raised bed gardens are powerhouses in the food production category of gardening. One of these will grow you more food than you’ll know what to do with at first.
And since space may be a factor for you, they’re even better.
Here’s a tutorial on how to make a raised bed.
Scare ’em
Eventually, there are critters and rodents that will come and try to devour the hard-work you put planting your harvest.
Knowing how to scare ’em off before they get a chance to do so is crucial. Think of it just like defending your home.
How To Keep Raccoons Away
One of the threats to your future food garden will be raccoons. Knowing how to prevent threats to your garden beforehand will make you prepared for when it does happen. Not only prepared, but you’ll be able to fix the problem right away or in a fraction of the time.
How To Keep Squirrels Away
Another wildlife creature that will make its way to your vegetables and fruits are squirrels. Here’s how to take care of them.
How To Keep Deer Away
Deer like freshly grown vegetables just as much as most other wildlife animals.
How To Keep Birds Away
Birds are a double threat. They have a high advantage… being they can fly. So getting rid of them is slightly more effort than taking care of a simple rabbit.
How To Keep Rabbits Away
Speaking of rabbits, they like to dig deep underground to go underneath the gardening fence you’ll build and eat your zucchini. Do rabbits even eat zucchini? That’s another topic.
How To Keep Insects Away
If you saw our post on the survival uses for urine, (can’t blame you if you didn’t want to read it) you learned one of the ways you can use it is to keep critters and insects away from your garden.
In case you didn’t see it, here’s what you do. Next time you have to use the Johnson, go ahead outside and pee around the parameters of your garden.
Drinking a beer or two from an IPA Survival Kit will make this process rather streamlined…
Know How Much To Grow For A Family
Knowing how much food you’ll be able to produce with what you’re planting will allow you to prepare in advance and be prepared to store the remainder of the food you don’t eat right away.
Calculating the amount of water we should store for a three day supply for each person is critical. Being able to calculate how much to grow and how much actual food your harvest will produce in a measured time period is also critical.
Numbers matter.
Grow Your Survival Cabinet
How would you like to grow your own medicine from now on instead of visiting the pharmacy for a man-made “medicine”. Well, after you get the hang of growing a few simple vegetables, growing your own herbs, spices, and medicines is next. There’s a guide on how to grow your own medicines. You can check out the Survival Apothecary series here. That
Here are a few recommended herbs to grow first for your medicine cabinet.
- Peppermint
- Aloe Vera
- Lavender
- Echinacea
This video walks you through how to plant a medicinal herb cabinet from your garden.
Make a Self-Watering Container Garden
How would you like a garden that can water itself? How about one that also doesn’t take up much space.
These containers are great for growing heaps of food and taking up very little space.
Here’s a tutorial on how to make one.
Garden Hacks
There are dozens of more skills and techniques to explore in the gardening world. But for now, these are some of the best gardening projects and skills to learn.
For more garden hacks, see this video below.
Know Your Veggies
We’ll list the vegetables that we’re going to grow below by their appropriate category. Choose the ones you wish to grow.
There are approximately six groups of vegetables, which are:
- Brassicas
- Leafy Greens
- Legumes
- Nightshades
- Root Vegetables
- Vine Crops
How To Grow Vegetables
There are other dense subjects and categories to plant in your mind about vegetable gardening.
Such as:
- Diseases and Disorders
- Pests and Parasites
But for this guide, we’re going to stay focused on how to grow vegetables from your survival garden. We’ll cover the other gardening subjects in a different guide that we will link to for you.
We’ve listed the vegetables by category and tell you how to grow each vegetable.
Now let’s start planting and growing our own veggies.
Perennial Vegetables
The first category of vegetables that we’ll show you how to grow are the perennial vegetables.
In this category, you’ll learn how to grow:
- Garlic
- Onions
- Pumpkins
Garlic
Watch the video below on how to grow garlic.
Onions
Watch the video below on how to grow onions.
Pumpkins
Watch the video below on how to grow pumpkins.
Brassicas Vegetables
Next up is the category of brassicas vegetables.
These include how to grow:
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
- Kale
Cauliflower
Watch the video below on how to grow cauliflower.
Broccoli
Watch the video below on how to grow broccoli.
Kale
Watch the video below on how to grow kale. It covers everything you need to know about planting and growing kale.
Leafy Green Vegetables
In this category, we’ll grow leafy greens. These include how to grow:
- Spinach
- Swiss Chard
- Kale
- Legumes
Spinach
Spinach is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. So growing this in abundance would be ideal.
This video will show you how to grow spinach.
Swiss Chard
Watch the video below on how to grow swiss chard.
Legumes
Watch the video below on how to grow legumes.
Peas
Watch the video below on how to grow peas.
Beans
Watch the video below on how to grow beans.
Nightshade Vegetables
Many people aren’t aware of common foods like potatoes and tomatoes being in the nightshade group of vegetables, they are indeed.
What does this mean? Well, nightshade vegetables won’t make you drop dead like they sound like they would do. There are pros and cons to them just like most foods.
Below, we cover how to grow:
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes
Tomatoes
The Almanac has a good guide on how to grow tomatoes you can visit here.
Potatoes
Visit this page for a guide on how to plant potatoes.
Sweet Potatoes
Watch the video below on how to grow sweet potatoes.
Root and Stem Vegetables
Here we cover the root and stem category of vegetables that we’ll grow.
Here’s how to grow:
- Beets
- Carrots
- Parsnips
Beets
Watch the video below on how to grow beets.
Carrots
Watch the video below on how to grow carrots.
Parsnips
Watch the video below on how to grow parsnips.
Turnips
Watch the video below on how to grow turnips.
Rutabagas
Watch the tutorial on how to grow rutabagas below.
Vine Crops
These vegetables fall into the vine crops category.
Learn how to grow:
- Cucumbers
Cucumbers
Watch the video below on how to grow cucumbers.
Melons
Watch the video below on how to grow melons.
Squash
Watch the video below on how to grow squash.
Cardoons
Watch the video below on how to grow cardoons.
Jerusalem Artichokes
Watch the video below on how to grow artichokes.
Asparagus
Watch the video below on how to grow asparagus.
Celery
Watch the video below on how to grow celery.
Celery Root
Watch the video below on how to grow celery root.
Kohlrabi
Watch the video below on how to grow kohlrabi.
Fennel
Watch the video below on how to grow fennel.
Mushrooms
Watch the video below on how to grow Mushrooms.
Those are the best vegetables to start growing in your urban garden.
How To Grow Fruit
Now we’re going to dig into how to grow your own fruits. We’re going to cover how to grow herbs in a different guide.
Pineapple
Apples
Pears
Peaches
Plums
Sweet Cherries
Mulberries
How To Grow Nuts
Pecans
Walnuts
Vegetable Year Planner
As you start growing your vegetables and had a few meals. Planning a vegetable yearly planner for your harvests is the next step.
Some veggies are “in season” while others are “out of season” and vice versa. To take advantage of maximum nutritional value and density, we want to follow a yearly garden planner.
You want to grow certain vegetables at certain times of the year for optimal results. It’s healthier. It tastes better. It works.
Here is an overview of the parts that a vegetable gardening yearly planner consists of:
- Midwinter
- Late winter
- Early spring
- Mid-spring
- Late spring
- Early summer
- Midsummer
- Late summer
- Early Fall
- Mid-fall
- Late fall
- Early Winter
We’ll make a yearly garden planner for you in another guide.
Composting
Now, what is composting exactly?
Composting is the methods gardeners use for a range of benefits for their gardens.
Composting will:
- Help you recycle waste
- Improve the quality of your soil
- Allow your plants to grow stronger and larger
- Make you a better gardener overall
Watch this video to get your hands dirty with the basics of composting.
Food Production With Farming
Now, of course, there are more methods and masterful ways to produce your own food. Your garden will be one of them. One of the primary sources of your food.
But what about some eggs for breakfast?
Some honey in your herbal tea?
Here are some resources for you on beekeeping, raising poultry, and managing a small homestead farm so you’ll be able to produce practically any food you wish.
Farming Skills Tips, Tricks, and Techniques
Now that you’re a farmer, officially. You’ll want to work on a few skill sets that will set you acres (pun intended) ahead of the other beginner farmers.
Homesteaders are masters as producing their own food consistently and reliably from their gardens and farms. Not to mention all the off-grid hacks they know as well.
Raising Poultry: How To Raise Chickens
We’re going to raise poultry so we can get fresh eggs. That means it’s chicken time.
For your morning eggs, starting a chicken coop is the way to go.
See this video from Offgrid Living on how to get started raising chickens.
Become a Beekeeper For Honey
For harvesting your own honey, beekeeping is the bread and butter for all of your sweet tooth desires.
Conclusion
We went over why producing your own food through gardening, farming, or both is so important to our survival.
It’s the best thing we can do for our long-term survival and sustainability not only for ourselves. But for our environment and planet.
You don’t have to quit everything you’re going in life, sell everything, and go live off the grid on a homestead.
But learning and adopting some homesteader qualities, skills, and mindset is beneficial.
Do you already have an urban mini-farm or survival garden?