So how’s it going with my mission to raise enough vegetables on my 35 ’x 40’ garden to feed and keep me healthy for a year? I’d say, pretty good, but I’ll be surprised if I get 100% there this year. This will be an accounting of what’s happened so far. First, remember...

You never can tell when opportunity will strike. Around mid-July (2021), the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) asked scientists and experts for advice on strengthening scientific integrity policies across federal agencies. Great chance to...

In Just Grow It Yourself  I related my experience of living for a month only on vegetables produced from my garden. Based on my meticulous records of every ounce I consumed over those 30 days, and exactly how much area it took to grow it, I calculated that with a...

For Policymakers Only Everyday self-sufficiency gardeners should skip this As I’ve mentioned many times, both on this site and in the book, it’s imperative that gardeners be inspired by joy. If they don’t enjoy gardening, it’s simply not worth the effort, and they...

One of the biggest surprises I’ve encountered in my promotion of home food gardens is not only how different they are from industrial food, but also local food systems. I think that’s why local, small farmers—the ones who produce food just a few miles from where you...

People often find it hard to believe that at age 72, using only hand tools, and “working” only an average of a half hour a day (not counting the winter months), in heavy clay soil, I can grow enough food to feed myself for a year on a plot measuring only 35’ x 40’....

High for Basil and Low for Corn? I just read a great article on ROE by Jocelyn Engman in the May issue of The Iowa Source. What is ROE? It’s her acronym, standing for Return on Effort. She’s the very busy “Pickle Creek Girl” (as she calls herself) who, along with her...