So let’s do this in reverse order…strawberries first. But stick around for the Plan B & Plan C part…or jump directly to it.

You know there is always method to my madness 🙂

Strawberries –

Last spring (2022) I put in an amazing small strawberry patch, 8 plants total. Did a great job of prepping the containers, getting compost for a local source, and setting in the plants correctly with love and care. They all died.

Yup, the compost was too ‘hot’…meaning the compost hadn’t sat long enough and was extremely high in nitrogen. Yeah, the new plants ‘burned up’ and died…basically chemical burning from the nitrogen.

So for 2 weeks I flushed the boxes with lots of water and got the nitrogen out, planted 6 plants, and they flourished like crazy. I wasn’t looking for berry production, I just wanted to get strong healthy plants to produce lots of runners to create a large patch. And it worked well. I think the final count by the end of fall was 52 great looking plants ready to hibernate for the winter after I mulched them in.

Then spring hit and I was patient and didn’t ‘unmulch’ them too early which resulted in a great looking strawberry patch with 50+ plants ready to give us plenty of big, juicy, sweet berries. That amount of plants would produce about 25 – 40 pints of berries if all went well. ‘If’ being the operative word…and it didn’t.

I am switching my gardening style over to water-soluble fertilizers…mostly fish emulsion based, but others as well. So, early in the spring it was time to give my plants a good start with fertilizer to bring em up right…a nice dose of fertilizer. Each plants already had a nice bunch of berries started and it looked to be a bumper crop. And that was fine with me because I love strawberries!

I won’t go into all the details but it was a heavily weighted nitrogen fertilizer and I put too much mixture on each plant. Within 10 days all of the berries that had been on the plants were dead or completely gone. Well, with the exception of the 5 berries that I picked, each the size of a marble.

So what happened? Uh, strawberry plants don’t like a bunch of nitrogen…at all…especially in the spring with fruit on the plant. So I had to do some research on the best way to fertilize strawberry plants. Yeah, I know what you are thinking…you’re right.

Generally speaking, I will be using a 10-10-10 water-soluble fertilizer…and apply it after the plants have produced its fruit but well before fall sets it, probably about late August. This will give me strong healthy plants, plenty of runners if I need them, and the plants will be ready for the next year. If the plant flowering looks too thin and spotty I will add bonemeal as needed to the soil and water it in generously.

But what does that have to do with Plans B & C?????? Ahhhhhh yes. Remember I was expecting 25 – 40 pints of berries earlier this spring. Yeah, well, didn’t work out so well did it? But what does that actually mean?

25 – 40 pints of strawberries means 3000 – 4700 calories, 180 – 285 grams of dietary fiber, and most importantly…5300 – 8400mg of vitamin C. OK, the absolute heaven of eating them as well…meaning to help stave off food fatigue. So how would you replace that in a grid-down prepper scenario?

Plan B & C, etc. –

Late last August we had a hail storm hit us…destroying our garden completely. And I just shared how I screwed up the strawberry patch this year. Fortunately for us we are not in a grid-down prepper situation or in dire need to eat from our garden last year, or depend on our strawberries this year. But what if it had been different…and we were dependent on both?

My point, we would have been fine. We have sufficient and appropriate food storage to handle a worst case scenario. We would not have starved and we have enough supplies to replant a garden.

So it looks something like this:

• Plan A – Buy our food at the store just like normal.
• Plan B – Supplement store-bought food with garden produce.
• Plan C (hard times) – Plant larger garden and reduce store-bought food. Barter food with neighbors as needed and appropriate.
• Plan D (hard times, limited store available food) – Plant much larger garden, supplement with food storage, utilize green house for additional food production. Barter food with neighbors as needed and appropriate.
• Plan E (very hard times, no store available food) – Plant seriously larger garden, supplement with food storage, utilize second green house for additional food production. Barter food with neighbors as needed and appropriate.

Will my plans work? I have no idea with complete certainty. I do know that without a plan I will fail. But my plans do give me a framework to build on. Starting with Plan B I have to acquire gardening skills and supplies. With Plan C I have to have considerably more garden supplies plus multiple years worth of seed bank. Plans D & E require that I have either built, or have the supplies to build, two greenhouses. That gives me a clear path on what to buy, when, and either store the supplies or produce with them.

Something to think about…for a family of four, to have a large enough garden to feed yourselves you are realistically looking at about 2 acres of well planned, good quality land. Put in your head about 1-1/2 football fields of garden. Yup, that is about what you are looking at on average. Yes, you can go vertical, do ‘square foot gardens’, greenhouse gardening, etc.

My point is this…have you done enough planning to put in over a football field of garden? If not, how long will your food storage last your family? And no, I didn’t ask if you had already put in a huge garden, I asked if you’ve done enough planning to do so.

When it comes to long-term food storage the general rule of thumb is one case (6 cans) of #10 cans of food is enough food for one person for one month. How many cases of food do you have? A family of four would need 48 cases of #10 cans of food stored…properly stored. How many cases of food do you have? Are they all stored in one place such as your house? What happens if your house is flooded, burns down, or is vandalized?

Plan B & C: Generally Speaking –

The point to this article is get you thinking about back-up plans. And back-ups to your back-ups…with every aspect of prepping.

Consider self-defense tools (i.e. guns & Ammo). First, do you have some? Second, are they all stored in the same place? What is your plan if your guns are confiscated or stolen? What happens if they have a part that breaks?

Is all your ammo in one place? What if it is destroyed, stolen, or confiscated? Can you reload your spent brass?

What I am asking you to do is simple…review your plans. What is your Plan A? Do you have a Plan B…if so, what is it? Do you have a Plan C…if so, what is it? Does you family know what your plans are and how to execute them?

And this review process applies to ALL aspects of prepping!

If you need a guide to help you through this review the 7 Common Risks & Threats to help get you organized in this effort. Another helpful guide would be to review the ‘layering’ aspect of prepping in regards to the 7 Common Risks & Threats – Layering.

Summary –

In April of this year I wrote that I believe that it all falls apart by the end of 2024…ALL of it! < click here to read the article > No, that is not a 100% certain revelatory fact. It is what I see coming based on the cumulative of current events as of April 2023…and as of today as well.

I am thinking it would be a pretty good idea with you and I were ready for that ‘fall’ of America. That way we can protect our families and communities/congregations as best we can. And it could be very, very ugly in this country by then. Then again, it might be all roses and butterflies with pink unicorns for all. But at least you would be ready if it is not that fantasy land and no one gets a unicorn.

Do you have to be perfect in your planning and prepping? That goal is impossible, let alone remotely realistic. But you can do your best and together we can do this!

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Related Articles –

• Garden: Hail and Starvation
• 7 Common Risks/Threats
• Layering & the Common 7: Introduction
• Critically Important SitRep – Part #4 (April 6, 2023)

 

 

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