For this to make sense, you should probably should read Part #1 first < click here to read Part #1 >

We stopped in Part #1 needing 5,400 pounds of food from your garden for our family of four. That’s almost 3 tons of garden production!!! Whoa!!!! That is a lot of garden production.

So, how would you produce that much from your garden?

Here’s how it breaks down, space wise, for each of the 5 foods…

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Here’s what a garden layout might look like based on individual plots of each of the 5 foods…

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Now good news, these plants can be planted as “companions” for space consideration and nutrient compatibility.

Now, let’s revise the garden layout with companion planting in mind…

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That is an impractical layout because there is no spacing between rows to work…or even walk. But I wanted to show you just what the actual garden “space” looked like. But now let’s look at what is realistic…

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This version is more practical but still very condensed/compact. It does give you an idea of what is possible. You could take it and expand it to meet your needs/wants according to your available space.

The bottom line here is simple…you could do it.

Does this mean you couldn’t plant anything else? Of course not. And there are plenty more companion plants that you could integrate into our survival garden with realistically little additional effort. Think about it…add flavor (chili peppers), add cooking options (tomato sauce), add nutrition/flavor (onions), add taste (cucumbers → pickles), etc.

Also, think about this…on our glamstead we have a strawberry patch, a raspberry patch, and a blackberry patch. You could plant those now as well…and be ready for the future.

The “garden” we’ve been talking about is the primary source of calorie/protein/fat staples kinda food. Our tasty berries are relatively high in vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants. They aren’t calorie-dense enough to form a primary energy source like potatoes, beans, or corn, but they round out nutrition, help prevent deficiencies, and add variety to the diet. Kinda like a boost to morale and diet satisfaction item…think sugar “fix.” They do provide nutrients that improve immune function. And frankly, if needed, berries could serve as trading or bartering items. Think about this…they cold also help prevent food fatigue.

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Here are some Options / Alternatives –

Out of the 5 basic foods we discussed so far here are some thoughts…

• The most difficult to grow is dry corn due to heavy nitrogen demand. It is also the most labor and equipment intensive to process for storage and actual storage itself.
• The most difficult to store is potatoes due to temperature control, humidity control, sprouting potential, and risk of rot.

Let’s see what can be grown in their place…

Dry Corn – “Most Difficult to Grow & Harvesting Process”

Alternative Options:

• Grain Sorghum: Drought-tolerant, easier to grow in poor soil, high-calorie grain.
• Millet: Small grains, very hardy, grows in hot/dry conditions, easier to grow than corn.
• Amaranth: Can serve as both leafy greens and grain, very resilient, drought-tolerant.

Potatoes – “Most Difficult to Store”

Alternative Options:

• Sweet potatoes: Longer storage life, high calories, and easier to cure/store in our high-desert climate. Interesting note…sweet potatoes are a completely different plant from regular potatoes, though they are both starchy, tuber-like crops
• Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes): Tubers that tolerate cold, can be left in soil until needed, calorie-dense.
• Carrots or parsnips: Root vegetables with reasonable storage life if stored properly; less yield per acre than potatoes but easier to manage.

Now, if I was going to suggest two crops that could be of immense help, even replace the corn, it would be Jerusalem artichokes and grain sorghum. Grain sorghum would be a preferred replacement for corn. Jerusalem artichokes could replace potatoes. BUT…better yet…just add Jerusalem artichokes to the “Top 5 List”…call it “insurance.”

Jerusalem artichokes bring to the garden/diet incredible reliability, little storage headache, leave-in-ground harvesting, and huge yields. Jerusalem artichoke are calories per pound about the same as potatoes and they’re mostly carbohydrate (inulin). Inulin feeds beneficial gut bacteria. Produces less rapid glucose spike than potatoes. As a side-benefit it may help improve absorption of both calcium and magnesium. “Soft” Warning – eating Jerusalem artichokes, for some people, may cause bloating, gas, and digestive discomfort. The result could also include gaseous emissions (farts). Best to try them before doing a big planting.

There you go!! You can garden to survive…if you want to garden and survive. Many folks, myself included, would look at the garden as a supplement to our food storage for probably the first two years. First year for sure we would depend on our food storage and use the garden production to extend our food storage.

If this scenario would be an “extended” food chain problem…or a total “grid-down” end of the world event (TEOTWAWKI) then by year 3 you would be looking at the garden as the sole source of food. And please, please don’t say “I would just hunt for our food and eat deer, elk, rabbit, and the neighbors cows.”

Really, do you live in a forest? What do you think every other starving family would be doing? And do you think your neighbor might object, just a little bit, to you killing his cows? That being said…don’t overlook an opportunity kill of wildlife. Even small birds could add protein to a stew. And a venison steak would be amazing cooked over a campfire. But you won’t survive thinking you are the great hunter/gatherer dragging dinner home to your family.

Another thought…is your garden in plain view? If so, maybe that isn’t the best idea…everyone else would see it as a grocery store.

Here’s a thought for you…And I would plant zucchini no matter what. Zucchini can actually be a surprisingly useful survival food, especially in a high-production, home-garden or prepper setup. Zucchini germinates and grows rapidly, sometimes ready to harvest in about 50 days from seed. You can harvest multiple rounds in a single season. That could keep you from starving when food supply is limited. As you well know, each plant produces a large number of fruits over the season…even a few plants can provide consistent food.

Zucchini is easy to grow and can be eaten raw, cooked, roasted, or made into soups/stews. It can also be shredded or sliced and then incorporated into multiple dishes. Don’t forget “zoodles.” Zucchini is not extremely calorie-dense, it does provides hydration and nutrients such as vitamins A, C, potassium, and a good fiber source.

And lastly…the seeds. Zucchini seeds can be harvested from mature fruit, dried, stored, and then consumed as seeds (roasted and/or flavored). The seeds can be safely stored (if prepared & stored properly) for 6 – 12 months. And they can be added to soups or stews.

Think about this for a minute…how many times have you heard of zucchini plants taking over a garden or producing fruit 10 times faster than they can be eaten. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful problem to have if you were trying to survive off your garden!?!

Nature gets a vote. A survival garden should always have redundancy. I would over-plant and diversify. Better safe than sorry.

Last note…spices and salt. If you are going to live off your garden…store plenty of spices and salt. Without those…your meals, while filling, might lead to more food fatigue.

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Listen closely…in closing…forget the experts and talking heads for a minute. Think about your family, your community, and the people around you. Become more self-reliant, not so you can stand apart from others, but so you can better care for your family and serve those around you.

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No one is coming to save us…we serve and save each other.

← Click here to read Part #1 Article 

Articles in this series –

• Survival Garden (top 5 plants) : Part #1 of 2
• Survival Garden (top 5 plants) : Part #2 of 2

Related Articles –

• Top 3 Apocalypse Vegetables
• Why garden at all?
• Garden: Let’s Talk a Minute…
• Glenn Beck, Destination, Prepping, & Gardening

Q & A Time…Ask me a question or send me a message…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
See Content Use Policy for more information.</p

I get this question a lot. I thought I covered it before but I will have another go at it with details. The question is “What can I plant and grow in my garden to survive on if there is no food available at all in the store?”

I am going to change that and make it much more dramatic.

The I am going to use scenario:

1. Food supply chain is done, gone, not available.
2. I need to live off my garden as the only source of food.
3. I know I need calories and protein.
4. I need lots of pounds of food.
5. I need to be able to store it from harvest (year 1) through planting (year 2) to harvest (year 2).
6. I need some of the seeds from the harvest in year 1 to use for planting in year 2.
7. Space is not an issue…reasonably.
8. I have a family of 4; 1 adult man, 1 adult woman, 1 teen child, 1 pre-teen child.

Here are some basics:

• These become your priorities; calories, protein, fat/oils, storage life, seed saving, growth reliability, climate adaptation, production per square foot, nutritional density, and ability to preserve.
• For my specific glamstead location, I have to consider crops that work with a shorter growing season, cool nights, intense UV, low humidity, spring wind, periodic drought, and possible early/late frosts/freezes. I can offset the “drought” issue because I have a well. But, will the well hold out? Think for a minute…a garden without reliable water is just landscaping.
• We know that people need calories, carbohydrates, fats, and protein in our diets as priorities.
• You will starve to death if you think you can survive on lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.
• And then there is the actual calorie intake requirements:

These numbers are rough estimates based on my climate, my soil, my family assumptions, and reasonable yields. Real-world results could vary dramatically. Please do your own research for your own area and family needs.

Let’s make it more real when looking at it as a family combined…

But under survival conditions where hard/persistent physical labor is present the calorie intake could easily double.

Now, let me share this with you…I am talking pure survival. I am not talking about balanced diet, healthy, gluten free, non-GMO, none of that crap. I am talking food that will keep you alive and the most efficient way to go about it.

Last note, the list is for my area…my location…not yours…unless you are a neighbor. You would have to look up what is right for your area. DO NOT TRUST INTERNET EXPERTS !!! Do not trust gardener or survivalist keyboard warriors. Do not trust me. Do your own research for your area. I will make one suggestion that might help…use some AI program for help. I worked on my list then double-checked it against a very detailed and specific prompt using chatgpt.com It helped me to understand I was off on one of my choices…there was a better one. It also gave me the reasoning for the difference.

Here are the top 5 foods to plant, harvest, eat, and survive…in my area:

1. Potatoes
2. Dry Corn (field corn)
3. Beans (dried beans)
4. Winter Squash
5. Sunflowers

* There will be three substitutions/options/alternatives that I will mention at the end.

Here are the details:

#1 Potatoes –

First off, I’m about 1/3 Irish…so this is an obvious #1 choice for me. And in addition to that they have a huge calorie count, they are really productive, they store well, spread and reproduce easily, they are adaptable to most climates including ours, they are very calorie dense, and contain other useful nutrients.

For us the varieties would probably be Yukon Gold or Kennebec. They would store for months in a cool place like a dug pit (which we would do) or root cellar (which we don’t have). And all we would have to do is save some of the potatoes with the most sprouts to use as seed potatoes for the next year’s crop.

They can take up some space but can be grown densely. The soil we would use would need amending (compost) but that could be acquired from under our tress, etc.

#2 Dry Corn (field corn) –

This is not sweet corn we’re talking about…it’s “field” corn, specifically “dent” corn. For our area we would want to use Painted Mountain Corn or Hopi Blue Corn, probably both. These varieties are excellent storage types, pretty dang cold tolerant, they can thrive in a shorter growing season, and can handle more adverse weather conditions that our climate produces. This is a “grain” vs a picnic type corn on the cob. With this corn you can have cornmeal, flour, hominy, masa, and animal feed. But it takes processing; drying, shelling, grinding, and storage.

Our #1 issue is a dry climate, #2 is short growing season. Painted Mountain Corn is excellent at both and Hopi Blue Corn is very good at both. Hopi Blue Corn is a little better at nutrition.

A bonus with dent corn is the “leftover” after the ear of corn is picked and the kernels are shucked…EVERYTHING else is 100% usable.

The stalks and leaves can be used for fresh animal feed, silage animal feed (chopped & fermented), and dried animal feed. Animals that can eat it are cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and to a limited degree chickens and rabbits. The stalks and leaves can also be used for composting and mulch. And our soil could seriously benefit from both. And the cobs can also be used as fuel. Once dried, they should be viewed as compressed natural tinder…it burns hot and fast. One interesting uses…biochar. Cobs are a good source that can be converted into biochar…another important soil amendment for our area.

#3 Beans (dry beans) –

For our area I would choose Anasazi beans. I am already familiar with them, they taste really great, they are a desert adapted bean, store really well, and they a very good-looking colorful bean. I am considering the addition of Tepary beans. I’ve never grown them but I will try some next year. If I am successful with them…they are actually even better suited for our area and conditions than the Anasazi beans.

Anasazi beans are high protein, high fiber, calorie dense…basically, nutritionally serious food. Yup, and they are great for the soil…they fix nitrogen and improve soil fertility. This would be a crop that you plant in the area where you plant corn the following year. Why? Corn uses a lot of nitrogen, beans put nitrogen into the soil. Once the beans are harvested, leave the roots in the ground (that’s where the nitrogen is) and then compost the plant separately with other organic matter. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the bean roots leave some nitrogen in the soil when the roots decompose.

Interesting side-note…if I was caught short and didn’t have any Anasazi beans to use as seeds…well, I would happily use green been seeds. Just let green bean pods mature and dry on the plant. Once fully dried they can be shelled and stored like any other dried bean. And yes, compost the removed shell material.

#4 Winter Squash –

For me there is only one choice…Butternut. This squash is incredible for storage (6 – 12 months), a reliable plant for gardeners (productive & vigorous), and packed with nutrition…and it tastes amazing. Butternut is a perfect plant for our climate…handles dry condition really well and doesn’t need perfect soil. And yes, you can seed save. Speaking of seeds…

Butternut seeds contain fats, protein, minerals, and calories…basically concentrated survival nutrition. These seeds really help solve the whole survival “fat” problem…they have lots of fat. Harvest the seeds from mature fruit, roast em, store them properly, enjoy the flavor and the nutrition! Look, you can grind them into flour or simply add them to a stew…or eat as a convenient snack. It’s all good…it’s all nutrition.

I will mention that two alternatives would be Hubbard squash and Seminole pumpkin. From my research both are good survival options, and both would do good here. I have no personal experience with them as of now…next year I will do a test plot. Treat them like you would Butternut squash.

#5 Sunflowers –

I bet that one surprised you. Sunflowers may be one of the most underrated survival/preparedness crops there is. It is a fantastic source of fats, oil, protein, and calories. The stalks and leaves can also be used for animal feed. The flowers are magnets for pollinators which support all the other garden crops. If you don’t use the stalks and leaves for animal feed there will be lots of biomass for composting.

For our climate they can handle our sun, can handle the heat, and can tolerate dry conditions pretty well. Our variety choice would probably be Black Oil sunflowers for their high oil content. I’ve never grown them before…on the list for next year. For snacking and stews I would go with Mammoth or Russian Giant. Those two varieties have larger edible seeds and are easier to process but contain less oil than Black Oil.

Along with the leftover stalks and flowers being animal feed, the flowers themselves are really beautiful and can provide a big morale boost. Once all the harvesting is done, if you don’t have animals they are great for composting due to their large amount of biomass.

Sunflower seeds are really nutritious, they provide a concentrated source of calories, fat, protein, and…what’s really cool…micronutrients. The seeds can be eaten raw, roasted, or you can grind them into sunflower “butter.” The seeds can also be stored long-term if you keep them dry and cool. That is a huge benefit…long-term storage food reserve. Sunflower seeds can be pressed to extract oil, which is then used for cooking, adding calories, and could be used as a barter item. The oil has a long shelf-life if stored properly.

Sunflowers are relatively easy to grow in most climates and soils…even our moderately amended local soil. They tolerate drought better than many other crops, which is valuable in hot, dry regions like ours. And obviously, you can seed-save and produce next year’s crop.

Now…how much do you need of each?

Why do I ask that? Well, if you want to survive off your garden you gonna need to know how much you are going to use…and then that tells you how much you are gonna need to grow. And that tells you how much space is needed for your garden.

So how much do you need of each of the 5 foods?

So here is the basis of my estimates…

Here’s a nice info-graphic presentation…

< click the image to enlarge or right-click to download the image >

Bottom line…5,400 pounds of food from your garden! That’s almost 3 tons of garden production!!! Whoa!!!! That is a lot of garden production. I don’t think I’ve gotten more than about 1,000lbs of produce from any garden I’ve ever had. I would be hard pressed to think I could grow that much. However, there are only 2 of us…so we could get by on about 60% of that list. Still, that’s a huge demand…3200lbs of garden production.

So, how would you produce that much from your garden? Well, let’s get into that a bit…in Part #2.

Click here to read Part #2 article →

Articles in this series –

• Survival Garden (top 5 plants) : Part #1 of 2
• Survival Garden (top 5 plants) : Part #2 of 2

Related Articles –

• Top 3 Apocalypse Vegetables
• Why garden at all?
• Garden: Let’s Talk a Minute…
• Glenn Beck, Destination, Prepping, & Gardening

Q & A Time…Ask me a question or send me a message…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
See Content Use Policy for more information.</p

“Food Fatigue” is real and I have experienced it…you probably have too. Food Fatigue is simply when you get tired of eating the same food day after day to the point where you want to slit your wrists. Okay, maybe not bad enough to do physical damage to yourself, but you get the idea.

As I have been working on the garden non-stop for several months I started thinking about Food Fatigue. First off, we are not growing enough food to eat all year long…just not enough garden space or skill/knowledge…or desire.

Hear me on this one…I also wanted to ensure that we have enough herbs and spices on hand for spaghetti sauce to go with all the tomatoes we are growing, enough TVP bacon bits to go with the green beans, etc. And all of that prompted me to think about a food, or combination of foods, to eat to help stave off Food Fatigue.

Remember how many calories you will probably need during tough time (a.k.a. emergencies, disasters, and grid-down)…somewhere north of 2500 for a woman and probably well above 3000 for a man. A young man (14 – 30) doing lots of hard work would need more than 4000 – 6000 calories per day to stay healthy. With that in mind I wanted to not only alleviate Food Fatigue but supply enough calories as well. Then the idea of “other” nutritional requirements crept into my thought process…so much for chocolate chip cookies! Bummer 🙁

One of the things I like to eat for breakfast at least 2 – 4 times a week is peanut butter and jelly toast. Yup, and I love it!

I decided that this simple food was delicious, tasty, and stayed with me for the entire morning. And sometimes I eat it on healthy bread, other times I eat it on really good tasting Arrowhead Country Style Potato bread. Yum, yum! It met all the initial requirements but how did it stack up nutritionally…dang, a tough question. I don’t like tough questions when it comes to food…hence, my earlier comment on chocolate chip cookies.

So here we go, to meet 1/3rd of the daily 3000 calorie count for me (1000 for breakfast).

Since I am saying we will run out of bread, and bread making capability, I am relying on our canned bread…Pilot Bread Crackers. And yes, they are very, very tasty and last a very long time…20 – 30 years properly canned such as the product from Saratoga Farms.

So here is how it looks…

PB&J Crackers only –

PB&J Crackers with milk –

PB&J Sandwich with milk –

PB&J comparison crackers vs sandwich –

Note: Don’t worry about the ‘fat’ category. Most of us will easily burn that ‘fat’ doing normal daily survival-type work.

Summary –

1. Learn what food fatigue is…as it applies to you and your family.
2. Learn what it takes for you to avoid food fatigue with foods that appeal to you.
3. Figure out which is healthy…and which is chocolate chip cookies! Yeah, gotta have a cookie now and then 🙂

Okay, bottom line…peanut butter and jelly on pilot bread (a.k.a. crackers) is a decent combination. PB&J with a high quality bread is even better. And of course, don’t forget the milk…ice cold to make your teeth hurt.

Related Articles –

• (__XXX__) Fatigue
• TIP: Eating during emergencies, disasters, and grid-down
• Food Storage Methodology
• FOOD: Part 1 – Introduction

 2009 - 2023 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content 
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
See Content Use Policy for more information.