I knew food-independence would be a large component of sustainable living. We had the animals, but needed to grow more vegetables. In the first year when my Dad was here, he and I built a greenhouse and set up a small orchard (more on that later). The greenhouse was delivered as a kit needing assembly, including heavy-duty aluminum framing, double-pane polycarbonate panels for the covering, and several manually-operated windows for ventilation.
The greenhouse has 2’ raised beds made out of cinder blocks. This, along with 50-gallon barrels filled with water, create a thermal mass allowing for a much longer growing season. The cinder blocks, soil, and water take longer to heat and cool, so provide a more consistent temperature throughout the day and season. The water barrels are along the east-side of the greenhouse, directly exposed to the sun. This allows them to soak up heat during winter days and slowly release that heat throughout the winter night. The cinder blocks and soil get indirect sunlight in the morning and evening, and direct sunlight in the afternoon. They are also able to store heat during the winter day and slowly release it at night. During the summer, they heat up more slowly in the daytime and so help keep the plants cooler. This type of passive solar design has been used for thousands of years.
We’ve harvested tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, squashes, pumpkins, beets, eggplants, okra, chard, kale, amaranth, and several lettuce varieties. Even in January, our cilantro, which is not cold-tolerant, was going strong. With our other herbs such as mint, thyme, sage, and rosemary, we have all the ingredients we need to make savory meals and killer mojitos!
Now we make our own stock and dairy products, and preserve eggs and vegetables. K also bakes our bread. We try to make as many of our meals as possible using ingredients from the homestead. This saves both money and the wear and tear (and stress) of going to the grocery store. We have an amazing variety of fresh food now available to us any time we want it.
Next blog post: Growing fruit trees