When the prospects of an impending food shortage or even an economic collapse started really becoming apparent shortly after Joe Biden took office, many of us began looking at "prepping" as a way to secure our family's food supply. Millions of Americans have been prepping for years, even decades, but there has always been a stigma associated with it. This stigma has been mostly manufactured by corporate media and bolstered by a common belief among Americans that things will work themselves out before it gets too bad.
Now, it's clear the likelihood of things working themselves out is very slim. I've spoken ad nauseam about why we became "late preppers" in the last year as well as the signs that massive food shortages are just around the corner. I'm sure I'll post more about it in the near future, but for now, I want to stipulate that if you're reading this or listening to the podcast, you're already in the camp that is either already prepping or getting ready to start.
My wife and I are not green thumbs. We could tag-team the accidental killing of a cactus faster than tossing it in a fire. But knowing what we know, we decided to put our best efforts forward to growing our own fruits and vegetables. It's something we're encouraging everyone to do, even if you're limited in space. Growing food in an apartment is very different from growing on open land. Climate and soil obviously need to be taken into consideration. It may not be possible for literally everyone to do it, but those who can make some adjustments should strongly consider it.
Growing enough food to be completely self-reliant is challenging. But we believe nearly everyone can do something to at least supplement the food they are now buying. Rather than trying to account for every possible scenario, we described our food-growing action plan in the latest episode of The Late Prepper. Hopefully, that can encourage others to explore and act upon a plan to start growing their own food based on your current situation.
We've grown many of our own herbs for a while. That isn't hard at all, especially in our plant-friendly Southern California climate. We purchased one, then a second avocado tree. Fat is the hardest food type to store long-term and avocados are among the fattiest fruits you can grow. They came in their own pots, shipped by mail (though if you can pick one up it's less risky and you can pick a winner yourself), and require tending once a day. We used Fast Growing Trees for our purchase and two months in it's looking good.
Last week, we purchased an organic indoor gardening kit from Spade to Fork. We've been told that it's a waste to go with kits because seeds and soil are cheap, but we pushed the "easy button" because, as mentioned before, our thumbs are not exactly green. We went with this particular product because we liked the mix of food (cherry tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, radishes, and green beans) and they're organic. This is just a short-term solution, a test if you will. Long term, we already have 15,000 non-GMO heirloom seeds from Open Seed Vault ready for a long-term crap-hits-the-fan scenario.
We have grow bags that we'll be using as soon as we pick the right mix of food and planting seasons. It's important that novices like us do the research into planting the best foods at the best times. Think strategically based on your situation. What do you like to eat? How easy is it to grow? Where will you keep it? Will your harvest be bigger than you can eat at the moment, and if so how will you store the excess?
For many if not most experienced preppers and homesteaders, these are very basic questions and there's likely a whole lot more than I'm not taking into consideration. I would greatly appreciate those who have more experience than us to share their thoughts and expertise in the comments. As I've often said, I'm not an expert at any of this. The purpose of this Substack is to have a community where fellow "late preppers" can share ideas and learn from those with more experience.
And as always, we recommend My Patriot Supply for those who have the resources to purchase and store some or even all of your crap-hits-the-fan preps. Now is the time to get secured before the rest of America is forced to realize how bad things are about to get.
It's Time to Start Growing Your Own Food if You Are Not Already