Posts Tagged spinach
Reviewing your seed stockpile
Spring is just a couple of months away. As the warm weather gets closer, some of us are going to be putting seeds in the ground in 6 – 7 weeks.
Over the next few weeks the local feed and fertilizer stores will start getting their shipments in. As the stores start to get their seeds in, now is a good time to review your seed stockpile.
Last year my wife and I planted 1/4 acre of corn and peas. But due to the drought, nothing came up. This year I plan on planting a garden a little smaller and a little closer to home so I can get a water hose to the plants. This year I need to replace the seeds that we pout out last year.
Some of the seeds in my stockpile:
Beans – snap beans and pinto beans
Bell pepper
Broccoli
Survival Gear Salt Flashlights and Seeds
A couple of weeks ago I posted a video on youtube talking about spreading your survival gear purchases out over time. Instead of forking out $400, $500 or even $600 at a time, just spend $40, $50 or $60 at a time. After a few trips to the store, your probably going to be surprised at the amount of gear that can be stockpiled.
A couple of weeks ago my kids and I went to the camp for 2 days. While we were there we decided to walk around the property at night. The following is what I like to call the “can opener” effect – its were you get so involved with the bigger things that you overlook the small stuff.
During the rush to get packed, all three of us forgot to grab a good flashlight. After looking through the flashlights that we have stockpiled at the camp, I realized that we had several hand crank flashlights, but no good quality LED flashlights. Hand crank lights are fine for inside the house, but when you need to secure the property, you need a good quality light. The only good quality light my kids and I had was the Surefire 6PX Tactical on my Ar-15. My daughter and my son were able to find some cheap led lights that were barley bright enough to see the ground. We walked around the property, looked at some stuff and then went back to the trailer. While my kids and I were walking around in the middle of the night, I made up my mind that some good LED lights would be in my next purchase.
Purchases for March 6 2011 include:
6 – 1 pound 10 ounce containers of salt
100 rounds Winchester 9mm 115grain round nose
4 pack energizer AAA Lithium batteries
1 – Coleman 90 lumen LED flashlight
1 pound regular pinto beans (for the garden)
1 pound yellow dent field corn (for the garden)
$1 worth giant noble spinach (for the garden)
20 pounds seed potatoes – hopefully to get planted next week
Growing Spinach
Spinach – maybe one of the best seeds that a survivalist can stockpile, and maybe one of the best plant choices.
Spinach is a relative easy crop to grow, the only “real” fertilizer requirement is nitrogen. So any kind of slow release organic fertilizer will be good – horse, cow, rabbit or chicken manure. I wont hurt to mix in some nitrogen fertilizer when you have it on hand, such as 21-0-0.
Spinach is a high producing plant – you cut the leaves off with a pair of scissors and the plant will produce more leaves.
Spinach can be eaten raw or cooked. This means you do not have to use precious fuel cooking / boiling the spinach before its eaten. However, its always good to cook your food to kill any bacteria that might be growing on the leaves.
Spinach does not take up a lot of room, its not like the plants grow 3 feet wide. This means that a lot of food can be planted in a small amount of space. This makes it a great choice for patio gardeners and other urban dwellers.
Seeds for a survival garden
Lets talk about stockpiling seeds and the value of having the ability to plant a survival garden. Stockpiling food – dried rice, beans, canned goods – is fine and dandy, but that is a none renewable resource. When you eat that can of beans, are you going to plant the can, and maybe it will sprout a canned bean plant, for you to pick more cans off of? I don’t think do.
Stockpiling food provides a family with a limited food source.
Having a garden can provide an unlimited source of food.
2,000+ years ago, did the Romans and Egyptians have canned foods and mylar bags? Nope, they raised what they wanted to eat. What about the Greeks and the Chinese, did they have mylar bags full of rice and beans? Nope, they raised what they ate.
There is nothing wrong with stockpiling food. It appears to me that a lot of survivalist put more focus on stockpiling a limited food source, then on learning how to develop an unlimited food source.
The best survival crop
There is a discussion on the forum about the best survival crop. In other words, if you were going to stockpile seeds, what type of seed would you focus on. Or if you were going to grow 1 crop, what would it be? Some of the suggestions in the thread were – corn, beans, peas, greens, peppers, bell peppers, potatoes,,,,,,.
In my opinion, one of the best seeds to stock up on are greens:
Turnip greens
Rutabaga
Mustard Greens
Radishes
Onions
Spinach
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Patio Gardening Project 3rd Update
Patio Gardening Project Episode 4 – The first set of radishes that were planted 3 weeks ago are coming along nicely. The second set of radish leaves have sprouted, and the bigger leaves are about 2 inches across. The Spinach has not done too much of anything. The onions have come along nicely with about…
Patio Gardening Project – 2nd Update
This is the second update to the Urban Survival Patio Gardening series. In the first video, the 2 tubs were taken, filled with potting soil and were planted with radishes and spinach. The feetilizer that was used was stuff that you might use for flowers. Episode 1 – the introduction Episode 2 – the first…
Patio Gardening Project – 1st Update
This is the first update to our patio gardening project. Last week we took 2 tubs – in 1 tub spinach and onions were planted. In the other tub some radishes were planted. The Radishes were the first ones to sprout. The onions are green onions that my wife and bought from a local grocery…
Spinach for a survival garden
History: The origin of Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is in some debate. Some researchers put the origin of Spinach around current day Iraq. While other researchers claim that Nepal is where the plant was first domesticated.
Planting: Spinach has to be replanted every year. This is also known as an annual plant. Even though Spinach may need to be replanted every year, it might survive over winter in temperate regions. Spinach germinates best if the seeds are soaked in water, or between wet rags for at least 24 hours before planting. Best results for germination may occur if the seeds are soaked for 3 – 5 days, or until the seed starts to sprout.
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