Previously, there were only 38 known cases associated with the Cargill outbreak. On Friday, Hinshaw said there are now 358 cases identified in households connected to Cargill — a figure that represents 15 per cent of all cases in Alberta, and more than the entire province of Saskatchewan. Cargill's High River plant, along with the JBS plant in Brooks and the Harmony Beef plant in Balzac — both of which also have confirmed cases of COVID-19 — represent approximately three-quarters of beef suppliers in Canada.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cargill-alberta-covid-19-deena-hinshaw-1.5537377 This is not good at all... the Filipino community also makes up a large portion of the Health Care Aides (HCA) in hospitals, assisted living and long term care facilities in AB. Coupled with a reported outbreak in one of the worker camps (with the workers often being on scheduled rotations where they go home within AB, BC and Saskatchewan between shifts) that serve the tar sands up near Fort MacMurray in the north end of AB, I think there is tremendous potential for more serious outbreaks. Fingers crossed I am wrong... Jan
Another option is to set up an indoor garden.
You don’t need to go a gonzo as I did a few years back. You can set up a Home Depot shelf with a couple of 2" grow lamps on the top two shelves, then use the bottom shelf and the top for sprouts or microgreens.
https://www.homedepot.com/c/ah/create-a-diy-indoor-grow-light-system/9ba683603be9fa5395fab9018f00d25
I’ve used the metal shelf in the tutorial for storage and they are sturdy and the shelves can be adjusted for height. You could get started this week with some prestarted plants from the nursery for probably a few hundred dollars. Lights are the most expensive thing, be sure you get actual T5 grow bulbs not just white florescent.
Looking back on things, I’d go with 2 gallon self watering buckets rather than 5 gallon for weight. And I also went a bit large with the lights, LOL. You can see how I made my containers in this thread:
https://peakprosperity.com/forum-topic/self-watering-garden-containers/
You can produce quite a bit in a minimal foot print. And keep them safe from vermin of the 2 and 4 leg kind. And if you stagger your planting, you can grow year round. Things like spring greens (lettuce, spinach, etc) which will go to seed and tastes bad (called bolting) do better without the Spring time heat.
Here’s what I’ve got indoors this year. Started them about a month back and they will soon be ready to start contributing to my weekly menus.
In a week or so, I’ll put all eight containers under one lamp with a bit more top room, and begin clipping leaves for salads.
One easy and highly nutritious plant is Purslane (sometimes called Rock Moss). You can find it at nurseries and garden stores in their hanging basket section.
First off, pollinators love it. You’ll have bees on it all day.
Second its a “succulent”, which means it stores water in its stems and leaves making it hard to kill in the Summer heat. Its a weed, in that it will grow anywhere it can get a root down.
More importantly its got tons of vitamins and minerals.
https://www.drugs.com/npp/purslane.html
It has a tart, mustardy taste to me, and very crisp and wet when eaten in a salad. I throw a bunch into any stir fry I do.
The ornamental from stores is a bit less nutritious, better to get the seeds from a seed company and start your own, but in a pinch even the common one is good.
And it doesn’t look like a food either, a big plus if you are worried about theft.
ADDED: Don’t get it confused with Portulaca, which is often called Rock Moss as well. Portulaca has spiky pointed leaves and Purslane has round oval leaves.
I never had a garden of my own. But, my father was raised on a farm and moved to more urban settings at 19. He had a real green thumb, though. Based on Chris’ persistent recommendations to “plant a garden,” I rented a space in the local community garden. It’s 20’ X 40’. I have thoroughly enjoyed reclaiming a defunct garden plot and planting vegetables.
I can remember following behind my father, as early as I could walk, as he plowed his garden with a mule. Working in my garden puts me in touch with my father (he has been deceased for years). We are in communion, he and I, as I work the garden. It’s a welcome and comforting time. I can hear him telling me, “get that weed out,” or “put 3 seeds in that hole.” I find myself turning over dirt as if I was watching his hands at work. I’m 64 years young, now and never realized how much I knew about gardening. There is lots to learn though!
This is are photos of my 1st day, March 29.
[caption id=“attachment_559998” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]
Cultivating the garden[/caption]
Here is a photo of putting in the compost:
[caption id=“attachment_559999” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]
Compost ready to till into the garden.[/caption]
I have cultivated, composted and fertilized the land. Then planted tomatoes, zucchini squash, yellow squash, okra, cucumbers, eggplants, potatoes, parsley, radishes, cantaloupe melons, lima beans, green beans, yellow bell peppers, green bell peppers and banana peppers. We’re doing ok, I think!
And here are photos of my garden yesterday, 4/18/20, just 19 days later:
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Garden, looking west.[/caption]
[caption id=“attachment_560001” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]
Garden, looking east[/caption]
[caption id=“attachment_560003” align=“alignnone” width=“225”]
Cucumbers, cantaloupe, radishes.[/caption]
[caption id=“attachment_560005” align=“alignnone” width=“225”]
Tomatoes[/caption]
[caption id=“attachment_560006” align=“alignnone” width=“225”]
Eggplants, Zucchini, Yellow Squash[/caption]
[caption id=“attachment_560007” align=“alignnone” width=“225”]
Okra sprouts[/caption]
…as a consummate gardener, I am impressed with the black loam in a zone 8b or warmer garden. I grew up in tobacco and peanut country with the Carters. Been a while since I saw such soil. Eastern Carolinas. South central Georgia. Gulf coast. Okra already. Awesome.
Hey Robie, since I’m on the coast in south Georgia, we are in zone 9A. My wife might tell you most of that black loam is in our living room these days. lol. The okra is actually up. I planted that clemson spinless okra. But, I’m thinking next year to plant some jambalaya okra, instead. https://hosstools.com/product/jambalaya-okra/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLsV4JtwcD0
These used to be advertised on TV. Now known as “Wood Handle Action Hoe”.
You shuffle it back and forth (I mostly pull it) just under the surface and it cuts off the weeds at the roots. Some will come back, but just keep after them. In a few weeks the ground will be barren. Yes, I have had success on bermuda grass with it. 
I do like bermuda for a lawn, can’t kill it and needs little mowing.
Earwigs are my current problem, voracious chewers. Seeds come up, overnight just stumps remain. A container of stale beer attracts them, they crawl in and drown, just too many and I hate wasting beer!
Thanks Adam!-I have a balcony and like the idea of going vertical.
I only listened to until the part that talked about animal feed. ANd, I do disagree with his conclusion because even though there wont be the distiller grain, the byproduct, there will still be the corn, and in the short term due to the loss of the ethanol market, they will need to sell that corn, so in the short term this will be available for the dairy industry. The question will be wether that effects price, I think they will have to lower the price to sell it or store it – dont know which way that will go. If they can store it, they may keep the price the same, which will lead to increased costs for the feed, or they may need to sell if off cheap, leaving the costs the same. But either way, long term, the question will be will the plant as much this year ? We could end up with feed isssues later if they plant less this year.
Hi Linda, I think we have a community garden a few blocks away. I’m going to check it out for sure.
A moderately active adult male (eg, a guy tending a big garden) will need roughly 2800 calories and perhaps 60 grams (2 ounces) of protein each day. A similarly active female will need somewhat less, perhaps 2300 calories per day. In honor of Chris and Evie, and many of the rest of us, the following calculations will assume a male/female partnership.
You can get an idea of your own calorie needs using this calculator:
https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/tools-calculators/daily-caloric-needs-estimate-calculator/
A rule of thumb is that people also need roughly 60 grams (2 ounces) of protein per day. A large egg contains about 6 grams of protein…so 10 eggs per day to meet that requirement, or 5 eggs if you want to get the other half of your protein from some other source(s).
A flock of about 20 chickens with the necessary rooster, and adequate feed and clean water, should produce at least 10 eggs per day, enough for 1-2 people. You also must either store feed, or provide enough range for the chickens (and protection from predators depending on where you live).
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-per-day
So, if we are gardening/raising small animals to provide a significant fraction of our calorie and protein needs, what crops should we consider? Different crops are more appropriate for different climates and soils. Here is one suggested list:
https://www.tactical.com/7-high-calorie-crops-survival-garden/
The grain crops and the beans take a fair amount of work to harvest, preserve, store and prepare for eating, so you would need to have/develop the necessary equipment and skills if you are relying on those crops. Potatoes are easier to store and prepare, so this example will assume potatoes as the primary calorie crop.
How much land would it take to grow enough potatoes to feed a male/female partnership?
This is where the numbers get a bit sobering. One pound of fresh weight of potatoes (with skins) contains about 350 calories and 13 grams of protein. (Sweet potatoes have a similar calorie content, but much lower protein content, about 2 grams per pound fresh weight.)
https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/potatoes-(skin-without-salt-boiled)?portionid=48896&portionamount=1.000
Our male/female partnership needs roughly 5000 calories per day (2800 + 2300). We will estimate 500 days worth of potatoes to make it from this year’s planting to next year’s harvest, leaving enough potatoes for next year’s seed and some storage losses. The calculation is 5000 calories per day x 500 days divided by 350 calories per pound equals roughly 7200 pounds of fresh weight potatoes needed every year.
The 60 gram per day protein requirement would easily be met by this much potato intake, but it would probably be best (and less boring) to make sure the amino acid balance was adequate by eating fewer potatoes and also eating high quality egg protein (or some other high quality protein).
So, if we only plan to get half of our calories from potatoes, and the rest from somewhere else, then we might “only” need about 3600 pounds of potatoes for our couple per year.
How much land would be required? This site gives some useful data.
https://www.google.com/search?q=potato+yield+per+acre&rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS821US823&oq=potato+yield&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l7.8583j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
If we are fortunate, perhaps we could get about 10 tons (20,000 pounds) of potatoes per acre the first year, and better yields the subsequent years. Maybe… Very few of us are expert gardeners, and it takes time to learn (as I know from hard experience).
An acre is 44,000 square feet, so to get 3600 pounds of potatoes we would need 3600 pounds divided by 20,000 pounds x 44,000 square feet equals roughly 8,000 square feet of garden/farm. That is roughly 90 x 90 feet. To give room for cultivation, paths, fencing, etc. allow 100 x 100 square feet or about 33 yards by 33 yards.
Most of us don’t have a 30 yard by 30 yard lawn available to dig up for potatoes.
I hope dtrammel can give some expected potato yields from hanging buckets for comparison, but my point is that it takes quite a bit of land to raise enough food to provide most of our calorie and protein requirements.
So yes, by all means, please plant that garden as Chris advises. Raise as much food as you can in whatever space you have available. It will be good for you mentally and physically. But the bottom line is that most of us cannot reasonably hope to ever raise enough food to completely feed ourselves.
So get a deep, deep pantry, as Chris also advises. Go heavy on the calories: rice, dried corn, dried potatoes, pasta, whole oats, wheat, but also get enough high quality protein: dried eggs, beans, dried milk and so on.
My wife and I are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following the church’s teachings, we have stored a year’s supply of food basics for ourselves and our five kids (now married and gone) for over 45 years.
We have also gardened in Indiana, Colorado, Texas and now Michigan. Gardening is hard, hard work and it takes a lot of practice to do it well. We are both pushing 70 so we pay a friend’s children to garden for us on their family farm, where space is not an issue. We get a lot of wonderful fresh food, some extra “grandkids” that we love and who love us, and they get valuable gardening experience and income. Talk about a “win-win-win”. 
(We are also building that community capital that Chris often talks about.)
As I have posted previously, you can get help with learning to store the food basics here:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/food-storage/longer-term-food-supply?lang=eng&_r=1
You can also purchase quantity staple foods, canned for long-term storage, at storehouses operated by the church. Google “home storage center and bishops’ storehouse” to find the storehouse nearest you. You do not need to be a church member to use the storehouse. You will be welcome.
Hi Dr. Bruce Dale,
Thanks for the great info on quantities and nutrition for food gardeners. I’ve been gardening for some years now and my tiny plot (abt. 60x60 ft.) grows more fresh and preserved produce than I can eat by far, but of course I’m still buying oils, nuts, flours, dairy, protein and coffee. I wonder how big this garden will seem if the store shelves get bare…
You didn’t mention winter squash, which are easy to grow and easier to store without a root cellar than potatoes. With a quick search it becomes apparent that potatoes have higher protein, more calories, less of most vitamins and a slightly less yield per acre than squash.
http://botapedia.com/comparing-the-nutrient-values-of-4-winter-squashes-acorn-butternut-hubbard-and-spaghetti/
https://nevegetable.org/cultural-practices/table-15-approximate-yields
Winter squash are beautiful, vigorous plants that I love growing and that attract pollinators, but that’s a side issue in this discussion.
With your extremely deep pantry experience, I’d like to hear if you have any thoughts on squash as a storage food.
Cheers
Susan
The myth about protein is a stubborn one. I don’t expect anyone to get past this myth, without studying the more modern nutritional science, so I’ll simply suggest you may want to do just that.
Essentially, all vegetables have more than adequate protein. On a healthy vegan diet, if you are not calorie deficient, it’s virtually impossible to be protein deficient. Protein deficiency is rare in Western Civilization (less than 3%).
Fiber deficiency is the big shortfall. 97% of the people in the US are fiber deficient, getting less than half the recommended daily allowance. Most vegetarians and vegans get the RDA for fiber.
Again, check it out for yourself. We essentially need around 6% of our calories from protein. Healthy plant based people typically shoot for 10% to be safe, but, frankly, it takes no effort to do that. At the low end, veggies have around 6% protein. Also, plant protein does not encourage cancer growth, unlike other proteins. That’s another thing you will have to research for yourself before you are likely to believe it.
Susan…you mentioned squash. We are still eating Butternut grown last season. The taste is not as good as when it is fresh but still edible. I harvested 150 lbs off of 12 vines last year and I’m going for 50 vines this year. Last year I grew a hybrid which is probably why the yield was so good, but this year I’m growing Waltham which is open pollinated.
Several people have mentioned how for the majority of us, our small plot of suburban land isn’t going to grow enough for us to live on. And that’s true.
A point that many people forget is that growing food is a long school, one you don’t master in one, two or even ten years. Someone who has grown food for any length of time knows that they never know it all. Plants are always surprising you.
Still you can become knowledgeable enough in a short period but you have to get started when you can afford to make mistakes. You can’t just expect to show up at your bug out location, with a ammo can of heirloom seeds, and come the Fall have a plentiful harvest.
Starting small, with a bunch of containers or a side yard garden of a hundred square feet, allows you the chance to learn something about plants, when if your entire tomato crop wilts and dies, doesn’t mean you starve.
Sometimes I think my real job is to see how many mistakes I can make AND still grow something.
We won’t all be hungry refugees this Fall. We will almost certainly see less options and higher prices, while having less money and fewer resources.
The job is to learn now when you don’t need it, not later when you do.
I’ve been gardening for about 60 years. The best introduction to really productive, low effort gardening was written by Ruth Stout. If you can find a copy of her book, it’s excellent. Lots of videos online of people trying her methods. It’s called No Work Gardening. You should plant what you like to eat, and learn how to can. You can’t put it all in the fridge. It also makes sense to grow things that produce a lot of mass. Most peas don’t, most beans do. Plant beans. Cabbage, winter squash, potatoes, zucchini, turnips, tomatoes, Swiss chard and kale are all pretty easy to grow and will feed you all winter if you learn to use a home canner. The extra tough leaves and spoiled veggies will feed your chickens. Most importantly, BE FRIENDLY TO YOUR NEIGHBORS! The ones who garden will know what grows in your area and will usually be glad to help. My favorite blog is https://crazygreenthumbs.com/, which is written by my daughter, (shameless plug). She has great info for beginning gardeners. She’s in a subdivision, yet grows most of her family’s food. You can do this, really! And it doesn’t have to be a full time job.
George,
Good luck! Hopefully they don’t have a long waiting list… If you can get one, you can start a garden sooner rather than later, so you can give yourself more time while you search. (In addition, to any indoor/vertical gardening you may choose to do.)
Linda
Ecology action, grow biointensive, has done research into a complete diet. They have a booklet, the complete 21 bed biointensive mini-farm plan. A bed for them is 100 sq ft, so that is 2100 sq ft, BUT 1/3 of that is for crops to sell to make money to pay for property taxes, utilities, etc… another 1/3 if for Compost crops to keep up soil fertility, leaving 1/3, 700 sq ft for main diet. Compost crops also provide some food, so lets say 1400 sq ft per person to grow food. Growing in a biointensive way takes less room than the charts of “row feet” and such. Mechanized farming takes alot more room than gardening.
I pulled the booklet out, they also say it will take a number of years to build up to this level of yield and soil health to get that yield. Growing food takes practice, start now.
I have been trying out and practicing this type of intensive growing for years. I think it is possible, my main problem has always been timing my crops to keep it going, succession planting. I know I should be able to have 2 crops of short season potatoes a year, in theory, but I cant seem to ever get the second crop in the ground in time… maybe this year. And I keep forgetting to grow winter wheat.
The crops mentioned in the booklet for major part of calories are : wheat, rye, amaranth, millet, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, dry beans and peanuts. Sunflower seeds also grown, they and the peanuts have fat which is important to include in ones diet. Crops and rotations would vary for other climates of course.
The beginning book on this method is “How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Thought Possible…” by John Jeavons
Another perspective of good calorie crop is Carol Deepe, the Resilient gardener, and she focuses on winter squash, potatoes and corn. She raises ducks for duck eggs for a fat source. But she has plenty of room so there is not the focus on maximizing yield on a small area that John Jeavons/Ecology action has.
Besides sucession planting, dealing with pests has always been a second problem. I have decided to take this more seriously this year, starting a few weeks ago, which is why I am working hard, a 3 prong approach on bunnies ( encourage natural predation, improve fencing, kill some) . I also have bird issues, and I am thinking of how to fool them, I will need to spend more time just present in the garden, and do more with scare reflective tape, late transplanting, and use of row covers until plants are big enough.
My garden has 14 48 sq ft beds, so around 700 sq ft. And, an amazing amount of food comes out of it ! I do grow an awful lot of my food even with all of my imperfections and pest problems. For example, I will be getting at least 150 pounds of potatoes this season from what I have planted, more than 100 pounds of winter squash, sweet potatoes, dry corn, ALOT of tomatoes, enough storage onions for 2 a week all year, garlic. The birds pulled up and ate all the garbenzo bean starts. Then there is fresh fruit, dried fruit, frozen fruits, jams, wine.
Potato yields. Yields go up as the soil improves over the years, but usual is 1 pound, great yield is even more. So 100 sq ft is around 100-400 pounds of potatoes. In the booklet, 21 bed mini farm, they did a trial of just 33 sq ft and got 133 pounds of potatoes ! That is planted 9 inches deep on 9 inch centers. I would recomend starting a little further apart in a new garden, maybe one plant for each sq foot.
dtrammel,
I agree, it’s a continual learning process. Learning about feeding the soil, attracting and saving pollinators (if not you, then someone close by), dealing with “pests” of all sorts and any plant diseases (using crop rotation to confuse pests and companion planting can help somewhat with that), seed saving, food storage and preservation, propagation and pruning, and learning about a plant’s needs. In addition, how changing weather patterns are impacting what we can grow.
One common thing I notice when I talk to people is that they haven’t researched what a plant needs, especially blueberries. How much sun, how much water and how to water it, what kind of soil, if it prefers more acidic soils or more alkaline, and the depth of root zones. Another reason to rotate crops is to plant light feeders so they follow heavy feeders (tomatoes and squash for example), at the same time having plants with shallow roots follow plants with deep roots, and including peas and beans and other nitrogen feeders in the rotations too.
I’m also including some links abot companion planting:
https://www.thespruce.com/companion-plants-for-potatoes-2540039
"Principles of Companion Planting:
Companion planting can be defined as the practice of planting different species of plants close together based on their ability to enhance one another in some way. Plants can be defined as good companions for a number of different reasons, and the gardener may want to emphasize one reason over others when laying out a garden. Common reasons why plants might be regarded as good companions include:
-
- Non-competing growth habits: Plants may have different but complementary growth habits that do not compete with one another. Pairing tall upright plants with ground-hugging vines, for example, can offer efficiency in the use of garden space. Or pairing deep-rooted vegetable with shallow-rooted vegetables may offer similar efficiency.
- Similar growth needs: Plants may have similar needs for fertilizing, water, or sunlight, which makes it easier to take care of them. Pairing together plants with high water needs, for example, can make it easier to water all of them at the same time.
- Pest deterrent: Some plants may be known to repel certain insect pests that feast on a particular plant. Marigolds, for example, are good companions for many plants for this reason. Other plants actually draw in beneficial insects that serve as predators for harmful insects.
- Soil balance: Plants use different nutrients in the soil, preventing depletion of the soil and reducing the need for fertilizing.
- Nutrient-rich: Some plants may actually improve the nutritional value of the soil. Legumes, for example, are good companions for many plants because they "fix" nitrogen and make it available for many other plants.
- Flavor enhancer: Some plants may enhance the flavor of other edible plants when they are grown close together. "