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How To Start Farming At Home
Survival Institute
Survival Institute

How To Start Farming At Home

by
October 7, 2016

Are you wanting to become more self-sufficient but don’t know where to start? After all, there are an endless number of areas which you could start working in and not even begin to feel like you have the ability to survive off grid.

If this describes you, an area to consider starting is in growing your own food. Food self-sufficiency is one of the most powerful forms of independence that exists and having control over this aspect of your life both gives you options in making decisions and gives you a measure of security that they average person will not have in a disaster situation.

In that light, here are some basic steps from happypreppers.com to starting your own farm at home with our comments:

1. Pick a good spot for your survival garden. You will need a spot with plenty of sunlight for your plants. You can start with planters on your back porch and/or on your windowsill. If you have a little space, you could plant a secret garden which isn’t readily noticeable by the untrained eye.

2. Prepare your soil. Consider using mulch and compost. Make sure that your soil has the nutrients needed to nurture your plants.

3. Select the right seeds and plants. This is an area of a bit of controversy depending on where you fall on the pro-GMO/anti-GMO spectrum. My personal preference is to avoid GMO products as much as possible. My reasoning is simply that, very often, the technology is put out into the world without any real understanding of the long-term consequences of using that technology. I would rather use heirloom seeds and avoid future issues by eating food that I know is both safe and good than take a chance that might come back to bite me later in some way.

4. Get your garden tools. Yes, you will need some tools to use in your garden to maximize it’s production efficiency.

5.Learn about raised beds and planters. They are useful for a number of reasons.

6. Know insect friends and foes. If you don’t know which bugs help and which hinder so that you keep the ones that help and safely get rid of the ones who hurt, you’re losing out on valuable help in your garden and giving yourself a huge headache at the same time.

7. Get ready for the harvest (get ready to can). What good will growing a year’s worth of food in your garden do for you if you can’t preserve it, especially if you can’t refrigerate it? Bottom line: learn how to can.

8. Go beyond farming fruits and vegetables. Remember that farms also can include livestock (yes, that includes chickens). Start on a level that is practical for you (for most people, that will be growing vegetables), but continuously look for ways to expand your farm to become even more self-sufficient.

9. Control your own world. Farm at home. Two thoughts here: One thought is that you want to farm on your own property as opposed to leasing someone else’s property for this. Why? So that you aren’t dependent on someone else’s permission to get access to your food. The other thought is that “He who controls the food controls the world.” The quote is attributed to Henry Kissinger. No matter who said it, it has a lot of truth. If you control your food supply, you are much more independent in your life.

10. Believe in tomorrow. That may sound sappy, but belief that there will be a tomorrow will keep you going and will help you to enjoy the process.

What are your suggestions for starting a backyard farm? Tell us below.

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