Homesteaders

[heidisue]

Yep one word-MONSANTO! Oh I did my college thesis on GMO and the crap MONSANTO (and a few others) have gotten away with is criminal! Our food supply is dangerously in the hands of greedy corporations. The stuff I dug up took hours and hours of research that most people are too lazy to look for or they just don't know how. I cant wait for my garden to start!!!!

Oh BTW native corns are not going to look or taste the way we are used to them tasting-they are not as sweet and the colors are a lot different. I would grow it if I could!-Desert wont grow corn.

The desert grows lots of types of corn and a lot of other things. What area are you in? Try nativeseeds.org - great seeds for the desert.

 

[newbie32]

The desert grows lots of types of corn and a lot of other things. What area are you in? Try nativeseeds.org - great seeds for the desert.

I already have. As stated be myself previously, the majority of desert plants that are online and the advice online are primarily for Arizona desert. I am 200+ feet below sea level without your wonderful monsoon rains. We are lucky to get a few inches a year. I am not too far from death valley-the hottest place on Earth. My grandma moved here from Tucson Arizona and complained all the time that it was drier and hotter than anything she had in Arizona. Those wonderful cacti trees you have are hard to grow here. We do have palm trees that can survive but they need CONSTANT water and are economically not worth it. I can grow from a raised bed-I think. But growing corn would be extremely hard to do and expensive.

 

[kentuckychicks]

Check out www.desertharvesters.org they apparently help you plan what plants you can grow for food. I know nothing about living in the desert I was just looking for something the other day and found that site and thought it was neat and wish we had something like that here so people would stop planting so many burning bushes and start planting blueberry bushes or something similar! I agree with not knowing how to grow corn there since it has to have a pretty constant amount of water to put down a good supportive root system.....? Good luck and for sure let us know what you plant and how you get it done!

 

[kentuckychicks]

Hey, I just found this thread. I'm starting a small scale homestead here. I have an acre and a half, but a lot of it is wooded. I started my very first vegetable garden this year (and actually grew food! Yayyy me!) We're actually down to five hens and a rooster and are looking to add ducks to our flock this spring.

I would love any and all tips you wonderful people have!!!! I love reading others experiences in homesteading!

I need more shade! I want to try my hand at growing mushrooms but not enough shade at the moment.... Let me know what you think of the ducks my husband wants them but until someone changes my mind I'm at a firm no!

 

[kentuckychicks]

How do you do sweet potatoes.  Though I've never grown them, we do eat them. I may have to try them. 

They are super simple after harvesting wash well and let cure a few days. Boil them with skin on for 10 mins to make peeling easier. Let cool peel and dice into sterile jars.

1) pour boiling water over potatoes and process at 10 lb pressure 65 mins for pints.

Or

2) boil 2 parts water to 1 part brown sugar and pour over potatoes and process at 10 lbs pressure for 65 mins

I do both I use the brown sugar ones for making sweet potato casserole and such and we really like using to water ones to make mashed sweet potatoes.

 

[kentuckychicks]

Use standard canning safety procedures of course like boiling your rings, sanitizing your jars and and wiping your jar lips!

 

[newbie32]

They are super simple after harvesting wash well and let cure a few days. Boil them with skin on for 10 mins to make peeling easier. Let cool peel and dice into sterile jars.

1) pour boiling water over potatoes and process at 10 lb pressure 65 mins for pints.

Or

2) boil 2 parts water to 1 part brown sugar and pour over potatoes and process at 10 lbs pressure for 65 mins

I do both I use the brown sugar ones for making sweet potato casserole and such and we really like using to water ones to make mashed sweet potatoes.

MMMM candied sweet potatoes!!!

Thanks for the link I shall check it out and I will definitely let you know what I grow!!

 

[kentuckychicks]

Lol they are yummy and fall is the very best time for them!

 

[heidisue]

I already have. As stated be myself previously, the majority of desert plants that are online and the advice online are primarily for Arizona desert. I am 200+ feet below sea level without your wonderful monsoon rains. We are lucky to get a few inches a year. I am not too far from death valley-the hottest place on Earth. My grandma moved here from Tucson Arizona and complained all the time that it was drier and hotter than anything she had in Arizona. Those wonderful cacti trees you have are hard to grow here. We do have palm trees that can survive but they need CONSTANT water and are economically not worth it. I can grow from a raised bed-I think. But growing corn would be extremely hard to do and expensive.

I was just trying to help native seeds keeps heirloom seeds from all over the southwest, not just tucson. You are right that the Sonoran desert is unique. Palm trees don't grow here either though - well, they will if people water them, but they are horrible water hogs.

 

[newbie32]

I was just trying to help

native seeds keeps heirloom seeds from all over the southwest, not just tucson. You are right that the Sonoran desert is unique. Palm trees don't grow here either though - well, they will if people water them, but they are horrible water hogs.

Yes I know you were trying to help and I appreciate it. I have gone over that website meticulously in the past and aside from a certain breed of cacti, they have nothing for me. I was given another website to look at that I have never previously visited so hopefully it will provide me with something good.

I can pretty much grow anything that will fit in a pot or raised beds. I really cant grow much from the ground though. We have commercial crops here that do okay but they laden them with chemicals and I don't know what they do to the soil to make it growable. My soil is sand. I wouldn't grow corn out of pots because that wouldn't produce as much food as say-a tomato plant would in the same pot.