Adapt & Endure: Is This Our Future?

 President Obama announced that his administration is launching seven "Climate Hubs", mostly throughout the Southern US, to help ranchers and farmers deal with the impact of climate change. It is important to understand that the government has long had a role of using science & research efforts to assist and guide farmers. It was the change from straight line plowing to contour plowing (in which the farmer follows the landscape more) that helped mitigate some of the worst effects of the Dust Bowl. These new Climate Hubs are going to focus on ensuring food production remains at acceptable levels despite intense storms, droughts, and subzero temperatures.

This is a tall order. Let's talk about what it means for the home gardener. I believe that the days where growing some or all of your own food won't just be a hobby or a political statement: it's going to be a necessity for anyone who wants to eat well, regularly, on a budget.

There are several factors to consider when we're thinking about what to plant. It's easy to let habit guide us: if our family grew tomatoes and lettuce, we grow tomatoes and lettuce. But we can look a little further into things. What crops will grow best in your garden? I'm not sure the Zone System is enough of a guide when it comes to choosing appropriate crops. You want to examine whatever information there is available about how hardy the plants are. Can they handle a little drought? What happens if you get an early cold snap? If you can't find this information on the seed packets, go online and do some research.

Other factors to include is how productive the crops are, and how you're going to store and use the food. This is an area I've struggled with, personally: over the coming year, I have to become much more adept with my canner, as well as expanding my freezing and drying efforts. Sometimes you can get overwhelmed with how much produce you wind up with: this is the time to be mindful things don't go to waste.

Part of the story about the Climate Hubs said we were going to need to adapt our practices if we were going to be able to endure our changing future. One way that we may need to adapt is rethinking how we garden. Container gardening, vertical gardening, hydroponics: these may all have a role in how you feed yourself and your family. The smart use of greenhouses to extend the growing season may become much more vital if we're seeing longer, colder winters.

What do you see being important for the gardens of the future?

Before the Frost: Gathering Wild Apples

It's all about buying less and doing more.

Yesterday our region was under the first frost watch of the season. It's early - more than a week early - and our garden is nowhere near done. So there was scrambling going on: I picked the few tomatoes that had started to turn color, and harvested all of the cucumbers. 

I never grew birdhouse gourds before, so I had to research what needed to be done about them due to the approaching frost. (Turns out there's not much I could do at this point but cross my fingers and hope for the best!)

We covered the tomatoes that were still green with sheets of plastic, braced up on an impromptu framework of scrap wood, pvc pipe, and a metal tipped pole.

That took care of everything I'd put in the ground. It was time to take a look at what Mother Nature provides.

Foraging: Gathering Wild Apples

I have a great interest in wild foods and foraging - a passion that I must admit is not shared by my husband, who remains perpetually wary that I'm going to poison everyone. If you know anyone like this, I have to recommend wild apples as a great 'gateway food' - berries are of course the top choice, for I've never met anyone who can resist  woodland strawberries.

On the edge of our property is a big old apple tree that isn't wild as much as it is feral. I'm sure someone planted it once upon a time, but it hasn't had a lot of regular attention since then. This year, we've had a lot of rain, and the apples got huge.

Wearing my trusty boots - the apple tree is on the edge of a bog, and did I mention we have had a lot of rain - I went out and gathered as many apples that looked to be of decent quality as I could reach. You'd be surprised how an apple tree that was completely untended could produce so many apples!

They're not store perfect, but you have to let go of the idea that any wild food you pick is going to be store perfect. In real life, free from any human 'help', apples grow in a wide array of sizes and shapes; they're not all perfectly 'apple shaped'. Some had lots of spots and wind burn; others were clearly the home for hungry bugs - those I left alone!  Even passing those by, in about half an hour, I picked the two bowls of apples you see in the picture - more than enough for an apple crisp and some apple sauce for the family. They have some small spots, but nothing you can't easily cut out with a knife.

I made the apple crisp last night. It was delicious :-) If I'd had to buy those apples, it'd cost me about $8. Instead, they were free for the harvesting, and it was a nice way to enjoy a sunny - if surprisingly cold! - September afternoon.

Gather Ye Roses While Ye May

When I got back to the house, I discovered that my husband made one last minute before the frost happened. You can see the bouquet of yellow roses (my absolute favorite!) in the pic.

Sometimes the simple life is a really good one.