Growing food for a large family who else is doing this?

[Juliana]

Hi gardeners! We’re trying to grow as much of our own food as possible to feed our big family. Anyone else doing this? What crops have been most rewarding (or resilient)? How do you manage storage and planning?

 

[Heirloom farmer1969]

I've not got a big family to feed but I grow all my food myself. I probably don't spend a hundred dollars a year buying from grocery stores. I've got friends who are cattle and beef farmers that I trade my vegetables for beef and pork so I never buy meat from stores.
I try to grow a little bit of everything, but my main vegetables are heirloom beans, sweet corn, and tomatoes.
The way I see it, you can't plant to much.
Whatever I have left over from canning or freezing, plus I sale a lot at farmers markets, I donate to local food banks.
Hope you have a blessed growing season!!

 

[Meadowlark]

I've grown well over 90% of the vegetables my family consumed for several decades.

Most rewarding...that's hard to say but potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, okra, peas, cucumbers, onions, carrots, all brassicas brock, cabbage, collards, cauliflower, brussels, ...it's just too many to list but all rewarding.

Storage...I plan the garden as effectively as I can to minimize the need for storage and maximize fresh veggie availability. Stagger plant many veggies corn, beans, cucumbers, etc. etc. to insure continuous supply fresh. We can excess and/or freeze the excess and donate to the local food bank.

Planning...interesting you would ask. Those who fail to plan are planning to fail...plus they are missing out on a very enjoyable part of gardening.

Planning is really a big part of the whole gardening journey. Maybe you've seen pictures of hundreds of carrots, or whatever harvested all at the same time. That is a picture of poor planning for the home gardener feeding a family in my book. Garden veggies are best tasting and most nutritious when consumed fresh and to the extent possible our harvests are planned to happen when we need and can use fresh food.

Another very important part of planning is rotating crops, replenishing soil with green manure and cover crops, and amending depleted soils with composted cow manure we process on the farm. Its all part of a basically closed system...no synthetic fertilizers, no "cides" of any kind, and nothing brought into the garden from external sources with very few exceptions.

It's a very rewarding journey and I absolutely encourage you to take it on!