My sisters have a friend who has been overly influenced by Doomsday preppers. Many of the things she mentions would not be bad on their own, even if her understanding is a little off.
I still think the approach is wrong.
She was talking enthusiastically about planting food and how much you can get with permaculture, especially Jerusalem artichokes.
Ye-es, kind of.
I love permaculture, and should be thrilled to hear people talking about it. It can grow lots of food. It is certainly a better approach environmentally.
Those things don't necessarily overlap the way you would want.
That's not bad; it just means that you need to consider your goals.
If you do not have any land, this may not be the most useful post, and I am sorry for that.
There is a lot to be said for growing your own food, especially in times like these. I expect supply chain issues.
One important thing to remember is that a lot of US agriculture is very corporatized and may not involve things that are good to eat. It is not ideal to depend on imports for any type of product. If it's one that's essential for life and you need it all the time, that is all the more reason why local supplies are good.
Permaculture is great for how it can be self-sustaining, environmentally friendly, and healing. Permaculture can benefit all of the flora and fauna, not just the humans. That is wonderful.
Lawns are also incredibly destructive. To really have them looking right tends to take fossil fuels for trimming, chemicals for fertilizer, and it doesn't provide much in the way of food or shelter for any of our pollinators.
Lawns first became popular with the aristocracy in the Middle Ages... does that sound like something that everyone should have?
You may also have seen people encouraging planting creeping red thyme or tapestry lawns. Possibly also a good idea, though not one that would add to your food supply.
In January I did write a little about gardening; that post focused on all of the things that can go wrong.
I have not finished planning what I am going to do this year.
However, the weather is warming up, and the ground along with it; this is the time to think about it.
I will post about different options over the next two days, recommending books and links as applicable.
The starting point is to think about what you have and what you want. If your yard is a play area for children, grass does work pretty well for that.
Otherwise, there are much better options. Some of them are low maintenance once you have them, but they all require getting there first.
Related posts:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2025/01/three-things-gardens.html
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