Self-Sufficiency Made Simple

Gardeners have been saving seeds for thousands of years. First for food security, then to preserve the best varieties and more recently to ensure biodiversity.

Seed saving is something that was a given for our great grandparents but is a practice that has petered out over the last few generations. Why?

This week I had my very first podcast interviewee on the Self-Sufficiency Made Simple Podcast, and it was AWESOME!!

Rachelle Winter from Two Muddy Boots blog joined me and we had an amazing conversation. We went down some cool rabbit holes together, talked about the fun stuff, talked about the hard stuff and touched on some home truths.

We talked about:

🌼 Connecting with nature
🌽 Growing food
🌿 Imperfect gardens
🐛 Soil health and compost
👩‍🌾 Farming practices
🌏 Passion for saving the world & more!

I had been ‘stalking’ Rachelle for some time on Instagram and her blog, taking inspiration, learning and loving what she stands for. When I reached out and asked her if she would be interested in being on the podcast her response was ‘Sure, but I don’t know what I really have to share’.

Talk about make me giggle because this lady is on a mission to change the world, one person at a time. And, HAS SO MUCH TO SHARE. I know because we could’ve talked for hours and not even scraped the sides.

So grab a cuppa or a wine, if it’s that time, settle in for about an hour and enjoy a conversation that I know you will love.

Video here→ https://sohfarmlet.com.au/podcast/episode-20-interview-with-rachelle-winter-from-twomuddyboots-com/

I know for many gardeners that their garden is their sanctuary, their happy place. It is the space they go to when they feel out of kilter or when they need to not people any more.

If you are a more rationalist type person who doesn’t believe in anything woo woo then this episode may be a bit challenging for you. I want to share with you that I am all about the woo and anyone who knows me understands that I make decisions and take actions based on my intuition. If it doesn’t feel right I won’t do it.

Enjoy nature, consciously connect. Every plant is connected and so are we.

Medical herbs have been used for eons. Some now see it as outdated and others swear and even rely on the power of healing herbs. Wherever you sit on this scale there’s no denying that some plants, especially herbs have properties that can aid in the all-round treatment of ailments and injuries.

Many of the common herbs that we use for flavours in teas and food have medicinal qualities that many of us aren’t aware of.

Herbal medicine is used worldwide and forms part of many systems of medicine including Chinese, Ayurvedic aka Indian, Native American, Folk Medicine across Europe and Indigenous Australian. Many of our common pharmaceuticals started their life as plants before becoming the primarily synthetic versions we have today.

Medicinal herbs can be taken as tea, extracts and powders. They can be made into compresses, poultices, ointments, soaks and wraps. Some are for external use only and others need to be used in minimal quantities.

I wanted to share with you 8 common and easy to grow herbs with medicinal properties. It’s likely you already grow a few of these versatile beauties.

**DISCLAIMER** I am not herbalist or medical professional. The information in this podcast is purely to get you thinking about options. Always seek professional advice and do not rely on other peoples experiences alone.

Back in episode 8 we covered the difference between perennials and annuals. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet and aren’t sure of the difference make sure you put it on your play next list.

Annuals are different from perennials in many different ways. They are very vigorous growers going through a full life cycle in under a year meaning they grow from seed to a plant that produces seeds for the next cycle. Annuals are shallow-rooted with many annuals having their roots in the top 30 cms of soil and can dry out very fast in unfavourable conditions and they have high nutrient demand to feed their rapid growth.

For convenience, many of us grow our annuals all together in the same garden bed. For example in summer we tend to grow all our tomatoes together, in winter we will group our cabbages, broccoli and brussel sprouts together, have an easy to access garden bed with cut and come again green such as lettuce rocket and spinach and we will often build structures for climbing plants such as beans and peas.

This is called monoculture and in nature this kind of intensive growing doesn’t occur.

Crop rotation is moving our monoculture crops around to different locations each year. This is done in a planned sequence and can be done 2 different ways.

In temperate zones in the southern hemisphere, we have just transitioned into autumn. It’s cooling off, the colours in nature are starting to change and the garden starts to get a really great vibe. I love this time of year.

Apart from the cooling conditions and the abundance from the summer harvests still being picked it’s a great time for some regrouping and preparation as well all getting those cool weather plants in.

There are 7 things I do over autumn that help my garden stay productive and prepare for winter and the following spring.

A while back I asked a gardening community what was something they wished they knew before starting their own food garden. I had many responses including when to plant, water, fertilise, what grows well in their area and how to deal with pests and diseases. These are all pretty common questions for a new gardener and for a well-seasoned one too.

One sentiment that came up was I wish I knew about different methods. It sparked a lot of conversation and it was really interesting to see just how many of us start our journey not knowing what our options are. We research what we want to grow but not how we want to grow it.

In this episode, I want to highlight 8 simple methods that are suitable for the most backyard, or front yard gardens and that are easy enough for any gardener to learn a little about and get going. I will go through the pros and cons of each to help you understand what method or methods will be best for you.

I have personally tried all of these methods at some time over the last 20 years and have settled on a few favourites.

Keeping backyard chickens is one of the most rewarding things that you can do on your self-sufficiency journey. Hearing the clucks, koos and squawks of your girls talking to you and each other is something that will make you smile.

There are so many beneficial reasons why keeping a few backyard chickens is something I think everyone should do.

Working out what to grow in the prime sunny spot and what to relegate to the shady areas is something that every backyard gardener has grappled with at some point.

Like us, plants have different preferences. Some love being in the full blast of the summer sun every day and others are a little more tender and can suffer from sunburn, drying out or heat stress.

Knowing your food plants preferences means you can cater to their needs and have happy, healthy and good producing food plants all year round.

If you have ever thought growing food was just a bit too hard this episode is for you. I have had times when I was ready to give the whole thing away. Droughts, disease, bugs, flooding it has all impacted our results at different stages (and some at the same time) but there are some really great lessons we learned and continue to learn. In this episode I share the key tips I have found helps to create better results.