Day two...

My second day of not spending money. Going pretty good I must say. But before I start I just want to show the salad I made for supper. All homegrown here. It was the best salad I ever ate =)

Now back to my second day! Well I worked all day and once I finished I was pretty tired. But I didn't feel like a coffee so that didn't bother me. I got home and went into my garden and cut myself lettuce and spinach leaves...oh and cherry tomatoes. My sister had called to see if I wanted to have dinner at her place. But since it would've cost me gas and fries (she wanted me to go get some) I decided against it. So I'd say that so far this weekend I already saved like 10 bucks. Wich is pretty cool. Later on I think I am going to have trouble with one thing . I'm running low on store bought compost and moss for my indoor gardening. We'll see...is it a waste of money if it's for my indoor gardening experiments!?

As you sow so shall you eat.

A big part of being self sustainable in not only growing your own food but also cooking it. We live in a world where we have the bad habit of buying processed food. We buy it because it's easier and takes less time that we don't have because we are working more to pay for these processed foods. But it's been a month now that I've decided to reduce this trend in my household.-Just for the reccord today, when I was coming home from work I bought myself fries. I didn't feel like cooking dinner...even if I had some of tha wonderful stew left. But as they say, bad habits die hard-. Anyway...as of late I've enjoyed cooking very much. I've started making my own pizzas, bread and jams (some recipes on my youtube page ;) more for fun...http://www.youtube.com/user/jihadacadien ). I've noticed that most food doesn't take that much time to make. It's just planning when and how to do it. Like bread, beside the rising time, it doesn't take that much time to actually make bread. And it comes cheaper than at the store, it can be way more healthier and the taste....well doesn't even compare! When you combine making your own food with using your homegrown produce.....you start believing in the exsitence of God! =)

Proud parent feeling

This morning as I went to the garden to take a few pictures of my greenhouses for the previous entry...I couldn't stop taking pictures of my vegetables. And looking at those pictures I felt like I wanted to show the rest of the world what I was able to grow on my own. Almost like a parent getting his flip book out of his wallet to show his kids =) So enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Harvesting

I've been having trouble continuing my blog these past few days....for reasons unknown. But what the heck I'll just write what comes to mind about this crazy adventure! For a while now I've been havesting....on a small scale.But as Fall approaches I'm starting to harvest my usual crop (courgettes, onions, beans) and new ones. Like tomatoes, carrots, radishes, spinach, lettuces....and soon I'll have a pumpkin! I only wish I had planted more tomatoes so I could've canned some for the winter. Well I have something to get exited for next year I guess. I mean...just have another look at the picture to the right. =) How can someone not get excited about all those beautiful, organically grown vegetables! here's a link to my video harvest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tpsP5qzvrU

The 10 year plan...

Now here comes my devious plan!
Basically, I'm giving myself 10 years (more or less) to become self sufficient. Ten years to be able to grow and raise my own food. I've told my family and a few friends and most of them think of me as crazy for trying this. But it must be doable!
Over the years I intend on transforming my backyard into cultivated 4x4 gardens (squarefoot gardening). I've gesstimated how much food I could grow with just the 10 spaces I have plowed for next year and it should be a large amount. This year was just a tryout. But next year will be more serious. I'll start a few weeks earlier planting seeds indoor and use all the great advice I got from my research online. My hope for this year was to see how good I'd do at gardening a real garden. And I was sucessful...some crop were harvested earlier than most people's. Next year I intend to have enough produce to last me for a part of the winter. Either by storing them in a cold room, freezing or canning. And every year I'll increase the amount of land cultivated. Probably try to work less at my day job and sell some of my excess but still getting my biggest monthly revenues from my 2 basement appartements that I rent. Once the house loan is paid I should be able to have enough money with my rents, and produce sales. Of course combined with all that will be a reducing of the money I spent in unecessaries (cell phones, takeouts, store bought food and such) recycling, and reusing materials. Now you tell me does this sound doable or am I just crazy!!! =)

How it all began.....in 2008

I suppose my first post should be about how this crazy adventure all began.
Well first of all, I've always been weird and stubborn enough not to follow the group. And after a first attempt at growing food on my backyard porch.....something in me strated to.....bloom. I was just a few plants that I started from seed in May. So I didn't get much of a harvest and even then it was a late one. Out of pure curiosity I took a chili pepper tree that had produce two chilis but were treatened by frost indoor. As the weeks passed the pepper tree kept growing and flowering. Winter came and just a few feet from the snow outside it continued to give me peppers. It must have given me at least 250. I know it seems unbelievable but it's true. What was just an experiment turned into a great pleasure and fun. And as i was tending my tree, I started reading on the subject of vegetable production and started planning for a garden the next year. In my second year of growing my own food and after reading more and more I found something called self suficiency. And a lot of people that are actually growing all of their food themselves, sometimes in the middle of huge cities. And here I am now.....more and more on my way to my own self sufficiency. Hope you come along for the ride =).......next I'm gonna let you in on my plan.....for backyard domination!

P.S.: My pepper tree was returned to the earth two weeks ago. but his seedlings still bloom in my garden and he will enrich the dirt of his future generation with his compost.