Famine is coming, Now What?

I don’t have a magical answer to the coming food crisis. I don’t have the force to coerce Russia into stopping the food blackmail it is currently unleashing on the World. I am also not so deluded that I am unaware that the food system in North America was not precarious, unfair, and horrible to people who are trapped in economic circumstances that shape the ‘food deserts’ in so many cities. If an incredible, educated, passionate first lady, married to the most powerful statesman in the World could barely budge this horrid arrangement, how do I expect to do any better?

I don’t.

What I will try to do is distill down the terabytes of gardening and food production information into chewable pieces, that can be implemented and applied ASAP by novice growers.

This is not meant to replace the massive food production system that the modern World has. It is meant as a supplemental stop-gap for basic nutrition. There is precedent for this. World War 2 necessitated gardens in England, and elsewhere because food imports were interrupted by German U-Boats and other nasty war things.

North America also had Victory Gardens. You can read about them here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/vgen/how-to-grow-a-victory-garden.htm

Many people have engineered fantastic urban food production systems, you just have to find the one(s) that suit your needs. The first step is to look at the systems listed in the table below and visit some of the websites to familiarize yourself with the different systems. The next step is to do a food needs assessment for yourself, and then make your plan. Start by browsing the websites listed, and the write down the answers to the questions in the needs assessment, as they pertain to your situation.

(Please note that Fleetfarming.org is the new web address)

Food Needs Assessment Questionnaire:
1. Is this plan for an individual, family, care provider, or organization? How many people need to be provided for?

2. What do you need right now? (Example: Fresh vegetables for 2 adults and 2 children. Or convenient delivery of veggies but no time to garden.)

3. What assets do you have? (Example: Time? Land space? Gardening know-how?)

4. Do you need access to space? How many hours per week can you invest?

EXAMPLE 1: 1 Adult and two children. Apartment patio (NOT BALCONY) 8X10. Have some containers and some old lumber. Adult has about 1.5 hours/daily on weekdays to invest. Hose hook up on apartment wall.

1. Is this plan for an individual, family, care provider, or organization? How many people need to be provided for?

This plan is for an family of 3 people.

2. What do you need right now?

For the coming fall season, the family needs an amount of 20 pounds of potatoes, 8 pounds of onions, 10 pounds of carrots, 8 pounds of peas. Obviously, this family cannot grow all of those vegetables on their patio. This means that there will have to be a two-part growing plan.

3. What assets do you have? (Example: Budget? Time? Land space? Gardening know-how?)

They have 80 square feet of space on their patio, some plant containers and lumber, 1.5 hours hours/day or 10.5 hours/week for labour. They will need extra growing space, soil, and seeds. Their budget is $250.00.

This gives us an approximate footprint of 60 square feet. Recalling that the patio is 8 X 10, the towers fit, though the outside towers will have to be tended from the inner rows. This leaves the needed space for
carrots, peas and onions that will have to be obtained elsewhere.

4. How do you get access to more space?

This question is as unique are each individual reader. In Western Canada, many urban municipalities are just FINALLY coming around to Community Gardens.

There are two ‘types’ of Community Gardens:

1. ‘Allotment’ style- a Community Association starts a non-profit organization, and is able to lease the land from the municipality for a nominal sum ($1000/year). They in turn lease plots ranging in size (usually 80–200 square feet) to plot holders.

2. ‘General Garden’ style- a large piece of public land, with non-assigned plots where people grow various flowers and vegetables, usually as a hobby.
In the case above, the family would be best served by leasing an allotment plot for their remaining vegetable garden. So, let’s say that there is a community garden with available plots 5 blocks from the family’s residence.

So, lets suppose that this 3 person family obtains a 100 square foot plot at their ‘Allotment Style’ community garden. Without going into details, the peas are given 50 square feet, the onions are given 20 square feet, and the carrots, 30 square feet. Some allotments allow raised beds, and so this family can
use some of their old lumber to make a raised bed inside their allotment space.

EXAMPLE 1 Conclusion:
For the three person family, living in an apartment space, they will need:
Potato Towers or Grow Sacks
Soil
Seeds for peas and carrots, and seed onions and seed potatoes
Hose / Watering Can
Lumber & Screws with Screw driver

The list above is a basic overview of what they will need for both the potato towers and the allotment garden plot.

EXAMPLE 2:
A retired couple with the desire to garden as a hobby, and the need for lots of fresh produce because of health concerns.

1. Is this plan for an individual, family, care provider, or organization? How many people need to be provided for?

In this case, there are two people, seniors, who want ALL of their produce to be provided by a local, organic source.

2. What do you need right now?

The couple would also like to have their leafy greens picked IMMEDIATELY before they eat them. They have taken up gardening as a hobby, but, due to arthritis, they are not able to do a lot of physical labour. They want a variety of vegetables, about 5 pounds per week.

3. What assets do you have? (Example: Budget? Time? Land space? Gardening know-how?)

They have a budget of $600.00. They have a small backyard, and they would like to have a small raised bed garden for a variety of salad greens. A ‘table top’ garden is a raised bed with approximately 6 inches of soil raised to a table level so that the person tending the plants does not have to bend down. They decide to have a Square Foot Garden Table Top and a Community Supported Agriculture subscription.

What is a Square Foot Garden? A Square Foot Garden is a gardening system, pioneered by Mel Bartholomew, is a system in which a 4 foot by 4 foot planter box filled with 6 inches of soil, and split into 16, 1 foot squares. Each square can be planted with a vegetable based on the spacing and companion planting requirements. It is the most logical, down-to-earth introduction to gardening I have ever come across, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Square Foot Gardening
Information can be found here:

https://squarefootgardening.org/
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_foot_gardening

The cost of constructing and implementing a Table Top Square Foot Garden is approximately $100.00.

(4 pieces of 6” high, 4’ long lumber, 4 pieces of lumber to make the table legs, bamboo garden sticks to make a grid, soil, seeds, and 1 piece of plywood for the bottom.)

They will plant the table top garden with salad greens.

What is a Community Supported Agriculture operation (CSA)?
A farmer, usually close to an urban center, designates a space, usually about 10 acres, to grow a crop of a variety of vegetables requested by a group of people. The cost of the land, labour, equipment, and seeds are totaled, and then divided into shares. Then, based on amount needed, people buy shares for veggie baskets of seasonal plants delivered weekly.

In this case, the cost is $500.00 per share / per year (about $42.00 / month) which entitles the holder to a weekly supply of 5 pounds of seasonal vegetables. The share amount is paid upfront. The Community Supported Agriculture operation is sometimes coordinated by the farmer, and
sometimes by a community group. You can find more information on this concept here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture
https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/community-supported-agriculture￾zmaz99fmztak
https://www.usc-canada.org/resources/news/item/244-community-supported-agriculture-get-your￾csa/244-community-supported-agriculture-get-your-csa
https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex14033

So, for our couple in EXAMPLE 2, their food plan is to join a CSA and do a little gardening with a Square Foot Garden.

EXAMPLE 2 Conclusion:
For this 2 person family, they will need:
Lumber 4' x 6"
Bamboo garden stakes
Soil
Screws
Seeds
Watering hose
A collection bin for the CSA Produce

There are many options for producing food in urban environments. Just because we are not familiar with them doesn’t mean that the to goal of universal access to healthy food is unreachable. Once you have a general picture of what you need, and what you will be able to contribute, you will
have a general idea which food production system(s) are best for you. Long before I took my Permaculture Design Course or my Master Gardener Certificate, I did exactly this same research. I decided that container gardening was the best way to start.

Other Great Websites I found helpful:
1. Mother Earth News: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening
2. Food Banks Canada Community Garden Toolkit: (PDF Document)
https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/getmedia/c92619d7-d911-48eb-bf09-ecfd74042bc5/
Community-Gardens-Toolkit-EN.pdf.aspx
3. National Allotment Society https://www.nsalg.org.uk/

Reference Books I Found Helpful:
4. The All New Square Foot Gardening (3rd Edition), By: Mel Bartholomew
5. The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible, By: Edward C. Smith
6. The Garden Pool (2nd Edition), By: Dennis and Danielle McClung
7. Working With Nature The Science and Practice of Organic Horticulture, By: Haide Hermary
8. Permaculture, A Designer’s Manual, By: Bill Mollison

General Goods Start Up List:
1. Take the square feet of space you need and multiply that number into a volume amount. (Example: Say you need 100 square feet of space for you garden, you will need 100 CUBIC feet of dirt.)
This is because most garden vegetables need at least one square foot of dirt to grow in.
2. Watering system options: Drip irrigation, wicking beds, hand watering.
3. Seed Purchase and sprouting. CHECK your GROWTH ZONE! Then buy seeds for ONLY that zone.

WRITE DOWN the number below:
Canada: http://www.planthardiness.gc.ca/
USA: http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

4. Choose your containers. Will it be raised beds? Containers? Square Foot Beds? Greenhouse Planters?
Or just in ground?

5. Make a planting calendar. Each crop has a season it likes to grow in. Look on the back of the seed packets, and write down the planting date. List the dates in seasonal order. Remember that seeds should be planted one to two weeks AFTER the last frost date, but one to two weeks before their optimal
season beginning. Depending on whether you are able to start seedlings indoors with grow lights, or you have to wait until the weather warms up, and you plant a little later, write your planting dates estimate beside the initial seed list.

6. Make a harvest and crop rotation calendar. Plant OUT it the plant being harvested, Plant IN is the plant replacing the harvested plant in the former spot.

This is not a panacea for crisis. It is just a tool for making the crisis a little less of a crisis. The more independent each person is, the more free they are from the consequences of a collapsing system. I hope the information above helps a little bit with that freedom.