What Should I Do?

Snow is beginning to melt.  Temperatures are on the rise.  Now is the time to start sweet potato slips.  There are many ways to start sweet potatoes, but in this tutorial, we will show you a simple way that produces great results and can be done with resources already available in your kitchen.

Start with organic sweet potatoes from the store or from a previous harvest.  If you purchase conventionally grown sweet potatoes, they may have been irradiated to prevent sprouting.  A quick note about products labeled as yams – all products marketed as yams in the United States are technically still sweet potatoes. The “yams” you find in the store are usually a variety of sweet potato known as ‘Jewel’ – a selection with moist, orange flesh and orange-reddish skin.  The other variety, which is marketed as a sweet potato, is usually either ‘Jersey’ or ‘Hannah’.  Both Jersey and Hannah are characterized as having white or creamy, dry flesh, and creamy skin.  If you are fortunate enough to have access to a decent organic food co-op or natural food store, you may find other varieties as well. » Read more

Why Grow Your Own Potatoes?

We can improve resiliency, health, and quality of life by growing our own vegetables locally. Many of the vegetables commonly grown in backyard gardens, such as lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots ,are great sources of vitamins and minerals but are not as high in energy content as measured by calories. Much of our daily caloric needs come from staple grains (wheat, corn, rice) which are difficult to produce from a backyard garden due to the time, space, and effort required. Fortunately the potato is an energy dense vegetable with many advantages for the part-time gardener, including:    

• Easy and rewarding to grow
• Store well with minimal effort
• Nutritious source of carbohydrates as well as fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
• Simple to prepare
• Homegrown potatoes taste great! 

In building resiliency and establishing emergency provisions and preps, finding good values and quality products are an important part of the process.  We evaluate our basic needs and look over resources like the WSID Guide and books like When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the » Read more

Today we want to bring you the story of a five-member family living in San Francisco that awakened to the energy issues we all face (rising costs and levels of usage) and took incremental steps over the last decade to produce results that can give us all hope for a more efficient and resilient life. » Read more