Survival Gardening Diary
August
Getting it all to work better
Efficiency is sometimes perceived as a dirty word among aspiring members of the post fossil fuel community. The reasoning is based on the premise that industrial 'efficiency' and the attendant destruction of ecosystems got humanity into the mess we are in now, so the last thing we need is greater efficiency.
This ignores the reality, which is that contemporary industrialised society with its extremely high per capita rates of energy use (easily one hundred times greater than pre industrial-era societies), and wanton waste of finite and rapidly diminishing resources, is anything but efficient.
One measure of a society's efficiency would be the food energy return on energy invested. Modern societies invest six to ten times as much fossil fuel energy into food production as is returned in the food itself, a very unsustainable state of affairs now that the fossil fuel production curve has begun its long but ultimately terminal descent.
A recent energy assessment of biomass and food production at the Sustainability Institute site outside Westport discovered that for every one unit of human energy invested, approximately two units of food energy were produced. Put another way, half energy of the food eaten goes into human labour producing the food.
This simple calculation did not take into consideration the energy required to make the tools and other horticultural equipment, nor the energy used in raising seeds brought in from outside. However, it would be possible to make a reasonable accurate estimate of these inputs, by taking each item on a case by case basis and following through the energy involved in the production. Preliminary calculations suggest that the embodied energy of all the inputs combined is significantly less than the human energy input. It may be in the region of 30 kWh per annum on the Sustainability Institute site, compared with 60 kWh of human energy. The energy value of the food is estimated to be 115 kWh per annum. Thus there is a slight overall gain, 90 kWh invested for a return of 115 kWh. This bodes well for the future.
In the post fossil fuel society, an energy return of less than 1:1 on food production might be acceptable, depending on the quantities of renewable energy available to supplement animal and human labour, and the amount of energy needed for other essential things. On the other hand, there is considerable scope for increasing food yields per unit energy invested. On the Sustainability Institute site, which is too small for most efficient use of human resources and space, it is calculated that yields can be increased by a factor of three or more over time, at a cost of only a small extra investment in human energy or tools. The extra yields will come primarily from greater soil fertility and better use of space. The latter includes the establishment of additional fruit and nut trees round the perimeter of the site.
The role of the survival gardener
Human energy being precious and finite, the survival gardener will be very interested in maximising yields for a given human input. As mentioned already, soil fertility is massively important in this respect. One factor that is often underestimated is micro climate. Not only does each garden have its own micro climate, within that garden there may be a number of different sub-micro climates. Some may be only a few square meters in size. The smaller the individual micro climate area, the more easily it may be modified - improved or degraded - by human activity.
Thus a slightly shaded corner of the vegetable garden may be improved by the hard summer pruning of overhanging trees and bushes. More light reaches the vegetables, increasing photosynthesis, while more direct sunshine provides a warmer micro climate and helps keep soil temperatures raised going into the autumn. These can be very important factors with warm temperate vegetables such as squashes, which need all the help they can get in a poor year. Pollination is also assisted by sunshine and dry ground conditions, as when the flowers are wet and soggy they are unattractive and possibly inaccessible to bees. A daily inspection is extremely helpful, as this allows an assessment of each plant. Flowers that are so soggy they remain partially closed can be carefully ripped open, to admit the bees. There are male and female flowers: the latter are usually far less numerous than the former, and have a tiny immature fruit behind the flower head.
Forked sticks of up to 0.6 meters (2 feet) in length are another useful aid to squash production, as this allows the flowering part of the plant to be propped up off the ground, out of reach of hungry slugs, and fully in view of any passing bees. Such sticks can sometimes be hard to find at short notice. It pays to have a stash cut in readiness, especially as additional sticks may be needed on almost a daily basis when the plants really take off. If there are bushes and/or trees on the premises, summer pruning can keep a ready supply of such sticks, which can be customised to suit individual situations. The stick is simply stuck in the ground far enough to be firm, and the squash plant gentled draped over the fork. The result is an aerial squash plant with the fruit (eventually) hanging down to the ground. A flat stone placed under the fruit reduces the risk of rot during cool, wet autumn weather.
Once the female flower has been fertilised, the immature fruit swells rapidly. Most squash plants will produce many fruits but some varieties may only produce two or three. After the end of August, there is little chance of any newly set fruit maturing properly, so the ends of the runners can be pinched out to discourage further growth. The squash growing season will continue until the first frost, and may extend into November in mild areas, especially if it is possible to cover the plant with something on the odd night when frost threatens.
Food storage
Growing food is one thing, storing it until we need to eat is another matter entirely. The modern industrial society resorts to very inefficient means of processing, or freezing for food storage. Freezing is particularly inefficient from a food storage perspective as the freezer will use many times the energy value of the food. In one hundred days, one domestic freezer would consume the energy equivalent of the entire food crop from the Sustainability site, and this disregards the energy needed to manufacture the fridge, or dispose of it at the end of its working life.
There are however a multitude of low energy methods of storing food, some of them dating back thousands of years to the earliest days of tillage. The storing of grain has been practiced for upwards of 8000 years. Generally the drying was accomplished in the field, using no more than the wind and sun.
Peas and beans also lend themselves to drying. One drying pea, the Commander, has purple pods and grows into plants as tall as three meters. The flowers are also purple and very pretty. Generally, the peas dry quite well left on the plant, but in a wet year the pods may be better picked half dry and spread on a dry shelf under cover. Only when the peas are dry and hard should podding commence. The moisture content can be reduced further by spreading the peas on paper. Finally, the peas can be put in a jar for safe storage. Dried peas keep for a very long time and the seed will remain viable for at least five years. The peas are great in winter soups. They should be well soaked and rinsed prior to cooking.
Garlic and onions are also good for storing. They should be harvested on a dry windy day, long before the tops begin to rot away. If this starts to happen, harvest immediately. Once pulled, the bulbs can either be left spread out on the land to dry further or laid out in an open shed, depending on weather and soil conditions. Once the tops begin to dry off the bulbs can be plaited into strings and hung from a line in the storage shed. The onions that keep least well are those with fat stalks so these should be kept separate and eaten first. Bulbs that have no tops left for plaiting should be spread thinly in a box and inspected regularly. Assuming the quantity is sufficient, well-ripened onions and garlic will store for 12 months, easily long enough to see in the next year's crop. Sometimes it is better to harvest in two or three stages, starting with the biggest bulbs. This strategy is helpful if drying space is limited.
Happy gardening!
Andy
