Books: How to Grow More Vegetables *than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine (John Jeavons)

I have not looked at this book in years. I used to carry it around with me as I went about life as a social worker and dreamed of what this new husband and I might create. So it is very interesting to look at it again.

 

 

What I remember is that it was full of a whole bunch of minutiae -- how to double dig, how close to plant plants together, how much you might expect to harvest. What I remember was that it was incredibly inspiring to me that this could indeed be done.

In looking at it afresh today, I'm struck by the tone of encouragement, the admonition to try. To a large extent, that is what this blog has always been about. Try. Fail. It's fine. It's fun. It's healthy. It's delicious. It's heartbreaking. It's hard, healthful work. It's interesting. It's challenging. Try. An upside down tomato and a basil plant. Start and enjoy.

All of the book's technical information can give you places to start, hints to improve, things to think about.  Truth is, on this farm, we aren't all that technical. We might have more "success" if we were taking soil samples and adjusting pH minutely, but in general, we try to "farm" the soil, we are pleased when it is full of life, and we go on.

This book, with all its charts; all its technical, precise information could be a turnoff.  Also, I don't think it has much in it about failure, but in my experience, people get really bummed out when something fails. AND something ALWAYS fails.  But here's the thing: something ALWAYS succeeds. And there is NO TELLING beforehand what is going to do what.

Farm the soil; plant diversely; budget it as entertainment; be ready to be overwhelmed, amazed, puzzled, frustrated, and delighted. Grow yourself some veggies! Broccoli in the wild!

(here's a YouTube of him talking about his system. Personally, I don't think his system is sacrosanct. We dug lots of deep beds via his method, and then we did it a bit differently. Experiment.  Play. Chop wood. Carry water. Bake bread. Grow food. Smash the Patriarchy!)