Mini Farming Guide to Vegetable Gardening: Self-Sufficiency from Asparagus to Zucchini

257 Pages·2012·6.1 MB·English

by  Brett L. Markham

The Mini Farming
Guide to Vegetable
Gardening
Self-Sufficiency from Asparagus to Zucchini
Brett L. Markham
Skyhorse Publishing
Copyright © 2012 by Brett L. Markham All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the
express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be
addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.
Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or
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Printed in China
Contents
Acknowledgments and Dedication
Foreword: Why Grow Your Own Vegetables?
Chapter 1: Soil and Fertility
Chapter 2: Asparagus
Chapter 3: Beans
Chapter 4: Beets and Chard
Chapter 5: Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower
Chapter 6: Carrots and Parsnips
Chapter 7: Corn
Chapter 8: Cucumbers
Chapter 9: Greens
Chapter 10: Herbs
Chapter 11: Melons
Chapter 12: Onions
Chapter 13: Peas
Chapter 14: Peppers
Chapter 15: Potatoes
Chapter 16: Squash
Chapter 17: Tomatoes
Chapter 18: Turnips, Rutabagas, and Radishes
Chapter 19: Permaculture with Perennial Vegetables
Index of Recipes
Alphabetical Index
Acknowledgments
and Dedication
When you work a full-time job doing something other than writing, the time
you do spend writing necessarily takes away from other activities. And those
other activities usually involve other people: friends, family, colleagues, and
loved ones who sacrifice access to your time and attention so you can write. Too
many people to list have sacrificed so that I could write, so here I would like to
acknowledge my thanks and appreciation to each and every one of them for their
kindness and forbearance.
I have also received a lot of encouragement from a diverse group of people
who would certainly seem strange bedfellows at first glance, but beneath the
surface share important commonalities. I have received encouragement from
people interested in self-sufficiency, people concerned about the environment
and peak oil, nutrition activists, permaculturists, political activists encompassing
everything from anarchists and libertarians to the far right and more. In the long
run, all human life starts from the soil, so it isn’t surprising that such a diverse
group of sincerely caring people, despite superficial differences, would share a
common understanding of the importance of our bond to the soil and the value of
food self-sufficiency. I appreciate all of the encouragement I have received from
all of these fine people.
Skyhorse Publishing took a big financial risk in putting my ideas to print.
Printing books is an expensive enterprise, and the risk of holding untold numbers
of unwanted books is quite real. You can go to many job-lot type stores and find
tens of thousands of unsold books marked down to under a dollar—well under
the cost of printing—just to get rid of them. It is easy to forget, looking at the
phenomenal success that Mini Farming has become, that publishing it in the first
place was to some extent an act of faith in an unproven author. And to some
degree, Skyhorse’s willingness to publish this book as well is a risk. Though I
realize it is a risk that holds the potential for the company to more than recoup its
investments, I am nevertheless appreciative of the fact Skyhorse continues to
publish my work, and especially for the fact the company gives me carte blanche
without trying to micromanage my subject matter.
There are many more people I could and perhaps should acknowledge for the
role they play or have played in making this book and my others possible. No
man is an island, and to varying degrees we all reflect the influences of others in
our lives. But because this is a down-and-dirty, nuts-and-bolts book aimed not at
the theory of mini farming but at its actual practice, I would like to dedicate this
book to a very special group of people: Those Who Do.
Foreword:
Why Grow Your Own Vegetables?
1
According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association,
medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Deaths
result from unnecessary surgery, dose-dependent adverse drug reactions,
superbug infections, and more. So even though I am not a medical doctor, I
believe I am sufficiently qualified to reiterate our mothers’ collective wisdom
that we ought to eat our vegetables, if for no other reason than to prevent as
much contact as possible with the medical community.
There is no dietary component with a greater effect than vegetables. The
more vegetables in your diet, the longer and more healthy your life, and the
fewer the vegetables in your diet, the shorter and less healthy your life. It’s really
that simple. Study after study demonstrates that vegetables contain hundreds of
important compounds to fight or prevent practically all chronic diseases, and
links vegetable consumption with lower incidence of disease even in cases in
which other adverse lifestyle practices are present.
Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple in daily practice for two reasons.
Vegetables are expensive because they are labor-intensive to produce, and quite
often they are tasteless or downright unappealing when available because of the
results of modern agricultural practices.
At first glance, fresh (or at least not cooked) vegetables don’t look that
expensive. You can get broccoli florets for $4 per pound, cabbage for $3 per
head, and tomatoes for $1.69 each. These prices don’t look so bad until you
realize just how many vegetables you should be eating.
Even when the USDA nutritional guidelines were five half-cup servings
(about two pounds) of vegetables daily, fewer than 10 percent of Americans
consumed that many vegetables. In addition, those guidelines are based upon the
USDA recommended daily allowance (RDA) for various nutrients. The RDA for