Why is growing our own food the most important thing we could be doing?

I cannot express with words what a pleasure it is to stand barefoot upon the soil doing this most ancient kind of work. After waiting an eternity for rain (because the man with the rotavator wound't lend us his machine till the ground was sodden) in the end we decided we didn't actually need him and that we could in fact prepare the land with our hands and basic tools.

Esteban (who is three years old) took these family pictures and I must say I am quite impressed with his framing. A photographer (and gardener!) in the making ;)

This is what our little patch of land looked like when we acquired it.

At the end of the first session it looked like this.

And by the end of the our second session (yesterday afternoon) we were almost done with the grass removal.

Our first mistake was to think we needed a rotavator. In fact, I understand now that the best ways are the old ways because they do not disturb & damage the soil as much as a machine would.

We picked up this 'cave man tool' at a car boot sale for half a euro! No idea what one calls this, but it is very effective at getting under the roots of those stubborn tufts.

For the most part the grass was quite dry and easy to pull up after four months without rain.

We used this rabbit hutch to lay out our grass to dry as we intend to use it to create pathways around our vegetables. I enjoy the idea of nothing going to waste here.

The children were great at entertaining themselves while we did our work and even quite useful at time helping us pile the grass up into 'mountains'.

The soil was so alive with big worms & grubs I feel sure our vegetables are going to be very happy here. From what I can understand, healthy worms means healthy soil.

Esteban built a little house for the worms (under the rocks) and wanted me to include this picture ;)

All in all a great afternoon getting dirty under the sun. The next job will require a fork and a pair of shoes so that I can loosen & aerate the soil in preparation for the plants.

Back at the ranch we have so far planted lettuce, radishes and beans thanks to my mother gifting us some seeds but we are ultimately waiting to pick up a bunch of other things from our local seed bank. Better late than never!

Here you can see the kids doing the planting a week ago. It is imperative in my mind that we work together as a family and that the kids feel as if they are a part of it.

This morning they were overjoyed to see the baby lettuces appearing ;)

We are collecting all our water bottles to make pots so that every two weeks a new round of pots are planted, giving us a staggered harvest.

Why is growing our own food the most important thing we could be doing?

To answer this question you are going to have to read about the Grand Solar Minimum:

https://steemit.com/iceage/@samstonehill/a-cold-reality-we-are-not-ready-for-the-upcoming-ice-age

To put it in a nutshell, weather patterns around the world are getting more and more extreme and this is leading to huge agricultural crop losses. While it is much simpler to protect our smaller personal patch of land from these extremes.

We should expect more volatility in our world’s weather, including bigger storms and more serious flooding, greater periods of drought and unusually intense cold and hot air masses. Any one of these phenomena could occur at any time, and that raises the potential for earlier-than-usual autumn freezes and later-than-usual spring freezes. WorldGrain.com

The above words were published just a few days ago by people who have spent a fair bit of time studying this and are now openly discussing the possibility of a Grand Solar Minimum.

Some research scientists speculate that this solar minimum will lead into the next “grand solar minimum,” the last of which was seen from 1645-1710 and was dubbed the “Maunder Minimum.” The Maunder Minimum lasted 70 years — long enough to bring down earth’s temperatures so that several areas around the world reported colder winters and colder summers. WorldGrain.com

They go on to tell us how there is not enough data from back then to calculate how this will affect us, but I can assure you this is not the case and they are just trying to avoid panic.

If you are curious to know more about the worldwide chaos created by the Maunder Minimum, please check on the historical documentation of this period.

Most farms in mid USA will not be planting at all this season due to the "unprecedented" flooding and they are not the only country affected.

Closer to home in Spain hail & frosts have in the last few weeks destroyed huge areas of fruit & almonds. Article here.

The price of food is going to increase quickly as we move further and further into this period of minimal sunspot activity, which by the way is a natural cycle the sun goes through around every 400 years and no amount of CO2 emissions is going to stop it.

So you have two choices, be prepared to spend lots of money on food or grow your own.

This little patch of land my family and I are experimenting with is a test run before I expand to a larger area. We have never done this before so it feels like a good idea to start small.

Ultimately it is my intention to grow food not only for my family, but also for our local community... wherever that may be.

We are seeking still the perfect location to put down our roots.

Any suggestions welcome!

Who is @samstonehill?

He was a London based filmmaker until he sold everything and set out on a barefoot journey around the world, currently based in the south of France.

He is travelling with his partner & two children and with no bank account he has been living on STEEM & crypto for over a year.

All content created for this account is 100% original (unless otherwise stated), produced by @samstonehill who invites you to use & share freely as you wish.

Sam is the creator of:

The Aspiring Steemit Whales & Dolphins group on Facebook which seeks to help newcomers make the transition from Facebook to Steemit, providing them with detailed notes and personal assistance with their posts... resteeming them when he can.

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@teamsteem @timcliff @jesta @good-karma @someguy123 @blocktrades @pfunk @klye @krnel @blueorgy @ausbitbank @thecryptodrive @ura-soul @pharesim

Without them our beloved Steemship would not fly.

Learn what this means HERE and place your vote HERE

All non original photo sources can be found by clicking on the image