Micro Farming For Your Survival Garden

Micro farming is not a new concept. In fact, 15% of the world's food comes from micro farms. Essentially, they make the most of the land they own. There are instances where there are self sustaining micro farms in the city on land as small as 1/5th of an acre, and provide food for a family of four! Micro farmers make the most of the land they have by using natural ways to cultivate the land for higher yields and by finding natural ways to feed the soil the needed nutrients for the plants. The use of composting, crop rotation and companion planting are a large part of the success for these tiny farms.

Currently, with the exorbitant increase of food prices, many people are literally taking this problem into their own hands. People are planting survival gardens in their back yards to supplement their tighter budgets as well as become more self sustaining in the process.

Survival Garden Basics:

- Plan out crops that will be planted and find companion plants to plant along side of them. Companion planting is an organic farming technique. Essentially, certain plants, when planted in close proximity to another will give off nutrients of what each plant needs for fertilizer.

-Only plant heirloom or Non-GMO (non genetically modified) plant varieties. The reasoning for this is because after the plants have produced, the seeds can be collected for the next season's use.

-Research the nutritional content of the seeds to get the most nutrition from what you grow.

-Find seeds for the whole season. Planting a garden is not only for Spring and Summer. Finding plant varieties for the colder months will help keep food on the table and take less money out of the bank accounts.

-After collecting the seeds from the plant, store the seeds in a waterproof container or bag and store in a dark, cool place.

-When the plant is finished producing, collect the seeds and toss the non-yielding adult plants in the compost heap.

-Make the most of the already existing space. Use floating or raised beds for added gardening space. Use fencing as a support for vine growing plants.

-Find information out about rotating crops to further feed the soil. Some plants have a tendency to need higher amounts of nitrogen, thus stripping the soil of the nutrient in the process. When the next season comes around, find plants that do not need as much nitrogen and plant in that area.

Practice Makes Perfect:

Farming is one of the ways that made the United States so great. Generations have passed since the United States citizens were primarily farmers, and now it seems the time is upon us to re-educate ourselves on this topic. It is important to add that gardening mistakes are made, and some gardens do fail, but the more someone sticks with it, the better off they and the garden will be. And though it may be true that some of us will inevitably be the hand of death to the plants, it is better to make mistakes now, than when a survival garden is really needed. In all honesty, the gardening process is rather easy once a little research has been done and action has been taken.

Tess Pennington is the lead content contributor for http://www.readynutrition.com. Ready Nutrition is an educational resource for those wanting to learn more about home safety preparedness, learning how to cope in disaster situations, and for those wanting to learn how to be more self sustaining. Her career at the American Red Cross left her with years of experience in safety and disaster preparedness. Tess is establishing herself as one of the foremost authorities on safety development and disaster preparedness on the internet. She describes herself as a mixture of Martha Stewart and Les Stroud.

Tess Pennington's work today encompasses:

• Teaching disaster preparedness
• Informing readers about the importance of preparing for any given situation.
• Writing
• Speaking
• Media consultation

Tess lives in Texas with her husband and three rambunctious children.
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