Survival Seed List for average united states

[pacoquerak]

Painted Mountain open pollenated seed corn, can be grown almost anywhere in the United states, can be grown where no other corn will grow in hot, cold and drought.

Amish snap pea/sugar snap pea
both of these provide a lot of food for a while and fix nitrogen to the soil, plant these with a nurse crop of some kind of grain to help absorb the nitrogen.

black peanuts are early harvest (100 days) and can provide saturated fat for cooking oil in more northern areas than other plants.

There are so many great kinds of shell peas and green beans and dry beans...
I bought Kentucky Wonder Pole, Rattlesnake Pole, Scarlet runner pole, hutterite soup bush, cherokee bush, sugar snap, green arrow pea, windor fava bean, jackson wonder lima beans.

Winter squash
If you live in a hot climate Seminole tree climbing pumpkins are very hardy
striped cushaw squash have the ability to regenerate their root system even if broken off from the main stem.
I also picked a pumpkin for seeds

Honey drip sorgum grass can provided grain and sugar and a lot of biomass

Grow lots of storage crops for winter like sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, winter squash, cabbage, endives,

buy a membership to seed savers and read through the giant catalog, it is by far the largest organic heirloom seed catalog. Certain things grow better somewhere always.

[pacoquerak]

Potato onions (multiplying onions), shallots are much easier to deal with than regular onions, instead of starting from a tiny seed, you just split them off and stick them back in the ground.

Jerusalem Artichokes, sweet potatoes, scorzonera are all nice because few people can realize that their is food underneath their leaves buried in the ground.

I am buying chinese weeder geese and pearl guinea hens, for their ability to survive outdoors and their outstanding watch dog abilities.
Guinea hens eat all kinds of bugs, love ticks (very nice for homesteads, tackle mice and eat weed seeds.
Geese don't like broad leaved plants, they mow the grass, eat baby weeds, eat algae and snap flies out of the air.
Ducks are easier targets for predation, eat tons of slugs and also won't damage most garden plants.

these three in combo with handle most pests, leave your crops alone and alert you of invaders.

I am going to post a scan of my fedco seed order to survive the coming food shortages

[motleyhoo]

Seeds Savers is good. Also Peaceful Valley.

I'm also thinking of getting a worm bin so I can use the castings. Since we eat a lot of fresh produce, we always have a lot of scraps and trimmings left over.

[metacomet]

this is extremely helpful and worth noting about the hen and duck combo!

[noir]

Thanks so much for this post

[motleyhoo]

We started one of two worm bins in our kitchen. Can't wait until the little buggers start making castings. If they reproduce, we have a second bin waiting.