How to garden if you are worried about recession or food inflation pricing- how I have built a garden in a frugal and cheap way, with not much money, and what I think of gardening for food insecurity. I hope this helps you to think outside the box a bit!
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Hello you beautiful Rebels and welcome Back to another video in today's video We are talking about recession and Inflation gardening so let's go whenever Supply chain issues come into view for The consumer and pretty much every time There's an economic downturn AKA Recession or there's inflation gardening Trends up why does this happen because People don't want to be food insecure so Let's talk about my top tips for Recession gardening AKA inflation Gardening AKA you know you just gotta Garden I really think that the one thing That most people don't want to talk About with gardening is whether it's Worth it whether it's worth investing a Bit of money in and it doesn't have to Be an expensive thing gardening is as Expensive as you want to make it but Seriously if you are gardening because a Food insecurity reasons if you are Gardening because there might be a Recession or rather when is the Recession going to happen you want to Insulate yourself off a bit if you are Gardening because food prices are Inflated you need to really factor in With you know finances whether it makes Sense to have a garden at all if you are Someone who doesn't eat a lot of Vegetables then don't grow vegetables if You're someone who doesn't eat a lot of Fruit don't grow fruit if you are
Someone who doesn't eat a lot of Vegetables if you are someone who Doesn't eat a lot of fruit it might not Make sense to have a garden at all and I Am saying this because there's a lot of Output of your energy there's a lot of Output of your time and so if you are Gardening for financial reasons then Don't have a garden a food you are not Going to eat if you are gardening Because you just simply enjoy it then This video isn't really for you because I'm talking about gardening because of Recession or inflation or because you're Food insecure I definitely believe Gardening can be therapy cutic I love The connection to Nature I definitely Think those things are beneficial but a Lot of people Garden because they need The food and if you are gardening Because you need the food you really Need to write down what you buy from the Store try to figure out your budget Surrounding that like how much are you Spending on fruits and vegetables every Month or every week then you kind of Have to figure out how much you have to Grow in your garden to at least chip Away at some of that if you are one Person you may only need two tomato Plants if you really like tomatoes maybe Four tomato plants if you're a family of Five you might want 10 tomato plants if You really like tomatoes if you are a
Family of five who plans to can those Tomatoes you may want 200 tomato plants So you really have to figure out how Much you want to grow and also what you Will be doing with it I grow a lot of Vegetables and fruit not only because I Have a family who likes vegetables and Fruit but because I store some of that For the winter behind me here I have Dried spring onions I have powdered Zucchini flour I have a bunch of peppers I have a bunch of things I have grown Just in back of me here and it does take Time and it does take energy so these Are things I have to factor in to see if It's worth it for me to grow food for my Family so ultimately if you want to have A recession Garden or an inflation Garden or just to be food secure you Need to have a plan you need to have a Plan of how much you want to plant what You are planting don't plant food you do Not like or aren't planning to eat And have a plan about what you are doing With that food is it all fresh food you Plan to eat that summer or will you be Storing some of that somewhere else are You dehydrating are you canning are you Pickling are you somehow preserving it When I go about planning a garden for my Family and I have gardened for quite Some time now I have gardened in rentals I have gardened in apartment windows I Have gardened and found objects which I
Will get to in a minute but I always Have a plan because we need to eat what We grow and so I need to plant what we Will eat and what we like to eat so Definitely look at what you are buying From the store and see if you can grow That yourself and see if it is cheaper For you to grow it yourself because some Food honestly it's probably cheaper to Buy from the store so you really have to Look at that which brings me to my Biggest Point here grow food that is too Expensive expensive for you to buy at The store or which will make the biggest Dent in your budget and then follow that Up with growing the most calorie dense Food I would say where we are herbs are Some of the most expensive foods you can Buy from the store one little like Leaf In a container is like three dollars Some chives just like a little bunch of Chives this big little tiny bunch in a Plastic container is like four or five Dollars and so if you think about that And your budget buying such a little Bunch of food is not really worth it Though are you really thinking about Herbs and making your food taste good in A food scarcity situation no but we're Just talking about your budget right now And so I find herbs to make a huge dent In your budget I find herbs to make your Food taste better overall so we grow a Lot of herbs cool thing about growing
Herbs since we're talking about it is That you can grow them indoors you Honestly don't need a lot of space to Grow herbs I have some parsley here I Grow parsley indoors all winter long all Season long all year long I always have Parsley indoors I have some lemon balm That is growing this is just a baby Right now but this can be used for tea All year long indoors and over here I Have some basil I also have more basil Down here and you can grow basil just in Your window you don't need strong grow Lights like I have I'm just starting These off on the right foot before I put Them on my windowsill so you can really Grow just about any herb inside on your Windowsill you don't need a lot of space And it doesn't take a lot of time and Doesn't take a lot of care besides Mentioning herbs though you really need To look at what you're eating in your Budget and see if you can grow it and See if it makes sense for you to grow it At all for us I grow a lot of tomatoes Tomatoes can be expensive in the store And I like to can and preserve and Sun Dehydrate and do a bunch of stuff with Tomatoes just so that we have lots Packed away for the winter and we eat Them fresh all summer long I also grow a Lot of beans beans are very very calorie Dense if you save the seeds so I save Seeds not only for the next year but I
Save seeds because we can eat them so I Put those in soups and stews they are Very calorie dense and they have some Protein next up I usually grow a ton of Squash depending on the variety of Squash you can save it for winter so Winter squash varieties we also grow a Lot of summer squash and what I do with That is like my zucchini which is a Summer squash I will dehydrate it and Then powder it into flour and that's Just a really good additive for things Like pancakes or bread because you can Mix it with other flowers and you end up With a nutrient dense pancake or bread Or muffin last year I grew just under 200 pepper plants and I got so many Peppers from them we couldn't keep up With eating them fresh so I dehydrated a Lot of them and powdered them and we use That in soups and stews on whatever We're eating and we don't just use it as A pepper spice we use it to really taste Pepper in our food it can taste sweet And hot I really mixed a lot of my hot And sweet peppers together to form this Like very nice complicated Nuanced uh taste to our food and it's Packed with nutrition which was kind of The point for more calorie dense food I Grow sweet potatoes I grow potatoes I Can grow corn those are really good Options if you're looking for calorie Density which is a good thing because
You can store a lot of those foods for The winter and you can also preserve a Lot of them and a lot of people like to Buy leafy greens from the store where I Am I would say about two heads of Lettuce go for about eight to twelve Dollars in that range right now it's Expensive and so maybe growing lettuce On your windowsill makes sense for you It grows very quickly again very very Low maintenance very very easy to grow I Actually grow some in a kind of Hydroponic sort of thing that I hacked You can buy ready to grow hydroponic Systems that come with pods and what I Do is I hack the pods and I should Really make a video about this because These systems are really really easy to Get but some of these systems I have Found from experimenting with them you Can't really hack the pods so you can't Swap them out for cheaper pods that you Put seeds in yourself you have to use Their really expensive pods that already Have seeds in them so I have hacked mine And I'll make a video soon and I know That a lot of the foods I'm mentioning Right now like corn and potatoes they Take some space so if you only have a Windowsill to grow on use that Windowsill if you only have a balcony to Grow on use that balcony and just try to Grow as much as you can in that space I Started out growing on a windowsill in
An apartment building and then we had a Rental that had a little tiny deck and I Grew on the deck and I tried to find Ways to grow using found objects so I Would pick up Basically old Rubbermaid totes the big Totes that you store clothing in on the Side of the road that you know we're Missing their top and I would take out a Drill or a hammer with a nail at times And and put holes in the bottom and then Fill it with dirt and I made my own Compost with worms indoors using another Basically Rubbermaid Tupperware sort of container and I used That to grow in in our rentals until we Had a backyard that I just gardened in Extensively it does not have to be Expensive and you can start with what You have I have done it and if you do Not have enough growing space and you Want more growing space reach out to the Community around you see if anyone has a Community garden that you can be a Member of see if a neighbor has some Garden space that they're not using and Are willing for you to share with them Then you can offer them maybe barter Offer them some vegetables that you are Growing for the use of their space there Are ways to do things sometimes you just Have to think out of the box a bit and I Am not saying this is easy I am not Saying this is accessible to everyone it
Is difficult it is hard you are going to Be in for a steep learning curve if you Are gardening for the first time it is Something that is an ongoing learning Process that never stops and I'm going To be honest here for every recession Where gardening Trends up it also comes Back down because people don't want to Maintain that Trend they don't really Like gardening they find out it is too Difficult or that it's not for them they Just don't enjoy it or when recession Goes back to normal and the economy is Okay and food is okay and there's food Supply chain okay no issues there people Don't want to Garden anymore so they Turn away from it the majority of people I know who garden garden because they Have found enjoyment in it or they do it Out of necessity if you do not need to Do gardening then most people probably Won't do gardening I mean the majority Of my neighbors don't have Gardens and I Think that is totally fair and totally Valid because if you don't enjoy Gardening and gardening is not a Necessity for you why would you do it But going back to gardening is only as Expensive as you make it because again I Have gardened in things I have found I Have gardened with free seeds you can go To libraries some libraries now have Free seed libraries you can trade with Other gardeners most gardeners save some
Of their seeds and they will gladly Trade with you or give seeds to you for Free so I just want to remind you all Here trading and bartering with other People is amazing you can trade and Barter in your garden maybe someone else Is growing peppers and you're growing Tomatoes maybe someone else has a seed And you don't maybe you can borrow a Tool definitely employ that you can also Save seeds out of produce I have done That before and I have planted them Successfully it has been done I have Done it you do not need fancy tools to Garden you don't need fancy pots to Garden you don't need a greenhouse to Garden you don't need fancy soil to Garden you don't need any fancy seeds to Garden you don't need any of the stuff That a lot of gardeners will tell you That you need even in my own garden I Have greenhouses I have pull out hoses I Have an irrigation system I try to hunt Down rare seeds these days but you do Not have to do that and that is not how I started out gardening I started out Gardening with no money I I had no money I started out guarding using gray water So basically saving water that I used From washing the dishes underneath my Sink so what you do is you can unscrew You can unscrew the plumbing underneath Your sink so that the sink water goes Into a bucket now don't do this if
You're using really harsh soaps and Things like that you definitely need Biodegradable nature safe soap if you're Going to water your plants with it Otherwise they will die so you can do That and that is what I did I use and I Still do use gray water in my garden for My house plants it just makes sense You've already paid for that water why Waste it but do you remember that if you Unscrew your plumbing it is unscrewed do Not forget that you should have a bucket Under there the bucket can overflow if You do not put the plumbing back you'll Have a mini flood and you may forget About this so so I this has not happened To me but it has happened to other People so I'm mentioning it here anyways Again my point is you don't have to make It complicated it does not have to be Expensive even though there are very Very pretty Instagram accounts and YouTube videos showing you you know Perfect Gardens you don't have to do That you can do chaos gardening I do Slightly chaotic gardening it means that I just plant things willy-nilly because That's kind of how nature grows and it Seems to work you don't have to have a Perfect garden unless you want to and oh There's a lot of weeds in my garden and We eat them because there are tons of Edible weeds out there that you can eat You can forage for food it is free and
You just need to know what you're eating So for the time being the sun is free Oxygen is free and you can collect rain Water in many places for free as long as It's not illegal because in some places Collecting rain water is illegal and you Can use gray water for your plants and That That just means that you aren't wasting Your money when you are gardening for Recession inflation or food insecurity Reasons you need to be paying attention To what you are doing not what other People are doing what other people are Doing may look pretty and it may work For them but it may not be the best way For gardening to happen it may not be The best way to get maximum food Production it may not be the best use of Their money you just you just have to Focus on what you are doing and why you Are doing it and if you are gardening Again for recession inflation or food Insecurity reasons you do not want to Spend a lot of money on it it doesn't Make sense Does not make sense and you only want to Be gardening if it does make Financial Sense make sure you are growing food That you regularly buy from the store That may be a bit too expensive and make Sure that you're getting at least a bit Of fun from this because it should be a Little bit of fun it should be fun to
Grow your own food you should be proud Of yourself if you grow food even even That little clump of parsley you should Be proud of that because you did that And that is it for this video I hope This kind of gives you an idea of what You can do if you are growing for Recession if you are growing for food Inflation if you are growing for food Insecurity reasons you can make a dent In your budget I have done it I have Been growing for a number of years now And it's a lot of fun and it makes a Difference for our family and it may Make a difference for yours let me know Down in the comments why you Garden do You Garden just because you love it now Do you Garden because of recession food Inflation or food insecurity reasons do You Garden just to know that you can and It's for self-sufficiency let me know Down in the comments get dirty stay Magical piece bye