I’m right in the middle of garden planning at the moment.
One thing has become exceedingly clear: If I truely wish to be self-sufficient, I’ll not be able to live with a raw diet year-round.
I’ve asked myself which is more important – raw or self-sufficiency.
I feel amazing when I’m eating 80-90% raw food.
I feel great when I’m eating only vegetables (cooked).
I start to feel a bit groggy when I eat flour-based foods (bread/pasta)/rice.
I feel my throat get ‘thick’ when I eat dairy/cheese and too much onion/garlic.
For me, it’s far more imporant to be self-sufficient.
It’s easy to be extreme.
Either you’re following a ‘strict’ dietary regime, or you’re eating anything.
It’s difficult to eat for nutrition’s sake – you have to eat a lot more low-calorie food (veg & greens) in order to pack the minerals and vitamins in.
Grains are just a filler – they’re rich in calories, but (unless I’m greatly mistaken) very poor in nutrients. Hence, the need for flours to be ‘enriched’ (pumped full of extra vitamins/minerals).
I guess it’s just like tap water and rain water – tap water will keep your plants alive, but rain water will make them thrive.
Anyway, back to the planning.
We will have to grow good storage crops to last through the winter.
Apples and pears will last reasonably well over the winter, but short of mass dehydration, freezing, or canning, very few other above-ground items will.
I would ideally like to keep our food ‘raw’ for as long as possible, as the subsequent modes of preparation are greatly increased.
Carrots and beets will be great for juicing – sweet potatoes too, I understand.
We’ll try our best to keep the greens going, via tunnel-type season-extending coverings, and I will look into sprouting too.
I’m also going to have to totally redesign our menu; this time to include breakfasts and lunches.
One for the summer; one for the winter.
Only when that is done, will I have a clear picture of what I need to plant, and how much.
For now, you can view a chart of the plants I intend on growing here: http://bekahmancino.dot5hosting.com/Garden.pdf