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Letter Re: Notes on Gardening for Self-Sufficiency

James:
I've been enjoying reading your book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation.” Growing and saving food is important: while I appreciate the necessity of stored food, and have a lot, as an ol' West Tennessee farm boy with a lot of veggie gardening experience I've some comments on growing and saving food:

1. "Gardening When It Counts" is a must have book, great info on saving seeds!!!
2. Store all the 10-10-10 fertilizer one can.
3. Pole beans grown on tall corn is a very efficient way of getting a lot of food value for little effort. Last year I used "Bloody Butcher" heirloom dent corn as a support for my pole beans. This grows 9-10 ft high and has more prop roots than I've ever seen. I dry the shelled corn in the dehydrator, then store, and use for cornbread.
4. I've gone from canning to dehydrating. We now have three of the 9-tray Excalibur dehydrators. Last season I dehydrated about 185 lbs tomatoes. I store the dry veggies in glass canning jars, with as much of the air pumped out as I can. As compared to canning, the storage space/jar requirement is much less, the shelf life is much longer, and if the jars freeze, so what?
5. the book "Diet for a Small Planet" has great information on how to combine grains and legumes so that one gets the optimal mix of the eight essential amino acids. (I'm a retired Ph.D. biochemist)

Regards, - Doc Holladay

JWR Adds: Excalibur brand dehydrators are available from Ready Made Resources. (At their web site, search on the keyword "Excalibur".) We have one these here at the Rawles Ranch. It has been in the family since the late 1970s, and it is still going strong. I highly recommend them.

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