Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[SuburbanFarmer]

Kath, I am telling you, I grew a shit ton of food in that sugar sand as a child. No internet to tell me how to do it. I was just a kid. I am sure you can figure it out.

Not sure why it's so important to you. Damn dude, I want a garden with soil and worms.... Sand is for beaches.

We’re trying to point out that it’s going to be a LOT more work building the boxes and trucking in topsoil. Plus, it’s not very “natural”.

I don’t like using fertilizers though. There’s a lot you can do with cover crops or compost, actually. Even putting some nutrients into the little plant holes is way easier than trying to change the entire soil structure.

First step is to get your “sand” tested. Grab a testing kit from Ace, or Home Depot, and see what’s lacking in the soil. Then you can judge how much needs to be done.

[Kath]

SMH.... Ok, guys, you've sold me. I will totally go with sand.

[SuburbanFarmer]

You might be surprised. That limestone is fossilized organic matter. The sand can hold a ton of nutrients as well.

Just find out what’s in it, before you spend the money and time to cover it over.

[Speaker to Animals]

Three sisters should work fine there. All she needs are the zone-appropriate seeds for corn, pole beans, and squash. All of that stuff is grown commercially in Florida. She would be fine, and she could produce a fairly large quantity of food that way in a small area.

[SuburbanFarmer]

First thing I’d do in Florida would be to transplant some banana tree sprouts, and avocados. Then look at peaches, peppers, and tomatoes.

[Okeefenokee]

fossilized organic matter

I don't think that means what you think it means.

If we're growing in clay, and you're growing in sand, maybe all this soil quality mumbo jumbo is a big scam.

[Speaker to Animals]

If I lived in South Florida, I would find a way to get a hold of some living Antigua pineapples. My father grew some in his West Palm Beach home garden when I was a child.

Man, those things are so delicious. If you found a way to grow enough of them, you could charge a good amount for them at a local farmers market. Not even kidding. People would pay a lot for those things.

https://www.auamed.org/blog/antigua-bla ... -sweetest/

I shit you not. Figure out how to grow those in some quantity, and you could make a good income in local farmer's markets.

[SuburbanFarmer]

fossilized organic matter

I don't think that means what you think it means.

If we're growing in clay, and you're growing in sand, maybe all this soil quality mumbo jumbo is a big scam.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone

Florida is literally a 1,000 mile long ancient reef, built of skeletal remains. Yes, it means exactly what I think it means.

The sand on top may be rich or poor, depending on location, but the underlying limestone is incredibly rich in nutrients.

[Montegriffo]

@Monte

I have no idea what the laws are on that kind of thing here. Probably not much. Honestly never crossed my mind to talk to the government about the rights and wrongs of butchering my animal.

I imagine you care about the welfare of your livestock and took care to ensure a humane death.
Others are not so caring, this is why laws exist to regulate the slaughter of cattle.
If you used a professional slaughterman then I'm sure he would have known and complied with the regulations.

[Okeefenokee]

The point being that fossilization typically involves the material that made up the thing getting fossilized being replaced by minerals in the ground. So the organic material is replaced with minerals, aka rocks.