Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. -Jeremiah 29:5
Using your land is a great way to provide for your family. Growing edible plants is one way you can use your land, and your kids will love getting their hands dirty growing a garden. In another blog, I mentioned that growing a garden is a terrific life skill for your children to learn. Almost every fruit or vegetable you buy at the store can be grown in your own yard for a cheaper price, growing fruits and vegetables on your property can cut your grocery bill almost in half.
Growing Your Own Fruit
At the festival my husband and I had the opportunity to buy some home grown fruit bushes for us and our animals from the Food Plant Nursery. You can visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089779604405&sk=photos. You can also check them out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@foodplantnursery
We bought:
- Two raspberry bushes (pictured below)
- Two Blueberry bushes (pictured to the right)
- One hybrid willow bush
I make homemade mixed berry muffins that my kids love. So they loved the idea of growing the fruit for the muffins they eat. We also have a blackberry bush and I now just need to get a strawberry plant. When the bushes mature we will be able to go outside, pick our fruit, dice them up, and freeze them. I can use these in my homemade muffins, pancakes, cookies, and smoothies. The hybrid willow bush is for our rabbits and chickens. Next year we will be able to cut it and give it to them for hay.
Planting & Soil Health
We spoke with the Permaculture Consultant William Bond on what the best way to plant our new fruit bushes.
He said:
- plant the raspberry bushes about 15-16 feet away from the blueberry bushes. The reason for this is because the raspberries branch out a lot and could over take our blueberry.
- once planted put cardboard around the plant
- put mulch around plant but don’t let it touch the plant
In one of the classes William Bond did he talked about soil health. He talked about how we shouldn’t add anything when we plant something because we need to mimic what the ground would do. To learn more about permaculture and soil health you can go check out his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@ThePermacultureConsultant/videos.
Some other fruits you can grow on your property are:
- figs
- *pears
- apricots
- *peaches
- *apples
- cherries
- *plums
- grapes
- lemons
- *need two of that plant because they cannot self pollinate
You can grow your favorite fruit at home and not rely on the grocery store. If this is your first time even thinking about growing food for your family there are so many resources on YouTube to check out.