New Year's Resolutions

'Tis the season for goal setting and sometimes it actually works. 

This time of year many New Year's Resolutions are made and, unfortunately, within a few weeks they're usually crumbled and broken. Simply setting a goal seldom works, but if we establish a step-by-step plan and implement it the chances of success increase dramatically.

A few years ago I decided that I would catch up on my reading instead of watching television. I resolved to read a book per month off the 100 most popular novels list published by the New York Times. For 10 months, I actually did it. I read for 1 hour per night while my wife watched her favorite television show that I did not enjoy.

This year my resolutions are going to be a little different.

I hereby solemly resolve that I am going to get serious about improving our household food security.

1. I'm going to learn to can vegetables. Canning is almost a lost art, but jars and instructions are readily available at most of the big box stores. A couple of Google searches later and it looks like I can be off an running lickety split.

2. I'm going to grow more vegetables. Afterall to preserve food for eating later, you've got to actually grow more of it.

3. I have 6 Earthboxes. I plan to purchase 6 more before growing season arrives.

4. We had 2 above ground beds last year. This year I plan to have 3.

5. I plan to extend the growing season and get 2 plantings from my efforts. By planting warm weather vegetables in spring time and then cooler weather vegetables in late summer, we'll be able to harvest food from our backyard well into the fall and early November. We might need some frost protection late in the fall, but that's relatively easy to overcome with some old bedsheets.

6. I plan to plant only heirloom varieties next season. I plan to avoid GMO's whenever possible.

7. Continue my home made hydroponics basement gardening project and add a basement aquaponics system to my spare room in the basement to begin harvesting fish too.

8. Build an outside aquaponics system using fish that can withstand the winters we get here in Michigan. This will take a little more effort, but after talking to a local backyard pond builder today it's not out of the question. Finding blue gill or yellow perch to use in this project may be harder than I thought.

Build an Aquaponic System