Over the years I have worked to establish more perennial food plants on our property. They typically cost a little more upfront but having low-maintenance, recurring sources of food is great. In the process of writing this post, I realized we have over forty different perennial foods growing on our property - a mix of naturally occurring and purposefully introduced. 

I have integrated these perennials plants in various places on the property, creating a bit of an edible landscape; but I also have a few dedicated perennial beds in a section of our property. I keep these beds separate from my main garden so that they don't interfere with crop rotation. Before I switched to a no-till approach, it was a also a concern that they would get in the way of rototilling. 

I'll provide a summary of the perennial foods we grow, in hopes that it will give you ideas if you live in a similar zone. Even though we live in zone 5, I tend to favor perennials that are rustic to zone 3, to ensure they are very rustic and survive our winters. 

Trees:

• Apple trees - I planted a few specific apple trees (honeycrisp, empire, and a sweet yellow variety); we also have a variety of wild apple and crabapple trees planted by animals in the forest. (two or more compatible apple trees are needed for cross-pollination)
• Pear tree - I planted four pear trees, which should be two cross-pollinating pairs. They haven't produced yet but I think they will this year.
• Plum tree - I only have one plum tree, they are self-fertile so they don't need a companion. It's new and hasn't produced yet.
• Hazelnut trees (bush) - I have eight hazelnut trees, I planted them this year. I got them from Meadowlark Rise Farms, local to us. They plant a variety of nut trees, but it seems like hazelnuts are doing the best in our area.'
• Sour cherries (bush) - This one spreads! It is beautiful when it flowers, and I use the cherries to make ice cream, Turkish cherry jam, and chocolate cherry jam / ice cream topping

Berries and other small fruits:

• Honeyberries (Haskap) - these do amazing here, but they need to be covered by a net or the birds get them all. They are a great early crop. 
• Gooseberries - new this year
• Strawberries - I chose everbearing plants which means that they produce throughout the season, instead of one big batch. They are great for snacking whenever we pass in front of the patch, conveniently located between the house and the workshop.
• Saskatoon berries - new this year
• Concord grapes - for eating fresh and for juice
• Artic kiwi - new this year

Edible flowers:

• Daylilies - the flowers are edible. They are a nice snack or a nice garnish on salads. Be sure not to eat lilies though.
• Hostas - the shoots can be cooked and eaten
• Lilac -  good for garnish or for making flavoured simple syrup , I can it and use it to make lilac lemonade or seltzer water
• Sunchokes -  the tubers are delicious. We especially like them fermented (which also takes away the gassiness that some people experience with sunchokes)
• Sunflowers - for seeds

Herbs:

• Rosemary - doesn't always come back, depending on winter conditions
• Lavender - doesn't always come back, depending on winter conditions
• Sage - doesn't always come back, depending on winter conditions
• Mint - invasive, be careful where you plant it
• Oregano - invasive, be careful where you plant it
• Thyme
• Chamomile
• Chives

Others:

• Rhubarb
• Horseradish - harvested for the root. Can spread.
• Asparagus
• Amaranth - not really a perennial, but it reseeds itself generously 

Naturally occurring perennials (foraging - more details here)

• Raspberries
• Fiddleheads
• Daylilies
• Sumac
• Sugar maple
• Cedar
• Stinging Nettle
• Mushrooms - for example shaggy mane. Still learning about these
• Wild grapes
• Crabapples
• Wild chamomile

Failures - things I might try again:

• Sea buckthorn - got swallowed up by weeds, will need to try again
• Blueberries - I've tried these several times but they never survived, I'm not sure why

​Le jardinier-maraîcher: Manuel d’agriculture biologique sur petite surface, Jean-Martin Fortier

The market gardener : A  successful grower’s handbook for small-scale organic farming, Jean-Marc Fortier
 
This very practical handbook is based on the experience of Jean-Martin Fortier and Maude-Hélène Desroches in establishing a successful small scale organic farm serving customers mostly through a CSA basket program, in the Eastern Townships of Québec. Their approach is centered on organic methods, intense planting,  and efficiency of work, enabling them to minimize how much they invest in equipment and people power. Given these goals, a lot (but not all) of their conclusions are very applicable to a homesteading garden, where minimizing work and investment are typically very important. Where the applicability breaks down is where they make decisions based on building their customer base, and also, because minimal attention is paid to planning a garden with the goal of preserving food over winter, as their business revolves around selling fresh produce.

I really enjoyed the way the book is organized – it is a true handbook, with chapters on every phase of setting up and operating a large garden. The first few chapters would be useful for someone who is still dreaming about homesteading. They cover how to chose the ideal property and how to set up your site. If you already have a property, you will probably only skim them. The rest of the chapters are dedicated to one topic each, including fertilizing, indoor seedlings, direct sowing, weeding, pests, prolonging the growing season, harvesting and planning your production.

Personally, I also enjoyed how throughout the book, the author shares the philosophy behind their approach. The themes of sustainability, anti-consumerism and seeking a balanced life resonated strongly with me. These themes don’t take over the book, but they do incite reflection and give an intention to the work.

There are many reference charts and appendices covering things such as rotation charts, crop spacing, planting calendars, solutions to common problems, etc.

There is also considerable attention given to the business side of things, which I found interesting but not very applicable to my situation, where my goal is feeding myself and my family, as opposed to growing a business.
​
After my first reading of the book, I have a few take-aways that I am immediately putting into practice:

1. Crop rotation: in the past, I have had a general sense and goal of avoiding planting the same thing in the same place two years in a row, but this book gave a much clearer and systematic understanding of crop rotation. I now have a stronger understanding of the need to rotate between vegetable families, instead of between specific vegetables. For example, I should wait 3-4 years before planting a nightshade where another nightshade has been grown (the nightshade family includes tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplants, tobacco, and ground cherries). There is a very useful summary of a few other key rules to respect when planning crop rotation. Over the weekend, I reworked my garden overhead plan to fully incorporate crop rotation by family. For me, this means dividing up garden into 4 sections of 3 rows each and rotating rows within these sections. It was a bit of a logic puzzle to plan out, as there are many other constraints in my garden (row size, some rows being irrigated and others not, spacing available around the row etc).
2. Pairing up spring or fall crops with summer crops: for example, to double the use of a row, you can plant an early crop of spinach and once it is harvested and the warmer weather arrives, plant turnip in its place. Some other pairs I intend to use are: fall garlic and greens, green beans and fall garlic, sugar peas and lettuce, spinach and carrots.
3. Dense planting (less space between plants): I had already stumbled on my own into the principle of dense planting. From the start, I have always wanted to plant as many things as possible within the space that I have available, so I often disregarded the row spacing suggested on seed packets. Most of the time I didn’t notice any ill effects. For example, I often planted two onion bulbs one next to the other and harvested one early as a green onion and left the other to grow. The other advantage of dense planting is that it leaves less space for weeds. In this book, dense planting is strongly encouraged. The rule of thumb that is given is that plants should touch each other when they are three-quarters of their full size. This will give good coverage of the soil, minimizing weeds, mulching and keeping the ground cool and moist. Specific spacing for specific crops is outlined. This makes me more confident in continuing down the path of dense planting. This year, my onions will be going down in groups of four!
4. Better early planting calendar: I have never made good use of the time before the last frost. Typically I didn’t plant anything before end of May or beginning of June. Some of that is a habit that I formed before I transitioned to no-till gardening – at the time, I always had to wait for the garden to be dry before I tilled it. However, as I’ve landed on the proper configuration for my garden, with permanent beds and walking paths, and, as I’ve transitioned to a no-till approach, the spring brings a lot of possibility. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good idea of what to plant when. Luckily a planting calendar in the book answered all my questions.
5. Transitioning more crops from direct sowing to seedlings: My past rule of thumb has been that if something can be direct sown, I direct sow it. This helped me minimize the number of shelves, lighting, and other seed starting equipment I needed and transplanting time. However, with time, I have been able to acquire more seed starting space (which I use for Kratky in the winter). The book drove home that an early start means that you’ll not only get your crop earlier, but you’ll also and then have space for a crop of something else afterwards; this idea is appealing and gives me motivation for starting more seedlings this year.

 
Those are my immediately actionable items. The book also gave me some longer-term ideas. I would like to look into simple-ish ways to extend the growing season, such as floating covers, row tunnels, and maybe a small greenhouse. I am also curious to do some more scientific soil tests and to look into a more test-based approach to fertilizing my soil.
 
There were also some aspects to the book which were not really applicable to my situation, and I feel that they may not appeal to most homesteaders. The approach explained in the book is not a no-till approach – some light hand-operated machinery is used. It makes sense from a business perspective but on the kitchen garden scale, I prefer the simplicity, and lower investment, of a no till method. Some of the equipment, although much more affordable than typical farming machinery, is still a bit pricy if you aren’t planning to recoup your investment through sales. Similarly, the farm relies on manmade mulches, and some options are interesting, such as a cornstarch based biodegradable membrane that is incorporated in the soil in the fall. However, in my case I will stick to natural mulches such as leaves and grass cuttings, which I can get for free and which contribute to improving the quality of my clay-based soil.
 
In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a large garden, especially if they are based in zones 3-5. I would rank it as my second favorite book, after “Le Jardin Vivrier” by Marie Thévard – the reason I prefer the latter is because the scenario described in the latter is more similar to my own – a self-sufficiency goal, rather than a small business goal. Together, these two books make a powerful duo for people in a homesteading situation.

There is something to be said for finding free snacks wherever you go. In addition to growing my own food, I also enjoy foraging. The following quote from "Landmade - Eating the wild things" also speaks to me: "In a society that encourages - even insists on - constant consumption and consumerism, foraging your own food for free can be an act of rebellion". 

I think that most of us have had experiences with foraging, be it as simple as eating a few wild raspberries or strawberries in the summertime. I remember my grandmother showing me where to pick raspberries behind my grandparents' cottage when I was a child. I brought a tiny bucket back and had them over vanilla ice cream with a bit of maple syrup. So sweet! I also remember visiting our current property with the previous owner, just before moving in. He gave us a tour or the forest, the marsh, the fields and pointed out the raspberry bushes and the sugar maple in the forest, and I felt so lucky to become the custodian of this land. 

I have found it challenging to learn foraging from books or website, however, spending a couple hours with a local forager keen to share their knowledge was an incredible learning experience. In our case, we leveled up our knowledge with a foraging walk with the kind people of Landmade, at a location about half an hour from our property. I would not hesitate to recommend their walks and workshops. After our walk with Jess, our guide, we started to notice wild foods everywhere we went - on the side of the highway, in parks, and on our property. Our eyes were opened!

Here is a little gallery of some of the foods we forage on our property. These image are just meant to encourage you to get to know the land around you, and to pique your interest - please make sure you are certain of your identification before eating anything you forage.

Let me walk you through what a one year cycle of tracking and planning looks like.

Early August - annual inventory and estimate of annual usage
At this time of year we are eating mostly fresh from the garden so my inventory won't fluctuate too much going into the fall. Just before canning season starts, I do a full inventory of the cellar, shelves and freezer, and I record of what I still have in stock from the previous year. It is a chance to correct for any instances where we forgot to update the inventory as we used products. I make a permanent record of this number in an excel sheet (see below). I compare this with the number I noted a year ago on this date, , and I calculate our yearly consumption:

Annual consumption = (how many I had in early August last year) + (last year's production) - (how many are left)

I sometimes adjust that number up or down based on whether I felt like we would have enjoyed more if we had more, or had to make an effort to incorporate that much in our meal planning. I then calculate how many of that product I want to preserve.

Production goal = (Annual consumption) - (how many are left) + a bit of buffer

Lately I have been thinking more about crop failures or how some summers, one crop will do very poorly. For example, last year all my cucumber plants were eaten by groundhogs before I fenced in the garden; this year, abundant rain led to poor tomato production; a few years ago an ill-timed frost killed all our apple blossoms. For this reason, for the most important products, I try to have two years' worth of stock, instead of one year's. ​

Early August - preserving plan
At this point I'm just about to enter preserving season. I have a pretty good idea of how each crop is doing, and I know what my production goals for each product I want to preserve. Realistically, I won't be able to reach all those goals, so it's time to make priorities.

At this point, I make a list organized by fruit/vegetable, listed from earliest to mature to latest to mature. For each item, I decide on my priorities and goals. For example, for tomatoes my first priority is to make sure we have a year's supply of canned whole tomatoes; my second priority is marinara sauce; any extra tomatoes after that can become tomato juice, bruschetta, bbq sauce etc. Each item has my production goal next to it. That list gets posted on my fridge and it becomes my to-do list. ​

 April-May  starting seedlings
Each year, in my garden notebook, I record how many seedlings of each type I start each year, and how many I transplant successfully in the garden. This way I know what percentage of extra seedlings I should start. This all needs to be balanced against the total amount of seedlings I can nurture given shelf space and lighting. ​For any tracking that happens in my seedling work area or in the garden, it works best for me to record things in my notebook, as opposed to on the computer.

May-June planting outdoors
In the process of transplanting to the garden, some changes will happen for sure. Some seedlings might have been less or more numerous than my plan, and I might get tempted by something extra at the nursery or pick up some unexpected seeds at a seed swap. I keep records of everything to help me plan next year.  

If any seedlings failed, at this point I decide whether it is worth getting replacement plants at the nursery.

Conclusion
This brings us to a full one year cycle. It took me a long time to refine my tracking system and I hope this information and the samples I provided will be useful for some of you. "How many tomato plants should I plant?" is such a common question online, but I've learned that the only person who can truly answer it is you, after careful tracking over the course of a year!

Some days when I'm feeling more philosophical, I think about how bigger sustainability concepts connect to our little homestead. For example, the circular economy is a big concept in sustainability. A circular economy is a production and consumption model within which all things are reused, recycled, repurposed as much as possible. Here are a bunch of real life case studies of circular economy.

Closer to home, I couldn't help but think that our recent grape harvest was like a little model of a circular economy.  When we harvested grapes this year, we made very good use of everything we harvested... anything that was a byproduct of an operation became something else that was useful. Nothing went into the garbage. Here's a little diagram of how it played out.

This is the tastiest kind of circular economy! Flip through to see some of the products we got from our delicious Concord grapes.

The first year I gardened, I quickly became overwhelmed by weeds. After a week away, it was hard to get back on top of things. I had read about the importance of mulching, but all that came to mind at the time was expensive bags of mulch at the nursery. I knew the cost would add up quickly based on the size of my garden and needing to add mulch over and over again. However, it was clear that I needed a solution.

Starting the next year, and for many years since then, I have been using landscape fabric to control weeds. I lay it down along the rows, over my drip irrigation lines. I secure it with a generous amount of ground staples, rocks, and logs. Advantages of this method include:

• Effective weed control
• Lets the rain through
• Retains moisture in the ground
• Warms the soil

I think this is a very decent approach to weed control and I definitely would never go back to not having any kind of mulch. However, I did find that this approach had some downsides:

• It can be costly (Costco is the best bargain that I found - a very big roll with lots of staples. They have sold various qualities (at corresponding prices) each spring
• Landscape fabric doesn't last forever - especially the least expensive types, which I found I had to replace after 1-2 years
• It locks you in to a certain planting pattern
• It can be tedious to cut out the holes when planting 
• It's not suitable for root crops - pulling a turnip out rips the fabric, for example
• It's hard to plant things very close together - for example corn or carrots - since you need one hole per plant. I something cut long rectangular holes but more often than not, that led to the fabric ripping.
• It does nothing for soil quality

Over the last couple of years, I have been experimenting with switching over my landscape fabric to natural mulch. I haven't given in to buying commercial mulch - I use whatever I can get my hands on for free. For example:

• Grass clippings - I let the grass grow a bit longer, and with the power mower, I shoot all the grass clippings into piles, near the garden if possible. We pick it up with a rake onto the lid of a rubbermaid container, which makes a handy "carrying tray" to the right spot in the garden.
• Bales of hay - We have a few areas which we don't mow or cultivate. Our neighbor picks up the hay once or twice a year for his cattle, and we ask him to leave us one bale of hay by the garden. A lot of people say not to use hay because it's full of seeds, but it is free and if you keep mulching over it, it's not the worst of issues.
• Dead weeds - When I weed the garden, I sweep all the weeds on piles over the black (high quality) landscape fabric I use for the walkways between my garden rows. I let the piles dry out to kill the weeds, and then I use the dried matter as mulch in the garden
• "Compost in place" - When picking vegetables that have unwanted plant matter (for example, corn husks), I remove that plant matter while I'm still in the garden, and I either let it dry in the walkways to use as dry mulch, or put it directly on the ground as mulch. It's a good way to return nutrients to the soil - why take them out of the system in the first place?
• Leaves - I don't have a lot of leaves around the garden but I will be asking my parents for a few bags from their place this fall!
• Dried matter in the spring - in the fall, I don't really remove any plant matter from my garden. Things like vines dry out in place over the winter, and in the spring I gather them up and use them as extra mulch right there in the garden. (Watch out for seeds).
• Not-so-natural odds and ends - I also use things like newspaper, cardboard and used jiffy pot sides as mulch. Anything that is biodegradable and handy.

When mulching with natural materials, I make a pretty thick layer - about 4-6 inches. I keep an eye on it as it decomposes and replenish the low spots every time I mow the lawn or whenever it's needed. Weeds do pop up here and there but they are typically easy to pull. The mulch continuously decomposes, so it keeps enriching the soil. In the fall we put an extra generous layer of mulch that stays there through the winter. It keeps weeds down in the spring and I just pull off the extra when I plant, ready to be used as replenishment as needed.

I still have fabric mulch in my main kitchen garden, but I don't use it in any new gardens and I am replacing it with natural mulch as it degrades.

This is all part of the "no till / no dig" approach to gardening that I have been transitioning to. This biodegradable mulch composts in place and is making my soil better and better. The book that started me down this path is "Le jardin vivrier" by Marie Thévard. I also recently picked up "No-dig gardening" by Bella Linde and Lena Granefelt and "Building soil" by Elizabeth Murphy to learn more about the topic.

One final tip. Years ago Ray decided to use some leftover construction paper as mulch. Not a good idea. It's waterproof so it doesn't let rain in, so you need to water a lot. And, now, 5 years into it, It's starting to fray in places and little bits of it are flaking off, I am afraid it may mix into the ground so we'll have to remove it. So be careful about using things such as this or tarps. Make sure whatever you use is biodegradable. 

For me, composting is mostly a sustainable and convenient way to dispose of food scraps. Sure, it's good fertilizer but the amount of compost we generate doesn't put a dent into what we'd need to fertilize the gardens. When I need a lot of compost, our neighbor drops off a tractor bucket or composted manure, or I order some. 

When we first moved here, I started a compost bin outside. It was okay but a bit of a hassle to walk out and dump scraps, and we often procrastinated (especially in the wintertime) and ended up with a slimy bucket of scraps on the counter or even worse, fruit flies. Ever since I switched to vermicomposting (worm composting), those worries are over. I keep my worm bin next to the kitchen so it's easy to throw food scraps in as we go.

To start vermicomposting, you need worms (you can order them online) and a worm farm or bin. There are many specialty bins available online, but, I'd rather make my own. I used two identical rubbermaid bins, one nested into the other. I drilled many, many holes in the inner bin, so that any excess liquid would drain out into the outer bin.

Once my worms arrived, I put them in the inner bin along with some moistened bedding. I used coco coir (ordered at the same time as my worms) but there are many options. 

Once the compost is underway, I always keep about 3-6 inches of dry, shredded newspaper on top. I used to shred the paper by hand but I now use a paper shredder. This helps created a dark but airy environment for the worms, control humidity, and prevent fruit flies. The worms also gradually munch on it.

Whenever I have food scraps, I lift up the shredded newspaper and add the food scraps in between the compost and the newspaper shreds. 

I don't have a lid on my bin. At first I did, but the lid made the bin too humid. The walls of the bins were covered in water and that made it very appealing for the worms to crawl up the sides and escape from the bin at night (they don't like light, so they don't escape during the daytime). Once outside the bin they would dry up and die. Not good! Once I stopped putting a lid on it, problem solved. The newspaper keeps it dark enough for them to be happy in the compost. There are many theories online about keeping the newspaper moist, but, I find that the lowest layer of newspaper gets moist just from absorbing moisture from the food scraps and compost. The top stays dry and the worms stay away from it. 

Once in a while, I throw in some eggshells grinded up in my food processor or mortar and pestle. The worms apparently need to eat this "grit" to help them grind up the food they eat.

It's important not to overwhelm the bin with food scraps - the worms can only process so much. The worm population will adapt to the quantity of food you generate. However, in my case, when it's time to put up a lot of food (canning season), I have too much waste all of a sudden - in that case I put all the excess in my outdoor compost bin. But the rest of the year, the worm bin in sufficient.

Every 1-2 years I harvest the compost. I have not found an easy way to do this. I used my 3D printer to print 3 sieves with holes of various sizes, that I designed to mimic the fabric screens people buy to make sieves. That allowed me to catch all the unprocessed bits of food (which I returned to the bin).  But ultimately, I also need to do some hand separation of the worms and the compost. Since they run away from light, it's possible to scoop up the top layer of compost which will be worm less. By the time you put that layer into a bucket, the worms will have gone deeper and you can repeat that process. 

The worms need very little attention. Just topping up the shredded newspaper when it gets low. When we leave on vacation for a few weeks they don't need any special attention (don't overfeed them just before leaving - that's a recipe for fruit flies! Just give them the normal amount of food. They will keep busy processing leftover scraps and newspaper until you return.