An Off Grid Life

Helping you become more self-reliant.

Last week, I told you about the Black Bean and Stealth Pea Chili Disaster that occurred when I hit the absolute bottom of my root-vegetable bins during the June Gap.

Once the dust settled and our shelves were (somewhat) replenished, I had to sit down and do the math.

Why did we run out?

When I looked back at the numbers, the answer wasn't a failure of the soil. It was a failure of logistics.

A northern logistics nightmare

At the time, we were full-time off-the-grid up in the Northwest Territories. The regular northern supply chain issues and shipping delays were heightened by pandemic-related transportation and supply issues.

It was all coming together to hit us hard, making grocery store shelves unpredictable at best.

On top of that, our household had grown.

We had our own growing kids; my nephew, in his early twenties, was living with us, and then his best friend, who would later become our son-in-law, moved in to help with massive homestead renovations and heavy building projects.

So I was feeding a small but very hungry crew doing manual labor in a remote northern climate. My standard calculations for how much to store were wiped out by sheer caloric demand.

My Blueprint to Bridge the June Gap

If you find yourself staring at empty bins today because your family’s needs have grown, here is the preservation and planting blueprint I use to bridge the June Gap.

1. The 20% Buffer Rule

Never plant or preserve just enough for your current headcount. Appetites change, and kids get hungry as they grow.

When you're trying to figure out how much to plant to feed your family, take your baseline annual requirement for staples like potatoes and carrots and automatically tack on an extra 20% to your targets.

2. The February Head-Start

To beat June's food shortage, you have to start in the dead of winter.

The next year, I started chitting and planting potatoes indoors in early February to give us an ultra-early summer harvest to bridge the empty-bin season.

3. Shifting to the Dehydrator and Canner

Cellaring whole roots is great, but space is finite, and rot can happen. My modern plan relies heavily on shelf-stable preservation. Getting going with canning veggies and fruits creates an indestructible, space-saving pantry reserve specifically earmarked for spring stews.

Pantry Preserves for Beginners

If you're looking to scale up your kitchen gear this season, this is the (affiliate links) Food Dehydrator I’m dying to get, and this is the Pressure Canner I already have, which makes processing large batches a breeze.

If you're new to shelf-stable food storage and want to master the basics without the overwhelm, I've put together a step-by-step guide called Pantry Preserves for Beginners. It’s on sale in the shop and will show you exactly how to build a reliable, secure pantry stack from scratch.