Reading Carol Deppe's book, "The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times." Anybody else familiar with this? Mum just went to a couple of her lectures at the Pacific Northwest Garden Show and sent me a copy of the book right away-- says she's learning more from reading it than she's learned in over 40 years of organic gardening!

Deppe proposes five crops that, in judicious combination, can ensure survival: corn, beans, potatoes, squash, and eggs. (I like her sense of humour with the inclusion of eggs as a crop.) She has previously written about the breeding of custom veggie varieties and she talks at length about the process of seeking out or breeding crops suited to particular climates and personal needs/tastes. (She's gluten-intolerant, so she has spent a fair bit of energy seeking out heirloom corn varieties to replace wheat in her own diet.

I'm only partway into the book, but already fascinated by her wide-ranging and well-researched writing. This looks like a book I'll be turning to frequently as I gradually convert my plots into permaculture plantings.

--Cuilionn