One Year Ago… | The Survival Gardener

…we were planting a “regenerative cover crop” on the land we were renting.

Little did we know we’d be ejected from that sand pit of death a few months later!

The year before, I was making coconut biochar in The Great South Florida Food Forest Project, down at my parents’ house in Ft. Lauderdale:

The year before, we were living in the jungle of the West indies during the pandemic on a small piece of land we’d bought, planting all we could to ensure a food supply in case of civilizational collapse. Sweet potatoes were key! At this point, we were locked down and I had to make short videos and climb a mountain to upload from my smart phone:

We thought that was the land we were going to keep! We already had a large concrete foundation for a house finished, plus I’d planted a food forest. The pandemic swept all that away. They didn’t want to renew our visas on the current terms, and they also wanted everyone to get the shot to come in and out. We had to say goodbye.

The year before, I was visiting the states for a short period of time and went to my friend Bill Hall’s blueberry farm to record a video:

In 2018, we were renting a modest apartment in the West Indies and gardening in a borrowed building lot, where I planted sweet potatoes, yams, papaya, chaya… and moringa:

The year before, we were renting another location – a small cocoa farm – and I was attempting to grow 1,000 lbs of food. I spent a lot of time clearing brush and grass to make garden beds:

In April of 2016, we sold our house in North Florida and went down to South Florida to prepare for our expatriation to the little island of Grenada, West Indies. This was my final tour of the old food forest:

It’s interesting to have this blog, and the YouTube channel, both of which give us a look back over the course of our lives. Though mostly focused on gardening, there is always more beneath the surface. The moves from place to place as we hunted for land, the loss of my Dad, the children growing, the pandemic, the move back home, the friends…

We’ve certainly been busy and have accomplished a lot, despite leaving it all behind at previous properties! Does it matter?

Life is a vapor. Only what is done for Christ shall last. I hope some of our experiences have helped others. We have learned much, and we are blessed to have our children and our family all together in a new home.

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