A couple are self-sufficient, grow 95% of the food they eat - and haven't done a grocery shop in three years.
Katie, 37, and Ryan Krejci, an engineer, 42, got their first taste of homestead life when they started a vegetable garden in their first home together in 2006.
They then got a five-acre homestead in 2013, and started growing more vegetables - including potatoes, onions, squash, and broccoli.
After 10 years they left the city and bought a 240-acre plot of land in northern Minnesota.
Katie, 37, and Ryan Krejci, an engineer, 42, got their first taste of homestead life when they started a vegetable garden in their first home together in 2006.
They then got a five-acre homestead in 2013, and started growing more vegetables - including potatoes, onions, squash, and broccoli.
After 10 years they left the city and bought a 240-acre plot of land in northern Minnesota.
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FunTranscript
00:00We grow nearly 100% of the produce that we eat in a year, so here's my top 5 vegetables to grow for self-sufficiency.
00:06Number 1 is onions. I love that they can store for 9 months without needing to be preserved,
00:11and they are one of the few fresh items that we can enjoy all winter long.
00:15Number 2 is green beans. They are prolific, return nitrogen back to the soil,
00:19and actually retain good flavor and texture after being frozen or canned.
00:23Number 3 is cabbage, which is a wonderful cold-tolerant crop, produces a lot of food per
00:28plant, and ferments easily into sauerkraut to support our gut health.
00:31Number 4 is garlic. While it won't provide a lot of calories,
00:34it sure packs a punch when it comes to flavor and medicinal compounds.
00:38Plus, you can replant it, so I haven't needed to buy seed garlic in almost a decade.
00:42Number 5 is butternut squash. It stores the longest of any vegetable,
00:46and it makes up the bulk of our starch intake. It was hard to pick only 5,
00:50but these are what we're leaning into the most from our food stores during our long winters.
00:55Our food stores are officially fully restocked with a year's supply of
00:59organic food that we grew and harvested from our own land.
01:02We live in a tiny cabin, so it's a bit of a challenge to fit everything, but we're doing
01:07our best. I use my office to store things like bone broth, canned vegetables, freeze-dried goods,
01:12and bulk grains. Also in my office is a fridge, which is filled with several kinds of ferments,
01:18fresh apples, and root vegetables like carrots, rutabagas, and turnips.
01:23We keep our second cabin, which is more like a shed, at 45 degrees for cold storage of potatoes,
01:29butternut squash, cinderella pumpkins, loads of garlic, and braided onions.
01:34Lastly, our chest freezer is filled with more vegetables, foraged berries,
01:39meat chickens that we raised, soup chickens from cullings, and venison from a successful
01:43hunting season. It's been a lot of work, but it sure is nice to have organic food tucked
01:48away that'll nourish our bodies in the year to come.