FOOD SOVEREIGNTY • ZONE 6 & BEYOND
PERENNIAL
ABUNDANCE
Buy once. Eat for decades.
The ancient way of feeding yourself — without the system.
Practical skills your great-grandparents took for granted
They want you dependent.
We choose abundance.
Every year you buy seeds or plants again. Every winter the grocery store owns your dinner.
Perennials, foraging, and traditional preservation are quiet acts of rebellion — skills that turn your backyard
into a self-renewing pantry and your knowledge into real freedom.
Perennials
The plants that return year after year. Plant once. Harvest for life.
BUY ONCE • EAT FOREVER
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Strawberries
June-bearing or everbearing types. Plant in early spring or fall. They spread via runners — free new plants every year.
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Raspberries
Primocane (fall-bearing) and floricane types. Plant bare-root or potted in spring. They spread slowly via suckers.
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Rhubarb
Plant crowns in early spring. Only harvest stalks (never leaves — toxic). One plant can feed a family for years.
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Asparagus
Plant 1-year-old crowns in a dedicated bed. Wait 2–3 years before first real harvest. Then it produces for 15–25 years.
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Blueberries
Need acidic soil (pH 4.5–5.5). Amend with pine needles, peat, or sulfur. Plant at least two varieties for cross-pollination and bigger crops.
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Horseradish & Sunchokes
Horseradish: Plant root cuttings. Grate fresh for sauce. Extremely hardy and spreads aggressively — plant where you can contain it.
Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes): Plant tubers. Sunflower-like stalks. Edible tubers taste like potato + artichoke. Leave some in ground every year.
Perennial Herbs Worth Growing
These return every year with almost zero work after establishment. Many are also medicinal.
Canning
Capture the harvest. Eat summer in January.
Canning is one of the highest-leverage skills you can learn. A single afternoon of work can feed you for months. No electricity required once the jars are sealed.
- • Fruits, jams, jellies, preserves
- • Pickles & relishes
- • Tomatoes (with added acid)
- • Fruit butters & syrups
- • Vegetables (green beans, corn, carrots)
- • Meats, poultry, fish
- • Soups, stews, chili
- • Broths & stocks
Start with water bath — it’s simpler and safer for beginners. Get the Ball Blue Book or download the free USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.
Quick Start Checklist
Lard & Traditional Meat Preservation
The old way of keeping meat without a fridge.
Before refrigeration, people preserved meat by rendering fat and storing it submerged. This is called confit. It still works beautifully today and produces some of the best-tasting meat you’ll ever eat.
How to Render Lard
- Get leaf fat or back fat from a butcher or your own pigs (pasture-raised is best).
- Chop into small pieces or grind.
- Place in a heavy pot or slow cooker with a little water. Cook very low (250–300°F) for several hours, stirring occasionally.
- Strain through cheesecloth into clean jars. The cracklings left behind are delicious.
- Cool and store. It keeps for months in a cool place or years in the fridge.
Making Confit (Preserved Meat in Lard)
Salt and season meat (duck legs, pork belly, chicken thighs, rabbit). Let it sit 12–24 hrs. Rinse, pat dry, then cook very gently submerged in your rendered lard at ~200°F for 3–6 hours until tender.
Pack the cooked meat into clean jars or crocks. Pour the strained lard over the top so meat is completely covered. Seal and store in a cool root cellar or basement (below 50°F). It can last 6–12+ months.
Root Cellars
Nature’s refrigerator. No electricity required.
A root cellar uses the stable temperature and humidity of the earth to store food for months. Before electric fridges, this is how families survived winter.
- • Basement corner with insulated walls + vent
- • Buried barrel or old fridge in the ground
- • Earth-bermed shed or hillside dugout
- • “Clamping” — outdoor mound of straw + soil over roots
The goal isn’t perfection — it’s reducing dependence on the grid and the grocery store.
Foraging
The original free food system — growing all around you right now.
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Dandelion
Edible parts: Young leaves (less bitter), flowers, roots.
Uses: Greens for salad or cooked like spinach. Flowers for wine or fritters. Roots roasted as coffee substitute or tea for liver support.
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Stinging Nettle
Edible parts: Young top leaves (spring–early summer).
Uses: Cook like spinach (sting disappears). Make tea, pesto, soup, or dehydrate for powder. Extremely nutrient-dense.
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Cattail
Edible parts: Young shoots (spring), pollen (early summer), roots/rhizomes (year-round).
Uses: Shoots taste like cucumber. Pollen as flour substitute. Roots contain starch — can be processed into flour.
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Broadleaf Plantain
Edible parts: Young leaves.
Uses: Cooked greens or raw when very young. Makes a decent pesto. Seeds can be used like psyllium.
Other Common & Useful Plants to Learn
Mild greens, great in salads. High in vitamins.
“Wild spinach.” Excellent cooked. Very common in gardens.
Succulent, lemony. High in omega-3s. Great raw or cooked.
Flowers and young leaves edible. Beautiful in salads.
Trees everywhere. Berries make great pies and wine.
Nuts are rich but need leaching/hulling. Strong flavor.
Leaves and bulbs. Use like scallions. Don’t overharvest ramps.
Shrub. Flowers for tea/cordial, berries for immune syrup (cook first).
Start Where You Are
You don’t need 10 acres. You need one raised bed, a few perennial plants, and the willingness to learn what’s already growing around you.