Southern Cali Beginner Family

ChiknGordonBlu

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Howdy all,
So we are a family of 5 with my wife, myself and my 3 daughters, plus the 22 chickens, 2 dogs and a cat. Anyways we moved here from Houston and got ourselves a nice bit of land here, so we would like to become a bit more self sufficient and less reliant on commercial stores. As I said we have the chickens now that we are starting up and we are working on the garden, very small at the moment. Plan is to eventually get some goats and other herd animals as well and try to make it so we really don't have to go shopping for much. We moved here a little over 1 year ago and do not really know what grows well out in our zone, not to mention that despite all her trying my wife seems to not be compatible with plant care :D. So just a forewarning, I will be asking lots of questions. Thank you all in advance.
 

Lazy Gardener

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Welcome, from Central Maine. I'm at total opposite end of the spectrum as far as gardening goes! have been to S CA and loved it. Murietta Hot Springs. Beautiful area. We were there in May for our Son's graduation... about 15 years ago. Check out Paul Gautschi (? spelling) he has an excellent video, actually, multiple videos about Back to Eden gardening.
 

baymule

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Welcome to the forum, lots of friendly helpful people here. Most of us can, freeze and dehydrate the proceeds from our gardens. Some of us forage for wild edibles like elderberries or myself, wild plums for jam. Yum! We will be happy to help you embark on your journey to driving past the grocery store! LOL
 

ChiknGordonBlu

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Welcome, from Central Maine. I'm at total opposite end of the spectrum as far as gardening goes! have been to S CA and loved it. Murietta Hot Springs. Beautiful area. We were there in May for our Son's graduation... about 15 years ago. Check out Paul Gautschi (? spelling) he has an excellent video, actually, multiple videos about Back to Eden gardening.
Thank you, will do. All the more info the better right? Thanks again.
 

ChiknGordonBlu

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Welcome to the forum, lots of friendly helpful people here. Most of us can, freeze and dehydrate the proceeds from our gardens. Some of us forage for wild edibles like elderberries or myself, wild plums for jam. Yum! We will be happy to help you embark on your journey to driving past the grocery store! LOL
lol yeah, it just seems to never stop with the grocery store, so better to be our own lol.
 

flowerbug

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hi and welcome to SS.

in the arid SW i think water supply is the most critical thing for gardening and determines a lot of what you need to accomplish and plan for. so that is the main issue which drives the rest.

look into permaculture for arid climates. it has a lot of very useful techniques and ideas. :)

on new land the most important thing is to observe as much as you can. for arid climate you want to consider wind breaks, shading and how to capture and hold whatever rains you do manage to get while at the same time also not saturating potentially unstable slopes/areas. :)
 

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