Top 10 Survival Seeds … When All Hell Breaks Loose
What are the best survival seeds to plant that can help feed you and your family through an extended emergency?Preparing for a disaster, what are the top survival seeds that can grow with minimal effort?
Included: If the U.S. government collapses, the National Parks and Forests, once off limits, could be the next frontier for survival and offer remote areas for growing edible foods and living off the grid — much safer compared to the chaos in the cities and lowlands below.
First of all, if we’re talking about a major disaster taking place, the biggest and deadliest that the modern age has seen yet, then we’re not necessarily talking about what you can plant for a survival crop at home.
We’re talking about what you can plant at a bug out location months or years before you ever have to actually bug out.
What If You Don’t Own Any Property?
Now we find ourselves in a dilemma. It’s easy to see the signs of possible collapse on the horizon, with the arming of nations and the growing hatred for the U.S. from dangerous places in the world, and disaster after disaster taking place at a seemingly frantic rate in recent years.Could God really be about to throw down the gauntlet on the governments of man? You hear that from the conservatives, that judgment is heading our way straight from the Bible as warned many ages ago.
No, it’s climate change, global warming, say the left angrily in response to the idea that we are held accountable for our actions by a creator.
Whatever is happening say others — here we are with a potential global crisis on our hands and one that could wipe out a large percentage of the world’s population, or maybe it will just be the U.S. that suffers a collapse with Radical Islam pushing the button on a number of Cold War era suitcase nukes they and others like North Korea and Iran have been rumored to be after.
And so we turn to survival seeds.
If we are on the brink of a global crisis, on the judgments of God, on the collapse of western civilization, perhaps it would be advisable to consider the words of Jesus, to literally run to the mountains.
That sure sounds crazy.
But what if Jesus is right? The mountains, and probably wilderness regions in general, may be the only places left to survive if our cities are the first to collapse.
Wait — Is it Even Possible to Grow Crops in the Mountains and Forests?
Drug producers have shown that it’s possible to farm marijuana on a large scale, right here in America, and many are currently growing marijuana crops deep in the mountains and or wilderness regions of several states. Several include primitive irrigation systems that channel water from streams and use this water to water their drug crops. Many are hard to find. Just ask local forest rangers and others hired to police the national parks and forests on the lookout for illegal growing operations.In California for example, marijuana growing operations have been common for years, and I’m referring to the illegal ones, those that are being hidden deep in the national parks and forests of the Sierra Nevada mountains and mountain ranges closer to the coast.
If Disaster is Probable, Should We Consider Planting Crops?
We have a question to ask ourselves today … at what point would it be advisable for a large number of people to start planting crops far away from cities?Now I can’t answer these questions for you, but if you believe in prayer, there is one who can answer this question for each of you.
Not that I’m encouraging anyone to do anything illegal. But if feeding starving people in a time of collapse is important, including children, maybe growing crops deep in the national parks and forests today might be a step in the right direction.
In many large cities we have urban gardens. Well, why not “survival gardens” deep in national forests, just in case the big one takes place and sends countless numbers of people running for the hills and forests?
It happened to the Jews on a massive scale in World War II.
And it can happen to us.
— Mark Lawrence, Editor, Secrets of Survival
The Top Ten Survival Seeds
by Sam AbeyetaThe modern day comfort zone. This is where we live. Food, clothing and shelter are the basic necessities of man, and we get all that everywhere we go today. Food is what keeps us going each and every day, and without it, we would just cease to exist. In the modern day we get food everywhere and with ease. We have become accustomed to getting whatever we want, anytime we want. But what if we were to be at a risk of losing everything, even the basic necessities, namely food and water both?
Either because of an economic meltdown or a massive catastrophic disaster that disrupts our nations critical food supply. We plan and organize every little thing in our life, but what if we haven’t planned for the worst – the possible collapse of society as we know it?
The only solution for this is to be prepared for the worst. The key to surviving a collapse is to become self-sufficient. And to stop relying on something that only seems to be going south every passing day. When the day arrives, you should be ready with a backup plan; a plan to get you and your family off-the-grid and survive the conditions.
The difference between survival and succumbing to a collapse is simple – to be prepared and to also be prepared to lose everything but still survive.
One way to be prepared is to include survival seeds and survival gardening with other plans for self sufficiency — learning how to live off the land, to hunt, trap, and fish, to barter, and to defend against dangerous people and especially dangerous wildlife.
From Survival Seeds to Survival Garden
What if you could buy survival seeds and build a survival garden (or series of survival gardens scattered over hundreds of acres of wilderness) of your own – for you and your family and others to live off for possibly months or years to come?Survival gardening is not easy to learn, but if you start now, you can develop over time (learning a lot from books like Secret Garden of Survival – How to Grow a Camouflaged Food Forest) and enjoy the benefits when the time comes. What you will grow in your survival garden depends on your skill level and gardening ability, although you will need to focus on growing calorie-heavy foods with adequate proteins and fats while also paying special attention to both the preservation of food and the long-term storage of survival seeds for future crop planting.
While traditional gardening of small scale crops can work, if someone stumbles upon your crops, where ever you have them growing, if anything is ripe or looks somewhat ripe or edible they can end up stolen and your plants picked clean. In Secret Garden of Survival: How to Grow a Camouflaged Food Forest (mentioned in a previous paragraph), author Rick Austin lays out step by step instructions on how to grow your food in a way that it is not recognizable as a plant that produces food. He talks about ways to use non-edible plants and even weeds to blend in with your fruit and vegetable plants in such a way (in other words, provide camouflage) that most people walking by will never know that edible fruits and veggies are just feet away.
This of course is a cutting edge way to grow food and may truly offer a way to protect valuable food supplies from looters.
Staying Healthy Rather Than Slowly Starving
While in a long term survival situation, with depleting food supplies, it’s important to maintain our body weight, instead of losing it, of course unless it’s gradual, and if it brings us down to a healthier level. Whether losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight, we need sufficient nutrients to survive in good health over the long term. So it is necessary to grow calorie-rich foods that can be stored easily.
Why Heirloom and Non-Hybrid Seeds?
The easiest way to go is buying heirloom and non-hybrid seeds to grow your survival crops. Leading brands include Survival Seed Vault Heirloom Seeds and 135 Variety Heirloom Survival Seed Bank. These seeds are also called open-pollinated seeds or simply survival seeds, and they can be saved so that you can plant some more the following year, to get the same amount yield and quality as the previous year. Best of all, these types of seeds are more adaptable to changes in the climate and nature than hybrid and GMO seeds, and do not require pesticides, fertilizers and weeding. Remember, all seeds to be used in survival gardening should be open-pollinated varieties.Here is a list of 10 survival seeds that will provide you with the perfect balance of calories and nutrition, as well as giving adequate yield for years to come:
Choosing Survival Seeds to Plant and or Bug Out With
10. Corn
There are literally innumerable varieties of corn out there. So which type of corn you are planning to grow depends on your future usage and your location. The most popular type used for consumption is sweet corn. There are several varieties of sweet corn as well. Corn is a warm weather crop, and it is rich in proteins and calcium. Sweet corn seeds will probably produce around 1-2 ears per stalk, and sweet corn will be safe for consumption for up to 3 years after storage.
9. Potatoes
Potatoes are the best example of a calorie-dense crop that are also relatively high in proteins, as compared to other vegetables, while also being high in fiber, potassium and vitamin C. 1 potato plant yield about 4 to 5 small potatoes. When harvesting the potatoes, keep some of the best ones aside for the seed stock, while also including potatoes that have turned green. Be careful not to eat the green ones: They are poisonous, even those that have a small patch of green. The seed potatoes have to be stored in a cool and dark place, and can be used the following year for growing another batch of potatoes.
8. Spinach
The cool weather crop. It is a popular food and grows best in soil with high organic matter. It is essential that spinach be planted when the temperatures are cool.Spinach needs consistent moisture, so make sure that your spinach crops are regularly watered to keep the soil moist consistently. You can also wrap spinach seeds in moist sheets, and keep them in a cool place to facilitate sprouting and pre-germination, in order to aid growing the spinach in warm soil. It is rich in vitamins, such as vitamin A and C, and also in iron.
7. Onions
Onions are an important part of human diet, and are easy to grow! Plant onions in mid-October, and if you want to grow onions for seed, select the finest specimens amongst them, replant them elsewhere, and let them flower. The seed can be collected when the top becomes yellow.Onions are an excellent source of dietary fiber, Vitamin C and potassium, making them a nutrition-rich food.
6. Beans
Beans are a good source of proteins. They are also easy to store over a long period of time. The common varieties of beans are pole beans, kidney beans and bush beans. Pole beans are high yield beans, and provide almost double the yield of bush beans.Plant pole beans for a high production yield, and a high nutritional value. Beans tend to be rich in fiber, proteins, calcium, Vitamins A and C.
5. Peas
This is one of the easiest vegetables to grow. They can be planted at the same time as potatoes, and they are resistant to frost. Most varieties of peas are known to be fast growing, and provide a good amount of yield. Peas are also a good source of fiber, proteins and vitamins.
4. Lettuce
Lettuce is one the vegetables that can be grown anywhere and thus, are a very popular choice among survival gardeners. Lettuce tends to be ready for harvest fast, and it can also be used for saving seed. Once you save seeds from lettuce crops, you won’t have to worry about buying seeds again, as you can use these over and over again. Store the seeds in a dry and airy place.There are several types of lettuce, each with different nutritional characteristics.
3. Tomatoes and Cucumbers
We have placed tomatoes and cucumbers together because they are two of the easiest crops to grow, they are two of the most popular foods and can be grown together in similar conditions. Just some sun and water and you are set. Tomatoes can be planted in late spring and fresh tomatoes taste the best. Heirloom tomatoes are a very productive crop and have excellent taste. They have a high degree of yield and don’t take too much effort. Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin A and C.Cucumbers are also very easy to grow as well as having good production. They are a popular food to use in salads and such, though in a survival situation making a salad might be the least of your concerns. Salad in another life maybe; in this transitioned life where you’re growing cucumbers as a survival food source you could consider chopping them up with other veggies and eating raw or just a light sauté over a camp fire. Cucumbers can be planted in warm weather and different varieties can be used for eating or for pickling. Cucumbers are also good sources of Vitamin A, C and K.
2. Winter Squash
Winter squash is a prolific producer and is a very easy crop to grow. Winter squash varieties are rich in vitamins and starch calories. They are also good sources of dietary fibers. Winter squashes store better than other crops as well, and if dried and filled in water-tight containers, winter squash can be stored for an indefinite amount of time.
1. Sunflower Seeds
Sunflowers are to be mainly planted after the last frosts have gone, and spring has come. It can also be planted early, although indoors. Sunflowers can grow in any soil but better results can be seen in a richer, more organic soil.Sunflowers can be directly planted into the ground or into containers, and then transplanted later after sprouting. Sunflowers are the best fat sources in your survival garden, while also being high in protein as well. They are calorie rich and you can use sunflower oil in your food as well.
Other notable mentions of survival seeds are Carrots, Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Beets, Eggplant, Kale, Melons, Peppers, Rutabagas and Turnips.
Natural Fertilizers – The Key to Your Plants’ Growth
Growing vegetables is not an easy task; it is not as simple as planting seeds, watering them, and watching them grow healthy. Different types of seeds grow in different conditions. Not all crops require the same amount of sunlight or the same type of soil. For example, tomatoes, corn and peppers need about 8 hours of direct sunlight every day, whereas spinach and lettuce cannot tolerate that amount of sunlight, preferring less direct sunlight. The type of soil is also a major factor. So it is recommended that you bring in crops that can be grown in your area.If the soil in your area is not conducive for the growth of the survival seeds, you can make use of natural fertilizers to grow your survival crops. Fertilizers are used to enrich the soil, and provide the much-needed nutrients in order for plants to grow. When everything shuts down, there will be no stores to buy fertilizers and stuff from, so you should know how to make your own natural fertilizers. Plants need certain nutrients to grow. The nutrients that every plant needs are:
- Nitrogen
- Potassium
- Phosphorus
Other important nutrients that crops might need to grow are:
- Magnesium
- Sulfur
- Calcium
- Iron
One of the most popular natural fertilizers is Compost based fertilizers. In order to make compost, all you have to do is pile up the compost matter in a spot in your yard, and let it decay, for 2 to 3 months. Mix it up regularly, and remember to keep the compost pile moist and nature will take care of the rest. The key ingredients used to make composts are plant-based kitchen waste and manure – which is rich in nitrogen, sawdust or straw and just enough water to keep your compost pile moist. In Organic Composting Made Easy: How To Create Natural Fertilizer At Home author Dr. John Stone explains in detailed steps how to create organic composting for use as a natural fertilizer.
Other animal based natural fertilizers includes: Bone Meal, Fish Meal, Blood Meal and Chicken Meal.
These types of fertilizers are rich in nitrogen which is an important nutrient for the growth of your survival plants.
Some of the advantages of Organic and Natural fertilizers are that they promote the storage of natural nutrients in the soil, thus requiring the use of fertilization less often. Organic fertilizers tend to release nitrogen into the soil slowly, providing a steady growth period for your survival crops. Natural fertilizers also help in retaining moisture so that you don’t have to worry about under-watering your plants, and destroying your crops.
It is important before you go about planting all those seeds that you figure out how much crop you will need to feed you, your family and anybody else you want to feed. Also, choose the crops that you need and can grow with as little effort from your side as It is important before you go about planting all those seeds that you figure out how much crop you will need to feed you, your family and anybody else you want to feed. Also, choose the crops that you need and can grow with as little effort from your side as possible.
Heirloom Seeds for Survival Gardening
There are several companies that sell heirloom seed banks, and many of them can be found online. These heirloom seeds produce some of the most nutritious plants and have a high production value, much higher than hybrid plants. Such companies can be found online and they sell survival seed banks at competitive rates.Most of these companies dry all the varieties of seeds they sell to the appropriate limits and pack them in special packets with just the perfect amount of moisture needed to provide a very long shelf life, with the foil packets helping to keep the seeds fresh for an astonishing 10 to 20 years! Storing such seeds in a frozen storage can also help in the shelf life further, and really extend the life of your survival seeds.
Many of these companies also provide water-tight containers, which are supposedly the best way to store all your survival seeds. Storing your seeds in these containers will ensure that your seeds will stay safe in the long run, and can be used for survival gardening to get the best produce. These containers are literally impenetrable, and you can take them anywhere you want, and maybe plant a few of them to create a small survival garden of your own.
In survival gardening, it is best that you start earlier. In order for you to be ready when everything goes down. Start preparing composts early, and make sure that your soil is suitable for your plants growth. For plants requiring indoor pre-germination, plan and organize your planting accordingly, and make sure you take care of planting all the seeds you want efficiently and at the right times. You will want to take care of all this before disaster really strikes, and not when you are in dire need of growing your own food.
Some of the important points to remember are:
1. Prepare for the worst. Nobody is going to help you when disaster strikes. It is every man for himself. So make sure you are prepared and ready to take care of your family in case of such an event.
2. Calorie-heavy crops are essential. You want to keep on going in case of a total collapse. It doesn’t help to keep on losing weight; it is necessary that you keep your weight. Ensure that you plant seeds and crops that are rich in calories and other nutrients such as proteins and fats to help you maintain your health in tough times.
3. Use heirloom seeds. Heirloom seeds are survival seeds. You need open-pollinating seeds so that you can keep on harvesting the same quality and production year after year. Heirloom seeds have high-nutritional value as well as high-production value. Some of the most popular survival crops are: Corn, Potatoes, Spinach, Onions, Beans, Peas, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Winter Squash and Sunflower Seeds.
4. Natural Fertilizers are essential. You won’t have the option of getting artificial fertilizers when the stores shutdown. You need to learn to make your own natural fertilizers to supplement the type of soil you have, so that you can grow the plants you want to according to their needs. Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are the critical nutrients required for plants to grow. Making composts is easy and one of the best types of natural fertilizers. Use natural fertilizers rich in nitrogen. Refer to books like Organic Composting Made Easy: How To Create Natural Fertilizer At Home for more detailed information and specific instruction.
5. Heirloom seeds can be found online. Several online companies sell heirloom seed banks with a lot of varieties and types of plants. Here are two but there are many others to consider as well: Survival Seed Vault Heirloom Seeds and 135 Variety Heirloom Survival Seed Bank. They provide the proper packaging and storage facilities to keep your seeds safe for a really long period of time.
6. Start early. As someone looking to plant survival seeds, you must start early and make preparations in advance. There is no point in rushing when it’s too late.
When it’s all said and done, your survival seeds are the ones that can keep you and your family living healthy and also being self-sufficient during a time of collapse. Start planting. Continue planting. Remember where all your crops are — especially if you go off the grid with your survival planting and “camouflaged” food forests.
Editor’s Note:
Keep this in mind: If you are blessed with an abundance of food, be sure to bless others, as you are able, when the time comes.
By planting crops and “camouflaged food forests” you might be breaking some laws about the use of public land; but you also may be feeding hungry children and others in the near future should our current government and society at large collapse, and we see the warning signs everywhere that this day may be sooner rather than later.
Maybe prayer should be your advisor on this. Right now our government is approving law after law after law that defies God’s perfect law. May God have mercy and give each one of us direction on the use and planting of survival seeds.
I have grown potatoes for years and if there is a little green spot, you just cut it off. The whole potato is not poisonous.
Also, if you have a bug out destination, plant some fruit trees and nut trees. I live in the South so I would choose fig, Apple, pecan, pear and peach. Also plant perennials like asparagus, strawberries, blueberries. Then when you get there you can fill in with crops from your seed stash in your gobag. Plant enough to feed the bunnies. They will be one of your protein sources. If you are smart enough to have property near or on a trout stream, there’s more protein. Sunflowers will attract doves. More protein.