Introducing......Me!
My name is Cynthia Hancox. I live in the small North Island, New Zealand, town of Foxton (population 2,500). At the end of 2012, I set the goal to grow 1000 kgs of produce in my back yard for two main reasons:
1. With 5 children, a low income, and increasing food costs, I had to find a way to feed my family better food while spending less $$.
2. From my involvement with a local church and other community groups, I know there are many others who are struggling to feed their families, and I wanted to show others that if I can do it, they can too.
This photo you see here of my gardens is NOT how I started out! This photo was taken in September 2013 when I found out that I was a finalist for NZ Gardening Magazine's Gardener of the Year competition after my daughter secretly nominated me and I had won the Best Vege Gardener section. Below are a couple of photos of my garden 9 months earlier when I set this goal....
My name is Cynthia Hancox. I live in the small North Island, New Zealand, town of Foxton (population 2,500). At the end of 2012, I set the goal to grow 1000 kgs of produce in my back yard for two main reasons:
1. With 5 children, a low income, and increasing food costs, I had to find a way to feed my family better food while spending less $$.
2. From my involvement with a local church and other community groups, I know there are many others who are struggling to feed their families, and I wanted to show others that if I can do it, they can too.
This photo you see here of my gardens is NOT how I started out! This photo was taken in September 2013 when I found out that I was a finalist for NZ Gardening Magazine's Gardener of the Year competition after my daughter secretly nominated me and I had won the Best Vege Gardener section. Below are a couple of photos of my garden 9 months earlier when I set this goal....
This photo was actually taken at the end of 2011. Inspired by joining a group that was started to encourage people to grow their own food, I decided to get my garden under control and grow some food. This is what I was faced with - 4 very overgrown garden beds and a small tree on the right that was shading them more each year. That year I did clear out and plant these beds, plus get one more lower bed installed, along with a few tyres near a fence, but I didn't have a great deal of success and let them go back to weeds.....until December 2012, when I decided that I was REALLY going to do this, and set my 1000kg goal.
By the time Jan 1st 2013 rolled around a month later, I had made some progress. Full 1st Jan photos are on the Blog, but this photo gives you a pretty good idea where my garden started from last year - the four beds above are along the brown fence, and have some beans and a few other things growing in them. I've just started creating a zucchini bed, and all that empty space is where the main vegetable beds will eventually go (those pictured above with me in the midst of them). But in January, it was only a concept - a hope - a goal. Little by little, month by month, I have made progress.
If I can do it, you can to!
If I can do it, you can to!
My story.....
I've always had an interest in self-sufficiency, but over the years we have moved a huge number of times, and so gardening has been sporadic - it gets pretty discouraging to start a garden only to leave it for the next people to benefit from! At different times, however, we have kept chickens, had milking goats, raised goats, sheep and cows for milk and meat, lived off fish from the sea, hunted, and to some extent gardened.
We have lived in our current home for over 6 years - this is the first time ever we've stayed in one place so long. About 3 years ago, my husband helped me create 4 small 2m x 1m garden beds, in which I grew a few bits and pieces. The years have been busy with raising and homeschooling our 5 children, church and community involvement, health issues and so forth - it's very easy for life to get incredibly full and busy!
About 3 years ago, I developed severe food allergies (to salicylates then gluten), and the following year my second eldest developed a severe allergy, first to corn, then to all amines and glutamates. Because what she is allergic too is often so hidden in food, I began to do a lot of research and become something of a self-educated food expert. Along the way, I learned more than ever how so, so bad for us industrial-produced food is, and how important it is to feed ourselves real food; food that heals and builds our bodies.
We have a very limited income - I can't afford to buy all the "healthy food" we need from stores. Besides, I've come to believe that local food, including as much as possible home-grown food, is the way of the future - is vital to the healing of our bodies, our planet, our communities, and probably to simple survival if economic collapse or major disaster strikes.
In late 2011, I joined a local gardening group which was intended to inspire folk to have a go at growing their own food. This got me started - I cleared the 3 feet tall weeds from those 4 garden beds and grew some food. In late 2012 I decided I really needed to grow a lot more of our own food - from financial necessity due to rising food prices and growing children as much as anything. Just before Christmas, I was inspired by a gal from the U.S who set a goal in 2012 to grow one ton (1000kg/2000lbs) of food in her backyard, which she surpassed. I thought, "Why not?" Having a goal helps to keep me motivated. So I decided to aim to grow 1000kgs of produce in MY back yard in 2013. With little money, simple resources (a spade, a fork, some seeds and plenty of enthusiasm), and only basic knowledge, I determined to give it a go! I started planting our garden just before Christmas 2012 - already well into summer and much later than I should.
Can I reach that goal? What will I learn along the way? In these pages and blog, I will share what I do, what I learn, and what works, and what doesn't.
Now for some statistical facts:
We have a large section - 1.25 acres in fact. 1400 sqm of that is our "yard", but when you take out the driveway, house, sleepout, sheds etc etc, the actual area I have where I can potentially grow things is only 400 sqm, broken up into different portions of the yard.
We have some sheep - originally I bought 5 lambs to mow our paddocks, but that has expanded to a ram and regular breeding of lambs for the freezer as we are blessed to have extra grazing in the form of a council owned section next door and generous neighbours behind us. Effectively we have, therefore, about 3 acres. Last year we had 9 ewes and a ram, which produced 14 lambs. Currently we have a ram and 6 ewes, plus 9 remaining of last years lambs. We also have 19 chickens and other pets. While we produce our own eggs and meat this way, those products are not included in the 1000 kgs I aim to produce this year, though I will share info about them as I go along.
My 5 children range in age from 14-22. Only one of them helps in the garden when she can, but with her work hours increasing that is less and less. My darling husband is wonderfully supportive and a great handyman, but not a gardener, so all the planning, planting, pruning etc is basically over to me. My middle son is my chief butcher, and all of the girls are great helps in the kitchen.
We homeschool. We're Christians. And I hope, through what I share here and in my community, to help and inspire others to have a go at growing their own, and discovering how to eat well on a budget. I hope you enjoy this site.
We have lived in our current home for over 6 years - this is the first time ever we've stayed in one place so long. About 3 years ago, my husband helped me create 4 small 2m x 1m garden beds, in which I grew a few bits and pieces. The years have been busy with raising and homeschooling our 5 children, church and community involvement, health issues and so forth - it's very easy for life to get incredibly full and busy!
About 3 years ago, I developed severe food allergies (to salicylates then gluten), and the following year my second eldest developed a severe allergy, first to corn, then to all amines and glutamates. Because what she is allergic too is often so hidden in food, I began to do a lot of research and become something of a self-educated food expert. Along the way, I learned more than ever how so, so bad for us industrial-produced food is, and how important it is to feed ourselves real food; food that heals and builds our bodies.
We have a very limited income - I can't afford to buy all the "healthy food" we need from stores. Besides, I've come to believe that local food, including as much as possible home-grown food, is the way of the future - is vital to the healing of our bodies, our planet, our communities, and probably to simple survival if economic collapse or major disaster strikes.
In late 2011, I joined a local gardening group which was intended to inspire folk to have a go at growing their own food. This got me started - I cleared the 3 feet tall weeds from those 4 garden beds and grew some food. In late 2012 I decided I really needed to grow a lot more of our own food - from financial necessity due to rising food prices and growing children as much as anything. Just before Christmas, I was inspired by a gal from the U.S who set a goal in 2012 to grow one ton (1000kg/2000lbs) of food in her backyard, which she surpassed. I thought, "Why not?" Having a goal helps to keep me motivated. So I decided to aim to grow 1000kgs of produce in MY back yard in 2013. With little money, simple resources (a spade, a fork, some seeds and plenty of enthusiasm), and only basic knowledge, I determined to give it a go! I started planting our garden just before Christmas 2012 - already well into summer and much later than I should.
Can I reach that goal? What will I learn along the way? In these pages and blog, I will share what I do, what I learn, and what works, and what doesn't.
Now for some statistical facts:
We have a large section - 1.25 acres in fact. 1400 sqm of that is our "yard", but when you take out the driveway, house, sleepout, sheds etc etc, the actual area I have where I can potentially grow things is only 400 sqm, broken up into different portions of the yard.
We have some sheep - originally I bought 5 lambs to mow our paddocks, but that has expanded to a ram and regular breeding of lambs for the freezer as we are blessed to have extra grazing in the form of a council owned section next door and generous neighbours behind us. Effectively we have, therefore, about 3 acres. Last year we had 9 ewes and a ram, which produced 14 lambs. Currently we have a ram and 6 ewes, plus 9 remaining of last years lambs. We also have 19 chickens and other pets. While we produce our own eggs and meat this way, those products are not included in the 1000 kgs I aim to produce this year, though I will share info about them as I go along.
My 5 children range in age from 14-22. Only one of them helps in the garden when she can, but with her work hours increasing that is less and less. My darling husband is wonderfully supportive and a great handyman, but not a gardener, so all the planning, planting, pruning etc is basically over to me. My middle son is my chief butcher, and all of the girls are great helps in the kitchen.
We homeschool. We're Christians. And I hope, through what I share here and in my community, to help and inspire others to have a go at growing their own, and discovering how to eat well on a budget. I hope you enjoy this site.
