The Homestead Crop That Will NEVER FAIL YOU

It's time to harvest the sunchokes! Winter will be coming to a close in a couple months and it's time to harvest the sunchokes and replant them in the field we will use for cultivation. This has been a multi-year process with enlarging our growing area each year in order to finally have enough to plant an area that is about a fifth of a acre.

Sunchokes are sometimes called Jerusalem Artichokes although they really have nothing to do with Jerusalem the city. They are very prolific plant that grow and expand on their own. You could nuke these plants from orbit and you still would not wipe them out. If just one bit of root remains in the soil, it will grow into a new plant the next year and produce an amazing amount of tubers.

So, when I advise homesteaders or someone new to gardening looking for an easy crop that they can harvest, the sunchoke is what I recommend. Simply because you will be successful! And for a new gardener that will undoubtedly see a hard learning curve the first few years, it's a good feeling to at least put 1 plant in the win column.

The plant is closely related to the American sunflower and is a very healthy food for diabetics and those on strict diets. One cup of sliced sunchokes is only about 100 calories with only 8% being the total carbs. The plant is also used to make a whiskey in some countries like Germany.

So this week I went out to my garden to begin my harvest. You want to harvest in the winter and its really up to you when to do that. They will stay fine in the ground all winter. The plant is very invasive and you will struggle to keep it in bounds. So I started harvesting the ones that had grown outside of the grow box area. I was blown away by the amount I was pulling out of the ground.

You can identify the area by all of the long white stalks in the picture below. They grow very tall in the summer and look very much like sunflowers when they finally bloom.

I covered about a 2 square foot area and almost had a full wheel barrow already. This was plenty to get me going on planting my field located down the side of our mountain. ALL THIS FROM A 2 SQUARE FOOT AREA!

My picking up all the sunchokes that I can find. Digging sunchokes is more work than potatoes because they are smaller. Plan on getting dirty.

Me finishing my haul. Hey listen guys, this is a really simple veggie you can grow in your garden. When you order them online, chances are they will only send you a small amount to get started. But each year, you will have more to replant.

SUNCHOKE RULES

Plant them in an area where you don't mind if they take over. Because they will conquer the world at some point.
They will grow in almost any soil condition but if you add things like wood chips and thick layers of leaves or straw, they will go nuts!
Give them some space when you plant them. They will close the distance.
Be patient! Every year take some of your harvest and expand your bed.

Again, this is a guaranteed harvestable crop every year. If you ever find yourself with the world collapsing down upon itself, this plant will be growing and giving up its bounty! It's a perfect SHTF crop.

Here is a video we did last year about sun chokes. ENJOY!