Planning Your Garden Around Preservation Cuts Waste and Guesswork

Full analysis

Melissa K. Norris describes a system-based approach to home growing: instead of planting what feels right and then scrambling to preserve a surplus, she calculates how many plants of each crop are needed to produce a year's supply for her household — accounting for fresh eating, preservation, and seed saving. She built these formulas incrementally over many years, adding one new crop per season, and has published charts others can adapt. She notes that household needs shift over time — as children leave home or eating habits change — and that a living pantry plan should evolve with those changes rather than stay fixed.