I don't think this is a silly question at all. Of course I've thought about that. I married the first time rather young, and my husband's family did what amounted to subsistence farming. That's a great way to learn how to produce as much food as possible and how to preserve it. Preserving your food is as important as growing it. It's really sad that so much 'common sense' about producing food has been lost in so few generations. I'm not just talking about canning, either. If you really had to survive without buying supplies, today's canning methods require an endless supply of replace-ables like lids and occasionally rings. It's a heck of a lot safer than the old methods where people did die of 'summer complaint' and botulism with some regularity. LOL. In cooler climates you have a root or storage cellar. It not only kept things from freezing, it kept them cool too and root crops held a good long time. One also took advantage of their spring to keep perishables fresh. One of my houses had a dairy trough in the cellar where the spring flow was diverted inside and milk/butter and cheeses were kept in there to prevent spoilage. One sweetened with sorghum, which is almost a lost art anymore, but was commonplace in my lifetime back in the Ozarks. So were wild honeybee trees, but no more with the diseases. You need to think protein sources and that means legumes, dairy (and milk goats are a good idea), fowl. I still live this lifestyle, more by choice now than necessity, but it does save us a mint at the market. I put up hundreds of quarts of fruits, veggies and sometimes meats each year to last us to the next. Even people in cities would be surprised at how much of their own food supply they can grow if they wanted to. Instead of an ornamental flowering tree, a fruit tree is just as pretty and gives you something in return. So do nut trees. I have plenty of both. And I have a bramble patch for berries, and did have an Alpine berry patch. There is no reason one cannot perpetuate a June bearing strawberry patch, btw. You can root runners and they produce them. I have three different kinds of grapes, too. A large flock of chickens, and dairy goats on on the horizon, if I can get my husband used to the idea of more livestock. LOL. BTW, I do make butter, and cream from goats is not like cream from cows. If you want to make butters or cheeses, you'll need a separator. BTW, onions are nice, but leeks and shallots should be planted as well because when the onions give up the ghost half way through winter, I am still using my shallots I dried and braided from last year's garden and the quality is still great, and leeks can be harvested clean through winter. Somebody asked "Are you able to "dispatch" any squieerls or rabbits who threaten your food suppily? You may want to learn to shoot." (sic) Lemme tell you, squirrel and rabbit are wonderful and plentiful meat sources. They aren't just varmints one dispatches from a garden. Fried squirrel and gravy is hard to beat. And, actually the world won't end if a hybrid cross pollinates against a self fertile strain. Sometimes you get less than the original, but sometimes you are pleasantly surprised. The most important thing is if you are planting fruit trees, to be sure that you know which one need pollinating against another, and what varieties pollinate which. Bloom time is important, because if they don't bloom at the same time, you are going to have a problem exchanging pollen. This isn't stuff you sit down, read from a book and then expect to do without practice. The first times at a lot of self-sufficiency skills can be flops. Start honing your skills now. I've worked on it a lifetime and still have a lot to discover. The old Foxfire series of books are a good start.

Update on blackberry winter survival (three weeks later)… Uncovered Plants - Black Satin (no winter damage). These were low to ground so maybe some snow protection. - Triple crown (some winter damage) - approx. 20% die back). Seem to have handled the winter fine but some dieback, primarily on the thinner canes). - Ouachita (some winter damage) - approx. 10% die back). Almost no dieback…surprising because I thought they would be less hardy than other erect varieties. - Kiowa (significant winter damage - approx. 75% die back). At first I thought these had overwintered well, but two of the four plants didn’t leaf out and the other two were significantly damaged. This variety has had some health problems over the last two years with (2 of 6 previously dying). Since this year’s crop was a loss and I have had problems with this variety in the past, I decided to replace them with a newer, thornless variety: Von Blackberry. - Prime Ark 45 (significant winter damage - approx. 50% die back). Honestly, some of the dieback may be from the primocane fruiting sections from last fall, but what is left seems to be growing well now. I think I’ll make these a primocane only crop after this season. - Wild Treasure Trailing. In ground planting - left uncovered and plant died back to ground. Potted planting (covered) lost most of its cane length. Given space and effort, not sure this variety is worth keeping. - All raspberries were uncovered and nearly all had no noticeable winter damage. I even had a blackhawk black raspberry and two double gold raspberry plants in pots just sitting in the open and both plants are growing really well and blooming. - I did have two canes on the Cascade Delight raspberry that died during the winter but I believe that was partly due to exposed roots from some soil erosion in their raised bed. Covered Plants. - Black Diamond. I decided to give it a reprieve and let it grow again this year but spray it for cane borers. I had to remove all of last year’s growth due to cane borers but this year it has three times as much growth (e.g. canes) and looks healthy. There’s already a 8” of growth this season and that’s a lot for this variety in my climate. - Siskiyou. No winter damage. Both plants look good and have been putting on amazing growth (well, at least amazing compared to my previous attempts). These second year plants each have 5 or more canes and the cane diameter has doubled since last year. The primocanes are already about ½ inch thick (e.g. diameter) and about 12” in length so far. Yeah! Last year’s growth is getting ready to bloom. - Kotata. No winter damage and the plants are growing new canes. I have 2-3 new canes per each plant and there’s about 6-8” of growth so far. Less vigorous growth from these plantings. - Thorny Boysenberry. The non-potted plants suffered the trifecta of cold weather, cane borers, and voles, so I have maybe 10% of the canes from last year but they are getting ready to bloom. I have had problems with leaf spot on these but I gave them a good lime-sulfur spray treatment this spring, so hopefully this will help. New growth has been outstanding with the cane diameter doubling, much like the Siskiyou blackberries, and there are 8-10 canes per planting with 12-18” of growth already. I’m going to do a better job of protecting these in the winter this year. - Marionberry. I lost about 50% of the cane length from the overwintering period but have learned more about what not to do while preparing them for winter. Plants seem fine but not as vigorous as Siskiyou or Boysen but more vigorous than Kotata. - Loganberry. I lost about 75% of the canes on these from cane borers and the cold. These may be the least cold hardy of the trailing berries that I own. The primocanes are growing vigorously though.

I'll recommend Moondance for a white floribunda. It doesn't last a long time in the vase, but it has so many flowers that it is easy to go cut a new one every few days. It smells really good too. I didn't think Sunsprite made a good cut flower. It just doesn't have much of a stem. It does have a lovely bright yellow color and a strong lemony fragrance so I still like mine. I'm not certain mine lived through the winter but that might be where I have it planted. I won't know for sure until I prune though and that won't be for a few more weeks.

Hi Chris: How is it going in Maine? What a beautiful summer for your area, right and all your plants? Thank you, and it is great to hear your cutting is taking...If it fails, let me know.. Hello Jade_man: You got that right..I have made another shelf myself too, besides thin some out a bit. It feels good to know I will have a bit more room for specials now and many here have made special places for the ones I had to send out.. I have seen your plants and they are nice too..Thank you Mike..:-)