John Gillis is a cabinet maker in Tupper Lake. He’d like to be more retired, perhaps, but market demand keeps him going full time. Still, he and his wife take vacations and enjoy a bit of travel. They just returned from a wedding all the way down in the Finger Lakes region.
On top of this, he keeps a massive self-sufficiency garden that’s close to 3,000 square feet.
Preparation and automation
“The key is preparation,” Gillis said.
Gillis uses silage tarps to cover rows when they’re not in production. Keeping out the sunlight and moisture prevents weeds. He brings in lots of compost, most of which he used to get locally from a forester.
But, the big thing is his use of drip irrigation. Gillis uses one to three strips of drip tape per thirty-foot bed, depending on the crop grown.
“That way, you’re not watering the pathways,” he said.
Less water in the pathways means less time weeding those pathways, since overhead watering tends to go everywhere.
Perhaps the most important of all – those drip lines are automated. That means he and his wife can get away whenever they want because the watering is on a timer.
“A few years ago, we left for the month of June,” he said.
Process, process, process
Curing garlic. Photo by T.J. Brearton.
A massive garden means, hopefully, a massive yield. But you can’t eat it all at once.
“Learn to pickle,” Gillis said. “Learn how to cure stuff, too.”
Cucumbers and beets are great for pickling for both short and long-term storage. Lower-acid vegetables such as beans, corn, potatoes and carrots can be pressure-canned.
Gillis said he has bought maybe four onions from the store over the past many years. The trick to storing them – garlic, too – is curing. This is a process that gives the bulbs time to dry out. They can be placed on a wire rack, where they’re spaced apart for a couple of weeks before being stored in boxes or breathable bags.
“Harvest, process, put it in the freezers or put it in the cans,” Gillis said. “We’re using tomato sauce from last year, still!”
Gillis and his wife don’t get all their veggies from their garden, but they get more than most. While production is important, processing for storage is key.
“I always tell people, I don’t have a market garden – I have a storage garden,” he said.
Do it like a professional
A long hoop house growing vegetables. Photo by T.J. Brearton.
Learning from the professionals and mimicking what they do is the best way to go, Gillis said. He currently keeps 13 beds that are 30 feet wide and 30 feet long. He has a 26 feet by 15 feet high tunnel he built using equipment and instructions from Johnny Seeds.
“If I’m gonna do it on this scale, I’m not going to mess around,” Gillis said. “I’m gonna do it like a pro.”
That means the use of silage tarps, timed drip-irrigation, lots of compost and plenty of flowers.
Three of the 13 beds are flowers, which attract beneficial, pollinating insects, which in turn attract birds. Some eastern phoebes have made his property their home.
“You know all those insects that collect at the top of the hoop house? I came in one day and they were gone – the birds had eaten them,” Gillis said.
The pesky insects, that is, not the pollinators. As if the birds are there to help.
Gillis highly recommended that gardeners serious about self-sufficiency read Jean-Martin Fortier’s “The Market Gardener.” Even if you’re not growing commercially, following the techniques of the professionals will yield abundance and efficiency.
The changing climate
Cabbage growing from the ground. Photo by T.J. Brearton.
Gillis no longer uses plastic weed covering. With the silage tarps and generous amounts of compost, he has been able to keep weed pressure to a manageable level. He doesn’t till, either – only broad forks. He has a cordless drill powered tilther for incorporating the compost and any organic fertilizer to a depth of two or three inches.
He said using a natural screen fabric from Neversink Farm to put over his brassicas and protect from loopers (cabbage moths) was a game changer, and he’s never had broccoli look so good, free of those green little worms.
Of course, it’s not always easy.
“Things change constantly,” he said. “There’s always a problem somewhere. Nothing’s ever perfect.”
In fifteen years of doing this, he said the thing that’s surprised him the most is how much shade cloth he has to use. Growing spinach, arugula and kale in the spring, the intensifying sun and heat over the years has made cooling efforts more necessary.
Gillis aims to model what he’s doing for others, and hopes to invite more gardening, and micro-farming, at the community level.
“My view is we need more regional farms in the area,” he said. “Ones that can produce, process and store the harvest to have local access to food throughout the year. That’s the model we have been doing for ourselves, and one that I believe would help local food security issues. I know it’s ambitious, but good things usually are!”
When he pitched the idea in the past, some people in the community were skeptical. They thought it would be a lot of work. But Gillis doesn’t think so.
“It’s all about the prep,” he said.
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