It took a couple years, but I’m now realizing the perennial food supply I dreamt of when I started the farm.

I’m not against annual crops (plants that have to be replanted each season). I plant several each season, but the increasingly unpredictable weather suggests to me that the only thing predictable is that the weather will remain unpredictable with a tilt toward hotter & drier. Tender annuals aren’t built to withstand such conditions. As our Earth gets drier & hotter, it will become more difficult to sustain annual crops. The most logical course of action, to me, is to bet heavily on perennials (plants that live for multiple years).

Perennials include the commonly known fruit trees- which I grow, but I’m even more interested in the lesser known perennial foods like the salad tree pictured above, or katuk pictured below.

I’ve mentioned chaya before (pictured below). This prehistoric food has been a staple crop in many cultures for eons. It now supplies me with consistent, highly nutritious greens🤲🏾

So far I’ve identified an equivalent perennial for every food category I enjoy, plus my perennial herbs add a flavor boost to most of my meals. Add to this the fruit trees & this amounts to food I can count on year round; with a broad nutritional profile.

Attribute it to whatever you like, but our climate is changing. We’ll have to change with (or ahead of) it if we hope to survive. Growing & consuming more perennial crops is one strategy I’ve adopted for thriving; not simply surviving in the face of climate uncertainty.