Online Self Sufficiency II Course

BECOME MORE SELF SUFFICIENT WITH FOOD

• Don't rely on planes to ship food in from overseas
• Don't depend on nature to not cause catastophic weather events like floods, drought or volcanoes
• Don't expose yourself to rising prices in the marketplace

This course deals with food; what to eat, how to produce it, how to store it; and how to prepare it.  There are ten lessons in this course, each requiring about 10 hours work.

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Diet and Nutrition
   • Introduction to good health
   • Science of nutrition
   • Nutritive Values of different foods
   • Effects of Inadequate Nutrition
   • Food allergies
   • Water
   • How to be a Vegetarian
   • Vegetables -nutritive value, fibre
   • Health Basics, Natural Body Cycles
   • Major Food Groups,
   • Dietary Sources for different nutrients
   • Choosing and Using Vegetables
   • Understanding Carbohydrates and Diet
   • Fats, Protens, Minerals and Diet
   • Energy Production
   • Recipes and A well balanced diet.
   • Living a Well Balanced Life -eating, exercise, etc
2. Establishing a Kitchen Garden
   • Why Grow Herbs and Vegetables
   • Deciding food plants that can be grown in your garden,
   • What you can grow, and how you might use it
   • Designing a productive garden.
   • Managing Water for Optimum Value
   • Integrated Pest Management
   • No Dig Growing Method
   • Permaculture Gardening
   • Biodynamic Growing
   • Other Growing Methods
   • Understanding and Managing Soil
   • Getting Started with a Vegetable Gardewn
3. Vegetables
   • Growing Vegetables from Seed
   • Transplanting Seedlings, Crowns, Offsets and Tubers
   • Using Cold Frames or Cloches
   • Culture for specific types of vegetables, including:
   • Brassicas
   • Lettuce
   • Legumes
   • Onion
   • Potato
   • Tomato
   • Others incl. Beetroot, Capsicum, Carrot, Celery, Corn, Eggplant, Parsnip, Spinich, Cucurbits
   • Others including: Artichokes, Garlic, Asparagus, etc.
   • Mint, Fennel, Dandelion
   • Mushrooms
   • Harvesting Vegetables
   • Growing -fertiser, pest and disease management
4. Fruit
   • Establishing a Orchard -What to consider
   • Orchard Location
   • Cross pollination, Winter Chilling
   • Pruning in the Home Orchard
   • Cultural techniques for different types of fruits & berries
   • Citrus
   • Apples
   • Apricots
   • Avocado
   • Cherry
   • Fig
   • Grape
   • Olive
   • Pear
   • Peach
   • Raspberry
   • Strawberry
   • Other Fruits: Mango, Medlar, Olive, Papaya,Pineapple, Blackcurrant, Kiwi Fruit,etc
   • Cutting Propagation
5. Bottling
   • Scope and Nature of Bottling
   • Equipment
   • Techniques for jelly/jam making
   • Sauces
   • Pickling
   • Bottling
6. Freezing and Drying
   • Scope and Nature of Freezing
   • Freezing Tips
   • Anti Browning agents
   • How to Soften Water
   • Managing a Freezer
   • Vegetables you can Freeze
   • Harvesting and preserving techniques
   • Scope and Nature of Drying
   • Tips for Drying
7. Producing Milk and Eggs
   • Milk Production
   • Choosing a Dairy Breed
   • Cows, sheep and goats
   • Nature and Composition of Milk
   • Milk Protein
   • Factors affecting Milk Composition
   • How Milk is Made
   • Lactation Cycles
   • Managing a Dairy Cow
   • General Methods of Caring for Animals
   • Animal Feed, Water and Health
   • Scope and Nature of Poultry
   • Feed and Water for Poultry
   • Developing an egg production system
   • Keeping Goats
   • Pasture Management
8. Growing & Cooking with Herbs
   • Growing Herbs
   • Harvesting Herbs
   • Storing Herbs
   • Drying and Freezing herbs
   • Companion Planting
   • Selection and cultivation of culinary herbs
   • Recipes for cooking with herbs.
   • Using Herbs -Garnishes, Condiments, Medicinal Uses, Teas, Flavourings etc
9. Egg and Cheese Cookery
   • Value of Eggs
   • Storage and use of eggs
   • Distinguishing different types of cheese, cooking with eggs & cheese.
10. Grain
    • Different Types of Flour -wheat, corn, oat, soy, etc
    • Role of Cereals in Nutrition
    • Characteristics of Different Grains
    • Using Grains
    • Baking with Herbs
    • •Baking bread, etc.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims:

• Explain the importance of good diet and nutrition to good health
• Discuss the potential for increasing self sufficiency by growing your own food in a kitchen garden.
• Describe the potential and appropriate procedures for vegetable growing in your area.
• Describe the potential for fruit growing and appropriate fruit growing procedures for your locality.
• Describe the process of practices like bottling to extend the shelf life of produce.
• Explain the process of practices like freezing and drying to extend the shelf life of produce.
• Describe the principles of animal production and processing animal products, where someone is seeking to improve dietary self sufficiency.
• Describe growing and cooking with herbs, where someone is seeking to improve dietary self sufficiency.
• Describe the use of eggs and cheese where someone is seeking to improve dietary self sufficiency.
• Describe the use of grains in a situation where someone is seeking to improve dietary self sufficiency.

For more information on this course, please request your free course information pack.