LOL. Love your posts too. The row covers have worked for me with the squirrels. Some people claim that you can put dog hair or even human hair around the plants to discourage these critters.
With respect to your lettuce or spinach. So far the mushroom compost is beating the tar out of top soil and mel’s mix, so I would advise to get some and at least combine it with whatever type of soil you decide to use. Also the black seeded simpson lettuce did well for me in the heat of summer in a pot where it got shade from a tree during the hottest part of the day/afternoon.
I use Milk cartons cut into strips to write on with permanent markers for labels. I addition, I also have a gardening plot drawn on graph paper. I write down what is planted in each spot, in case the marker gets lost or too faded to read.
Somewhere on a gardening thread, I recently typed in one of the complete diets from biointensive method booklet I bought from bountiful gardens. They actually list the foods and the nutritional values, and daily requirements. I think that was a couple of weeks ago when I was talking about Amaranth.
If you were going to grow your own food, and had no meat available, Grains and beans would be your main source of protein: Red Wheat, White Wheat, Rice, oats, etc. Amaranth is higher in protein and you can eat a few of the leaves while waiting for the grain to mature. It is also low gluten.
Many of the grains do not have the omega 3 fatty acids. Flax seed has a substance that the body can use to convert to omega threes. Walnuts also have the omega threes covered. You could stock pile some krill oil I guess, but I tend to look beyond the stockpiling to long term homesteading, because that’s kinda the life I want.
In addition to nutrients, you also want things that have high caloric value such as potatoes. Tree collards can substitute for dairy calcium requirements.
Gardens Alive ranks Veggies 1-5 with 5 being the most nutrient dense foods:
Tomatoes - 5
Edamame - 4
Green Beans - 5
Cucumbers - 5
Cabbage - 5
Broccoli or Cauliflower - 5
Peppers - 5
lettuce or greens - 5
Peas - 4
Corn - 3
Potatoes - 3
Asparagus - 5
Garlic - 3
Squash - 4
beets - 3
Carrots - 4
Now, if I am going to exist on mostly beans, then I have got to have some onions, taters, and a slice of cornbread to be happy. A slice of tomato is icing on the cake if ya know what I mean. So even though Potatoes and Corn are only 3’s, they are high on my list, besides they provide the calories for fuel to get out and do all this gardening stuff.
I’ll dig out my books and post some more on this later.
I’ll copy your post to me and print it and put in my folder. Yes, any info. you could give about food value would help.
I have long term stored food but I need to grow food and it makes sense to grow those foods that are highest in value to live.