
Do you feel you have a brown thumb? Would you like to ‘break the seal’ and your inertia and become a backyard food farmer (even if you’re a renter or don’t have a backyard)? Or perhaps you’re a more advanced gardener and are just looking for some tips on becoming more food self-sufficient.
4ZZZ's Eliot Rifkin chatted with Mark Valencia from the “Self Sufficient Me” podcast about becoming ‘Self-sufficient’ with your food through backyard farming.
For a deep dive...
Mark shares tips on organic gardening, the best way to plan/manage your veggie garden (Garden Planner) realistic self-sufficient living, keeping quail, chickens, and lots more! His YouTube channel is about self-sufficiency and based on his blog called "Self Sufficient Me" where he "strives" to be as self-sufficient as he can with the current resources he has on offer.

Your 9am Zedlines with Calani, Maddie and Konrad!
image: Jeremy Buckingham

Your 8am Zedlines with Calani and Konrad!
Your 11AM Zedlines with Liv and Annabel

Your 8AM Zedlines with Liv and Annabel
Image Credit: Jean Beaufort

Your 11am Zedlines with Anastasia and Sydney!
Image: Chaloklum Diving, 2014

Your 10 am Zedlines with Mario and Frankee.
Image via: Flickr, David Cook.

Your 9am Zedlines with Anastasia and Sydney!
Image: Ali Khamenei/ Khamenei.ir, 2025

Your 8am Zedlines with Mario and Frankee!
Image: Bidgee, 2013
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Your 11AM Zedlines with Eiri and Bella

Your 10AM Zedlines with Maya and Chloe

Your 9AM Zedlines with Eiri and Bella
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Your 8AM Zedlines with Maya and Chloe

Your 8AM Zedlines with Bella, Megan and Joe
IMG: From Flickr under CC4.0

Your 11AM Zedlines with Bella, Megan and Joe
IMG: From Wikimedia under CC2.0

Your 10AM Zedlines with Bella, Megan and Joe
IMG: From Flickr under CC4.0

Your 9AM Zedlines with Bella, Megan and Joe
IMG: From Flickr under CC4.0

Your 11am Zedlines with Aliyah and Mario!
Image: Emily Kulich/ Melbourne Press Club 2024
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Your 9am Zedlines with Aliyah and Mario!
Image: Valentin Panzirsch, 2015
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Your 8am Zedlines with Anastasia and Sydney!

Your 11AM Zedlines with Tasha and Bella.

Your 10AM Zedlines with Chloe and Eiri.

Your 9AM Zedlines with Bella and Tasha

Your 8AM Zedlines with Chloe and Eiri.
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Your 10AM Zedlines with Maddie and Angela

Your 9am Zedlines with Ash and Konrad

Your 8AM Zedlines with Calani and Maddie

Your 11AM Zedlines with Liv and Annabel
IMG: From Biktrix.ca