Since we moved to Costa Rica in 2006, I’ve been astounded by the wide variety of life that this area supports year round. It’s been a dream to follow nature’s suit and learn to produce food year round. The coastal areas of the Guanacaste province have a solid 6 months of hot dry weather followed by 6 months of wet weather.  Our local area is comprised of “tropical dry forests”. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons that last several months and have a huge effect on the types of life that thrive in the area.

In 2011 my family and I finally found a beautiful piece of land in Costa Rica with which to experiment. It was a rough first year to say the least. Bugs, iguanas, birds and a plethora of other natural issues seemed intent on frustrating us.  In addition we found out that many of the veggies and plants that thrive in cool temperate climates were miserable in the tropical NW Guanacaste climate.

Needless to say, Google and Youtube became our friends. We soon found native plants and other edibles that could thrive in both humid and dry climates. It was also interesting to find that many plants that grow as annuals up north, are perennials here. (one book that really opened my eyes to perennial gardening was Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles)

We’re now growing many varieties of perennial edible plants that give year round sustenance with minimal effort. The names of which most people are totally unfamiliar. We call them “survival plants”.  Being from the midwest United States, the cold winters cut my gardening year in half.  Now we can have a garden that produces year round.

At the same time, we discovered aquaponics and built our very first system using IBC shipping containers and volcanic rock.  We outgrew it and built a much larger system that you can see on our here in the aquaponics section. We’re now growing many varieties of perennial edible plants that give year round sustenance with minimal effort.  These are truly “survival plants”.  The names of which most people are totally unfamiliar. (Moringa, Katuk, Malabar spinach, Sisso spinach, Okinawa spinach, Malanga (taro), Yuca, Camote etc.) We’re propagating these plants in the aquaponics system and in the dirt, while doing our best to share the with the local community.

You could categorize us as “preppers”, but the reality is we just like producing our own food and feeling self sufficient.  However, if the SHTF in the near future, we hope that our garden, aquaponics system, chickens, ducks and fish will sustain the family through whatever hardship comes.

Also check out our Survival Plant Database and we’ll do our best to share our successes and our mistakes.