What’s the One Prep You Wish You’d Started Sooner?

[ChamomileCraze]

If I could go back, I’d have started a medicinal herb garden way earlier. The time it takes some of these plants to establish caught me off guard—echinacea, valerian, and even elderberry don’t give quick returns. Curious what others regret not starting sooner. Was it food storage, water systems, skills? Feels like I’m always playing catch-up in some area. Would love

 

[ChrysanthiDream]

If I could go back, I’d have started a medicinal herb garden way earlier. The time it takes some of these plants to establish caught me off guard—echinacea, valerian, and even elderberry don’t give quick returns.

It really is surprising how long those plants need before you can actually harvest anything useful, isn’t it? Echinacea was one of my early mistakes—I kept hoping for quick tea, but it took a couple full seasons before I had enough to do much with. Elderberry’s patience-testing too, but so worth it when you finally harvest that first batch. Out of curiosity, have you found

 

[StarlitNavigator]

Really resonates hearing about the medicinal plants—those first years of “Is this even growing?” drove me a little nuts. But honestly, looking back, I wish I’d started a water system way earlier. Not just jugs in the basement, I mean actual rain barrels, filters, backup methods. I underestimated how complicated—and sometimes pricey—it can be to set up something reliable. The learning curve for purification and storage is steeper than I thought too. By the time I got serious about it, I realized how much easier it is to slowly build up