David the Good, Florida's Survival Gardener

Place of Residence:Florida

Background and Personal History: David’s neurotic obsession with edible plants has led him to grow a variety of species that by all rights should be darned impossible in his climate. At age five, he sprouted a bean in a Dixie cup of soil — and caught the gardening bug. No seed in his mom’s pantry was safe after that. Sensing David’s enthusiasm, his dad put in an 8-foot by 8-foot plot for him later that year and David hasn’t stopped growing since.

David is married to the lovely Rachel, who homeschools their children and regularly improvises delicious meals from the many bizarre plants in their collection (and a few tasty weeds they’ve foraged, too).

In mid-2012, he launched The Survival Gardener as a place to share his ongoing experiments with tropical and temperate edibles. David is the author of four books. He and his family currently own a sandy little plant-riddled one-acre homestead in the middle of Florida and are members in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Current Projects:  

Establishing a half-acre food forest

Testing heirloom corn varieties

Toying with aquatic plants and aquaponics

Breeding chickens

Zone-pushing tropical trees and shrubs by establishing microclimates

Experimenting with tropical staple crops

Trying to become self-sufficient on an acre

Starting trees from seed

Writing a survival gardening book for the Deep South

Trying to breed a better tropical pumpkin.

Other Fun Facts: On particularly hot days, David wanders around the yard with a straw hat and a cigar, pretending he’s in Cuba. He has also been known to toss seeds around and guerrilla garden on foreclosed properties. Shh!

More Places to Find David on the Web:

Florida Survival Gardening 

David the Good