How did the colonists combat starvation?

(I assume you are talking about Jamestown and the "Starving Time")

They traded with the Natives for food, but soon that would fail when the Native Americans got sick from the diseases the English settlers had. They had ships deliver supplies to them, but the third ship failed to arrive before winter. There were new arrivals, and it was hard to feed all of them.

The colonists ate shoe leather and even ate up to seven horses brought from England. Some even resorted to cannibalism. Some did farming, but it was not enough to feed the entire colony, and it ended up failing.