[RWBlue]

I decided to dig some good threads out of the past.

[havensal]

I have a small, 25'X25', garden behind my garage. I live in town and don't have enough room for more. I have it fenced in and the fence is hidden by blackberries and raspberries. One side is hidden by blueberries and grapes as well (just planted last spring). I have strawberries planted along the back wall foundation and in front of the driveway. I have tried to use as much available space for crops as I can.

I usually grow potatoes, pumpkins, corn, tomatoes and peas. I plant watermelons and cantaloupe, but have poor results.

That being said, there is no way I could feed myself for a year, let alone my family of 4. I am not that good of a gardener, I don't have enough land and the season isn't long enough here.

[Dennis in MA]

This is the point I make to guys that are gonna "go up into the mountains and live off the land." It doesn't work. YEr better off in teh lowlands with flat farmable ground. Takes a LOT to feed one family. Esp. with variety and then cereal grains. And as the early settlers realized, one bad year and you are fudged. There is a distinct advantage ot society that we tend to ignore in our dreams of survivalism. I keep thinking of that Robin Williams flick in the 80's.

[shotgunred]

cows!

[22rtf2]

Tomatoes, soy beans, anything anti-oxidant!

[mitchshrader]

if i was 'growing what i ate'.. it'd be some serious work without livestock, equipment, and help. at a minimum..

if i was growing to SURVIVE.. in a society..

i'm bound to say i'd monocrop a luxury item, and live better.

i'd still have a garden but it'd be a hobby.

[steelhorses]

Another excellent thread!

Thinking about this on the way home last night made me hungry so I decided to make some winter stew - Corned beef, cabbage, parsnips, rutabaga and carrots.
Cleaned, peeled and threw together in the slow cooker last night and this morning yummy yummy Incredibly filling and nutricious!

If I had to grow our own food I know root crops would be a big part of our diet. Rutabags, turnips, parsnips, carrots, onions, potatos, etc. Dense, high nutrient foods that keep well. Feeding ourselves during the spring, summer, fall won't be nearly as challenging as keeping from starving during the winters.

from wikipedia:

The rutabaga, swede (from Swedish turnip), or yellow turnip (Brassica napobrassica, or Brassica napus var. napobrassica) is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip. Its leaves can also be eaten as a leaf vegetable.

History
Harvested roots.

Swede was an important nutritional source for many Finno-Ugric tribes before the introduction of potatoes. Some claim the vegetable is native to Sweden, but others think it was introduced to Sweden, possibly from Finland or Siberia, in the early 17th century.[citation needed] From Sweden, it reached Scotland, and from there it spread to the rest of Great Britain and to North America.

In continental Europe, it acquired a bad reputation during World War I, when it became a food of last resort. In the German Steckrübenwinter (rutabaga winter) of 1916–17, large parts of the population were kept alive on a diet consisting of swedes and little else, after grain and potato crop failures had combined with wartime effects. After the war, most people were so tired of swedes that they came to be considered "famine food," and they have retained this reputation to the present day.[citation needed] As a consequence, they are rarely planted in Germany.[citation needed]

[barbedwiresmile]

The way to keep from starving during winter is to learn to preserve!

I posted something about keeping chickens on the other gardening thread that I think is relevant to this one as well:

One thing home-gardeners should consider is raising chickens. Chickens and gardening go hand-in-hand. Granted, some may be unable to do this based on zoning, covenants, etc. However, for those who are able, raising a few hens is very simple, and very inexpensive.

You can purchase hatchlings very inexpensively and raise them very easily. A small hutch can easily be built by hand and supplies are readily available at the local hardware or 'big box' store. There are plenty of plans on-line, or you can design your own.

Your best bet is to pen the chickens in where you plan to have next year's garden. Give them as much space as you're able to. One word of advice: be careful if you have dogs. Dogs and chickens tend not to mix unless the dog has been raised with chickens around. Cats tend to be fine. Also, be aware of what natural predators you have in your area when designing their coop and pen (coyotes, etc). Also beware of threats from above if you have hawks, etc.

When you're ready to plant, move them on to a new spot in the garden (next year's garden spot) and till the soil the chickens have fertilized for you. Move them back and forth each year, or on down to the next plot if you have a lot of land. This will give the fertilizer plenty of time to compost and work it's way into the soil.

Chickens will eat almost anything, and are especially fond of left-over bread, grits, rice and other starches. Just cook extra and save some for the birds. They also like leftover fresh vegetables and cuttings from vegetables. You can purchase chicken crumble and cracked corn very inexpensively from your local feed store, chain store, etc. Finally, they do a lot of scratching around and eat various bugs and worms.

As a bonus, you'll have a good supply of fresh eggs. This is obviously the short version and not meant to be a how-to. But keeping chickens is very simple, they are very self-sufficient, and they do wonders for improving your soil. Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds, among others, are hearty, good layers and commonly available. There's tons of information on-line. Just figured I would give my .02

(one word of caution- sometimes chicks bought from non-specialty stores are improperly sexed and you end up with a few roosters. You may want one rooster if you're going to have 4-6 hens, but don't keep more than one. You may get away with it, but more likely you'll have injured hens. There is little romance in the world of fowl... and roosters are rough. If you end up with more than one rooster, you'll want to pass him off to a local farmer or put him in the pot. Independent, local feed stores, farm stores and farmers are the best sources for properly sexed chicks.)

Specific advice varies greatly based on where you live: urban, suburban, rural and variations of these. If one is extremely limited by regulations, time, know-how or just by space, it may be a better idea to have a skill you can trade. Gardening for self-sufficiency is very difficult, and involves a steep learning curve. That said, anyone can learn to do it,,, but you've got to have the time (to both learn and farm) and space.

Anyone with even an acre or two can easily plant a fantastic garden as well as raise chickens and even goats. But zoning restrictions, local regulations and covenants are usually the problem.

[BamaTrooper]

Originally Posted by BlackhawkFan

Whatever I can grow indoors. Tomatoes, Serranos, Garlic, Onions, Green Beans, Okra.... Stockpiling carbs, Pintos, Dried Peas.

Won't cultivate any part of my acre because doing so will draw attention to myself. Also, having an outdoor garden means I'd have to cage the garden to keep out the birds and rabbits.

I like the idea of growing flax, but I suspect it takes a lot of land.

Wouldn't some birds help keep bugs down and don't you eat rabbit?

[Short Cut]

I'm fortunate to have enough land to be able to grow livestock (cattle, sheep, hogs, chickens for eggs and meat), although for year round livestock I must supplement with baled or bagged feed. I'm not currently raising rabbits, but have done some serious reading on the topic and could get into that pretty quickly if need be.

We grow a variety of vegetables year round in our garden and are harvesting more fruit year by year.

I'm pretty confident that what I don't raise I could barter for as I live in a rural community with wide ranging crops.

[RWBlue]

bump...

[BlackhawkFan]

Originally Posted by BamaTrooper

Wouldn't some birds help keep bugs down and don't you eat rabbit?

Around here the birds go after the moisture in the produce.

I'll eat rabbit, but I won't raise them.

[lawman800]

Originally Posted by RWBlue

mitchshrader “what would you eat if you had to grow it?”

Steak.

[Bravo 1]

The stuff we have in our garden, which is canned to last until the next harvest.

The neighbors are farmers as well.

We don't rely on store bought, sterile seeds. Pretty handy when you cannot get anymore from the store for whatever reason.

Neighbors have cattle and a few pigs, I have skills and security covered.

We have more water than we can drink,,ever.

As long as disease doesn't get us and the hoardes of zombes don't over run us, we will be fine.

Doubtful we will ever be sitting around waiting on a FEMA check.

[RWBlue]

I think the hardest thing for many people would be only cooking what they grow. We have become accustomed to buying imported food.

[Brian Lee]

Already done it years ago.

I grew cows.... And they're gone now because I've already eaten them.

[Carry16]

Mother Earth News has claimed for many years that you can feed a family of 4 off 1 acre of land. I have 4 acres, and I know it would be one hell of a chore to try to keep after 4 acres of produce.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/moder...z73jazraw.aspx

[bdcochran]

I don't have a vegetable garden anymore or chickens. I am down to one/two people.

Years ago, my son wanted trees planted. The roots took out what would be the garden area. So, now I have 2 lemon, 1 tangerine, 4 guava, 1 cheromoya, 2 santa rosa plum, 1 lime, 1 pomegranate. Of course, I get a lot of excess fruit. The guavas are put up and fully eaten up within months.

The problem with a vegetable garden is that things tend to come in at the same time, so I would end up giving away stuff. I remember one day when my son was in the 4th grade. I took in enough tomatoes so that every kid in class got 3 large ones and a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Unfortunately, my neighbors do not have gardens or fruit trees.

[CitizenOfDreams]

Back in Mother Russia, my family grew potatos, tomatos, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, carrots, radish, apples, cherries, raspberries, strawberries...

[CitizenOfDreams]

Originally Posted by bdcochran

The problem with a vegetable garden is that things tend to come in at the same time, so I would end up giving away stuff.

Many vegetables will store for months in their natural form (and much longer if you freeze or can them).

[kirgi08]

Stagger your planting dates.The slower grows go in first ect.We've already got our garden started.'08.

[TangoFoxtrot]

Corn, beans, beets, carrots, , spinach, broccoli, , asparagus, tomatoes, strawberries, apples, pears, peppers. Perhaps anything else I could grow.

[SFCSMITH(RET)]

Originally Posted by bdcochran

The problem with a vegetable garden is that things tend to come in at the same time, so I would end up giving away stuff. I remember one day when my son was in the 4th grade. I took in enough tomatoes so that every kid in class got 3 large ones and a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Canning. You do what you can to try to not have everything come in at once, but it's a fact, harvest season is a pretty darn busy time. We put up about 2500 quarts last fall, with 5 people, 3 pressure canners, 4 waterbath canners.

[Lowdown3]

Every year for about the past 7 we have grown enough green beans, potatoes and sweet corn to process and can (glass jar) for the majority of our vegetable use for the year. This is rounded out by smaller crops of fresh veggies in season- brocolli, some snow peas, cabbage in the winter and carrots.

Summer time variables are squash and zucchini, tomatoes and peppers fresh. Been more than a few years since we've grown enough tomatoes to process them for storage. Peppers aren't usually a huge crop so we often times just freeze a bunch of them.

Meat (goat, chicken, rabbit and a deer once a year) is usually put in the freezer. We have an AE system so power isn't a problem. Freezer size is however, so meat is constantly being rotated. Canned chicken a couple times when we did a big run of meat birds and it didn't come out bad, but we prefer to freeze meat where possible.

Fruits are mainly apples and pears. Plum trees have slacked off the last couple years as we have been fighting plum circulio. And for being the "Peach State" our peach trees don't do crap unless you spray the living heck out of them, and I'll only go so far there.

Started drying apples last year, usually we just can a couple hundred quarts of applesauce every year. The Excalibur works well but it's nothing like the consistency of true commercially dehydrated fruit IMO.

Get your soil amendments done now, get your soil tested, start developing experience working with YOUR soil, learn the planting dates for YOUR exact location, start experiencing growing a big portion of your food. It takes a LONG time to get where you can do that. It took us YEARS. "On the job" training while starving is NOT the time to make your mistakes, make them NOW while you have a safety net.

Lowdown3

[glockaviator]

Depends on the land and climate. Around here, without irrigation, all you can grow is wheat, hay and cattle.