Gardening

wawaverider · Jun 27, 2009

This year my wife and I have a garden plot. I was always made to weed my parents garden growing up and did work landscaping. But I was never the brains behind the operation. I am learning a great deal.

We also wanted to compare the cost vs benefit. I've been told it costs more to garden. We'll find out. I do know that with a little know how and creativity a person can grow their own food. Whether it is enough to solely survive on is doubtable (as would be the case for us). But what I do know is if sh*% hits the fan it is a good skill to know, possibly as important (if not more, maybe that would be a good seperate discussion/thread) as shooting skills.

ArmedAmish · Jun 27, 2009

Hi wawaverider,

I agree with your assessment that gardening is a good survival skill. My perspective is that right after you protect yourself from the zombies, you need to provide for your family so that YOU don't become the zombie. Dried food only lasts so long...

I'm on 6 acres and we're building skills in gardening and keeping poultry (very easy to get a lot of protein without much demands).

timbernet · Jun 27, 2009

On a financial blog ran by somebody in the Portland/Vancouver area he kept track of costs, etc and reported what he found -- here is page one: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2...s-project-how-much-does-a-garden-really-save/

I live on 2.3 acres in the country. We have grapes, apples, pairs, tomatoes, squash, corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, beans, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

It is a LOT of work... this year we are experimenting with raised beds in the garden - so that adds to the work load (creating the raised beds). But come harvest time - YAY, fresh food.

We freeze the corn, can the beans, never get many peas. Apples typically get dried. Make grape juice from the grapes...

Not sure if we could live off all of it if SHTF -- but it helps reduce our dependence on others and the national supply chain.

speelyei · Jun 29, 2009

HaHa!! WaWaverider! An OSP transplant!

I live on a city lot with good sun. We built 4 raised planter beds out of home-milled clear hemlock. Double turned the soil and weeded 'em, filled 'em up with compost, $30

Bought a bunch of seeds, $15

Going on year 3, looking at adding a greenhouse. Bordered on all sides by blackberries.

Key accessories for gardening: Freezer, food dryer.

CEF1959 · Jun 29, 2009

I like this thread. It's a good reminder that if the SHTF, food may very well be more scarce than guns and ammo in very short order. In an extreme and prolonged crisis, grocery stores will be raided, farmers' fields will be stripped, and no one will replant on a large scale.

People who think they have the skills to go live in the forest with their ARs and live off the land are likely going to get very hungry. In that case, all these stockpiled guns and ammo are going to go looking for other peoples' food caches. And those food caches are likely to be under guard by other peoples' stockpiled guns and ammo.

The woods and streams will be crawling with scavengers all desperate for the same limited number of squirrel/deer/goose/woodchuck you thought were so plentiful. Hunting the feedlots and pastures will last for a while, but that's stealing from others who won't take kindly to it. Eventually, the cows, sheep, chickens, etc. will be consumed or taken under guard.

Bulking up on guns and ammo is fun. Bulking up on food stores is boring work. So I'll bet there are a lot more people with five guns, 2000 rounds of ammo, and a bunch of mags than 50# of rice, 200 servings of vegetables and a bunch of fertilizer.

So if you have guns and ammo stashed away to last a certain period, but don't have an equal amount food saved up, what's the plan when farmers don't farm?

speelyei · Jun 29, 2009

Ahhh, CEF, you hit the nail on th head. The fantasy of being one of the few left alive... fueled by years of movies like Mad Max, Omega Man, Red Dawn... that sort of thinking and imagery fuels more gun sales, more "safe-rooms", more 4wd vehicles than one can conceive of.
Plus, gardening isn't so boring... it's something fun my wife and kids and i can do together. We reduce our dependency, increase our skill, connection to the land, and health... In the last 5 years, her garden has produced far more food for far less effort than all of my hunting and fishing.

It's fun to think about sniping zombies though.

eldbillbo · Jun 29, 2009

speelyei said:
Ahhh, CEF, you hit the nail on th head. The fantasy of being one of the few left alive... fueled by years of movies like Mad Max, Omega Man, Red Dawn... that sort of thinking and imagery fuels more gun sales, more "safe-rooms", more 4wd vehicles than one can conceive of.
Plus, gardening isn't so boring... it's something fun my wife and kids and i can do together. We reduce our dependency, increase our skill, connection to the land, and health... In the last 5 years, her garden has produced far more food for far less effort than all of my hunting and fishing.

It's fun to think about sniping zombies though.

Exactly. that whole living in woods thing just depends on the SHTF scenario

hiding from paying Alimony for example

coctailer · Jun 29, 2009

How long do seeds last?
I was thinking of stocking up on seeds, but didn't know if they went bad after sitting for 10years.

I am playing around with gardening this year also (actually the wife is doing all the work) I guess she better survive with me when the SHTF :s0114:

Bark · Jun 29, 2009

good info on collecting, storing seeds. http://www.angelfire.com/pe/kennys/p11.html

I have personally used seeds that were 4 years old, germination rate was low but I still got vegetables.

toys · Jun 29, 2009

knowing is good.

however, if the SHTF happens, most people will be too late and depending on when the SHTF, it may not grow or they will try to grow after it happens. then it take time for the food to be harvestble so there is a lag time to consider.

i volunteer at the OFB and they consider 1.3 Lb of food/person/meal. so you can consider that to calculate your food requirements.

btw, if you consider the SHTF scenario, your food intake wont be as much as if you are in battle, well you hope not, so your food intake could be minimal to sustain life. and depending on what happens, it could be just to sit an wait or maybe to keep things in order around the compound.

wawaverider · Jul 11, 2009

well so far I'm looking at having more tomatoes than we can eat so we are going to bottle them, eaten more spinach than I know what to do with, plenty of lettuce, we are literally giving some away to friends. The plan: flash freeze and bottle what ever of the veggies we can't eat. I've put quite a bit of labor in the garden, but like speelyei has said it is enjoyable and rewarding. Could we survive off of this for very long? Not really, but it's a few drops in the bucket.

Sun195 · Jul 13, 2009

I wish we could have a garden - but we have a southern greenbelt and just don't get enough sun on our property (good for summer; bad for garden).

If I had the space, I'd like to build a two-sided garden w/ a chicken coop in the middle - you just switch year-to-year which side you garden and which side you have chickens living. The whole thing is fenced, so you keep out garden robbers. Another option would be a "chicken tractor" - basically a chicken coop on wheels that you move around depending on where you want to garden.

I am feeding the squirrels though. Several are pretty fat thanks to me, and I expect a few good meals out of them if times get hard. The neighbors just nervously laugh when I tell them this...