Experiment in Food Production Methods

gego · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2005 Posts: 1334

Today I had a conversation with an old man about raising food.

He told me when he was a kid they had no electricity or indoor plumbing. They kept warm in the winter with the wood they cut in the autumn with cross cut saws and axes. They carried in their water every day from a spring house, and beginning in the spring all though the summer and into the fall they spend every day from sun up to sun down working, much of the time hunting, gathering, gardening, raising hay, milking cows, and canning or smoking food for the winter.

He said they always had enough food and were warm enough, but they looked a little ragged. Family was important and they depended on each other. He said winter time kept them indoors so they made things, did repairs, played music, and read. He considered it a good life, but doubts that people could easily learn today what they need to know to go back to that type life.

One thing he mentioned is that when he was a kid there were plenty of year round springs where people could get water, but with the ground water now mostly depleted, those springs no longer flow.

Food self sufficiency is a tough job.

elocs

Loki · Expert Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 1132 Location: Cascadia

elocs

Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4035

nocar · Intermediate Crude Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Posts: 682

Concerning raiding, you might see big fences going up. Where I live, suburban Stockholm, there are a few allotment areas nearby. This is near suburbs with apartments and lots of kids, and quite a number low-income people. The allotments have tall fences with locks - to keep out both four-legged (deer) and two-legged raiders.

nocar

xerces

I've harvested at least another 40 pounds of green tomatos before the first frost hit. They are now ripening indoors. At this point, my squre meter of land is blossoming with turnips and kale. If I can just take down a deer or two with the bow, this self-sufficiency stuff may compose a significant portion of my diet this year.

One thing that I have been pondering about is whether game depletion will really be that easy. Hunting large game is a very difficult skill, even with a rifle. It usually takes years before a man can bag his first deer. To consistently be able to hunt successfully takes much longer. In a fast crash(which is unlikely), can we really assume that most people will pick up these skills so quickly, when there are other easier ways of getting food?

In a slow decline, the vast majority of people would more likely opt for food stamps and soup kitchens than go hunting in the country, if the great depression is anything to go by. Most game depletion occurred right around the beginning of the industrial revolution here in America, when there was a huge rural population, this wouldn't be the case in either a fast or a slow crash.

elocs

xerces

I harvested 5 lbs of turnip greens from the square meter garden. About 40% of my kale buds have been destroyed by rabbits though Sad

http://backtowilderness.blogspot.com/

Itch · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 30, 2004 Posts: 338

This idea that larger animals will somehow become decimated seems silly to me.

First of all, hunting laws do not keep people from killing massive amounts of animals. Poachers -- the ones that kill animals and export them to rich people -- kill the most animals, and the effectiveness of authorities stopping them is minimal. "No Hunting" signs won't fine, arrest, or shoot them, and they know it. During collapse where rich people are no longer relevant, I suspect the existing markets for such animal products to be terminated, along with the incentive to deliver such products.

Of course, general industry destroys everything in sight, so if this were to slow down to negligble levels, everything that is trying to live under its relentless extermination will actually be able to do so.

I agree with what xerces said about people preferring soup kitchens than attempting to hunt. I laugh at the thought of some bald, dougy, worker with a bad back being able to take down a stag and do what is needed to eat it. I would also like to add that modern hunters often times travel great distances by automobile to designated hunting grounds, where they ride around on ATVs to and from their locations, and then drive back to a house after a few days.

TorrKing

Hi Itch

Some large animals are likely to become extinct, or at least extirpiated from some areas.

Deer of course, is primarily a solitary animal. It lives in the forest where it is easy to hide and many of the species is extremely numerous. Also many of the species are to be found in enormous areas. They are highly unlikely to become extinct in any case as some individuals will survive one place or another.

Buffalo on the other hand, is a herd animal that lives in the open. You can kill lots of them quickly. They are not very numerous any more and exist only in a few areas. Unless someone protects them with violence they are surely going to become extinct.

Norway's situation:

Moose survived, though just barely, the high hunting pressure in Norway in the 19th century and it seems extremely unlikely that there will become fewer than that.

Wild reindeer. Potentially a very easy game (with guns). Their range and number has been greatly reduced. Unless protected during collapse, they will almost certainly become exterpiated.

The red deer and roe deer is probably safe from this fate.

Bear, wolf, lynx and wolvarine will most likely survive, because they are not considered food and are hard to hunt.

Still, relying on hunting would require you to have a head start on everybody else. Game will become rapidly more scarce and shy as the hunting pressure increases. Start practising today! (I know you already are, Itch Wink

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codesuidae

My plans include the assumption that in the post-crash world there will be many more people hunting, not just for the luxury, but to supply essential food for themselves, their families and friends, but also to generate resources they can trade for other things that they need. I assume that because of this the wildlife populations will crash very quickly after people begin relying on them.

I also assume that people will be raiding for food and also pillaging in order to force others into starvation (so they won't be around to compete with later). Thus gardens will not be safe immediately post-crash.

To ensure survival in such a world, should it come about, I plan to be physically remote, but no so isolated as to be pratically excluded from resumption of trade when it occurs, and I plan to stockpile food and supplies that will be necessary to make it through the population die-off that will occur in the worst-case scenerio. During this time I will have intensive pot or small plot based gardens that are portable, so they can be moved inside at night or in the face of an impending raid. These will suppliment horded food and vitamin supplies for the first year or two.

Eventually the wildlife will return and so hunting will become a viable food source, but I expect that for the first 3-5 years hunting will be very difficult and unnecessary. Difficult because the few animals left will be few and far between as well as wary of hunters and unnecessary because for quite some time post-crash horded supplies can be used instead of animal products.

I'm hoping that the 'crash' will be more of a gentle slide into a civilization of sustainable lifestyles, but in the event that it all comes down hard I will be prepared with the knowledge, supplies and skills that will get me through the worst (survivable) events and into the future (I'm not planning for nuclear winter, supervolcanos or meteorite strikes though, you have to draw the line somewhere Razz

).

markam · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 271 Location: PA

TorrKing

[quote="markam"]

markam · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 271 Location: PA