Generalized Self-Sufficiency Thread

[Rain]

Gardening, beekeeping, homesteading, livestock raising, small-scale farming, greenhouses, hydroponics, canning, composting. Let's just start here and see where we go.

A little background on me and self-sufficiency: I actually raise chickens at home and we enjoy fresh eggs every single morning, some still warm from the nest. My mother is planning her garden and Dad is looking into buying a beehive and starting a swarm. My newest endeavor is to try raising meat rabbits. We do our own canning of vegetables and I'm looking into breadmaking. What is left of our meals we either compost or feed to our chickens (spaghetti is beyond hilarious).

The purpose of this thread is to get us started on looking into activities that could release us from our dependency on commercial farming. Commercial farming uses pesticides and preservative chemicals on their crops and they mix steroids and artificial colours into their meat. Transporting food requires vast amounts of deisel fuel for trains and trucks, which let off harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Keeping food refrigerated requires coolants that cannot be disposed of anywhere other than a hazardous waste dump.

Did you know that the eggs you buy off the shelf at the grocery store can be anywhere from two to four MONTHS old? Did you also know that one-half of an acre of land can yeild enough fresh food to feed a family for months if handled correctly?

We can expand on any subject that comes up in this thread if the need comes up.

['Itan Atxur]

Good stuff! Another +1 for you!

[Technowraith]

Mom and Dad have an extensive vegetable garden. In season, we never buy produce from the store. We grow it and pick it right from the garden. nothing beats a freshly picked carrot or pepper. Obviously in the middle of winter we have to rely on the grocery store produce. Dad is exploring the possibility of an apple tree so we can get fresh apples. We did have to cut down 2 dead trees, and dad wants to replace them. My Tree of Voices (the willow tree) won't get touched, since mom and I convinced Dad to not cut it down.

[Rain]

Another gardening option could be to plant unusual vegetables and varieties of vegerables, such as Kale and heritage vegetables. There are groups of people who are working to preserve certain breeds of tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn and beans because their popularity isn't that high. Having a variety of unusually coloured veggies (purple carrots and potatoes, striped tomatoes and peppers) can also stir up interest with your neighbors and they may soon be asking you for advice and information about starting their own gardens. Some gardening companies have developed bug and disease resistant plants that are easier to grow and yield more produce per plant. Planting "smarter" is a growing trend, where new techniques make use of limited space. Try planting potato plants between tomato plants and reduce the number of rows while adding the ability to increase a small plot's production.

Bookstores are packed with gardening books and documents on self-sufficient farming, due to the slowly growing interest from the popular culture. More ideas?

['Itan Atxur]

Some gardening companies have developed bug and disease resistant plants that are easier to grow and yield more produce per plant.

But aren't those genetically modified or something like that? Isn't that a bad thing? Please excuse my ignorance on the subject.

[Rain]

Some gardening companies have developed bug and disease resistant plants that are easier to grow and yield more produce per plant.

But aren't those genetically modified or something like that? Isn't that a bad thing? Please excuse my ignorance on the subject.

In my opinion, no. Anything that could make feeding your family easier may be a good thing, but my watchword is MODERATION. So I'm not all for genetically mutating our plants. Plus I think it's more like selective breeding. I can look into it if you wish.

['Itan Atxur]

Yeah, I can't see how using plants like that in moderation could hurt.

[The old Uriuujìn]

I personally have nothing against Genetic Modification, as long as you also make sure that some 'pure' plants are still around. And as long as it is safe for you/the environment ^_^

Eywa ayngahu

-Uriuujìn

[Rain]

I promised I would look into it...

Most genetic modification in garden plants comes from selective breeding. Just like the ability to create dogs with thicker fur and good dispositions by breeding parent dogs with those factors, one can cross-pollinate corn that resists drought with corn that resists rot and get stronger, healthier corn. I've seen this kind of cross-pollination in my own garden, and therefore I learned not to plant sweet corn next to seed corn. That usually breeds a bland, hard corn that is not pleasant to eat, but that's just a bad example. A good example, however, is crossing a heavy, thin-skinned tomato with weak vines (weak vines drop tomatoes and you lose half of your crop) with a tomato that grows stronger vines, and you get heavy tomatoes on vines that don't break, therefore increasing your crop yeild and making it more worthwhile to grow your own food. Cross-pollinating can be done by hand with a Q-tip, or you can buy cross-bred tomato seeds.

Many organizations exist that try to preserve Heritage (very old/rare breeds/varieties) fruits and vegetables. They sell the seeds online and in some stores, but you have to be careful because some Heritage breeds are difficult to raise while others yield less fruit. Still others are fussy about their soil and some are susceptible to certain diseases. On the plus side, though, Heritage breeds are often beautiful (yellow and green striped tomatoes, purple carrots, bizzarely coloured peppers) and by raising them, you can help protect the breed. Some strains are over two hundered years old!

[Technowraith]

Mom and Dad buy a mix of "current" and "heritage" seeds. It seems that no matter what they buy, all the plants do reasonably well. Unless i try to grow them. ^.^ Only had success with 2 plants so far. But they both yielded the most vegetables (i grew a tomato and a squash plant). So my success seems hit or miss. I know dad regularly nourishes and rotates the soil here and there. He also adds freshly made soil from the compost bin when it's ready. He doesn't use miracle grow or anything like that. He only uses that on the plants i grow if they don't do well. LoL. 

[Rain]

I have found that chicken manure works fantastic wonders, if it's not too acidic. We feed them our leftovers, so we know what's going in and coming out. Our birds are as healthy as we could possibly want them to be! Anyway, I've heard lots of weird gardening tips. Most of the good ones come from The Old Farmer's Almanac.

[Rain]

I found a book called "Back To Basics" that could enable us with information regarding self-sufficiency, especially if we wanted the information for a tribe or an eco-village.

[Rain]

My first step towards self-sufficiency and becoming economically independent: learning to make my own bread. I have so far made four loaves of country white and I'm soon to move on to wheat and rye. Eventually, I'd like to learn where I can buy raw wheat. I do know that there is an oriental market in town that sells rice flour. BTW, oriental markets are AMAZING. I suggest you find one near you and frequently visit.
Eventually, I'd like to be so self-sufficient that the only things I go to the store to purchase would be sugar, salt, milk and matches. The rest I would like to get from local farmer's markets. Growing vegetables and making my own bread could probably save a wad of money in the long run.

['Itan Atxur]

My Dad used to make home made bread (and donuts!!) out of ingredients from our garden. I have no idea why he stopped because he loved doing it and the bread was freaking amazing!!

[Rain]

W00T! I've got a white wheat with dried berries and nuts rising on the woodstove at the moment. I hope it turns out well! I just really enjoy cooking with REAL ingredients, not that yuck that comes from cans.

['Itan Atxur]

I don't even know the first thing about cooking . I just do my best to buy organic as often as possible. And I can't even do that now because it's too expensive

[Rain]

Yeah I agree that money is still a worry. I don't like how everything that's bad for you is so cheap and everything that's good is so bloody expensive. My family has discussed this often, and it seems that the only solution woulod be gardening what we can and looking for bargains on what we can't. But I believe that once organic becomes more widespread and wanted, prices may go down. That's just a guess/hope, though.

['Itan Atxur]

Just further proof that the world is completely backwards right now.

[Rain]

"Everything feels backwards now. It's like out there is the real world and all this is a dream."

[Crille]

Nice thread Rain My family too have its own supply of food, and yeah the world is totally going backwards right now