Gardens and animal husbandry are not worth the effort.
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We have sold some of our duck and goose eggs in the Asian markets in NYC. There are no rotten eggs in our crates ...just nice and farm-fresh. Agreed about the gold!
Wait, I thought you dislike intensely the dumb city dwellers? The "sheep"? Or do you just like their money? What a nice way to fund "self sufficiency"
Growing a garden isn't that difficult where you have abundant water and half decent soil. Not everything will produce every year and in the north you do get hit with late and early cold snaps but more often than not in the northeast a little plastic sheeting protects the plants fine. Now don't expect tropical plants to grow good in the north and likewise don't expect northern plants to grow good in the south, the heat will stress them. In the dry western areas and those with poor soil, or extremely hot areas, gardening is more difficult. But I would never spend my time in New England prospecting for gold rather than growing healthy food for myself. I've found gold but not enough to make any money at it, that's a recreational activity only outside of areas with decent quantities of it. I doubt I've ever put more than $50 into my garden in any given year, but what I've gotten would cost hundreds at the grocery stores and be lower in quality. Just remember, you can't eat, breathe, or drink money.
I love growing a good garden - looking at it all green and teaming with life. Could never kill anything, even the brown recluses we capture in a jar and take outside. I believe in karma - everything you do to other beings comes back to you...
Thats right, it is bad luck to kill a spider I don't kill anything either. When I see the birds in the vegetable garden looking for bugs, I am so glad there is no poison. But its the climate here in the summer. It is actually like being in an oven. Heck, even the black eyed peas gave up the ghost.
Thats right, it is bad luck to kill a spider I don't kill anything either. When I see the birds in the vegetable garden looking for bugs, I am so glad there is no poison. But its the climate here in the summer. It is actually like being in an oven. Heck, even the black eyed peas gave up the ghost.
You are in TX? So am I - my okra is exploding, so are the green beans, green peas, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, chard, eggplants etc. My initial investment was to make the garden deer-proof (8 ft fence + posts) but after that it is just the work. These days I use micro-drip (was some work to set up) and soaker hoses so it is really just the weeding and tending that is the time spent.
I'm going back to Oregon, where they are having a so called heat wave ha!
We are going to take our horses to New Mexico this summer, spend a few weeks looking for that perfect spot to set up our next self-sufficiency effort. After spending a few years in Canada, anything north of New Mexico is just too cold
you're kidding yourself about the troubled times. People are going to be kiling each other left and right, within a month of shtf, and probably within a week. there won't be any trading, nor will anything but food, ammo, and meds be of any value, for years, most likely. Then gold and silver coins MIGHT regain some value. But this paper stuff? you can forget about it, for decades, if shtf. Power's going off, nobody will know a thing, so nobody's gonna trust anything or anybody. They'll be dead very soon if they do.
crops can be SHADED during the heat of the day, ya know. they can be protected from the cold, too. As long, that is, as you are only speaking of enough food for your family. animals have to be fed, watered, protected from dogs and other predators, or you have to move/follow the herds. Do a little research about how much each animal eats and how much is produced by an acre of woods/pasture. :-) Rabbits, and certain breeds of fowl, yes, those are practical. Pigs are borderline.
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