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1. Away from people. In rural area on average each family has a much bigger space to live, thus can stay away from others.
Yes, when houses are a mile apart each of us has a lot more elbow room.
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2. Rural residents has the opportunity to grow their own food, thus have a higher degree of food security.
Is this true?
'food security' is an odd thing.
My region is considered to be extremely 'insecure' because 'food security' is a scale designed by city folks. It asks for the distance between your home and the nearest grocery store. It does not consider how much food you keep in your larder.
My Dw and I [and for that matter all of our neighbors] consider ourselves to be extremely secure in our food.
I want to try to start my food growing and hope to develop an execution plan. This would be just for my own family of four's consumption. My goal is to be able to only go to the market for things like oil, spices, sauce, flour, etc.
I currently have land; water is ready (pumped well water). But there is no planting so far; the land is full of grass/weed.
My idea about what to grow:
1. A potato patch (200 sqft?)
2. A corn field (200 sqft?)
3. Vegetable beds growing maybe 20-30 types
4. 10-20 fruit trees
I will build a coop and raise some chicken. Probably need to build a fence to fend off deer. I have high quality fish near by for free. I will buy beef from market if I don't end up having some sheep.
Any suggestion on the homestead plan? Anything else to include? From the day I plant, how long can I start to harvest food? Once planted, can these things "grow on their own" with a lot of attention?
My grandfather taught me that if you plant potatoes and refuse to harvest them, it will make a great hog field the next year.
Potatoes will continue to grow for many years, but after 5 or 6 years they have a tendency to develop a wide array of diseases.
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... 2. A corn field (200 sqft?)]
Corn sucks a lot of nutrients from the soil. You can not plant them in the same location year after year, your plan needs to address how you will replenish the soil.
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... 4. 10-20 fruit trees
Fruit / nut trees may take 10 years to mature. So you may need to baby them the first 5 years.
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... Probably need to build a fence to fend off deer.
Some people have massive problems with deer, other people [like me rarely have deer in our yards. I think the difference lies in how many BIG dogs you have.
I have tracked bobcat in the snow, as they come out of the woods and into the clearing around our house, they stay in the tree line to avoid being exposed to our dogs.
Look through a local nursery catalog and focus on 'perennials' over annuals.
In big cities like SF or LA people are freaking out......
Very few people in L.A. are freaking out, but the news media loves to replay those videos of idiots fighting over toilet paper at Costco.
I went to a non-discount grocery store yesterday, and there were no lines and nobody was racing around throwing massive amounts of stuff into their carts. Some items were out of stock, but there were plenty of alternatives available. People in my neighborhood are walking their dogs and jogging around the park. Nextdoor dot com has posts from people offering to go to the grocery store or pharmacy for older residents. Some are even offering (gasp) free toilet paper to those who are completely out.
I want to try to start my food growing and hope to develop an execution plan. This would be just for my own family of four's consumption. My goal is to be able to only go to the market for things like oil, spices, sauce, flour, etc.
I currently have land; water is ready (pumped well water). But there is no planting so far; the land is full of grass/weed.
My idea about what to grow:
1. A potato patch (200 sqft?)
2. A corn field (200 sqft?)
3. Vegetable beds growing maybe 20-30 types
4. 10-20 fruit trees
I will build a coop and raise some chicken. Probably need to build a fence to fend off deer. I have high quality fish near by for free. I will buy beef from market if I don't end up having some sheep.
Any suggestion on the homestead plan? Anything else to include? From the day I plant, how long can I start to harvest food? Once planted, can these things "grow on their own" with a lot of attention?
I never owned a farm but have been growing in my yard for 30 years small scale. Married a farmer's son who does not like gardening lol.
Those who subsist on their farms can answer your big questions about vegetable beds.
My suggestion for immediate food needs: look at straw bale growing for determinate (bush) tomatoes, bush beans and non-vining veggies like eggplant and peppers. There are a couple straw bale groups on Facebook so you can get the idea. Low effort with good results if you follow the rules.
At the end of the season you'll have organic material to till into your ground beds or if you like the results you can use the straw bales a second year. Mother Earth News is free online and has articles on this kind of gardening.
Getting a subsistence garden area cleared is big effort and may take a couple years to get your soil right.
Spendy to rent power tools to till it but perhaps owning a tractor is in your budget.
I want to try to start my food growing and hope to develop an execution plan. This would be just for my own family of four's consumption. My goal is to be able to only go to the market for things like oil, spices, sauce, flour, etc.
I currently have land; water is ready (pumped well water). But there is no planting so far; the land is full of grass/weed.
My idea about what to grow:
1. A potato patch (200 sqft?)
2. A corn field (200 sqft?)
3. Vegetable beds growing maybe 20-30 types
4. 10-20 fruit trees
I will build a coop and raise some chicken. Probably need to build a fence to fend off deer. I have high quality fish near by for free. I will buy beef from market if I don't end up having some sheep.
Any suggestion on the homestead plan? Anything else to include? From the day I plant, how long can I start to harvest food? Once planted, can these things "grow on their own" with a lot of attention?
We live on a 60 acre farm... Not so much a working farm as we don’t need acres and acres to grow our own food.
We do have an established fruit orchard and plot for growing vegetables, but we decided to purchase a 60’x40’x14’ fully automated greenhouse. It has an automatic watering, misting and fertilizing system and thermostatically controlled temperature system. We can grow fruits and vegetables year round. It was a bit of an expensive to buy, have set up, plumb and wire, but I think it’s going to pay off nicely.
It supplies optimum growing conditions 24/7 365 so less time from planting to harvesting and the excess can be canned, pickled, or dehydrated for prolonged storage or trade. The greenhouse supplies us with just about all of our fruit and vegetable needs... in an area of only about 2400 square feet. No need to worry about frost or drought and pest are easier to control ( we released a couple thousand lady bugs into the greenhouse). We grow corn and potatoes on a small plot next to the greenhouse.
We also have chickens for eggs and poultry, pigs for pork or to trade, and a couple of cows for milk.
Next year we’re planning on using solar to power the greenhouse’s electrical and watering system.
Last edited by Sydney123; 03-22-2020 at 06:28 PM..
Don't even really think about it, or in other words it hasn't impacted my life in any meaningful way.
I look at these kinds of events, and have since AIDS in the 80's when I was first old enough to think about these kinds of things and form meaningful opinions, as an auto-immune response from the Earth to the unchecked parasite that is Human. People die everyday, that a few more might go this month vs last month or next month isn't really a concern. Might actually be a good thing if the planet population were cut in half, and callous sounding as this will be, the population at highest risk in the US are the elderly ~ generally speaking, people who have lived a full life already (80% of ALL fatalities are aged 70 and up and 92% are 60 and up).
If you're under the age of 60 and wash your freaking hands a few times a day, this will be a non-event here in the US.
It is kinda fun/funny watching people freak out though. I can't recall so many posts on just one topic across so many different C-D forums since I've been active here. That's about the limit to my exposure though, no radio or TV in my house, no newpapers (or news sources of any sort) beyond me going to intentionally look online. Well, my mother-in-law calls every few days to talk about the hording she's doing and my wife, who's a healthcare worker, brings home some 'news' (she's still going to work and is mostly just annoyed by the whole thing, the best thing that's come of this mess is the cancellation of in-person meetings, which are always a waste of time with no upside).
Bless your heart!
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