Posted on 02/04/2014 6:49:25 PM PST by Kartographer
1. Invest in a water filter. 2. Build an emergency medical kit. 3. Keep a few hens. 4. Grow some vegetables and/or fruits. 5. Learn to can. 6. Get a stand-alone freezer. 7. Learn to bake bread. 8. Purchase at least one firearm and get comfortable using it. 9. Homeschool your children.
(Excerpt) Read more at justamarine.blogspot.com ...
Great advice.
Thanks.
I’m trying to learn/relearn how to grow a productive garden.
Used to help at the family gardens - they made it look easy.
Especially my uncle - he could grow the best tomatoes and other veggies in some of the worst, rocky soil imaginable.
But now I am finding that there is more to it than it seemed at the time.
So far the animals, insects and nematodes get more to eat than I do.
I think anyone who puts some seeds away and thinks “I’ll learn how to garden when/if SHTF time gets here” is making a mistake.
The time I want to learn is now, when our lives don’t depend on the outcome.
If you have not checked it out, greeneyes puts out a gardening thread every Friday which is a blast! LOTS of good info is shared. It’s a fun place for newbies and for the most advanced.
What you say about needing to learn gardening now instead of waiting until you are dependent on it is absolutely essential.
It is about starting. I guess you jumped out of the womb running with a full mouth of teeth and hair on your chest.
I wish I could raise a few hens.
Our gardening thread that starts every Friday, discusses canning as well as growing veggies. Anyone interested in gardening and canning is welcome to join in.
Reminds me of a Texas A&M Aggie joke. A guy decided to raise some chickens but they all died. He wrote a letter to Texas A&M asking them what he should do. They wrote back and asked him what had happened. He told them “I planted them all feet first and they all died.”
The university wrote back “Send us a soil sample.”
Mix bacteria soap and water and spray it on the plants. It’ll take care of most insects. As for tomatoes, you will have to have a netting over them or the birds will get them.
I’ve got it covered.
Chicken seeds? Are you daff? Unbelievable, I grew up on a farm.... chicken seeds? Chicken seeds? Well, as much as I like eggs....I have never heard them called seeds.
That generation went through the Great Depression and learned from it well. Of course, it would have been wasteful to let so much land sit idle.
I think this generation has no idea what their grandparents and great grandparents went through in 1930s....there were zero grocery stores in this area back then. The stores were basically feed stores for animals, some flours and homemade goods were sold. People sold eggs or raw milk. There were places to get corn ground, and a blacksmith or two. The rest you had better be able to barter, or you had to have a cow, pig, chickens, etc on your farm...all the basics. I remember a great grandmother talking about making lye soap, apple butter, apple cider and a host of other things. We are in apple country here. The women were quilters...and lived like the Amish, albeit the food more southern fare. Some still do these things off the grid.
Both sides of my family the women were as good a shot as the men, some better. A family of ten had to eat...so here in the mtns there was some skinning/gutting before cooking, and lots of fishing. There was no running out for a gallon of milk...it was a bucket, you milked the cow, you strained the milk and made butter, etc.
Some of what they knew was not passed on in various areas of the country as PROGRESS came...that is what makes this a scary economy. I was fortunate to have milked a cow, fed the animals, and helped with a garden. I learned to survive.
LOL...I remember some family members talking about a flogging rooster. Yes, Black Angus cattle, good steaks.
So did your mom, preparedness was at least as important then.
I have one and LOVE it.
Actually, my son is the one interested in canning. He loves to eat and eat well and so always appreciated the quality of the home canned goods.
I'm hoping his wife will become interested in it as well. They are looking at houses out in the country and he will likely end up the most self-sufficient of them all.
BTW, I have some good recipes for very low sugar jams.
If you need any advice on canning, let me know, too. Been doing it here for over 40 years.
And IM is right. Pressure canning is not as complicated as it seems. It’s more intimidating than anything at first. I had to teach myself, but I’m at the point now where I know the procedure for both hot water bath and pressure canning so well that all I need to check now if the processing times and that’s just more for verifying them. I’m usually right about what I recall them to be but I always like to make sure on that.
I resemble that, though I also have a sister. Also meat cutting & wrapping for the freezer from my dad, with my mom helping: as likely to be a deer, or even an occasional bear, as a side of beef from the packing house.
60 years later, still growing, hunting, canning, etc.
The last couple of nights we had rabbit stew from home grown rabbit; it included home grown & canned carrots & corn, as well as home grown & stored potatoes & onions.
Last year, we finally bought an Excalibur dehydrator to replace our 35 year old small round one, and filled a lot of jars that way, too; as well as adding a food sealer to the mix the year before.
A set of life skills that can make a real difference.
Chicken eggs. I never had any luck with them. I tried everything. 3 inches deep and 6 inches apart and heavy watering. 6 inches deep and 12 inches apart and light watering. NOTHING! Maybe next time I’ll try the seeds.
Maybe the Bunnies would be a good way to go. Except of course then you only get eggs once a year at Easter, so I don’t know.
Next, you'll try to tell us you never heard of smart pills, either. Rabbits produce the best, though sheep can rival them.
“Raise chickens in a city?”
Sure. They don’t take up much space, assuming you have a yard. NYC and LA both allow hens. Here is an article on livestock regulations in LA:
In reality, you can raise whatever you want so long as your neighbors don’t complain.
“Same question here, as most farm animals are banned inside city limits.”
Depends on the city. And your neighbors. For example, I keep bees. So far (knock on wood) it hasn’t been a problem.
How to you keep chickens warm in a bad cold spell? And don’t they attract rats and snakes?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.