Posted on 03/01/2012 10:29:42 AM PST by blam
No Matter How Much Food You’ve Got Stored, It Will Eventually Run Out in a Full-Blown Collapse
Joe Alton, M.D.,aka Dr. Bones
March 1st, 2012
The following article has been generously contributed by Joe Alton, M.D., aka Dr. Bones, of Doom and Bloom Nation where you can find strategies to stay healthy that include traditional medicine, alternative remedies, and medicinal/survival gardening. For the best in emergency and long-term disaster medical preparedness we encourage you to check out The Doom and Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook and follow Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy on their weekly podcast.
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To Survive, How Much Land?
Have you ever wondered how likely it is that you’ll be able to produce all the calories you’ll need on that piece of land you have? How much land for livestock? How about those solar panels you were thinking about? How many square feet of panels will provide you with the electricity you’ll need? There are ways to figure this out, and the answers may surprise you.
Let’s start by talking power. In a collapse situation, you’ll probably be able to rely on the sun and wind and not much else, unless you’ve built a watermill. The best answer might be installing some solar panels on your roof. This is a commonly available option that many people are considering nowadays. Let’s say part of your roof is facing south (the best place for a solar panel) and you get 7 hours or so of sunlight, on average. To get the amount of power that an average home uses in a year, you’ll need 375 square feet of panels. These things aren’t cheap, and that much hardware is going to be beyond the average family’s financial reach. This means that you’ll have to make decisions regarding how to ration the power you ARE able to produce. Look around the house, and you’ll probably see lots of things that are plugged in that you can eliminate if the stuff ever hits the fan. This is part of the planning you’ll need to do now, so that you’ll be better prepared for times of trouble.
How about food? If you have a family of four, you’ll want to provide at least 2000 or so calories per adult, more if you’re a big guy, maybe a little less for kids. The formula is simple: At least 30 calories per kilogram of body weight. One kilogram equals 2.2 pounds, so an 80 kilogram adult would weigh 176 pounds. 30 x 80 = 2400 calories/day. Less for kids, of course. All in all, you’ll need to provide 8000-9000 calories a day to maintain your family of four’s weight. So, let’s talk about some hard realities. No matter how much food you’ve got stored, it will eventually run out in a full-blown collapse. For your future success, better get that garden growing. Anyone who’s done it will tell you that there’s a learning curve, and you sure don’t want to plant that first seed in the midst of the Zombie Apocalypse.
Now, let’s separate your garden out into three categories: fruits, berries, and vegetables, then wheat, then corn. If you went totally vegetarian, you would need a little less than half an acre per person to provide all of those calories. That means a family of 4 needs almost 2 acres of farmable land!
The majority of this land will go to fruits, berries, and veggies. You’ll get the most nutrients in terms of vitamins and minerals from these. To decrease the amount of land you’ll need, consider companion planting. Some organic farmers will plant sunflowers, and then plant peas that will grow up the long stalks. The same goes with corn, squash, and pole beans. Squash will grow low to the ground, pole beans will take the intermediate area, and corn up high. Make sure you don’t put plants in the same family together, such as dill and carrots. They will share the same pests and diseases, which could possibly spread from one crop to the other.
If you stock up on wheatberries and use your handy dandy Wondermill, you can cut the land requirement down a bit. A mix of prepared food storage and gardening will keep you healthy and fed for a longer time. Corn isn’t a very land-efficient crop, but you might need it for your livestock. An alternative if you need to trim that acreage down a bit more is to stock up on bushels of corn feed; that’s about 55 pounds of feed for about $9-10. This is a good idea, but you’ll use a lot of it. It takes 10 bushels of corn to get a hog from weaning to slaughter. Btw, corn prices are going higher; they were less than 5 dollars a couple of years ago.
Don’t forget, you’ll need some land for hog wallows, goats, rabbits and chickens. All of these animals can be raised in relatively small amounts of space, and provide important protein. You’ll need a good 200 square feet for 3 hogs, more if they have piglets. You can get away with less for each of the other animals.
You might have to forget about cows; they aren’t land-efficient. If you want milk, think about goats, especially Nubian Goats. This variety can produce 1800 lbs. of milk a year, according to various sources. That’s a lot of milk! How about eggs? The average family of four will eat 1000 eggs or so a year. To reliably get this quantity, you’ll need about 10-15 birds in your henhouse, depends a lot on the breed and the ingenuity of the local foxes and raccoons.
You could probably squeeze this all in with an acre and a half of land. If you don’t have that much property, now you know you’ll need that much more food storage to make up the difference. This is information I thought was important for me to know, and now you know it too.
LOL. And you pinged “headsonpikes”. CLASSIC!!!! LOVE IT!
If I run out then the vast majoity of the epople are dead. OK, that leaves plenty of reources to muster to continue living. Having land now isn’t important.
“It’s the city folk that’s gonna have issues.”
We got squirrels and pigeons... after they run out we might have to start eating Democrats... ick!
I think dying from a bullet trying to get something to eat is less painful than sitting down and just starving to death.
My prepper buddies are going to laugh their ass off when I tell them what we have forgotten to do.
Dig the burial trenches for the zombies ahead of time.
No one has ever mentioned that, LOL.
You’re right - meat can be canned - - with knowledge and equipment. Sometimes I’m concern people see this type of survival as easier than it’s going to be. I should have more faith.
I used to read a blog written by a pig farmer over in Scotland. Whenever he sold a pig to a new customer, he'd go over how to take care of them and try to make sure the new buyer was really ready. Too often, according to him, he'd get to the part about choosing an abattoir, and the blood would run out of the new buyer's face, and they'd stammer something about “Can't you get pork without killing the pigs?”
I have to be careful talking about livestock in front of my sis-in-law. She can't handle any reminders that her food was once alive, not even the bones in the fried chicken.
(In her defense, she was abused by both her dad and her first husband, so a few psychological hang-ups are to be expected. In ordinary times, this is merely annoying. I don't know what she's going to do if things get rough.)
My bro told me about the FN 5.7. Nice weapon but flipping expensive. I’m sticking with a common round. 9 mike mike for handgun and 5.56/223 for long gun. I stock up on 22 ammo even though I don’t own one. Can always trade.
I want some more hardware but wife thinks I’m overdoing it.
I generally make a point of pinging him whenever I run across a reference to “heads on pikes”.
Especially if I’m the one making the reference. ;-)
The garden will be fully planted by next week and I picked up some more vegetable seeds today even though they were a want rather than a need. I try to save seeds for the following year. The tomato seeds saved from last year are sprouted and should be able to be set out. No, my little plot isn’t large enough to be sustainable but it’s better than nothing. As the article said it’s too late to start after the big crash and burn.
I have made it a point to make almost all my weapons .22 for that reason. I have 5 rifles and a pistol that all shoot .22 LR. I have plenty of ammo.
My problem and it is a big one is I live in a city and getting out will be difficult. I fully realize that it will make my chances less but I have family that cannot be easily moved and I cannot just leave them.
A Quarantine sign assumes literacy on the part of those you’re trying to dissuade.
That’s not a sure thing.
Especially given that those most in need of disuasion probably spent their lives to this point actively avoiding literacy.
Lotsa BBQ sauce and seasonings might solve that.
Scopes are great and very accurate, but they do get bumped off and have to be re-sighted in often. Not something you will want to do with a limited supply of ammo.
I have never been able to use a scope well, so all mine are iron sights. I do however have plenty of ammo.
In my neighborhood there are plenty of squirrels, rabbits, deer, raccoons, possum, morning doves, dogs and cats available for meat.
Yes. I would eat a dog or cat if it came to that.
I have enough space to raise any crop I wish and the means to defend what I grow. Add to that the mindset to defend it as well.
If there is a will, there is a way. I will make sure my family survives.
Whats youre point? BTW you missed at least one more.
I’m sticking to common calibers,
mostly 22lr, 12 guage, etc.
There are cheaper alternatives on their way to market now.
https://www.masterpiecearms.com/proddetail.php?prod=MPA57sst
I understand they are also producing a carbine on the same receiver.
It’s strange what neighbors have given me this year - sewing supplies, canning jars, a new tool chest full of new tools (!) and garden stuff. Another neighbor asked if I’d please buy his extra lot (uh, duhhhh, yeah) and might be looking at a couple more. I just say thank you and shake my head.
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