Long term survival

[SHbicycle]

I know I can live off my fat for about 3 weeks.

1 month of food and 20 big cans of slim fast will make it go for 3 months. when it comes down to it all you need is body fuel, when you think of it that way it makes it easier to decide what is best for you.

Just keep cat food by your door all the time and you will have a good supply of protein.

[DarrellG]

I invest in ammunition... If the country turns upside down it will be the new currency in one form or another.

[Raoul]

I think it would depend upon what crops you try to grow. Greens (kale, mustard, etc.) are danged near grass and not that hard to grow - and in East Tennessee, they will produce until late fall or even early winter. Green beans do pretty well with minimal care, too (especially when the seeds are sprouted indoors and the resultant plants put in the ground once they start growing.) Corn isn't hard to grow, either.

I've heard of people growing potatoes literally without even planting them - just putting them into piles of leaves (you don't even have to clean the dirt off of them that way.) Heck, my late father had a small sawmill next to where my sister now lives. She has potatoes growing in what was his sawdust pile (he died in '02 so that sawdust is nice and 'composted' by now.)

Then there are tomatoes. People grow tomatoes in washtubs on their porch.

My grandfather in law raises quite a bit of food in two small, raised beds. He doesn't plow them, till them or even hoe them - he's pretty much just piled dead leaves on them to the point that the resulting 'topsoil' is so loose that he can just push it aside with a small hand spade.

Last year, I had a garden spot that I tilled with a hand tiller. It was a lot of work but that was done while also working a regular job, etc. If in survival mode, such things would be my job and there'd be more time to attend to them. Next year, I plan to take a page from my grandfather in law's book and prepare a couple of raised beds. I'll set those up this fall so I can go ahead and begin piling on the dead leaves.

I don't think that survival gardening would require a tractor or even a mule. Remember that the Cherokee and other Native Americans did it for years with elbow grease and wooden or stone tools. I don't think survival farming means planting 40 acres, either. You wouldn't necessarily be trying to grow enough to sell, just enough to feed you and yours and store some for the winter.

You might have to grow some extra corn, etc. if you have livestock - although I'd probably look mostly to chickens as 'livestock'. Just a few can produce an amazing amount of eggs. Currently, I have only six laying hens and they produce enough eggs that I give two or three dozen to my mom and sister every couple of weeks plus keeping enough for us to use at home. Of course, if those eggs suddenly became a more major part of our diet then I wouldn't have so many extras, but still. My chickens pretty much stay in a coop due to the abundance of critters that like eating chicken but if I had more chickens (i.e. enough to sustain occasional losses to predators) and could let them free range, I wouldn't even have to feed them all that much.

Good post. I've done raised beds for a long time. Less work and you get a good yield. The chicken idea makes sense too, but they might not be available if the SHTF.

[Oh Shoot]

...

I've heard of people growing potatoes literally without even planting them - just putting them into piles of leaves (you don't even have to clean the dirt off of them that way.)...

Guy I used to work for grew his spuds in old tires. Plant in first one on top of ground, and as top grows, keep piling tires and dirt on. He'd go maybe 7 tires high. Harvesting is easy, just kick the tire pile over and spuds everywhere!

- OS

[Moped]

Don't forget that not only are you raising food for you and yours, but for the next harvest too. Might have to double the amount of garden space needed. Might not be forty acres, but I bet you'd need at least one acre in order to have food for a year and for the next planting, depending on how many is in your family.

My mom and dad have done the raised beds. Works well.

[Guest guardlobo]

You can store some seeds for a long time in a regular freezer, but I've heard deep freezing is better. Either way, I've planted okra, sweet corn, pole beans, marigolds (no food value that I know of, but they deter certain pests), winter squash and cucumbers from seed that was at least 5 years old (I inherited it from my grandpa).

[Guest Catdaddy]

I have had a rotating pantry for MANY years now- started when I was self employed and it was often feast or famine. I store what I eat, and eat what I store. You can invest a LOT of money in VERY long term storage foods, or a little money in a years' supply of normal stuff. As my wife and I both work long hours, we do not keep a garden now, but I have a LOT of heirloom seeds stored for when that becomes a necessity.

I keep nothing as survival food that requires electricity. I have a woodstove in my garage and a supply of firewood. I have kerosene lanterns and a HUGE supply of candles. The kerosene came in real handy during the last ice storm- my house has a designed in convection current and stayed warm on one small kero heater. That supply (mostly left over from the 2k stuff!) is now gone, and I can't bring myself to pay $4.00 a gallon for kero... still, I need to do so...

A better way to filter and purify water is on my short list, although I store 5 gallon jugs of bottled. There is a pond nearby for non-potable water, and I can collect rainwater as well. I keep supplies of toiletries, paper, and medicines ahead (remember antibiotics? BUY FISH ANTIBIOTICS ONLINE-NO PRESCRIPTION!)

Every little bit of prep is important- and all can be done a little at a time. But I think the time is getting short...

[Guest Phantom6]

Just keep cat food by your door all the time and you will have a good supply of protein.

Oh HELL NO! I ain't catchin' no cats and eatin' 'em! Not me. Un-huh. No freakin' way!

[monkeylizard]

Just put a little duck sauce on it and imagine you're dining at the Golden Jade Panda Phoenix Palace, or whatever your local Chinese place calls itself.

[Jonsaiga]

Raoul,

Check out this link. If store in a cool (70degrees) dark place the seeds are suppose to still be viable up to 20 years. To anyone who is considering gardening after the onset of a longterm disaster..... start learning how to garden now. It is not always as easy as just throwning some seeds in the ground and sprinkling them with water. It is better to have the knowledge and experience before you have to rely on it for your survival then trying to fly by the seat of your pants after the fact. Start small and expand over time. Also consider wild edible plants as an addition and as a transition food source if need be. Lots of good books and videos on the subject and again, practice often a head of time.

[Jonsaiga]

long term food storage is just human paranoia..and it could bring you in more danger in case of SHTF.

just imagine hungry pople finding out that you have food.

i been in few emergencies in my life, and got to tell you from my experience 48hour or 72 hour BOB bail out bag make more sense.

just recently wen we had a flood

i wished i had little alcohol stove and hand water filter pump.

i used a little BBQ in my fireplace:) it worked but just to make coffee in the morning was just to much hassle

... so the idea is to intentially starve to death because others might possibly come looking for the food you would have stored??? LOL well ok then..... I hope that works out for you.

[Jonsaiga]

A better way to filter and purify water is on my short list, although I store 5 gallon jugs of bottled. There is a pond nearby for non-potable water, and I can collect rainwater as well. QUOTE]

Cheaper and just as effective(if not more) as a berkey water filter.

Monolithic Marketplace — Just Water, Ceramic Drip-Filter

Here is a link to a homemade Berkey using 5 gal. buckets and Berkey filters.

Homemade Berkey Water Filter | The Survival Spot Blog

Hope its helpful or informative in some way.

[Guest JRS]

Every little bit of prep is important- and all can be done a little at a time. But I think the time is getting short...

I agree, the time is getting short.

[TonyT]

Eat what you store, store what you eat. It's the fundamental tenet of prepping.

There's no need in storing tons of MRE's and such - just store a lot of what you enjoy eating with some regularity. If you plan properly and store stuff that will last a while, rotation is easy - you basically have a very large pantry.

this has been my theory towards the preps that I have stored.

we only store stuff we eat, and we eat what we store regularly. keeps stuff cycling through.

my wife jokes with her mother that our basement looks like a grocery store. only its a grocery store with just stuff we want. LOL

we have a large pantry upstairs and the superlarge pantry in the basement.

[gregintenn]

TO address the original post, I regularly store extra garden seed in my deep freezer in the basement. They grow just like newly purchased seed. I don't know how long they'd last, but I'd guess indefinitely, as long as the integrity of the seed wasn't somehow compromised by bugs eating them, moisture, rot, etc. Seeds germinated after various ice ages.

[robin48]

Like Mike I intend to bug in. I am in an easily defendable spot, and we always have a couple weeks worth of food on hand that we rotate. As we consume we replace.