A fish pond has proven pretty great at that. While there are some predators which might snag a fish now and again, most of them can’t swim 1/10th as well as a real fish. So I’ve been able to pretty much “set it and forget it” with a fish pond. Lots more fish than I started with – the racoons, and fox, and hawks, and snakes, and other things that can take out chickens and sheep and other animals… well, they don’t seem to swim too well in open competition.
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Do not disagree
Hard to see a cost benefit in growing my food. However, it is not all about $$ for me.
5 growing seasons in and i have beyond organic soil working toward a 360 process. Soil generates lots of veggies i can Vacuum seal and freeze or freeze dry.
Excess or the spent plants, spoiled veggies go to chickens. 6in of wood chips in run is turned into black gold by chickens and then onto garden beds
Lots of work having a gentleman homestead but for me a constructive hobby, spiritually uplifting getting dirty while seeing the output.
I know what i eat ( no mrna or chemicals) and believe i work and look much younger than my 73YO.
I can share much excess to help others and make friends. I barter and trade… I have raspberries you have blueberries and I want blueberries. You have clean hay and I want clean hay to cover my Gardens in the winter and break down and add to the soil and I have eggs that you want. Etc
It is hard to put a value on the self-satisfaction of accomplishment and adding to the Earth after decades on airplanes as a white collar consultant wondering what the heck I was doing.
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Jealous
Wish i had the right land set up for a pond!!
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Lately i have been diggig deep on what to do next while not getting crazy doomer prepper
There is only so much time and i am in county and am not moving again
So i have started adding extras knowing i can be a blessing to someone when SHTF.
If time and resources allow this is a path we have chosen vs outside US Activities ( but i get why one might do that,)
Updated my little green house
Bought a Precor solar battery and an extra precor battery and solar panels that are mobile ( i already have large Generac, solar for house and 40kw of batteries)
Bought a small gas generator today.
2 1550gal water tanks being delivered tomorrow to replace 4 IBC totes filled off shed
Will add solor panels to shed
Next week a commercial 72cuft freezer shows up to replace 3 freezers
1/2 large cow already processed for the freezer
Hired a medicinal master herbalist to come do a walk of my gardens next Sunday and help direct improvements and teach us how i might use what i have to make medicine - i grow skullcap and trade her the flowers for a tincture she makes for me that helped get me off all pharma.
While serious business it is good for my brain to think about what else could be helpful
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It sounds like you are pretty far along, too, Rick. Just a different path – hopefully in an area where the neighbors will be pretty solid. Way back in 2003, when I first started getting pretty serious, but it stil l seemed mostly just a problem with “incompetent” government workers and a Ponzi currency system, I put a lot of effort into growing my own food. I even bought a farm. But I’ve always been too scattered in my endeavors, both geographically and in terms of energy and interest, so I mostly aimed for “permaculture”. Which mostly meant lots of fruit and nut trees and berries. Most of my work on growing sustainable annuals (vegetables and self seeding plants) failed long ago when I wasn’t there at the right time, or the climate and infrastructure kept failing in unexpected ways – usually at the wrong time. But most of the trees mostly persist. And that goes a long way in an area which does’t generally have many hard freezes.
If I get some land with a shack and a well out of country that is where I will start: lots of fruit and nut trees with variable harvest times. And maybe a root crop or two; I’m thinking maybe sweet potatoes. And THEN I might take another shot at animals. But I’ve had bad experiences with predators. And in the years to come the predators will likely walk more on 2 legs.
Hmm. I think I will go outside now and pick an apple and and orange. Maybe check on the fish, the tomatoes, and a few other tasty things.
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@stph i get it
If i had started earlier than 2021 i likely would have planted fruit teees. In 2021 i did not believe we had a year or two left before we were really controlled.
You are right about restricted travel or having to make arrangements for watering and feeding animals if one wants to travel. It has helped some i have neighbor who we take turns helping each other on animals. Though watering gardens is a bit trickier thus i have upped my drip system set up.
BTW sweet potatoes are pretty easy and once started take care of self. Though deer like the leaves. Having a feral cat keeps done mice and voles that will damage the potatoes. I still have boxof 2025 SP while the 26 are curing. Great to give away and feed chickens
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There are a lot of interesting posts on this specific forum!
I recently came to the realization that SHTF, full societal control, or the energy crisis (finally hitting us) won’t be for a little while. I’m saying that the 2030 timeline is right on schedule. We still have a very useful amount of time to “prepare”.
*Prepare in quotations because everyone has a different opinion on it.
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Rob Shepler, (@sandy-loam) in New Mexico, has mastered the art of greenhouse gardening and faming. He has retired from traditional professional life and runs a “market garden” operation with his wife. (They sell locally at farmers markets.)
I was fascinated a couple of years back by his greenhouse technique. “High Tunnels” made of bent metal poles. I think he was using electrical conduit and a “bender tool”. [The pictured high tunnels is the gothic style with a peaked roof–slightly different.]
He also made some TALL greenhouses and planted dwarf fruit trees in them. And he trims the trees down so that the fit well inside the green house.
Another variation on the high tunnel is the partially or completely sunken growing area.
Partially sunken: A Wallipini
Wallipini’s are used in Colorado to grow pot. You need a hillside with a south face, water for drip irrigation, and electricity for heat and light. And an excavator.
Fully sunken: A trench. This was pioneered in Russia where freezing temperatures are common. Used when an excavator is available but building materials are expensive / scarce.
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Ah! Them Swedes again. And Norwegian wood.
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Didn’t he claim that he needed the jab(Moderna, as I remember) to be allowed to fly to a conference in France?
Happy to answer any questions I can.
I’ve also been working on my Spanish for a few years now. And I’m still far from fluent.
And yes, it can get pretty complicated, and they’re always changing the rules, usually in the direction of getting harder and more expensive.
Funny story on that front: I opened a bank account in Australia way back in 2012. I did it remotely, and it was perfectly legal. Years later, I forget why, but I had to call the bank for something. The person I spoke with seemed baffled as to how I, as an American who has never even been to Australia, managed to have an account in her bank?! Because I’d kept my original paperwork, I was able to namedrop the specific bank employee who had processed my paperwork, sent via email and fax, and opened the account for me. (I should add that I withdrew almost all of my money from that particular bank five years ago. With the direction the Australian government has been heading, I lost my enthusiasm for keeping funds there.)
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I can’t remember. But being prepared to sacrifice that little. That shows a lack of moral courage to me. Or maybe his ego wanted the adulation he might get at that conference SO much. I don’t know. Whatever the explanation, he doesn’t come out of it well, in my opinion.
We might be ignorant plebs with very little status, but a lot of us have more wisdom and more stones than a lot of those who are presented to us as our “betters”. That’s what I’ve learned.
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