Could you survive if you had to rely on growing your on food?

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  1. milleramanda53 profile image78
    milleramanda53posted 11 years ago

    Could you survive if you had to rely on growing your on food?

  2. profile image0
    Emily Sparksposted 11 years ago

    I believe so.  My family always had a couple gardens growing up.  We also had fruit trees, asparagus, blueberries, raspberries, grapes and blackberries.  We have always grown part of our food source.

  3. Lisa HW profile image62
    Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

    Well, let's it put it this way:  I could survive if I had to grow my own food, but I'd rather die than have to grow my own food (lol).  I suppose, maybe, if I were actually faced with the situation, maybe I'd have a different point-of-view.  For now, though (and since I'm not actually faced with the situation)....   I'd rather die than grow my own food.  I HATE all-things-gardening-and-dirt-and-bugs.  I just like ready-grown everything.

  4. profile image53
    everlastingcosmicposted 11 years ago

    Yes, but it would be difficult to do. It only takes a 10 by 10 plot to feed a family. I have had an Organic garden.The soil had been nurtured with lots of Organic fertilizer Like Elephant waste ect for 4 yrs.  It was hard to plow, weed ,keep the wild animals away and the insects. It is doable but very hard work! Not like going to the  store.

  5. alancaster149 profile image75
    alancaster149posted 11 years ago

    We'd have to uproot a walnut tree first. We've only got a 50' X 20' back garden, a sixth of that taken up by a steel-on-concrete greenhouse, another third is a patio laid by our predecessors. Not much left over for fruit'n'veg! The squirrels used to get most of our walnuts even before they fell to the ground. Last year I think my 'haul' was about a score.

    1. alancaster149 profile image75
      alancaster149posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Dad, uncle Ian and Grandad grew fruit'n'veg. Grandad had two allotments, one for raising chickens (bought in trays) for Christmas fare - before Turkeys became cheaper - the other for growing cabbages, carrots etc. Front gardens were for flowers!

  6. Sarah Christina profile image69
    Sarah Christinaposted 11 years ago

    Yes and no. I'd love to have my own garden, I just don't have the land to do it right now, staying at an apartment. If I had land to grow on, I'd totally have a garden and various fruit trees etc because there is nothing better than fresh food, it tastes so much better than anything you buy in the store. My grandma had a garden, and I remember the carrots being so juicy and sweet that you didn't eve need to put anything on them or dip them in anything. Anyway...if I had the land, I'd survive, yes. If not...then no.

    1. alancaster149 profile image75
      alancaster149posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Did your Grandma sell or give all/some of it or keep it for her own use?

    2. Sarah Christina profile image69
      Sarah Christinaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      She used it for herself and family, gave some away to friends and family, and with any extra canned or froze it.

  7. mvillecat profile image68
    mvillecatposted 11 years ago

    My husband and I made a goal at the beginning of the year that we would try to grow as much food as possible. We live in Georgia, so growing all year is possible. We are both experienced gardners (my husband was raised on a farm) and even with all of our knowledge, it was a difficult task to say the least. We had successes as well as failures. I love watching that show "Doomsday Preppers" and seeing people who have never grown a houseplant say that they will grow food when needed. People like that have no clue what goes into growing food. It is best to start slow and when it is not for survival so you can learn how to be successful at growing.

  8. FarmSchooler profile image62
    FarmSchoolerposted 10 years ago
  9. FarmSchooler profile image62
    FarmSchoolerposted 10 years ago

    Im pretty sure I could MORE than survive but only because
    a) I require a low carb diet, so I dont NEED to garden very much
    b) we've been working toward raising our own food for the last decade already.

    HUNTING - My young adult children & husband have all been thru Hunter Safety training and they've all hunted for 3yrs now (venison, swine, rabbit & squirrel primarily). Husband went on n Elk hunting trip with his boss this month, so sometime next month we will get back 200+lbs of professionally processed red meat. We process almost all of our own meat at home....had to accumulate tools for that. Biggest things to recognize is that nothing happens overnight and no one can do it ALL.

    LIVESTOCK - We keep 3-4 heritage hogs that give us 6-12 piglets twice a year & I buy 1-2 beef calves ea year to raise our own pastured beef. We managed to get 4-5 acres of wheat planted last fall with help from a friend, so the calves have food all winter & we a potential for wheatberries next June. Another neighbor gives me her extra ducklings every year. We finish raising them and then process for them freezer at 14-16 weeks. I also have a handful of chickens wandering the yard, but rarely find their nests, so when we do the hogs get the mystery bounty. I would probably get more serious about confining them if they were my only source of eggs, but then I would have to grow feed for them too. So, relationships w/ other food growers is a mega IMPORTANT part of raising my own food.

    FORAGE - Last, rather than focus on gardening (which Im not crazy about beyond patio tomatoes & peppers), Ive learned to identify quite a few native plants in our area for use w/ meat stocks to make some awesome soups & stews. Depending on the season, I can actually identify & cook with: Redbud (pods & buds), Sassafras, Persimmon, Wild Plum, Pecan, Almond, Wild Cherry, Mulberry, Blackberries, Elderberry & Pears. Found half a dozen Morel Mushrooms once years ago, but none since. Planted Paw-paw trees last year...waiting to see if they survived. We have Yucca & Poke, but Ive not cooked with those yet. I regularly add Plantain, Chickweed, Lambs Qtr, Dandelion, Henbit, Mint, Wild Onions & even Nettle to salads. The more I study (and teach my children & grandchildren), the better off we'll be. I try to plant at least one new edible perennial on our place every year too.

  10. peedshane74 profile image60
    peedshane74posted 6 years ago

    I think for a large part of the world where there is less modernization you see families living off of their own food production.
    Traveling in through Africa to different countries I see small gardens and farms for their families.

 
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