Eating locally and/or home grown/produced only?

[MoonShadows]

OPPS! Sorry @sumi. When I hear SHTF, I think of some major catastrophe...not falling on hard times or unable to get to the grocery store. For me, those wouldn't be a SHTF situation.

@NH Homesteader, it's not a matter of "worry"; it's a matter of working to be prepared as possible since we never know what the next disaster will be. Believe me, I don't worry, but I am preparing myself for hard times should they come....whether that be personal misfortune, hurricane, earth quake, economic collapse or war...just to name a few.

I put my future in the hands of God, as has been mentioned by some in different threads on this forum, but God has given me gifts and skills to take care of myself and loved ones, and to say something like "my life is in God's hands" does not mean to not prepare if he has given us the skills...to me that is flying in the face of God and the talents he has given us.

 

[sumi]

Moonshadows, no bother. SHTF moments happen, life happens. Happened to me a time or two… If anything I learned from it to be prepared, just in case.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I prepare by learning and by ensuring that we have sufficient weapons to defend ourselves and hunt for our food if need be. And I have enough food stocked up from a natural disaster standpoint that we'll be fine.

Anyway back to the point which is yes people are far too dependent on the grocery store. Myself included. I'm working on it though!

 

[tortoise]

I'm working on grocery store independence one item / food group at a time. My family is grocery-independent for meat, although we indulge in bacon from the store occasionally. We're working towards independence for produce. I'm not even thinking about grain or sugar yet!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Nice! That's kind of what we are doing. Independent on meat now too (Yay!) and next is dairy. Then produce. Or simultaneously really... I garden but I'm bad at it lol

 

[Hinotori]

I need to grow us more veggies and more stuff for the chickens. grains don't grow well on this wet side of the mountains. We have plenty of grass much of the year though. Only one cutting of grass hay is possible. Squash grows really well here as do most berries. Cool weather crops do well.

I'm putting in a few more fruit trees this coming year. Plums do super well with the water. Apples and pears have done good. The stupid deer and elk keep eating my cherry trees to death. I quit growing strawberries as there is a local berry farm about 10 miles away. We have enough invasive blackberries that we might as well eat them.

We try to buy local. Our beef is local raised on pasture, bought by the side. We eat in season. 95 percent of our food is grown in Washington or Oregon.

 

[Britesea]

We do what we can, but there's only half an acre and 3 people (2 of them are decrepit, lol). We have some fruit trees, a garden and greenhouse, ducks for eggs and meat. We would have to barter/trade for grain, salt, honey or sugar. I've planted some hazelnuts that will hopefully give us nutmeats for protein and fat, and I'd like to start cultivating mushrooms as well. If we had to, we could live without tea and coffee- substituting with herbal teas and dandelion root. I think our diet would be kind of boring, but it would be adequate.

The thing is, I don't think we would have to do without for very long. If there is one thing that humans do, it's TRADE. I don't think it would be very long at all before we started seeing traders coming from further and further away, with foods and other items that we couldn't produce ourselves.

 

[Mini Horses]

So, if talking about NEEDING to fully support yourself or farm due to personal issues -- financial, short term storm issues, etc -- I feel most of us could manage in the short term. When you have a garden and some farm animals you normally preserve (in some manner) or have constant availability to food. Maybe not what you want but, sustainable. Depending on time of year you may have more issues with feeding the animals. Again, individually the numbers and access to grains/forage, etc.

The animals would be a great concern for me if it was winter as there is no pasture and hay/feed is expensive. I'm talking about several weeks, not days. (Since I personally have some who are retired and just live to be fed -- my mini horses )

One consideration is what we can/would do without. That is true for financial loss and also if we just WANT to see what conditions would be if we made ourselves go without purchasing from stores. Most of us are spoiled.

Big difference between what you want to TRY to do and what you MUST do if you have any personal/local issues to face. I have only me to feed (so far as humans) so a few good plants in the garden, eggs/meat from way too many chickens, milk, cheese, butter from goats (meat from kids) and pigs for pork.
I could do ok -- I'm pretty stocked up on coffee, use little sugar & flour, etc. Canning would require some salts, vinegar, etc. I make (& have a lot in stock) soap & can easily make a laundry type.

I've seen a few articles in various "farm type--SS type" magazines where couples/families have challenged themselves to "live local" and document their own raising, local purchase or barter for food -- all types -- and the results. They document the costs, efforts, good/bad of gardens, etc. It was all self imposed. They did ok but, had $$ to buy.

My efforts, this season, are geared toward supporting animals for any extended period for less out of pocket... how/what/effort required/ease of growth & harvest/storing, etc. For me, it is feeding beyond pasture that is available & I am looking at year round. Summer challenge is to work enough for winter. Reducing out of pocket is goal.

 

[MoonShadows]

Like some have written, we do what we can. There are two of us. My other half still works in the South Bronx, as a teacher, which is a 200 mile round trip and requires almost 13 hours a day out of the house. I run our home business which can require anywhere from a few hours a day to all day depending on the time of the year. Unfortunately, the busiest times coincide with the rise and fall of the prime self-sustaining seasons....the beginning of Spring, through the Summer and finally slowing down in the late Fall. Our slowest season is the Winter, so the most time I have is when I can do the least outside.

We have chickens, but that is the only livestock. I would love to get some pigs and goats, but I think that will still have to wait a couple of more years. Our garden expands every year, but it is still not enough to sustain us with fruit and veggies through the non-growing months. We make our owns dish and laundry soaps, cleaning products etc, and we are very frugal at the grocery stores, stocking up when there are sales. We do buy local meats and veggies from farmers in the area and go to the county farmer's market.

We still have quite a ways to go.

 

[sumi]

@Britesea, you got it there, with trading. I got what you want, you got what I want. Bartering, trading. Wonderful stuff

@MoonShadows pigs take VERY little time and effort. I know I suggest them often to members as a livestock option, because they are so easy to keep. I raised too many to remember now… Build a good size pen that they can't jump out of. Most won't, but there are always that one Provide shade and shelter from the weather. Make sure they get water at least twice a day and food, twice a day. Left-overs, garden rejects, they'll eat just about anything. They pick a corner or side of the pen as toilet and that makes cleaning after them easy and the manure is garden gold. Just make sure you age it for at least a year first, as it will fry your plants otherwise. 6 Months and you got a good-size pig for butchering.

Being independent from the grocery stores for fruit and seasonal vegetables is one of my goals. I found two suppliers of a massive range of fruit trees and vegetable seeds here that I've earmarked for when I'm on my own property.