How much land does it take to feed a person for a year?

[me&thegals]

Now you've got me curious, Pat, about the "not to our current tastes" part. Are we talking humanure?

 

[freemotion]

Yeah, I caught that, too.....what do ya mean? I haven't researched permaculture as much as ss and homesteading for my ideas and projects.

 

[patandchickens]

I'm just saying, the permaculture movement (as far as I can tell as a spectator) has brought in lots of disparate other elements to the point where I think pretty much every single person on this board would find conspicuous 'woo-woo, fringe element' things that make them throw their hands up and want to walk briskly the other way

(What alienates one person will of course seem like a good idea to someone else, but I expect everyone would find *something* to be turned off by)

Humanure too, of course


Pat

 

[me&thegals]

Wow! Does that mean we are not completely "out there?" My husband sometimes thinks I'm a complete nut. It's fun to have some way-more-out-there things other people are doing to show him how moderate of a woman he is married to.

 

[sylvie]

There was a great 70's comedy on British TV called "The Good Life" later called "The Good Neighbors" in the US about a couple who dropped out of the rat race and became self sufficient on their tiny city lot. They needed to rely on bartering what they could produce for what they couldn't. It's worth a watch and I did recently by requesting it from my library. I only mention this because they addressed every self sufficient thing people were trying then.
Here's a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlnkxzjFGCw

A wonderful book out back then was "The Whole Earth Catalog, Access to Tools".
A monstrous catalog of all things counterculture and tools. It was my introduction to a "can do" attitude. Steve Jobs described it as the forerunner to the internet.

 

[me&thegals]

Thanks for bringing up bartering! For those who can't and or don't want to learn every single thing it would take to be SS, bartering is wonderful. It's one way we use our eggs--we barter for extra maple syrup, honey, grape juice, ground hamburger, ground grains, tree fruit. Everybody has fun swapping products

 

[freemotion]

Don't forget bartering skills, too! For goods or vice-versa, whatever!

We got the barn fully wired and re-did a lot of electrical stuff in the house, traded for massage therapy.....boy, do those guys mess up their muscles! We did a partial trade for some plumbing work, too, a plumber's kid was going for a football scholarship and needed an edge. He got it.

We trade for our haircuts. We are starting a trade for book-keeping. I would love to find a trade for housework (I'd rather be doing my projects than cleaning!) and skilled carpentry. And housepainting.

I traded a trap for a small compressor last year.

Gotta do more trading in this economy. Wish I could trade with the mortgage company!

Waddaya think about doing our own seed swap here on ss next fall?

 

[sylvie]

Speaking of humanure, we have an expensive Sunmar composting toilet in addition to a regular toilet. We don't use it for the vegetable garden but for fertilizing our pines. You should see those things! Seedlings we planted 10 years ago are thick and huge and some that we planted 19 years ago without the compost are maybe 8' and spindly. I'd like to try the compost on nut trees, giving the seedlings a boost and then taper when they get closer to production.

 

[me&thegals]

Waddaya think about doing our own seed swap here on ss next fall?

Just to let you know that there is one going on BYC and TEG right now. Sounds great here, too, for next year, or even this year

 

[Tallman]

This has been a good thread. IMO when it comes to SS living, the chicken is a top of the line commodity.

Question: How many chickens would you recommend per person as far as food is concerned? I realize that one could use these birds and their eggs for bartering, but I am just concerned about the food aspect. I would use chickens for meat and eggs.