Posted on 03/01/2012 10:29:42 AM PST by blam
No Matter How Much Food You’ve Got Stored, It Will Eventually Run Out in a Full-Blown Collapse
Joe Alton, M.D.,aka Dr. Bones
March 1st, 2012
The following article has been generously contributed by Joe Alton, M.D., aka Dr. Bones, of Doom and Bloom Nation where you can find strategies to stay healthy that include traditional medicine, alternative remedies, and medicinal/survival gardening. For the best in emergency and long-term disaster medical preparedness we encourage you to check out The Doom and Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook and follow Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy on their weekly podcast.
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To Survive, How Much Land?
Have you ever wondered how likely it is that you’ll be able to produce all the calories you’ll need on that piece of land you have? How much land for livestock? How about those solar panels you were thinking about? How many square feet of panels will provide you with the electricity you’ll need? There are ways to figure this out, and the answers may surprise you.
Let’s start by talking power. In a collapse situation, you’ll probably be able to rely on the sun and wind and not much else, unless you’ve built a watermill. The best answer might be installing some solar panels on your roof. This is a commonly available option that many people are considering nowadays. Let’s say part of your roof is facing south (the best place for a solar panel) and you get 7 hours or so of sunlight, on average. To get the amount of power that an average home uses in a year, you’ll need 375 square feet of panels. These things aren’t cheap, and that much hardware is going to be beyond the average family’s financial reach. This means that you’ll have to make decisions regarding how to ration the power you ARE able to produce. Look around the house, and you’ll probably see lots of things that are plugged in that you can eliminate if the stuff ever hits the fan. This is part of the planning you’ll need to do now, so that you’ll be better prepared for times of trouble.
How about food? If you have a family of four, you’ll want to provide at least 2000 or so calories per adult, more if you’re a big guy, maybe a little less for kids. The formula is simple: At least 30 calories per kilogram of body weight. One kilogram equals 2.2 pounds, so an 80 kilogram adult would weigh 176 pounds. 30 x 80 = 2400 calories/day. Less for kids, of course. All in all, you’ll need to provide 8000-9000 calories a day to maintain your family of four’s weight. So, let’s talk about some hard realities. No matter how much food you’ve got stored, it will eventually run out in a full-blown collapse. For your future success, better get that garden growing. Anyone who’s done it will tell you that there’s a learning curve, and you sure don’t want to plant that first seed in the midst of the Zombie Apocalypse.
Now, let’s separate your garden out into three categories: fruits, berries, and vegetables, then wheat, then corn. If you went totally vegetarian, you would need a little less than half an acre per person to provide all of those calories. That means a family of 4 needs almost 2 acres of farmable land!
The majority of this land will go to fruits, berries, and veggies. You’ll get the most nutrients in terms of vitamins and minerals from these. To decrease the amount of land you’ll need, consider companion planting. Some organic farmers will plant sunflowers, and then plant peas that will grow up the long stalks. The same goes with corn, squash, and pole beans. Squash will grow low to the ground, pole beans will take the intermediate area, and corn up high. Make sure you don’t put plants in the same family together, such as dill and carrots. They will share the same pests and diseases, which could possibly spread from one crop to the other.
If you stock up on wheatberries and use your handy dandy Wondermill, you can cut the land requirement down a bit. A mix of prepared food storage and gardening will keep you healthy and fed for a longer time. Corn isn’t a very land-efficient crop, but you might need it for your livestock. An alternative if you need to trim that acreage down a bit more is to stock up on bushels of corn feed; that’s about 55 pounds of feed for about $9-10. This is a good idea, but you’ll use a lot of it. It takes 10 bushels of corn to get a hog from weaning to slaughter. Btw, corn prices are going higher; they were less than 5 dollars a couple of years ago.
Don’t forget, you’ll need some land for hog wallows, goats, rabbits and chickens. All of these animals can be raised in relatively small amounts of space, and provide important protein. You’ll need a good 200 square feet for 3 hogs, more if they have piglets. You can get away with less for each of the other animals.
You might have to forget about cows; they aren’t land-efficient. If you want milk, think about goats, especially Nubian Goats. This variety can produce 1800 lbs. of milk a year, according to various sources. That’s a lot of milk! How about eggs? The average family of four will eat 1000 eggs or so a year. To reliably get this quantity, you’ll need about 10-15 birds in your henhouse, depends a lot on the breed and the ingenuity of the local foxes and raccoons.
You could probably squeeze this all in with an acre and a half of land. If you don’t have that much property, now you know you’ll need that much more food storage to make up the difference. This is information I thought was important for me to know, and now you know it too.
My food won’t run out, It mostly runs “by” instead, so I have a neverending fresh supply. I can grow and can the rest of my fresh produce. I live on Lake of the Woods as well, so we get the best Walleye fishing in the World, the year around.
“I’ll plant a Cheeseburger and French Fry tree right by my beer lake.”
Big Rock Candy Mountain - Burl Ives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPqrTaVXJhI
“Warning: Live Snakes on Premises”
FerFal’s posts here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:ferfal308/index?tab=comments;brevity=full;options=no-change
As good or possible better are Selco’s Post a Bosinain survivor. Much of which is in this thread:
A Survival Q & A: Living Through SHTF In The Middle Of A War Zone
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2798007/posts
Also there is a section in my Preparedness Manual on Selco’s expereinces.
>>We got squirrels and pigeons... after they run out we might have to start eating Democrats... ick!<<
Well, guess I’ll see ya in heaven.
I wish I could have seen that! I hoped it gave him food for thought in the immediate picture, ie, he needs to have a gun and learn to use it for his and his own families’ sake. The bigger picture-when conservatives say they believe in personal responsibility, they not only talk the talk, they walk the walk.
But as he’s a liberal, I doubt he’ll have much problem weaving that veil of smoke around his brain again.
Treatment for superficial wounds..granulated sugar and betadine...wrap and change daily.
99% of SHTF events such as economic collapse, natural disaster, war and martial law should allow you enough lead time to get home and a few more days to shore up. Off hand, the only scenerio that wouldn't would be a nuke or EMP. Second, after water, of survival items in your car should be a good local map that shows the little roadways. Don't rely on a working GPS. It doesn't hurt to plan out different routes and check them out now.
Your point is well taken. What I was getting at is that in a prolonged SHTF or TEOTWAWKI you will want to be frugal with your ammo. Bows and arrows are silent and will not give away your position when you are hunting game. Of course they are handy when taking out sentries, but we won't go into that on a public forum.
Splliitt.........
The one huge disadvantage that the city gangs are going to have in the country is that they have no wilderness smarts.
City folks have no clue about getting along out in the woods.
If TSHTF in inclement weather, they’ll die of exposure overnight.
I have a selection of older chemistry books. I’d rather not have to rely on anything I can’t make more of.
How do you get to decide whether I can “more than enough” to get through the day?
Poke is edible.. Boil and drain the water 3 times.
Southern staple,,bacon grease and onions..
Young leaves are better than old big leaves.
No I don’t as the smart ones don’t advertise too much. I used to try to get people on board until my wife said I talk to much. She was right. No sense advertising where to come when the SHTF because you didn’t plan ahead.
To be honest, I mention it some but don’t harp on it or tell others what I am doing. I make menal and some written notes about neighbors, co-worker, and friends that may be useful and that’s about all I can do. I really don’t know most of my neighbors either.
I live in the city so I may be overrun right away, but at least I am trying. Talking with people who may be useful, I can elimate those who are hardcore Obama supporters, extreme liberals, those who make fun of people saving up, and a few other “bad” traits.
Since I am older, younger men who can shoot and have their own weapons can be useful allies. Those with skills working on motors, etc can be useful. Its not an exact science, but a way I am trying to plan ahead. I may be doing it wrong but I am getting ready just the same.
Hook up with your local Tea Party.
Will pre-screen out the libs.
Then you work on getting to know people.
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