It seems that it might be a good idea to start a topic which might speak to what hard assets to have on hand by which to be self-sufficient once you have either secured your location or moved to a secure location. For those considering where to go/what to do, looking at what other consider important as was as under what circumstances they realize their best utility.
I suggest this thread not be about 1 or 2 topics. Rather I hope that others with particular skills or information to share in areas in which they are proficient will start new topics.
I'll open. Since I (appear) to be one of those who are actively farming, I'll speak to or begin a discussion of raising ones own food.
Our "Kitchen Garden," termed such as it describes land under till for the sole use of raising food for the consumption of the landowner. It is tillage separate from that used to raise a market/cash crop.
Our kitchen garden is, at present, 5,000 square feet (50 X 100') or about 1/8 acre. It's expandable to 2 acres albeit with significant effort.
My garden "season" begins when the winter crops are done. In mid-January, I bottom plow the area and begin spreading our fireplace ash across it on calm days. In the 2nd week of February, I disc in about 2 tons of (works out to about 3") of composted manure and add about 300 lbs of pelletted lime. This is done every other year. If I wanted to work hard at the garden, I could plant about 1,400 row feet of crop (14, 100' rows) spaced 18" apart in the 5,000 square feet of area.
Our climate in Zone 8A allows for 2 planting seasons, 3 if you really time things closely and work very hard at planning and gardening. In this location, our Final Frost Date is April 17 and 1st Frost Date is October 5th or so.
Were I planting for self-sufficiency, I would only plant what could be stored without refrigeration. That is, by canning, drying or dried then milled. This would include string and wax beans, corn, carrots, onions, potatoes, beets, etc. This would be as opposed to such "eat it when you pick it" cultivars such as melons or lettuce.
We begin planting potatoes just before spring, at the end of February, 1st of March after roto-tilling that seed bed. I then follow through with the more traditional items, beans, corn, etc further into the season. After more roto-tilling, we plant sweet corn on about May 12 followed by a 2nd planting 3 weeks later. This staggers the corn harvest across 5 weeks.
High yielding crops such as bush beans can also be staggered if for no other reason as to make canning/putting the food by process more manageable.
This does not take into account seed saving, a procedure which should be mastered if one expects to live without outside food sources. To effectively save seed, you should plant an additional 30% of crops.
As the 1st planting has been brought in, I disc the land and let it lie fallow for 30 days and prepare for planting the winter garden. I might check the ph and take that opportunity to make adjustments as required.
A winter garden will, in moderate climates, provide a winter supply of fresh vegetables and bolster your vitamin and roughage intake. Seed beds for Collards, Carrots, Kale, Turnips, and other root crops are again roto-tilled. Pay careful attention to maturity dates to make sure that your garden will be mature or near mature by first frost date.
Here are some URL's related to gardening at a self-sufficiency level:
Frost Dates:
http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/
Hardiness Zones:
http://www.markw.com/hzones.htm
General Homesteading Links:
http://www.segues.com/homesteadlinks/
Seed Saving:
http://www.seedsave.org/
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~merlyn/seedsaving.html
Suppliers of Heirloom (O-P) Vegetable Seeds:
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/altseed.html
(I have personally dealt with Territorial Seed with excellent results)
I plant mostly hybrid crops as under normal conditions, they will produce greater yields. However, I keep and rotate a supply of O-P seed in a stable temperature area in sealed ammo cans used for 40MM shells.
Finally, when considering purchasing seed to be stored, the various canned, "Y2K Emergency Seed Packages" are not the best selection. Know your money can be better allocated. Those kits have lots of packets of different seeds. You get a lot of varieties, unfortunately not in the right mix to yield a sustainable food supply.
Better to consider what you eat on a daily basis and plant that in quantity. Buy pounds of less types of seed v/s lots of small packets.
Plant enough to enjoy during and just after the harvest, enough to put up and finally, allocate an additional 30% of each crop for seed-saving.
Figure the amount of a particular crop to plant using the quantity you wish to preserve as a baseline at 60% of that total. Add 30% more for seed storage and 10% to consume fresh, during and after the harvest.
Thanks Ripple,
Farming and gardening are probably one of the most lacking skills. Your contributions here are valuable!
Saving Seeds
http://www.beprepared.com/Articles/seeds.html
Growing Your Own Food
http://www.beprepared.com/Articles/growing.html
Why Sprout?
http://www.beprepared.com/Articles/sprouting.html
Gardening In Small Spaces
http://www.beprepared.com/Articles/gard2.html
Books available at http://www.lehmans.com
If these aren’t at their web site, you will find them in the latest Lehman’s Non-Electric Catalog, available by request.
Seed Sowing And Saving
Turner
Four Season Harvest
Coleman
Pests
Miller and Miller
Square Foot Gardening
Mel Bartholomew
The Garden Primer
Barbara Damrosch
Carrots Love Tomatoes
Louise Riotte
Kitchen Gardens In Containers
Antony Atha
Handbook Of Natural Insect And Disease Control
Edited by Ellis and Bradley
Big Book Of Preserving The Harvest
Carol Costenbader
Keeping Food Fresh: Old World Techniques And Recipes
Root Cellaring
Mike and Nancy Bubel
For Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated or Heirloom Seeds, visit:
The Ark Institute
http://www.arkinstitute.com
Burpee Heirlooms
http://www.burpee.com
Cook’s Garden
http://www.cooksgarden.com
Denali Seed Company
http://www.denaliseed.com/main.html
Good Seed Company
http://goodseed.net
Heirloom Seeds
http://www.heirloomseeds.com
The New England Seed Company
http://www.neseed.com
Otto Richter & Sons Ltd.
http://www.richters.com
Park Seed
http://www.parkseed.com
PSR Seeds
http://www.pioneer-net.com/psr/
Redwood City Seeds
http://www.batnet.com/rwc-seed/
Select Seeds
http://www.selectseeds.com
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
http://www.southernexposure.com/index1.html-ssi
Virtual Seeds
http://www.virtualseeds.com
Walton Feed
http://www.waltonfeed.com