Scenario: Food supply problems

[bacpacker]

Stay safe thru that. You should go over to the introduction section and fill everyone in on what you are up to. We always like hearing from new folks and the plans they are working on.

[Caveman Survival]

Up here in the great white north we have a relatively short growing season. We can't plant until mid may and first frost hits I. Early October most years, so making the most of our growing season for us backyard farmers is a must.

Living in an urban setting poses an even greater situation. Planting has to be done with long term storage and space availability in mind. We limit our growing to the greens and root veggies that we consume the most, and supplement it with a few luxuries like aunt Molly ground cherries, strawberries and stuff like that.

With all that said, if there were food supply problems, short term we have a nice supply of home canned goods and water to give us enough calories to keep on keeping on. We'd be ok for a 1-3 week interruption. Depending on the time of year, our garden would provide us with with a nice harvest to replenish our canned items as well as provide us with nice fresh greens. Our canned meat supply could get us through a 1-6 month interruption, being subsidized with the plentiful wild rabbits and squirrels in the near area (we do live right at the edge of the city surrounded by farm land). Most around here wouldn't even think of hoppers or tree rats as food, so I don't think I would have a lot of competition for this resource... And even people got desperate enough I would have a nice supply stored. Water would be a concern at this point. In the event the bulk of the scenario ran thru winter, disabling gardening, our canned goods, properly rationed could stretch to 6 months.

At the 6- 24 + months mark, things are obviously critical. We could stretch into growing season which would help out a lot, as well as this type of time frame would most likely carry us into prime wild edible seasons, so fruits, greens, nuts etc would be available to store they the winter. Our canned meat supply would be running thin, so attempts to harvest wild game would be prioritized, canning and drying as necessary. At this point water would be gold for my family. If I was still able to travel we have access to property with a small stream that runs thru it, so relocating, if able, would be assessed. If it was not possible to travel, we do have two rivers that converge in the centre of our city... So with careful treatment we might be able to utilize this resource. This time frame, and anything longer is really anybody's guess as to the reality of success... It's all brand new territory. I hope that my skills and knowledge would at least give me an edge. Hopefully I'll never need to find out

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Just want to introduce myself...hello Im tystone48 truther/ prepper

Welcome Aboard, I hope you find your self at home here. There are a few of us that are "unusual" (me) can't speak for the others. But there is plenty of stuff here to feed off of and your contributions are welcome. Remember.......the only dumb question is the one that was never asked. We do slap each other around a bit but it's only in jest and we don't have anyone here on a "power trip" at least I don't think so. SO just knock yourself out and have fun.

On a side note, you're obviously in the southeast so hunker down. Watch your stuff, pipes, heat, electric, kids, and your assorted stupid people. Be leery of strangers knockin on your door during this situation. Not being paranoid. just this is the time of opportunity.

Be safe.

[bacpacker]

IMHO there have been some really good ideas put up so far. Keep them coming.

Here's my thoughts at this point. We would be eating all the fresh stuff first along with the frozen stuff. This is our typical start up with most any scenario. We would fill in with food storage as needed till fresh veggies start coming in from the garden.

We have a row of carrots in the ground that will be ready to eat in the next month or two. Very shortly after that we would be starting seed for a whole list of foods. This would take a few weeks to get anything up and ready to eat. I would also build some cold frames and hoop houses to get a head start on growing season. This would get us some early cold season crops moving along. We would be planting the garden as soon as possible and would be doing staggered plantings of quite a few crops so we would have ongoing crops coming in to both eat and can or dry. I would also be trying to put in a greenhouse to try and extend our growing season well out into the fall and early winter.

I also found out today that we have a family down the road that raises sheep and goats and sale to the public. We are about a mile and half from a lake, so plenty of opportunity for fishing as well. Chickens are laying and would be hatching off little ones for a few months down the road.

I see a lot of hard work to keep this up, but doable.

[LUNCHBOX]

Prices will rise bigtime.

Fruit losses.....stocked major vitamins.
Veggie losses....planning a garden/greenhouse.
Meat losses....hunt or fish if needed.

There's the pantry/freezer/tubs also if l really have to.

[tystone48]

I grow organic above ground garden.. all heirloom ...I grow plenty to eat and dehydrate the rest..bucket packer. .been in it 8 yrs now...buckets in mylar with / oxygen absorbers. .losts of buckets there great cause you can bury in ground...also have king size bed to store under ...it wotks great if stored properly I use them instead of bed rails solid buckets about 36 under 1 bed king size with sheet of plywood over top add box springs and matress you cant even tell the difference. ..but it sure a great way to store food ...great space saver! Dehydrating is great way and light weight...just thought I would pass this alone great way for limited space!

[tystone48]

Oh and forgot to mention...yes beef or just your pantry will be hard to guard. ..I dont eat much meat...but look into camning your own meat...really easy at least it wont be walking around for people to take from you and the feed bill stops in the Jar...lots on utube on canning meat and also salt curing/ smoke house ...its an easy build...just the way your great great grand parents did...have yo think out if the box and go back to old school...it works and stores very well...nothing better then a five yr country ham!!

[Possom]

Ty I have to disagree about slaughtering your stock removing the problem. If you slaughter all your livestock you will not have any breeding stock to produce feeders for next year.

People will have to come up with a way to guard their breeding stock or they will starve the next year. Cattle are harder because they require a lot of room to roam. Smaller stock such as dexter cattle or other miniature breeds are easier. Goats and sheep are a lot easier to guard because they can be put up in a barn at night.

Most small farms use multi propose animals. If you slaughter your animals you not only cut out breeding more animals but also kill your milk and cheese supply.

[Gunfixr]

Here in the urban sprawl, animals are forbidden, except maybe for rabbits. You can have chickens, but no roosters, and only like 3 or something. No goats or anything larger.
I think there are still a few homes from before all these laws that have animals that are "grandfathered", but they are almost gone.
But for fresh meat, seems everybody buys cats and then sets them free to roam the city, so there'll be fresh meat for awhile. Got squirrels, rabbits, and even a possum otherwise. Heard of deer, but haven't seen one myself. If I can figure where they hide though...............

Don't keep a lot frozen, power outages just often enough to make that prohibitively expensive.

Got several months tucked away, canned and freeze dried. Working on more, space is getting to be a problem.

Planning above ground gardens. Be hard to protect.

[Katrina]

I think we could manage about 8 months so far to supplement till the garden goes in. As for water, trying to figure out how to cache the water pouring out of sump with out the neighbors knowing, I know that sounds harsh but if there's rationing I need to think of my family and the friends we have heading here first to have drinking water (purifying it as needed) and be able to grow the food we'll need. I think we might be able to get some meat from local farmers or university but the prices will be exorbitant. So far township won't let us do chickens, much less any goats or rabbits. We can have "pet" rabbits but if we get above a certain number of rabbits, they consider that livestock/ farming, a NO-NO in their eyes. Had someone in township raising rabbits for profit and they were shut down even though they tried to keep the number they had quiet, There's always some nosy Parker tattling. This June the alternative energy show is coming to the fairgrounds by me and I will be attending to see about getting wind and solar for the house, as I expect in a 12-24 month problem the natural gas will either be rationed or shut down completely, that means the electricity and heat will be sporadic or non existent. Oh yeah , and the standby won't run either.