Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[C-Mag]

It wasn't speculation that drove up grain prices. It was deliberate US policy to enforce a high ethanol percentage in our various fuel formulations. That meant more grain was going to ethanol production. It drives up corn prices.

https://www.the-american-interest.com/2 ... -security/

Democrat woo woo caused it.

Well, democrat woo woo and fucking Ted Cruz (again).

Oh, DAMN!

I need to add that to my list of why Greenies Suck !

I forgot about the linkage to Ethanol.

[C-Mag]

The problem with the "Capitalist" breadline isn't that it's a machine making the bread...it's the concentration of production in the hands of a single person (or small group of persons).

If every family had a 5 acre homestead and a Star Trek replicator in the garage, they would be more "free" in every sense of the word--economically, socially, politically, and spiritually--than our agrarian ancestors.

Lets not romanticize old tech. Homemade bread isn't better because it was made slowly with difficulty...it's better because it was made at home. If I have a personally owned Star Trek replicator making me bread in my home, that is better than handmade.

The economic and social problems with machines aren't that they remove work from our hands, but because machines are expensive and heavily regulated and thus under the control of small groups of oligarchs and their patsies in the government.

There's a huge problem right now in the wheat industry with patenting of genetically engineered wheat. We are allowing a few big Ag companies to take over grains production. Bad for us in the long run.

GCF, how's that grain production going ?

[heydaralon]

Commodity speculation scares me. A big cause of the Arab spring was rising grain prices. People in some of those countries were spending over half their income buying staple foods. There was a time when Westerners lived that way. It makes people desperate and people will only eat cake for so long before they start looking at new forms of government. I hope our society has turned a corner in that regard.

"Speculation" is the excuse used by a totalitarian government that just instituted price controls and destroyed their own food supply, in some autistic populist rage. See: Venezuela, Brazil, any failed African state...

It looks like South Africa is heading the way of Zimbabwe in that regard. Both countries used to be breadbaskets for a famished continent. Now their fallow fields are a kind of cruel joke. I wonder logistically how Africa's leaders will deal with the nightmarish population explosion that will happen in the next few decades. Some these countries that are experiencing this growth will be in the Sahel, where they cannot even sustain their current populations. Others, like Ethiopia are finding out that the Nile river will be a fiercely contested zone as Sudan, Uganda, and Egypt all try to dam and subdue the water for their own growing populations, The sad thing is, many of these African countries have also sold millions and millions of hectares of their arable land to Chinese interests, who have been slowly and carefully re-colonizing the continent. I think its possible that Africa will be treated worse in the 21st century than they were in the 20th. And their leaders don't have the slightest idea what to do.

[C-Mag]

In the next 30 - 40 years food prices are likely to continue a steady rise.


So, the US can feed the world with current production through 2050. But by 2100 factors are going to have to change, production or demand.

It's easy to see that as we progress, we are likely to see the kind of problems that the world has not seen in about a century. Where adverse weather in a producing area can cause wide ranging affects globally.

[SuburbanFarmer]

The problem with the "Capitalist" breadline isn't that it's a machine making the bread...it's the concentration of production in the hands of a single person (or small group of persons).

If every family had a 5 acre homestead and a Star Trek replicator in the garage, they would be more "free" in every sense of the word--economically, socially, politically, and spiritually--than our agrarian ancestors.

Lets not romanticize old tech. Homemade bread isn't better because it was made slowly with difficulty...it's better because it was made at home. If I have a personally owned Star Trek replicator making me bread in my home, that is better than handmade.

The economic and social problems with machines aren't that they remove work from our hands, but because machines are expensive and heavily regulated and thus under the control of small groups of oligarchs and their patsies in the government.

There's a huge problem right now in the wheat industry with patenting of genetically engineered wheat. We are allowing a few big Ag companies to take over grains production. Bad for us in the long run.

GCF, how's that grain production going ?

hasn't started yet.. I'll be tilling the garden in a week or two. I did get a pretty great result with leaving tarps down on the area that I wanted to expand into, so it should be much easier than last year. Also, the neighbor decided not to take a chunk of it this year, so I've got more space than I need.

I'll be spreading seeds soon enough.

[Speaker to Animals]

I am also curious what your yield is and the area you are devoting to wheat.

[SuburbanFarmer]

I am also curious what your yield is and the area you are devoting to wheat.

I'll post a full report this fall.

Right now, I've got about 1/4 acre in total, most of which will be tomatoes and other veggies. I'm planning to take about a 10' wide strip all the way down (1,500 sq. ft) for wheat planting, and probably another strip for corn on the other side. I can be more precise, once we get into it.

From last year though, we've still got WAY more than enough pickled peppers, actual pickles, and jellies to last us. The sauerkraut went quickly, but we had around 10 gallons of that as well. Still 20lbs or so of tomatoes frozen, awaiting sauce-making. We also bought and sauced a bushel of apples last fall that hasn't run out yet. My own apple and pear trees aren't quite mature yet, but that will be our source in the future.

Side Note: Even if you don't care about prepping or cost, whatever - you cannot buy better potatoes than homemade. The difference was absolutely stunning from store-bought.

[Speaker to Animals]

I am also curious what your yield is and the area you are devoting to wheat.

I'll post a full report this fall.

Right now, I've got about 1/4 acre in total, most of which will be tomatoes and other veggies. I'm planning to take about a 10' wide strip all the way down (1,500 sq. ft) for wheat planting, and probably another strip for corn on the other side. I can be more precise, once we get into it.

From last year though, we've still got WAY more than enough pickled peppers, actual pickles, and jellies to last us. The sauerkraut went quickly, but we had around 10 gallons of that as well. Still 20lbs or so of tomatoes frozen, awaiting sauce-making. We also bought and sauced a bushel of apples last fall that hasn't run out yet. My own apple and pear trees aren't quite mature yet, but that will be our source in the future.

Side Note: Even if you don't care about prepping or cost, whatever - you cannot buy better potatoes than homemade. The difference was absolutely stunning from store-bought.

How was the potato yield? How much area did you use up for it and how much did it cost upfront?

[C-Mag]

I am also curious what your yield is and the area you are devoting to wheat.

I'll post a full report this fall.

Right now, I've got about 1/4 acre in total, most of which will be tomatoes and other veggies. I'm planning to take about a 10' wide strip all the way down (1,500 sq. ft) for wheat planting, and probably another strip for corn on the other side. I can be more precise, once we get into it.

Very Conservatively, you should get 60 bushels to the acre or 15 bushels for you. However, in a garden setting, I think you should double that.

[SuburbanFarmer]

I am also curious what your yield is and the area you are devoting to wheat.

I'll post a full report this fall.

Right now, I've got about 1/4 acre in total, most of which will be tomatoes and other veggies. I'm planning to take about a 10' wide strip all the way down (1,500 sq. ft) for wheat planting, and probably another strip for corn on the other side. I can be more precise, once we get into it.

From last year though, we've still got WAY more than enough pickled peppers, actual pickles, and jellies to last us. The sauerkraut went quickly, but we had around 10 gallons of that as well. Still 20lbs or so of tomatoes frozen, awaiting sauce-making. We also bought and sauced a bushel of apples last fall that hasn't run out yet. My own apple and pear trees aren't quite mature yet, but that will be our source in the future.

Side Note: Even if you don't care about prepping or cost, whatever - you cannot buy better potatoes than homemade. The difference was absolutely stunning from store-bought.

How was the potato yield? How much area did you use up for it and how much did it cost upfront?

Cost was definitely lower than buying them, but it depends on your local soil. We just set up a pair of large plastic totes in the yard, poked holes in the bottom, planted some potato chunks in about 6 inches of peat mix - we get it free from a local plant. Once the plant emerges pretty far out, we just keep adding soil, encouraging it to grow deeper. By end of year, we had around 20 lbs of potatoes.

If you use local dirt, you may not get the same yield until you mix in some compost, but it's about the easiest thing you could grow.

Total cost is just the totes and dirt. I should mention that you'll want to wait until the potatoes have actual tubers starting to grow from the eyes - much faster than just planting the eyes. But it can be done either way.