Forum Post: The 1st Step
Posted 10 years ago on June 15, 2013, 5:12 p.m. EST by quantumystic
(1710)
from Memphis, TN
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
In self reliance is producing your own food. Planting perennial fruits and vegetables is an excellent way to produce food and create an aesthetically pleasing environment. By layering the plants you can produce much more than any one crop alone. The use of long since forgotten heirlooms and cultivars as well as species of plants completely forgotten on the modern menu such as good king henry. The raising of micro livestock or the use of aquaponics is a great way to raise protein if you want a little more challenge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZDnKwHQBp8
15 What if we change - Perennial Paradise - Zaytuna Farm
Published on Apr 5, 2013 All around the world people are asking what they can do to help to heal the earth. The permaculture movement is showing what individuals can do to bring health and happiness into their lives and at the same time restore the Earth's natural ecosystem function. In "Perennial Paradise" Geoff Lawton shows some of the many simple but practical work being used and taught at the Permaculture Research Institute's Zaytuna Farm in Australia. "What if we Change" is very happy that through this collaboration with the Permaculture Research Institute we can share this film online and in the broadcast series in Africa, China, the U.S.A. and beyond.
Film by Craig Mackintosh and Geoff Lawton
http://occupywallst.org/forum/what-to-do-with-186-million-empty-home/
sure them empty homes should be converted to usable space. either put families in them, businesses, or raze them and convert the land into gardens and recreational spaces.
agree.... but if put vertical aqua-ponic farms in every other one... we can hire people to habitate the others....
I’m sorry, but it seems to me you’ve never farmed or even had a decent size garden. This isn’t anywhere as easy or productive as it seems. The cost to build and maintain the systems you’re describing would outweigh any cost savings. The labor would also be cost prohibitive. I mean something as simple as a small greenhouse to grow a few veggies take a lot of time.
The only way your idea would work is if food costs were sky rocketing and/or food just become scarce for some reason. Most people who have victory gardens end up giving a lot of food away. Some folks will can or pickle some veggies. I speak from experience when I say it doesn’t take long to get tired of home grown tomatoes and cucumbers.
N. well ... this post is in a thread about "self reliance is producing your own food" ... ;)
and... I have farmed... and have worked pretty good size gardens... say 80 x 120 ft ....
anyway.... thanks to GMO's ... there is a market for Organic stuff .... and I know for big time hitters like wall street boys..... there would never be enough profit... ever ...
but for someone in a devastated area.... it could be a life saver .... worth far more than money could buy....
but... it's always easier to figure out why not to do something than to do it...
Avoiding GMO's is a rational reason for having your own garden.
And I predict the GMO controversy is only going to get bigger, so the market for organics should explode as well. At least I hope so.
The biggest problem with that scenario would be violations of zoning laws, i.e. running a business in an area zoned residential.
that's a joke right ? ;)
Not at all. You are talking about putting aquaponic farms in residential houses, right? And I assume the resulting produce would be for sale? What am I missing?
Gm, honestly.... areas, such as Detroit, Kansas City, etc... are so devastated... the city governments would bend over backwards to support anything that improved the economic situations of these areas...
True, zoning status can often be changed depending on the circumstances. And in a lot of cities that used to have a large industrial or manufacturing base, like St. Louis, KC, Detroit, etc. there are a lot of commercial areas where it probably wouldn't be much of a problem. I think the idea of converting empty commercial buildings into these mini-farms is a fantastic idea and a lot of people are doing just that.
But during the housing boom, around here anyway, the overwhelming majority of new housing was built in outlying areas that have very restrictive zoning laws. You know, the kind of places where you have to get permission from the housing association just to paint your house, and then you're restricted as to what colors you can use. Those areas would probably be much harder to do this. The kind of areas that you can't even allow your child to open a lemonade stand out front.
What's ironic is a lot of these new restrictive residential subdivisions (around here anyway) were built on what was, just five or ten years ago, farmland.
well yes of course we have converted a lot of high quality farm land into suburbs. we are fucking stupid and if we have any kind of long term strategy as a nation it is globalist in nature.
I have to agree. It was extremely short-sighted to build all those subdivisions on prime farmland. In the inner city we have large swaths of residential neighborhoods in deplorable condition and it made much more sense to redevelop those areas, but there wasn't enough profit in it. Unincorporated farmland was much cheaper to develop, therefore much higher return. And prior to the 2008 crash this area wasn't exactly booming so I was bewildered as to why these developers thought they'd be able to fill the hundreds of thousands of new, expensive homes.
And the long-term strategy is definitely globalist. In fact, in certain circles, the old-fashioned concept of national borders no longer applies. Their entire mindset is globalist and the bottom line trumps all, citizens of the US be damned.
running hydroponics type systems indoors produces a lot of humidity thus mold, trust me on this i have had some grows.
i think you will find that purpose built facilities are much better.
maybe so... just trying 2 help fix up some of the mess.....
however.... purpose built facilities cost a lot of money ..... devastated homes are free ....
Avioding plastic products should also be apart of a simple lifestyle.
Oil is just as bad as GMOs.
you can make plastics from cellulose though.
Yes, but currently almost all plastic is made from petroleum.
I really hate to burst your bubble but do you really think todays society is interested in growing their own food? They are too busy texting, blogging, facebooking and they wouldn't even consider lifting a finger to work up a sweat.
There is a segment of society that already does this and as Narley stated it's hard work and takes time and effort to produce crops.
Small box gardens are ideal for someone living in a restricted area but again putting it all together takes time and effort.
Not much of that around anymore - everyone is too busy and would rather go to the big superduper markets because it's way to easy to get what they want.
not going to say it doesn't require effort planning and designing the proper system requires effort but no more than involved in going to work everyday to put food on the dinner table. plus you can barter or sell the surplus. you would be surprised how much you could get for a cartoon of fresh quail eggs or a basket of fresh berries.
Not saying I disagree with what you posted it's just that todays society isn't interested as long as they can go to the market and buy it.
When I was growing up everyone had a garden - and they raised their own chickens and turkeys. Had beagles to hunt rabbits with, went grouse hunting, and when deer season came around we had venison
Canned vegetables for the winter months and had a root cellar.
Things have changed - it's only when food supplies are no longer available that people will start to "learn" to be independent. Hell,. I'll be willing to bet you if you went out on the street and asked people what a "Victory Garden" was they wouldn't know
So again, It's a great idea and teaches independence but it's going to take more then just a post here for people to embrace it. .
well yeah people are lazy have you seen the size of some of these beached whales in unnamed big box stores riding in electric carts? back in the day it was elderly people and handicapped people with the handicapped parking tags now it is these bloated behemoths with mother fucking ankle fat you ever see ankle fat???? that shit ain't right. also i agree with you people are inherently lazy but the thought of eating gmo or factory farmed meat got my ass moving real quick. once you watch a doc on factory farming or gmo its over you can't go back.
http://perennialvegetables.org/ http://www.perennialsolutions.org/
effort in relation to output for perennial systems is minimal. unless you consider picking fresh food for dinner hard work. and yeah i think there are more and more people who want to eat clean food.