Becoming self sufficient.

Sometime this year or by the latest, next year, I moving onto ten acres of land with my family. I am wanting to be able to grow and maintain my own..garden, crop? I know we are going to have chickens and I'm going to ask my father if I can have pigs on my area of land with my husband and son. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what would be the best things to grow/raise? How much area should I reserve? I want to become self sufficient when SHTF.

And what about water, first aid, and the likes? Like I said, I would like to be as self sufficient as possible. Thank you for taking the time to give me some tips!

Much love,
HarlieQuinn

Take me and mine with you.

I heard once that rabbits were really easy to raise as well. Ten acres is a pretty big spread. I would think that would be real nice.

Are you going to build a house? A berm house? something underground?

Of course, solar, wind...is there a stream or will you dig a well?

It would be nice to have an up-to-the minute experience that others could look to to get ideas.

You'll keep us posted right?

Of course I'll keep you updated. But like I wrote previously, it will be a little while haha. We are hoping to build a house in the future but when we first get out there we will be in trailer. I'm not sure if there is going to be a stream or not but we will probably create an artificial pond where we can fish from. We will have so much land because my parents are going to be raising horses. Like I said, I want us to be as self sufficient as we can. We will have to have electricity because I would at least be able to keep the internet so I can stay in touch haha. But that is all I am really wanting to keep.

reply to post by HarlieQuinn

Priority #1 is water. Clean water. If there is no stream, then you will have to sink a well and make sure the water is free of chemicals and bacteria. An electric pump for the the well, and back up hand pump for those times when the family and the animals need water. (Have you ever hand pumped water of livestock? Or to do laundry? I have, and I will tell you it is one of the memories I least like recalling.
If possible, a windmill to pump water into a tank might work, depending on where you will be living and how much wind is common.
You mentioned livestock. Chickens are good, especially if they can forage, but I would also suggest guienie(sp?) fowl. My grandfather kept them, and allowed them to free forage. They keep down the bugs(especially ticks, which you most assuredly don't want.) as well as making for pretty good eating. They also make an excellent alarm system for strangers and varmints that might show up in the middle of the night. A flock of those things screeching can wake the dead.
As mentioned by one of the earlier posters, rabbits are good, although you can't live on just rabbit meat(a fact I learned here on ATS)because there is not enough fat. But it makes a good change, and the manure is excellent fertilizer.
My dad raised pigs, and it was my responsibility to feed and water them. I really don't know if I would want to do it again, especially since there isn't a slaughter house in my area any longer.
You might think about "miniture cattle" They are much smaller than regular polled herefords, but they product about 65% more edible meat(Less waste) than full sized herefords, plus they eat less and are easier to handle.
Be prepared to fence your garden in. If you don't the rabbits will get more of it than you do.
I envy you. If I had 10 acres to myself, I think I would be in Hog Heaven.
Good luck to you.

I recommend that the bulk of your greens be Kudzu.

The entire plant is edible, no bitter taste like you get from other greens, they need very little water, and when they establish themselves they will grow a foot per day.

Kudzu info and recipes.

You'll have to keep them tightly controlled or they'll overtake your garden.

reply to post by Symbiote

If you don't keep kudzu controlled, it will take over the whole world. Down in Mississippi, where my wife is from, I've seen Kudzu growing across the highway,and if it hadn't been for traffic, it would have made it all the way across.
There are ways to cut to bitterness of greens, and besides, there is something to be said for the slightly bitter taste of turnip and collard greens.

depending on the climate your land is in....I highly recommend having a variety of fruit trees, (apples, pears, cherries, apricot etc.) then make canned goods throughout the year.They would also make a great commodity for trade. Also growing different nut trees ,(almonds, walnuts, pistacio, pecans). Trees are eaiser to maintain and have a high yeild.

"one of the best ways to protect yourself from the tryanny of the government to bear arms". Also freedom of speech, freedom of assembly , constitutional rights EVERY man woman and child is given. Say if you feel you might have been set up for a crime thats not really a crime or terrorist act by people who tried to kill you and then lied about some gay activity. Yeah self sufficentcy is important if your gonna live all alone on a farm , watch electricity and phone you dont want "the Strangers" to show up. If you gonna get pigs and horses and cows and livestock maybe grow some korn or some s***. Just normal rural life must be nice to have that option you know not like OJ who had his head down driving an SUV for hours on the highway to mexico with cops chasing him and helicopters. I dont know what wouldve lured him to do that, you know being 100% not guilty.

reply to post by Alchemst7

Fruit trees ar an excellent idea, but the squirels got my peaches this year. I had several peaches on a young tree one week, the next week, nada.
And for some reason my apple trees did nothing this year. Possibly the ice storm, but apple trees need a couple of weeks of cold weather to bloom and produce, and we had plenty of cold weather this year. Don't know what happened They are also young trees.
If any one has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

reply to post by P. O. W.



Uh...you have confused me more than I have ever been confused. Keyboard turrets perhaps? Not trying to be a smart alick...well maybe a little.

[edit] to add enough text for a second line


[edit on 6/21/2009 by HarlieQuinn]

First water is your top priority moving water is much better to have than something stagnant like a pond. Come up with a way to purify the water such as through sand or coffee filters or whatnot. Then boil the water all you have to do is get it to a rolling boil.

Second if you are going to grow crops grow something hardy. So corn is a bad choice because if you do not spray it frequently with pesticides its like ringing a dinner bell to the insects. And I dont think you make your own pesticides however if you do have a large population of ladybugs maybe they'll make it.
Also grow a crop that has a source of protein in it in case of meat scarcity such as peanuts.

Third if you are going to raise livestock and you are going to go with cows go with brahmans they are tolerant to heat and are less vulnerable to diseases i believe. Guineas are a very good idea because they are almost like watchdogs but they are ugly as hell . Also if you are going to raise cattle make sure you have plenty of pasture with good nutritious grass that is abundant. A big problem though is that come winter the grass will die off and your cattle will be left hungry so you should find a way to continuously feed your animals.

Also as for energy solar would be a nice way to lower your monthly electricity bill. Not to mention eco-friendly to all the PETA people out there and i dont mean the people for the eating of tasty animals.

1) Look into building a 'root cellar', if your terrain/water table will allow it. A root cellar does not need to be under your house. It will allow you to overwinter some fruits and vegetables without refrigeration. Further, it can act as a temporary shelter/bunker/'fraidy hole if needed.

2) If you have a spring on your property, clean it up and 'box' it for future use.

3) Get a good quality camping water filter for #2.

4) Look online for some of the US government publications put out during WWII for victory garden/saving resources/self-sufficiency. Many of these were written for city folks that had not learned many 'country' skills, so they are straight-forward. Also, they were written in a much lower-tech world.

5) Periodicals such as SMALL FARM JOURNAL are great resources for simple living.

6) As to cattle, look to breeds that are good foragers. Brahma crosses are, but can be aggressive, and are larger. Dexter is a small breed that is gentle and a good forager. Belted Galloways are excellent foragers, and gentle, but very pricey, as they have become popular.