Has anyone gone as far as to grow all their own food and raise or hunt their own meat? Has anyone declared complete independence from to food industry? How complex are your meals or variety of food? What expenses do you incur and is it less than buying food at the market?
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Someday...I am inspired by my relatives in Mississippi. They bought a tract of forest land and bait it (unethical to some hunters, but this is how our ancestors probably hunted). They harvest their max limit of deer per person each year (to maximize this the women and children hunt) and put it all in a giant freezer. That's their meat for the year! |
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We started with raising chickens for meat, then some for eggs. Economically it makes zero sense with the time, money and effort involved, but my birds were able to run some in the summer and eat grass and bugs and the meat and eggs taste pretty good. The layers eat scraps left over from the table and peck bones and even the remains of their former cohorts from time to time. Going to raise a couple pigs this year as well. I figure that there will be almost zero need for my compost pit this summer which is a good thing for me as I have no use for it as we do not have the time to garden properly. We plan on using dog kennel sections to move around and contain/protect our livestock. For the birds it is easy to set up a pen and cover with a net to keep the eagles and ravens out. On a side note I'd like to note the effectiveness of a certain, otherwise useless, bird in our flock. A pidgeon that adopted us. Dang thing entered the chicken pen and never left. Hangs with the hens and roosts with them. I'd have killed it if it were not for it's being adept at running interference with the various birds of prey in the area. It takes off and distracts whatever bird then dives into the trees where the bigger birds can't fly. Between Pidgie and Spike the rooster my hens are well protected. What I am getting at here is that a holistic/symbiotic sort of thing may be of benefit in your quest to be self sufficient and may make it easier to make your minifarm run. |
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Well, I'd like to get closer and closer to this. At present, I raise my own chickens, my mom has a small organic garden that we intend to expand considerably this year so we can do some canning plus have some 'convenience' foods we can trust (we all eat paleo, family of 7). We buy an entire grass fed organic cow prepared for us as we can't have our own livestock where we live. I would love to work towards going off grid but it isn't possible at this time so I work as close as I can get. |
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I get my eggs from a local farmer, I plan to buy a quarter or half a cow once they come to slaughter in the early summer. I want to plant a garden but it's got to get above freezing first (damn Michigan!). That's the best I can do with the time I have. |
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Yes, someone has--Ted Nugent. He owns a hunting preserve (now his second, I think), and his wife tends the gardens. |
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Anyone eat a Raven? |
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