A Mouthful for Self Sufficiency

[Bossroo]

Each hen will eat 105 pounds of feed a year X 30 hens = 3105 pounds divided by 50 lbs per bag= 63 bags at $ 14.95 (at my feed store )= $941.85. These hens will produce 2600 eggs a year divided by 12 = 216.66 doz. . $941.85 div. by 216.66doz. = $ 4.347 / doz. and that is just for feed alone, then add labor, housing, power to maintain these 30 hens for the year... If one grows ones' own grain... how much land will be needed to produce 3105 pounds of grains then add the cost of land, labor, irrigation, milling, bagging, power, fuel, and storage?

 

[dacjohns]

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OK, I'm not getting it? Explain what is so funny please?

 

[Buster52]

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OK, I'm not getting it? Explain what is so funny please?

You haven't read many of the Boss's posts, have you?

 

[dacjohns]

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OK, I'm not getting it? Explain what is so funny please?

You haven't read many of the Boss's posts, have you?

No I haven't.

Did you know there is a sister site to BYC called Sufficient Self?

 

[dancingbear]

I suggest checking out Bountiful Gardens, http://www.bountifulgardens.org/, and getting a copy of How to Grow More Vegetables, and other publications from Grow Biointensive.

Obviously this isn't useful if one lives on super-sized fast food and McNuggets. Homesteading/self-sufficient types don't usually fall into the super-size everything, only eat at McDonald's mentality.

Some of the math in those stats is questionable, as are the food allowances. If you have hens that lay an average of 5 eggs each per week, and you need 10 eggs per person per week, that's a flock of 2 hens per person. 10 hens, for 5 people, not 30. To allow extra eggs for hatching, you just need a few more, not 20-40 more. Even to hatch 200 chicks per year, (why hatch 200 to eat 100? That didn't make sense, either) you don't need 50 hens. You don't have to hatch them all at the same time.

65 heads of lettuce, which doesn't keep well, but only 19 heads of cabbage, that not only stores well, but can be made into kraut or kim chee? And can be canned or frozen, and used in soups? Nothing at all said about cool season or winter hardy crops, such as mache (for fresh greens all year) and many brassicas that do quite well in an unheated greenhouse all winter.

A person could come up with a much better and more accurate guide for their own family, by keeping track of what they eat each week for a couple of months, then multiply to see what they'd need for a year, keeping in mind how to preserve or store various items. Late season potatoes store quite well through the winter, for example, as do carrots, turnips, and many other root crops, winter squashes, etc. Others, such as eggplant, lettuces, watermelon, are best used in season, while other may be canned or frozen with good results. You'd also want to keep in mind how your diet varies throughout the year. For example, we almost never eat chili, stew, beans, and that sort of thing in the summer. But we do in the winter. Nor do we eat watermelon in the winter. So make lists of food you eat seasonally, and plan accordingly. You will probably find that in some cases, you'll need to make some changes in your diet to accommodate what's available seasonally, and what stores well. That's ok, you can live quite well with alternative food choices through the year. That's what we're evolved for, anyway.

Read plant descriptions carefully when choosing seeds, and get the ones best suited to your needs and climate. Some winter squashes don't store much better than summer squash. Some onions are great keepers, others must be used quickly. You have to be careful in you choices. Local extension offices can be helpful in finding which varieties have the best disease resistance in your area, but some are geared more to commercial production, and may not know much about a lot of open-pollinated and heirloom varieties that are great for home gardeners. Bountiful Gardens, Southern Exposure, Fedco, Baker Creek, and Victory Seeds are all wonderful sources of good seed, and detailed information about different varieties.

 

[Boyd]

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OK, I'm not getting it? Explain what is so funny please?

You haven't read many of the Boss's posts, have you?

Buster, Many of us stick with one site more than the other but are on most. Dac & a few others are on the sister site prolly more than here if'n I had to guess so you sorta came off um.... Rude?!

 

[mom'sfolly]

I have to disagree with the number of egg/year from a flock of 30. Assuming the flock is managed for egg production, you should get at least 200 eggs per bird per year. This would give you 6000 eggs a year, dropping the cost to about $2.00 per dozen. 2600 eggs per year is only about 90 eggs per year per hen, which seems very low for a managed laying flock.

It is interesting info though. I think the average American would die rather than use over 100 lbs of lard per year.

 

[Buster52]

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You haven't read many of the Boss's posts, have you?

No I haven't.

Did you know there is a sister site to BYC called Sufficient Self?

Yes, and I've been a member of it even longer than BYC, although haven't posted there nearly as much. Nice site.

The reason your post is funny is because Bossroo is anti-anything sustainable or self-sufficient. Joining a site on said subject is just not in his character profile.

The point of his original post wasn't to be helpful to those of us on the self-sufficiency path, but to playfully rib us about it. He is obviously of the opinion that it isn't possible. I was teasing him, really, not you.

 

[Buster52]

mom'sfolly :

It is interesting info though. I think the average American would die rather than use over 100 lbs of lard per year.

Or more likely die from it.

 

[Buster52]

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You haven't read many of the Boss's posts, have you?

Buster, Many of us stick with one site more than the other but are on most. Dac & a few others are on the sister site prolly more than here if'n I had to guess so you sorta came off um.... Rude?!

Only for someone lacking a sense of humor.

I am sorta suprised someone with over 3,000 posts hasn't run into the Boss man at least a few times and thus aware of how he feels about the subject. He is remarkably consistant about it, and would no doubt gladly fess up to it.