A Mouthful for Self Sufficiency

[dacjohns]

Quote:
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.

OK

 

[Bossroo]

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.

Please note: This is from a book published in 1947 and based on studies from Clemson University. I would think that the hens are of the REAL dual purpose flocks and were to fend for themselves in the barnyard, with occational handfulls of grain thrown to them,so predation and culling for dinner was the norm. As for lard... I remember my mother used to buy large tin cans of Crisco and cooked and baked everything and every meal with it and all of us kids are still alive and well. My dad lived to be 89 and my mother 94.They died of old age and not of any disease or obesety.​

 

[Keara]

Quote:
Might seem that way but I bet they burned more calories than we do today.

 

[KKatknap]

Quote:
Might seem that way but I bet they burned more calories than we do today.

Yeah, buddy! Picture the lack of mechanized conveniences...not to mention the complete unavailability of anything resembling indoor entertainment for the kiddos. My mom used to watch her aunt do laundry without a washing machine...scrubbing everything on a washboard.

That, alone, is more work than I want to think about. And that's just one day's housework - not including "chores"!

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
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.

Merely pointing out that Buster ( as well as some others) can feed himself on his 4,000 square feet of rich and bountiful soil with abundant rainfall on his little piece of earth and I would need at least 10 times that amount, a very strong back as well as copious amounts of time. I can only produce an appetizer or a side dish on just 4,000 square feet of hard pan desert type of soils and only 6 1/2 inches of rainfall a year on my 20 acre patch of earth. If I did I would check myself in at the funny farm. My soil type changes on average every 10 feet... from yellow to green to brown to black to red clay and all of it saline salts. I have to use a pick to even break the surface. Some commercial orchards are planted using huge backhoes and some areas in the past, even dynamite to break the hardpan. I do have a garden ... some cor n, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash. Yields vary from meager to bountiful depending on rainfall, pests and the ever present heat (90's - 100+) for most of the year to killing frosts ( low 20's) in the winter. Where I can't grow even one orange tree , just 7 miles from my place with a different soil type and wind pattern is a commercial orange and lemon orchards of a thausand + acres. I gave up on egg production years ago simply that it costs too much to produce a dozen eggs. My meat chickens, I used to raise BR, RIR, NH however it took way too long to produce meat simply not enough hours in the day, so I switched to Cornish X . I have to raise them under Fort Knox conditions and only for 6-8 weeks untill freezer camp time due to the numerous predators. I envy and congratulate those of you that can reach sustainability for your families. I tried and must admit that I simply can't under the conditions I have to deal with.

 

[dacjohns]

Boss,

You mean your desert doesn't blosom with the rose?

I know what you mean about soil types. I have clay which is good for growing weeds but any kind of food producing plant takes work, not near as much as you though since I do have abundant rainfall.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Boss - which desert are you in?

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
He doesn't live in a desert. He lives in the Central San Joaquin Valley where I spent some 30 odd years of my life. It is some of the most productive farm land in the country, where people ship their vegies and a good deal of their fruit from during off seasons.

 

[purr]

Quote:
Please note: This is from a book published in 1947 and based on studies from Clemson University. I would think that the hens are of the REAL dual purpose flocks and were to fend for themselves in the barnyard, with occational handfulls of grain thrown to them,so predation and culling for dinner was the norm. As for lard... I remember my mother used to buy large tin cans of Crisco and cooked and baked everything and every meal with it and all of us kids are still alive and well. My dad lived to be 89 and my mother 94.They died of old age and not of any disease or obesety.

Those flocks probably didn't lay every day either. My grandmother also cooked everything in Crisco but let us remember how much more activity was involved in every day life back then. Nobody was sitting 11 hrs a day at a desk and running a farm nor were the kids playing video games all day. Everyone had chores. It takes a lot more calories to work like that.

 

[dancingbear]

Crisco is not lard. Crisco is hydrogenated vegetable oils, which, though it was touted as being good for you, we now know is full of trans-fat, which is very bad for you. Much worse than natural lard. I say natural lard, to distinguish it from the partially hydrogenated lard usually available at the supermarket. Why they decided to hydrogenate a fat that's already solid at room temp, I don't know. But the hydrogenation process makes it a lot unhealthier to consume than it would be otherwise.

There are non-hydrogenated vegetable fat products (including solid shortening-like ones) that are free of trans-fat, for those who don't want to use lard or other animal fats. These are relatively new products, and who knows what may be discovered about those in the future.

We are currently using lard rendered from the fat of our own home-raised pigs.