Could your family weather a depression?

[JennsPeeps]

We definitely don't have a 6-month supply but I'm a very creative cook and can stretch a food dollar carefully and healthfully.

I'm canning as much as I can right now, not because of worries about food but more because I believe in supporting local farms as much as possible. We had a terrible summer (cold, wet) so my own kitchen garden didn't do well at all. I got 4 little yellow cherry tomatoes yesterday - the first ones. The vines are covered with green tomatoes but no red ones. It's such a bummer.

 

[dacjohns]

I belong to the same denomination as Nifty and have tried to follow the counsel of our leaders. This is my first step to being prepared for any kind of disruption to our way of life whether it be a recession, depression, or natural disaster.

I am currently debt free and own 100 acres with a pond stocked with fish, I have chickens that could free range exclusively during spring, summer, and fall if I had to, winter would see a drastic reduction in the size of my flock if I couldn't buy feed for them. I can get 4 deer a year for free on my property, I have a small orchard started, there are lots of wild edible plants in my area. I have a space for a garden but the chickens destroyed it this year. I have a wood burning stove and ample firewood is available. My kids are all gone but our property is the family's lifeboat. I have a supply of food and know how to use what we have stored. I also have a dehydrator and a smoker.

I am retired from the Army and have been living off my retirement pay since November. We could survive but it would still be tough if the cost of living goes up much more. I would find my Foxfire books and other books of that sort and learn how to make soap and learn other methods of simple living. I would get a beef, rabbit, and some hogs to supplement the protein sources I have on hand. I might even branch out into other types of fowl.

My mother was born during the Great Depression and experienced the rationing during WWII. She had 5 sisters so her family wasn't small. I learned thriftiness from her.

 

[werblessd1s]

OK dacjohns is definitely got it covered.

One thing I did notice the other day when I was opening a can of Salmon, the expiration date was 9/2012. That's a good shelf life. It's fairly cheap at $1.49 and healthy. Since I don't have a fish pond.

If I win the lottery it's at the top of my list, LOL.

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Thank you.

I'm not where I want to be yet but I'm working on it.

Just bought 200 pounds of wheat.

The darn chickens destroyed the garden before I got a fence up. Next year will be beans for drying and canning, 'maters, and whatever else we plant. i might have to use pesticides in the orchard. We lost almost all of our peaches but there is a peach orchard near us. Lost all the plums to the wind.

Even having an orchard and garden is no guarantee. You are still subject to mother nature.

 

[dzook]

Sounds like everyone is thinking seriously about this. My family is not blessed with several acres but do the best we can with our 1/2 acre of rocky sandy earth. We have apple, peach, plum, fig, apricot, lemon, tangerine, & orange trees. We have a very small garden (appx 12x12 feet) from this I've gotten over 130 lbs of tomatoes, enough squash to make our neighbors run from us and green beans to can up about 60 pints. My husband and I have taken classes to become master food preservers. (canning, dehydrating, etc) and I've got 9 chicks brooding in my dining room. I wish I had room for goats but not thats not to be. We also have about 6 months storage. I think that knowledge is the key to improving the quality of our lives in a difficult future.

 

[roosmom]

We do not have food stockpiled, money has always been too tight to do that. And we live an hour from the nearest large city. It is funny how people across this great country of ours are thinking the same thing at the same time. I was just asking the husband if he thought we could survive a year. His response was "if they lift the hunting regulations we would be just fine". Typical man, humans cannot rely on meat alone. I would have to say we are going to be hurting. Not because we cannot can venison, or vegies, not because we cannot kill our food. We can do all of it. We HAVE NOT EVER had the money to stock up on anything. The only thing we have going for us is that we own our home. We have told our kids that if they have to come home to survive then the door is open. LOL, I can just see ALL of us in our house. But you know, the amish do it every day, every year. So can we.
added; this is conservative (and also unreal? minimum)
2 adults
3 pints of canned meat a week
3 pints of vegies a week
3 pints of canned fruits
3 PINTS X 52 = 156 JARS OF MEAT
156 JARS OF VEGIES
156 JARS FRUIT
156 JARS POTATOES
If you have a root cellar, you can keep fruits and vegies, potatoes in there.

 

[hoosier]

When people are starving, I don't think they will pay much attention to hunting regulations....

We also live debt free. (Thanks Dad, for your teachings.) We live on forty acres and also have a stocked pond and a wood stove. We have several months of food stored and I learned how to can growing up. We also have deer, turkey, rabbits, and squirrel that we could harvest.
My biggest concern is being able to feed the animals especially through the winter. Another concern is a bad growing season. We have had two in a row here.

I encourage anyone interested in this theme to check out SufficientSelf.com.

 

[werblessd1s]

dzook ,that's excellent for a 12x12 garden space. You must have some excellent soil.

Storage space is a problem for us too. So we have got to work on that.
Drying foods seem to be a better option as far as storage space goes, instead of a lot of canning. That would be good for city folk that live in small spaces too.
We definitely need to look into getting some fruit trees. I read it takes at least 2 years before they start producing fruit.

 

[MiniDriver]

There are plenty of squirrels around here. We won't starve.

 

[cluckychick]

Has anyone done the angel food ministries? We discovered it 2 months ago and have participated since then. It is an awesome thing. It's basically a food supplemental program. For $30 a month we get $60 worth of food. They have additional food packages that you can also purchase for $20. This is all across the US so if you haven't heard of it, google it.