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Post by smwon on Apr 8, 2005 15:25:12 GMT -5
Can a person really live off the land as far as meat and veggies go? This has probably been asked before. Sorry if it has...  |
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Post by naturerules1 on Apr 8, 2005 19:31:36 GMT -5
It matters now much a person knows about nature! You have to be able to succeed in hunts and find the edibles where you are. Storage of food is important! Growing food is taking it farther. I would have to say YES! The natives have been doing it for many years. All A person has to do is become animalistic and really pay attention to what is happening in nature to see what the super market(wilderness) has to offer. Most of us are just used to the tastes of the civilized world and arent ready to adjust. The older we get the harder it is unless inside of us, we have a true yearning to become truely self sufficient. The way I look at it is that we were meant to be with nature and not seperate from it. Alot of people I have met try to get as far away as they can. Those people just would not do well at all, but if a person really watches nature from "inside" they can almost have the food givin to them just as an animal. Just thoughts! We will see soon how good I am for I will be going out to the bush and being without the green($) of the city I will have to be "making it" or I will be in big trouble!
Robbie
PS Remember....Everything we have is from nature!!!
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Post by Freeholdfarm on Apr 8, 2005 23:03:24 GMT -5
Linda, are you talking about foraging for wild foods, or growing your own food? If the latter, definitely yes, we've done it, and so have many other people. It's a lot of work, but worth it. If you were asking about foraging for wild foods, that's a little more iffy. It takes a lot of training and practice, and often a lot of moving around (remember most of the aboriginal peoples on this continent were at least somewhat nomadic, traveling to different food sources as they came in season).
As far as growing your own food is concerned, here is a list of what we have grown in the past, or raised ourselves: almost every vegetable in the seed catalogs (with a few exceptions for things that don't grow where we lived); some herbs; most temperate climate fruits and berries; meat rabbits; chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese for meat and eggs; goats for meat and milk; sheep for meat and wool; a calf which we raised on goat milk and then sold because we were moving and wouldn't be able to take the meat with us; honeybees for honey and wax. We didn't necessarily have every one of these things going on at the same time, but usually the garden, some kind of fruit, at least one kind of the poultry, and the goats. The other stuff got stuck in around the edges here and there! We still bought flours, salt and spices, and a few other odds and ends, and we also foraged for whatever was available in our area. So we were using a mix of food sources, and of course most of the time we were buying feed for our animals, sometimes all of it and sometimes almost all was coming from our own place.
Flours from grains are something I haven't done, and probably never will do now as Juniper and I have celiac disease, and the grains we can eat (corn and rice) don't grow well here. But even in Alaska my father and grandfather grew barley, and down closer to Anchorage I think you could grow oats, as well. Grains aren't hard to grow, but barley and oats are both difficult to hull for human consumption. Then you need some way of milling them -- Lehman's catalog has a good comparison chart of grain mills. Mine is really slow, though it grinds fine, and it won't grind corn or rice very well.
It would be easier to do all this in a milder climate than Alaska, but even up there it can be done. If you are good at hunting, and in an area with game and not too much competition for it, then you wouldn't need to raise so much of your own meat, and in Alaska, you can usually get quite a bit of salmon and not need so much red meat.
Kathleen
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Post by Chuck on Apr 16, 2005 1:44:08 GMT -5
It could be done but it would be a tough one. I think Jenny and I could do it, but it would not be something I would look forward to doing. If you own land you will still need an income-property taxes, hunting/fishing licenses. As far as food and shelter most of us would have to lower our standards. I don't think I am ready for that just yet our homestead is as low as I think I am ready to go. A small 12v system,hauling water from our spring, and a cell phone /internet connection.
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Post by Washkeeton on Apr 16, 2005 21:41:56 GMT -5
Chuck it wouldnt be that hard if you know what you are looking for and where the plants are. The first year in Fairbanks my roomie and I hiked all around. We found lots of plants and wondered what they were. I bought a book called Discovering Wild Plants that has all the edible plants of Alaska. When we went hiking we looked through the book and identified all the plants and berries in the area. We found that there was 2 poisionous plants in our yard. It was easier to start by identifying the poisionous ones first. We discovered that our whole area was edible. I also got a book on cooking berries and the many things you can do with them. The meat thing is easy. Just need a good cook book so you have variety.
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Post by smwon on Apr 20, 2005 13:27:26 GMT -5
Agreeing with wash... I think if a person really knew what s/he was looking for would be a big help. We now live in such a way that really living off the land is hard to do because we have become so removed from it. But I think it could still be done, but doing so would bring a lot of sacrafices. But for someone motivated enough it would be a good learning experiance.
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Post by Chuck on Apr 20, 2005 15:38:04 GMT -5
I did not say it couldn't be done I said it would be difficult and I stand by that. There is much more to consider than knowing your plants. Jenny and I pretty well know what we are looking. We also realize we are Blessed if we have a 100 day growing season. That means we not only have to gather for immediate use, but also for the other 265 days. When we get it in we have to put it up.
Wild plants don't usually grow in one spot like they do in your garden. They also don't usually grow in quantity right in your back yard which means you spend more time finding and getting them in.
Don't get me wrong Jenny and I think that is the best way to live, however we have no illusions that things will be easy. We've learned a lot living in the bush and hopefully will continue to learn.
Something like 96% of the people who won land in the old state homestead lottery assumed it would be easy, now they are living in Anchorage.
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Post by smwon on Apr 27, 2005 14:02:15 GMT -5
LOL Chuck... I agree!!!
I don't have internet, except at the library these days... but I try to check in here. I miss getting the posts regularly. Oh well... see y'all when I can!
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Post by Chuck on Apr 27, 2005 14:47:11 GMT -5
First you now Freehold is pulling the plug, we are losing our two biggest fans.  |
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Post by Freeholdfarm on Apr 28, 2005 16:35:42 GMT -5
Hi, Chuck, I'm not totally gone yet! A couple more days! But I will still check in from the library, if possible. I hope you and Jenny will be able to continue with the magazine and the website -- a lot of people could benefit from them both.
Kathleen
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Post by Kristianna on Apr 28, 2005 22:46:46 GMT -5
Kathleen ~ I just want to say that you'll be missed *very* much! I wish you the best! |
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Post by Jenny on Apr 28, 2005 23:18:46 GMT -5
Hi folks, Wow! seems like forever since I posted anything here. I've sure missed it. I think Chuck gave you an update awhile back, so I won't go into that now. Mainly I just wanted to say goodbye to you, FreeholdFarm (Kathleen) and to you, smwon. You two will sure be missed around here ------ see the home page ;D  I just had to take time to wish you both all the best of God's blessings! Hope we can keep the board going, and get a proper start to the magazine or newsletter soon. Sure is challenging to work out the logistics of publishing it from the homestead, though. Anyway, will both of you keep an e-mail address, and is it the same as you have now? Let us know so we can contact you when (I'm being VERY optimistic here ;D) we get the magazine going. You can send us a PM through the board or e-mail to our regular e-mail address if you like. magazine@AlaskaHomesteading.com Take care, and God bless! Chuck, Jenny, Silas, Ezekiel, and Jedidiah |
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longrider
Musher
A country boy from LA ( lower Alabama)
Posts: 38
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Post by longrider on Apr 27, 2006 0:35:55 GMT -5
Say does anybody have a good reference for a native plant cookbook. I would love to get one WITH pictures ( I'm a guy.)
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Post by smwon on Jul 10, 2006 20:54:10 GMT -5
Huh... your a guy, eh? wouldn't have guessed that! What's the pictures for? Personally I'd need picture too at least to identify the plants. |
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