In today's video I talk about food shortage and a frugal one-year emergency food storage. Whether you have already gotten started or you're looking for more information on where to start, you'll likely find something valuable in this video. While it's important to start a one-year food storage and I certainly agree you should do that first and foremost, I think there's more value to be found in creating as much self-reliance as possible and I'm going to talk about how I have created a buffer between me and the food shortages everyone is currently facing.
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In addition to emergency food storage, I think it's more valuable to attempt to create your own food on a regular basis. A simple garden can produce a lot of food and many people guess that 1000sq ft should supplement one person's fruit and vegetable needs for a year. There are many variables that come into play, but this is a decent rule of thumb. In the picture above I have cucumbers that are starting to come in and below I have many broccolis that are well on their way to harvest.
Just outside of my hoop house I have a hügelkultur that's covered in grass, corn, squash, turnips and more. I'm hopeful most of my corn will make it to harvest this year. My first attempt fell short, and I have succession planted some corn but most of it was started about as early as possible.
Between my hoop house and my geothermal I have around 100 potato plants. I should be able to harvest 6-10 potatoes each plant and that could yield upwards of 1000 potatoes. I've never had that many potatoes or grown that much food in my life! I'm looking forward to this harvest.
Behind me in this picture you can see my hoop house garden. It's pretty well wide open with a shade cloth on top. This works well for growing when it's hot, soon I'll cover it in plastic and hand plant fabric inside to prepare it for fall. I'll be able to grow all year long. To the left you can see corn in my raised bed garden then my chicken coop and finally my first hügelkultur.
In addition to gardening for my fruit and vegetable needs, I am also growing pig and goat. In this image you can see my boar pig and the smaller male will be the first pig I process. I currently have 9 pigs total and should be able to harvest about 40lbs of meat each month on average at this rate. I can easily increase that when I am able to grow more of their feed.
I have two goats that will be ready to harvest soon. They should yield about 40lbs each. Thier mom is pregnant currently, once she has kids and I process them, I'll process her and phase out the goats to focus on pigs.
Anyhow, I wanted to share a bit about how I'm continually turning out more food on my homestead. I don't use fertilizer or anything crazy, everything is done as pure and organic as possible. I have a freezer that I can store as much food as will fit and I'm working on completing a earthbag root cellar. I'll be able to store food in there year-round and it should stay below 50 but not freeze.
My earthbag root cellar is 6x6x8 which is large enough for a small family. The deepest 4 feet is just carved into the caliche soil which is nearly as hard as concrete and the top 4 feet is made up of earth bags. There is barbed wire between each layer of bags. I leveled each layer then pounded rebar from top to bottom every 3 feet. The shelves are built in for structure. I built cleats into the wall to hold the ladder in place. The top will be covered in railroad ties that have been ripped in half. The berm of sand will keep water from accumulating. I'll build a manhole entrance at the top and cover the ties will kills then cover everything with a tarp, sandbags, and more sand.
I wanted to inspire some of you to grow your own food and for those who do not yet have a one-year emergency supply of food, I'm going to give you a very affordable and simple solution.
Calculate your caloric daily need. The average male adult needs 2000 calories each day. 2000 calories x 365 days is 730,000 calories you'll need for an entire year. The easiest and most affordable way to do this is to simply split 730,000 in half so 365,000 calories of rice and 365,000 calories of beans. With a garden as well, you should have no problem getting the nutrients you need. 365,000 / 590 cal which is the amount in rice = 620lbs of rice for one year. On Amazon you can get rice for $20 for 15lbs so 620 / 15 = 41 you need to buy 41 packages at $20 each = $820. Let's do the same for beans. 365,000 / 450 = 810. 810lbs of beans on Amazon is 810 / 12lb = 68bags x $20 = $1360 in beans. $1360 + $820 = $2180 for a one-year supply of rice and beans.
Of course, supplement the prices and cal of rice and beans you find and the cost. This is not meant to be a superior food storage but one of the most affordable and simple ways to get one going. I would recommend eating out of this storage anytime you can and replacing what you use. It will keep it fresh, and you will never go hungry. I hope you found this blog helpful. You can watch the video above for the added information in a YouTube video. Thanks for stopping by and please visit my links to support my channel.