sustainable food - people per acre of food

[benskin79]

My mother and I lived primarily on what we planted in our little 2'x10' plot in the hills of Southern Indiana, supplemented by wild mulberries and a few crab apples. We did have a 20 lb. bag of rice to last us through the fall, and we started with a loaf of bread for the first week. With no transport and no help from anyone else, we survived a pretty harsh winter. True, we didn't get the "recommended" calorie intake, but we didn't suffer from malnourishment like we are today in our TX city.

[scrm1]

I just want to know what the heck happens to the lady's hair from :50 to :51?

[onebigkahuna69]

a very honest video and i would say what looks too good to be true in the other videos most times that.

[svennbreng]

You are very cool Americans. If the economy dumps, you will still eat well, God bless.

[kryptokrow]

you should raise rabbits for food

[funnyorgtfo]

I really appreciate your work Paul.

[cakeonaplate]

this is good. I wonder what the ratio of calories to land is for crops like rice, wheat and such. To see how many people an acre of rice paddy would support. Or the land/calorie ratio of meat production is.

[patrickhenrysghost]

"Realizing how niave we were". Smartest thing I've ever heard a liberal say.+1 for that. Seriously.

[ThePyrosfx]

Thanks for that, refreshing to see some honest calculations.

[KevinRayKnight]

@RDjim What? what kind of "community" doesnt believe in providing for your family. I think you'd win in the argument of human rights and liberties.

@Paul, Hope you guys are doing well, I hope to be were you are very soon. Are you guys growing potatoes? I know its a blan diet with alot of starch, but potato and onion soup with a pin of flour to thicken it up has plenty of calories. I've lived just fine for months at a time on this diet alone. Take care!

[surviveandthrivetv]

Glad you guys took the time to make this video. It will really take a community to reach true sustainability

[remsat10]

I really liked the technical and vital information and input I got from this video to consider when buying land. Thank you! I'm looking into buying land in Okinawa and was pondering how much I would of needed.

[wizdumb420]

add chickens and rabbits

[radiowwww]

I love you! You are my hero. (My heroes these days are all farmes). You show how a single person can make their own vegan lifestyle, withtheir own hands. There is no mega plans, and no flower pots, just good old gardening. THANX!

[ibboat]

Nice video as always. Thanks.

[ckpeltomaa]

Do you also do sprout eating? Do you dry and or can? Do you also forage in the public woods and fields?

What do you grow?

[norristh]

@ckpeltomaa We do lots of foraging for fruit and nuts since our trees haven't started bearing yet and plenty of people around town don't use what they've got. We canned a few years ago, but have switched to dehydration since it requires less energy. Mostly we've dried fruit and berries. You can see a lot of info on what we grow at the farmerscrub blog Paul linked to under the video.

[RDJim]

I'd be interested to know what Norris and Tulsey's neighbors think about their gardens. There's a huge difference in the looks of the green-scape of these closely packed the houses. Our community doesn't even allow gardens.

[paulwheaton12]

@RDJim my impression when i was there was that the neighbors were starting to emulate norris and tulsey.

[norristh]

@RDJim We have something of a cohousing community going here; many neighbors doing similar things. Some folks call the eight-block stretch along this street "Permaculture Alley." No one's given us any trouble about our garden. The neighbors across the street bought their house a couple years back in part because they liked the view out the kitchen window - of our yard!

Norris

[RDJim]

@norristh That's wonderful Norris, you must be so proud of what you've done. The house itself is amazing inside and out. When I saw the note Paul put up that it's for sale I had to check it out. I'm guessing you've decided you want more land? That's my goal for retirement - a sustainable bit of land with a nice little house. Tough to find both and I'm not ready for a fixer-upper. Best of luck to you both.

[norristh]

@RDJim Thanks for the kind words on the house and our work! We are moving to Hawaii to get some acreage and live in a climate much easier for becoming self sufficient. You can learn more about that project by clicking on the "Tribe" label on the right hand side of my farmerscrub blog.

[RonRay]

This is a real eye opener on the amount of land I thought would be needed to provide for any given number of people. Approximately two acres per person (conservatively)... Wow!

[jeanineadele]

If Helen would be willing, it would be great to have her talk about what a beginner farmer would want to plant to generally meet their families needs and a little for trading. The basic crops. I will be starting my third year this spring trying to have a veggie garden. I had a tree co drop a load of chips last June so I'm hoping with the horse manure I can have a decent garden this year. I'm in SC and had rock solid orange clay.

[RocketCityGardener]

Very informative. Knowing the challenges your facing can be just as important as knowing the possibilities you have in making a plan.

[imblessed62]

it can be done with the drive to make it happen. and lots of effert.

go to there channel watch the video called

The Urban Homestead California Heartland (PBS)

and look at there blog it is listed under more info lots of info on there website and blog

[paulwheaton12]

@imblessed62 are they doing it with zero inputs to the land?

[tomohern]

@imblessed62 - The Derveas family does not grow all their own food. The grow a lot of it and then a lot of high quality produce that they can sell to restaurants so that they have money to buy their staples. They also buy most of their feed for their chickens and goats. They also live in LA which has a year round growing climate not found in 95% of the US.There is a difference between what they do and what this video talks about in being Self-Sufficient on your own land.

[imblessed62]

go look at the videos of the channel name dervaes they grow 10,000 pounds of food on one tenth acre in Urban pasadene,CA growing 350 different veggies,herbs,fruits,berries.a­long with raise ducks, chickens,goats, and even make there own biodiesel to run there truck they use very little energy all the kitchen tools are crank non electric. theyare doing some great things living in suburb and selling to local resterants. go look at there channel we can all learn from them.

[paulwheaton12]

@imblessed62 is that not covered in this video?

If you bring in 400 tons of inputs, you can produce 20 tons of food. But is that sustainable?

[ahnamay]

It's surprising how many people miss the point that this video is about growing food with no external inputs. Most other examples are grown with organic matter that is brought in from other places.

[paulwheaton12]

@ahnamay true! after all, if we ALL try to be sustainable, then those off site resources will become scarce.

[SuzyB1988]

Even if it is not enough to feed somebody, it is really wonderful what they did to their lot.

[rubbernecker13]

Check out the johnjeavonsgrowbio channel. By growing the right ratio of high calorie crops, grain/compost crops, and vegetable crops you can self sustainably feed 10 people an acre or something crazy like that. Just takes a little planning.

[paulwheaton12]

@rubbernecker13 with zero land inputs?

[kallzheimerable]

@rubbernecker13 they´ll finally eat themselves...

[naturalchristy]

i want to do this but i have not started how start

[Caelidh]

Love the Kucinich t-shirt! Yay!!

[MrDan27611]

Nice video Paul. A little reality to all the hype.

[darenconnolepainting]

Nice to see that they were honest about their results about growing food in urban areas.

[rickvanman]

Great video and research. What would you say would be the best plants to grow to provide the highest calorie value for the space they take up? I.e. What are the most efficient plants to grow?

[paulwheaton12]

@rickvanman sunchokes! We have a video about that - and it has norris in tulsey in it.

[ellisfamilyokc]

@paulwheaton12 They also provide lots of organic material. What Jeavons would call a carbon crop. They defiantly have a place in my backyard food system.

[rickvanman]

@paulwheaton12 thanks for the info - i'll check it out :o)

[marthale7]

I have come to the same conclusions. It does not make sense to try to be 100% sustainable. Yes, you could build your own computer from your ground from scratch, but you would not be able to do it as cheaply as the present industry can produce it. It is better to choose to sell your skills or a crop that is high value for which you can trade for items like grains which do not grow as well in your area.

[paulwheaton12]

@marthale7 I think "better" is subjective and relative. The key to this video was to figure out that if there are zero inputs, how much land would you need to sustain yourself.

My thinking is that working toward full sustainability is better than throwing in the towel as "impossible".

[DecemberRaine]

@marthale7 Cost of calories per hour is not an effective way to measure productivity, especially if the plants and animals from sustainable farming is healthier.

[patrickhenrysghost]

@marthale7 True. If these mush-minded eco-weinies had there way, we'd be a 3rd world country.

[ianlacey]

Very interesting. While its great to see just how little we need to live and obviously the less we can manage on the more accessible self sufficiency is, it becomes a lot less pressing an issue if we can let go of some domestic expectations. I've read that the combined lawns in the USA alone make up enough space to have 10 acres of productive land per person for 14 billion people. There is more to population growth than running out of land, there is using it efficiently to think about too :)

[glockman1727ak47]

Great video Paul thanks for sharing. And the upload.

[PhoenixCustomPrimiti]

Good information, but I think the old book 5 acres and independence is a good springboard along with earthbox technology and French Intensive to maximize your production. Also, humanure/composting toilets will bring composted organic material to your beds, but until city planners and some people get over their prejudices with regards to dealing with wastes (water and soil) it will be a matter of bringing in material from the outside to help enrich and add volume to your ground.

[MrSchpankme]

Hominy or nixtamal is dried maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali in a process called Nixtamalization. You can feed a family of four, per day, on four (4) heads of dried Corn on the Cob. The issue with Home Grown (farming your garden) is replacing the Nutrients taken from the land, with an outside source. B A L A N C E

[MrSchpankme]

see French Intensive (copied from the Cherokee) or Bio-Intensive Farming. The use of Green house and/or Aquaponics can double your yield in a very small area. Also, using BIOCHAR can double your corps yield.

[iianantir1]

I love the real world examples here. It lets me know that I should not expect to grow all my own food from my suburban lot. Instead I will focus on growing the maximum dollar value of food I can to reduce my grocery bill as much as possible.

[imblessed62]

@iianantir1 exactly my way of thinking grow what cost more in grocery store so reduce my cost of grocery bought things

[Gringoburrito]

smart stuff



[sok8888]

This is why people trade.... self sustainability is a myth. 30,000 years of human experience cannot be wrong.

[Uriel1816]

Good realistic information.

[wheelori814]

what about the guy in cali that feeds his family of 5 on a quarter of an acre i think! of course being able to grow food year around helps lol.

[earthkeyper]

It's nice to see a realistic perspective. Being someone on the path, it's not that simple to achieve total self sufficiency.

[sensibuddz]

great info, thank you. it never was about growing ALL the things one needs but rather focusing on what we do well and then trading our excesses with our neighbors with whom we have spent an equal amount of time nourishing healthy relationships. nothing in this universe is totally independent; as our garden grows so must our compassion.

[CMLovejoy]

So how do we sustainably live on an average American urban city lot?



[JRSKICK1]

..:)..

[PeterEllerArtGuy]

great video! a real eye opener 

[IndependentJo]

Great video Paul! I would love to see the full 60 minute version. Amazing pictures if you head over to the farmerscrub blog. I can't wait to have something similar setup.