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  • From: Marjory <forestgarden@gvtc.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] wild foods ... how many acres per human?
  • Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:00:11 -0600

Hi,

thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. we are lucky enough to have 75 acres to care take, and i am well aware that without some form of agriculture, it cannot support even one human alone. on the other hand, with a well and careful management, i believe we can support about 10 humans, while increasing the vitality of the overall area.
thank you again.

marjory






negiliblek wrote:
Hello Marjory,

I can't answer the acres/human question but hunter/gatherer is something I've
tried twice for a about a week each try. So, while I can't speak to
wintering, I can give a feel of it and hope it doesn't just sound like
rambling.

In a desert similar to the Sonoran (banna yucca, agave, cane fruit cholla,
prickly pear, juniper berries, velvet mesquite, pinon pine, wild onion, and
indain potato, and four wing salt bush), a single individual could eat well
enough. WITH THE FOLLOWING CONSIDERATIONS:

-the amount of food varies greatly with location. A three mile difference in
location could mean the difference between life and death This means you'd
have to roam; leaving a good area to regenerate for a season in desert
locations (maybe 60 days in higher rain/foliage growth rate areas like the
Pacific NW)

-when things ripen at a given location is also paramount (I've found mesquite
pods ready to eat at 2,000 feet but still green less than a mile away at
3,000 feet. Pinon puts off a good crop every 4 years)

-and hope you're not vegetarian if you don't do some food preservation for
the winter -even in the desert, the nutrients of the plants are sucked back
in to the roots

-As Larry pointed out, you must also be a caretaker or else you'll ruin your
habitat even if you roam. This means thinning out the weaker stock when you
eat, removing a plant if too many are grouped together in one spot (happens
often as bear and elk scat sprout many species in a very small diameter).
When you eat, swallow a few of your uncooked mesquite beans/prickly pear
seeds/cane fruit cholla seeds and take care where you shit -you're planting
next season's food. It might not hurt to build small compost piles in
micro-habitats your wild foods like.

-Places that have been cattle grazed are truly places to starve to death
unless you like beef.

-mono culture farming are also death lands as the ditches and roadsides are
full of pesticides, insectisides, and other physical trash.

As a farmer, you can look at each acre and see how plentiful your crops are and even calculate the number of people you can feed that season.
In wild foraging where a body must roam, the crop isn't easily seen and
varies greatly from place to place, such calculation requires years of
experience that is only good for a very specific location with in a given
area like the Sonoran.

If you have land and are wondering how many wild foragers it will support,
begin to learn every single wild plant on your land,if it's edible, and how
to prepare it. Then you'll know which ones you'll want to encourage a lot and
how many plants it'll take you of the variety you've chosen to feed a given
number of people.

I've told you everything I know -I'll go back to sleep now :)



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