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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

bob ford wrote:

> Say, a person had only small animals (rabbits?) up to the size of 
> maybe a couple of sheep , a coupla pigs, and a coupla goats, per year
>  (that should be plenty for two-three people?).  With this , and 
> fishing, and perhaps a little hunting, couldn't a couple feed 
> themselves?.

Absolutely.  But it isn't a quick solution.  Hunting takes time.
Breeding rabbits takes planning and time.  There will be losses.  You
will need to time your piglet arrivals with the milk glut from your
goats.  You will have to freeze and can meat, make cheese and process
your gleanings to last you year-round. Taking care of animals is time
consuming as well as laborious to some.  But you can easily feed a
family with the solutions you listed above.  We have done it in the past.

> It can't be that easy though (I'm not referring to ease of work).  If
>  it were, why are so many people working themselves to the bone 
> physically, and mentally, to make money to provide food and shelter.

We still spend on food, even though we don't *have* to.  Ron still likes
his corn chips(homemade salsa tho) and I still haven't figured out how
to make a good mayonnaise.  I buy flour and rice and pasta-even though I
could make it and have made it in the past.  I like my canned sardines
and mussels, too.  Because we haven't expanded the garden in the last
year or two-because I was working outside the home-we've bought most of
our fruits and veggies.  In the best of times, however, we could and
should be providing 100% of that for ourselves.  This was a great year
for fruit crops, but it is our first great year in the last 10.  If you
look in my freezer though, you will see that I have two freezers full of
stuff and only maybe 2% of it is storebought.  Reliance on your own
plots can be sporadic and out of your specific control without a huge
amount of work.  Yes, I could build small fires near the fruit trees and
cover the area with plastic or mist the trees or something, but haven't
done any of that, just let nature take her share.
Ron works primarily to pay the mortgage.  We could live without
utilities I think, but we would have to buy gasoline to pump water from
the well.  Not sustainable at present, but I'm working on some ideas
that combine solar and wind.  Ron works also to provide insurance,
something I need for quality of life, and he needs for life itself,
being that I have severe RA and he is only 1 year post cancer.  If he
did not have to work off the farm, we could do a lot more.
Today, I plan to hunt.  The season has been open for a week now and I
haven't made it out there.  Hunting takes time and patience.  Even if I
go out there everyday, I may only get one or two a year.  This year,
with so much available mast, the deer aren't coming to my pasture to
graze, they are staying on the mountain.  I will have to go to them.
Considering the terrain, that is a bit difficult for me, but not
impossible.  Suffice it to say that I'd prefer not to be out in the deep
woods by myself considering my experience level.  Neighbors' wildlife
cam caught a huge wild hog the other night...that tusked big ol' boy
being less than a mile from me.  Another neighbor saw a BIG bear last
week, also less than a mile from me.  No sightings of cougars this year,
but they have been here in the past.  The hog is most worrisome to me as
they have no fear of people and if you don't hit them exactly right the
first shaky time you pull the trigger, you are toast.  Recall that I
hunt from the ground because I am afraid of heights.  In addition to
natural dangers, this is a popular hunting area for the two legged
predators, too, and a woman alone in the woods might be considered prey
as well.  It is just easier and safer for me to stay close to the house,
in my little treestand platform that is only 5 ft off the ground-it
gives me enough height to see over the grasses to that I can see the
treeline.  So I will sit/stand on my platform and wait and hope, that
some young thing comes off the mountain for a change of diet or to bed
down early for the night.

Bev



--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda