permaculture

[jamesdavid Sneed <harvestcircle@hotmail.com>]

Communities are made up of individuals....strong communities are made up of 
strong individuals, weak communities are made of individual too weak to stand 
on their own.

> From: LBSALTZMAN@aol.com
> Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 11:05:55 -0400
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] How Much Land Does It Take To Become Food 
> Self-Reliant
> 
> An interesting article but I see one thing missing and that is  community.  
> We should be thinking how communities whether neighborhoods,  villages, or 
> intentional communities become self-sufficient, not how individuals  become 
> self-sufficient.  
> 
> Larry Saltzman
>  
>  
> In a message dated 5/11/2010 6:33:40 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
> forestgarden@gvtc.com writes:
> 
> How much  land does it take? 
> 
> When thinking of becoming self-reliant, the  questiona risies "how much 
> land do I need to be able to sustainably grow  enough food for my 
> family?"  The exact answer to that question  depends on several factors, 
> but you can learn a lot, and make a pretty  good estimate, by looking at 
> some scenarios that span the various  alternatives. 
> 
> Lets start first off with the almost magical dream of  the pure 
> hunter/gatherer.  I often hear this one from those concerned  about a 
> collapse of civilization.  The shit hits the fan and you take  your rifle 
> and a few supplies and head out to the wilderness to live off  the land.  
> Just how much land does it take to support you without  destroying all 
> the wildlife and plant populations?  How much area do  you need in order 
> live /sustainably/ as a hunter/gatherer?
> 
> Since  there are so few actual hunter/gathers left alive on the planet, 
> and the  few places where they do still exist tend to be jungles which 
> look nothing  like anything in North America, we will turn to 
> anthropological  data.  The quick and easy answer is that traditional 
> peoples used on  average, about 10 square miles per person.  10 square 
> miles is 6,400  acres - that is for one person.  There are numerous 
> studies and  authors that cite this number and one of the most accessible 
> is Jared  Diamond author of the popular title /Collapse: How Societies 
> Choose To  Fail or Succeed/.  Another excellent source is /Tending The 
> Wild:  Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's 
> Natural  Resources/ which is a wonderful book detailing how sustainable  
> wild-crafting is more about taking care of the land than simply taking  
> stuff.  California's lush and diverse landscapes were able to support  
> some of the highest native population densities known in North America  
> with the highest being almost 1.5 people per square mile living on the  
> coast of the Santa Barbara channel.  The plant and animal communities  in 
> the Santa Barbara area have been largely destroyed by modern peoples  and 
> that density is no longer possible today of course.  As another  
> comparison, desert regions of California had roughly 1 person per 12.5  
> square miles. 
> 
> Before we head off into other more obtainable land  use scenarios, lets 
> pause for a moment to acknowledge that in addition to  having access to a 
> huge tract of land for living the hunter/gatherer  lifestyle, you also 
> need at least a decade to learn the many, many, skills  of living such as 
> tracking and hunting, trapping, botany, weather cycles,  fiber and 
> cordage, shelter, tool making, fire starting, tanning, and so  much more. 
> 
> OK, so you won't be going that primitive.  What about  you growing your 
> own food in gardens, food plots, orchards, livestock, and  perhaps a bit 
> of hunting?  Agriculture has gotten us the these high  population levels 
> so far anyway, hasn't it?  Yes it has, and small  scale agriculture is 
> definitely the way to go for most people.  So  how much land are you 
> going to need for that? 
> 
> The research to the  answer to that question was started back in the 70's 
> by a very forward  thinking man named John Jeavons.  The work has 
> continued since then  and a method developed into a system called 
> "Bio-Intensive  Gardening".  The Bio-Intensive method has been 
> implemented worldwide  to alleviate hunger and malnutrition.  There is a 
> wealth of detail in  the entire Bio-intensive method, but the short 
> answer to how much land you  need can be summarized as approximately 
> 8,000 sq.ft. for a complete diet  for one person (you need 4,000 sq/ft. 
> of actual growing space and at least  4,000 sq.ft. for pathways and 
> access).  That is also assuming you  have four growing seasons per year.  
> So if you can only get two  growing seasons, then you need to double the 
> space needed per  person.  For reference, an acre is 43,560 sq.ft.  So in 
> a more  southern climate, you could theoretically support about 5 people 
> per acre.  
> 
> The absolute best reference for the Bio-Intensive method is the book  
> /How To Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land  
> Than You Can Imagined /by John Jeavons.  And for another comparison,  
> with data taken from Jeavons book, the average U.S. diet with  
> conventional farming requires 15,000 to 30,0000 sq.ft. and is done in  
> such a way that it diminishes soil -- i.e. it is not sustainable.  
> 
> So small scale agriculture is definitely going to be your best  bet.  My 
> personal experience is that 2 acres in a temperate region  will 
> completely wear you out and is enough room to comfortably support a  
> family of four with a variety of food sources such as gardens, orchards,  
> small livestock, and wild crafting.  You can still do a lot in less  
> area, and of course, everyone always wants more.  Some caveats I've  got 
> to throw in there is you definitely need about a decade of experience  to 
> homestead like this, and you also need enough water.  An excellent  
> source for seeing a what a diverse sustainable homestead on small  
> acreage looks like is the video tutorial package titled /Food Production  
> Systems for a Backyard or Small Farm./  The video they have created  
> shows in good detail the systems they've setup to generate a lot of  
> calories per year, how they did it, and why.  It is a good example by  
> folks who are actually living it.  
> 
> 
> 
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