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  • From: Benny H <makesensi@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] How Much Land Does It Take To Become Food Self-Reliant
  • Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 20:55:10 +1000

Is this an advertisement for BioIntensive?

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 8:54 PM, <lbsaltzman@aol.com> wrote:

> Put that way I couldn't agree more.
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marjory <forestgarden@gvtc.com>
> To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tue, May 11, 2010 11:33 am
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] How Much Land Does It Take To Become Food
> Self-Reliant
>
>
> Larry,
> I totally agree about the need for strong community. But communtiy
> ithout members having self-reliance is in serious trouble. Uh, like
> he situation we are in now, for instance. You have to start
> omewhere. Why not your own backyard?.
> - Marjory
>
> LBSALTZMAN@aol.com wrote:
> 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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>
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