permaculture

[Josh <serjosh@gmail.com>]

the general rule of thumb in many survivalist circles is 1 acre per
person.  As everyone has said, where you live makes this number vary.

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 6:55 AM, Benny H <makesensi@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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