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Fla Mom's avatar

Joel Salatin, a farmer who has become famous for his farming methods and for speaking out on issues related to food and farming, has said that we have basically regulated and zoned ourselves into limited food production. He thinks yards could be turned to food production, even roadside grassy verges. People should be able to keep a couple of hens. Heck, during WWII the gov't was *telling* people to grow gardens and keep chickens, and a large proportion of food *was* produced at home, while large numbers of young, healthy men were gone for years, so those left at home, women, children, and the aged, had to produce war materiel, domestic materiel, and food, too, and they did it. If more food were grown locally, shipping would be less of an issue. People where I live are learning how to can food, and a woman in a nearby community is offering to freeze-dry food in her big machine in exchange for half of the product. Salatin points out that we lack imagination about how to do things differently. I'd add that solutions don't have to be perfect or 100%. If more people did what he recommends, then there'd be less need for industrial agriculture, just like during WWII. And if food were produced for nutrition instead of cost alone, then people could 'sacrifice' and have a cheaper cell phone or car, or eat out a bit less instead. Here's a talk he gave recently: Local Food as Parallel Agriculture

https://freedomlibrary.hillsdale.edu/programs/cca-ii-parallel-economies/local-food-as-parallel-agriculture

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Sunnydaze's avatar

He’s right! The resources are there. The government we’ve created over the decades has taken away our ability to survive and thrive on our own. They forced our dependency through regulations, permits, zoning, and as humans we devoured it instead of fighting for freedom from it. Now we are spoiled with conveniences, lazy and want everything handed to us, and begging for food and necessities because we lack the knowledge and experience to take care of ourselves. We do have to get creative and think outside the box. Thanks for the link!!

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Fla Mom's avatar

And I just came across this today; rabbits are a great choice for growing healthy meat quickly in any setting:

https://livestockconservancy.org/2023/04/10/raising-rabbits-for-meat/

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Dick's avatar

So glad you mentioned this! I was going to myself. This whole topic — how to convert our nation and save our food is one of the most important topics. I hope people are reading this sub-thread! Permafarming & regenerative ag.

Thanks for the link!

Here’s one for you:

(Great publication!) https://www.stockmangrassfarmer.com/articles/

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