Author Topic: Growing food supply while raising large Catholic family? (Read 953 times)

Matthew · « **on:** January 31, 2022, 07:46:41 AM »

Quote from: SeanJohnson on January 31, 2022, 04:57:43 AM

Quote from: SeanJohnson 1/31/2022, 4:57:43 AM
“The ‘J. Edgar Hoover of public health’ has presided over cataclysmic declines in public health, including an exploding chronic disease epidemic that has made the ‘Fauci generation’ -children born after his elevation to NIAID kingpin in 1984- the sickest generation in American history, and has made Americans among the least healthy citizens on the planet. His obsequious subservience to the Big Ag, Big Food, and pharmaceutical companies has left our children drowning in a toxic soup of pesticide residues, corn syrup, and processed foods, while also serving as pincushions for 69 mandates vaccine doses by age 18 - none of them properly tested...

“Under Dr. Fauci’s leadership, the allergic, autoimmune, and chronic illnesses which Congress specifically charged NIAID to investigate and prevent, have mushroomed to afflict 54 percent of children, up from 12.8 percent when he took over NIAID IN 1984...

“What is causing this cataclysm? Since genes don’t cause epidemics, it must be environmental toxins.

“As we shall see [Fauci’s] capacity to curry favor with these merchants of pills, powders, potions, poisons, pesticides, pollutants, and pricks has been the key to Dr. Fauci’s longevity at HHS.” (pp. xxi, xxii)

I hate reading stuff like this, particularly reading about how bad our food supply is, because frankly we are dependent on the local grocery store for our food. Here in south-central Texas, even if we could really get our act together and have the best possible garden this spring, the most we could hope for is some okra, squash, cilantro, onions, spinach, and tomatoes. You can't live on that. Our soil is what it is. We have a multi-month drought every year. We recently moved to "back-to-Eden" style gardens, but last year we discovered the hard way that pill bugs eat LIVING plants as well when they're tender and young. All that mulch has raised a huge crop of pill bugs. Before 2021 I would have told you that pill bugs were decomposers, breaking down dead things into compost. You learn something new every day! So next time we'll put out decoys, as well as tuna cans filled with water (to drown them -- it does work), and pull back the mulch from anything we transplant into the ground.

Anyhow, my point is -- we do the stuff we can. The stuff that doesn't take time. We shun all vaccines. That's an easy decision, one and done, and I believe that's a huge chunk of the damage we're talking about. And we live in the country, so the air is much cleaner than some big city, or even a medium city. And we generally avoid doctors/hospitals/Big Pharma as much as possible. We are firm proponents of "benign neglect".

But pesticide residues? I just hope they don't harm too much, because we're ingesting them every single day and we can't stop. Because of the size of our family and our lifestyle, we avail ourselves of many processed foods. Think about it: Baby Boomers didn't exactly do "mostly home cooking", and they had only 3-4 kids and sent those kids to Public School. Heck, the establishment of boxed/processed foods as a staple of the American diet happened almost completely on their watch. So my family of 9 kids, homeschooled, with all the usual household things to take care of -- yeah, we're even busier. We're still changing diapers around here and dealing with fussy babies -- while we try to homeschool (2) high schoolers and (4) other big kids. And we opted to raise our kids in the country, for various reasons including privacy and space, so taking care of 5 acres adds a bit of work as well.

And we'll leave aside the issue of "the state of the Catholic Church" in 2022 vs. years in the past. Even during the past 50 years, Trads had it better than today -- at least 95% of them had an SSPX chapel within an hours drive, on average. Today, even that is being taken away, and we're on life support in the sacraments department.

But the problem I have is: How do you grow your own food under those circuмstances? Despite having the knowledge (red-pill about Big Ag, pesticides, etc.), and the desire/ideals, I just can't do it. I can't make it work, not even in my mid-40's. It's an area of life I'm pretty ashamed of my performance in. Years ago, when we didn't have land, and just 1 child, I grew tons of vegetables/fruits in the back/front yard. We had fruit trees that produced -- and those were trees that I planted! And we only lived there less than 4 years.

Most of the online videos featuring sustainable living, growing your own food, etc. feature childless couples or at most 1-2 kids. And then there are a few super sustainable almost self-sufficient "compounds" like the Hebrew Israelites. Can't do that either; Far from having other Trad families to work with, I actually have no friends IRL. I have a few ham radio acquaintances, and that's it. In the average month, I don't talk to anyone but my immediate family, my mother-in-law, and maybe a few acquaintances like the guy who fixes our cars, or a couple guys on ham radio. Just our monthly Mass with Bp. Zendejas (or one of the priests working with him), when a few cars show up. I do enjoy talking to fellow parishioners, but they are few. And that's about it.

Matthew · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2022, 07:59:26 AM »

I thought I'd have my kids out there farming when they were old enough -- another reality check.

1. If you don't do it with them, they aren't going to get into it. Also, Nemo dat quod non habet. I'm not a farmer; so I can't easily make my kids into farmers.
2. I had no idea how busy highschool-age homeschoolers would be. I spent 6 hours a day at public school, including travel time. My kids spend more than that doing ACTUAL WORK in homeschool. No travel time or commute, no hall passing time, no time wasting, no school plays about Martin Luther King, no socializing about nothing with their peers, no terrorist or fire drills, no waiting for the teacher to deal with troublemakers and/or slow kids -- and STILL my kids probably spend more time "in school" than a public schooler.

Because we decided to take it seriously. Unlike my little brother, who did 1 hour or less of homeschooling a day. He is currently working as a cashier at Aldi's, at the tender age of 31.

My mother (who started homeschooling when I was a Junior in High School) convinced me that by taking out all the "fluff" I listed above, one could do homeschooling in 1/2 the time as public school. But apparently that isn't so. So I wasn't ready for the reality of homeschooling, I guess.

Ladislaus · « **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2022, 08:21:37 AM »

Quote from: Matthew on January 31, 2022, 07:59:26 AM

I thought I'd have my kids out there farming when they were old enough -- another reality check.

1. If you don't do it with them, they aren't going to get into it. Also, Nemo dat quod non habet. I'm not a farmer; so I can't easily make my kids into farmers.
2. I had no idea how busy highschool-age homeschoolers would be. I spent 6 hours a day at public school, including travel time. My kids spend more than that doing ACTUAL WORK in homeschool. No travel time or commute, no hall passing time, no time wasting, no school plays about Martin Luther King, no socializing about nothing with their peers, no terrorist or fire drills, no waiting for the teacher to deal with troublemakers and/or slow kids -- and STILL my kids probably spend more time "in school" than a public schooler.

Because we decided to take it seriously. Unlike my little brother, who did 1 hour or less of homeschooling a day. He is currently working as a cashier at Aldi's, at the tender age of 31.

My mother (who started homeschooling when I was a Junior in High School) convinced me that by taking out all the "fluff" I listed above, one could do homeschooling in 1/2 the time as public school. But apparently that isn't so. So I wasn't ready for the reality of homeschooling, I guess.

Yes, I've known families that faked homeschooling where it amounted to about an hour a day.

Meg · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2022, 11:14:19 AM »

I recall from when I homeschooled my boys, is that having multiple different-aged children takes time to teach for their different levels of learning. Quite a lot of time.

Getting the gardening thing down after having been raised in a big city is difficult too, for many of us. I don't know how it was that my grandmother could grow just about anything anywhere. She said that the secret ingredient was lots of water, but I've tried that, and it doesn't really work for me.

Since we recently moved to the country, I'm thinking that maybe small ground-level greenhouses 2-3 feet high might work where I am, where the ground is snow-covered in the winter.

SolHero · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2022, 11:36:46 AM »

I think before you can turn kids into farmers, you have to foster love for growing their own things and make it fun. Plus, some of those activities may count as homeschool work.

My son takes pride in seeing his plants grow. He is 4yrs old and I always try to grow something that is exciting for him, like sunflowers or mint (we make cucuмber and mint lemonade), he also has a small apple tree and he loves harvesting. Some mornings he is the one that comes up to me asking me to go with him to check out his plants. He has nice little watering can, gloves and small tools and we do some work.

We used to have chickens until the coyotes and racoons got to them, we also had a couple of encounters with hawks trying to take a chicken or two. I have not brought chickens in again because I do not want to attract predators. The chickens were given a free range a large backyard and they would lay eggs in hiding places and makeshift nests and in the afternoon we would put them into the chicken coop. Every afternoon we would go on an egg hunt.

By the way, I'm not a farmer and my son is learning how to grow his own food along with me. He is not only learning new skills, but learning from me, how to get new skills. I think a problem with public education is that things are given to them instead of fostering curiosity and teaching them how to learn on their own.

My son loves this thing:

Last Tradhican · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2022, 01:24:06 PM »

I worked 23 years all over South America and saw first hand what ACTUALLY happens when the "fit hits the shan". The economically middle and lower class of those countries and all the third world countries have lived with it for like ever.

I have relatives that still live in Venezuela and they are there living now. There are food shortages, work is hard to find, so one has to invent work, nothing new in Third World countries, so they deal with it. Yet none of them are dying or are starving from lack of food, and none of them are farmers. They do not however have snow Winters, a big advantage, one can walk around in a pair of shorts and some flip-flops. People who do have brutal Winters, like in Russia and the Iron Curtain countries have been living for over 100 years under third world country like conditions. The USA and Europe are not going to become a 3rd world country overnight, and if they do it will not be any worse that what they have in say Argentina which has a higher European ethnicity percentage than the USA. What would it be like then?:

Electricity - at worst there will power outages for like 1 - 6 hours at worst.

Automobiles - gas prices will go to European levels.

Food - there will shortages of food for those accustomed to eating what their body does not need, there however will be more than enough food to live keep a healthy diet.

Work - For those on pensions and jobs that are in industries or fields that are luxuries, they will lose their jobs and have to find another employment, whether look for another job or invent work. Those on pensions or savings will have to go back to work if their pensions can't cover their expenses, or they can't cut down their expenses or sell some of their assets.

As far as farming, unless one is a farmer already, it will not provide for you. My wife wanted me to take up farming, but where I live, historically, no one farmed because the soil is basically sand. More importantly taking up farming is like any profession, one just does not switch from being say an accountant or a plumber to being an autobody repairman, it takes years of trial and error to become proficient in another profession enough to make a living of it. One can take up other professions on the side as a second job, or a hobby, or to learn and expand one's knowledge, but it is another thing to become productive enough to provide for one's family solely from a new occupation.

Taking into account the reality of my real world experience in South America, for food, all one has to do is have enough food to cover the days when no food may be available, like in the Winter storm or a Hurricane. If one has a 1 month supply of food, it will only be needed on maybe 3 days a month. My solution to the food shortage was (I did it one year ago):

1) to buy a large floor freezer and stock it with meat. If someone is a hunter up North, they can make a walk-in freezer which a small one is at least 10x the size of my floor freezer.
2) Stock up of dry goods we need
3) Either buy a 1 month supply of freeze dried food for each member of your household or buy a freeze drier and make a one month supply of food and keep going making more. (I opted for the freeze drier but it takes a lot of work and I am having a hard time geting my wife to make extra food, so in retrospect, I recommend others just buy a 1 month supply of freeze dried food. )
4) I bought a wood stove to be able to cook if there is no power (it also serves to heat a house in cold climates.)
5) I installed a deep well hand pump to have water in case power goes out.
6) I got chickens, egg layers. (a waste of money for me because the children treat them as pets, very costly, I'm likely paying $12 per dozen eggs which is 2x what I can buy even organic eggs.)

My wife and some of the children are playing with a vegetable garden. It will not feed me even one day. But, like I said, it is a good hobby and who knows what will come of it for one of the children, maybe they will become farmers or agronomists.

MariasAnawim · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2022, 01:38:05 PM »

Quote from: Meg on January 31, 2022, 11:14:19 AM

I recall from when I homeschooled my boys, is that having multiple different-aged children takes time to teach for their different levels of learning. Quite a lot of time.

Getting the gardening thing down after having been raised in a big city is difficult too, for many of us. I don't know how it was that my grandmother could grow just about anything anywhere. She said that the secret ingredient was lots of water, but I've tried that, and it doesn't really work for me.

Since we recently moved to the country, I'm thinking that maybe small ground-level greenhouses 2-3 feet high might work where I am, where the ground is snow-covered in the winter.

Look into a hoophouse...its simpler and cheaper to build

Miser Peccator · « **Reply #7 on:** January 31, 2022, 05:15:30 PM »

For survival purposes it's good to focus on protein.

Carbs/veg are nice but you can survive just fine without them.

Plus you can learn to forage for veg by learning what plants on your property are edible.

From what I understand, rabbits are probably the easiest source of protein to have on hand and reproduce quickly for ongoing supply. They can survive on hay.

Goats are fairly easy, eat anything and provide milk/cheese.

Viva Cristo Rey · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2022, 06:48:39 PM »

Canned beans is good protein.

Nadir · « **Reply #9 on:** January 31, 2022, 09:53:11 PM »

Quote from: Matthew on January 31, 2022, 07:59:26 AM

2. I had no idea how busy highschool-age homeschoolers would be. I spent 6 hours a day at public school, including travel time. My kids spend more than that doing ACTUAL WORK in homeschool. No travel time or commute, no hall passing time, no time wasting, no school plays about Martin Luther King, no socializing about nothing with their peers, no terrorist or fire drills, no waiting for the teacher to deal with troublemakers and/or slow kids -- and STILL my kids probably spend more time "in school" than a public schooler.

I am wondering why this is. Sometimes kids tend to drag it out, daydreaming etc. Is there too much academic and not enough practical stuff?

I found that if kids have sufficient incentive to get their work done in order to the preferable thing they will get on with it. Of course that preferable thing must be useful and productive, and each kid will have his own inclination, like SolHero's son has to growing plants - a great start - which will pay off. In the long run practical skills are probably going to be more useful in this new world.

DigitalLogos · « **Reply #10 on:** January 31, 2022, 10:11:05 PM »

Quote from: Last Tradhican on January 31, 2022, 01:24:06 PM

Taking into account the reality of my real world experience in South America, for food, all one has to do is have enough food to cover the days when no food may be available, like in the Winter storm or a Hurricane. If one has a 1 month supply of food, it will only be needed on maybe 3 days a month. My solution to the food shortage was (I did it one year ago):

1) to buy a large floor freezer and stock it with meat. If someone is a hunter up North, they can make a walk-in freezer which a small one is at least 10x the size of my floor freezer.
2) Stock up of dry goods we need
3) Either buy a 1 month supply of freeze dried food for each member of your household or buy a freeze drier and make a one month supply of food and keep going making more. (I opted for the freeze drier but it takes a lot of work and I am having a hard time geting my wife to make extra food, so in retrospect, I recommend others just buy a 1 month supply of freeze dried food. )
4) I bought a wood stove to be able to cook if there is no power (it also serves to heat a house in cold climates.)
5) I installed a deep well hand pump to have water in case power goes out.
6) I got chickens, egg layers. (a waste of money for me because the children treat them as pets, very costly, I'm likely paying $12 per dozen eggs which is 2x what I can buy even organic eggs.)

My wife and some of the children are playing with a vegetable garden. It will not feed me even one day. But, like I said, it is a good hobby and who knows what will come of it for one of the children, maybe they will become farmers or agronomists.

I've actually started slowly building up a back stock of food. And my wife is surprisingly on board with it given that the reality of shortages is looming. She suggested we clear out the basement and try to put up cheap shelving to store food.

Meg · « **Reply #11 on:** February 01, 2022, 01:16:33 PM »

Quote from: MariasAnawim on January 31, 2022, 01:38:05 PM

Look into a hoophouse...its simpler and cheaper to build

Thanks, I'll do that.

Author Topic: Growing food supply while raising large Catholic family? (Read 953 times)

Matthew

Growing food supply while raising large Catholic family?

Matthew

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Ladislaus

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Meg

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SolHero

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Last Tradhican

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MariasAnawim

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Miser Peccator

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Viva Cristo Rey

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Nadir

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DigitalLogos

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Meg

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