Living off the land..in Brooklyn NY.
Howard figured his farm could provide him enough food for amonth late in the summer and began preparing in March. He builta chicken coop, dug a drainage system to water his crops, spentthousands of dollars on topsoil to cover his yard’s lead-rich,nutrient-poor clay and bought rabbits, ducks and 25 chicks.
He soon learned it was hard work — seven days a week, sixto 16 hours a day, tending his farm nearly every day until theexperiment of eating his food began in mid-August.
When I grew up in Brooklyn you would be amazed how many families, esp. the Italian ones, had intensive gardens on tiny plots of backyard. Tomatoes were the big grower although I recall seing guys growing corn on the edges of parking lots. And tehres always stories of people raising chickens in apartments in the poorer neighborhoods.
raising chickens in apartments in the poorer neighborhoods.
In the south Bronx, not only did they raise chickens, but it was (and probably still is) possible to attend cock fights on a regular basis. Its a cultural thing.
During WWII, everyone was encouraged to have a Victory Garden in their yard, often in their front yard, to support the war effort by growing some of their own food. I was really surprised when that practice pretty much disappeared right after the war.
My mother rented some land for a large garden, though, so we still had good fresh veggies. It was a lot of work, as we kids had to haul water up the hill in our little red wagon. I remember the great fresh corn, tomatoes, peas, green beans, carrots and radishes better than I do the hard work. The garden finally went bye-bye when the owner decided to build on the lot.
Gardens
When I was a kid the church down the street had a bunch of extra land and they divided it into sections and allowed people to claim a plot and grow vegetables there. There was no charge, and you didn’t have to kick back food or profits to the church if you grew food there. I remember being conscripted as a young boy to have to work in it on summer evenings with my mother, and it was a decent supplement to my families’ table.
I read about that and was very impressed at the effort he put into the project – I was also happy to see that he admitted that it was hard work. So many of these folks seem to make it sound like it is just so simple…
On an unrelated note, I stumbled across this website and thought you might be interested if you’d not seen it before:
http://survivalacres.com/index.html – lots of non-perishable goods from several different manufacturers.
any size garden plot
can yield lots of greens and veggies. my own plot is 4 by 8 feet, argumented with extra containers (3) raising small tomatoes, chard, peppers, even squashes. have seen gardens placed on rooftops. and don’t forget wild edibles out there too. food in a belly beats hunger anyday. Wildflower 07