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Muscovy Ducks: Sustainable Food for Post-TSHTF by Joe M.
Finding a good sustainable food supply post TSHTF has been a difficult and long journey. It’s going to be a lot more than storing dehydrated food, water and having some seeds. Eventually you will run out of food and will need a way to feed your family in sustainable way. What are the best options of doing this? A remote retreat with several different types of livestock and a large garden all sound very nice but is it practical? Let’s go thru all of the options. In a post TSHTF situation we might have to consider mobility. Fire, radiation, large gangs or worse yet, our own government troops coming after us are just a few of the possibilities than could cause you to be highly mobile. I do believe it’s a great idea to have a remote retreat and even better if you live there full time. We also have to worry about security and maintaining a perimeter over all key infrastructure including livestock, barns, gardens, cisterns etc. We will have to maintain noise, light & smell discipline. It’s always better to avoid being a target going undetected. I would rather avoid a firefight at all cost. The sound of a generator or livestock, can be heard a long way off. It will mean I have power and or food. Same holds for maintaining light & smell disciplines. Cooking beacon or meat outside can let others know you have food. Blackout curtains will help with light shinning thru windows. The smell of a fire and or food that is cooking must also be avoided. Stealth is a key goal.
There will probably be long hard work days and or nights. This will cause us to need more calories and good sources of proteins. What are our best options?
Garden
Better have that garden already planted and know how to save seeds. There is a long learning curve with gardening. A large garden is very time consuming. There is a lot of hard work turning over the soil, planting, watering and weeding especially if it has to be done by hand. It usually takes several seasons to establish a good garden. How large of a garden will you need? A typical family of four will need between 1 to 2 acres of farmable land for use as a garden. Growing in pots or larger cans can help with mobility but the yield will be small. Drought, pests, diseases, deer and rabbits can all decrease production. Higher calorie and protein needs will be very hard to meet with a garden. You might be an easy target for a sniper in a large open field maintaining or harvesting your garden everyday. Lot’s of work. So, having a garden as large as you can maintain is good but we will have to supplement it with some higher quality of protein. Pros: provides some necessary nutrition & vitamins. Cons: Can’t provide enough high quality proteins, hard work to maintain, poor mobility.
