Comments on: Episode-337- Individual Sovereignty and Defining Liberty

By: Ragzilla

Ragzilla — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:41:53 +0000

This was a great show. Very sobering for me. Freedom isn't always what you think it is. I am going to have to set a note to listen to it yearly. Thanks Jack.

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By: Doc

Doc — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:50:10 +0000

These are some of my favorite shows, your passion is so apparent, and these shows are when we can tell that you truly do care about your fellow man and really want to help him succeed in living a better life. You are a true inspiration Jack. Thank you so much for what you do.

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By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Jack Great show! Thanks. Do you mean bifurcate? You've said it a few times and my wife the grammar teacher is getting to me. Sorry!

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By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:51:33 +0000

One of the best shows ever, Jack. I really enjoyed this one!

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By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:45:46 +0000

I think I understand now - the garden can provide enough fruits, veggies, and grains (I hope), but you still must consider protein and dairy items. That makes sense. Thank you for the reply.

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By: Modern Survival

Modern Survival — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:42:17 +0000

@Brad, You can produce a lot of your own food, with enough space you may even produce close to 100% of your vegetable/fruit in take but to produce 100% of everything is very difficult. The key is to use your personal production as a way to offset needs. Add to this foraging, preserving and buying from local suppliers and you can get 80-90% of your intake form your local community. That said I am still going to want the occasional cup of Columbian coffee, bottle of Malbec from Argentina or big old juicy pineapple from Honduras. Getting 100% of your diet from a small back yard would be nearly a full time job. So again my advice is to set goals, Produce X% from your direct gardening/permaculture Produce Y% from foraging Produce Z% from activities like hunting and fishing Start with small goals, say 15% from a garden, 5% from forage and 5% from fish and game. Seems very small but even if you take a year or two to learn and adjust and make it happen you just created 25% more liberty in your life. Living in the suburbs I produce about 80% of our vegetable needs in summer and about 20% of them in winter. I expect to do far better when we move and I have more to work with. What I have learned is once you get started you can slowly grow and eventually you are really surprised by your own results.

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By: Two Blues Mama

Two Blues Mama — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:40:34 +0000

Hi – my answer is for Brad (please -jumping up and down – please, let me answer Brad!) First let me say you definitely need to join the forum since this question can be answered by participating there. Lots of info! And second I can assure you, you can grow a ton of food on small acreage (Episode 287 – Small Land Tracts). We live on a little more than 1/3 acre and of that 1/3 is garden area (maybe 60 ft. by 75-80 ft). This past summer we grew nearly 900 lbs. of food when everything was finally harvested. We grew green beans, 2 kinds of corn, carrots, beets, 5 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, 5 kinds of winter squash, zucchini, summer squash, peppers (bell, japalenos and anaheims), potatoes and probably a bunch of stuff I’ve forgotten. We also have strawberry beds, raspberry bushes, peach and apple trees. All of this food was either dehydrated, frozen, canned or eaten. We also have chickens for eggs. You should check out the book “Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholemew. It doesn’t take a lot of land just planning, sweat and a desire to provide for yourself (if I could highlight this sentence I would). Involve your family – teach your children to garden – they love to eat what they grow. But last most people cannot grow everything they eat (we come darn close – if I could only have a goat I would totally have it made!)unless you truly live on a farm ie – meat, milk, cheese, etc. And unless I missed something I think Jack’s point was you need to be prepared by planning for the things you cannot grow or will not grow as a time is coming when we will see shortages of food. All it takes are the trucks not getting through. I live where we have the potential for blizzards and I have seen the grocery store shelves empty and people fighting over items. Hope this inspires you – TwoBluesMama

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By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:02:36 +0000

In the show you mentioned that it is very difficult to produce all your food from a home garden. This seems contrary to what I heard previously. I know very little about gardening and home food production. I am hopeful to be food independent some day, but I want to have realistic expectations. How much land would you need in order to produce enough food to sustain a family of 3 or 4?

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By: Darlene

Darlene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:36:51 +0000

Great show! This was the reason why government and corporate influence pushed to erradicate the family or subsistance farms many years ago.

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By: Lonna

Lonna — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:36:33 +0000

Another excellent podcast, Jack! I believe you have stated it better than anyone has before. Thank you!

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