Bring Back Sharecropping

[shortstuff]

I was thinking about the way things are happening now that maybe we need to bring back a form of sharing the land.

Fuel and food is limiting travel for many of us.So maybe having a place to park for awhile might be a good idea.

Some of us have land but no muscle,some have muscle and no land.All of us would like to know where our food comes from now.

Not the kind of sharecropping that made most slaves to the land owner,but one that a couple of families could both benefit from.

[shortstuff]

Reply back to Alley Cat from meerkat at.

I was thinking more on the line of sharing the food and semi permanent quarters.

We still have muscle,hehe,just not what we use to be, so need some help to get self sustainable.

Just thought of this today so give me some pointers and I'l let you know if i like them or not.

[lornaschinske]

You can grow a surprising amount of food using raised beds and intensive planting. And then there is "container" gardens. We used to plant out taters in 55 gallon drums (drain holes drilled in the bottom). It was great. We started out with 4 "eyes" spaced out evenly in the barrel,planted in about 12 " soil. Let it grow until the tops are about 6" high, add 4"to 5" soil or compost/peat mixture. repeat until the cold burns back the plant tops. Get a big tarp and spread it out on the ground. Dump the barrel out on the tarp. Pick out the taters and sort according to size. We always lost the bottom layer (rotted). But we didn't have to work so hard to get the taters out of the ground (NC clay is hard), We would lay a screen across the top to keep the pests out of the plants (no spray needed). If we had too much rain, we would lay a board across to limit the amount of water the plants got. If not enough water, we could just water as needed. Each barrel yielded about 50 to 60 lbs of Kennebec taters. I swiped "new" taters thru the growing season so there could have been a higher yield. We traded taters for crops that didn't do so well for us (like corn). I can grow taters, beans, tomatoes, cabbages (red and flat Dutch) and strawberries but I can't seem to grow corn.

Mother Earth News has a lot of info on intensive gardening. I've heard a lot of good things about the book "Square Foot Gardening".

[shortstuff]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

You can grow a surprising amount of food using raised beds and intensive planting. And then there is "container" gardens. We used to plant out taters in 55 gallon drums (drain holes drilled in the bottom). It was great. We started out with 4 "eyes" spaced out evenly in the barrel,planted in about 12 " soil. Let it grow until the tops are about 6" high, add 4"to 5" soil or compost/peat mixture. repeat until the cold burns back the plant tops. Get a big tarp and spread it out on the ground. Dump the barrel out on the tarp. Pick out the taters and sort according to size. We always lost the bottom layer (rotted). But we didn't have to work so hard to get the taters out of the ground (NC clay is hard), We would lay a screen across the top to keep the pests out of the plants (no spray needed). If we had too much rain, we would lay a board across to limit the amount of water the plants got. If not enough water, we could just water as needed. Each barrel yielded about 50 to 60 lbs of Kennebec taters. I swiped "new" taters thru the growing season so there could have been a higher yield. We traded taters for crops that didn't do so well for us (like corn). I can grow taters, beans, tomatoes, cabbages (red and flat Dutch) and strawberries but I can't seem to grow corn.

Mother Earth News has a lot of info on intensive gardening. I've heard a lot of good things about the book "Square Foot Gardening".

Hi Lorna,
Thanks for the planting guide,I will keep this page for further reference.
We have a raised bed,2 of them and a few chickens for eggs.
I was talking about 'sustained 'living off the land and being preprared for the worse.Not making money.
Was going to get barred Rocks for meat and eggs,but too much feed for 10 chickens that size.Would like to get a couple cows too.
What I was talking about was sharecropping but without the enslavement.
It takes alot of work to grow food for animals and people.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by meerkat

... I was talking about 'sustained 'living off the land and being preprared for the worse.Not making money.
It takes alot of work to grow food for animals and people.

We didn't sell our crop. That was a private garden. My last big garden in NC had vegetable beds that were 3 ft wide and 60 ft long. We had 10 beds for veggies and two for strawberries. I started out with 25 plants that I grew 1 year on a door with a 2X4 frame in straight potting soil (we rented). Then the next year I transplanted those 150+ plants (rooted the runners down fro new plants), I always rooted the runners down not cut them off like often advocated.

I canned all the produce, plus what we traded for. I even made sauerkraut. I have a recipe that makes a pickled cabbage by the jar...not salt brined... but the jars do not seal as the cabbage keeps "working". It ruins the rings and you can never reuse the rings. I wonder how well those plastic lids they now make would wok with it? Makes one wonder. But I can't do that now. I have no place to store all those heavy jars. And I don't think I want to have "leatherbritches" hanging around the ceiling of the RV.

If you ever come across it, pickup a book called "Putting Food By" by Ruth Hertzberg, Beatrice Vaughan & Janet Greene 1973

I believe it's still in print. Search for the title.

Covers Canning, Preserves, Drying, Freezing, Root Cellaring (tells how to build a root cellar), Curing and has recipes. The book even tells how to render lard, make soap, make sausage, head cheese (yuk) Pasteurizing milk, making cottage cheese and waterglassing eggs. Even has recipes.

[shortstuff]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

We didn't sell our crop. That was a private garden. My last big garden in NC had vegetable beds that were 3 ft wide and 60 ft long. We had 10 beds for veggies and two for strawberries. I started out with 25 plants that I grew 1 year on a door with a 2X4 frame in straight potting soil (we rented). Then the next year I transplanted those 150+ plants (rooted the runners down fro new plants), I always rooted the runners down not cut them off like often advocated.

I canned all the produce, plus what we traded for. I even made sauerkraut. I have a recipe that makes a pickled cabbage by the jar...not salt brined... but the jars do not seal as the cabbage keeps "working". It ruins the rings and you can never reuse the rings. I wonder how well those plastic lids they now make would wok with it? Makes one wonder. But I can't do that now. I have no place to store all those heavy jars. And I don't think I want to have "leatherbritches" hanging around the ceiling of the RV.

If you ever come across it, pickup a book called "Putting Food By" by Ruth Hertzberg, Beatrice Vaughan & Janet Greene 1973

I believe it's still in print. Search for the title.

Covers Canning, Preserves, Drying, Freezing, Root Cellaring (tells how to build a root cellar), Curing and has recipes. The book even tells how to render lard, make soap, make sausage, head cheese (yuk) Pasteurizing milk, making cottage cheese and waterglassing eggs. Even has recipes.

My goodness!We already have too much to do.I did buy a dehydrator though.I bet you could store lot more food if you dehydrate it.
Thanks for the helpful hints.Right now we are building a greenhouse 18x9.Had to measure by room we had available.

[lornaschinske]

Did you know that Mother Earth News magazine is now available as a digital edition? You are supposed to be able to download a copy of the mag a few days before it hits the stands.