"If America could be, once again, a nation of self-reliant farmers, craftsmen, hunters, ranchers, and artists, then the rich would have little power to dominate others. Neither to serve nor rule. That was the American Dream." Edward Abbey

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[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

That sounds nice at a glance, but look into sustenance farming. Feeding yourself on a farm takes a ton of land and labor, and you're gonna work your ass off just to eat, and be in debt trying to get the equipment you can't make yourself, because you can't farm AND make everything you need.

And then we just recreated pre-Industrial society, where there certainly was massive class inequality. At least our "elites" don't get to fuck our wives before you marry anymore.

It's not much, but it's something.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

No way dude. We just saw that article where it takes less than 1 acre to feed a family of 4. It does not require equipment or debt. No it's not meeting 100% of your food needs, but it's damn close. Add some backyard meat rabbits and bob's your uncle.

[–]raven9 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah you can easily provide a lot of food by doing that. Even with half an acre. I have never actually tried to be self sufficient but I plant a vegetable patch each year. Potatoes corn tomatoes bell peppers onions carrots etc. This year judging by the ones I dug up already I bet I got at least 300lbs of red potatoes out there in the ground. I have about 30 tomato plants, loads of green tomatoes ripening. Corn is already looking good. I got about 20 bell pepper plants still in pots. All of that cost less than 20 dollars. I make my own compost so I dig that in and add one bag of walmart 10-10-10 fertilizer. I bought a bucket of seed potatoes from a farmer for ten dollars. By the time i cut them into chunks to plant there was about 100 potato plants. The only tools I use to do that is a digging fork and a spade.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

I know, I think I posted that article and it was brought up in the comments that may not have been a realistic figure. Online I see higher figures ranging from 1-4 acres per person, and up to 10 on one comment here from a dude with 80 acres. He mentions it is due to his location.

[–]Zapped 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Grass lawns are a product of the wealthy showing that they don't need to grow food. In days past, yards were used for produce and livestock.