thoughts on farming

THOUGHTS ON FARMING
Long term readers are pretty much tuned into my frequency, to their sorrow knowing every nook and cranny of my thought process. They also know I like to repeat myself since I’m convinced that most of you are simply not listening very well, or at a minimum the new guys read a passing comment of mine but are not familiar with my thoughts behind it. So today I wish to amplify my rational for not covering farming in much detail. It is kind of like my gun choices, there are many reasons why I advocate certain ones and not others. Unless you read more than one article on it you might not fully understand what I am saying. Which of course is my fault as an author for not communicating better.
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Farming is a great skill and very much needed. But only under certain circumstances. It is not a magic bullet for all your needs. In a Greater Depression scenario, farming is going to be a great way to feed yourself. As the currency erodes you might have few other options. As taxes dry up because of business failures and high unemployment we might also see welfare benefits become scarce ( we can’t pay for imported oil, food transport becomes problematic, price controls coupled with hyperinflation see no supplies on shelves- you might be issued Food Stamps but there won’t be anything to buy ). You will have a hard enough time not getting evicted, but at least you have food from your garden. Unfortunately that is the only scenario in which a garden is viable. Anything more severe such as a massive natural disaster ( asteroid, Yellowstone ) and a garden will attract mutant zombie bikers. And that is even if you can garden.
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A Yellowstone eruption or asteroid strike would throw enough crap into the atmosphere that you wouldn’t be able to farm for several years. A full scale collapse such as oil production falling below a certain level and immediately you are preyed upon by either looters or by the next government protection racket to come along ( heard of marching armies living off the land? That is your crops they are talking about ). You are tied down by the land, held hostage to it. Of course, to be honest a food stash gives you the same problem. You are tied to an area holding your stash of food ( separate caches are good but still hold you to an area ). Farming will of course be necessary in the long term, but it is only going to be viable after a stable society has been re-formed. And if that is the case you can be sure of a mass die-off. It sucks if one of the dead is you, but if you survive it also means there will once again be areas freed up for nomadic herding or even sustenance gathering. Again, this is in the long term. It won’t happen right away. Outside of a partial collapse it is best to sit back, relax, and wait it out with stored foods.
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If you see nothing ahead except a hard economic ride, by all means try to buy farm land. As long as law and order are maintained you can’t go wrong feeding yourself and selling the surplus. Just be sure if you have a mortgage that it can be paid through the chaos. Any Peak Oil future and you can bet it will all collapse. In this case I would be far away from a farm. I would want as few people as possible surrounding me as I hunker down and wait out the die-offs. My personal plan is to turn to herding, the high desert supporting that life style well. I realize the problems with this approach, such as lack of practice beforehand and possible a 100 year drought we might be entering ( like one that killed off the earlier Indians down Colorado/Arizona way ). But it is no less of a gamble than farming. All your money and sweat will end up useless if we enter the downturn and it falls too far if you are on a farm. In other words, it is like relying on a modern arsenal rather than a muzzleloader or a crossbow. If a multigenerational collapse occurs the firearms become worthless in time. You made the wrong bet. I’m rooting for the Saxon 19th century technology scenario. I’m placing a bet on that happening. The stakes are my life as I’m not trying to down grade my defense equipment past that point. Time will tell if it is correct.
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The standard solution to farms being a target is getting a retreat out in the boonies. But that approach is costly. None of you reading me can afford that ( if you can afford that, take me with you- I work real cheap as you can tell from this Blog and my house has wheels ). For most of us, we are gambling on a certain outcome. Not too severe of weather if farming. Not starving out in our desert retreat if the economy falls but the government doesn’t. In a settled area avoiding a pandemic. In the boonies being able to get to town ( there will be highwaymen ). There is no right answer, just you taking a gamble on what you think might happen. Here I am just trying to give you all the reasons a particular choice may not be as good as you thought. The weather might turn out unfriendly to crops. Since all good farmland is in densely populated areas looters will try to steal from you. The new government might turn you into a serf. In a stable political environment farming is great, one of the best ways to be independent. As soon as anarchy strikes ( I am an Anarchist, I use the term for lawlessness ) it will hurt you rather than help you. And as for dreaming of a Rhodesian style fortress farm, remember the scene from The Postman when the town gate is shot at with an artillery piece ( and remember it can be duplicated with primitive black powder pieces ).
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Just “food” for thought ( yuk, yuk, I crack myself up ).
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