# Why not?



## Cornerstone6022 (Feb 16, 2011)

I'm hoping this won't be a terribly unpopular post and I do hope I get plenty of opinions from both sides of the fence on this question. 
Why is it necessary to stock up on a year or two worth of food? Would it not be sufficent to have seeds and breeding livestock ready? I understand that different senarios could eliminate the practicallity of anything growing outdoors (nuclear or other type disaster), but I suppose in that case I would no longer be in a "mood" to worry anyway. 
Can somebody please give me a different viewpoint/senario as to why I may be unable to garden or tend livestock for more than 6-8 months (which would just be called winter here for the gardening) and therefore I would have to hold up inside my home for two years? And then what?


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## Elinor0987 (May 28, 2010)

A lot of it depends on perspective. It's always better to have more food than you need than just barely having enough. Some people are saving extra because eventually they will have to get out and start gardening as their food supplies will run low. But immediately after an emergency situation, they might prefer to not draw unwanted attention to their property and try to avoid fighting off angry mobs of people. Sometimes it's better to wait for the dust to settle. They also might want to use their extra food to barter with. Also, there are environmental factors to contend with as well. Floods, fires, droughts, etc., can ruin an entire crop for the year and having the extra food on hand will ensure that your family will still be able to eat until conditions improve.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

Cornerstone6022 said:


> I'm hoping this won't be a terribly unpopular post and I do hope I get plenty of opinions from both sides of the fence on this question.
> Why is it necessary to stock up on a year or two worth of food? Would it not be sufficent to have seeds and breeding livestock ready? I understand that different senarios could eliminate the practicallity of anything growing outdoors (nuclear or other type disaster), but I suppose in that case I would no longer be in a "mood" to worry anyway.
> Can somebody please give me a different viewpoint/senario as to why I may be unable to garden or tend livestock for more than 6-8 months (which would just be called winter here for the gardening) and therefore I would have to hold up inside my home for two years? And then what?


 If we have an economic collapse or slip into a real bad depression( which both look pretty good right now) or if the trucks stop rolling because there will be no fuel to run them if the unrest in the middle east keeps spreading tp Saudie and that could happen real fast also as some say our old buddy Bin Laden is pulling the strings over there and we're on his list.

to keep breeding live stock. you have to have the land and way to bring in food for them to eat in the winter. I could write all day about living that life as i grew up doing it.

Everyday was spent preparing for the next month-year, cutting hay with the horses just to feed them and the cows in the winter, selling a few eggs and a couple gallon of milk for spending money, coffee,tea,sugar ect that we couldn't grow.
My mother and the other women canned, took care of the gardens while the men and boys did the butchering, the haying,planting,corn, oats, wheat, repairs ect.they were hard days and I can't see many people doing it today.
even back then when we lost a cow,horse or even a chicken, it was felt all thru the place,it was a major setback, you couldn,t go to your neighbor and borrow a work horse like they do today with autos.

Nothing was given away, everything was bartered for,I help you shell your corn, you help me winnow my wheat, we repair line fences together, today most neighbors don't even get along, they're to jealous or each other or it seems like they the want the other to fail.

I was a real small boy but can remember when my dad,grandad and couple other farmers went out one night to take care of some gypsies the were camped out by the creek and were raiding farms after dark, I don't know what they done but the gypsies were gone the next morning. nothing exciting about that story but when we have the collapse, there is going to be more than a few gypsies roaming around and they won't be easy to get rid of til you have nothing.JMO
I'd strongly advize everyone to store as much food and water they can in the coming weeks, 2 yrs would be a good start. for every person prepping there are probably four people planning on how to take it.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Elinor0987 said:


> Floods, fires, droughts, etc., can ruin an entire crop for the year and having the extra food on hand will ensure that your family will still be able to eat until conditions improve.


For me, that's the best reason.

As an example;

In '08 we had bumper yields of everything we grew. 
In '09 it was cool and wet most of the growing season. Using only what we grew I only got about 10 qts of tomato sauce that year as opposed to about 80 from the previous year. Most of the cool weather crops rotted in the ground as seed. When some things did germinate, they just wilted from too much rain. The only thing that really did well was corn.
In '10 it was hot and dry. Beans did well, as did peppers and cukes. A lot of other stuff just couldn't take the heat.

I still have a few jars of tomato sauce from '08, 10 from '09 and about 25 from '10. Yes it's all labeled. Last year we got 60-70 qts of beans. Will it be as good this year? :dunno: That would be great but if we only get half as much, it would get us through to '12.

We lost a lot of chickens to predators last year. We're down to about 25-30. Things can go wrong and leave you with less than you were expecting. I feel much more secure having extra than being at the mercy of 1-2 bad years.


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## SaskDame (Aug 27, 2010)

For anywhere that has actual winters, the annual growing season is exactly that, annual. So if you are going to grow what you need you need a full years worth plus the seed/breed stock/animal feed to get you to the next harvest, not just once, but every year. And a second full year of what you need in case of a crop failure. 

Without imports and major carting stuff around the planet, we all really need a minimum of 2 years worth of provisions available (in our homes, communities, regions) at all times.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Well, we plant a garden. It's small cause we don't have the room fer a big one. Lots a things can happen, storms, critters, theft, need ta move on, so many that ya can't just count on growin yer own as a sole source a food.

Were gonna have some chickens an that be the limit a our livestock, they will give us eggs, meat an more chickens. Here again, can't count on em as a sole food source, cause somethin can eat em, they can get disease's er be stolen. So they will be a suppliment.

Fer us, the goal is ta have as many resources as possible, we have been stockin long term foods (never enough) short term pantry an fresh foods. We try ta prepare fer natural, man made disasters an who knows where this economy is gonna go. 

Like the old sayin goes, never put all yer eggs in one basket.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Cornerstone..I'm in Ky...our little acre is on rocks..I've tried the garden thing..being from Tennessee...this soil will not grow food very well...if I can't get a bradford pear to do well, what chance do I have for vegetables??

I do have green pepper seeds in planters...but, only because I probably won't get them for 3/$1 this summer. And I will have a few tomatoes by my porch.
We are fortunate to have farmer's markets here, but even that is very expensive..I have 12 dozen canning jars ready...so I am praying the farmers have more than they need and can sell at a price I can afford...but today, a can of tomato juice was 1.39...I bought 10...realistically, I can't make it for that....have before and I don't care how great it taste...I have to do what I have to do!!
Times they are a changin'.


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## CVORNurse (Oct 19, 2008)

Cornerstone, what ya going to eat while the garden is growing and the chickens/rabbits/goats getting big enough to butcher?
And if a hail storm hits the garden just as it starts to produce, then what will you do until you can get it replanted? Or a predator gets into your chicken pen, and suddenly you have one hen and no rooster?

Too many things can go wrong to just plan on planting a big garden and raising my own meat. So I am storing not only seed, but also food.


By the way, :welcome:


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Cornerstone6022 said:


> I'm hoping this won't be a terribly unpopular post and I do hope I get plenty of opinions from both sides of the fence on this question.
> Why is it necessary to stock up on a year or two worth of food? Would it not be sufficent to have seeds and breeding livestock ready? I understand that different senarios could eliminate the practicallity of anything growing outdoors (nuclear or other type disaster), but I suppose in that case I would no longer be in a "mood" to worry anyway.
> Can somebody please give me a different viewpoint/senario as to why I may be unable to garden or tend livestock for more than 6-8 months (which would just be called winter here for the gardening) and therefore I would have to hold up inside my home for two years? And then what?


If you already lived the lifestyle the question would answer its self, crops don't always produce, the animals may not reproduce as needed, in a SHTF situation there isn't going to be a store to run to or the next load of produce from california, what if more people (that you care about) show up empty handed
You can play henery Fords just in time game if you want , but in an inflation economy goods are better than money in the bank


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

I think a great reason to have a year or two worth of food on hand is to give you time to learn how to plant and harvest crops. A lot of us live in the city, and haven't had the opportunity to farm. Not all of us know how to shoot straight and it might take a while to learn how to shoot, clean, prepare and cook a dear, turkey, duck, rabbit, etc. 

At least you won't starve while you are learning!


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

HarleyRider said:


> Not all of us know how to shoot straight and it might take a while to learn how to shoot, clean, prepare and cook a dear, turkey, duck, rabbit, etc.


That would be me! 

I don't think it's an unpopular question at all - always good to get opinions. We're all prepping for our own reasons, and those reasons may or may not jive with anyone else on the boards.

I've got a HUGE garden planned for this summer, but I've only grown flowers before, so I'm learning when it comes to veggies. I hope by the end of summer to have a year's worth of veggies put up, but I doubt I can count on that. We're also thinking about chickens, and about getting a crossbow for the deer that seem to like our back woods. But we've got a long way to go before we know what we're doing in those areas, too.


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## BadgeBunny (Nov 2, 2010)

While I agree with everyone else about crops failing, animals dying, etc. another really good reason to stock a couple of years food supply is inflation.

Or hyper-inflation ... 

The dollar is dropping faster than a rock thrown in the deep end of the lake.

And I don't see it getting better anytime soon. For those on a fixed income (how silly, aren't we ALL on a fixed income of some sort??) the ability to shop the sale prices (whatever they may be at the time) can be the difference in having and doing without.


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## Nadja (Jan 12, 2011)

I am an old man, and have seen a lot. We are being bankrupted fastern a speeding bullet. It is I believe being done on purpose so that we will be willing to become subjects of the O and to me , that is a fate worse then death. Inflation is really gaining, jobs are still losing, houses are going back to the banks faster then ever, and a few people say "don't worry". Are they nuts or just plain stupid ? 

Here are a couple of things to give you some quality ponder time. I think most everyone agrees that the economy at the moment is our worst fears right ? And most people equait it with loss of buying power etc. But look a little more into the real problems behind a failed economy . Imagine the power co.'s having a small grid go down ? If there is no economy, who is going to get up , go to work, drive out to the downed transformer, fired out house etc and repair the lines ? Who is going to be at the gas station , selling you gas and cupcakes ? No economy ? No work. I don't think you will find many people willing to go to work , knowing that they cannot be paid at the end of the week. Actually , if we are lucky, we will as a socity revert back to the 1800's , if we are lucky.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

I'm certainly no fan of the big O, except... oh never mind, but there is no way this mess can be entirely pinned on one person. It has been brought on over the years by the private banking cartels, chiefly the Federal Reserve, who think they know what's best for everyone. They have manipulated and debased our currency to further their own agenda, which I feel, is to make the common folk subservient to them. The "too big to fail" banks have had control of Congress for at least 40 years. O is just another puppet to do their bidding.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Cornerstone: I agree with the other posters completely and here's another reason. If we get nailed with a big volcanic blast or a meteor, it could literally be winter for a period of several years while the Earth's atmosphere is full of ashes and dust and the sun can't get through. Assuming this itself is survivable only stocked provisions will allow humanity to survive because nothing will grow in the cold. Also, the ground may be submerged under ash, dust, and rocks to the point that it takes a while for it to get tillable and chemically able to support crops and livestock.

And Cornerstone-don't ever be afraid to ask a question, no mater if you think it's silly or not. All the regular posters on this forum are happy to share their knowledge and opinions and will not slam a fellow poster for asking "dumb" questions. Here the only dumb question is the one you don't ask.


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## Nadja (Jan 12, 2011)

UncleJoe said:


> I'm certainly no fan of the big O, except... oh never mind, but there is no way this mess can be entirely pinned on one person. It has been brought on over the years by the private banking cartels, chiefly the Federal Reserve, who think they know what's best for everyone. They have manipulated and debased our currency to further their own agenda, which I feel, is to make the common folk subservient to them. The "too big to fail" banks have had control of Congress for at least 40 years. O is just another puppet to do their bidding.


While I agree with you almost completely, it matters not who or how long "they" have been doing it. Fact is , that IF the economy does fail, what I said in an earlier post stands. No money, no workers. If the economy fails, this country stops, period.


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## Cornerstone6022 (Feb 16, 2011)

Wow, tons of viewpoints. Thank you. I honestly had not thought of "normal" localized disasters such as drought, hail, wind etc. DUH! I do have a few generations of livestock going, so wouldn't worry about what to eat while they are reaching maturity. I have also tried to figure out how many I need to try and maintain a good diversity to prevent excessive inbreeding in future years (assuming that I would be very hard pressed to find another breeder I could reach without a phone, car or internet). I suppose I should get my butt in gear and get a few more items on my shelves. I will have seeds that should last a few years so hopefully the ground will be workable at least within a couple of years as I believe no matter how hard I try, I'll never be ready with 2 years worth of food. 
We can handle most situations here with no electric, gas, etc. We have put up hay, but only with more modern equipment so yes, doing hay without the tractor would certainly be HARD work. We have NEVER done our own grain - so that may be a problem. We are looking into a wind generator for some electricity, we are in an ideal area for that. I don't fool myself into thinking that right now we would be anywhere near ready for a big SHTF senario, BUT I think we will get there and might be able to make it barring any severe climatical changes. (volcanic, nuclear, etc) I love this forum and will certainly continue to get more and more information to help us get ready!!


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Yall made a couple a good steps already. Ya came here an yer askin questions. The rest will come along. Tough times ahead fer sure.


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## UrbanMan (Feb 23, 2011)

Cornerstone,...my two cents.

Someone already asked "what re you going to eat while the crops come in?" which is the obvious question if a collapse hit during the late fall or winter months.

Even though I really don't need to grow crops now, for the past two years I have been growing mainly squash, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, egg plant just to build the experience and it allows me to give some vegetables away to friends, who are now growing vegetables of their own - kinda subtle way to help them get prepared.

My food strategy is based around several things: 1 - about thirty days of pantry items - canned soups, stews, meat, etc; 2 - about three months of food vacuumed packed and stored in buckets,..things like rice, beans, chick peas, mac and cheese, instant potatoes, powdered milk, oatmeal, honey, peanut butter and salt - spices; 3 - around four months of dehydrated food (mainly from Honeyville grain) and this includes a lot of fruit as well as ground bef, powdered eggs and vegetables. I also have two cases of Mainstay bars which I'll use to augment meals at the house/base camp and provide meals for when you can't cook, such as during movement or on patrols. (tip - a dab of honey or peanut butter on a mainstay bar goes along way for the edibility factor).

My vacuum packed buckets are stand alone buckets, each one will support 4 to 6 days ofr of for four people. This way I don't have to open several buckets to make meals, and if I have to execute a hasty Bug Out I'll have a complete food package in each bucket that I manage to load out and Bug Out with.

However, I hope to use this food very sparingly as I have really a giant collection of non-hybrid and hydrid seeds,....I'll use the hybrid seeds first. I just ordered a small greenhouse kit, which I'll write about in the near future on my site, in order to grow vegetables during the cold months. I am prepared, as well, to grow vegetables in thehouse adjacent to windows where I have had success with pepper plants and radishes.

But above all, the reason to be prepared in depth across the board, is that if anything happens to one food category you can still sustain yourself. Think of it as PACE planning,...planning a Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency method or means. PACE is a good philosophy to use in everything,...communications, route planning, firearms,...etc.

Good Luck and Be Safe,

UrbanMan
Urban Survival Skills, Survival Equipment, Survival Planning and Preparation


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

UrbanMan stated what I was about to... if you're in the northern half and something happens in Novemeber, you're at least 5 months away from thinking about planting. 

Now if that something also requires you to leave your area, can you take your breeding stock with you? Do you have enough trailers? Where can you go with them to have enough food and water for them?

With stored food you can, by comparison, more easily take that with with you.

Think about what might happen. Read forums here and add to your list. Now imagine each of those items happing in your area in winter, spring, summer and fall. How would you be affected? Would seed and stock work in that scenario or not?


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## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. We store food so we have it should something happen to prevent us from having a garden, like the year I had heart surgery, or the year we found out DH had bladder cancer, or the time it rained too much and everything was ruined, or the time the foxes got the chickens. Nothing in life is certain, so we prepare for the uncertainies.


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## Cornerstone6022 (Feb 16, 2011)

Well right now we are working up to an 8 month supply of everything from our food, medications and other household items to the livestock grains. We already put in at least a years worth of hay at a time. Once we hit our 8 month goal, we will work our way up to adding another 6 months or so. In the mean time I have not stopped making our little corner of the world our own little grocery store. We are planting more berries, fruit trees, etc. and increasing our livestock so if the world stays on track, at least we'll still be living cheaper and cleaner in it...


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

Don't forget about personal emergencies! What if you lose your job or you have an unexpected major expense (medical, car transmission, funeral)? A year's worth of food stored allows money usually spent on food to be used to handle the unexpected.


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