# What IYO is the most Important?



## Toffee (Mar 13, 2012)

I'm was wondering if anyone feels that there is a specific thing to grow, raise, do, etc that will help most in becoming self-sufficient. I want to be a stay at home mom when we have kids, at least for a little while and the more self-sufficient we are the easier that will be for us.


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## Elinor0987 (May 28, 2010)

Toffee said:


> I'm was wondering if anyone feels that there is a specific thing to grow, raise, do, etc that will help most in becoming self-sufficient. I want to be a stay at home mom when we have kids, at least for a little while and the more self-sufficient we are the easier that will be for us.


I can't think of any one particular plant that would be more important to grow than others, but it depends on what you are preparing for. Some of the major shtf events could affect the entire country and this could drag out for several years or more. I'm going beyond the grains, produce, spices, and nut seeds and buying cotton seeds. This will allow me to make textiles once the option to run to the store to buy them is no longer there. Later on I'll be buying seeds for medicinal plants and fabric dyes. I also have Northern Bayberry seeds for wax. I think the best thing would to have a well-rounded seed collection that would serve as many of your needs as possible.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I think the most important thing to grow is potatoes. You get a lot per acre and they're an important source of nutrients. In the event of an economic collapse, potatoes would be the most important food crop. They would also become what you would eat the most of.


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## Tank_Girl (Dec 26, 2011)

BillS said:


> I think the most important thing to grow is potatoes. You get a lot per acre and they're an important source of nutrients. In the event of an economic collapse, potatoes would be the most important food crop. They would also become what you would eat the most of.


This.

I think acquired skills to grow potatoes if you are in a cooler area and sweet potatoes if you are in a warmer area are vital skills.

Sweet potatoes _ not only have you a form of carbs, but they are also low GI, they are nice to eat and they offer a palatable greens unlike potatoes.

Certain types of pumpkin keep for over 8 months when cut off the vine and kept whole.
The produce eatable male flowers and the seeds produce valuable calories.

Quinoa.
It germinates overnight.
I've sown seeds that I brought from a health food shop as grains for "consumption" and I was damned shocked with how rapidly the seeds produced green shoots.
This ancient grain is a complete food and has a full profile of amino acids and protein.
Young leaves are eatable.

Things I look for as a valuable crop?

I want something that offers me more than that once off, 8 month pay off.
I want eatable leaves/flowers(?) shoots(?) fruit (?) tubers(?) nitrogen fixing (?) 
A mix of all or some with the more positives the better.


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## siletz (Aug 23, 2011)

I don't know your situation and what you already do, but the ability to cook from scratch and knowing how to can your own food are important. I am constantly amazed by how much money we save by cooking from scratch instead of buying anything pre-prepared. And, the ability to home can the produce from your garden makes your garden support you not only during the summer, but through the winter as well.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

Most important?

Your favorite variety of meat.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

Protein is going to be the hardest to acquire so that is the most important. You are not going to live off of wild game for long, too many people now to do that.


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## oif_ghost_tod (Sep 25, 2012)

The easiest IMHO is chickens, get one per person in your family to start. They will each provide an egg per day or so (protein), and those eggs can make more chickens (more protein)!
A small coop can easily hold 4 laying hens in the footprint the size of a pallet. They are easy to keep and you can feed them your kitchen scraps! 
Added bonus, you can clean the coop and add the manure straight to your garden, your plants will love it!

If you are in a city where this is impossible, might I suggest a quick look at aquaculture. A 50-100 Gal aquarium can feed a family of four year round! The most common fish to grow is tilapia, and many different vegetables can be grown in styrofoam "beds" which float on the top of the aquarium and allow the roots to draw directly from the nutrient rich (fish poo) water. The plants in turn remove the nitrates from the water, cleaning it naturally for the fish.

There are lots of solutions for providing food in a small space, some people raise rabbits for food, others have hydroponic or aeroponic gardens, its all about how small your space is.


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## Toffee (Mar 13, 2012)

I guess I should have added a description of our place here. We have 5 acres in total here and with our family around us, about 20. We grow onions, strawberries, and some potatoes. We are planting rhubarb this year and cultivating dandelions, too. It is cold weather territory here, but over time we plan on using a greenhouse and row covers to help extend the season.


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## farmers (Jul 28, 2012)

Soybeans are a very good sourse of protein. Easy to grow. There is also peanuts, any nut is good.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

I would say onions or tomatoes. My reasoning, you can add onion or tomato to just about anything to help cover the taste of things you may not like.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Toffee said:


> I'm was wondering if anyone feels that there is a specific thing to grow, raise, do, etc that will help most in becoming self-sufficient. I want to be a stay at home mom when we have kids, at least for a little while and the more self-sufficient we are the easier that will be for us.


Look at where you spend your money. Boring I know but well worth while. Then start with the things that will save you money. If you have to spend a lot of money to get started on something you don't have experience in it might cost you more in the end. Look at waste within your home, what can you be more careful with to save a few dollars.
Here in Australia food is very expensive so growing and raising our own saves us a lot of money, but only if we don't buy feed from the local feed shop. We buy the little we need straight from local farmers. A bag of chicken grain costs $20.00 or more at the feed shop....$2000 per ton, we buy wheat cleanings/smalls for $100.00 per ton. I don't make bread to save money, I can buy a loaf for 49c if I buy day old, I make bread because I prefer homemade. But I do make soap, creams and cleaners to save money. 
Over the years I've gone through everything we buy and worked out cheaper alternatives, some things we make ourselves, some things we buy differently, in bulk or seasonal etc, some we've decided cost too much and just don't do/buy anymore.
We grow, make or repair everything we possibly can here. Getting to this stage has cost us a LOT of money and hard work. We can live on almost nothing now but have spent a lot to get here. Now most of our money now goes to refining everything, to improving things to make them easier and/or quicker.

Start with the things that will save you the most money and give you and your family the most pleasure.


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## jeff47041 (Jan 5, 2013)

I think chickens for eggs and meat are a great idea. They are easy to take care of and anyone can butcher them with minimal experience.

For SHTF, it's not a great tasting thing that you would want to eat all of the time, but look into acorn squash. If you look it up, you can almost survive on just acorn squash. It's simple to grow. It's easy to store in cool places. 

We store all of our squash over winter just in our garage. I put newspaper down on a table. spread the squash so that none are touching another. and they just last. We normally are still eating squash in April and May, that we grew last season.

Granted, I would still grow the normal garden for variety and flavor, but if it came down to survival, I think we would be most protective of the squash crops.


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