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Can You Survive!?
In order to not only survive, but to live a healthy life, where you get all the food you need, all the nutrients you need. How much land and what do you actually need? Let's find out.
Naturally, it all depends on the size of your family, but I can give you an example. We are nine and we have 1.3 hectare of land. Hither to this year our hens have produced about 150 chickens. There are currently five chickens brooding, which will on average give us about 50 more, so we get a lot of chicks. We get about 40 eggs every day in the spring, a little bit less in the summer, and of course nothing in the winter and much less in the autumn. We have goats, I think we have five goats, and we get about five liters of goat milk every single day. We drink some, but also make cheese. And goat milk is very good for you, it contains just about everything you need. So you can in theory live on only goat milk. In addition to that we have slaughtered three goats so we got some meat from that and also we eat mainly eggs in the in the summer and of course in the spring. But in the winter we butcher more hens, and to maintain the hens we use about I think 25 kilograms of grains every week and they cost about 15 euros, so we have a maintenance cost of the hens for 15 euros. And using the food storage technique that is actually in my son's traditional "Cooking in Thule" book, we store eggs that we get in the summer for winter.
Naturally in addition to this... this is what it feeds us mainly. But of course on the side we also have tomatoes and potatoes and horse potatoes(?) and what's it called in English? The big thing they use for Halloween... Pumpkins! Anyway, we get all sorts of vegetables as well and of course we eat that on the side. Currently the thing we eat the most is scrambled eggs with the tomatoes cut into pieces. Which by the way is the most common meal in China.
Now we also use part of our property for a horse. Every year, we spend some 460 EUROs on hay. For the horse and goats. Without this hay (from a local farmer) I think we would have to cut a lot more, from along the tractor roads in the area. To feed them. Or just walk them there. So of course if we didn't have a horse we would have been able to have more for example goats, but we don't need any more right now. You can take that into the calculations when you consider the size of the property you need. We can feed our entire family on what we produce.
When we moved in here, we planted a lot of fruit trees - apples, pears, plumes, wild apples, wild prunes, all sorts of things. And we have the kiwis and what's it called? Fig trees. Grapes work well here too. They have actually started producing as well. What we are not self-sufficient on here is firewood for now because this was a former agricultural land used for sheep they were grazing here and we have (?) and of course they're not big enough yet, but in the future we will produce our own firewood as well.
We have a lot of trees growing here so in the future we will be self-sufficient on firewood as well. When it comes to water we have a spring and if this spring fails we could walk a couple of hundred meters to collect water from another spring because in this area there are natural sources everywhere. Like in walking distance in every direction area we can find a natural source. But of course we are connected to public water as well and for now we use mainly that. But we do have a spring and in fact we have also a well that is sort of like a well/spring source. And we can collect water from there if we need to. We also collect rainwater mainly for plants, but also as "emergency water" in case there's a drought and we have to get water from somewhere and what we would do then is to take the rainwater and filtrate it with a bulky filter. So in a crisis we are self-sufficient with water as well.
When it comes to electricity we have solar panels and which of course when we bought it, it was more expensive than public electricity, but at this point in time with electricity prices going up, it's actually financially viable to have solar panels instead. And the problem of course with solar panels is that it's not really a sustainable solution because you need to replace the batteries. But if you don't replace the batteries, let's say the batteries are completely dead, you can still use the solar panels to produce electricity during the day. So you can recharge whatever things you have during the day or use whatever you have during the day. But you won't have any electricity in the night. And of course in the winter the solar panels don't produce a lot of electricity at all. And we end up using less electricity forcing ourselves to not use the electricity demanding items that much because we have to. And also when you use solar panels, you cannot have a dishwasher. You cannot have a washing machine and so forth. In the past my wife washed the [clothes] by herself in a what's it called balje(?). She washed the clothes herself manually, but currently I am either using a public washery where I can wash the clothes or I can fire up the generator using petrol and wash clothes with a dishwasher that we have. Because we want to have it in case of an emergency. So in a crisis situation, I think we will be back to washing clothes by hand. Which of course is very time-consuming and when we are nine people kind of hassle.
You don't really need a huge property to feed your family. That's my point. And what I see being the most common "mistake" from my point of view for people is to be too greedy. They want 50 acres, right? And they want it in a perfect location. You don't need that. And if you wait for this opportunity you might end up never getting anything. And the sooner you get a property and the sooner you start planting and preparing it for animals and everything, the better. Because if you need it, let's say 10 years from now you would want to start planting trees now. Because the trees don't produce any fruit until 10 years. Well, until after some years. You can't chop any wood from it. Probably not even in 10 years and so forth. And the sooner you start, the better. And getting a small property is not ideal, but it's okay. It's better than not getting a property.
We have a small house, I think it's 65 square meters for nine people and it suffice. You don't need a lot more. And like I said, we have 1.3 hectares and that too is good enough for now. We would like to have more, but this is sufficient to keep our family fed healthy. Those eggs are really healthy, especially the ones you produce yourself from hens walking around in the garden eating all sorts of things.
When it comes to losses the fox occasionally takes a hen or two and birds, crows in particular, take some eggs every now and then. But it's okay. It doesn't matter. Just let nature do that. Share something with nature, really. The advantage of having a fox roaming around is that they also eat rats and mice. So they reduce the rat and mice problem. And birds spread seeds, so you don't really have to plant all that much yourself, because the birds help you. And the fox too, for that sake. The fox eats cherries from the neighbors trees and then go to our property and leave their droppings there. And suddenly we have like dozens of cherry trees growing on our property without doing anything solely by letting nature do the work.
A normal question I get is, don't you have a tick problem when you let the grass grow like this? And the answer is no, because we let the grass grow. Then we have ants eating ticks, we have different insects, we have birds, and hens of course, they eat the ticks. Spiders not least. Snail problem? No, because we have done nothing to combat a snake problem. And what happens then is that nature balances itself. If you have a lot of snails, we had that in the beginning and it was terrible, they ate everything. And you do nothing, then of course you will attract different animals like hedgehogs and different birds, eating snails. And lizards, not least. And when they do, it balances out. And now, without doing anything to combat snails, we do not have a snail problem at all. Because we have attracted these animals, lizards and hedgehogs and different birds and so forth. Note: also because we have wild plants growing everywhere, and do not plant rows of vegetables. So, do nothing. Mother Nature knows better than you do, and better than I do for sure.
OK, that'll be all. To sum it up, you don't need a huge property and it's better to buy a small property now. And maybe you can expand later on, buy something more in the area, than not to have a property. Because the sooner you start planting trees and preparing areas for animals and so forth, the better. The sooner you let nature take over parts of your property, the better. You will not have a tick problem, you will not have a snail problem, you will ideally not have a mice or rat problem either. Just let nature work. She knows best. Thanks for watching.
In order to not only survive, but to live a healthy life, where you get all the food you need, all the nutrients you need. How much land and what do you actually need? Let's find out.
Naturally, it all depends on the size of your family, but I can give you an example. We are nine and we have 1.3 hectare of land. Hither to this year our hens have produced about 150 chickens. There are currently five chickens brooding, which will on average give us about 50 more, so we get a lot of chicks. We get about 40 eggs every day in the spring, a little bit less in the summer, and of course nothing in the winter and much less in the autumn. We have goats, I think we have five goats, and we get about five liters of goat milk every single day. We drink some, but also make cheese. And goat milk is very good for you, it contains just about everything you need. So you can in theory live on only goat milk. In addition to that we have slaughtered three goats so we got some meat from that and also we eat mainly eggs in the in the summer and of course in the spring. But in the winter we butcher more hens, and to maintain the hens we use about I think 25 kilograms of grains every week and they cost about 15 euros, so we have a maintenance cost of the hens for 15 euros. And using the food storage technique that is actually in my son's traditional "Cooking in Thule" book, we store eggs that we get in the summer for winter.
Naturally in addition to this... this is what it feeds us mainly. But of course on the side we also have tomatoes and potatoes and horse potatoes(?) and what's it called in English? The big thing they use for Halloween... Pumpkins! Anyway, we get all sorts of vegetables as well and of course we eat that on the side. Currently the thing we eat the most is scrambled eggs with the tomatoes cut into pieces. Which by the way is the most common meal in China.
Now we also use part of our property for a horse. Every year, we spend some 460 EUROs on hay. For the horse and goats. Without this hay (from a local farmer) I think we would have to cut a lot more, from along the tractor roads in the area. To feed them. Or just walk them there. So of course if we didn't have a horse we would have been able to have more for example goats, but we don't need any more right now. You can take that into the calculations when you consider the size of the property you need. We can feed our entire family on what we produce.
When we moved in here, we planted a lot of fruit trees - apples, pears, plumes, wild apples, wild prunes, all sorts of things. And we have the kiwis and what's it called? Fig trees. Grapes work well here too. They have actually started producing as well. What we are not self-sufficient on here is firewood for now because this was a former agricultural land used for sheep they were grazing here and we have (?) and of course they're not big enough yet, but in the future we will produce our own firewood as well.
We have a lot of trees growing here so in the future we will be self-sufficient on firewood as well. When it comes to water we have a spring and if this spring fails we could walk a couple of hundred meters to collect water from another spring because in this area there are natural sources everywhere. Like in walking distance in every direction area we can find a natural source. But of course we are connected to public water as well and for now we use mainly that. But we do have a spring and in fact we have also a well that is sort of like a well/spring source. And we can collect water from there if we need to. We also collect rainwater mainly for plants, but also as "emergency water" in case there's a drought and we have to get water from somewhere and what we would do then is to take the rainwater and filtrate it with a bulky filter. So in a crisis we are self-sufficient with water as well.
When it comes to electricity we have solar panels and which of course when we bought it, it was more expensive than public electricity, but at this point in time with electricity prices going up, it's actually financially viable to have solar panels instead. And the problem of course with solar panels is that it's not really a sustainable solution because you need to replace the batteries. But if you don't replace the batteries, let's say the batteries are completely dead, you can still use the solar panels to produce electricity during the day. So you can recharge whatever things you have during the day or use whatever you have during the day. But you won't have any electricity in the night. And of course in the winter the solar panels don't produce a lot of electricity at all. And we end up using less electricity forcing ourselves to not use the electricity demanding items that much because we have to. And also when you use solar panels, you cannot have a dishwasher. You cannot have a washing machine and so forth. In the past my wife washed the [clothes] by herself in a what's it called balje(?). She washed the clothes herself manually, but currently I am either using a public washery where I can wash the clothes or I can fire up the generator using petrol and wash clothes with a dishwasher that we have. Because we want to have it in case of an emergency. So in a crisis situation, I think we will be back to washing clothes by hand. Which of course is very time-consuming and when we are nine people kind of hassle.
You don't really need a huge property to feed your family. That's my point. And what I see being the most common "mistake" from my point of view for people is to be too greedy. They want 50 acres, right? And they want it in a perfect location. You don't need that. And if you wait for this opportunity you might end up never getting anything. And the sooner you get a property and the sooner you start planting and preparing it for animals and everything, the better. Because if you need it, let's say 10 years from now you would want to start planting trees now. Because the trees don't produce any fruit until 10 years. Well, until after some years. You can't chop any wood from it. Probably not even in 10 years and so forth. And the sooner you start, the better. And getting a small property is not ideal, but it's okay. It's better than not getting a property.
We have a small house, I think it's 65 square meters for nine people and it suffice. You don't need a lot more. And like I said, we have 1.3 hectares and that too is good enough for now. We would like to have more, but this is sufficient to keep our family fed healthy. Those eggs are really healthy, especially the ones you produce yourself from hens walking around in the garden eating all sorts of things.
When it comes to losses the fox occasionally takes a hen or two and birds, crows in particular, take some eggs every now and then. But it's okay. It doesn't matter. Just let nature do that. Share something with nature, really. The advantage of having a fox roaming around is that they also eat rats and mice. So they reduce the rat and mice problem. And birds spread seeds, so you don't really have to plant all that much yourself, because the birds help you. And the fox too, for that sake. The fox eats cherries from the neighbors trees and then go to our property and leave their droppings there. And suddenly we have like dozens of cherry trees growing on our property without doing anything solely by letting nature do the work.
A normal question I get is, don't you have a tick problem when you let the grass grow like this? And the answer is no, because we let the grass grow. Then we have ants eating ticks, we have different insects, we have birds, and hens of course, they eat the ticks. Spiders not least. Snail problem? No, because we have done nothing to combat a snake problem. And what happens then is that nature balances itself. If you have a lot of snails, we had that in the beginning and it was terrible, they ate everything. And you do nothing, then of course you will attract different animals like hedgehogs and different birds, eating snails. And lizards, not least. And when they do, it balances out. And now, without doing anything to combat snails, we do not have a snail problem at all. Because we have attracted these animals, lizards and hedgehogs and different birds and so forth. Note: also because we have wild plants growing everywhere, and do not plant rows of vegetables. So, do nothing. Mother Nature knows better than you do, and better than I do for sure.
OK, that'll be all. To sum it up, you don't need a huge property and it's better to buy a small property now. And maybe you can expand later on, buy something more in the area, than not to have a property. Because the sooner you start planting trees and preparing areas for animals and so forth, the better. The sooner you let nature take over parts of your property, the better. You will not have a tick problem, you will not have a snail problem, you will ideally not have a mice or rat problem either. Just let nature work. She knows best. Thanks for watching.