Im going to hold your hand when I say this. It is not realistic to expect yourself or your family to be able to survive solely off of food you have foraged or grown in a garden. People with more knowledge and experience have tried and failed. What do you think happened to all of those communes in the 60s? Most of them failed. Famine and malnutrition have been constant companions to humanity until industrialized farming and food supply lines came along.
It feels like a uniquely American capitalist take to assume these traditions will make you completely self sufficient. You need a lot of people, a lot of time, a lot of knowledge across a lot of subjects, and a lot of luck to provide for everyone's nutritional needs.
So should you even bother trying to be more self sufficient with your food? I argue yes. Foraging and gardening are fun and will teach you so much about many things. They are deeply rewarding activities that can supplement your diet. There are herbs I haven't bought in years because I grow my own. There are dishes I can only make with foraged ingredients because I can't get them in stores.
You may not have the power to do everything, but that doesn't mean your efforts are wasted. Getting 5% of your nutritional needs from food you have grown or foraged, even for a season, is a massive accomplishment.
I still have this post muted, but there was something I wanted to add.
There are a number of people asking about what do we do if the food supply lines breakdown? The simple answer is A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE.
Not all land is tillable, not all harvests go well, there are so many areas ravaged by ecological disaster after ecological disaster they cannot support enough biodiversity presently to support us. Even the people who right now who live entirely off of what they and their community grow and harvest from the wild are probably uncomfortable with the idea of having zero back up plan if there is a bad season.
Does that mean learning how to grow food, forage, or hunt are meaningless? Absolutely not. Learning these skills now does make you more self sufficient, it reconnects you to the food web, and it will absolutely make you more aware of what industrialized food supply lines offer. These are good, rewarding, and meaningful skills to have that often align with many people's personal values. I may not get along with my MAHA in laws, but we are always excited to give each other garden updates and share our harvests when we can.
That is all basically just a rehash of the first post. I truthfully cannot dismiss the anxiety people have about supply line failures. I remember during covid lock down when it was hard to just get flour and toilet paper, let alone fresh produce.
So what would I recommend people do with that anxiety? Find community.
You are never going to survive the apocalypse on your own, that is a myth. Humans are a social species. We evolved to help each other, we have survived because we help each other. Even in hunter gatherer societies, trade was a massive, massive benefit that kept people from dying of malnutrition.
If it's any consolation, I really doubt that society is going to crumble over night. You may as well plan for the rapture happening. At least in the states, I think it's much more likely we are going to face rising food costs, and have highly questionable food safety standards. Learning how to garden, forage, or hunt with a community is a much more reliable safety net.
I'm not saying any of this to demotivate people, I'm in fact trying to do the opposite. YES, learn how to make a charcoal filter for water. YES, learn how to grow your favorite herbs. YES, learn about the plants and animals in your area and how to responsibly harvest them. And if you want these foods to be a bigger part of your diet that is awesome! Maybe find or form a community with the same goal so you can all pool your resources together.
