recently, there have been many posts on a variety of our linked blogs about what to do when "the golden hordes" (people from the cities) start invading rural areas and rampage, pillage and what have you on rural people's farms. the posts have been quite interesting as have the discussions in comment sections.
we are really not too concerned about that - we really do live in the middle of nowhere, on an island with only a single point of access (1 road to get to it). however, many types of boats could make it here but as we are fishing community, our fishermen could very quickly become the coast guard, if you know what i mean.
one point that was raised several times is the fact that most city people wouldn't be able to identify most root vegetables so root vegetables would be good crops to grow. what does any of this have to do with guerrilla gardening? well, let's say that everyone on our island learned that we grew food, keeping in mind that the whole west side of our island is full of farms and ranches. so let's pretend the whole east side came to our little homestead and ate all of our food - or some such nonsense.
her is a pic of our leftover seed potatoes from last year:
i said LEFT-OVER seed potatoes!!! we planted 200 seed potatoes in 40 tires already. we gave several bags of seed potatoes to friends and even sent some to jambaloney's mom and stepdad. we feel it is a shame for these 4th generation seed potatoes to go to waste. what to do?
and keep in mind that we are still talking about people over-running our homestead looking for food.
this year we are going to try something that we have discussed since we moved here. we're going to guerrilla garden. where are we going to guerrilla garden and hide food for ourselves and our closest communities if need be?
islands people. islands.
our river is full of islands. have a look:
if you click on the pic above you will see our house in the upper left-hand side of the pic. you will also see where we keep our canoe and our boatdura (12ft aluminum fishing boat with 1972 Johnson 6-horse power). jambaloney marked off the islands in our river with red dots. now i'll take you on a tour. (we planned on going out today in boatdura so that i could get really good pics of the topography of the islands but it is way too buggy out there. these pics are from last year when we were just out tooling around. we plan to go out soon and do some actual guerrilla gardening. i will take really good pics then so stay tuned for that post!).
this pic shows that these islands would make great hugelkulture beds as they already have upturned trees and moss.
it wouldn't take much to quickly clear the highest point of the island (the centre) with a chainsaw, or an axe, and drop some potatoes. probably already growing there is blueberries and cranberries.
if we really needed to - we could clear and plant up all of those islands and get our community involved to be able to feed our 2 communities (population of 60 people), and no one would be the wiser. and the fact that these people are born and bred fishermen - we would have access to all of the fresh fish and seafood we could handle if gas was still available. if it wasn't - time to break out the canoes!
so i hope i have explained in this post the reason why we are not afraid of "the golden hordes". check back later as we will go out and plant some potatoes and other seeds and i'll take detailed pics.
Interesting thoughts.
ReplyDeletethanks Gorges. we really thought though our purchase of this land.
DeleteIslands of eaten. nice.
ReplyDeletejewlz - those are the islands that are south-east from our river waterfront. the islands to the north-east we haven't even shown. teehee. we're sneaky like that.
DeleteExcellent Post Gurlie. Well should there be an EMP city folk wont have a clue what hit them at least for several days.
ReplyDeleteI am happy we got out of suburbia...because you can be the biggest prepper on earth and live in a city or the suburbs..but if you have no where to go during a SHTF situation.. Your supplies are only going to last so long before neighborhood gangs are formed and they just come and take it.... I think about those people who live in central Florida the most (clears through) they have no idea how screwed they are if something Major happens
Dumb auto correct...that should read (clears throat). Ya know about those people who live in the burbs of central Florida... There really is no where to go if you think about it.
DeleteAngel #2 - i am so glad that you guys got out! and so glad that you got such a good property. my dream for all of my friends is to find a safe place to hunker down if/when something happens. and those people in florida (clears throat) wouldn't stand a chance even if they could walk half a kilometre. which they can't.
Deletesending much love to you, Senior and the boys! xoxoxo
Really?
DeleteLadyQuig - not sure what you are asking here? can you be more specific? thank you very much!
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DeleteMy abode is in Florida. Guess I was just surprised (insulted? honesty counts) to see a comment like that. Hubs and I walk many more than a mile daily and believe we do stand a chance, because we are planning. Our circumstances are completely different than yours of course, but I believe we are all working toward the same goals. Peace to you and yours.
Deleteoh LadyQuig - this is an inside joke between JUGM and i. we were referring to specific people in Florida - 2 to be exact. we were not referring to everyone in Florida. i am so sorry that you were insulted. and i am very glad to hear that you working and planning for the future. please accept my sincerest apologies. JUGM and i never intended to hurt anyone with our silly in-side joke. peace to you and yours as well!
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DeleteAha! That's cool. Peace <3
Deleteoh thank goodness! JUGM and i were being silly 12 yr old boys - something we do a lot of! and the idea that we had hurt someone that was such a cool spirit - it hurt both of us! we are sending much love your way! and truly send our sincerest apologies! xoxox
DeleteAccepted. xo
Deleteawesome! xox
DeleteSome one must have seed bombed some of the roundabouts in a town near here I saw that recently. poppies every where, it sure was pretty.
ReplyDeletehow cool to have those islands. you must have put a huge amount of effort into finding your place.
thanks Sol! we read up on a pile of stuff before actually buying our place. this land and finding our 2 communities and doing our research was not by accident - we had spent years discussing all the possible scenarios and had very specific requirements. when this land popped up on our radar - we bought it sight-unseen in just under a month.
Deletei am so glad to hear that someone seed-bombed your near town - so awesome! hope you are dancing your butt off! and dancing for us too! sending much love! xoxo
Excellent Post Gurlie. Well should there be an EMP city folk wont have a clue what hit them at least for several days.
ReplyDeleteI am happy we got out of suburbia...because you can be the biggest prepper on earth and live in a city or the suburbs..but if you have no where to go during a SHTF situation.. Your supplies are only going to last so long before neighborhood gangs are formed and they just come and take it.... I think about those people who live in central Florida the most (clears through) they have no idea how screwed they are if something Major happens
Gurlie - what is it with you and your comments coming up twice so regularly? i don't care - i love it! and sending twice as much love! xoxox
DeleteWell now I know what guerrilla gardening is all about. I understand using under utilized places to grow crops but I think I've said this before, I'm not sure I completely understand the apocalyptic scenarios. If one has to worry about hordes of starving , murderous people eating all their food way out in the boonies, I'm not sure I would care to stick around anyway.
ReplyDeleteEd - we aren't worried about hordes of starving, murderous hordes and i thought i made it sound funny in the post. however, if there is an EMP, let's say a natural one, and our electric grid went down - we have a small enough population in our communities that we could all access the islands in order to grow food and there is enough forest in our 2 communities and surrounding areas for everyone to be able to be warm. the whole point of the post was just to give people ideas. and especially give people ideas about gardening in plain site if they don't have land. ya know?
DeleteWe too have natural hugelcultures but of course we don't plant in them because of snakes hiding in them when you can't regulargly check them out. But I still love the idea. I put cardboard & newspaper down, then sticks & wood in all my raised beds first, then leaves, then some dirt. I have continues to add newspaper & leaves. Hopefully, when I am able to be there for longer periods of time I will eventually plant something... ha.
ReplyDeleteDFW - you can keep your snakes! thank the dear lord we don't have any poisonous ones up here - we save snakes and get them to safety if we find them in the yard. as for developing hugelkutures - just the mere fact that you have them means you have a good set-up. and you are setting yourselves up for your future and that is worth everything! sending much love! xoxo
DeleteThat is wise to plant food on different island plus if you don't harvest every year the plants may go to seed and grow on there own again and again without maintenance unless animals help themselves.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think there will be hoards of people looking for food after a couple weeks. Most will be to weak to do anything and probably will be in holding camps so the gov can feed them. It's the first two weeks that concern me the most after a major event where half the globe is in the same situation and then the people will go nuts, after that I'm not to worried.
i agree with you Mike about the 2-3 week period. and yes, we have discussed just planting stuff on the islands, checking on them regularly and letting it all go to seed if we don't need it. it would be great to get a pile of food growing on the islands just to see if we could do it. and hopefully others will start thinking about guerrilla gardening as well! thanks Mike buddy! your comments are always appreciated! xox
DeleteI love the idea of guerrilla gardening, I've read up on that. I've more often seen it with flowers and nice stuff in others blighted areas, but edible is a good idea. While we have 11 acres, we don't have any place to 'hide' food, thought I've thought about putting fruit trees, nut trees and other things around randomly, not sure if that would work.
ReplyDeleteThe islands are cool. Do you own them? Or do they belong to the community? How does that work?
Can't wait to watch the progress.
1st Man - as several people have already noted - most city folk cannot easily identify root veg. so you could plant some potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnip, etc. around your property especially around some trees/bushes/shrubs and no one would be the wiser - except for the two of you.
Deletewe don't own the islands, the government of nova scotia owns them but the gov. allows for people to camp and follow a certain set of rules in regards to what it defines as "wilderness areas" which these islands would fall under.
stay tuned - we'll keep you updated! sending much love to you both! xoxo
Kymber, this was a good post. Some people think the Golden Horde is a myth, and that if you live out in the sticks no one could ever reach you. Based on historical events I don't subscribe to that theory. Your set up is about optimal, for the reasons you outlined. I envy you the islands and the waterways. Here we just have vast stretches of woods, cut by a few old dirt roads that are deteriorating rapidly through lack of maintenance. In other places in the county they might as well live in suburbia because of that damned four lane road they built coming up here from Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteHarry - thanks for your comment! i don't think the Golden Horde is a myth - as you say, we have seen Golden Hordes all throughout history! but i just don't think there will be any hordes making it here! we have 60 people in our 2 sister communities, and between 300-350 people in the community where everyone here works (including jambaloney). the farms on the west side of the island are what most of the town and city people here know, so i would expect the majority of them to head west or to head south off the island and to the mainland where there would be much more food available. however, if we were over-run by a group moving south and they plundered all of our food - they would have to be a pretty big group and carrying water, food, ammo and guns - if they overtook us and then left when the gravey train ran dry - we could have already established crops on the islands that they wouldn't know about.
Deletejam and i have always thought of and considered our community in our preps and our survival considerations...this is something that we are excited to do to help the communities.
sending much love your way, as always! xoxox
Sweet Kymber,
ReplyDeleteFantastic post!!! I can see it's got many people thinking, their wheels are turning/spinning. It's just a matter of time before another country tries something against this side of the world. Being prepared, having an alternative foods site is what's needed. When the SHTF people will use their resources up, then start looking ways of getting food. That's when they'll start looking at people who are prepared and stealing food. It pays to have an alternative place for food whether to feed your family or to sway others away from your homestead.
Great post my dear friend, can't wait to read more in future posts.
Sending hugs and love to you and Jam.
Your Friend,
Sandy
Earth Angel 3
Sweet Sandy - that's what we wanted to do with this post - to just get people thinking about starting to learn to hide food "in plain site" or in places that most people won't think of. you really get the idea for this post! and remember - there is always room here for you, BDMan, Tank and Little Beans. we are sending much love to all of you as always! xoxox
DeleteGreat ideas with this. Things like new Zealand yams and sweet potatoes would be good as well. I think when it comes to seeing things growing most people wouldn't have a clue. As you know I've got loads of unusual fruit and veg growing. I don't think many people would know what to do with a blue sausage fruit or a chilean guava bush if they saw it growing.
ReplyDeleteKev - thanks! and yes - most city people would not be able to recognize some of the stranger foods. and also - we wanted this post to make people think of planting their gardens proper - which others could recognize - but also start planting some food "in plain site" - like along hedges or the way you throw some raspberry seeds around. thanks for commenting - sending much love to your sweet little family! xoxox
DeleteWhat a great idea. It gives me ideas for unused land near me, keep inspiring us all x
ReplyDeleteKirsty - it will be awesome if none of us sees any kind of crisis or food shortage in the future - but we just don't know. and if you have some unused land near you - go out and throw a couple of seeds - see what happens. you may or may not need it in the future. but if your garden suddenly gets potatoe blight and wipes out all of your potatoes - you may be able to still harvest potatoes from your secondary sight. i am very glad that this post gave you some ideas! thank you for that! xox
DeleteGood point about most city types not being able to ID root crops. I been reading some books about surviving an EMP in central Florida recently and thought the author did a good job in portraying how the city folk looters would eventually end up. Most never make it out of town and the ones that do are so exhausted they are not much of a threat overall.
ReplyDeleteIt's the government we have to scared of.
Still there ain't a better bug out location than an island :)
PP - i couldn't agree more! i have always believed that the urbanites, even if they could find a way to come together, work together, hump enough water, food and ammo to make it the suburbs - they're probably gonna hunker down there and then get rounded up by the gov. i really don't think any gov is going to make it out here. and you know we always have a place for you and yours! as for our ability to bug out - we keep necessary caches scattered all about the place and have the most silent vehicle ever - the canoe! much love buddy! xoxo
DeleteYou guys should poke around the woods behind that house across the river... you might find another kind of guerilla garden... 70s style. ;)
ReplyDeleteChris - bahahahah! oh we will, buddy! and i'll let you know if we find "something"! bahahahahahah! sending much love to you and yours! xoxo
DeleteI love the idea! Not quite guerilla gardening, but I plant veg all thru my front yard as well as in my raised beds. I am a suburban dweller who hopes to be able to hunker down in place until I can't then heading to my mother and or sister, they have land, are in much smaller rural areas.
ReplyDeletePraying it never happens...
Much love, LTW
ltw - you are guerrilla gardening - your just doing it in the front yard - bahahahah! that's a great idea, tho! as Mike says above - if you can manage the first 2-3 weeks by having your own food and preps, you should then be able to get to your mother or sister.
Deletewe pray for that too...but like all of us here, we still prep! sending much love back! xoxo