Monday, May 18, 2009

Got land?

If your answer is no, you might be interested in the article, "Urban farmers make the most of tiny Boise plots". In Boise, people who don't have land work other people's land-- in return, for the most part, for labor or part of the produce. It sounds like a good plan if it works well for all parties involved, although there are a couple of downsides also included in the article.

I was interested to find this after a recent conversation I had with someone who is basically an expert in emergency preparedness. During that conversation, this person pointed out that the people who are "stuck" in the city with no way to garden will be in real trouble in the case of a food emergency because they don't have land to grow food. Perhaps if there were more programs like this around, there would be fewer problems if there were a disruption in transportation of food goods, less produce available from bigger farms, etc.

The thing is, it doesn't seem like this is a "program" per se--one of the people mentioned actually put fliers around just to find the landowners when he was first starting and wanted to use the land for food production. These people are just going out and finding a way to have land they can use, and perhaps make a profit as well. And how much land do you have at your disposal, really? Some of the people in the article use a front yard as a garden.

I recommend reading the entire article. It's amazing what people come up with when they try to come up with a solution, and are willing to help each other...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a good article. Something for city dwellers to consider. If they had to, get connected with a farmer and work some of the land.

matthiasj
Kentucky Preppers Network

kymber said...

Great post and great article! it has got me really thinking as there is an empty plot of land next door to our house with a "Land For Sale" sign thats been up for almost 3 years now.....hmmmm....i wonder if the owner would let me garden there until he sells it???? hmmmmm....

as for gardens in the front yard - yes - i have 14 tires of potatoes in our front yard this year - teehee!

Marie said...

MatthiasJ--It may open options for people that never thought about it, and who thought there was no way to garden--thanks for your comment!

Kymber--Congratulations on the potatoes--we need to get some of those in soon. On the land next door, I figure it can't hurt to ask--though it might be a little intimidating... :) Thanks for your comment!

APN said...

as I drive around the country I look at all the cities and wonder what people would do when SHTF, Where would the grow their food? I look at the farmers and wonder, with these huge farms how will they plow their fields with no gas, how will they protect their crops from bandits. Their seems to be opportunity for all involved if people in the cities would begin to start connecting with people in rural areas to work something out to help each other when SHTF. People in the Cities should know someone in Rural areas who have land and be ready to pack up, bug out and bring some garden tools along to help grow food and protect the crops...Look at all the job opportunities that would be available in farming without tractors and farm equipment being operational like they are today. Sure the price of food would be through the roof if it were grown by hand, but that would also make it a very profitable business.

But getting back to growing food in the cities...Lets assume SHTF, there is still a lot of land to be found in the cities...yards, schools, churches, parks, medians, undeveloped land, rooftops, balconies....If I lived in the city and the economy crashed tomorrow and I decided not to bug out and to stay to help my neighborhood, the first thing I would be doing is organizeing my neighborhood to make use of every square inch of land available.

Marie said...

AmericanPrepper--You make some excellent points, and the suggestions you give are great examples of thinking ahead. The ideal time for thinking about what to do in an emergency is before it happens....thanks for a lot of food for thought!