Self-sufficient Small Farms

[@sixthlife]

The first guest seems like a sincerely lovely person. I admire the self-sufficiency greatly!

[@Sbhabhi]

Thank you for bringing those 2 beautiful persons here.Prayers and cheers from India

[@diysolar6469]

This is nice, having a garden even the house is not that kind of big for gardens. I appreciate it. Just keep the garden beautiful and nice. :)

[@vidaripollen]

small farmers are becoming rare.all are going towards cities.amazing ladies.good luck to you.

[@stphndnkstphndnk]

After watching this video, I looked at the number of views thinking it would have only a few (given my assumed level of interest in the subject). But I was surprised to see 166,000 views! It made me happy to see the level of interest in this topic.

[@jimtayler555]

That's an impressive garden, imagine if every small property had a garden like this, we'd really be better off!

[@2rubes]

Hi Tom. Yes, we are still growing and putting up everything we don't sell to our local health food store. Today we are pickling garlic. We sold most of our crop and kept the really large garlic for planting and the really small heads for us. Whatever we don't pickle, we will dry for garlic salt. A few days ago, we had all 3 dehydrators going with cherry and paste tomatoes and on Sunday we are canning roasted tomato soup which we eat a lot of through the winter.

[@Shadowrom]

Yes im still trying to work on the proper seeds for my climate, but i tell you it does come with its frustrations. Seeing the end results however is priceless. Knowledge is key.

[@peakmoment]

Glad you commented! This was one of our first Peak Moment shows, taped early in 2006. We dispensed with the news soon thereafter, and decided to focus on the first-person stories and tours, which are less time-sensitive.

[@erblasser]

@peakmoment : How long did I searched for an information channel like Yours! We are aware of peakoil and try to change our life. It's a huge step to make for us, to throw away our urbane life with computers and lots of electricity used and comfortable things all around. But we're just starting to rethink... Thanks and greetings form Germany. Joerg

[@2rubes]

Hi, just wanted to comment on the corn, which we have now in our garden. If you look at your corn in the morning, the tassles are covered with bees. You are right, to have dense pot of corn, you reallly need to plant acres. Corn is wind pollinated, but in smaller gardens, where you are planting for yourself , there are a lot of misses and bees really make a difference.

[@Shadowrom]

On the extra plot I have 2nos. 4feetX4feet coup that neatly fits the last plot and is automatically fertilised by the chickens. We have sunshine all year round so, our harvests are roughly double of what you get in colder climates. The most important concept in this sort of compact gardening is to always know the right seeds to plant for maximum harvest. I usually get them seeds from the local Agri University. It really works. I have 4 adults and 1 kid in my home.

[@peakmoment]

@Conspiracy2Riot, thanks for these suggestions. I've seen "A Farm for the Future" and it's excellent in pointing out how peak oil will (is) changing the picture. I loved the progression from non-motorized farming, to biointensive farming methods, to permaculture (least work and most diversity). Sure underscores we'll need many more farmers working in new ways!

[@DocumentaryDoc]

"provide aid to people who can't provide for themselves" I see this time and time again. I really think it is the responsibility of the better off people to help others less fortunate in need. I myself have done a poor job of not doing comunity service, but I strongly beleive that such thinking will get us trapped just like in the past. "Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

[@Jefferdaughter]

@DesecrateConformity -Great idea! Do what fits your interest & life. Have fun trying different things. Add plants or projects if/when it works for you. Consider supporting those who produce food and other goods & services in an eco-friendly way for what you do not produce or do yourself. You can make a difference. Together, if we each do a little, there is nothing we cannot do. Enjoy!

[@2rubes]

We have a 60gpm well that has great drinking water, no floride or pollutants. It does have high calcuim mineral content which can bind up fertilzers. We use a little powdered oyster shell to help with our chicken and worm compost.

[@peakmoment]

Hi, This is one of our earliest programs. We no longer have the news guy on our shows. Thanks for your feedback.

[@peakmoment]

Hi occupynewparadigm, We had a news segment in our first few programs like this one (2006). We discontinued that when we began taping shows on the road awhile later (our newsperson didn't travel with us). We also didn't want the main show content to be dated by news.

[@peakmoment]

THIS family doesn't have 6000 cattle--just a small acreage worked by 3-4 people. Personally I'm glad that some folks have extra cattle, to feed folks who can't raise them -- urban folks, or people like us in forested areas. Glad you like Peak Moment!

[@vidaripollen]

small farmers are becoming rare.all are going towards cities.amazing ladies.good luck to you.donkey can guard free range chicken?

[@peakmoment]

BealtaineCottage and 68spaceman, thank you both. We don't support GMOs, so I'll see whether I can add some text in the show to say so.

[@peakmoment]

@leesoarez, I appreciate your suggestion. We've lived in the wild for twenty years. Our relationship with the wild animals has been one of learning how to share this land by communicating with one another -- to respect territories, to scare off bears getting too close. The berry fence is a suggestion from a permaculturist -- to give animals what they need, but at a distance from our own gardens. To share. I have thought about guns for protection against human intruders, rather than animals.

[@carlborsing7336]

We live on a 3.44 acre small property outside the of the Fayetteville, TN city line. As we're learning and adjusting to the S TN climate conditions, we hope that one day we will be able to produce our own food/meat. Bees have been high on our list for a year now and we would like more information regarding the Beehives mentioned?

[@peakmoment]

You're so welcome for our videos. Since you're a city dweller, you might consider growing food in your space (vertical or balcony gardens.) Or look for an urban farmer who is growing food on small lots or yards -- and has produce they sell to others like yourself. Buy as much locally-produced food (and goods) as you can -- that DOES make a difference!

[@sdvma]

Thank you. I enjoyed this.

[@peakmoment]

Although we haven't yet done any how-to-garden shows exactly, you'll find more specifics on Peak Moment #51 "An Experiment in Back Yard Sustainability" and #87, "How Much Food Can I Grown Around My House?".

[@believeinyourdreamsslowlife]

Thanks for the video and information. I am a sustainable farmer.

[@freakqnc]

Do you have a video where you cover what are the other aspects of homestead/independent living? How to make some money, what financial pressure is there, how to get rid of taxation on land/property what are the best ways to produce energy, heat the home etc?

[@peakmoment]

Thanks for your reminders! I don't recall Rick's news from that far back, but I believe he reported, he didn't advocate for anything. We at Peak Moment TV are vehemently opposed to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). I understand as well that soya must be fermented for assimilation: tofu, miso, tempeh, soy sauce, etc.

[@smuggecko]

some really good stuff here

[@peakmoment]

Like Cuba and other countries in the tropics, you have the advantage of all-year-round growing. Sounds like you're doing the right thing, and you're very wise. Do you plan to start saving seeds?

[@texflyguy]

You are so right... Between the EPA and Pres Carter's Energy Dept, energy self sufficiency is just a dream. Paralysis by regulation. The Energy Dept was supposed to improve the supply of energy but instead supplies incomes to thousands of pencil pushers in Washington. The Government needs to butt out and let market forces drive the development of the most cost effective supply of this countries energy needs.

[@beckyezra1]

hi there, i discovered you yesterday by mistake, since then i cant stop looking at your videos thank you ever so much for the informative video's. i have a small question - would you be kind to show a video with people that works, and have different life the gardening etc. while they are doing it in their own time - what i find it is a very difficult to a person like me - grew up in a city. that dont want to change my life but do want to make a differnce - please help! thanks. b the netherland

[@2emeraldeyes]

Couldn't have said it better!! I can't believe how these people just pretend like there is nothing we can do about this. It's ludicrous. Amazing.

[@Stepstosimplicity]

Great stuff!

[@GrenadeChick99]

Yes...permaculture, permaculture, permaculture. This, I believe, is how most of us are going to HAVE to feed our families in the coming years. Folks, please check your community education centers. Knowledge is power and food is life.

[@lgizzledangel]

Berry fence good idea i will be using that thanks.

[@peakmoment]

@AlmightyJerk, Food, Inc. is a powerful film, glad you've watched it. I'm fairly sure my guests would maintain their opposition to GMO (genetically modified organisms): both are organic growers. I share their opposition. GMOs may have negative unintended consequences that could alter the entire balance of life.

[@peakmoment]

I agree that the title isn't exactly accurate: with her farm, she's somewhat self-reliant. But none of us is really self-sufficient -- we're really interdependent --we dependent on everything -- like the sun, atmosphere, wate, microbes, soil, plants, animals. Thanks for pointing this out.

[@peakmoment]

The respected Energy Watch Group in Germany just came out with a report that states global oil production appears to have peaked in 2006. ....What to grow without a big income? Start with what you eat yourself...vegies. If you own the land, plant fruit and nut trees.

[@2rubes]

It is all about the partnership. I couldn't do all this without my husband, and visa versa, he's a terrible cook. Find the right person with the same values who like getting up in the morning and getting out and getting things done. It makes us happy.

[@2rubes]

Hi, I agree, you can not have organic honey under current organic standards. We do not claim to sell organic honey. What we have is a registered organic farm and we keep bloom going nearly all year round. Bees will forage as close to the hive as possible and will venture farther and farther away as they deplete the nector (which replenishes by the next morning). Bees will forage 5 to 9 miles away if necessary. We are hoping to keep them close to home by providing year round nectar flowers.

[@Conspiracy2Riot]

@peakmoment, another film I've just found that addresses the hazards of factory farming is 'Pig Business' which is available for viewing here on KZbin as well by entering the name as a search term. Also of interest to those here would be another youtube vid, 'A Farm for the Future'.

[@Shadowrom]

Im from Malaysia, and the self sufficient farm is still a distant idea to most asians in urban areas. Most are caughtup with the so called "growing economy" hype surruounding us at the moment. I for one believe self sustainable farming should be for every commuity so to keep us in touch with the land and the satisfaction it brings. I have a house with about 4 nos. 4feet X 8feet plots, and i rotate them for beans, roots or leaf vegetables.

[@thegeffc]

great video thanks

[@TheHiTechRedneck]

I live in the Midwest, we grow our own food because we can and we feel sustainability and getting off grid are our most important goals. However, to be where we want to be takes time. It's not a "oh, gee, lets hire a contractor and have him build our off-grid home!"

[@peakmoment]

I guess I see things differently. The writers of The Limits to Growth noted that some resources on this planet are finite, not renewable in any but geologic timeframes. Now we're seeing many of them becoming harder to find (and more expensive)--and sometime they'll be considered too expensive to extract.

[@OBIrish]

Brilliant !!!Where do you get the capital to start up a small farm.

[@peakmoment]

@boxa888, You're right on! And encourage everyone also to SAVE seeds!

[@peakmoment]

@RDLONG30. But this is Bear's home too. How do we share with our non-human neighbors, not exterminate them? Permaculture suggests creating a big fence of berries away from your garden, for bear and others. Or maybe an electric fence to dissuade but not kill.

[@MichelFurlanNirvana]

My dream is to live in a self sustainable place like this..

[@danielgillieron4265]

The universities all over the world should teach the principles and the research institutes of this world should investigate the underlying mechanisms of Sepp Holzer permaculture/agro-ecology. Sepp Holzer's agricultural system beats conventional/GMO farming in every regard: no factory animal farming, no chemical or genetic pollution, more production per surface unit, huge bio-diversity, extreme landscape beauty, intact and clean water household, no deforestation, no hunger, no epidemy of diseases, each place would have its unique plant varieties, and most important, food would become medicine, as food grown in permaculture is packed with nutrients and antioxydants. If the world adopts Sepp Holzer's farming system, we would live in a world of abundance and beauty. His system, methods and philosophy can be successfully applied anywhere in the world. We could feed 3 times more people than currently live on earth. If agro-ecology prevails, the earth's biosphere will soon be regenerated. Vive Sepp Holzer! Hoch lebe Sepp Holzer! 赛普·霍尔泽，加油! Register now for the Holzer Austria Tour 2015: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZCTgJqNfddjo9k

[@Rawmodel]

Family Dairy Farm? 6000 Cattle? THAT IS HUGE!!! 6000 cattle is a massive operation. Man should only have enough animals to take care of his family and neigbors...more than that is unnatural and produces waste and consumes precious resources. 6000? How about 6. Love this series!!!! It has inspired me to do the same!!

[@peakmoment]

@deskset24, thanks for taking a look. Of course one can't prove the roots of civilization and violence. Our best bet is to take a look around us. Applying game theory models to life and death is a fascinating idea. I wonder how traditional cultures made such tradeoffs? Of course, most traditional cultures had religious taboos on murder.

[@alexasmithy]

some sweet info here

[@peakmoment]

@cptnblackbeard, Good catch. This non-academic female host's understanding is that America has been the largest exporter of grains in the world. Doesn't mean America has fed everyone everywhere.

there used to be a news segment???? what happened??? i want my peakmoment news!!!

[@beckyezra1]

tnx. !! i sent the donation, sorry it was less than what i though, but i hope is helps! cheers

[@MoisesSolano]

No Monsanto at Osa Mountain Village in Costa Rica! check us out

[@peakmoment]

Really? We videotaped it in Nevada City in January or February 2006. It was one of our first Peak Moment programs.

[@sk8bow]

@ooosteve do you know how to grow you food, or do you only know how buy your food?

[@auditorization]

Odd, I've bees near my garden in my front yard just several yards from a small plot of corn, and I've never seen them bothering with my corn. -Not saying it couldn't happen, I'm just not seeing it. Perhaps there's enough food around, my honeybees don't bother with corn. But I've never read anywhere about bees on corn either. Are you sure they weren't swarming? As they swarm in the oddest places...

[@peakmoment]

what are you referring to at the beginning?

[@skaboosh]

Does the water supply have fluoride in it and other pollutants and is this a problem?

[@TommyToi1]

Are these folks still goin' 6 years later??

[@freakqnc]

@peakmoment Love the videos thanks! I am trying to gather info to make some future plans for self-sufficient living that is still integrated with some modern life aspects (like internet). So upsetting that these are not mandatory studies in schools would be so much easier to learn these pearls of wisdom earlier on in life. On the issue of guns I guess it would work for both bears and humans, but I'd tend to agree that humans could be more dangerous indeed ;) But a bear one could eat and use ;)

[@peakmoment]

What are you referring to?

[@vidaripollen]

small farmers are becoming rare.all are going towards cities.

[@MrBagginsEsq]

@RDLONG30 My preference is an 80lb recurve!

[@HvensFury]

What was that bee keeper's mag. she was talking about?

[@peakmoment]

@XCritonX and @deskset24, I've deleted your flaming session that carried on since. It was fine as long as there were different views being expressed. Flaming each other isn't okay.

[@peakmoment]

James Workman, your other comment had some interesting ideas, but I deleted it because of disparaging remarks about some ethnicities. I remove any post that is disrespectful of others.

[@TheHiTechRedneck]

Yes, this model DOES need to change. Unfortunately, our farmers have mortgages and equipment payments to make every month and families to support. As we lose more and more of their arable land to urban expansion and foreclosure, our economy is further impacted.

[@lgizzledangel]

AMEN!

[@LT0WnWaRi0]

@peakmoment why? dont they taste good?

[@ooosteve]

@sk8bow no time to grow my own food. I live in the 21st century. But I do know how to grow food, it is pretty simple really.

[@billavara]

@cptnblackbeard I've watched many of these videos, and I never got the impression that the host claims to be there for academic reasons. It always seemed to me that she's into sharing knowledge gained by regular people's experience. If you know anything about farmer/rancher types, you would also know that they will not be as open as they are with her, if they were with a host of the "better than thou" academic variety.

[@TsurugiOni]

Cumara, I'm glad that you mentioned the anti-backyard gardening law. Ima definately research that. Ima start digging man-traps and bear traps by my garden incase any of these law enforcers want to rip up my garden. If there is one law that points to socialist type control on America, it is taking away the right to grow your own food and store it.

[@bluebirdsofafeather]

Mary Jane says "Keep prices down"

[@hawkskywind8863]

I'm thinking to have a good self sustaining farm one must have a good woman

[@eveyu812]

@cptnblackbeard I know these videos are a few years old and some things have changed/ worsened in that time. But to recommend that farmers turn to growing GMO seeds/crops is truly the wrong road to travel down. GMO seed companies like Monsanto ARE the reason the world no longer want Americas crops. We are one of the only countries that allows product to go to market without GMO labeling. The list of countries that WILL NOT import food from the US is mind blowing. Know the facts about GMO

[@DesecrateConformity]

Hmm. I really like the idea of being self-sufficient, but I don't think that I would want to do large-scale full time permaculture like this. I would just like to maybe grow a few specific plants as a part-time hobby.

[@auditorization]

15:39 "Our corn was missing teeth" ,.... ok,... from one farmer to another,..... corn is NOT pollinated by bees, it is pollinated by the wind, the wind blows the pollen from the tassels on top to the silk on the developing corn, you didn't have a problem with corn due to few bees, you had a problem with corn due to not having a very dense plot and not sufficient wind blowing on it. :) later.

[@peakmoment]

It's been a long time since we taped this, so I don't recall what Rick's news items were. But I think GMOs are a disaster. I think humans are tinkering with the primary tools of life, playing god way before we have the wisdom to do so (if ever). I think there should be a worldwide moratorium on developing them. Or a ban.

[@DoctorMandible]

@friscoamm Government is only the problem if you assume that government does not represent the will of the people because most people do want freedom and liberty. What we need is responsive direct democracy and free association.

[@highwatercircutrider]

don't leave out animal powered agriculture, humans existed that way for 1,000s of years. As mennonites we have realized to potential of plain living and animal power.

[@PatrickSturgill]

Are crossbred plants (not dna or anything, just like mixing 2 types of pollen) considered GMOs? that tends to happen in nature anyway right? but yeah GMOs are bad.

[@peakmoment]

I agree that GMO is horrible, perhaps terminal to agriculture, or even higher life forms on the planet.

[@ooosteve]

crazy hippies hahaha!

[@walter0bz]

i hope the future is libertarian enabling-tech.. self sufficient food & energy .. however i dont beleive the earth can support so many that way.

[@charlesrosaly]

You all better learn from the Eygptians. They fight for freedom better than we do.

[@peakmoment]

@deskset24, you may be interested in reading Derrick Jensen, who points out the it's civilization that has imprisoned everyone by stealing land and resources, and is based on violence. Industrial civilization is destroying the planet--using up the resources as quickly as possible to feed an infinite growth economy on a finite planet. On the web at DerrickJensen-DOT-org.

[@couerl]

We're all doomed.

[@naturallivingdesigns2383]

Great video! Thanks for sharing. Here is a video on how we grow our animal feed I think you will enjoy kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5DGfoaEedN9pas

[@peakmoment]

@XCritonX, hey let's take it easy. We've already got enough violence -- how about some tolerance for differing views?

[@sibkiss2009]

@charlesrosaly Yes, but now their military gov says that protesting is outlawed and there won't be an election til they say so later on. Bye to the old boss, hi to the new boss.

[@MRQYLI1]

from china

[@billblyth9126]

excellent apart from the BS news

[@texflyguy]

@leesoarez Naive is the key word here. If the primary concern is for the wildlife, it's time to pack up and move. Give it back to the critters instead of spouting off about animal rights. At the beginning of the video, mention is made of living in a "post petroleum" era. A better solution is a post Obama and post Gore era. Did it ever occur to you tree huggers that pollution from Saudi and Chernobyl just might travel with the wind and eventually reach our shores? As I said NAIVE is the word.

[@bealtainecottage]

Did Greg say "genetically modified seeds?" Have you been bought out too? I cannot believe this stupidity and expecting smallholders like myself in Europe to put up with such nonsense. Last time I tune into Monsanto Media!