This Is What we Grow vs What We Buy - Planning For The Future
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- čas přidán 18. 03. 2022
- We are attempting to lessen the grip that industrial agriculture has on our lives by chipping away at how much our everyday lives depend on the outputs of the failing food supply chain by growing our own food.
Our personal reliance on the supply chain our society currently uses to produce, store, move, market, and sell the food we eat needed to be evaluated. The cost to humanity, in terms of the impact that the need to profit above all else has on animal and human welfare and the environment, is just staggering. Add to that, the complexity is shocking, with no time like the present to really show us just how fragile it really is. It is becoming more important to prepare for a food shortage. Prepping isn't only about what you buy, but also about the knowledge base you build.
Growing and raising our own food to reduce our reliance on this system is one of the areas that we have put most of our time and effort into. The first projects on the Wilderstead have focused on building infrastructure including a barn, chicken coop, greenhouse, hoop house, wood and storage sheds, and garden beds. For our food production, we started with a bank slate, and when I say blank, I really mean that. Our house, livestock, and gardens occupy the section of our land that was stripped clear of all soil and vegetation. So over and above the infrastructure, we have been rebuilding the ecosystem.
We also have spent years building our knowledge of the environment, including how ecosystems function, our impact on these ecosystems, and what what we gain from maintaining a healthy ecosystem including: clean water and air, wood, edible plants, mushrooms, and fish. That is one of the reasons that we called our homestead Wilderstead, not only because of how much we rely what the wilderness provides, but to remind us of the impact our actions have on the wilderness.
With all that effort, time, and research you would think that we have minimized our reliance on the industrial complex. But when we put it all down on paper, we were very disappointed in just how little we have loosened its grip.
We lay out all the aspects of our needs and wants when it comes to food, and colour coded where everything comes from. Everything we rely on the industrial complex for is red, what we produce ourselves is blue, what we get from the wilderness is green, and what we get from our community is purple. We value all colours other than red equally, knowing that we can’t produce everything ourselves and it will take a community of like-minded individuals.
#Wilderstead #canadianhomesteaders #foodsupply #supplychain #agriculture
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Thanks!
You two are awesome! Thank YOU!
Great video. Most people don’t realize what it takes to be self sufficient. You’re close enough that if the supply chain collapsed tomorrow, you would probably do fine and simply go without “luxuries” like snacks, dairy, etc. Very motivating, especially since you/we are in a very challenging climate and ecosystem
Yes, despite all the red, we agree that we are close. The main problem would be getting salt and other staples we need to preserve our food. Thanks for being an inspiration to us and many more, Shawn!
Exactly 💯. Amazing work.
This is fantastic thanks for showing us the way
Great video!
Yes! Thank you
So glad you kept this going. The key is not how much red you have, but that all of us work to reduce that red. The more we are all aware the more able we will be to support one another in this effort. For example, your dairy could turn purple if someone local decides to focus on producing dairy. That dairy farmer could then purchase maple syrup and mushrooms from you and turn that slice of their pie chart purple. None of us can produce it all ourselves but we can all think more critically and turn something in our lives from red to blue. Also, the more we focus on the inputs to our lives, the easier it is to recognize what is unnecessary and we can live without. As usual, well done Wildersteaders!
Thanks! All great points. The laws in Ontario/Canada are very restrictive around dairy, but, yes, we are trying to put that plan in practice, and build community wherever we can.
Thank you for sorting this out for us.. great job
Amanda and Dave , you guys are awesome, you work so hard, and both have great insight. Its nice to see someone taking the time to do a deep dive into the reality of their self reliance and throwing new lines out for barter and trade. You may still be in the "red" but youre leaps and bounds ahead of the herd. Keep it up!
Thanks Sherri! We are moving towards the cooler parts of the colour scheme every year :)
I’m just south of the Canadian border on Lake Superior and your content has been like gold for me. Thank you 🙏
Great to hear!
What a tremendous amount of work to create this information! Wow! Congratulations to you that Wilderstead is 2nd out of 4 categories. I'm striving to simply get to the point where we grow & preserve 80-85% of our food needs. We don't live on "property" but rather, a regular town lot. We now have 7 fruit trees & will have 10 raised beds in a month. It's a process, yes? Congratulations on your many successes & thanks for the video.
Really enjoyed this video. Im a city dweller currently in the practice stage. Ive replaced my front yard with a veggie garden. my wife and I hope to move to a similar property in a few years. hopefully land prices dont stay this crazy forever lol
Great to hear you are using the space you have towards your goal! Even if you can’t replace all your food with that garden, you definitely can’t replace the knowledge you are gaining!
Great video. Keep going. Don't give up!!! Inspirational ❤️ 💙 💜
Im glad your getting this out, so many people around me are clueless or in denial even though they can see the changes. Several of the people tell me that theyjust hunt although they dont hunt now, have no clue how to butcher kills if they can get that far... Very good up load! I need Help haha im overwhelmed!
It's a real thing. And it's likely only going to get worse, too.
Mark Twain wrote," The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Duluth", and I can attest to that as I worked as an Ironworker in Duluth and north, now retired but I can bet living where you guys are can be brutal.
Fantastic video and channel! just stumbled across it last night. Love from Scotland
Welcome aboard!
Great respect from Europe!
Lovely content friend thanks for sharing ✅😍
Thank you! Cheers!
Wonderful deep dive into societal dependence on big (for profit) food. They say realization can be curative in itself. Thanks for the massive eye opening realization of who I’ve been supporting.
Every little bit of self reliance no matter how small is a step in the right direction. Restarting our garden this year at our new city property and going to start supporting our local farmers markets that I normally just drive by. Thanks again for the wake up call.
You guys are very articulate and complement each other well done, very well done.
Great detailed presentation! Thanks very much for sharing. Greetings from Cambridge/ON.
Great video!! Love the breakdown.
I just found this channel. Good info. And slightly harder. Them being a touch further north. Great looking homestead. ❤️ love
this has been a really great series of videos
Thanks Dave! Glad you like it.
This is fantastic! I need to map out our reliance on the system, see where we can improve. Thank you for the inspiration.
People don't realize how much depended on outside there homestead there eh! Thanks for sharing these videos very eye opening...
For us too! Cheers
Good stuff! A lot of people don’r realize that we CAN repair damaged lands, but it takes concerted effort, knowledge, and most importantly… will
Growing hemp could produce seeds and bedding, they use hemp to recondition depleted and ruined soil and grows freekin anywhere. I plan on using hemp for my chicken coop. You would have to figure how to grind it up for bedding.
Very interesting point of views. Shows that we can do more efforts on some aspects but some others will be impossible to reach perfection
Thanks, it is always good to know your limitations
I love this and want to create an inventory of my own to know where I need to focus next!
Do it! 😀
I love this and have shared this video and your last. I struggle with the community piece the most. I live in Phoenix, in the city. We have 1/3 acre and produce about 1/3 of our food. We have a community farmers market each Saturday that we can try harder to make connections through….I guess I just answered my own question about making connections for the things we do not produce 🤪 The one thing that holds me back is the need to work full time. I have limited time to commit to garden work. It actually pisses me off, probably more than it should. How is it going with the rabbits? We have chickens and your journey into rabbits made me consider it but I have not taken that step, concerned it may be more than I can handle yet. Thank you again.
Glad to hear, and we struggle with not having as enough time as well. We live rural, but it is more of a vacation rural than homesteading rural (but that is changing) so we are also struggling with finding community. We are planning on breeding the rabbits soon for summer babies. So far maintaining a small breeding stock has been relatively simple and inexpensive.
If I can make a couple of suggestions, look into breeding crickets for chickens and guilds of plants to rebuild your soil and be less dependent on preparing soil and planting every year. 😉 Great video as always 🙂
Thanks for those suggestions. I have been looking into growing Black soldier flies for my chickens, hoping this will be the year I have time to set it up. 🙂
@@Wilderstead I read that they are easier to grow indeed. But crickets can even provide protein to us in a pinch. 😉 Wish all the success to your projects this year. 🙂
After a bit it also becomes a time management thing too which is why I increased my solar power to the point I don't need a lot of outside power or wood as heating wood takes a lot of time. Totally enjoy your channel and the time and thinking behind it. Cheers. Oh I got my seed started in my Sunshine shed.
Awesome, we have some seeds started, more every week.
Hey Guys! You need to add Burgundy to your colour code, for things you get from your community, but they rely on the industrial complex... Bakeries buy in Flour, Yeast and Salt, and even Fair Trade Coffee & Chocolate has to be shipped halfway around the world... I like the choice of Purple for Community, it means you think your community is just grape... ;) For Pop, you can grow Ginger between the greenhouse and outside summers... that and your Maple Sugar is all you need for Ginger ale... Oh, and BTW, I Tagged you in my last video.
Those are really good points Tim! And yes we saw that you tagged us… you’re grape!
Good video! You guys have a great look at life. My wife and I have begun our food production facilities at the house we bought as well.
I Love what you guys have been able to do and accomplish! You've done a great job tracing your pathway! This information will help me a lot to make my own assessment!
Great to hear!
Thank-you for your honesty in sharing! Livestock feed is a challenge. We've shifted to more animals that are grass fed this year. We also had fertrell formulate us a poultry ration that uses 60% of what we can source from our own land. 30% is bought from local farmers directly and the remaining 10% needs to be ordered out of province. Not perfect, and it will definitely be more labour intensive, but a step in the direction we want to go. I'm happy to send you guys the ration formula with you guys, if you are interested.
Amanda and Dave I always look forward to seeing you . Im very interested in the direction your going with this . As you know I am very dedicated to self reliance from my gardens , chickens, hunting and fishing, my metal working forge, my wood lathe, and recently my sawmill...well... to much more to mention here . Aside from the pleasure I get doing these things , never has there been a time when this experience and these skills will be more valuable. All the best my friends
We can’t agree more, and aspire to be where you are at, but realize it will take time.
I have had quite a few years head start on you but even with that your progress isn't so different. Your gardens and greenhouse are outstanding and even more so given the climate challenges . And I do miss making Maple syrup which I expect is high on your current list of things to do. 🇨🇦👍
@@lostcreekcabin2021 Indeed! And it's going to be a very busy maple year for us. Building a new evaporator and RO system for both the maple as well as birch.
Hey guys! Great video. We find ourselves in pretty much the same situation as you. We produce a lot of our own food, but industrial inputs remain a thorn in our sides. The main one for us is animal feed. We are concentrating this year on meal worms, comfrey and developing a poultry pasture for our chickens and quail. For our goats, hay and pasture are the priorities. We are very concerned about the availability and affordability of feed this year.
We hear ya! What specifically are you growing in your poultry pasture?
I love how you showed different visuals for different focuses. Really helps with perspective. Four years in you guys are really cooking along! This is encouraging to me because I am very early in my process, and it really feels insurmountable sometimes. I doubt I’ll be as far as you guys in a few years due to a whole bunch of factors, but two little boys and a full time job definitely slow things down! Sometimes I remind myself that even if I buy my mustard seed, making mustard saves shipping liquid across the continent, and saves plastic. Some of my successes wouldn’t yet show up on your graph, but I might try looking at our production as well! I know you weren’t looking for recipes, but I absolutely love the fermented mustard recipe from it’s alive by Brad. Highly recommend!
Ohhh, love getting fermented recipes whenever I can! Thanks! Small goals make big goals achievable!
I love that you both thought to do this and even more so that you are so honest and realistic about it! I definitely have been thinking of what things do I rely on too much from the red, what things can I really live without, and what can I make myself to make do? It wasn't until I created my own outlook that I disco ered my food allergies actually work in my favor 😅 I'm dairy sensitive, allergic to sage and pepper, and not a big fan of beef. Dairy I've pretty much replaced with almonds, oils, and hummus. I'm trying to grow my own chickpeas this year hopefully. Other than that my husband and I love root veggies which grow a plenty in southwest Ontario. Also found someone close to me for syrups (I've learned I especially like birch sap!).. I'm wondering if you can use more fertilizer from the lake? Seaweeds/grasses, shells, and fish bones make great fertilizers
Awesome, they do play in your advantage! Fertilizer is a minimal input as we use water from the pond that comes with its own nutrients. But yes we have played around with using fish carcasses and compost tea ☕️ Great ideas.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. If I could make a suggestion... I was surprised to see pop, chips, and candy on your list. They are expensive and offer little nutritional benefit. Alternatively: home brewed kombucha, stovetop popcorn, and treats sweetened with honey or maple would go a lot further toward your goal of self-sustainability and health.
Good points. We do make all of those things from time to time. What we listed are little luxuries that we enjoy. They form a very small part of our food stuffs.
Need to sit down with the family and do this ourselves. Figure out what small changes we can make. Start with small goals. Very good exercise, thanks guys.
Love that!
Are you folks by Port Loring or Cochrane? I have started a homestead on about 100 acres 1.5 yrs ago outside of sturgeon Falls in the bush. Will gradually be able to trade and looking for partners. Still building infrastructure and building gardens and greenhouses. Geat videos you do. Very helpful. Thanks. Would love a source for Maple Syrup instead of Costco lol.
We are further west, Lake Superior. We do have various maple products available on our website, though 😉
Food prices are higher yet farmers are making less money. The middle men in the monopolistic position between the farmer and the market are making tons of money though.
Exactly!
Hi i live in Nova Scotia Canada i live off grid and love it and im always looking for people who are living it. Im looking to learn. Great information
Glad to have ya!
Absolutely love this video. It is so great to get deeper into what you are working towards and it is fun to see some similarities. We even have a chart that looks just as crazy lol. 2021 was our first year in many without dairy and boy did we feel it on the cheese and the crazy price of butter this year. We are in the same boat with grains and animal feed. After talking to others that grow their own feed and calculating it out we figured we need 5 acres of grains which is not in the cards so certainly looking for alternatives. Have you tried sorghum? It is becoming a go to grain for us. The rabbits are certainly doable to feed off the land with minimal supplements... or at least that is what we will strive for this year. More people need to watch this and really look at their situations and try to make the changes necessary to get less red. The more we need the red, the more the system can control us. Your last visual on shrinking the red was a good one as it puts it into perspective on what is really important, because it is very hard to get to a finish line of 100 independent.
Thanks! And yes, yes, yes!
Awsome eye opening video. I have been working on my red circle for many years, its getting smaller but no were near what I would like it to be. So glad I found your channel. I found your channel by looking for cowboy candy..lol. Thank you and appreciate you both putting time and so much effort into your videos. ( Southern Ontario).
Great video! 100% agree this is a very important topic and one we also are trying to get out there. Making a 1% change everyday will get you where you need to be but it will be a journey, I think you guys have done fantastic so far but love that you broke it down as simply saying hey I grow food and raise animals means your self reliant but there is so much more than that.
Thanks, yes those 1% changes do add up!
👋
I love your videos! I’m currently living in Windsor Ontario but planning to move to Markstay Ontario where I own a 80 Acre property/ wilderness. I hope soon I can live like you guys are and maybe we meet one day 🍁
Have you ever had any unusual, or unexplainable sightings, encounters, out there? Such as orbs of light, wood knocks, feelings of being watched, animals with necks broken, large footprints in the snow or mud?
I'm not joking btw
Many of the above, yes. Part of living in the woods.
Hello to you Amanda and Dave . I have been rewatching actually several of your videos and now that it's had time to sink in my mind is beginning to grind forward with ideas that I do here.
For example I also garden have chickens etc. And here I have a sawmill. In addition to lumber I get sawdust and chips for bedding , compost etc. . Which brings me to time invested . Work done directly related to the homestead vs. time spent working out at a job. Might make an interesting pie to add to your charts is you plan to show an update at some time .
All the best my friends .
Paul! You bring up a topic that we are trying to brainstorm some videos about for this winter. Hope all is well with ya buddy.
@@Wilderstead I know for me it's a full time job that never had enough time . Too many irons in the fire. . from garden to animals to mill and wood for heat , construction and maintenance and even forging tools . Just seems the biggest part by fat. 👍
I am working on better long term potato storage. My saved seeds keep sprouting on me.
Yes, we also don’t have a cool and dark enough spot for potatoes to last the whole winter without sprouting. We tried leaving some carrots in the ground this year, interested in seeing how that works out.
I am trying to work out how to re-purpose an old refrigerator using and a solar power source for warming cooling and a fan.
Great videos I would add in electric fencing and met overhead
I would be really interested to see how someone grows grains here in Canada, I know a friend who tried but the animals ate it. It's a real challenge.
Hi, Great video and Amazing Effort, Unfortunately I can't speak from experience as I haven't made the leap to being Self sufficient but I do know that 90% of the points you have in Red are Primarily Luxuries and even though I and My partner work full time and are still part of the system we struggle to afford the Luxuries like Chocolate and Ice cream, but are actually happier without them as we are Healthier. Also a lot of the items you mention can't be produced easily with extreme cost to yourselves and others such as Rice, mustard, candy, plastic bags, etc and maybe its worth changing your desires over candy and rice etc and just enjoy the Fruits of the season as for Bags etc maybe moving away from that as itll be good and maybe consider Bee's waxed coated paper bags....
Anyway amazing jobs keep it going.
What are you doing for things like soaps cleaners clothing and
Toiletries ?
I think those would be the difficult ones
Those specific things we cover in the previous video. We're looking forward to expanding our community to include as many of these items as we can.
Just found you! Great info I live wear of Sudbury and am interested in a source of bison as well would you share?
You can buy Ph strips. I wonder if that accurate enough
😎😎😜👍🏻👍🏻👏👏👏👏
another great video, really makes you think, where I'm at zone 1 maybe bordering on zone 2
,hard to get red tomato's here ,
if im successful in breeding my turkeys iii give you some chic's or hatching eggs if you want .
Thanks! A hoop house or greenhouse will hopefully help with those tomatoes a bit, but yes even with a hoop house we heave a lot of green tomatoes at the end of the year.
@@Wilderstead Green tomatoes are delicious fermented. They taste similar to dill pickles. They can also be sliced and frozen to be used for fried green tomatoes, pickled and canned. Of course with all that you already can you might not want one more thing to do. They can also be wrapped in newspaper until they turn green. This year I didn't bother wrapping them. I put them in a huge bowl on the kitchen counter and enjoyed them . . . well into December. (Zone 5)
@@kfitz192 Green tomatoes do make some tasty preserves. We keep a few tomatoes kicking around until they’re ripe. But with a 700sqft house, there’s just no room for all the things 😂
@@Wilderstead True that! My house is 596 square feet!!!!
I have a question. If you can buy it locally from a local farm do you consider that part of community? I have a local dairy and cheese maker who buys local milk and always consider it to be part of my community for being less dependent on the industry complex.
I definitely do, especially if you can visit their farm and see how the animals are treated so you know that they are not only community in terms of proximity but also in terms of frame of mind.
@@Wilderstead I am lucky they are a certified regenerative ethical dairy. So both animals and people are treated well. I love this series by the way, very informative!
I live in Indiana. I need some chaga would like to trade you for something ..what do you need. I sew and crochet
I like your videos, but the creepy and eerie music gets pretty annoying. Any ways, thanks for sharing.
I wanted to do what your doing for many years. Your last 2 videos are excellent and understanding of every thing BUT< BUT you two are working yourself to death and if one of you gets injured, sick or what have you your system will not work. I think you are spinning your wheels and please dont get me wrong like what your doing but you cant change the system and imho it would be better to get regular jobs and try to fix the system in anther way. Listen, people were doing this pre- 1970s and it work and they didnt have all this massive understanding that you have but it is not 1950s -- i you find your way but these videos are not even showing any happiness in your life just more work and more problems to solve--yet you wanted to live this go green thing and be self sufficient-- i truly dont see this is realy working for you at all or anyone else that tries this. Go to a third world country and they do all this stuff naturally and with ease see what there doing in india, philipines Ecuador south America etc.. I lived in those places and those people would not understand what the americans are trying to do.
People don't realize how much depended on outside there homestead there eh! Thanks for sharing these videos very eye opening...
Thanks Denis!