Self-Sustaining Even During a Shortage Nationwide

Simple Aquaponics

In its simplest form, you raise a fish, use the fish water to feed plants, the plants clean the water by using the nutrients, you return the fresher water to the fish.  Fish gets big you eat it, plants have ripe fruit or leaves, you pick them and eat them.  It comes from the far more complicated Aquaculture(fish farming) and Hydroponics(soil less plant growing with chemicals).  You can grow some plants in every part of our country, even on a balcony overlooking the streets.  Ideally it takes a small greenhouse, a fish tank, troughs to hold the plants and allow water to flow until it is allowed to pour into a tank for returning the water to the fish tank.  I will not attempt to teach you how to do this, not in this article but your library will have data on how to do it simple or complicated.  Of course, the Internet is full of it, look at a few YouTube versions of aquaponics.  Now with aquaculture, you could almost be totally self sustaining.

Vermiculture

Vermiculture is simply the raising of red wigglers, fish bait.  You may ask why would you want to do that.  Glad you did.  You will always have vegetable waste unless you eat out all the time.  These marvelous creatures convert that waste into a rich fertilizer, called worm castings.  Above we talked about aquaponics, using the water from a fish tank.  Actually, the water has the fish poop in it and that is where the nutrients come from.  However, fish poop is not as rich as worm poop so is not strong enough for the heavy feeders like tomatoes.  By adding some worm poop tea, one part volume of poop to three parts water, using about one fourth of this mixture at the beginning of your troughs when watering the plants, you supply them with the best of the best.  The side benefit if you fish, you have your worms and poop too.  True story.  One of the nations largest practitioner of vermiculture was challenged to eat an earthworm, he did.  Then he served earthworm cookies, his challengers did not take.  Hmmm could this be part of self sustaining.

Prospects

You can expand your aquaponic system easily and inexpensively as you learn and need the extra produce.  It is a simple method of supplementing your groceries and is fun and educational.  You could even do as Will Allen, of NBA fame, in Milwaukee, Wi.  He started an organization ‘Growing Power’ to show folks in the poor neighborhoods how to have fresh vegetables and fish anytime they wished.  It is a non-profit enterprise helping people help themselves.  He has three Growing Power YouTube features you will find interesting.  If you are a vegan or vegetarian, you will like Will Allens operation, could easily be self sustaining.

Buy American

Everybody in the world dreams of dealing with the Americans with their products.  Not just vegetables and fruits.  There has been suggestions in many of the articles I read that Americans must begin buying just America products.  Let the world hate us, while using our money in foreign aid, let them envy us, but in the long run, they will destroy us for we keep spreading ourselves thin.  Get in the habit of buying American.  Some are suggesting we carry that even further, if made out of my state, buy just my state products.  Some even suggest the isolationist approach, if not in my city, I do not buy what others bring in.  I work outside and bring the money to my town.  If I need work done, it will be by someone of my town.  When times really get rough, your own town folks will be the ones with a helping hand, so to me, isolationism is not all bad, but at least do it with American products, produce and fruits.  Be more self sustaining.