Reply #22: greater food security?....one of the many reasons.

[bvar22]

In 2006, we sold everything, moved to the rural South, and started working on becoming as sustainable/independent as possible.
Fear of rising food prices wasn't a real big factor at that time.
We are old hippies and genuinely attracted to the healthy/sustainable/independent lifestyle.

There were many other reasons for our decision:

*Despair over national politics and the lack of Party that represented Working Class Americans

*Disgust with the out of control Corporatization/Consumerism of America.

*The rampant and growing contamination of the Factory Food Production & Delivery system

*The deterioration of taste and texture in most of the produce in the stores

*Our own aging...mid/late 50s, (Do it NOW, or forget about it.)

*Witnessing the aftermath of Katrina on the Gulf Coast.
(THIS greatly affected the timing of our decision
When I returned to Minneapolis from New Orleans, I told my wife, "You know that thing we have been talking about---Moving to The Woods and growing our own food?
Well, the time is NOW.")

This year:
We again expanded & optimized our fenced veggie garden area.
After 4 years we are getting a good idea of what is worth our time, and what requires a lot of work for little gain.

We have gotten much better at staggered plantings for rolling/extended harvests.
Our first year here, we planted everything in April.
While the results was awesome, it was pretty unmanageable to have a whole crop of something getting ripe on the same day.

We are also doing more Year Round gardening.

We doubled the size of our flock of chickens to 14 hens and two roosters.
We have really come to love our birds, and they have been the most cost effective source of year round health food.
14 hens are way more than my wife & I will ever need, but we had the space and love the birds.
The new hens have just started laying.

It is definitely a process.
Some things are not worth the effort.
Other things can be done in an easier way.
We are getting better at this as time goes by.
We haven't ever regretted our decision, though somethings we do get homesick for the stark beauty of a Minnesota Winter.

:hi: