the beginning of the end.

[Mortblanc]

I have worked farms at the pre-industrial level and there are several things which are not being considered, and some that are being considered from the wrong angle.

First, it is much easier to "tack out" oxen than horses. A yoke and a length of chain will do oxen for most work around the farm. Horses require collars, traces and harness.

Second, using barley and wheat or oats for cereal crops, planting veggies and raising stock will require 6 fertile acres per person to sustain life. That has always been the historic number for European farming without machinery.

Third, there is a limit to the amount of farming one man can do using draft animals. One drops from plowing and harrowing 50 acres a day to plowing/harrowing 1 acre a day using draft animals. That equals 6 days work per person just to get the crop into the ground. Keep in mind that all planting must be done inside a narrow window of time to meet harvest expectations and weather has an influence.

Sustenance for three people would require 18 acres, 18 days plowing with ideal weather, and fighting pests, vermin and looters for the next 8 months until harvest, which also requires intense labor and perfect weather.

The amount of pure manual labor associated with subsistence farming without machinery is absolutely astounding and beyond the capabilities of most modern people, even if they know what to do and when to do it.

If SHTF does arrive keep in mind that the full tank of petrol in your vehicle will run your rototiller for two years at a rate of work even the horse can not accomplish. So quit the concept that you will be larking about in your BOV seeking whom you might devour, passing the time of day or going to see what is over the next hill.

Yep, I got the little tractor, the tiller and 200 pounds of nitrogen based fertilizer and lime out in the shed, 50 gallons of petrol in the tanks and shed and nowhere to go, so I have the kids/grandkids set up for a couple of years. By that time they should have figured out what the horse in the back field is for.

The absolute best cereal crop for survival agriculture is maize.

It is a crop specifically developed for cultivation in large production without machinery.

Without a hint of knowledge of what an ox, horse or plow was, the Native Americans sustained cities of thousands and hundreds of thousands.

The Aztecs built floating gardens, much like our concept of a raised bed where they grew all the food needed for the sustenance of 1/2 million people on Mexico City when Cortez arrived.

There is an archeological site over here called Choaka mounds, near the city of St. Louis. It is located on the Mississippi River at the confluence of the Missouri River. That is about the same climate conditions as your Midlands up to the north country. Using intense non-mechanical cultivation they sustained a city of 40,000 without a draft animal in sight.

Maize, combined with beans and squash are known as the Three Sisters, and those three foods will provide all the nutrients needed for health and growth. They contain every vitamin, protein and amino acid required by the human body and all of them can be preserved without canning or refrigeration.

You dig up a hill of dirt, incorporate some manure into it and drop a corn seed on each side. When the corn sprouts you go back in and plant beans and squash in the center. The beans sprout and grow up the cornstalks while the squash covers the ground and prevents weed growth.

I plant an "Indian garden" every year just to show the neighborhood kids and curious visitors how it was done. Every year I am amazed at how simple the process is. I am presently enjoying the harvest of last years effort.

The Native Americans, without the plow or draft animals, were healthier than their European invaders, which is one reason that most native Americans were displayed as giants in early drawings.

This is also a great concept for a "guerilla garden" one could plant in hidden areas of sunlight among the trees of a forest, just as the Native Americans did.

Just remember, you are going to need a bigger patch than you think you are, and more time.