Douglas Alpenstock

Christopher Weeks wrote: In this scenario, each day, you can pick one food and have only that all day.

In the short term, I would no doubt lose a few pounds. Monotony reduces appetite.

In the medium term, I wonder ... isn't this how prison riots start?

Another notion ... could you get a couple of beehives in there? Reinforces your story, and might just cool the ardour of the mow-everything crowd.

Steve Zoma wrote:I do not recommend putting in steel bars because that would be considered a Fuo or Fixed unmovable Object. If the mower gets destroyed on town property YOU WILL BE PAYING for the repair.
Worse yet, if a car crashes and the occupant is impaled you are going to prison for negligence causing death.

Good point. Looking at the OP again it is public property so physical barriers/hazards would be inadvisable.

I have planted early potatoes around this date (April 20ish) and they were successful. (Edit: Canadian zone 3b.)

Location matters: I found a sheltered microclimate where the sun penetrates and the frost comes out early. Other areas still have frozen ground.

Old-timers tell me they've had potato plants hit by a late frost and they came back.

Thom Bri wrote:Last spring I asked the local farmer if he had any rotten haybales that his cows shouldn't eat. 2 bales showed up last year and now 2 again this year. Good guy!

Nice!! You will remember to drop off a few adult beverages as a thank you, yes? Farmers talk to each other, and this can grease the wheels in all sorts of useful ways.

I recently scored 80 free packs (~100 lbs.) of frozen ground beef. Half of it is best as dog food, and the other half is probably fine for human consumption.

This is from my usual farm supplier, who I know personally. They needed it gone (new animal coming in) and they knew we have big dogs and freezer space. Much better than hauling it to the dump!

As a bonus I've been able to gift some to good neighbours who need it for their dogs (in part for financial reasons). So I'm building community too.

EDIT: My hounds push away the spendy commercial dog chow and go straight for my "dog stew" (boiled ground beef, potato, peas, carrots, rolled oats, cabbage, beet skins). If times were tough, I'd eat that myself!

Robin Suggs wrote:I get that there is no political whiffing allowed, though I will say that one's ability to garden is predicated on one's ability to control land. That is a entirely different subject and will become more or less relevant depending on the nature of the "calamity". In my mind foraging is the ultimate skill-set and one that is completely mobile and not tied to one's ability to secure real estate.

Foraging also requires access to land. If it is private land and times are tough, landowners may become quite defensive. They do not know your intent. It's hard to know how this would play out on public land in tough times.

Access to land is different from owning land. In North America, the amount of unused land that could be cultivated as gardens is staggering. But access requires a deep level of trust on the part of the landowner (and in normal times, their insurers). That trust, and access, is earned through family connections, community organizations and churches, and "people who know people who will stand up and vouch for you." It's something to be cultivated and earned, like a garden.

Yes, it is the Narita Airport.

Tommy Bolin wrote:Forums in general are declining from the 2010's peak, I can see that. People want instant answers. Forums can only serve those who choose them.
Folks have been migrating to the instant, effortless, critical thought free knowledge of a curated internet. Wading through opinion/chatter in search of facts is tiring. Forums will be irrelevant to anyone not seeking writing or community.

Fair point -- I hear you. Forums I used to love have already fallen off the cliff; others are teetering on the edge. A lot of knowledge (in a decidedly messy format) has gone offline.

I would certainly be interested in a full, offline copy of this (and other) valuable forums.

I do think distilling facts from these conversations without the attendant context would be quite a challenge. For example, when I post my "facts" for growing things there are a lot of local factors built in, including climate, rainfall, humidity, length of days, length of growing season, and so on. I face different challenges than growers in the UK, Hawaii, or Florida. The danger of distilling is the loss of the local terroir.

I suppose the other aspect worth preserving, at least to my mind, is the respect for process. Homesteading, soil building, and gardening are long processes. The knowledge of "how" is not all that hard to find.  But knowing is not the same as doing -- doing is all about the long process. It's the "why" that is lacking. Community provides the "why."

Narita, Japan. Family farm, 100 years organic, in the middle of a major international airport. Owner has been offered big money to leave; doesn't care. Heartwarming.

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08kz96l/watch