Nomadic Food Production

Greetings all,

As I partake in preparing to make the journey (hopefully) to Alaska, this year or next, I am getting concerned I won't pull it off this year due to basically having to leave as soon as possible. This would leave me an entire year of, well, whatever really, tackling things I've wanted to for a long time such as road tripping the USA and documenting the wilderness via photography and drones before I do the same thing in Alaska.

I would like to inquire about food production methods suitable for vehicular based living. I recall seeing on here some type of hauled garden... I would like to expand on this idea and see if anyone can come up with something I can't conceive of, because it is a solid solution but would reduce a lot of potential space by sacrificing a camper. From growing small amounts of greens, herbs, or high yield vegetables that can fit well into daily meals, consisting hopefully of wild hunted game or fish to increase micronutrient intake, to baking sourdough bread somehow... solar oven, I imagine... Dutch oven over a fire?

I am interested in various arrangements with respect to food growing potential: A car pulling a trailer, a truck with a topper pulling a tiny camper, an RV, constantly growing vegetables inside using solar energy versus a system setup if one decides to camp out in the same spot for a few weeks (rapid turn around vegetables?)

Perhaps there is a business opportunity here if anyone wants to team up... Developing a double length tiny camper where one half is a greenhouse or vertical garden...

Regards

I think your nutrient uptake and fuel efficiency would be vastly improved if you focused on foraging along the way instead of towing soil around.  I can't imagine the plants would be very happy...

Solar hydroponics?

Do you plan on setting a schedule and itinerary, or just winging it?

If the former, I'd follow Mike's suggestion and research what plants are in their wild foraging prime in the areas you plan to pass through, and allow time to do so.

Most plants take close to 60 days from germination to harvest, and what would you eat while you're waiting? Most of the Nomadic people I've read about, carried the basics and foraged for whatever was in season.  That said, they also usually had a long history of foraging in the regions they travelled through, so they knew where to look!

Plants that are out in the open in a truck bed really don't cope with any sort of speed of travel. I think you'd have to build some sort of enclosure for them that you could open up when you stop. I think a generator would be really wasteful of resources, and solar panels wouldn't generate enough power. A low soil system would help. For the cost, identifying farmers markets and similar in the places you plan to be passing through, would make more sense.

The exception might be to organize a good set up for sprouting grains/etc.

You could sprout seeds in jars. Lentils, sunflower, maybe others work that way.

The most nomadic families that I know depend heavily on foraging and fishing. They honed their skills over many years and many ecosystems.

They tend to visit the same spots year after year, therefore also engage in guerrilla gardening: planting things that can fend for themselves (annuals, perennials, bushes, trees) hoping that they will produce something in coming years.

I know nomadic families that take chickens or goats with them.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:The most nomadic families that I know depend heavily on foraging and fishing. They honed their skills over many years and many ecosystems.

They tend to visit the same spots year after year, therefore also engage in guerrilla gardening: planting things that can fend for themselves (annuals, perennials, bushes, trees) hoping that they will produce something in coming years.

I know nomadic families that take chickens or goats with them.

To the bookstore it is!

Look at this book;
Food foraging in North America