[Guy_Lovejoy]

Many survivalists live in the city, and lets face it most cannot afford a bol or to move.

I apologise if there is a thread allready existing similar to this but i could not find one.

i know many of u are saying to yourself, i have a bag of seeds it can wait, but these things may take time. Also if u begin to produce your own food then it should free up budget to buy survival orientated goods.

this thread is for anyones ideas on potential urban food production (no such thing as a wrong answer).

basements could use hydroponics... intensive vegetable gardens.. planting crops up sides of buildings, even just sprouting seeds in a windowsill. If we get a good range of ideas we could see what could work and what could suit our individual needs..... prepare now whilst we have the resorces.

 

[Crackshot]

Im kinda new here and dont know about the people that have been here for a long time, but .... realistically the best source of food in a urban environment will be.... your fellow man. At least until things simmer down. Id invest more in bullets than seeds atm. Im sorry, and yes I know reality bites, but it is what it is.

 

[Guy_Lovejoy]

most people will have fery little food stored in an urban environment..this will be consumed in a short time likely before you can get your hands on it, also if u were considering the consumption of human flesh i would not advise it if u can help it... my reason is not ethical, it is just the best way to catch sombodys deseases is to eat them.

The idea was to produce a portion of your own food to free up money from your food bills (to spend on bullets etc) and to set it up to produce constantly before and after shtf.

If we set up home food production systems that save money in the long term (by saving on food) then all the better!

 

[tagfactor]

Im kinda new here and dont know about the people that have been here for a long time, but .... realistically the best source of food in a urban environment will be.... your fellow man. At least until things simmer down. Id invest more in bullets than seeds atm. Im sorry, and yes I know reality bites, but it is what it is.

No disrespect intended but, your best source of food is yourself. IMO if you rely on somebody else, you are in for a rude awakening

 

[BudgetSurvivalist]

Google keyhole gardening. Even someone like me, with only a balcony for open space, should be able to produce a little using that method.

I would be wary of trying to grow anything in your basement if you are going to use at all more than the average amount of electricity. Even if you are not using over what "they" think you should use in electricity, indoor crops give out clues to the authorities that you might be engaged in illicit activities. When "The Man" comes calling, even if you aren't growing you-know-what, you don't want to submit to a search and have him find your Nagant and 3000 rds of ammo...

 

[thx1138]

In an urban setting hydroponics is probably the best. If you have a spare bedroom or room in the basement is could work well. Just be on the look out for nosy neighbors, delivery people, and cable guys that think you're growing something illegal.

 

[RosesInWinter]

Rabbits are quiet, and the poop is great fertilizer - ready to put on the garden immediately.

 

[Ramona M. Faunce]

If you're worried about growing food in your basement and being singled out by the cops, grow mushrooms. They do very well in the dark, dank corners of a basement. Sprouts are another item that do very well in a basement environment.

Don't overlook the much hated, but very dependable food sorce of the common dandylion. The tender spring leaves make great salad/cooked greens. The roots are a good cleansing tea, and the flowers are also eatable or you can make a dandylion wine out of them.

Don't overlook the usefullness of a good brew, wine or liquor. All of three of these items have helped many a civilization get through hard times in tact. Another good basement project.

Another plant that may do very well in a basement envioronment would be the root crops, potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, rutabegers. These require very little sunlight, so a window in the basement might do the trick. If not, maybe a wall of reflictive aluminum foil opposite the window, may shed just enough light to keep them happy.

Grow easy greens next to your house like kale, very hardy though most of the winter, and sure to come back next year. Also, the reliable rubarb plant, or pie plant. Then you have swiss chard, spinach and lettuce of many varieties. They are green and add plenty of beauty to your home.

Many herbs can be grown on a window seal. Don't think of them as just something to sprinkle in a stew or over food. Many can be made into delicious teas, placed fresh into salads, or put on a sandwich. Flavor and vitamins/minerals good idea.

If you have an area on your property that is forever a swampland. Don't dry it out, grow cattails. The roots can be eatten like a carrot, The leaves can be cooked as greens or added to stew, and I heard you can eat cattail heads, I'm not sure how to fix them.

Don't forget the all important flower. A rose is a rose is a rose. Well a dried rose petal can be steeped into a tea, thrown into a salad or baked into a loaf of bread/cookie/cake. That rose petal is a valuable source of vitamin C. The nesturgum is another flower. It has the flavor of pepper. The leaves can also be eatten. Once the nosturgem has been heated, it looses its pepper flavor. Then there are the pansys and the forge-me-nots both are eatable and add color to any dish. Most resteraunts serve flowers on the plate as decoration, they are also eatable. Try one and see.

There is so much that grows in our yard all on their own. We need to fill ourselves with the knowledge to recognize and use them.

Don't forget the benefits of dehydration. Many of these plants can be preserved through the drying process or pickeling process. This adds to your food stores.

Hope I have been of help. Good luck in the days to come.

 

[pixelphotographer]

I've been preaching growing perennial plants for years for food production.
WHY? When the SHTF you might not be able to get seed if you dont already have seed stored up.
Plant bushes like blueberries they look ornamental and provide food and can grow in a variety of situations.
Pear trees can be planted to provide fresh fruit and can be canned and stored for several years.
Any of the fruit or nut trees or bushes can easily fit into a neighborhood lot in an suburban setting with a yard and house.
Garlic is easy to grow and can take care of itself for the most part.
Many of the herbs can be grown as perennial ground covers.

tubers like potatoes, jerusalem artichoke and more wouldnt be noticeable to normal people and look like weeds and hide your crop well.
Jerusalem Aritchoke also produce a pretty sunflower and spread well.

beans are easy to store and grow and save seed from and can be allowed to grow up trees and trellises in the yard that wouldnt look like a normal row garden. Planting pole beans at the base of trees in the yard wouldnt show up as much as a nice tilled row garden and wouldnt be as obvious to the average person looking to steal your crops or food.

Theres more I could go on but you get the idea.
Hope this helps.

 

[Crackshot]

No disrespect intended but, your best source of food is yourself. IMO if you rely on somebody else, you are in for a rude awakening

No, that isnt what I was thinking. In what I consider an extreme SHTF case, If you stay in a city I consider you brain dead, but that wasnt the question, but I digress.

What I ment was that in a sistuation where TS really hits TF then you can throw morals and laws out the window. Its all about survival. And as soon as all the scruffys and meow meows have been consumed the survivors will be looking for larger prey. namely you. In a case like that bullets will do you far more good than seeds.

Human flesh, tho not as tasty as cow, will keep you alive. and if you burn it like my grandma used to burn her liver, chances are you wont catch anything either.

Hey this IS a survivalist site right? If you havent thought of that alternative already than you might not be as "survivalist" as you thought.


CS

 

[boy george fan]

The problem with outdoor gardens is the threat of them being raided, same with apple and other fruit trees, they'll be picked clean when you are gone.

My garden is raided almost every year by f*uckin' kids when I'm not around.

All that work and care so some piece of sh*t gets to eat for free.....makes my blood boil.

Of course I'll have about a years supply of food hidden in my home and after the SHTF, I'll concerntrate on putting traps and snares in natural areas in my city, shooting magpies and seagulls,etc.

Until things simmer down, I don't think outdoor cultivation on a large scale in the city is feasable.

 

[Dwind]

be careful with indoor growing projects. the DEA is starting to track sales of UV lights and other gear used for hydroponics. Obviously if youre growing chronic its a heads up, but regardless, someone might make a 'mistake' and raid you, collecting evidence you'll never see again then later saying "oh, sorry"

 

[4294]

Academically these solutions are excellent, realistically in the urban environment you need to store food as best as possible, have the possibility of staying in place, time your exit and move on to a secondary place that furnishes your basic needs.

Philosophically wthshtf, if it's so bad isn't it just pure sport? Living in relative comfort longer than the immediately compromised sheeple, then surviving the remotely prepared is pretty good.

Realistically things will either be immediate or just long term degradation. Get 'your ducks in a row' be relatively well prepared, diversify and duplicate your important tools, simplify ( like bastard files to sharpen implements, get rid of wooden handles, oil it up and bury it ) have a few outs.

I'd hate to be in Europe; we'll be in your well intentioned and diverse scenario when Obama becomes the leader of the free world.

"Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry?"

'George Dowd'

 

[Sasquatch]

Then theres always dumpster diving to free up money for survival supplies.

 

[perplexer]

You are definitely right about Obama - Europe is in Obama fever...the local papers call him "savior" and even though his speech is a few days in the past he still makes headline news.

Living in Europe will become quite difficult, but the one advantage that I see is that most farming is still family farms rather than big corporations.

Anyways, we have been looking into Aquaponics lately. Use a small place to grow fish in a barrel and use their waste to run a hydroponics system. Using Solar it can even be made to run independent of public grid. If you have a little space you can at least substitute a bit of store bought food.

There is a good tutorial in the download section here on something called Barrelponics by a guy named Travis Hughey. Our system will probably be a bit bigger then that - but the concept stays the same.

 

[zoltan]

Koi ponds could be a great source of food. Buy them small so they're cheap. I'm sure other fish would do well in a small pond in the backyard. Might want to scope out office buildings. Some of them have koi ponds with tons of fish. The canals around my town have certain edible fish in them. Ponds at golf courses are often stocked. Dumpster diving was mentioned above. I had a friend that lived 6 months doing that till he was able to save some money and get an apartment and real food. Could raise pigeons. Nothing better than skyrat meat except maybe alley cat. Simple vegetable gardens could be made. If you lack room create gardens beds and stack them vertically on cinder blocks.

 

[RosesInWinter]

Nothing better than skyrat meat except maybe alley cat.

Leave some of the cats - they keep the bubonic-plague carrying rat population down. You do NOT want the plague.

 

[mgd_only]

perplexer your right about the barrelponics i have the setup in which you speak running right now and it works great. it also porduces more food than i thought it would.
however i recommend doing it in the small scale like in the download first it taught me alot. just so you don't make a big mistake with your bigger system as i killed a number of fish getting this thing set up right. however i to am moving on to a biger aquaponics system beginning at the start of next year.

 

[RonPaulGal]

As far as growing indoors - I wouldn't doubt ComEd or whomever your electric co.
is, would let the Feds know of any accounts with dramatically increased usage of
electricity. To utilize an indoor growing system, you'll need lots more electric.
Although you are not doing anything illegal with growing food, as others have said,
you could wind up being raided/searched.

 

[mgd_only]

i've had no raid problems but then i just use florecent shop lights 48" tubes and they do awesome