The Survivalist Pledge:
To help all that can be helped,
To defend all that can be defended,
To save all that can be saved,
To free all that seek freedom,
To stay alive as long as I can and stay free as long as I live.
You are sitting on the porch of your secluded retreat, snug with the thought
you have made adequate food stockpiling preparations. The shelves in the
basement sag with canned goods and cartons of "Mountain Home"
dehydrated food. Garden seeds are stored in moisture-proof containers. Breeding
stock of chickens and rabbits are in their cages. Ah, yes. What could possibly
go wrong?
About that time, you hear a noise behind you. Turning your head, you find
yourself looking into the business end of a 12 gauge. Soon your stockpile is
heading down the road in the back of a truck.
Some additional food stockpiling, planning, and action can greatly reduce
your dependence on outside sources and provide a RENEWABLE supply of food with
little maintenance required. A supply that can't easily be stolen from you.
One generally thinks of tree crops only in the standard commercial fruit
varieties, such as apples, pears, plums, etc.
While indeed, these should be planted for the annual contributions, there are
also others to consider. Some bean or seed pod trees production is nutritious to
both man and livestock. The carob tree in Southern California is perhaps the
best know of these with its chocolate-like flavor. Carob can be used in most
recipes which call for chocolate and is the key advertised ingredient of
"Tiger's Milk" candy bars. The fruit of this tree is variously known
as carob, carob bean, algarroba, algarroba, carob, caroubier, locust, sweet
bread, sugar pod, and St. John's bread--depending on its geological location.
The honey locust tolerates a much wider climate than the carob and produces a
sweet pod sometimes reaching a length of twelve inches or more. Like the carob,
its pods are readily accepted by both man and various livestock. While the carob
favors a climate suitable for citrus and the honey locust a climate suitable for
corn to cotton, the mesquite favors the arid Southwest. The mesquite bean or pod
was chiefly used as food for livestock, but some Indian tribes employed mesquite
bread as a staple food for an unknown period of time. When the pods are beaten
in a mortar and sifted, the mass hardens and keeps indefinitely. It can be used
as a flour or eaten without cooking.
The beans of carob, honey locust, and mesquite keep well with storage in a
cool, dry location, such as a basement. (Some think the "manna"
mentioned in the Bible may well have been carob or honey locust.) Chief among
the native fruits trees which have lost favor are the mulberry and persimmon.
What child of rural South hasn't spent a pleasant afternoon camped in a mulberry
tree eating the sweet fruit until they were sated? Livestock, principally pigs
and poultry, relish the fallen fruit. While its primary use is a fresh fruit,
mulberries can be dried and used as a survival ration. Dried white mulberries,
partially, but not quite, seedless, are extremely palatable. They once formed
the almost exclusive diet of hundreds of thousands of Afghans for many months of
the year. (At one time it was noted that the troubles of the beggar and the dog
were over for a time when mulberries are ripe, both moving under the mulberry
tree and picking up their subsistence.) Mulberries can be of the black, red, or
white variety. Due to the fondness of birds for the fruit, planting a mulberry
too near the homestead area is not recommended.
Persimmons are yet another native fruit which once was a major contributor to
livestock feed, as well as the human diet. While dogs, hogs, cattle, and possums
relish ripe persimmons, there have been documented cases of indigent families
living exclusively off the fruit of a single large persimmon tree for several
months. Persimmons do not have the range of mulberries; they grow mostly in the
south-eastern part of the country. Due to their high sugar content, mulberries
and persimmons can be used for jams, preserves, and jellies. They can also be
dried individually or as fruit leather, canned, or even made into wine. Dried
persimmons are said to look and taste much like dried figs, a particularly
nutritious food source for a large portion of the world.
Since most readers will be familiar with nut trees, only a few comments are
needed. Nut meat has long been recognized for its ability to round out a
vegetarian diet by providing some fats and proteins. Blight-resistant chestnuts
have been developed which rival the old American chestnut, the mainstay forest
crop for settlers of the Appalachian area. Acorns were once the winter staple of
some American Indian tribes with some traveling hundreds of miles to gather
them. The acid which makes some acorns bitter to humans can be removed by
seeping or boiling the nut meat with several changes of water. Acorn production
and palatability vary greatly between individual species of oaks.
Nuts have more food value than meat, grains, or fruits. Several nut kernels
average about 3,200 calories per pound versus an average of about 800 calories
per pound for meats, grains, and fruits. In China, an old custom was to feed
babies on milk made of boiled water and the paste of ground walnuts when the
mother's milk failed. Other nuts to consider are the almond, beechnut,
butternut, chinquapin, filbert or hazelnut, peanut (yes, it is considered a
nut), and pinõn or other pine nuts in addition to the standard hickories, pecans,
and walnuts.
If planted not closer than about 45 feet together, all of the previously
mentioned trees would permit two-tiered agriculture with pasture, hay, or even
row crops between and underneath the trees. This would allow livestock to
harvest much of their food directly. This spacing would permit 50 trees on a
two-acre lot. While not exactly plant and forget, these non-commercial trees are
easier to maintain than the commercial ones like the apples, cherries, pears,
etc. Production can start in as few as two years from planting, although five is
a more realistic goal for sustained yields. To allow for the possibility of a
"nuclear autumn", select varieties which will grow in colder climates
than normal local conditions. More than one variety of a species should be
planted to allow for different production cycles to space out the harvest.
Bushes or other low-growing fruits and berries should also be considered.
These can include huckleberries, wild cherries, blackberries (some varieties are
thorn-less), hog plums, gooseberries, hawthorns, paw paws, wild and domestic
grapes, dogwood berries, black gum berries, and currants. Many of these will
produce with little attention and will substantially increase their yield with
cultivation.
Like trees, ponds should be looked upon as a renewable source of subsistence
(with both fish and fowl being available from it). Check with your local water
authority and Wildlife Agent to see if grants are available to assist in
building a pond. In certain situations, assistance will also be provided in
initial or restocking. Care must be taken to prevent one species from taking
over a pond, with a balanced ecosystem being your goal. The concept I am
recommending can be referred to as low input, sustainable agriculture.
Basically, it should be thought of as planting or stocking an insurance policy.
Should circumstances cause you to lose your pre-positioned stockpile of food, the
trees and pond will still be there to provide quite adequate subsistence at
little, additional cost and effort beyond harvesting and storage.
Recommended reading is Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture by J. Russell
Smith (available from the Stockman Grass Farmer Bookshelf, PO Box 9607, Jackson,
MS 39286-9607.)
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