We are attempting to lessen the grip that industrial agriculture has on our lives by chipping away at how much our everyday lives depend on the outputs of the failing food supply chain by growing our own food.

Our personal reliance on the supply chain our society currently uses to produce, store, move, market, and sell the food we eat needed to be evaluated. The cost to humanity, in terms of the impact that the need to profit above all else has on animal and human welfare and the environment, is just staggering. Add to that, the complexity is shocking, with no time like the present to really show us just how fragile it really is. It is becoming more important to prepare for a food shortage. Prepping isn't only about what you buy, but also about the knowledge base you build.

Growing and raising our own food to reduce our reliance on this system is one of the areas that we have put most of our time and effort into. The first projects on the Wilderstead have focused on building infrastructure including a barn, chicken coop, greenhouse, hoop house, wood and storage sheds, and garden beds. For our food production, we started with a bank slate, and when I say blank, I really mean that. Our house, livestock, and gardens occupy the section of our land that was stripped clear of all soil and vegetation. So over and above the infrastructure, we have been rebuilding the ecosystem.

We also have spent years building our knowledge of the environment, including how ecosystems function, our impact on these ecosystems, and what what we gain from maintaining a healthy ecosystem including: clean water and air, wood, edible plants, mushrooms, and fish. That is one of the reasons that we called our homestead Wilderstead, not only because of how much we rely what the wilderness provides, but to remind us of the impact our actions have on the wilderness.

With all that effort, time, and research you would think that we have minimized our reliance on the industrial complex. But when we put it all down on paper, we were very disappointed in just how little we have loosened its grip.

We lay out all the aspects of our needs and wants when it comes to food, and colour coded where everything comes from. Everything we rely on the industrial complex for is red, what we produce ourselves is blue, what we get from the wilderness is green, and what we get from our community is purple. We value all colours other than red equally, knowing that we can’t produce everything ourselves and it will take a community of like-minded individuals.

#Wilderstead #canadianhomesteaders #foodsupply #supplychain #agriculture

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