Exactly, this romantic view of homesteading doesn't make sense, ever.
- 6 chickens or 150 chickens takes about the same time and infrastructure needs.
Discussion
- I used to send LESS time farming veggies for profit then most amateurs spend in their smal vegetables plots.
Yes, agriculture doesn't scale down well.
It's too much like manufacturing.
You need to at least acheive a size where some mechanization is worth investing in, and where you can specialize.
Or just abandon the goal of self-sufficiency and focus on creating beauty and resiliency/diversity.
Like, it's okay if I buy most of my strawberries (from my local organic delivery) and only manage to bake two tarts with my own. Those are just the best tarts. 🤷♀️
And if delivery of strawberries is ever interrupted, I still have those two tarts.
Yup, doesn't have to be much though.
We only have handtools for example, they're just really good. Professional row sowers, efficient chicken coop etc...
Things that enable you to 20X your output easily but don't make sense for the needs of one family.
Self-sufficiency in that sense makes you less productive and makes you end up with less network and capital.
Hardly anyone can be self-sufficient. However one can strive for increasing resiliency.
Yes. Will be more apparent when someone gives up earning sats, to focus on spending a summer growing enough tomatoes for 10 jars of spaghetti sauce.
Isn’t there also often a multigenerational nature to effective non mechanized agriculture? So we need to stop being transient, and find a way to be graceful, forgiving, and get along with our ancestors and children and in laws. Or else marry better within an aligned set of values. This is a different direction than the world has been going.
Regeneration is low time preference, yes, and to regenerate you don't really need heavy mechanisation all that often.