Off grid Keto - growing your own - niche - food forest living

food-forest
#1

Fats - avocados, olives, nuts, eggs

Protein - eggs, fish, snails, crustaceans

Community - sharing seasonal abundance

It takes some work to get here. 3 decades. 3 rural acres. We didn’t know we were heading there
, but this is where we got to. Home that is half greenhouse. 2 year old ‘food forest’.

In 2 weeks time the central, modular human living area will land on the property. We have a 120sqm shed with photovoltaics and off grid battery system. We have 55,000L rainwater capacity with another 81,000L arriving in the new year. I am grateful to have these things.

The living areas - bedroom, office, laundry, bathroom, kitchen total 60sqm.

Next year we will build a 40 sqm greenhouse on the sunny front side of the human living areas to grow plants for food. Yes, plants for food. Egg laying hens will be added and then, hopefully, a closed system of aquaculture to get protein from fish (home farmed) and return the water and nitrogen to the plants.

I was wondering if there was a micro universe of ketonians growing their own food? And making compromises for Keto or carnivore ideals in favour of a lifestyle that makes use of knowledge of growing foods (even if they are vegetables and fruits)?

(Jo O) #2

Sort of. Not off grid. Just starting. Assume it will take 5-10 years to get up to full potential.

Just bought an existing property in suburban Pacific Northwest region. House is in renovation, so potential green house & water management is in the future planning.

I do hope to grow all the veggies and Keto-friendly fruits (berries) possible. Maybe mushrooms. Winter crops are possible in our US zone 8.

Soil building first priority.
First few years will have to be strawbale method for annuals. Starting very small. Herbs, pea shoots, radishes, pole beans, spring onions, brassicas & sunchokes.
Looking for wood chip sources.
No dig for annuals.
Permaculture/food forest eventually. Mainly Hazelnuts. Otherwise sunflowers are my only self-sufficient fat sources.
Maybe citrus, maybe olives. But only if I can manage the higher maintenance. They need protection for our winters.

No animals. Too much to manage all the things.

Best wishes for your project. You are definitely more ambitious than us.

#3

Initially we had plans to build an earth ship. We had the actual plans drawn up. But the construction costs were too high. It says a lot about the costs in a build that a home of recycled and repurposed material can cost more than a new house.

The climate here is Mediterranean and we’re a few minutes from the ocean on a cape, so temperatures and rainfall are quite stable. Cool winters but rarely a frost, mild to hot summers.

I do love the learning involved and the experiments. The reconciliation between what one eats and what one can encourage from the local earth. The incorporation of the wild elements and the seasonality. I’m new, I still count the fruit that grow on the trees. It’s amazing watching it grow from blossom to plate and knowing it for each delicious bite.