I became vegan when I learned of the monstrosities that the meat and dairy industry committed against non-human animals. My decision was reinforced when I learned the health benefits of a balanced vegan diet and how it was way more sustainable than animal products.
Throughout my vegan journey, I have mainly acquired my food through capitalism, which means I have been paying money for it. I have become increasingly independent from that system by foraging and growing food, but I haven't reached the point where I can really feed myself 100% that way.
Right now I'm living in the countryside, in a little forest by a creek. I have some fruit trees and bushes, plenty of dandelion and other edible greens, potatoes I planted, and every now and then I score mushrooms if the weather is right. The rest of my food is placed in glass jars and consists of grains and legumes.
This was my lunch today: meadow mushroom and dandelions on top of this bread made with flour, oatmeal, chia, and sesame seeds.
When those jars get emptied I have to travel to the city and pay for them to be refilled. I pay people who have a store which receives the legumes and grains from distant lands, carried by trucks that burn fossil fuels to move. The store needs to keep it's electric lights on most of the day while they are receiving customers. and spend resources on advertising.
The legumes and grains I buy are grown with chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Large areas of forest are cut down or burned to make room for the crops. Those forests were home to birds, rabbits, foxes, and a whole lot of other creatures, as well as sustainers of streams and other water sources.
So you see where I'm getting at? To buy food, even if there is no intentional animal harm, is harmful to Life in general. It is violent, because the capitalist system is violent in itself. You might say: what about organic grown food? There is another implicit violence, at least here in Chile, because the prices heavily increase on organic products which creates a social breach, where only the higher classes can access that kind of food. Plus, even if it's organic, it usually is sold with plastic packages which is also very harmful.
I've been asking myself if it is more harmful to hunt a rabbit, a pheasant, or do some fishing, than buying lentils from the market. And my conclusion is that if those animals are right here, in abundance next to my home, there is a lot less violence involved in taking their lives than bringing down entire forests to grow those lentils and burn loads of fuel to bring them to where I live.
Now, the ideal scenario would be for me to grow all of my food and nor buy, nor hunt. But right now I'm still building my house and I still can't find do that with all the dedication it needs. So, meanwhile I reach that point, I have seriously considered to do some hunting and fishing to feed myself. I would do so as respectfully as possible and hope I come out of this phase soon.
I would use everything from the animal, skin, bones, whatever can be given some utility. Despite wanting to skip out from capitalism I also wish to have a balanced diet and I don't think I'll feel comfortable with killing animals on daily basis, so I would continue to buy some things, but depending even less from shops.
Another source of food I also considered where eggs from the hens that my mother raises, but then I remembered she feeds them grain bought from unbalanced capitalist production and so it's not a win. Those eggs are just as harmful as buying the grain and eating it myself.
I think all people who care for animals, Earth, and balanced living have to be conscious of how things really are. The hard truth for idealistic vegans (like myself) is that local and wild is less harmful than mass-produced vegan, even if it's meat. Honestly, a Beyond Meat burger is a thousand times more violent than hunting a wild animal to feed yourself. Plus it's unhealthy.
Well, this was all sounding really good in theory, but here's the twist in the post. I couldn't bring myself to even attempt to kill any animals. I know I'm silently killing many of them by consuming food that has been grown in irresponsible ways, but just to imagine doing it with my hands makes my stomach twist. My neighbor came looking for me so that we went hunting but I just couldn't get myself in the mood for it.
I guess I'll have to be patient and do my best to get to the point where I can grow all the food I need. I know I can do it because I have a lot of good info in my head regarding taking care of the soil and making the most out of a plot, it's just a matter of being patient, perseverant, and getting things done.
Actually, with my current knowledge on foraging, I might be able to be self-sufficient but as I said before, the construction of my place takes a lot of time and energy. There is also the matter of storage, I don't have a proper place to put away large amounts of food. So it's really more about getting both of those things done as soon as possible and then all should be greatly abundant.
Do you know any off-grid vegans? I would be delighted to know of people who have actually managed to go all the way, or at least most of it. Thanks for tuning in!
I'm a vegan, and I've lived in some pretty remote countryside in Cambodia, although technically connected to an intermittent electricity grid. Other than electricity, the average Cambodian village is self-sustaining as far as food production. My family and I have lived in Ecuador and now Suriname, and my Cambodian wife is shocked at how little variety of produce even the biggest markets here have.
There is definitely an east-west divide. In Cambodia, I purchased my organic rice to a farm I had visited, personally hired the van driver to take it to the local mill for processing, and then received it at our restaurant getting rice so fresh it had visible chlorophyll on it. From beans to rice, you could easily live off-grid in Cambodia and not even have to grow anything, but I know your struggle here in the Americas.
Although we live a very urban life here in Paramaribo, we find people in the Americas aren't as willing to eat many foods Cambodians willingly pay for in a market. We pick coconuts the locals are too lazy to pick, eat water hyacinth flowers, cassava leaves, noni fruit, and pumpkin flowers, and there are a lot more things locals consider inedible.
I love seeing your off-the-grid journey, keep the updates coming.
Wow, now I’d really like to travel to Cambodia for a while!! Do you know of any way to hop on board as a voluntary? I would love to spend some time with them and learn from their ways... thanks for your awesome comment!
I've often wondered how possible this was. What @justinparke has described feels like it might be the only way to be able to do this, as a community. To do it yourself on your own piece of land is likely not feasible due to the sheer amount of area needed to grow grains and legumes. Then there's the processing of it all which would be hard to find the time for without the manpower of a community. This is something we've lost in the western world.
I think you're right, there is a major jump from being 80% self-sufficient to 100%, and Cambodians have been living somewhat off-the-grid for centuries. There are some things that are just more efficient for a specialist to do.
In Cambodia there's always a cobbler in every village, but there's no need for more than two or three, because that is a dedicated skill that takes a long time to perfect. Rice growing is another example too, that is such a dedicated job that it's hard to do much else other than grow rice.
Cambodians without money will often hire villagers with less or no land help with the rice field in exchange for x number of kilos of unhulled rice, for which they winnow, dry, and mill themselves. I think ***@fenngen is on a good path, and community can only make things that little bit easier.
!ENGAGE 45
ENGAGEtokens.Congratulations, your post has been selected to be included in my weekly Sustainability Curation Digest for the Minnow Support Project.
Thanks for your support @pennsif !
Mmm wild hare stew with wild mushrooms! Just go hunt a rabbit!
Yeah, that was the plan but I’m too sensitive, I don’t think I can look into it’s eyes and not feel like crap for killing it. Maybe fish is easier, I’ll try and build a trap for fish but I don’t know if I’ll feel ok with killing it either 😅 Still, respect for responsible hunters and fishers.
As a 10 year + vegan i can say i'd rather you hunt than buy food on amazon.
Lol@ beyond burger 1000x worse for the environment than hunting -great line
I guess it’s a process to get to the point of reducing harm to the maximum possible. Glad a fellow vegan gets it.
More land, more harvesting 😉
Gotta put in the work though hehe
True 😊
Congratulations @fenngen! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 24000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Congratulations @fenngen! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 3000 comments.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
STOP
Notifications have been disabled. Sorry if I bothered you.
To reactivate notifications, drop me a comment with the word
NOTIFY