Small Inconspicuous/Mobile Farms

If the SHTF and you couldn't stay at your location, which despite some peoples optimism is a very very likely thing, I have compiled a generalized list of what would be the best type of plants that could be potted and possibly moved by a small group from time to time. If all else fails the plants listed are good seeds to have due to the nature of the plants (often small, resilient, and easy to grow). One might also take it upon themselves to learn how to harvest seeds from plants like this. I for one feel that gardening is an EXTREMELY important skill to have...even if not for survival it saves money and is peaceful and healthy for you!

Before I list that I think there are two major benefits to a very small or mobile farming setup...

First off I think that if something happens...more so in the case of something like an invading army, a police state (bad one like the Nazi police state), or natural disasters with plenty of warning...a mobile farm would be the only type that you could salvage from almost sure destruction by being able to relocate it.

Second I feel that in the case of an invading army or some other mass arrests or oppression of a specific group (such as Christians or maybe an ethnic group like Asians or Mexicans etc...you never know *shrugs*) You could almost safely assume that the invaders would be smart enough to destroy any non commercial crops so that you could NOT survive. It should also be noted that if you are required to flee last moment you could still possibly return to retrieve some or all of this mobile farm. One more bonus of it is that if an invading army were the case they would most likely not suspect potted plants scattered around a house as anything that needs to be destroyed.

I have also seen a few threads that support urban environments for survival and point out that there is too many houses and places to search and an invading force would not be able to search them all or it would not be possible. This I am afraid is wrong. I can vouch for it because when I was in the Marine Corps a common practice was to do house to house searches in areas that were suspect to terrorists. It may take time but any invading army would be smart to do house to house sweeps in many cases...after all every house that is not secured is one more flank you have to worry about. Also...do you want to really put your life on the idea of sitting in one place? it is akin to cornering yourself with so many disadvantages that you better be planning on dieing...

I was poking around and from what I gathered this is a list of very small but productive plants that may work for something like this.

Herbs: Mint and sage are very hardy perennials. Basil, cilantro and parsley are also good choices

(I would say herbs are more of a comfort survival food due to the impracticality of eating them straight as well as there output quantity)

Small fruiting plants: there are many varieties of dwarf plants that could work such as dwarf peas and dwarf tomatoes. Berries are also a good option due to their steady output Although in the case of berries they can reach upwards of 6 feet tall at maturity but they start very small. Even grapes could be thrown into this category.

Other good options would include things like lettuce...more specific would be baby lettuces and greens such as spinach and Swiss chard. They grow fast and after you snip the small leaves they will grow again 3 or 4 times. If you grow garlic you can also harvest the green leaves they produce as a comfort food due to the fact that they have a garlic taste.

These are also great choices for people without land to grow on or for children (and adults!) to learn the basics of growing food with!

On a final note. I do not feel that these type of plants could replace a full fledged farm or garden but instead make very good emergency crops.







[edit on 26-6-2010 by Dennislp3]

[edit on 26-6-2010 by Dennislp3]

[edit on 26-6-2010 by Dennislp3]

sorry mate but if you have grown vegetables in pots before you would know that you would need around 100 pots, to have a decent harvest that would last.

you could eat what you grow on one plant in a day, if that is your only food scource.

best bet would be to plough a public park or something, and grow stuff.

unless you are growing say some kind of substance for trade, with other survivors

My idea is to take hardy crops and plant them outside in small plots that would blend in to the landscape. Beans, squash, potatoes, all have a good storage life and are low-lying as opposed to tall crops like corn which could be easily spotted.
Of course the main competition would be animals and insects, the plots would have to be tended regularly.
Also, propagating wild edible plants would help supplement your food sources as well - things like Amaranth, Lamb's quarters, Toothwort, indian cucumber, salsify etc. There's dozens of good tasting wild edibles that aren't difficult to grow and few know their true value so even if found would likely be left alone.
It wouldn't hurt to have some fertilizer pre-positioned with your supplies near your retreat area.

During WW2 the Nazis of course stole all of the foodstuffs when they took an area, however, they left root veggies alone, so you may wish to consider in ground plants that are not highly desirable. Turnips, beets, rutabaga, yams come to mind.

As far as hauling pots around, the weight and logistics would be overwhelming.

I agree with asktheanimals. Multiple plots, different areas to avoid being noticed and if one was, you don't lose everything.

Also, knowledge of local wild edibles, not just STSHTF, but now, nature produces some very good and healthy stuff that is often overlooked.

Originally posted by MR BOB
sorry mate but if you have grown vegetables in pots before you would know that you would need around 100 pots, to have a decent harvest that would last.

you could eat what you grow on one plant in a day, if that is your only food scource.

best bet would be to plough a public park or something, and grow stuff.

unless you are growing say some kind of substance for trade, with other survivors

I am fully aware of that...My main point was that you would be better off escaping with or being able to smuggle even just tiny amounts of food rather then bank on a crop that cant be moved...at the VERY least you could easily use the first harvest for seeds primarily and work from there...you could do many many things with these...after all...if a massive flash flood happens or something equally destructive is coming and you have almost no time to get out I would much rather grab my BOB and a small plant....sure you might have seeds and no the plant wont feed you or whatever...but still cant hurt to have 5 cherry tomatoes vs nothing....

Many people may see this as a moot point but it seems like a feasible and safe back up thing....Don't see any cons with it other then the potential impracticality which can be looked over since you could just ignore small plants all together in a disaster if you so wished

[edit on 26-6-2010 by Dennislp3]

reply to post by Dennislp3


I dunno, im not sure that i would like to use my water on that amount of plants too.

It takes like 6 or seven months before you get a harvest too.
would it not be better, to forage. and hunt for food? get to know your surroundings, and know when what wild fruits grow at what times.

There is ALOT of things that you can eat in the wild, you would be suprised.

i would probably forage, then bury the seeds, form what i've eaten then just leave em.

reply to post by Dennislp3


The other problem I notice is all of the food you list has very little nutritional value, and very few calories. That's a lot of work for a lettuce leaf. Also, say you get out with your dwarf trees? Dwarfs are generally hybrids, I can't think of a dwarf anything that isn't. This means all that time, planning, and work for something you can't save seeds from.

Why not just carry seeds? Lighter, easy to coceal, and if you are on the move, seed a small area, map it and go back later. Should TSHTF, most people won't be looking at the "weeds" around them while looking for food.

There was a poster on here awhile back that carried carrot seeds as an everyday carry item, just in case. I would go with something that grows faster, radish, turnip, but to each their own.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
My idea is to take hardy crops and plant them outside in small plots that would blend in to the landscape. Beans, squash, potatoes, all have a good storage life and are low-lying as opposed to tall crops like corn which could be easily spotted.

Right. You could have scattered plots across your various trails you use. So when you go out hunting etc you have plants here and there you can hopefully grab a little something from.

To go large scale like this you could lay down chicken wire under plots of potatoes and sweet potatoes. The above ground plants would have better odds of survival so long as hogs etc can't come along and completely uproot them.

Originally posted by MR BOB
It takes like 6 or seven months before you get a harvest too.

Not quite. Radishes are ready in 4-6 weeks. Lettuces can be picked from in about a month. Once peppers start producing you can keep picking wave after wave off each every few weeks.

Just about everything else will give you something before 3 months.

Excellent thread and I think your heart is in the right place starting this dialog about mobile supplemental foods.

Let me make one suggestion to your Op, I was selling veggies and herbs at the local market a couple months ago and having an abundance of mint I simply threw them into plastic grocery sacs with some soil and tied the tops loosley.

Now these 6-8 weeks later the mint is still thriving in the bags which lay on the south side of my herb garden for the next time I venture to the market to sell.

I also had several varieties in pots as well as mint and they have become very vulnerable even though I water past the area often.

If I have to go mobile it has become abundantly clear to me that bags will take up MUCH less space and are way lighter as well as a convenient way to grow if you find yourself in a small space for a time.

I don't know exactly why but the bags hold their moisture levels much better than pots, and in sitx water will be a precious commodity.

reply to post by salchanra


I do not agree, the foods mentioned in the OP would be very nutritious in a serious situation when food is hard to find.

I dont think the Op meant that by having some veggies and herbs that would be all that you need to survive, but man that pot of rabbit stew would go down alot easier with some fresh herbs.

What I get is that the Op wants to talk about fast growing plants that could be replanted and create an abundant bumber crop where ever one settles.

Anything you could bring to the table in a bad situation could mean the difference between acceptance or rejection into the little clusters that would form among serious survivors.

For those of you who are interested in gardening or learning more about it.

This is the best trick Ive ever seen, it was told to me by a native american..

So we need to understand Companion planting first.

Companion planting is the planting of different crops in proximity (in gardening and agriculture), on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity.

Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries for many reasons. Many of the modern principles of companion planting were present many centuries ago in the cottage garden.

A list of companion plants

The three sisters method
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1d5713e64c44.jpg[/atsimg]

the premise of this idea is to CONSERVE space, and to plant crops together that work together, or help each other out.

First you plant your corn.
and then at the base of the corn you plant beans, which will grow up the cornstalk.
And thirdly, you plant squash as the base of the corn too. the squash will vine out all over the ground.

This is by the far the coolest gardening trick ive learned, and it really helps save space and the plants help each other!

[edit on 6/26/2010 by VonDoomen]

Nice looking food! Whens dinner?

reply to post by antar


If it was death or rabbit stew, I don't think anyone would be complaining about spices.

Mint, basil,cilantro, parsley. Fine for adding flavor, but why not just dry a bunch ahead of time and carry some heirloom seeds? Better than pots.

Dwarf peas, dwarf tomatoes. How much food does one get from dwarf anything? I keep dwarf lemon, lime, banana, and apricot, but for the yeild, I'm not hauling those things around that often. Again, hybrid, once that tree or plant dies, it's over, is that really worth the effort?

Berries? Now why on earth keep berries like this. Root system is enormous, and at least where I am, relatively simple to find. Do you realize the size of a pot to have a live blueberry bush?

Grapes. Come on. Takes plants forever to mature, again, huge root system. I'll make my wine from the berries I find.

Lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, garlic. Okay, garlic is insanely good for you, but takes months to grow. Swiss chard, a lot of nutrients. Same for spinach. Lettuce is nothing but a salad base or sandwich filler. Few nutrients, no calories.

So that's the list.

Why would I burden myself with figuring out how to transport all of this should TSHTF? Plan ahead, dry your herbs, make your honey, ACV(apple cider vinegar) have a supply of garlic and lemon zest or lemon juice, and plan to seed multiple areas?

Honestly, if it comes to this, who is going to pack up piles of plants instead of gear and dried foods and seeds?

OP, don't think I'm attacking you, it is an idea, and something I have never thought to do, but in reality, if you are moving so often you can't plan a garden, just imagine the nightmare of a mobile garden would be? Consider a good, safe, bug out location that would be safe from TPTB and any other organized problems. Grow you gardens there or at least be able to if need be.

I guess like I said before I think the main benefit would be the options included...more importantly I was just thinking today about how a solid crop in one place (like your back yard) is very dangerous. This may not be the most practical but I see it as having lots of potential benefits.

Also the other thing was that this kinda fits into the bigger picture of things...If you have a location just outside the city or some other designated place you would kinda hide away something like this could be immediate food (not much...but it would supplement the other food at hand and thats never a bad thing) while you start planting seeds and all.

Someone mentioned about not wanting to use water on the plants....they don't need clean drinking water like us necessarily...sure it would be better in the end but its not needed.

This whole idea was never meant to replace anything like seeds or "real" food but was rather meant to be an intermediate substitute. I just saw that no one explored this possibility that I could find and I figure could it hurt to have a few small plants around? seeds are great and important...but they take time (these would too) but the things mentioned mature much more quickly and are likely to produce in a steady fashion...

Then again my survival fashion is also a very minimalistic one...I have been trained and have trained myself to survive with nothing...I always prepare for the worst and hope for the best...in my mind worst case scenario is me running out the door with a small bag and whatever I can grab...

Finally many people point out that you can grow stuff now on trails or in parks or whatever...you could easily do something similar with these and these might be better due to the size...

Twas merely a stepping stone of potential I presented...I cant type all the variety of uses I see with small plants which I think are often underestimated.

also don't forget that I am not talking any large amount of em...nothing more then that could be carried on a return trip or something like that

[edit on 27-6-2010 by Dennislp3]

[edit on 27-6-2010 by MR BOB]

If your mobile and in the same general area,perm culture would be the way to go in conjunction with foraging.
I don't think I would want to concentrate a food source in that type of environment being that once you lose possession of it,others can utilize it.

Another thought might be using sprouting as an alternative to dragging around a flatbed trailer garden,being you could just plant patches of sprouted seeds along the way and let them mature.
That of course depends on your climate zone and rain fall situation.


For nutritional food density I always go with a combination of Spiralina,cholera,freeze dried broccoli,and a variety sprouts.
multi-vitamins included.

www.joe-ks.com...



[edit on 1-7-2010 by The Utopian Penguin]