Infinite duration sailing, food supply concerns

[Publius]

What foods can be grown or produced on board with no need for docking?

[dnice]

sprouts
www.sproutpeople.com

I have been sprouting (at home) for years now. you can grow a little at a time (enough for 1 person) and have a full days serving of veggies and vitamins with every meal. they are very forgiving and will grow in just about any conditions or climate.

I put them on everything, sandwiches, pastas, salads, rice dishes, pretty much anything you would normally put lettuce or spinach on, of course you can alway get creative.

[dnice]

I suppose I should ask. What are you intentions?

There are not very many options for having a renewable food source onboard a small boat  (other than sprouts). Since most plants will not survive the continuous salt water spray on deck, you would have to keep them indoors, which means, they would need artificial lighting. So you would need a pretty large boat to do any sort of real gardening.

Even if you decided to live off of fish and sprouts, you will run out of cooking fuel for the fish eventually.
I suppose you could live just fine on sashimi and sprouts :)  but the ocean is very big and catching fish in the middle of it is a lot more difficult than you might think.

You could stock up on canned meats, veggies and whole grains, but to have any more than a few months supply is going to get very heavy and take up way too much space on a small boat. not to mention the supply of cooking fuel. Grains are useless unless you can cook with them, and canned/dried foods alone will drive you batty after a few months (trust me!).

Lets not forget water either. Watermakers cannot be trusted for continuous use over long periods, so you would have to rely on catching rain water, which is fine if it rains. But catching rain water at sea is (apparently) more difficult than it sounds, since rain is usually accompanied by wind and waves, getting pure water (without salt) is no simple task. And depending on your latitude and season, there is no guarantee it will rain enough to fill your tanks.

So in the end, You must plan on purchasing or 'finding' food and water along the way, on land. You can always find ways to make things last longer, take up less space, and cost as little as possible. But you will always need to touch land every so often.

Unless of course you have a 70 foot sailboat that you can store 3 years of supplies on, grow your own food, and store and produce enough water to sustain livable conditions.

[Amgine]

::nods::

There's basically no reasonable way to grow crops on a boat. Even on land with intensive gardening it usually requires a minimum of 2 acres per person for near-subsistence - but that still requires sources of fertilizer and supplemental food supplies. Inner-space projects have all failed to be 100% independent.

That said... Vito Dumas accidentally grew a crop of potatoes during his high latitudes circumnavigation. Small seed sprouts (alfalfa, onions, radishes, etc.) are only part of the possibilities - bean and pea sprouts are great, and grains can be sprouted (for wheatgrass and also certain kinds of breads.) Various herbs can be grown in small pots in very little light if you can figure out how to secure them.

And I read of a gentleman who had a volunteer palm growing from a store of coconuts - which he secured in a pot in his cockpit. Never did hear how that came out, but it was quite a few years ago and it was about 5'.

[Publius]

just curiosity really, thanks for all the info everyone

[s/v Faith]

Great link, thanks.  Here is some grog to go with your sprouts.   ;D

  I think I am going to order their travel kit.  I would love to have a bit of something fresh and crunchy onboard.

What kinds of greens do you grow?  What have you tried and liked or disliked?

 

sprouts
www.sproutpeople.com

I have been sprouting (at home) for years now. you can grow a little at a time (enough for 1 person) and have a full days serving of veggies and vitamins with every meal. they are very forgiving and will grow in just about any conditions or climate.

I put them on everything, sandwiches, pastas, salads, rice dishes, pretty much anything you would normally put lettuce or spinach on, of course you can alway get creative.

[dnice]

Great link, thanks.  Here is some grog to go with your sprouts.   ;D

  I think I am going to order their travel kit.  I would love to have a bit of something fresh and crunchy onboard.

What kinds of greens do you grow?  What have you tried and liked or disliked?

I use a jar (old pickle jar or whatever) and a piece of screen (window screen or cheesecloth works) with a rubber-band to hold it in place. so you really don't need to buy anything accept the seeds. Although, I am certainly all for supporting the sproutpeople :)

I have not tried any of the seed blends from sproutpeople. Although some of them sound really good. I am still working on the seeds I bought at whole foods over a year ago :P I do think sproutpeople are fine to buy from though, based  on what I've heard and price comparisons with other sites, I intend to buy from them when I'm ready to get more.

Whole foods sells little 2oz packs of sprouting seeds. I've only gone through about 4 of those in the past year with sprouting 2-4 times a month on average.

I think the smaller the seeds the better.... they sprout the easiest and return more sprouts per weight.
broccoli, alfalfa, and lentils are my favorties. mung beans (the bean sprouts you see in the store) are good too.

I haven't disliked anything so far, but I did get a pack of this 'protien powerhouse blend' from wholefoods, it contained garbonzo, adzuk,i mung, and snow pea's, I never got to eat it because they grew mold the two different times I tried growing them, so i threw them away... Thats also what made me lean towards the smaller seeds. I think the bigger ones are more sensative.

[dnice]

Here are some pics...

This is my garden. Note the packs of seeds. I keep the jar on its side to allow better airflow. You should always sprout in the dark (a cabinet or something) until the last day when you take them out and let them dry before eating or refrigerating.


This is a small batch of alfalfa after 2 days. I'll leave them sit out to dry all day tomorrow.

[Auspicious]

I've bought sprout seeds from sproutpeople three times. I'm very happy with the quality of their seeds. Like dnice, I use a jar (a Ball jar), canning ring, and cheesecloth to grow sprouts so I have no insight into the moderately expensive growing stuff they sell.

Mung beans and broccoli work best for me; I grow radish from time to time as well.

I have grown some herbs aboard (basil, cilantro, chives). The chives work pretty well, but everything else has been pretty puny.

Water requirements are significant.

For longevity I have deconstructed a lot of things. For example mayonnaise has a limited shelf life once opened even if refrigerated. You can make your own from egg, olive oil, vegetable oil, and salt -- all of which last a long long time. I make my own mustard and bread also. Again, the components last much longer than the product.

sail fast, dave
S/V Auspicious