Bladerunner-

You have a good eye; Maiwand was one of the districts in which we worked.

Additionally, we did work indirectly with the PRT/DG and taught classes out of the Ag Center you mentioned.  Mostly we focused on alternative crops that could replace lost income.

The farmers were always happy to see us and I enjoyed the ag “shop-talk”, it reminded me of home.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3746/9555106259_0e766a23fb.jpg


In my opinion, it might be a good idea for people here in the states to figure out what can be grown in their own back yard.

--Combat Farmer

Aside from choosing crops that will grow in a given area, was there much consideration of nutritional content in choosing crops not intended for market?

How is food preserved in that region?

What I'm getting at:

Extrapolating from my own limited gardening experience - Where I am, I can grow tons of cucumbers with little effort and have all the fresh cucumbers that I can stomach.  I can preserve cucumbers and have pickles stashed in every corner of the house.  In the end, though, the caloric and nutritional content of the crop would be of questionable value.  If I were farming in the U.S. to survive something like the great depression, there would be better crop choices than cucumbers.  Can you share some guidelines/strategies that guerrilla farmers could use to optimize which crops and how much of each would be best for a homestead/farm/village?

Wight_Hat
Great question! There would certainly be a better choice than solely growing cucumbers…unless you live near a pickle factory.

But seriously –

This is a photo of our family farm taken somewhere around 1899 to 1901. The little boy in the lower right corner holding two horses was my Grandfather.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7295/9579276418_3605d79ff2.jpg

All farms at that time were sustainable. Of course, there were always items needed that were not produced on the farm and to obtain these one could sell or trade. Trading crop surplus was common. During the 1930s, farms were much the same and many people in towns even had large gardens for self-consumption and trade.  

Here are some general things to think about when selecting crops (without knowing where you are I can't get too specific):

• Location - What growing zone are you in? What crops are grown in your area currently and what was grown in the past?  Identifying crops that naturally grow well in your area will increase your success.


• Soil type


• Water – Will you use rain fall or irrigation to water your crop?


• Land - What is the size of your land? How many crops do you have room to grow?  Do you have room for livestock?


• Livestock – If you decide to have animals what will you feed them? Can you afford to feed them year round? Having livestock  will provide you with your own source of meat and milk but you have to be able to care for them.

If you want, use this Crop Calendar as a guide to fill in what crops grow in your area and when you need to plant and harvest.  

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5336/9579276392_d887170fcd.jpg

I’m heading out of town soon but will get back to you next week with more ideas and on guerrilla farming.
– Combat Farmer  

Yes, thanks for posting this.

I can't wait to read your next post!

Very cool. I was extremely impressed by how the locals utilized their wells and korez systems to water some extremely arid surfaces. Rows and rows of very healthy looking grapes, watermelons and onions.

Yes!

Thanks for the tip on grapes!

My wife and I love the thread.  We want to know when can we buy the book    We are getting ready to start our own little farm and your advice is by and far the easiest to understand for those that have not lived the life.  I grew up on a small farm and she grew up in the suburbs so any little bit helps.  Thank you for the info.

Not a bad idea, actually.  Done right it could have a very wide audience.  I'd be in for a copy.

Add me to the list of people who'd want a copy.

Lab_Guy, Wight_Hat, & JFarley

Thanks so much for your votes of confidence.  I have recently been toying with the idea of passing on my knowledge and experiences through some form of training – onsite, online, etc.  Maybe a book would be a good way for me to do this effectively.  

If you don’t mind my asking, what about my post and replies do you find the most useful or interesting?  Specific details of farming techniques/methods, details of my time in Afghanistan or a combination of both?

My main hesitation with starting a training project, in whatever form, has been whether there would be an audience, so your interest is definitely motivation for me to move forward.

Thanks again!
Combat Farmer

While I happen to find the Afghan experience interesting in its own right, I think you could reach a wider audience by using it much like you did here; to show what can be done with primitive skills and the right know-how.

I look at your photo essay and see what to my relatively untrained eye looks like successful small to mid-scale farming in an area that looks otherwise uninhabitable.  If it can be done in Afghanistan where, as you point out, farming has been essentially forgotten and farm technology is virtually non-existent, I feel like I can be successful in my much more fertile AO.

As far as who your target audience would be, I can see several types:  Preppers, new gardeners, farm families that want to return to a more traditional operation, and entrepreneurs who see an opportunity to feed (no pun intended) the locavore movement and/or who want to make money in a farmers' market.

Hope this helps some.

Wight_Hat

Thanks much for the input.  Your insights are very helpful!

Combat Farmer

I missed this when it was first posted, but welcome to the site. This was a heck of an intro!

Thanks!  I'm really enjoying the site.

When in Afghanistan we had to start with the basics…the very basics. Before we even began work with the villagers we first had to educate the donor agencies and bureaucrats (the foreigners not the Afghans), on when you PLANT and when you HARVEST. This may sound funny but many public servants had no idea. That is why we came up with our crop calendar (posted above - 8/23/13).

A good 1st step for those just starting out is to look at growing zones – see the picture below or follow the link for an interactive map. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/9674390770_418f1fcccd.jpg

Determine where you live in relation to this map and then identify what crops can grow. From that list, decide which crops you would most like to eat - that'll help you determine what to grow. This process can also be useful for people with current ag projects that are looking at expanding their crops.

-- Combat Farmer

Wow.  Spectacular first post.

Welcome to the site.  Thanks for taking the best of America to other parts of the world.

Put me down for a book whenever you do one as well.

Growing up in Ohio, tossing anything on the ground would grow.

Here in Plano, it's been rough trying to get things to grow for me.

Looking forward to learning more from you as time goes by.

TXL

Combatfarmer, if you get a minute, please log out and log in.

TXL

Great Post! Very interesting

Thanks TxLewis! I hope I can keep things interesting going forward.  If you have any specific planting questions, let me know.
- Combat Farmer

Getting back to the subject of guerrilla gardening/farming.

The way I see it, guerrilla gardening/farming is a good solution for people that don’t have land of their own on which to plant things. This isn’t a trend we saw in Afghanistan, primarily because of the desert climate.  In Afghanistan, farming must be intentional and regularly maintained or crops will not grow.  Africa on the other hand is a much different situation.  Due to the lack of individual land ownership and more ag friendly climate, we did see guerrilla farming while working on a project in Ethiopia.

The guerrilla gardener’s main worry is whether his/her plants will be pulled out or cut down by the landowner; most just hope for the best. But, mixing the right plants in the area vegetation can help hide or disguise plants – just be sure the crops can get enough sunlight and water.

Here in the US we see a lot of guerrilla gardening happening in urban areas, especially as a result of the economic downturn.  Some people want to supplement their food supply and some just want to beautify a neighborhood by reducing the eyesores of vacant lots.  I know an urban gardener who grew his sunflowers around the sign of this apartment complex. It wasn’t a big deal to plant a few seeds and he made the place look better. The real deal is that he entered the Iowa State Fair’s competition for largest sunflower and placed fourth in the state. So, even with minimal inputs great results can be achieved.  



While it is much easier to grow something in your own back yard there are challenges to overcome.  For instance, in North Carolina the soil is very sandy; after trial and error a friend of mine came up with a solution using raised beds and a different soil mixture - later he would add chicken manure. This back yard grower grew up in a small town, his grandfather was born on a farm but he had not taken an interest in learning farming skills from him, which he now realizes would’ve made his current project easier.



As you can see, the results were very good.



As a side note, I’ve seen even more basic guerrilla gardening from an unexpected source. While farming in Africa the baboons in the area (yes, baboons) liked our corn and often helped themselves. They would eat about half of what they took and would drop the rest, spreading seeds randomly on route to the nearest tree or perhaps many miles away. These dropped seeds with enough rainfall would grow even when not planted into the soil. The baboon had essentially introduced a new plant to an area that was not there before.


The original guerrilla gardener!  

--Combat Farmer

With more than seven years spent in Afghanistan, would you do it again?

Fantastic work!  Great job!

Definitely!  Working in hot spots like Afghanistan appeals to my nature.  As my wife says, I have itchy feet and am always up for a new adventure.

--Combat Farmer

TXL,

I can only blame my newness to this site and community for my delayed Thank You.  I was just informed about your gift of membership, I greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!
Combat Farmer

combatfarmer, my parents grew up in Hungary where they grew opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) for the seeds.  In fact, I love Poppy Seed Cake (picture below).  Using opium was not part of their culture, though, so it simply wasn't done.  

My understanding for lancing of the pods is to both gather opium but also to allow the seeds to mature and later collect for consumption.  How important are poppy seeds in their diet in those areas where it is grown?  What are some dishes they make with it?

aw dang, you had to post the poppy roll?  

My source for that retired from baking this year.

Great thread!   Wish I knew half of what my dad knew about growing things.

Limiting fossil fuel input.  Open pollinated seeds.  Water harvesting growing beds.  Community involvement.  Excellent stuff!

C4,
The cake looks fantastic!

The seeds were not widely used in cooking or baking, some locals said they were to “hot to use”. But during late summer afternoon meetings in the field, I did see them being eaten with afternoon tea. The locals said the seeds were good for “the brain”; I took their word for it and would came back another day to finish the meeting.  

We were in AF to achieve a number of objectives, one of them to find and train the local farmers on alternatives for the high value crops. We were not part of any of team that destroyed the high value crops (that was as high risk a task to do as demining). Where high value crops did get plowed under we tried to help the farmer find another crop to grow.  

Most of our work was done on the front end to show the farmer that other crops could get close to making as much money as the high value crops without the risk…and not having to sell the farmer’s daughter off to the drug lords.  





Personal consumption of both, were part of the culture and excepted.

--Combat Farmer

Thank you!  I come from Hungarian peasant stock so I get very excited about anything to do with growing plants.

Good stuff OP.    Nice to get away from the super secret squirrel ninja conversations.

Good post.

Great read.

You mentioned earlier that "step" gardening didn't work out well because of the desert environment, that it is more suited to a wet environment. Why is that and what are the benefits to stepping your crops?

Naffenea,

Our step garden did not work well in the desert because it drained to easily, which meant it took a lot of water to keep the crops growing later in the season.

The best use for a step garden would be if you had limited space (small back yard), and you wanted to get in early crops. Facing the step garden south would have the most effect. It also has some decorative value if you plant ornamental plants with your producing plants.



The picture shows a modified step garden built into a slope. This worked pretty well, it stopped erosion, and we got the right sunlight/shade for different crops. The sand bags held the soil and were used to walk on.  
Thanks for the question.

--Combat Farmer
Be Self-Reliant, Combat Farming®

Hello All -

I've been thinking about disaster preparedness and how it impacted my team in AF.  Hope you like it.

Will You Know When It’s Time To Head For The Hills?

If you live on a nice little farm far away from a large city you may already be set. However if you live in suburbia, especially in hurricane or earthquake regions, you should think about where you would go should a catastrophic event occur.

I live in fly-over country, but spread out from Minnesota to Texas and I often travel internationally. Will I know when it’s time to bug out? I think so, but I may be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  So, for me it’s imperative to have plans in place to ahead of time so I’m able to meet up with family and other emergency team members.  

I’d like to share with you my team’s prepping efforts in Afghanistan, but before I go into that, let’s look at a scenario hitting closer to home.  Say for instance, an event like the one featured on National Geographic’s American Blackout movie – sure this is not very likely, but it is possible and the movie did make some good points.

Would you know when to leave and what to take with you to survive?  Here are my suggestions:

• Give yourself a maximum of 3 days to get to your bug out location or to lock down the place you’re in if you decide to stay.


• Have back up communication and transportation with enough fuel to get you where you want/need to go.


• Plan the steps of what to do and where to meet, and share this plan with all of your family and team members.  Also, at a minimum have a plan B – back up plans are an absolute necessity to maintain safety in an emergency.


• Everyone should already have the basics in place for at least 2 weeks - food, water and shelter; but if you don’t…get it ready NOW!

……………………………

Working in the Middle East I thought about evacuation procedures many times – working in conflict regions you just have to.  Would I be smart – prepared – enough to make the last plane out of Afghanistan if something big were to happen?  My team and I lived off the grid, typically 1 to 2 hours’ drive from a military base depending on road blocks, so we didn’t  have the luxury of 3-day advanced warning if SHTF.  Best-case scenario, we would have 1 or maybe 2 hours to pack up what we needed and head to safety.  

As a group, we played out the “what-ifs” as if it was a game where most of the time we were just one step ahead of trouble.

• What if our city compound got over ran? (This almost happened when 1,000 protesters gathered around our compound banging on the gate and throwing rocks over the wall.)


• Whom could we call if trouble erupted?  Would a drone fly over (it did) and would that help or just cause a national incident?


• Should we fight out way out of the compound or test the limits of our low profile tactics and leave in the Corolla just ahead of the mob?


• Where would we go, a safe house(s) or the nearest FOB?  (We had access to both and predetermined the shortest routes to each of them.)


• What if we were to drive into a Taliban checkpoint on our way out? (Yes, this happened too.)

 
So you see, it was vitally important to go over various scenarios because in our case most of them happened.  



Be aware of advanced warnings; no matter how subtle or overt, there are always warning signs.  Identify those people around you who are “in the know” - they are the ones who will call you while you’re driving down the street, warning you to get off the road and then an IED explodes 15 minutes later.  Spend time building relationships with these people; it could save your life.

Be prepared and ready to go.  My team had gassed up cars ready and pointed out and everyone had a bag packed with necessary items stowed near the compound exit. We also had backup communications - 3 cell phones from different carriers and a sat phone.  In the end, we did not need to flee, but we were called to help out in emergency situations a few times.  A VBIED hit a house of expats 2 blocks away, part of my team went over to help while the others stayed back to watch over the compound.  Another time a team got off the map and stuck on a narrowing road in a drainage ditch; we were able to go to them with shovels to help dig them out before dark.

Plan for localized situations.  Our bags had local clothes and money so we could disappear into the population on foot if required.  This would buy us time to get to a base in a day or so – thankfully, this did not happen. To get onto a base a valid ID is required, but that would’ve caused problems if we were stopped and searched by any bad guys, so we put things in our underwear that we didn’t want to be found in a quick search.

A worst-case situation for us would have been a VBIED/IEDs or kidnaping/shooting. These would have been devastating to us but would have had little effect on the person next door or the little village down the windy dusty road; certainly not an American Blackout level crisis. The closest thing to American Blackout was when we were in Afghanistan when Iran was starting its nuclear program. We had to plan for any accidents that might occur with the ‘rumored’ nuclear material they were smuggling across the Afghan desert from Pakistan – were we in fall out range, what impact, if any, would it have on us in our location?

…………………….

Things to watch (my list of warning signs):

• Large city bankruptcies, which ones, riots/demonstrations and why, Ebt card use/misuse


• Inflation (not just the reported numbers) - health care costs, gas and food, any food shortages and reasons for them.


• US debt, stock market and silver


• TX land price and power grid


• Large scale natural (tornado) and manmade (oil spills, terrorist acts) occurrences


• World events: what/where’s the next new war and why.  Currently, what are Iran and China up to?


• What foreigners are buying US companies?


• New innovations/inventions that that can change everything.

-- Combat Farmer
Expect the unexpected, Combat Farming®

If you need any help in future endeavors please let me know. I would like to help! I have a great background that can prove to be useful.

Thanks for sharing!

Wow.

I know this is a bit off topic, but please tell this story:

•What if we were to drive into a Taliban checkpoint on our way out? (Yes, this happened too.)

Since you asked, I gave “Ralph” a call – he’s a long-time member of our team and former Australian military.  He had a memorable close call at a checkpoint so I asked him to tell his story in his own words.  – Combat Farmer

---

Having spent many years traveling through and working in third-world countries, I have had literally hundreds of run-ins with local police checkpoints and militia roadblocks. More recently travelling and working in rural Southern Afghanistan from 2009-12, provided one of my more interesting experiences.  We were passing through a Taliban checkpoint just minutes before they fired upon and killed three Afghan National Army Soldiers in a very well sited ambush.

The Taliban had two ‘early warning groups’ and a main ‘killer group’ covering the selected ‘Killing ground or Engagement area’ and had excellent withdrawal routes. Unknowingly, a mate and I drove through the ambush, which was on a sharp left hand bend on a small narrow dirt road, surrounded by poppy fields and rows of grape vineyards. On rounding the bend, we saw 3 Taliban Insurgents, sitting behind an RPK (heavy barreled AK47 with bipod) barely covered by a green shawl and a few AK47’s. One of the Taliban stood up and with an AK47 slung over his shoulder, approached our slow moving vehicle. My mate and I, dressed in locally sourced Afghan clothing (salwar kameez) instantly realized that we were in a potentially life threatening situation.

On instinct rather than planning, we knew we had to bluff our way through this check point, or face being kidnapped, or killed on the spot. With my left hand gripping my holstered TT (my trusty 1942 7.62mm Russian Tokarev pistol), I simply looked from the insurgent to the semi covered weapons, and back to the insurgent, nodded approvingly and gave an acknowledging wave with my open right hand. The Taliban guard, no more than 2 meters away at this point, was surprised by my acknowledgment and confidence. He hesitated and looked back to his buddies, during which time we drove past, never having accelerated, or changing speed at all. Keeping our eyes on rearview and side mirrors, we drove past the remaining early warning sites, and back onto the main road. Minutes later, the ambush was initiated and 3 Afghan Soldiers were killed. The Taliban vanished in the undergrowth, and not even the A10 Warthogs dispatched minutes after the initiation could locate the enemy.

To this day, there is not a doubt in my mind that our confidence and calmness at that moment saved our lives. The Insurgents may have mistaken us for one of their higher commanders, inspecting the ambush site, prior to contact. Whatever it was, a level head saved the day.
--Ralph

holy shit!  crazy story.

thanks!

I have been just browsing arf lately, not posting much at all due to school and getting ready to move into the new house. However, this thread really caught my attention...so I felt I had to contribute.

I was always curious about the farms I came across in Iraq. Usually they were small, or just appeared abandoned. The locals would tell us it had been a drought for years, and that it was a lush place when it rained. Hard to believe when all you see is dust. Eventually I made it up north and found several amazing things. First, I found a green valley and after seeing brown for so long the green seemed to hurt your eyes to look at it! Second, they had large scale farms up there. Not a subsistence garden or food plot, a legit farm with irrigation.



Not far away they had their Massey Furgeson combines parked.



What else I find interesting is that the eye-popping valley I mentioned, well, they used the same techniques you were using over inf A-stan! I am linking a small photo, the original is way huge, but you can still see the berms around each crop. The stream ran through the valley floor, and you can see it in the lower right corner of the photo. I did wonder and never figured out how they got water UP to the crops on those terraces.



And lastly, I spotted this John Deere service/dealer while on the road one day. I am not sure what the sign says, but regardless I snapped a few pics and then forgot about them until this year. I sent them to John Deere and got this response with the names omitted:






So to tie this in with the spirit of the thread, a couple years ago I happened to be reading through a seed catalog and found some Abu Rawan tomato seeds from Iraq. They also had Ali Babba watermelons and Iran squash. I ordered all of these on a whim, figuring it would be nice to try these out and to see if the tomatoes I grew here would be as bitter as those I ate when I was over there. All I managed to plant that year were the tomatoes, and we had a very dry 2012. I had to water my corn and other domestic veggies, however, those Iraqi tomatoes grew like wildfire! I did water them, but not nearly as much as everything else and they didn't seem to mind if I ignored them a bit.



Well they were every bit as bitter as I remembered, much more acidic than I like, but they did grown when my other varieties were struggling even with my watering daily. It made me wonder what plants and knowledge from other parts of the world could be used here in the States.

CombatFarmer, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get involved? I have seen no mention of the organization and you did say you were not part of any military effort. If it violates your OP/PERSEC then that's cool, I was just curious. I ask because I think that is actually doing more good than anything else we have done abroad. I find it frustrating to think of the money spent outside our own country on failed programs. Especially when something like your program that teaches something viable and sustainable is clearly the more intelligent option. Although you already hit the nail on the head when you were describing your planting calendar, politicians have no knowledge and do not care about things like that.

How much research did you do prior to stepping off? I mean in regards to their agriculture, climate, and resources. I really do find this fascinating, and it would absolutely make a good book. It would read like a story but also serve as a textbook if written properly. Anyways, sorry for the rambling megapost! I have just made a lot of changes in my life and this ties into it in a roundabout way.  

CombatFarmer, I don't know if you or your group is possibly planning anything, but I would love for a chance to assist you guys if you possibly go back for something like this again.  I would be very excited for the opportunity and would gladly share my qualification if there'd be a chance to help with such work.

The USDA is who sponsors these Ag Development Teams, IIRC.

You could also poke around with DOS, which sponsors something called OTI, office of transition initiatives. Basically, where having US faces and money in front is an invitation to violence, US money finds its way to "trusted partners" so the work can get done.

Help if you want, but be careful...nobody has wound up on a milk carton that I am aware of yet...but as US forces draw down, and things change over there, I would be VERY cautious.

Jormungand - Thanks for the sharing, your pictures are great.
JFarley & GTLandser – Thanks for your comments!

I completely understand what you said about the effect on your eyes when you see growing crops and trees. The same thing happened to my team when we would come out of the desert and drive into a lush green valley with a stream.

Our global ag work began in the 1980s. Being a third generation farmer, you could say I was rooted in agriculture from the beginning.  I started branching out from the Midwest with a lot of institutional knowledge, and our first move was to South America.  My brothers and I learned how to farm there, then in the Caribbean and then we went on to Eastern Europe. We would continually learn along the way, mostly from the successful locals, and then scale their success. We didn’t implement anything new – no new technologies or methods – we just had the ability to look at challenges from a different perspective and make minor changes using what was available in the area to scale it to what was needed.

Afghanistan, of course, was a little different. We learned to keep our heads down and farm with an AK.  This is what led to my being called the “Combat Farmer”.  So now I’m a first generation Combat Farmer and have trained my daughter, who also spent 4+ years in AF, as a second generation Combat Farmer.  



Originally I went to AF to help “State”. I spent most of my time trying to make their ideas (concocted up in a DC cubical) work or explain why they would not (Mother Nature does not wait for bureaucrats). Yes, it was frustrating, but in the end we did achieve their objectives and gave them a whole lot more, which is why our work caught the attention of many generals along the way. We established great relationships and formed lasting trusts during our time spent in country. It was remarkable the quality of information that our new friends, the “local farmers”, would tell us. So naturally we were a good fit with special operations as liaisons between the military and the locals.  

We did a few projects primarily training for the ADTs. The guards were great guys, a lot of them farmers, but they had to follow military rules. We lived off base/off grid, looked and traveled like locals so we could adapt quickly to any situation. This approach can be applied to other situations around the world. I agree with GTLandser that as the AF draw down goes forward options will be limited.
If you want to know more about what I’m up to now, you can follow me on twitter (@thecombatfarmer); since I check that more often you can direct message me there.  I do also have a website, just search for “combat farmer” and you’ll find me.

--Combat Farmer
War tested, Combat Farming®

I'm impressed you've made this into a multi-generational operation.  

Did your family (you mentioned your daughter) stay with you the entire time or did they rotate in during peak times like planting and harvest?  If your family was over there for extended periods of time, do they have any unique first hand experiences they could share?

From a COIN perspective, the above is exactly what makes these programs so popular; "small is beautiful"-- they are less likely to fail to begin with, since your aims are modest, and even if it doesn't work out, USG hasn't lost much $$$ in the attempt. We should all be glad money is being spent on these programs, because there are many more examples of public and expensive boondoggles. Newsflash, DOD is TERRIBLE at cost-effective international development work....

The key for such small programs to succeed is having the RIGHT people, and it sounds like CombatFarmer is exactly that kind of person.

On the other hand, what that local farmers tell you, and who you share that with, is a double-edged sword. Sure, you could improve security and governance in your area (helping to win the COIN fight, because the rising tide must lift all boats for any gains to be lasting)....but you could also find yourself sharing space with a bunch of yahoos, and you don't control what THEY do with YOUR information.

If it was me, running around the AO in a toyota, counting on the personal goodwill I've accumulated...I'd be a "happy neutral", following the same rule as applies in the rest of life: "never invite THE MAN into your life"...whether he wears a turban or a kevlar helmet.