What those of us posting here have, that the stock market can't touch, are knowledge, skills and resources in the form of paid off, or nearly paid off shelter, and family, friends and communities that are also resourceful.

We also apparently all still have the physical capacity to do some fairly heavy labor - serious gardening on a large scale is hard physical work. In addition, productive gardening is not inexpensive.   Unless you live where you can keep chickens or a cow or two, fertilizer is a major expense. And if you have to buy feed for those animals, that is pretty costly also. Once you get started, you can save seed, but the initial cost of seed for a large garden is significant. Water is an increasingly scarce resource, is often rationed, and at least in my part of the country, is so expensive that irrigation from municipal water sources is not cost effective. And if income is reduced, it is not doable. So if you are planning on raising a bunch of your own food or growing food to barter, better get those rain barrels and a tiller purchased now, and figure out a way to store quantities of that collected water to get you through the dry season. Or drill a deep well for irrigation purposes while you still have the money to do so. Without adequate water during the growing season, you will sinply be wasting your money and labor in putting in a significant garden.

That is not to say you can't still supplement your diet and food bill in season with salad and container veggie gardening. However, don't have illusions about feeding yourself and your family if you don't have what it takes to successfully grow a substantial garden. Let us not be naive.