There really isn't much more to say on the Peak Oil story. The Peaknic's have won. There is no need to gloat - the revolution will not be televised... and it will likely take longer than the hard core doomers would have liked.
"Peak Oil" was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Before being Peak Oil aware, or age of industrialization aware, or age of TV aware, or age of Government Control aware... whatever you wish to call it... I was on the same self-destructive trajectory as anybody else. Moderately overweight and in my mid- 40's, I compared myself to the people around me... next to them I looked like Jack LaLane... meanwhile I was searching for a heart attack, or a perpetual bad back, or whatever it is that brings prosperous professionals low in their 50's and 60's... then I moved to the farm and slowly began to deindustrialize my life. I had some sad help - one of my hero's on Wall Street died of a heart attack at 62, with hundred's of millions of $$ in the bank, a huge belly, and while I was not privy to his medical charts... wanna bet on diabetes and erectile dysfunction et al? Shortly afterward, portly Matt Simmons took his final jacuzzi trip to the sky...
As it turns out, you do need enough money... but as you get older you need your health and vitality more... these guys would have been better off having gone broke and forced to engage in manual labor - they might have made it well into their 80's... but it was not to be.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, literally at the ranch, my recently de-industrialized lifestyle was yielding payoffs I hadn't really calculated or given much thought to. Without really trying, I lost 20 pounds... then I figured, hey let's do a "hard cut" and finish off that last 10lbs... bang, it was off. Working around the farm my weight is back to my weight at age 20 (I am 51). On the other hand, I don't make money like I used to... but with care and budgeting and frugality, I think we can maintain this lifestyle and still provide the kids with educations and weddings and such... there will be no profligate spending, and we won't miss any meals... the real issue has been the incredible yield in my LIFE in not being a fat, middle aged, industrial worker/automaton/troll.
We still have cable TV, though I personally NEVER watch it (Never is a strong word... less than an hour per month). My wife likes to have the cartoon channels for the kids, but I would like to take a baseball bat to the cable box. I do watch Youtube videos and netflix documentaries and the occasional movie... but their just isn't time for industrialized "home entertainment" on the farm.
I've got the meat/dairy/eggs/vegetable thing down... HOWEVER... We spend roughly $300 to $400 per month on organic fruit... so I cleared a soft fruit garden. I had a good thing going with 3 plum, 10 peach, and 5 apple trees, but the goats got out 2 years ago and killed more than half of them... I had intended to get a real orchid going this spring, but it might be too late... but back to the soft fruit... I planted 12 Blackberry, 15 Blueberry, 10 Grape vines, 2 large raised beds of Strawberry, and Rasberry is going in today. I don't expect much yield until next year, but one has to start somewhere. Bananas and Citrus will be coming from Publix in any event.
Total "garden" area is now over an acre, which is a lot of work. To this I intend to add by renting several acres to plant field corn for livestock feed. I am also going to sell our pleasure horses and buy a pair of mules. Draft horses eat too much, but a couple of mules should be supportable. I will let you know.
You simply cannot do this without equipment. Either you have a tractor/draft animals and implements or you will not be raising significant amounts of food. Period. "Gardening When It Counts" just ain't gonna cut it. A de-industrialized lifestyle is not completely de-industrialized. Even horse drawn implements are creations of industrialization. Also, freezers. I have 2 massive chest freezers, and they are full. In addition to canning, which I hate, we freeze much of our produce... 50 heads of broccoli take up an awful lot of room in the freezer, and we grow that much each spring AND fall. Boy, would I ever miss those freezers. I could easily give up central heating and cooling, but not the freezers.
The biggest savings besides direct food costs will be when we can get down to 1 vehicle (we have 2). I have to cut down on driving significantly... my wife does not seem to share my anti-driving sentiments.
Lastly, we have been keeping meat rabbits... one of the best things we have done. They are much easier to process than a chicken, give more and more tender meat, and growing their feed is easy. We seem to eat 2 o4 3 per month, and find that 1 buck and 2 does will provide all we can eat.