A rapidly expanding economy works by networking everyone though centralizing. structures and institutions including mass society and twitter. We are all alone but connected to an economy. So the tendency is to only imagine an individualist or too down response to crises

So often the alternative to mass agriculture is only framed as individuals or families becoming 100% self-sufficient

When what is actually needed and possible is direct collaboration and cooperation among people close by.

When I was in college PBS was experimenting with the new reality TV show format. They had a show called frontier house. It focused on three families of different sizes and backgrounds trying to survive to Winter in Montana. (No real mention of colonialism)

At the end of summer they would be assessed by experts to see if they could’ve survived the winter with the supplies that they had made.

Well there was some interesting innovation among the kids of the families it never occurred to any of them that they could really work together until the very end. They thought The to win one family had to win over the others : no one told them that.

For example when one family decided to build a root cellar they never told the other families and they did it on their own in secret. Other people found out about it and built their own in secret. There is no way the three families alone Could be self-reliant like that

Well they all lost: none of them would’ve made it through the winter.
All dead.

so when people pooh-pooh the idea of at home gardening being an appropriate response they have this in their head. can’t imagine a connected community growing food in yards and parks. They cling to the idea of autonomous individuals. People growing crops in their suburban yard.