Would 5 years be long enough for a small society to start producing a surplus of food?

Would a community of around 300 people be able to start producing plentiful food in ~5 years post a civil war and plague?

They were an isolated quite wealthy community, in a sub-tropical area, mainly producing honey from surrounding flower fields and really didn't produce much of their food. Due to their isolation they were left mainly unaffected by the war and plague but their supply of food coming into the village was destroyed. This happened around mid-winter. They had around 4 months of food left if they rationed which gave them enough time to clear some fields and plant crops from dried beans and seeds from home vegetable gardens (~25 of them) etc. Later they scavenged more seeds from destroyed farms further away. A few people kept goats (9) and chickens (15). They had a few retired farmers and some home gardeners who essentially oversaw the whole 'make food' operation.

There was a general understanding that if they couldn't produce their own food they would starve to death and so people were forced to either help or be ousted and probably die. People who couldn't work in the field such as the elderly were in charge of babysitting so that the parents could work.

They developed a source of salt soon after (coast ~8 km away). In order to preserve food for winter.

Am I being too generous with five years or would it probably take longer, if so why?

posted about 5 years ago

Elfie‭

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