Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
ping for a great thread
If you read a lot of Survivalist fiction (and I do), you’ll note several themes. Eventually, the people willing to work to survive have to band together. None of the fiction writers deal with the idea that a determined force of no-goods will eventually overwhelm a small pod of Have’s. That guy you got to dig a latrine in exchange for food is eventually going to run into a determined armed scavenging force and you are going to get a visit. You probably will not win. The only thing that can stop them is a very large group of well-armed people or the threat of such.
I’ve noticed that survivalist fiction is beginning to center around large cooperative groups after TSHTF. It seems to be the only method unless you are Grizzly Adams and can live in a cabin in the woods until the stuff blows over.
So a few realities:
1. If it gets really bad, you will have to move.
2. You need to know where to go
3. You will need to know how to get there as stealthly as possible.
4. If it ever gets bad, skills will be worth more than food.
5. No matter how well prepped you are, it all goes out the window if you have to go mobile. It comes down to how much you can carry on your back.
The good news is that you will not need all that prepping but you will need some of it. The best prep you can do is have a plan to join a community if needed, especially if you live in an urban environment.
If you are older, volunteer to help a Boy Scout troop. You’ll know why when you do.
Well, that is the time to remember what Sully (pilot of Flt. 1459)said this morning:
For 42 years of flying I had been making small deposits of knowledge and on that one day I had enough saved up to make a large withdrawal when needed.
Earlier you had questioned what to do when faced with 100 hungry, cold souls. Well, I for one would take them in... Feed them and get them warm and then tell them if that if they were willing to help, there was the opportunity for more food and shelter, but we all had to work for it. (Notice I fed and warmed them first so they wouldn’t be so irrational)
BUT keep in mind, I have 3 very good friends who are my enforcers - Mr. Colt, and Msrs. Smith & Wesson. And they are very persuasive. When needed, they have the ability to reach out and touch someone.
For now, we need to cultivate in others the knowledge accounts and the stockpiles so that they can do the same and then I will only have to take in 98, then 96 and so on till we approach equilibrium - we have a lot of work to do. (grin)
Howdy neighbor -
Glad to see you found this thread.
I am right on the line between Kent and Sussex Counties.
Join it often!
It reminds me of the kids who planted marijuana seeds in the flower bed in front of the police station. Where was that? New Rochelle? Somewhere in Westchester County.<<<
I found a nice one, couple feet tall at the Yuma county Library, then went in to find a photo, cause Mary did not think that pot would be growing in the nice planter bed we were admiring.
The young clerk [know it all type], assured me that they had anything I was looking for, and was shocked that it was a pot plant in his front yard, so I marched out and broke him off a branch and dumped it on his counter.
LOL talk about shocked, he was, but later, I worked at the court and was told that he called the police at once.
Glad to see you are reading the new thread.
Excellent summation of excellent advice!
And the term "neighbors" doesn't necessarily have to mean the folks next door or across the road. I live out in the sticks, and although we have good neighbors right across the road, some of our best "neighbors" actually live a few miles away.
Our farmer neighbors are a bountiful font of information and are very willing to share their knowledge with "newbies."
Aren’t bees wonderful, I love watching them work in the morning.
Yes, I shake my tomato plants and the cherry tomatoes did ok, with hitting them with a forceful stream of water.
I shook my pepper plants too. LOL, still do not know if they needed it or not.
I never tried to grow bees, one of those things that i was going to do someday.
I don’t think the HOA will allow stacking pallets for multi level gardening here.
I hope my fruit trees have a decent crop again. I planted them instead of shade trees when we moved here in ‘91.
I start itching just thinking about the milo dust.
Smart man that Grandpa Ira! ;-)
Fortunately both my daughters learned to handle firearms very responsibly. They could both load and shoot fairly accurately with handgun and shotgun. The second daughter is a crack shot with a rifle. The older daughter is a shotgun gal. I'm an oddball, I like my handgun. My kids were threatened to within an inch of their lives about *ever* touching a gun inappropriately. We had corporal punishment in our home even though I was a single mom they completely obeyed me in the gun department.
Now that they are on their own, I feel a lot more secure about them both knowing they *have* and can use guns. I know some gals and guys like you said that just don't seem to have the gene. They just need to stay away from the firearms. LOL
Regarding #27 on your list - Stockpile seeds. When buying seeds or plants, remember to buy NON-hybrid. After growing the plants, the seeds harvested from hybrids will not germinate.<<<
That can’t be said too many times, as it is the most important fact at all....saving the hybrid seeds can mean no food at all.
I have had it happen with tomatoes, beautiful plants and not a flower or tomato.
Yes, I too learned a lot before Y2K, and it was fun for me to read in the different groups, how the stored foods were used.
Many like you and I, were glad to have good food on hand, and the many folks who posted when their mate lost their jobs or got sick and how glad they had prepared for Y2K, I could agree with.
I admit I laughed at the ones who had bought 400 pounds of beans and after Y2K, asked how to cook them. The only use that I ever saw that they had planned, was for trading stock or the sheer joy of hoarding.
Vanity here: I'm not surprised to hear you got some Texan blood in ya! ~snicker~
[Smile is big]
Glad you found us, and like the new thread.
Glad you are reading the thread, I added your name to the ping list, that I remember to send out when I can.
I honestly don’t have an answer for you.
If you already have a fence up, could you line it with fine chicken wire or old window screen and keep them out?
Try sprinkling ground peppers and garlic around the plants.
Mine here would think the growing garlic was desert.
Check thread one, back not many pages, I posted recently several good ideas that i found for keeping animals out of the garden.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1990507/posts?page=9919#9919
Keep an eye on this thread, I will post some more when I get a chance to find them.
Glad you came to visit the thread, you are welcome any time.
My Y2K stockpile of food was a real blessing in another way. Since I had the stocked up goods and was set for supplies for a while I took advantage of the opportunity in 2001. I had always wanted to teach but the pay was a lot lower than my profession. So, I took a teaching post at a small college and managed through the transition from high pay to low pay with my Y2K stuff. Was great fun!
Yes, that is about all that grows here, this year, maybe there has been enough rain for the wild mustard to grow and I like that and some of the weeds.
Here the cattails are now on the old mines ponds and that I do not mess with.
I am not a fan of cactus pads, but have friends who are.
Welcome to the thread.
LOL I love the Texas mentality!!!
“I’m not broke or poor, I’m between fortunes”
11 years there and learned that well. :-)
I'll see if I can find it around here. I know we have fish worm compost. I compost kitchens scraps, grass cuttings,leaves, etc. in two 55-gallon plastic drums with holes drilled in the bottom and around the sides. It takes at least a year to get a black, uniform texture medium.
Your county agent may have some suggestions about the fungus. Despite that, bottoms are usually the richest dirt around here. I wish I had an acre or two.
I live where Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama all come together. Eight miles from Shiloh Military Park.
Yes, newspapers do work for keeping in heat, LOL, a thought just went through my mind, how warm would a cover of a good layer of newspapers, sandwiched between 2 layers of plastic be?
Should be warm.
Parachutes are a good keeper in of body heat and we used them as the filling of comforters, but not for babies.
I learned about the plastic wear from the farm workers in Wellton, they take a big trash bag and cut a head opening and the arm openings and make an instant rain coat and it would be warm too.
My shoulders were acting up for awhile and I started wearing a double plastic bag as a shawl, it covers the shoulders and I keep it closed with a clothes pin.....it weighs nothing, and I forget that I am wearing it, until I lay down and the clothes pin hits my chin.
I have a fancy crocheted shawl laying over there, but it gets in the way and I keep dipping the tails in the water if I get close to water or turn it on.
You are welcome here, hope you will join in, or come and read here anytime.
Thank you, I am glad you like the thread, and hope you will join in with your knowledge, from your name, you must know many things we need to know.
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