Back to the future.

Open Source Survival ^ | 12-8-2011 | Brother Rat

[Lowell1775]

Revisiting the resilient lifestyle…

Things finally collapse, and you go to the basement, start digging out survival gear and freeze dry food. You gather the family around the radio, shotgun in hand and begin worrying about how long the “stuff” will last.

OR

You get up at six AM as usual, open a bag of your favorite coffee, mixing it 50/50 with the chickory root you gathered in the summer. Opening the spout on the Big Berkey water filter, you fill the percolator you picked up at a yard sale, for 2 bucks. You set the coffee on the woodstove to brew, and dressed in your wool work clothes ( Goodwill for 4 bucks total), head out to the barn.

snip.............develop a sustainable lifestyle now, so that when things do get difficult be it from Job loss or total collapse of society, our lives are far less impacted. For those of you who are still in the “We will stock up stuff, and ride out the storm.” survival philosophy, maybe still working an office job and feeling secure do this:

Plan an entire Saturday of either hiking/camping or preferrably hard outdoor work, do it, I dare ya. When Saturday evening rolls around, how physically tired are you? Exhausted? Good! That’s what survival without skill-set and lifestyle preparation is going to feel like.

snip............if you see the things we face, and you want to move your family into a position of being “Survivors” why not be “Thrivers” instead by beginning a lifestyle that transitions into a collapse or TEOTWAWKI scenario with ease? You will live healthier, have less stress, and save a ton of money.

Brother Rat

[Lowell1775]

Back when I was in the infantry, they stressed that you should train the way you intend to fight, because you will definitely fight the way you trained.

An article on my second favorite website advances the same philosophy in life. Live simply now and you don't have to worry about how you live tomorrow....it will be just another day without the office......

[Blueflag]

Enjoyed your post.

I recommend to you and other FReepers a [short] book called “Holding Your Ground. Preparing for defense if it all falls apart.”

It provides a good framework to evaluate and decide if you can plausibly stay in place in a TEOTWAWKI ‘event.’ You score your situation. Decent read. Available on Amazon.

[familyop]

"First chore is fueling and starting the small generator, you check your stored gas and write down the remaining amount on a clipboard.

The generator purrs as it charges the old car batteries in your bank and runs the freezer back at the house."

I cannot, in good conscience, let that go without rebuttal. It won't work out. You'll run out of gas and battery charge very quickly and not keep food frozen for long.

1. Get some golf cart batteries instead, and connect them in pairs, at least, in series, for twelve volts. Search for battery connection methods for PV solar systems on the Net. You'll also need a 12-volt and/or 24-volt freezer. You can try the batteries with an inverter for 120 volts, but a 120-volt freezer will run your batteries down quickly.

2. Charge those batteries with a PV solar system. So some online studies to learn all that you can about it.

Powering an off-grid freezer requires high start-up costs. If you can't afford the time to study, PV modules, cables, a good charge controller (preferably MPPT controller for a power plant for a freezer), golf cart batteries (at least two in series for 12 volts and series pairs connected to each other in parallel) and a 12/24-volt freezer, then learn to do safe home canning with a pressure cooker. Meat can be safely canned if done properly and all instructions for canning followed.

Remember that if you want comforts away from the power grid, that you need to do much study beforehand. There are expensive hardships away from the grid. Otherwise, get a place that's close enough for a power company hookup without too much cost.

Be frugal, and have fun. Through the survivalism craziness, I hope that you'll learn to be more self-disciplined and prosperous.

[Me? I was only looking for peace and quiet away from cities--not the end of the world. But I found that there is a lifetime of learning along with some hardships involved in living very far from the power grid. This comment was powered by a small PV solar power plant.]

[familyop]

"The difference is that our family has been moving into a sustainable way of life for ten years! And we are still infants in the process!"

Yes. Study for a few years. And while you're at it, try living in a rural area and getting along with the locals for a while before making many assumptions.

And friends, people have wells drilled for clean water. Think about it.

[familyop]

Do some online studies to learn all that you can about it. [Little correction there.]

[call meVeronica]

Ping & bump