Are you prepared?

[greenhead]

When 2012 comes and goes and nothing at all happens out of the ordinary, there will be other people who will then come along and speak of a new date to fear. And when that date will also pass without any impending doom, then other people will come along and speak of an even newer date to fear, and the cycle continues.

 

[Guest]

poppinfresh- consuming human flesh causes the human body to emit an extraordinarily foul odor, those alskan garden protectors will smell you comin' but i do somewhat agree with the scare tactic propaganda and marketing involved with these supposed doomsday dates. i mean look at Y2K, in the months prior the hot marketing words were y2k compatible, and y2k ready, be prepared for y2k, and on that morning what happened? nothing....nothing at all, not one computer crashed nor did our modern infrastructure come crashing down. Do we even have any idea what will happen in 2012 at the end of the mayan calendar...no, but im also not mayan so my calendar doesnt end that day. but as you mentioned you are ready to die if the impending nuclear or global forces collide with humaity on a destructive level, well so am i. I would try to be prepared but sometimes an event is so much greater than yourself that you are just a grain of sand among the vast oceans and no amount of preparation could have readied you to endure it.

 

[PoppinFresh]

When 2012 comes and goes and nothing at all happens out of the ordinary, there will be other people who will then come along and speak of a new date to fear. And when that date will also pass without any impending doom, then other people will come along and speak of an even newer date to fear, and the cycle continues.

exactly... i think a lot of these fears are further promoted by movies and books. i am not saying it's some sort of evil plot by the illuminati to sell more corn. i'm saying that we see and hear all of these thoughts and ideas about the future, not just in typical proselytizing but in general media, and these ideas become us. but the way i think, we could just get hit by a fat ass meteor and all that stockpiling won't mean shit cuz your face will be somewhere near mars and your ass will be floating around jupiter. but that's just the way i think lol.

but, if we are to be prepared.. i say give me 6 months of supplies, tons of clean water, plenty of nutrients, solar panels, and plenty of seeds. we're all some growers in here... HYDRO IS THE WAVE OF THE (potentially ****ed up) FUTURE! what we should be doing is developing a super crop that can provide us with all the nutrients we need in one bite so we don't need so many seeds for different plants that require different conditions. maybe a THC filled tomato.. marimato.. or tangejuana, marinana

 

[PoppinFresh]

poppinfresh- consuming human flesh causes the human body to emit an extraordinarily foul odor, those alskan garden protectors will smell you comin' but i do somewhat agree with the scare tactic propaganda and marketing involved with these supposed doomsday dates. i mean look at Y2K, in the months prior the hot marketing words were y2k compatible, and y2k ready, be prepared for y2k, and on that morning what happened? nothing....nothing at all, not one computer crashed nor did our modern infrastructure come crashing down. Do we even have any idea what will happen in 2012 at the end of the mayan calendar...no, but im also not mayan so my calendar doesnt end that day. but as you mentioned you are ready to die if the impending nuclear or global forces collide with humaity on a destructive level, well so am i. I would try to be prepared but sometimes an event is so much greater than yourself that you are just a grain of sand among the vast oceans and no amount of preparation could have readied you to endure it.

welllllllllllllll... there were SOME programs that crashed on y2k lol. but overall you're absolutely right.. not a damn thing happened. and why are we paying any attention to the mayan calendar? are there even any mayans left? i think their 2012 came a long time ago. ya know lol. besides, the world simply can not end in 2012... hello, im running for president in 2016 with Chelsea Clinton as my VP and i will appoint you, rkrone, to positions in the department of agriculture

 

[Guest]

thank you poppinfresh, i will uphold my responsibility in that particular position by legalizing that which we love so much

 

[DrHydro]

Has nothing to do with fear.. Its about being ready for whatever... Maybe some people dont have it in there blood.. Because i dont see any other way to live...

 

[NOKUY]

Just some thoughts here peeps.

These are some good reasons to get prepared for any eventuality that could come down the highway in the future and a cpl. tips so that you and your family can survive it in comfort. (dont depend on the government to save ya)

Sounds like that old survivalist mumbo jumbo to some of you, but it makes more sense than ever these days for the following reasons:

1. Social Security and Medicare: They’re going to collapse. (2012 is the year I heard) If you or any member of your family are connected with them, you’ll be affected. The less you are dependent on any government program the better.

2. The economy: America is in debt up to its ears. As it continues, some economists predict foreigners may lose faith in the American dollar, pull their money out, and we’ll be in an instant Depression. If you’re near a large population center, you could be in for trouble from desperate people pouring into the countryside.

3. Terrorism: Terrorism could visit America again, possibly in the form of a biological attack which could require us to hunker down in our homes for months. A “dirty bomb” may require us to evacuate for an extended period. A chemical attack would be less severe, unless it happened right in our town.

4. Rising crime in the country: It may be down in the cities, but it’s rising in the countryside because a lot of city scumbags have moved into our neighborhoods. The farther out you live, the safer you’ll be, but there are lots of self defense measures you can take, including being properly trained in the use of a gun.

5. Inflation: It’ll probably be the government’s choice weapon to battle the coming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, mentioned in number 1 above. If inflation reaches 21%, as it did in the Carter years, you’re going to look pretty smart with a garage full of survivalist items like a generator and a year’s worth of food and other supplies. Inflation is already affecting selected items, such as plywood which jumped by $7 a sheet a few months ago. Hard to build a home, addition, or anything else without plywood.

6. Illness: What if a deadly epidemic like the 1918 flu came back, and there is no vaccine available (Sound familiar?) to protect your family? You might have to stay home to avoid becoming contaminated with the deadly illness. Do you have enough food and supplies to do that? On a personal basis, if your breadwinner falls ill, who or what keeps the family going? If the main wood chopper falls ill, who cuts the wood for your wood stove? It’s tough having a sick family member, but it’s much tougher having it complicated by having too little food and other necessities in the house.

7. A personal economic meltdown: You personally could fall on temporary hard times with the loss of your income. Are you ready to weather such an event until you can get the income flowing again? If you’re making good money now, pay off your debt, and put some money away, either in a bank or in a drawer. (These days your drawer pays you almost as much interest as a bank.) Maybe even pay up your mortgage, if you have one, a few months in advance. That’ll also cut down on your interest payments. Stock up on food. Not only is it like having money in the bank, but it’s a good hedge against rising food prices.

8. A severe winter: No one knows where the price of oil and gas are going, so it’s a good idea to keep extra fuel on hand. I don’t keep a big tank of gas because even with a gas stabilizer added it tends to get stale. But I do keep my vehicles full of gas and I have several 5-gallon cans of Stabil-treated gas, plus oil and lubricants to take care of my chain saw and other 2-stroke implements. I also have about a three year supply of wood for my wood stoves, and backup propane heat. If there is an electric blackout I have backup propane lights in several rooms. One of the best ways to deal with a fuel shortage in a cold winter is to simply stay home with your ample supplies and enjoy the wood stove.

Preparedness is cost effective, convenient, healthy, and fun. There’s nothing like coming home from Costco with a truck load of food and supplies you’ve bought at the much cheaper bulk rate prices. I seldom run out of anything no matter what I decide is for dinner. I date everything and rotate it with the new supplies, so it is very unusual for to have to throw anything away. I’ve also got lots of frozen kale (I love kale soup...) and stored pumpkins (...and pumpkin pie) put away from this year’s garden. I want a big garden and a bunch of chickens, so I can eat lots of pesticide-free food and phytochemical-rich eggs. (I'll also have wild game again and fresh seafood when I get back to Alaska)

I haven’t even come close to covering all the reasons to practice preparedness, or all the ways you can do it and have fun doing it. Plug in your own reason. Preparedness is really a way of life, just like losing weight or staying in shape. You have to want to do it. If you just store a bunch of stuff, it’s going to eventually go bad and you’ll end up throwing it out. Look around at the uncertainties in the world, and see if practicing preparedness in some form might be a good idea for your family

bump

 

[Guest]

a most worthy post in that bump nokuy, good info, as it becomes more relative to us everyday

 

[vaprpig]

Books are another goods thing to start collecting. Not many people out there have the knowledge or skills to take care of themselves these days. Books aren't that expensive and don't take up much room but would be worth their weight in gold if and when you needed them.

Not just "survival" books but books on homesteading, building construction, moving heavy objects, farming, livestock, hunting, food storage, water systems and storage, alternative energy, medical care (not just first aid but day to day health care), how to make bio-diesel, etc.

Anyone have any recommendations?

The MERCK Manual is a good one for comprehensive medical issues. There is a home edition that is easier to use. A medical dictionary would also be a good accompaniment to this book. There is also a veterinary Merck.

http://www.amazon.com/Merck-Manual-...4588650?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193925009&sr=8-2

 

[DrHydro]

Military handbooks

 

[TheBigGreen1]

Im willing to bet a few people on this thread still have some pre-Y2K MRE's stashed away. I know you do. And guns and ammo buried away packed in cosmoline. I would really like to see the isht hit the fan, at least sometime in my life. Why? You ask. Because, if the world is going to come to an end I would at least like to see it all go down.

 

[facelift]

No. I was hoping for 100K, but it looks like it's going to be 30K and some change. Most of that is already spent and I haven;t gotten the check yet. I have to replace my car, and repay my mom for a few years of support. I know she's buying my cigarettes because she's no longer giving me 20 bucks a week for all the housework I do. She may not even accept it.

So I have a chance coming up to prepare for the future. I have no kids, wives, or other dependents. My planning involves what am I going to do when my mom dies. At the moment I don;t feel like living here without her. The taxes are high, and my sister doesn't do any housework. I already clean up after her some, and do not wish to continue through old age.

My very first thought was to buy some land. I need to stick to that. I need to find the largest, cheapest acreage with power and a well. Better yet a house for the same price. Of the homes I've seen, some of them have mold problems do to age and leaking roofs. They're under $20,000.00.

All my grand ideas and plans, or confidence went out the window when I accepted a settlement from the City. Living in a fantasy world for 4 years sucked.

 

[NserUame]

Only pack your gun in cosmoline if you wanna spend the rest of your life cleaning it, a lot easier to let em build up a nice layer of rust.

I honestly gotta say I'm crossing my fingers for a zombie invasion. I'd rather shoot the undead than some dude going for my food stash. Plus worst case scenario you become a zombie, could be kinda fun?

 

[Luther Budbank]

I love this thread. I agree with BACKCOUNTRY. The most important thing to accumulate is knowledge. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Tom Brown Jr. He has written an excellent series of field guides. With a lot of knowledge and experience, a person can walk naked into the wilderness and thrive. More can be found at http://trackerschool.com/. Jon Young offers an at home study course with a similar theme. There are other schools of the same type all over the country. Wilderness Way magazine is another good source of information. Anybody ever watch Survivorman or Man vs Wild? Personally, I prefer Survivorman, but they're both good.

 

[NOKUY]

i have never heard of tom brown jr, but will look into his stuff now...i have lots of different "field guides"....most field guides to me are trying to teach people "common sense"...which i already have plenty of....but they can teach a few things.

knowledge and experience like ya said, is what ya need. survival tho is better obtained thru experience than book knowledge.

i know sum sorry ass fuks that know alot of shit from books, and thats all. if they had to pull out a chainsaw and use it in 30 seconds it would take them a cpl hrs.

man vs wild is pretty weak ....survivorman is aiight.

ill check out trackerschool

there is a really good school in boulder colorado for survival....ill post the link if i can find or think of it....it's not just books its experience.

also look into mountaineering....not just hiking or climbing ....if you can become a mountaineer youll be a survivalist

 

[George Hayduke]

survival from what i discovered is mostly mental. you can read all the books you want about survival and they want do you any good unless you have the mental capacity to last out in the wild in the first place. also sometimes survival books list skills that take time to master to be effective. some people think they can read a survival book and already have enough knowledge and thats not the case either. the best way to prepare yourself is experience.

 

[med_breeder]

just finished reading this entire thread.
awesome and usefull read.

peace

 

[hunt4genetics]

would also love to raise chickens, but my area is not zoned for livestock,
unless there is such thing as a breed of mute chickens. Looking in to purchasing a few rabbits. I am not a doom and gloom guy,

tis better to have and not need,
than to need and not have.

 

[Luther Budbank]

As far as domestic animals, I've had good experiences with ducks. They are hardier than chickens and they lay their eggs in the morning. That's good in freezing weather, because they can be collected before they freeze. I had a mink wipe out my flock one year. I never saw the little bugger, but I ID'd its' tracks. I thought they were in a secure spot, being completely fenced in, but it slipped in through the chain link fence. I use a smaller mesh now. The mink had a brilliant strategy. It killed and ate a couple on the spot and the rest it must have bitten in the head because they weren't dead, but severely injured. They lived for quite a while, but never recovered. I guess that was how it saved some for later. Duck eggs taste just like chicken eggs to me. Some people say they taste a little richer. hunt4genetics, even if your area is not zoned for livestock, you may be allowed to keep "pets".

NOKUY, you may be thinking of Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS). I hope to become more involved with them in the future.

 

[RED145]

Good Topic Yukon!!
Her's an oldy,staples for 3!!

Here's how we manage the business of stocking up. Each year we work for a short time (six weeks last summer) and buy the following:
OUR BASIC STAPLES
80 pounds large-flake slow-cooking oats
150 pounds whole wheat (we have a grinder)
10 pounds cornmeal
10 pounds assorted grains (millet, rye, etc.)
100 pounds brown rice
40 pounds whole-wheat pasta (too much, actually)
50 pounds (approximately) assorted legumes: split peas, black-eyed peas, lentils, kidney, navy, lima and garbanzo beans, etc.
150 pounds non-instant powdered skim milk
32 pounds margarine (one case)
100 pounds brown sugar
30 pounds honey
7 gallons cooking oil
10 100-fluid-ounce cans tomato paste
25-pound bucket peanut butter
12 pounds cheese
5 pounds yeast
10 pounds baking powder potatoes, carrots, cabbages, turnips
We order most of these things in bulk at good prices from the Big City many miles away and have them shipped up at additional cost. In the case of some items (oil, tomato paste), it's more practical to pay higher rates at the local market than to lay out money for shipping. Also, our neighboring dealer can get certain foods in bulk if we order them in advance. All of which may not concern you if you live on a road, have a truck and can go and get the supplies you need.
At first it seems incredible to purchase so much food at once . . . but you're buying to last a long time. How long? That's hard to say definitely, because the answer depends on the number of people in your family, how much you live off the land (at times you can't), how many guests and pets you feed and, often, circumstances over which you have little or no control . . . like mold running rampant or the dog getting into the powdered milk. (Last winter, mice ate a hole into a 25-pound cloth sack of brown rice we had stored on the rafters. We awoke late at night to the softly slurred sound of kernels raining into the woodpile.) In our own case, the above list is about a year's supply of edibles . . . as long as the semi-perishables—margarine, potatoes and other vegetables—are replenished betweentimes.
Note that neither the list nor the quantities thereon are right for everyone. Tomato paste, peanut butter and margarine—for instance—aren't absolutely essential but are really fine to have if you can afford them. And if you don't use sugar, you'll have to compensate with more honey for cooking. Or you may not need so much powdered milk (we have a one-year-old son). Still, the foods I've named are the ones that have kept us satisfied for three years, so they might be a fair guideline for you who are now planning toward the woods life.
Of course, basic staples aren't all we get on our supply trips. To liven up the plain raw material we buy spices, sauces and herbs. With these, and ingenuity, it's possible to create any number of different tastes from the same old food. Don't underestimate the need for variety in the diet! Overly repetitious meals can become very "so-whatish", which is bad for health and spirit. Although there's almost no limit to the resources with which you can dress up your eating, the following will give you a lot of scope:
HERBS
Garlic (cloves or powder)
Onions (we buy 50 pounds at once because I like them so much)
SAUCES
Soy sauce (for Chinese meals)
Vinegar (for salads, sweet and sour dishes, marinades, mayonnaise and pickling)
Ketchup (nice to have around)
SPICES
Salt
Pepper (cayenne, black or whole peppercorns)
Curry powder (for Indian food)
Chili powder (for Mexican dishes)
Oregano or basil (for Italian food)
Cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg (for baking)
Paprika (for good taste and color)
How about vitamins? Clean air and water, whole grains in our diet and the sight of lots of trees do much for our physical and mental health . . . but we still get a few items to help us along, especially in winter:
SUPPLEMENTS
Rose hips or vitamin C tabs (in summer, greens and berries provide enough vitamin C)
Cod-liver oil (vitamins A and D)
Blackstrap molasses (for iron . . . I put it in bread, biscuits and cookies)
Brewer's yeast (B-complex vitamins)
Wheat germ (vitamin E)
There's plenty of protein in powdered milk, soybeans, cheese, game and fish, and the first two items also contain calcium. In fact, the basic staples—plus the supplements I've listed—provide us with a pretty healthful diet.
In almost every load of our supplies there's also a very nonessential bunch of stuff . . . the foods we buy, if we can afford them, after the necessities are safely stowed away. Such luxuries are simply great for bolstering the spirit. For us, they often include:
EXTRAS
Cocoa (for the hot chocolate that goes so well with a wintry day)
Raisins, dates, walnuts, coconut (to make your granola, cookies and cakes extra special)
Popcorn (need I say anything?)
Coffee (an occasional pot)
Sometimes I make soy nuts for a treat, or fudge with raisins and nuts in it.
That's the end of the shopping trip, but it's not all there is to eating in the woods. You can stretch your food supply, vary your diet, better your health and decrease your "on the job" time by relying on Mother Earth to help feed you. She will, if you work hard at it.
We hunt deer, bear, grouse and duck. We also fish for cod, flounder and salmon and dig clams. In the spring, summer and fall we gather mushrooms. (Cream of morel soup is a treat we look forward to and remember.) A very good book, Guide to Common Mushrooms of British Columbia by Robert J. Bandoni and Adam F. Szczawinski—published by A. Sutton, September 1964—helps us identify edible varieties. (This work is out of print, but B.C. residents might be able to find it in their local libraries.—MOTHER.)
Wild greens are a regular part of our diet in the spring and summer: sheep sorrel, wild onions, dandelion, cattail, glasswort, sea plantain, wild mint, pigweed. (Did you know that pigweed contains 27,000 units of vitamin A per cupful?) We pick berries too—salal, huckleberries, blackberries, wild currants—which I dry or can or make into jam and jelly. We're assisted in our foraging by another good book: Guide to Common Edible Plants of British Columbia by Adam F. Szczawinski and George A. Hardy, published by A. Sutton, August 1967. (This also is out of print.—MOTHER.)
Gardening and domestic animals (goats, chickens) can provide excellent food to add to your supply. Cultivating bushland is hard work, though. Our own clearing has a foot-thick mat of salal roots beneath its entire surface. This will have to be removed and the soil composted, fertilized and otherwise babied. (Most of B.C.'s forest floor is acidic and our patch will probably need a lot of limestone and wood ashes.) Still, the hope of lettuce, spinach and a store of winter vegetables makes all the hard work seem worthwhile to us.
Now then, you've finally landed in the woods with all this food . . . and potential sources of more through foraging, hunting, fishing and gardening. You've got a wood stove and have made friends with it. What can you fix to eat? Here are some suggestions:
VARIOUS BREADS: Corn bread, bannock, biscuits, onion bread, hot cross buns, cinnamon rolls . . . to be eaten with jam, jelly, preserves or honey.
SANDWICHES: Your homemade whole-wheat bread plus fish or meat (if you get some), peanut butter, cheese, honey, jam, watercress or-in garden times-tomato.
SOUPS: Cream, vegetable, potato, onion, clam or fish chowder, split pea, navy bean, lentil, tomato, soy grit.
SALADS: Rice, fish, macaroni, cabbage, potato, wild greens, garden greens . . . with dressings like oil and vinegar or homemade mayonnaise (if you have an egg).
BREAKFASTS: Hot cereals of mixed grains (a grinder is good for this), oatmeal and cornmeal mush, hotcakes, granola, eggs, fish, meat.
DESSERTS: Chocolate, rice or vanilla puddings made with milk and cornstarch, raisin tarts, cookies, doughnuts, berry pies, carrot cake, fudge.
MAIN DISHES: Fried rice and onions, vegetables or meat; spaghetti and garlic bread; fish and chips; egg foo yong; potato pancakes; curried rice, split peas or lentils; chili (with or without the carne, depending on how the hunting goes); tamale pie; cabbage rolls; pizza; vegetable, bear, deer, grouse or duck stew; lima beans and tomatoes; baked beans; sweet and sour meat, fish or rice; batter-fried clams, fish or grouse; creamed rice or pasta; macaroni and cheese; baked fish; scalloped potatoes; curried crab; roasts, chops, meat pies ....
Well, I won't go on. I only wanted to illustrate the number, variety and quality of the meals you can eat and stay healthy on . . . far from the land of supermarkets.
A final note: If your bread has so far come from a bakery and your spaghetti sauce from a can, you might want to take a cookbook along to the woods. I like Adelle Davis's Let's Cook It Right (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1970, $1.75 in paperback) because it teaches healthful cooking techniques, gives recipes for game animals (including bear) and contains charts that help us cut up our meat (deer are most like lamb). But any cookbook with plain down-home recipes—none of that "take one package biscuit mix and one can mushroom gravy" stuff—should do. Once you have no choice, you'll soon learn to cook. I did.
A grace:
Good bread, good meat,
Good God, let's eat!