Are you preparing for not-so-good-times ahead

[TinaK]

You can never know who or what will cause a situation for you to rely on your supplies and own self sufficiency! Whether it be political, environmental or otherwise. I think many young people today take the conveniences of modern life for granted - electricity, convenience stores, running water, fuel, mains line gas etc.

I'd like to think we are pretty self sufficient here and if something bad did pop up, we'd be able to survive. We have a wood heater, plenty of trees and timber on our land to burn, tank water, a bore where we can pump water out of the ground, a wind mill to pump that bore, bottled gas for cooking, plenty of seeds for vegetables, fuel, our own hay and feed stockpiled for the animals... and the animals a pig, a herd of sheep, duck, turkey, chickens and some cattle to tie us over For just the two of us, we'd be Ok for a while.

We need a generator though. We lost power a few weeks ago and the first concern was the freezers full of food. A generator is on our list of 'must haves' once we can afford it. redhen, you are lucky that you had the generator! reading your post made me realise just how much we really need one.

 

[bakerjw]

These are the bags that are sealed inside of the Mylar bags. The holes allow oxygen to be drawn from inside of the bags and the bags are just to keep the contents of the bag from getting mixed with whichever foodstuff that is used for the packing.

How come poke holes in the dried food bag? So moisture doesn't get in?

If you ask anyone in an urban or inner city area what they would do if the world stopped their response would be "Head to the country." The reason? There is a perception that the countryside is full of rabbits, deer, and squirrels just sitting there waiting to be killed and eaten. Without proper wildlife management, game animal populations would be obliterated. It won't take long for the people that live out in the countryside to put a serious dent on wild game populations. Add in the influx from the cities and wild game populations could be put at unrecoverable levels.

Don't assume anything and plan for everything.

If you have a well then get a solar power system to run the pump. Even if you can only run the well a few hours every couple of days you will still have access to water which is more important than food.

 

[Mattemma]

I watched that DDP show yesterday. I am not even close to what many have. I liked the pool set up with the chickens,fish,and plants.Ds liked the guns,lol.
I wish I had a bug out place like that farm in SC or even the underground bunker-super cool. The house made of those cargo containers was interesting. I think the people who felt guns were not needed are mistaken. Like that lady with the bees. Someone will take her stuff.It is just the way some people are. Anyway thanks for the mention. I enjoyed watching it.

 

[Chicks on DL]

I don't need to head to the country for small animals. We have caught two possoms and relocated them but we have more and I am afraid to go outside at night because the way their eyes glow freaks me out. All else fails we will be eating possom, cats, and ducks before we even think about the girls.

 

[Bullitt]

When are you expecting the "no-so-good times"? They said everything would stop in 2000, the world would end in December 2011, and now it's this year.

We are just coming out of the worst recession since the 1930s, and the economy seems to be getting better. For example, General Motors just announced it made record profits and all the union workers get a $7,000 bonus.

I believe it is good to be prepared with some water, food, and other supplies in case there is a disaster, but I don't understand the Road-Warrior mentality of many of the preppers. These people with underground bunkers and an arsenal of guns are extreme.

 

[JD4570]

What exactly is extreme? Have you been through hurricanes and had power cut off for weeks? Or been through a series of severe winter storms and had no power, food , or heat for weeks? How about a riot such as the last L.A. riot that lasted a week? Now that's extreme. I've been living as my grand parents did. When the last hurricane hit and the power went out we lit the oil lamps. Eight hours later I fired up the generator to run the refrigeration. And fired up the wood stove and cooked supper. For light outside we have kerosene lanterns. Sure the pace of life slowed down, but it kept going. And that's the point of being prepared.

 

[conny63malies]

Been there . We lived through 3 hurricanes in one season back in 04. We had no power and water for ten days during Charley, but we went to spent some time with family. But growing up we had only running cold well water, if we wanted to take a bath we had to start up the boiler a hour ahead. If we wanted to wash dishes we had to heat water on the large wood cooking stove in the kitchen. THe whole house was heated with wood , no AC. Just a typical farm house build in 1878 with real rock/stone, so the walls werent straight.

Exactly is extreme? Have you been through hurricanes and had power cut off for weeks? Or been through a series of severe winter storms and had no power, food , or heat for weeks? How about a riot such as the last L.A. riot that lasted a week? Now that's extreme. I've been living as my grand parents did. When the last hurricane hit and the power went out we lit the oil lamps. Eight hours later I fired up the generator to run the refrigeration. And fired up the wood stove and cooked supper. For light outside we have kerosene lanterns. Sure the pace of life slowed down, but it kept going. And that's the point of being prepared.

 

[Bullitt]

What exactly is extreme? Have you been through hurricanes and had power cut off for weeks? Or been through a series of severe winter storms and had no power, food , or heat for weeks? How about a riot such as the last L.A. riot that lasted a week? Now that's extreme. I've been living as my grand parents did. When the last hurricane hit and the power went out we lit the oil lamps. Eight hours later I fired up the generator to run the refrigeration. And fired up the wood stove and cooked supper. For light outside we have kerosene lanterns. Sure the pace of life slowed down, but it kept going. And that's the point of being prepared.

Why are you arguing with me? I said I thought underground bunkers (not a tornado shelter) and an arsenal of guns is extreme.

I think it is smart to try to be self-sufficient.

It sounds like the best thing for you to do to be prepared would be to move out of the hurricane areas, or areas with extreme winter storms. I have discussed this on the thread about best places to live in the United States.

 

[ChicksterJo]

Just about every place in the US has something bad going for it. If it's not one thing, it's another. It is easy to tell people to just move to a place where apparently no natural disasters would occur, but that is exactly what it's not - easy. Even Northern California has its bad days, i.e. wildfires. Typically we think of that place as wetter than Southern California, but that is not the case sometimes.

As for preparing, it is always good to be prepared for some level of emergency. The bunkers would be pretty cool to have. And if people want to have a bunch of guns, well, let em as long as they attained them legally. I'm not prepared at all for the not so good times. But we're trying to buy some land in the very near future, so that's one step forward I hope!

 

[Bullitt]

Just about every place in the US has something bad going for it. If it's not one thing, it's another. It is easy to tell people to just move to a place where apparently no natural disasters would occur, but that is exactly what it's not - easy. Even Northern California has its bad days, i.e. wildfires. Typically we think of that place as wetter than Southern California, but that is not the case sometimes.
As for preparing, it is always good to be prepared for some level of emergency. The bunkers would be pretty cool to have. And if people want to have a bunch of guns, well, let em as long as they attained them legally. I'm not prepared at all for the not so good times. But we're trying to buy some land in the very near future, so that's one step forward I hope!

I did not say it would be easy for someone to move. I said it would be the best thing to move to an area that didn't have hurricanes or severe winter storms. A storm is a much more likely danger than anything else, as described by power and heat being knocked out.

I don't think they have many wildfires in the upper Sacramento Valley of California. And if there is a grass fire, it is much easier to get out of the way of than a hurricane or severe winter storm.

Of course people can own guns. I own guns. I don't like the Road-Warrior mentality of people dressing up as if they are in the military, building bunkers, and preparing to do battle with some possible future hordes of attackers. They are wasting their time, and the real reason they do it is because they enjoy it.