PREPPING - Yes - No - Why !

[jon1163]

I'm not a prepper but I could survive for a long time just with what I have on my land and house. We raise some animals and have a small stockpile of dry goods. Rice is always great to stock. I can distill my own water or spirits and I have enough firearms and ammunition to supply a small army. I invest in gold and Lead.

I have a couple friends that are Preppers but honestly if things get so bad that I run out of food then I can bet that most other people are out of food as well and the s*** hit the proverbial fan. During a time like that your guns are going to be much more valuable than anything else.

I guess if I could improve on anyting I would probably stockpile a little bit more medicine. There is a theory that specifically .22 caliber bullets make a great currency in times of need. I've been trying to find it for years but have been unable. There's a great article about how markets spring up no matter where your at or how dire the circumstances. The article is written by an ex Holocaust Survivor and how cigarettes and other small items became currency in the concentration camp. He became an economist later and studied Emerging Markets.

[Antler24]

Got me some of that hard tack soaking now for lunch tomorrow!

[Reverend Newer]

Our time is so short here on Earth that it is a shame to see folks spending extra effort worrying about something that may never happen.

That being said, someone asked "what are you preparing for?". I think our biggest worry should be an EMP attack (electro magnetic pulse) which could be delivered by satellite or sub-based missile. All electronics would be fried, we'd go back to the stone age and they say 95% of the population would be dead within a year.

Ya'll have a good weekend.

[Shine0n]

I'd miss being on HD but I'd survive, I have enough land and seed to grow plenty as I do anyway. I live by the sea which I fish out of a kyak and I have a nice ass recurve and make my own arrows and know how to use it.

I don't prep but I can survive, the fat and rich become the poor!

Hell I'm already rich it's just not with money that makes me that.

Shine0n

[contrahead]

Food storage is not a topic high on my list of priorities but we have enough canned foods and dried foods in our cubbard to last several months, before I'd have too pick up a rifle and go out hunting. That's far more than can be said for the average civilized citizen who might have only about 3-4 days supply of food in the kitchen – most of which is probably dependent upon electric refrigeration. Ten years ago if someone were to have asked me what would be the best long term foods to stock up on – I might have just mumbled rice and beans. But I've learned a bit since then.

For example instant mashed potatoes or potato flakes would be an excellent selection. High in fuel / carbohydrates, affordable in bulk and with excellent shelf life. Dry pasta stores well also. Vitamin C in powder or tablet form would be a wise item to stock up on. A while back I was watching a movie where the president and his staff were evacuated to an underground bunker. In a scene that flashed by I noticed several pallets or crates of “Ensure” sitting around. This nutritional supplement or meal in a bottle is expensive and unlikely to satisfy anyone's appetite, but it is fodder for thought.

A critical element determining whether food will last 5 years or for 30 years is the presence or removal of oxygen. Packaging, low temperatures, absence of moisture, absence of sunlight in some cases, protection from insects and from gnawing mice - all play important roles in successful long term food storage.

Considering their disdain for coffee, tea, colas and alcohol, I doubt that there are many Mormons on this forum. One thing that the Mormon church does that I do find level headed, is to encourage its new members and young families to keep a year's supply of food in the household at all times. Simple insurance against times of adversity. Looking around last night I ran across the following useful website. I don't know why I should have been surprised that the Mormons have websites, but they do. The section on packaging gets a little carried away but pay attention to the plastic PETE bottles and the oxygen absorbers.

https://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage ... old=true#6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Truckinbutch]

40 years ago I was running 30 brood cows on my 100 acre farm rearing feeder calves . We also had a sizable truck garden and a pen of hogs farrowing twice a year . Chickens pooped breakfast and provided Sunday dinner . The deer herd numbered about 100 head that I tried to keep in check because they competed with my cows for forage . My family of 6 ate about 16 of them a year without depleting resources . Same with Canada geese and wild turkeys .
Today , with the influx of chronic wasting disease and coyotes , the wild game has been depleted to the point that it is no longer a viable resource . I got 20 deer where I had 100 .
Any person who thinks he can go out and feed his family for the longhaul with a rifle is mistaken (a fool) . The numbers simply are not there .
'Three Acres Is Enough' is an old book that provides a more realistic plan for survival .
Been there , done that , startin to do it again .

[kiwi Bruce]

Emergency Pain Management... as the world moves past the "Poppy"

http://www.jems.com/articles/print/volu ... -pain.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[TDick]

40 years ago I was running 30 brood cows on my 100 acre farm rearing feeder calves . We also had a sizable truck garden and a pen of hogs farrowing twice a year . Chickens pooped breakfast and provided Sunday dinner . The deer herd numbered about 100 head that I tried to keep in check because they competed with my cows for forage . My family of 6 ate about 16 of them a year without depleting resources . Same with Canada geese and wild turkeys .
Today , with the influx of chronic wasting disease and coyotes , the wild game has been depleted to the point that it is no longer a viable resource . I got 20 deer where I had 100 .
Any person who thinks he can go out and feed his family for the longhaul with a rifle is mistaken (a fool) . The numbers simply are not there .
'Three Acres Is Enough' is an old book that provides a more realistic plan for survival .
Been there , done that , startin to do it again .

I can't prep worth a damn!
But I saw this video and Bill & John could easily be some of my kin.
Like a lot of black kids in the South today, my Dad played football to go to college, get off the farm and not have to chop cotton any more.
He used to give me grief for wearing blue jeans. Said that was all they could afford when he was growing up. He hated them and would NEVER wear anything denim again.\

https://youtu.be/zqKeya1FDk8

Love you Dad

[Truckinbutch]

I hear ya . 1958 : I got off the school bus with my tenner shoes hung from my neck to walk barefoot the mile of red dog road to the house . My Daddy saw them shoes bumpin my chest instead of the road and flat down strapped my ass to a fare thee well .
Allowed he'd worked too damned hard to put shoes on my feet when the laid off coal miner's kids was barefoot by circumstance .
I ain't never run around barefoot since .

[jedneck]

I feel i gots enuf smarts to survive any situation worth livin through.

N i luv the feelin of cow and hog shit between the toes. Means i gonna be eaten well. Yup me goes barefoot alot

[contrahead]

Lots of people have the mistaken idea that in a collapsed society - one could continue to make moonshine as an item for trade or barter. Any preexisting supply of home distilled spirits could actually be bartered with, but this source would dry up very soon. Only a lucky few distillers are fortunate enough to live nearby orchards, vineyards or beehives. For most of us the grains, carbohydrates and sugars that we would use for fermentation right now, already had to be transported to our current locations. What gives anyone the idea that these brewing resources would still be available, once some hypothetical apocryphal event caused the widespread breakdown of modern transportation? It must be also be assumed that electrical power would disappear, hydrocarbon fuels like LP, gasoline and diesel would vanish and that coal, peat or wood fire would be the only remaining way to heat a still in a practical fashion. Without power tools and copper stock already laying about to fabricate with, even the construction of a proper wood fired pot still - would be difficult.

Originally I intended to post about the merits of fermenting “small beers” like they did a few hundred years ago. Unfortunately small beers and probiotic tonics usually require processed sugar also. Meanwhile I need to do some research on items like kefir grains, kombucha, kvass, ginger beer plant, ginger bug and lacto fermented probiotic lemonade before I start holding forth with any authority about small beers.

I'm going into town today (80 mile trip) to, among other things, acquire some brewing supplies. I'll grab a couple of cans of liquid malt extract to quickly concoct two separate beers, some ginger root and some of that fake root beer extract concentrate. The ginger beer (alcoholic vs ginger ale) recipes that I've found so far, require sugar but don't employ barley malt – which I figure is a mistake. As for an alcoholic root beer, some recipes call for boiling up sassafras, sarsaparilla & ginger roots, birch bark, juniper, dandelion, licorice and hops; which is altogether too complicated to shop for today. I'm going to skip a few steps and cook up something much simpler. What doesn't get bottled will be run through the still. For giggles, a real brewers recipe for root beer follows below.

Ingredients
6.6 lbs. dark LME
1 lb. dark DME
1 lb. caramel 90 malt
1 lb. Carapils malt
1 lb. lactose sugar
4 oz. dried sarsaparilla root
2 oz. dried burdock root
2 oz. dried spikenard root
1 oz. dried wintergreen leaves
1 oz. vanilla extract
0.5 oz. dried licorice root
1 oz. hops (any variety)
1 pack ale yeast

[zapata]

Some of my favorite beverages to make are right up your alley. Love making good 3-3.5% abv beers, perfect lunch time or physical labor beers.
Made rootbeers, ginger beers (both with yeast and ginger beer plant), tepache, kefir (water and milk), kombucha, pretty much any fermented beverage I've heard of!

I know most of us wont have pineapple post apoc (reason #657 I'm very pleased to not actually believe in any forthcoming apoc!) Which makes it kinda OT here, but if you like these kind of beverages do yourself a favor and make some tepache, I started a thread a month or so ago and it's currently my favorite low/non alcoholic beverage.

[shadylane]

If the shit hit the fan
In my neck of the woods. Wheat and Milo would probably be the most viable crops for making alcohol.
Millet would also be an option, but around here, there isn't grain bins full of seed for planting.
I've experimented making a crude opaque beer with wheat and/or milo
It's not one of my favorite Beers
But it'll getter done.

[contrahead]

It may have a good title but the book itself has been criticized for its lack of solutions. I just like the snobbery and cultured diction of this Limey's short audible presentation of the book. When this page finishes loading, then click on the “Listen” button at the lower left...

https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-How-Re ... 1452616132" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[kiwi Bruce]

Not your typical POME ascent...He might be Scots...defiantly a snob though.

[nerdybrewer]

Any person who thinks he can go out and feed his family for the longhaul with a rifle is mistaken (a fool) . The numbers simply are not there .
.

I really don't want to offend, but I have to disagree a little - certainly not completely but a little.
Doesn't it depend on where that person lives?
There are some places that are so rich and abundant that short of a global cataclysm there would be plenty for a hunter / fisherman to go out and get sustenance "In Some Areas".

If for instance I could fish from the beach on the Pacific ocean, I already had all the gear and knew how to repair it all and or make / get more if need be.
If for instance I knew the patterns of herds of elk and deer and could find them when I needed to, plus possessed all that I needed to process the game and preserve it.

There are some circumstances where some folks with a bit of sense and more skill could survive quite well.

I agree most of the population especially in big cities will be toast should something real bad happen, but I'm not them - don't want to be them - don't want to be around them.
Especially when the SHTF and it's TEOTWAWKI.

[Shine0n]

Nerdy, I have to agree with you on this point. I live in an area that if the shtf I could and would survive. it's not for everyone and most would parish but not me or my kin. We grew up with the luxury of the city near by and it's convenience but was also taught to be resourceful of what the land/sea has to offer and that's exactly what I've done for 25 years. Hunt, fish, grow.... I know this isn't options for most but for me it's what I know and what I teach to my own.
TB, no disrespect but for this country boy it's the only way

[kiwi Bruce]

SOH and I used to hang with a group on Christian preppers, two or three years ago. They were a mixed bag of people with a few who had extra ordinary skills, a doctor, a vet, a dentist, a pharmacist and three or four nurses...but they ALL had one problem :- they were all prepping to "The rapture" and not beyond...weren't able to see past it . I told them that in a SHTF scenario they would become the MOST dangerous people on earth...Lets say the time comes when they think the rapture should have or has come...and they are still here, then they haven't gone "UP" with the rest of the "good guys" it leaves only one option..."DOWN" and at that point they will have nothing to lose...Wife and I were asked not to come back...

[The Baker]

Nerdybreweer said, 'Especially when the SHTF and it's TEOTWAWKI.'

SHTF I know, TEOTWAWKI has me puzzled...

(Doesn't matter if it might offend someone?)

Geoff

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

The end of the world as we know it.

Took me a second, too. The world is getting out of hand. My theory is that eventually we are going to shorten every day conversation so much to the point that we actually go back to just a click language.

[OtisT]

Plenty of meat in the city too, if you don’t mind extra fatty, non-organic hobo meat.

[kiwi Bruce]

SHTF I know, TEOTWAWKI has me puzzled...Geoff

NZ Maori word...means armageddon outa here !

[Truckinbutch]

Nerdy , the numbers are against you when several people start hunting the same herds you are in an uncontrolled manner . Depradation will soon overcome reproduction .
Gonna be a lot of hungry people out there hunting 'your' meat . You can't stop them all .

[The Baker]

Nerdy , the numbers are against you when several people start hunting the same herds you are in an uncontrolled manner . Depradation will soon overcome reproduction .
Gonna be a lot of hungry people out there hunting 'your' meat . You can't stop them all .

Look what happened to the buffalo.

Geoff

[nerdybrewer]

Nerdy , the numbers are against you when several people start hunting the same herds you are in an uncontrolled manner . Depradation will soon overcome reproduction .
Gonna be a lot of hungry people out there hunting 'your' meat . You can't stop them all .

I may be suffering from an underestimation of the abilities of those I would be competing against for food.
I'll have to consider that very carefully.
Thanks TB.

[WIski]

The in landers will need to head to the shores and hope they will be taken in by the folks that know how to live off of the sea. Anything in-between will be a God forsaken free for all. You will be in constant battle with everyone else for survival. Anything that moves will be eaten. Anything!!!!!! If you are not someone who can live from the sea you better have your beliefs and skills in order to be taken in by someone (a group) who can. YMMV

The mountains might harbor for some but much harder and at a smaller scale. IMHO

[kiwi Bruce]

If you go to any of the Large local gun shows, here in the US, you'll run into the groups who are trying to set up a societal sub-structure (local militia) In the hope that should we have a SHTF scenario, American society will fall back to this sub-structure and go no further, saving our society from TEOTWAWKI. There are two such groups in PA...I've heard them called RED group and BLUE group. Red is from Harrisburg west and Blue from HB east...this is the group that I've met. Example...they had a double table out at the "BIG" gun show here in the east PA (1700 vendors) In the middle of the table they had an "emergency surgical bag" so I went and inquirer what the cost was, thinking it was $800+, but no, it was free IF you were prepared to join their group, also free. You had to train with them (their trainers are active Special forces and Seals and Marines) for three weekends using an AR weapons platform and if you couldn't afford or provide one, they would... AND after the three weekends THEY LET YOU KEEP THE RIFLE ! Three more weekends of Medic training and they will give you the "emergency surgical bag" Yes...they are extremely well funded. They prefer ex-military, but they will sign up anyone...you have to love America and swear to uphold the Constitution, that's it...So I told one of the trainers (a believe he said he was a Marine Gunnery Sargent) that I was a bit old to do all this running around and training shi# and He said without blinking "We can always use reliable rear-guard personnel" I told him that I had knowledge in making pain-killers and anesthetics, I was told that with that skill set alone I would always be welcome to their group, and yes I would still need the first three weekends weapons orientation..SOH pulled me away from the tables...I was SOOO tempted to join. Joining a reliable group that you trust may be a VERY good way for you and yours to survive, if it all goes south.

[kiwi Bruce]

I did promise a while back, that I would make the info on pain management and anesthetics available here...I will still do this...word!

[Desolus]

My SHTF bag is rather small, I have a few waterproof pages of the things I haven't bothered to memorize, such as useful plants, when what is in season etc, I have a water filtration straw, a fire piston, compass, and good maps (compiled from USGS data myself). All of that is strapped to the side of my rifle bag, which has a LIGHTWEIGHT home built rifle, 20 Ga over and 7.62x39 under with a box mag holding 3. Total weight loaded and optics installed is 5 pounds 3 ounces. I have a pouch full of rifle ammo and several pouches of 20ga.

This is of course worst case scenario, and largely an exercise for my own amusement.

My real emergency pack has extra clothes toiletries and shockingly, no firearms...

Edit: I should also mention that I live in texas where deer have no predators and you cant drive but 10 feet before you fuse one to your bumper.

[kiwi Bruce]

LIGHTWEIGHT home built rifle, 20 Ga over and 7.62x39 under with a box mag holding 3

Did you mod an SKS to get the 7.62X39 ?