I guess I'll be the first
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most of rural survival is just being stubborn, but there is a lot of knowledge to it that city boys take for granted. exp. fire-lighter, shelter-tent.
my 4 year old has a bad habit of sneeking up on horses from behind at her nana and papas. she is fearless like me, it is terrifying.
Na, not stubborn... Independence more like it
though being stubborn is a trait and nothing really wrong with it. We use to have city boys out here bucking hay, you want a break? na na na, we will provide launch and dinner but your going to buck between the morning due, we quickly weaved out the one's that really wanted to work, ain't a lot of city boys that can buck 12-14hr days.
lol 12-14 hours is a lot of anything for these guys.Na, not stubborn... Independence more like it
It is these days, God help us it interfere with their nintendo time or whatever they play with these days.
and lord forbid if the ipod or ipad is taken away..lol
hey ipods are great rythm makers for spliting wood. CDs are great target practice. If it still works at 100 yards you are either really good or really bad you guess.
I personally like to use CD's as targets! especially for long range as the reflective surface helps my aging eyeballs!
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Received two seed catalogs today. Making me want Spring even more.
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Yeah, same here. We just got a Murray McMurray poultry catalog today. We're going to place a pre-order soon for April delivery.
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I have 15 ladies that are laying, so I'm skipping new chicks next spring . Gonna wait till 9 of them turn 3 years old. I love the Totally Tomato catalog. I only buy heirloom
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I'll have to check that catalog out. Due to our elevation and short growing season we'll have to start many plants in a green house. When we moved we had to give our chickens away. One of my projects this winter is to build a new chicken coop.
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I have a small greenhouse, but in Tennessee we usually have about one week of Spring then head straight into Summer. I start all of my tomatoes indoors with growlights. I trying to grow spinach, carrots, kale, lettuce and potatoes indoors this winter. The potatoes are about 12 inches high. I just planted the rest today.
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At our current location first frost is usually mid September, sometimes earlier and last frost is usually first part of June, and I've seen a foot of snow fall on July 4th too. Growing a garden and orchard will be challenging for us here. My wife likes to grow all kinds of vegetables, while I'm mostly interested in hot peppers and tomatoes for making hot sauces.
My go location is very rural. i am extremely fortunate in this case. However should the caldera blow, I am not sure how the cattle, deer, and other wild animals will survive the ash fallout and following hardships? Would be super expensive to protect even one for three years, and we think prepping for humans is hard, LOL. Chickens, rabits or something small may be more cost effective. I wonder what people are doing for pets? I love my dog, but I am not really wanting to clean up after in my shelter LOL. There is enough hay, but not enough shelter for them all, and would have to risk stiring ash to clean out there area. I am thinking it is too much to save large livestock like horses and cattle, but I am still unsure how long the effecrts would last. Plus the following mini ice age. Estimates I have read say you need enough to last 3 years. That is a lot of food, water, and fuel. I have determined that rice, beans, propane, and already treated water will last much longer than that, so we shall see.
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The ash is hard on livestock and game animals, it was a struggle for the first year, I was feeding our livestock and game animals (deer and elk) with hay and grains, we had unaffected ranchers bring us donated hay for about a year and a half. The ash was difficult to keep out of the water troughs and hay. We sold over half our cattle just to maintain a balance of feed and survival for both domestic and wild, When the deer and elk come to the property it was like they were asking for help so it made it hard not to help, the Indian reservation offered much relief for us bringing salt blocks, apples and hay.
The ash is devastating to fertile ground, water and food supplies, ash can be blown off things, we learned real quick not to use water, blow everything off before applying water!
Thats good to know about blowing it off, i would have used water. Great point!
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be aware that city folk will run out of water within 3-7 days. When they go looking for water, getting shot-at on the way, they'll realize that going back into the city is a non=starter. So they'll go to the farms/ranches, searching backroads, listening for noise, watching for smoke. So you'd best have a dugout to move to, cause your livestock and produce are going to "call in" a lot more armed people than you can handle. It will happen again and again. There will be no saving any food or gear that you haven't buried.
I just rented a storage unit, went out to the farmers themselves, at harvest season, brought my own bags and loaded up the van. Once for wheat, once for soybeans, once for rice, put the stuff inside plastic drums in the storage, with lots of traps and poison-bait stations. There's a long poled Asian type framepack, with which i can trundle along with 200 lbs. So it wont take that long to move everything to the (already-buried) empty drums.
Some of the drums are only 1/4 mile from the storage unit, the furthest is just a mile. One night should see the entire 6 month supply buttoned up just fine. Grain and legumes run about $12 a bushel, which is 55 lbs. About 5 lbs of that is dirt and trash. 24c a lb. Need about 5 lbs per day, so $1.20 per day per adult. Add some crisco, honey, salt, say $2 a day. that's not much. $500, including the drums, per adult.
The odds are low enough to suit me, anyway, that a 6 month supply will suffice, until things are calm enough to let me start using sprouts, maybe plant some root veggies. You could also take the point of view that the stuff is so cheap that you are willing to take the chance that it will be stolen from you. Animals find it, dig at it, revealing it to humans. just keep the crisco, honey, salt, Tang, etc, in the storage and only risk going there ONCE, first thing on the first night of shtf. Be ready, with concealed armor, night vision, luminous sights, subsonic ammo, silencer, to remove any problems that are there, of course.
Some of the drums are only 1/4 mile from the storage unit, the furthest is just a mile. One night should see the entire 6 month supply buttoned up just fine. Grain and legumes run about $12 a bushel, which is 55 lbs. About 5 lbs of that is dirt and trash. 24c a lb. Need about 5 lbs per day, so $1.20 per day per adult. Add some crisco, honey, salt, say $2 a day. that's not much. $500, including the drums, per adult.
The odds are low enough to suit me, anyway, that a 6 month supply will suffice, until things are calm enough to let me start using sprouts, maybe plant some root veggies. You could also take the point of view that the stuff is so cheap that you are willing to take the chance that it will be stolen from you. Animals find it, dig at it, revealing it to humans. just keep the crisco, honey, salt, Tang, etc, in the storage and only risk going there ONCE, first thing on the first night of shtf. Be ready, with concealed armor, night vision, luminous sights, subsonic ammo, silencer, to remove any problems that are there, of course.
Maybe true in some places but not all, for the most part the ones that do venture out are going stick to the blacktop gathering on the terms of opportunity before begin to venture into rural townships and beyond specially out to where I am at.
Thing you have to realize about America.... It's BIG.... And without gas and gas stations, folks aren't going roaming too far.
I'm also in FL. I don't see a lot of folks going roaming around in the FL sun (especially when clean water isn't readily available).
No doubt, we'll likely see some at some point, but unless they are large and organized, they face folks who are used to taking care of themselves, and typically armed, and with lots of fences (making for easy targeting of intruders). And if they are too formidable, plans B & C are always on the table. Plan B is risky, talking to them, explaining how it's better to have a friendly place to come heal, eat. etc. vs. a one time supply raid. Plan C could lose us much in the way of supplies, etc., before ultimately slaying them, but better than fighting to the death.
I'm also in FL. I don't see a lot of folks going roaming around in the FL sun (especially when clean water isn't readily available).
No doubt, we'll likely see some at some point, but unless they are large and organized, they face folks who are used to taking care of themselves, and typically armed, and with lots of fences (making for easy targeting of intruders). And if they are too formidable, plans B & C are always on the table. Plan B is risky, talking to them, explaining how it's better to have a friendly place to come heal, eat. etc. vs. a one time supply raid. Plan C could lose us much in the way of supplies, etc., before ultimately slaying them, but better than fighting to the death.
Gazork, I see some of your points but I disagree with a few of them (and I also live in South Florida).
A lot of people come to Florida from other countries like Haiti, Hondouras, Costa Rica, and so on...and they are already used to (and have strategies) for dealing with the tropical sun and dirty water.
I live in a semi urban environment, and I'm surrounded by edible plants and animals, including cocoanut, mango, cattail, saw palmetto, lilly pads, prickly pear cactus (yes, lots and lots of cactus in Florida), yucca, and so on.
There are also tons of iguana, opposum, raccoon, squirrel, muskovy duck, mallard duck, alligator, various turtles, and so on.
I haven't even mentioned fish.
Why does everyone think that a prepper in an urban environment is automatically screwed when it hits the fan?
I think that if these is a mass urban exodus, there will be more for me and mine...but maybe I'm wrong.
A lot of people come to Florida from other countries like Haiti, Hondouras, Costa Rica, and so on...and they are already used to (and have strategies) for dealing with the tropical sun and dirty water.
I live in a semi urban environment, and I'm surrounded by edible plants and animals, including cocoanut, mango, cattail, saw palmetto, lilly pads, prickly pear cactus (yes, lots and lots of cactus in Florida), yucca, and so on.
There are also tons of iguana, opposum, raccoon, squirrel, muskovy duck, mallard duck, alligator, various turtles, and so on.
I haven't even mentioned fish.
Why does everyone think that a prepper in an urban environment is automatically screwed when it hits the fan?
I think that if these is a mass urban exodus, there will be more for me and mine...but maybe I'm wrong.
Hallelujah!
Someone else who thinks as I do. I couldn't agree with you more and it's really refreshing to read a post from another urbanite prepper who gets it, with not only the same strategy but also the same thoughts as me!Thanks Kev, you've no idea how much better your post makes me feel.
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After a lifetime living in a small city in the North of England I bought a house in central France and moved out here about 18 months ago. The village is tiny, about 250 people, and closely packed. Most of my neighbours are shotgun - owning farmers or farm workers, and very friendly. Life feels safe here, 40 miles away from the nearest town of any size. The garden (yard..?) is big enough I reckon to grow enough veggies to augment any stored tins of protein foods, packets of rice/pasta etc and we have our own well - with a lock down lid!! Now, all I have to do is to learn how to make the most of it...
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It sounds charming. You should write about your adventure and the steps you are taking.
I don't think city dwellers can offer much but I am willing to have an open mind and see what they say. If I think it is beneficial I will tune in.
Cant be mentally healthy for them
