Prepping for small town city slickers

[Captjim_NM]

A lot to be said about rural life and small towns. Back in the 1980's I read Tappen's books and have tried to fashion my life in that format. We live near San Antonio New Mexico a Very small town, 3 restraunts and a small general store. Good place to surive a pandemic! We have good neighbors and a traffic jam is when old friends stop their trucks to visit in the middle of the road. We can buy meat on the hoof and butcher it ourselves. About the only visitors we get is in the Fall when 10000's come to watch the migrating birds. Not a lot of fishing but good bird hunting! Our nearest Walmart is about 11 miles away in Socorro. About one a month we drive to Albuquerque (100miles) to stock up on supplies.

 

[Amish Heart]

I doubt the Amish would travel 30 miles by buggy unless it was an emergency. If they go into the bigger town 15 to 20 miles from where I live to the Walmart, they drive a tractor and pull a horse trailer for the kids and the stuff they buy. Or they hire a driver. I drive my cousins to the Walmart often enough. They do their own small market. Tourists come here. I suspect if things got bad, those tourists would be back. I see them in our small amish salvage grocery all the time.

 

[lonewolf]

we already have a weekly market here and have had one in one form or another since the 12th century.

 

[DrHenley]

I'm afraid if the SHTF, the Amish will be vulnerable due to their pacifist believes. Unless some gun totin' friendly neighbors step in and protect them.

 

[Randolph]

I'm afraid if the SHTF, the Amish will be vulnerable due to their pacifist believes. Unless some gun totin' friendly neighbors step in and protect them.

Actually know of a situation involving the Plain Folks who took in a drifter. After a week or so, they asked him to leave. He refused. The Plain Folks had to ask law enforcement to remove the drifter.

After it was all over, an officer asked the Plain Folks, in case of an emergency, how would they contact others (they had three settlements, each over 50 miles from each other).

The elder pointed to a wagon with cages. Pigeons.

Now I know what an Amish cell phone is. LOL!

 

[lonewolf]

you obviously dont know how far a carrier pigeon will fly, 50 miles is nothing.

 

[Randolph]

I doubt the Amish would travel 30 miles by buggy unless it was an emergency. If they go into the bigger town 15 to 20 miles from where I live to the Walmart, they drive a tractor and pull a horse trailer for the kids and the stuff they buy.

A good horse and solid buggy, on today's roads, 15-20 miles for the Plain Folks I used to live nearby was just a weekly trip to the local grocery store.

Horse and buggy was parked out back and they would enter the store from the back door.

 

[Amish Heart]

Yes, they can, and some do. My cousin Harry doesn't ever take his tractor out on the road to use as a travel vehicle, but many around here do. It takes a very long time to travel by horse and buggy. Can't be in a hurry. We have spots in our small town for horse and buggy parking and they are marked for it. And we have a tie out bar and concrete pad in our front yard, too, just for family visiting. Mostly Harry uses it. My favorite cousin lives 4 miles out from me and comes by tractor.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Its not too uncommon to see a couple horses inside a bar around here.

 

[lonewolf]

we usually come across horse riders in the narrow country roads around here.

 

[MOS0231]

No doubt thats true for now, but after SHTF there will be many changes. Horse breeding will become a critical operation again. Life in many ways will be like it was for thousands of years, prior to around 1900.

I agree.
Just have to get through the bottleneck.
Might be more horses then people after that.

 

[MOS0231]

I'm afraid if the SHTF, the Amish will be vulnerable due to their pacifist believes. Unless some gun totin' friendly neighbors step in and protect them.

That would be me, and my other neighbors.
They will need us for security, we will need them for horse power and some of their knowledge.

 

[lonewolf]

Might be more horses then people after that.

that would suit me.

 

[backandbeyond]

In the 13th century, a bunch of goat herders in Anatolia decided to do something about the chaos they were living in...
Gradually they grew in power until they defeated the Byzantine Empire and became the Ottoman Empire.

They started with ONE MARKET.

Great historical account, and a real hat tip to capitalism lol. Even warlords, Or Especially Warlords, want consumer goods and will not bite the hand that feeds that desire it seems.

Of course there will be trade after any big collapse in society, it may take a little bit to get established but it always comes. With our one it wont be just bags of grain and beaten copper trinkets either, it will all the scavengings of 100+ years of industrialization. People can be very innovative especially when they are pulled out of the fields and have a lot of free time, or in our case, pulled off their desks and away from their mice. They have the time to think and to create, all manner of goods and services.

 

[MOS0231]

Great historical account, and a real hat tip to capitalism lol. Even warlords, Or Especially Warlords, want consumer goods and will not bite the hand that feeds that desire it seems.

Of course there will be trade after any big collapse in society, it may take a little bit to get established but it always comes. With our one it wont be just bags of grain and beaten copper trinkets either, it will all the scavengings of 100+ years of industrialization. People can be very innovative especially when they are pulled out of the fields and have a lot of free time, or in our case, pulled off their desks and away from their mice. They have the time to think and to create, all manner of goods and services.

Say SHTF.
What consumer goods are even going to be available?
Is Wal-Mart still going to be open? Their trucks still running while the rest of the country is experiencing the SHTF? Restocking their shelves everyday? Accepting CC/EBT cards while the rest of the system is down? Or would it be ransacked of everything, maybe even burnt down?
Starbucks? Are they still going to be importing their crap tasting coffee beans from over seas?
McDonalds?

While in Afghanistan, I studied/monitored more than a few warlords. We call them warlords, they call themselves Tribal leaders. For they were responsible for safety and security of their tribe. That meant the basics, food, water, shelter, security. Not a Acme hot dog and bun toaster oven.
They still engaged in trade as rudimentary as it was compare to our JIT/BAU system. But that trade system is what a few to several years post-SHTF would look like here in the US. Fuel in Afghanistan was not a sure thing (not uncommon for fuel trucks to get stolen, it was a big business), just like electricity. No fuel, they did not go far both from a practical stand point, and a security one.

Have to get through the bottleneck.
After that, some semblance of society/civilization/trade will emerge.
What will that look like . . .

 

[lonewolf]

if anyone is waiting for society/civilisation/etc to arrive post SHTF, dont hold your breath, that wont happen for many decades and probably not until every one on this forum and several others have long since shuffled off this mortal coil, in other words WTSHTF your on your own, your actions and no one else's will decide your fate .
and the sooner people realise that the more chance of survival they will have.

 

[DrHenley]

Say SHTF.
What consumer goods are even going to be available?
Is Wal-Mart still going to be open? Their trucks still running while the rest of the country is experiencing the SHTF? Restocking their shelves everyday? Accepting CC/EBT cards while the rest of the system is down? Or would it be ransacked of everything, maybe even burnt down?
Starbucks? Are they still going to be importing their crap tasting coffee beans from over seas?
McDonalds?

Nobody on DPF is expecting to see fully stocked WalMarts in the SHTF.

Yes you are right, the tribes were mostly behaving the same way in the early 13th century. In the case of the Kayi Tribe (the goat herders in the 13th century) they made rugs from their goat hair and wanted to be able to sell them. Sure, there were tribes that didn't produce anything and just took from other tribes by force. However there were tribes and other groups of people that made or grew things and needed a way to conduct trade without getting robbed. The Mongols figured out that if they just raped and pillaged, their conquered subjects ran out of things for them to steal, so they started securing trade routes because that's how their subjects got money to pay them tribute, and keep gold flowing into their coffers. Scorched earth was bad for business.

Merchants were mostly dishonest. A guild was started called the Ahi Brotherhood that practiced honest trade. This was such an unpopular thing among the dishonest merchants that Ahi Brotherhood members were persecuted and killed. Things weren't easy for honest merchants. But then, the head of the Kayi Tribe, Osman, married the daughter of Sheikh Edibali., a highly influential Ahi leader. And the rest, as they say, is history...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Edebali

 

[simpleman]

Its not too uncommon to see a couple horses inside a bar around here.

Is that the correct spelling you used there for those inside the bar??? LOL

 

[simpleman]

Several of my uncles and cousins have fun by finding old settlement sites from as far back as the eighteenth century to scan with metal detectors. Most of the settlements are now in state and federal parks and take some bushwacking to get to, but most of them still have what attracted settlers to them originally, a good water source and land you can grow food on. The buildings are usually rotted away but many have river rock chimneys for cooking and heating that are still functional. Far enough away from settled areas to be hard to find but not too difficult to get there if you know where you're going.
Probably lots of sites like them east of the Mississip.

We have a Fort and settlement about 2 miles down the road that is still being excavated, objects still being found and has been used to teach students that are in archaeology studies. They open it up to the Public twice a year and I go at least once a year, get to dig and study the area. They have a drawing of what that believe it looked like and want to get funds to "rebuild" it. It is on, I guess you would say Private Land, the land owners live in a house on the property but do have government backing. Really a cool place to go and learn about the past. They have uncovered where their "farm" was, has a nice creek running next to it and all.

 

[BucketBack]

Most small towns here have no localaly owned busnesses. One dollar store and a convience/gas station, then the closed food stores and dry goods stores. By FDA guidelines most of New Mexico is a food desert, no raw vegtables or food available. The dollar stores have pushed out local grocery stores. Same through most of West Texas.

I live outside a town of 4K, we have a Sav-A_Lot and a Leppinks, couple dollar stores , gas stations, and fast food.

Farmers market on Fridays, A river runs through it

 

[backandbeyond]

Say SHTF.
What consumer goods are even going to be available?
Is Wal-Mart still going to be open?

What consumer goods? Have look around your house. I didn't say "NEW" consumer goods, I said "The scavengings of the last 100+ years" What do you think is going to happen in a house where the broom wears out, they will look for a new broom and I have 4 here that I hardly use. That will be the basis for trade to begin with no doubt, filling Bic lighters from propane bottles, fixing steel drums that leak, replacing handles on shovels and garden forks.

I'm genuinely tired of this concept that we will all go back to wearing bearskins and living in isolated cabins straight after a collapse, it's ludicrous. 95% of the population will probably die and that will leave a lot of room for the other 5% who will be survivors by nature. The more remote small towns will likely become hubs as they were hundreds of years ago, places where people cluster for security and mutual benefit. If you think you will be living all alone growing all your own needs and never interacting with another soul then plan to never break an arm or a leg, or need rudimentary dental repair. Only a few people do that now and they turn up in the paper from time to time, usually in a shootout with law enforcement.

 

[lonewolf]

post SHTF there wont be any law enforcement, in fact there wont be any laws either!!

 

[Randolph]

post SHTF there wont be any law enforcement, in fact there wont be any laws either!!

Correction, there will be no snivel rights.

I have lived in inner city ghettos and law enforcement no go zones in the Appalachians. There were laws, or better yet, an understanding.

Keep your nose out of other people's business and you will be ok. Try to screw over someone else, you will be open to retaliation, from anyone.

Lie, and you will probably end up destroyed or dead.

Seen this too many times.

 

[lonewolf]

Post SHTF it will be WROL, most members know that and plan accordingly.

 

[Randolph]

"If you think you will be living all alone growing all your own needs and never interacting with another soul then plan to never break an arm or a leg, or need rudimentary dental repair. Only a few people do that now and they turn up in the paper from time to time, usually in a shootout with law enforcement."

Left at least two budding prepper communities after a month or two due to this mentality.

While I was building relations with the local community, they were holding secret meetings, planning them vs. everyone else SHTF scenarios.

One of the dumbest ideas was to stockpile weapons and canned goods. When the SHTF, to trade food for farmers' lands.

Others wanted to kill the farmers and take their farms.

Of course they were dumb enough to post this nonsense on the internet.

This time around, doing this on my own. There is nowhere left in America that is hidden from the locals. Best to find a good area with good people. Keep one's mouth shut. Be friendly, help your neighbors. Live the Golden Rule.

 

[lonewolf]

most of the population over here are sheeple and sheeple will be dead post SHTF. I plan for me and mine, not those that cant be bothered and will probably be dead anyway post SHTF.
any groups over here will be family units and family only, strangers will not be welcome and will be treated accordingly.

 

[Randolph]

WROL stands for Without Rule of Law, doomsday prepper lingo for the complete breakdown of governance after a major environmental or other disaster.

I am actually looking forward to a situation where we will no longer have a Harvard mis-educated bureaucracy mis-ruling over us

 

[Randolph]

most of the population over here are sheeple and sheeple will be dead post SHTF. I plan for me and mine, not those that cant be bothered and will probably be dead anyway post SHTF.
any groups over here will be family units and family only, strangers will not be welcome and will be treated accordingly.

America is a huge country, but not monolithic. Each area has it's characteristics.

Your area, probably best to stay relatively isolated until the wheat is separated from the chaff. Almost moved there years ago but decided against it. Going to be a war zone when the SHTF.

Different situation where I am currently at. A hundred square miles of like minded folks. Here, we need the rebuild our communities.

Some fifty miles away there is a highway billboard advertising shelter-in-place construction.

Again, I live in newly recognized Indian Territory, former Outlaw territory. Different mentality than out east. I like it. Can be left alone, live my life. No one will bother me.

However, the bigger cities nearby still have the same problems like anywhere else. But little worries.

Last summer someone tried to rob a convenience store. By the time the police arrived, five men were arguing who shot the thief first. LOL!

Biggest store is the gun store. Everyone is armed and very polite.

Maybe you and your family may want to relocate?

 

[lonewolf]

I'm definitely staying here, been told by health care professional that its "the middle of nowhere" and thats seems to be the attitude of most non preppers.

 

[Randolph]

Last summer someone tried to rob a convenience store. By the time the police arrived, five men were arguing who shot the thief first. LOL!

Mistake, it was four armed customers, not five.

One of my first jobs in this area was working as a cashier at a local gas station. Kind of a culture shock seeing customers walking in with a holstered gun at their waist at first. After a while, it became normal, and welcomed. Corporate policy was that I let any thief walk out the door. LOL! Corporate policy does not apply to my regular customers packing heat.

Prepping for small town city slickers...

I included the phrase "city slickers" for the humour. In all actuality, there are very few city slickers in small towns.

Eventually, everyone will know everyone. No anonymity in small towns.

Grew up with a handicap, kicked to the curb from Lake Superior to the Gulf Coast. West Virginia to Oklahoma. Almost two dozen small towns.

SHTF? I have lived it for over 35 years. Law enforcement? A joke. If one is poor, one learns pretty quickly law enforcement is not your friend.

I survived, unlike all the others over the years I have met, because I always hoped for a better life.