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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 4:26:53 PM   
Crush


Posts: 1031
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: kittinSol

So, would you say survivalism is a line of interest for you?


Yep, for me.  Long time interest, ever since being in the Boy Scouts, back when Boy Scouts were about camp craft and wood lore.  

Termites?  Some taste just like after dinner mints!    Worms?  Good protein.    

BTW, freshwater fish are all edible, if they aren't in a polluted source.  Not the same for all saltwater fish.


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"In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination." -- Mark Twain

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 5:26:07 PM   
Louve00


Posts: 1674
Joined: 2/1/2009
Status: offline 		Especially with all the 2012 hype, this is a topic I've been mulling over for a time.  While I like to think I'm a survivor (albeit, not to your extent, maybe, georgiapeach), in fact...if it was only electric and technology shutting down, I'm sure I'd be able to go on for a while.  But, I'm not too sure everyone would survive, in the end.  Without technology, helping us prepare for weather disasters, hurricane areas would be able to be taken completely by surprise.  Dams would burst (there goes your clean water supplies), people would become more and more desperate.  They would form themselves in packs, as a means for protection and survival.  We would definitely be taken back a step in civilization as we know it.  We've not been living like our ancestors did when we were in the evolutionary periods.  Our skin isn't as thick, our immune systems aren't as strong.  It would definitely become survival of the fittest. 

On the up side of it all though.  And since life as we know it would cease to exist, so would the need to make that mortgage payment...or electric bill...or grocery bill, or clothes for the kids.  All of that would be so irrelevant and unnecessary, if we ever faced it.  Our biggest worry, I suspect, would be where our next meal was coming from, and basically, attempt to survive as the beasts in the wild.  Hell...we would be beasts in the wild, at that point! 

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For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are. - Niccolo Machiavelli

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 5:31:29 PM   
hizgeorgiapeach


Posts: 1672
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Vendaval

Now that's what I called prepared! 

quote:

ORIGINAL: hizgeorgiapeach
Barley (if things went to hell, I want a source of barley to brew beer with, for bartering purposes!),



LMAO Ven!  I keep beekeepers in my back pocket for the same reason - so I'll never lack for a source of honey to brew Mead with.  (And the Blueberries, Blackberries, Strawberries that I'm putting out as soon as it's consistantly warm enough, and Raspberries - yeah, those make great wines, and with just a bit of extra tinkering make good liquores and brandies - though I'm still reluctant at this point to set up a still until I can afford to pay the state licencing fees as a commercial producer even though I never intend to go Commerical, just to make enough for my own use and a few friends!)
 
What a lot of people never realize is that if the shit ever actually hit the fan, alcohol becomes a source of trade for other goods.  Especially distilled grain alcohol, since it acts as anesthesia, disenfectant, and nerve tonic/muscle relaxant.  Boiling the water to make the mash - whether that be a barley mash for beer, a honey mash for mead, or a wheat or potato mash for whiskey or vodka - also acts to disenfect the water, making it considerably safer in very primitive conditions than drinking the water as is.  Liquid Gold, for all intents and purposes, and better than money any day - since if  you can't find someone to barter with, you've still got something utterly useful to take your mind off your remaining problems!

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Rhi
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Essential Scentsations

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 5:39:23 PM   
StrangerThan


Posts: 1515
Joined: 4/25/2008
Status: offline 		Most of what I know comes from growing up this way so there's probably a lot better ideas floating around. But here's some simple stuff.

Potatoes. Once you harvest them, keep them dry and cool. When the colder months arrive, put them back in the ground. Dig a pit, line it with straw, cover them up. Dig a hole in the side of your mound and take them out as you need them. Replant in the spring by cutting potatoes where ever sprouts are showing and planting the pieces.

Tomatoes: Take the green ones before frost. Wrap them in newspaper and put them somewhere cool and dry, but not cold. They'll last a couple-three months like that. Won't taste as good, but they'll hold out.

Cabbage: Plant early and late. Late cabbage, pull them up, turn them over and put the head back in the ground. Pull them out as needed over the colder months and pull the bad leaves off. They'll last a good while like that.

Most any root vegetable, cool and dry will preserve them for a decent amount of time.

Sugar will act as a preservative in its own right fairly well. If you can't can fruit into jelly, use wax to seal it off. Clean off any growth when you eat it. What ever is underneath is good.

Spring houses were how perishables were stored years ago. Basically find a shaded spot, a natural stream since they usually run fairly cool, build a structure - we had one made of blocks, channel the water down a slue inside and sit things like milk, eggs, etc in the water. It won't keep them as well as a fridge but they will last a few days.

Coat eggs with petroleum jelly to make them last.

Build a smoke house. We used to smoke meat to cure it. Also after thanksgiving, we cured pork with salt and sugar.

I don't know the recipe but cabbage can be made into sauerkraut with little more than a container, some salt and water.

Vinegar will preserve about anything. Learn to pickle and can.

Most people use pressure canners now. When I was a kid, we canned outside in big vats. My job was to keep the fires going under the water vat. this was one that had to be kept boiling in order to add water to the vats where the jars where vegetables/fruits/meats were being canned. After you top off the canning vat, add more water to the water vat and reheat.



(in reply to came4U)
Profile   Post #: 44
RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 5:45:48 PM   
Crush


Posts: 1031
Status: offline 		Don't forget to keep a rifle around with plenty of ammo and a cleaning kit.  Nothing fancy...fancy breaks down.  

Simple .22 is good for hunting and cheap.  You can put a hundred rounds in your pocket and have plenty of room left over for your fire stick.

Shotgun for defense and birds.  Rifle for larger game and defense. 

And of course, fishing equipment...plenty of line and hooks...cast nets...

Knives and sharpening equipment. 


_____________________________

"In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination." -- Mark Twain

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 6:05:50 PM   
slaveboyforyou


Posts: 3607
Joined: 1/6/2005
From: Arkansas, U.S.A.
Status: offline
quote:

Don't forget to keep a rifle around with plenty of ammo and a cleaning kit.  Nothing fancy...fancy breaks down.  

Simple .22 is good for hunting and cheap.  You can put a hundred rounds in your pocket and have plenty of room left over for your fire stick.

Shotgun for defense and birds.  Rifle for larger game and defense. 

And of course, fishing equipment...plenty of line and hooks...cast nets...

Knives and sharpening equipment. 


I'll tell you something better for hunting small game than a .22.....a good, self-contained air rifle (spring piston, pneumatic pumps, and self-contained cylinders that you can refill with a manual pump.) are ideal for hunting small game.  You can hunt squirrels, rabbits, fowl, etc. with one and you preserve valuable ammunition.  If you don't have any place to buy ammunition or supplies for reloading, you're going to need to preserve your supplies as long as possible. 

Another thing about hunting, it takes up a considerable amount of energy.  In many cases, you're better off setting traps.  Simple snares are very easy to make.  Fishing also takes up a great deal of time; setting trotlines, traps, and nets is more efficient. 

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 6:10:47 PM   
StrangerThan


Posts: 1515
Joined: 4/25/2008
Status: offline 		Yeah, rods and lures are great past time, but when it comes to feeding yourself and making the most of your time, trot lines, nets, traps all are better sources for food. Years ago, every October all the men in the family would get together and go north of Charleston, SC. They had a 300 foot gill net they set across waterways. My brother and I cleaned fish from sunup till noon or after. Once coolers were full and packed in ice, half of them left to take it home. My job then became the shrimper. I waded a lot of low country swamps with a cooler tied to my belt and toting a cast net.

The rods and such came out the last couple of days when we wanted to have fun. Long week, but a winter's supply of seafood too.

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 6:53:25 PM   
Crush


Posts: 1031
Status: offline 		Forgot about the air gun...have one right here, for that very reason!  DOH! 

Snares,etc., definitely if I'm out in the woods.  But I'm hoping for venison :) 

I will miss beer for a while, though *sigh*  and no more whiskey for a while...just "shine"



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"In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination." -- Mark Twain

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 7:06:32 PM   
Jeptha


Posts: 780
Joined: 9/18/2008
From: Portland, Oregon
Status: offline 		Sounds like an interesting scene, StrangerThan!
I like the self-sufficiency and the family activity parts of it.

Myself: no hunting or fishing skills...Some water supply in the basement, and rain barrels in the yard...but food and water would be a problem after a while.

I do know the location of some fresh water springs around town - I was trying to research that for a while, but tons of other people probably know them as well...

Still, in the old days, people did sometimes get their drinking water from a public well or spring. I recall my friend's dad getting their water from a pipe stuck into a hillside by the side of a country rode.

I have some hand tools and some digging tools, so I might be capable at shelter making.

I'd like to get a fire starter thing (what is it; a magnesium strip or something?) , and a portable water filtration kit.

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 7:12:51 PM   
MissMenagerie


Posts: 66
Joined: 2/10/2008
Status: offline 		I have to put a good word in for the hunting bow here: Compound, recurve, crossbow, depending on the draw weight, these things can take down more types of game, and the beauty is, you can recover your ammo 90% of the time.

I think we would have several months to hole up in the apartment and plan before running out of supplies. It depends on the season. Winter here in VT gets rough (-30 F is worth commenting, but by no means unheard of), and the candle supply would run down faster. I have a massive collection, though, since every time I see seasonal or holiday candles marked down, I grab 'em. Probably have a months worth in the winter, four months in the summer. We always keep a crisper full of water bottles in the fridge and a decent stock on canned food on the shelves, because a breakdown is a definite possibility in such a rural state.

I can hunt, fish, trap, net, make a temp shelter, make a perm shelter, start a fire 3 ways, train dogs, make thread or cloth from pet hair, sew, perform most first aid, garden, make a root cellar, forage, and make carts. I have a tool box full of supplies and a book of 'in case shit happens' how-to's.

So, I guess my two big worries would be losing my glasses, and the Spiral Dancers.

@Strangerthan & Peach: Great tips!


< Message edited by MissMenagerie -- 2/24/2009 7:15:18 PM >

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 8:21:18 PM   
came4U


Posts: 3572
Joined: 1/23/2007
From: London, Ontario
Status: offline 		Seems most of you are fairly to VERY well prepared (hizgeorgiapeach).  I feel bad for deep city highrise dwellers, not much they could store or would even consider storing since not many in a city of millions are even avid campers.

I could hunt, trap, fish, bare hands if I had to.  Not squeamish of anything as far as I know.  Ate a handfull of maggots once by a challenge bet.  Nothing wiggly bothers me as long as it is in a civilized bowl and not in it's natural setting (ie: fresh pulled from an oozing garbage bag.

Gardening I can do.  Done some small farming, had cattle and oink oinks.  Burning furniture can only be done out of doors since there are too many toxins (cyanide etc) in the wood to indoor burn.  Anything pretty well without paint or laminant is ok. 

Someone mentioned alcohol (not just to drink but to sterilize) good idea.  Also mouthwash.  Many illnesses could be prevented in third world countries with the simple distribution of mouthwash.  A clean mouth...a clean body thing. 

Who knows what, if ever, anything happens but no way in hell I want to be in the rush within the early stages of some manic people pushing down grocery store doors and windows.  Look what happened at that Walmart with trampling of people just over some game.  Gods, imagine if people were hungry, cold and desperate to feed their fams.

quote:

I guess my two big worries would be losing my glasses


like at the end of that twilight zone episode where that guy who loved to read and hated people hid out in a bank vault at the end of the world.  He had piles of books to himself, no one else survived and his broke his glasses. uhhg.

It is the little things that you aren't prepared for that might getcha. 

Oh ya, and tools.  I gotta get myself some tools.  I only have tiny box of girly tools that I never use because I call people with bigger tools.  My set likely sucks to get anything done.

I have a feeling I have forgotten something though...somethin' nagging me.




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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 9:36:15 PM   
hizgeorgiapeach


Posts: 1672
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Crush 

I will miss beer for a while, though *sigh*  and no more whiskey for a while...just "shine"




That's why you cultivate friends like me, Crush - people who can keep you supplied in homebrewed beer, mead, wine, and even distilled alcohols if "It" ever happened! LoL
 
*said in best Scarlet OHair-a voice* I Shall Nevah Go Thirsty Again!
 
MissMenag - that tool box full of supplies would and the book of "in case shit happens" are useful even when shit isn't hitting the fan.  Carts are something that I would be hard pressed to make for myself - unless I used the "Okie Trailer" expedient - find an old truck, leave the bed on it's axel, cut it away from the cab whole.  (Of course, then I'd have to worry about rigging tires)

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Rhi
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Essential Scentsations

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/24/2009 10:51:58 PM   
StrangerThan


Posts: 1515
Joined: 4/25/2008
Status: offline 		It was.

Grin, if the vaunted end does come someday, look me up. I'll be in line with a bunch of other folks trying to cultivate a deep and lasting friendship with hizgeorgiapeach. By the way hiz, I'm a distilled type of guy.

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/25/2009 3:16:07 AM   
hizgeorgiapeach


Posts: 1672
Status: offline 		Ah, but are you willing to pull duty manning a still to keep the boiler pressure constant and keep moochers/poachers in their proper place?  (I'm betting the answer is "yes" for most folks, actually - simply so they don't lose what they're wanting to others who happen to wander by!) 
 
*ponders setting up a "payment plan" that includes SM sessions from seasoned flogger swingers in her bartering system*

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Rhi
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Essential Scentsations

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Profile   Post #: 54
RE: How prepared are you? - 2/25/2009 6:59:15 AM   
Crush


Posts: 1031
Status: offline 		Dang, Peach....you make an inviting offer :)    Problem is, I'd want to be on the receiving end, not the giving end! 


BTW, saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0  by coincidence.  Shows "Slingshot Champ"  another good little hunting tool along with a sling.




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"In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination." -- Mark Twain

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/25/2009 7:02:40 AM   
joanus


Posts: 527
Joined: 2/28/2007
Status: offline 		Screw that hold up at home crap. I'd be out there the next day rasing hell Mad Max style. Bring on the Thunder Dome I say.


Sorry i have been watching/reading a lot of Fist of the North Star lately.

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/25/2009 7:30:34 AM   
hizgeorgiapeach


Posts: 1672
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Crush

Dang, Peach....you make an inviting offer :)    Problem is, I'd want to be on the receiving end, not the giving end! 



Uh........ have you forgotten that I'm a Switch, Crush?  And I'm not talkin sub to some dom to otheres - I don't do power exchange.  When I say "switch" I mean I can swing the flogger as easily as I can take the hit - and I've got a well developed sadistic streak....

_____________________________

Rhi
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Essential Scentsations

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/25/2009 7:58:48 AM   
BlackPhx


Posts: 3432
Joined: 11/8/2006
Status: offline 		AND Rhi you will head this way won't you..between your skills, my skills and the land around here survival is an excellent and optimal probability. Fine entertainment in the evenings as well...three switches and a Dom. There is a good sized island not too far from where I currently live for sale for 85K. BP and I have been eying it as it is PERFECT for self contained living http://www.privateislandsonline.com/barnard-island.htm. Fresh Water, fishing, wooded, only 5.2 acres but big enough to sustain a small family and home and be defendable. Solar panels for electricity, goats (easier to keep than cattle in a smaller space and as useful for milk, wool, meat and hides), geese (same thing but sub chickens) and a breeding sow and hog and we're set. Fast growing timber bamboo can also provide "wood", withes, shoots, pipes, fencing and fodder and many other love to haves.

Who says you can't survive in style if you are willing to work at it.

poenkitten

< Message edited by BlackPhx -- 2/25/2009 8:06:28 AM >

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/25/2009 9:03:49 AM   
SavageFaerie


Posts: 4377
Joined: 12/3/2004
From: NYC
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: hizgeorgiapeach

*debates kidnapping poen, sage, and phoenix and bringing them out here as part of her "survival preparedness kit" since that would guarentee her someone who also knows how to properly weild a friggin flogger - a commodity sorely lacking in her current group on tap*

eta : I'm gonna have to nab one of the relatively young ones from the group that tends to follow me around like a lost puppy - probably from my extended Household - and teach him how to use a flogger.....



No no no Rhi, i dont want to get close to Texas, my family will expect me to drop at every beck and call.

You have to MOVE here

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Disclaimer:If its the wrong word or misspelled I blame on my fingers and brains refusing to interact.

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RE: How prepared are you? - 2/25/2009 9:13:51 AM   
Crush


Posts: 1031
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: hizgeorgiapeach

quote:

ORIGINAL: Crush

Dang, Peach....you make an inviting offer :)    Problem is, I'd want to be on the receiving end, not the giving end! 



Uh........ have you forgotten that I'm a Switch, Crush?  And I'm not talkin sub to some dom to otheres - I don't do power exchange.  When I say "switch" I mean I can swing the flogger as easily as I can take the hit - and I've got a well developed sadistic streak....


That's OK...I'm just a masochist ;) *phew* Come the Revolution, we'll be up!



_____________________________

"In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination." -- Mark Twain

(in reply to hizgeorgiapeach)
Profile   Post #: 60
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