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hizgeorgiapeach -> RE: How prepared are you? (2/23/2009 6:52:41 PM)
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In this, I'm a lot like slaveboy. While I have various things that I keep stocked and regularly change out, I also have a lot of otherwise useless skills that I've gained in 20+ years of being a medieval reenactor, survival buff, and avid hunter/fisher/camper.
It's easy to live off the land in this part of the US - plenty of good hunting, great fishing, a lot of clean lakes and streams, a long growing season, and it's the breadbasket of the US where practically anything grows. Wheat, Corn, Oats, Barley, and Rye all grow in abundance around here, and vegitable gardens are plentiful and easy to maintain in this part of the nation as well for various root veggies, greens, herbs, and other such. There's a lot of ranching around here, from cattle to buffalo to goats and sheep - and both goats and sheep are easy to keep. (Not to mention providing wool which can be easily spun and woven without electricity, and died using natural dyes.) I have a couple of small looms, and have plans for building a large loom - I simply don't have the Space for it right now, with dad living with me. I have a hand spinner, and a foot controled spinning wheel, and both a hand carder and cylinder carder for carding wool. I hand sew, and have an antique sewing machine (which still works) that is foot petal operated rather than electric motor driven. I already brew my own mead, beer, and wines - and know a couple of people that have practice at setting up and running a still. I make my own toiletries and cosmetics. I regularly cook over an open flame with either charcoal or wood - and because of the medieval reenactment stuff, I have even learned (though don't regularly practice lol) how to turn wood into charcoal. I throw pottery, and this area has a lot of good clay sources - a potter's wheel doesn't have to be electrically driven, and I actually prefer one that's foot pedal driven - much more precise control to me. I know how to make my own paper - from original source wood, and via recyling paper already in existance. I know how to boil my own ink, and how to mix natural pigment paint. I have some practice at basic blacksmithing, and a lot of practice at bladesmithing. (And in the case of "civilization meltdown" there would be a lot of scrap metal from cars and such to use for that purpose.) I know how to ride a horse, how to saddle, and how to take care of my own tack - so I wouldn't lack for transportation, provided I could get my hands on a horse. (Not hard to do in this part of the country, and there are a couple of public riding stables quite close to where I currently live.) I'm not on any meds, and know several folk and herbal remedies for common ailments - though I do maintain a well stocked first aid kit in my camping equipment with things like bandages, splints, etc. Windmills, gristmills for grinding grain (if not done by hand in a morter and pestle) and water driven mills are easy to set up and maintain without any need to supply them with electricity from another source - and given just a bit of basic tinkering, will provide a small electrical output to run other things. (Fortunately, I have several friends in the medieval group who know how to build such, and how to rig them with/to an alternator to store the electricity.) Heck, I wouldn't even have to give up hot showers - I have a 10 gal solar shower in my camping equipment, and an enclosure that it hangs in while it's in use rather than laying in the sun being heated. My medieval camping gear includes camp furniture that is easily made like a rope bed and hand carved folding chairs
I'd say I'm probably better prepared than most to not only survive, but live comfortably, even if civilization as we know it came to a complete end. Most of my closest friends are the same. And what skills I don't have - they have - and vice versa - though most of us have picked up a lot of rather varied skill sets over the years from having hobbies within the hobby. This is one of those "games" that we've played for years amongst ourselves - who would we gather together from the group, where would we meet, what supplies and skills would any particular person be able to contribute to mutual survival, and who would go crazy from lack of certain conveniences they've grown to depend on?
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