Is Our Economy Going To Crash?

[baymule]

Living in a double wide with NO back up energy. It makes me uneasy, but our focus has been fence, barn, fence, shed, fence, garden, garden fence, fruit trees, fence, sheep, fence, LGD's, fence, screened porch, fence, did I mention fence? I would love a wood burning heater and it is on the list.......looooong list! I would love solar too, at least enough to keep the freezer/refrigerator running. One of these days we will have all our infrastructure in place and we can go into maintenance mode. Going from a double wide on 8 acres with no fence, no sheds, no nothing to where we are now in 1 1/2 years is nothing short of phenomenal, but we still have a lot of work to do.

 

[MoonShadows]

If they find you and you have extra, then share. If they find you, and you don't have extra, defend what you have. For me it is quite simple as far as that is concerned. Both of us have Masters Degrees but have long since paid them off, but I sometimes wish I had never gone that route and had done what was in my heart, not what everyone was telling me I had to do to "survive". I trusted those who were my "mentors", but now see they did not think for themselves; they just advised what was the mainstream thinking at the time. Can't fault them and don't hold grudges towards them. If I had to do it over, and knew what I know now, things would have been very different for me. But how many times have you heard this story?

 

[Mini Horses]

I had no college -- wanted to be a vet but, made the "get married" decision, popular at that time. Always wanted a farm. I have had one somewhere for last 50 years. It's a lot of work, most days I love it! I'm retired -- work PT still - I like to earn to reduce the draw on my retirement income. It is a goal to me NOT working PT but, I see that about 2 yrs off. Need to refine my own self-sufficiency a little first, regarding my animal feed needs mostly -- and finish paying off my tractor! LOVE my tractor. Big investment which I knew was needed to reach my goals.

Like most of you, prefer no boss, just my farm & own schedules. (Actually best part of my current PT work is that I can set my schedules within certain dates. Nice)

 

[Mini Horses]

Most often we have to have a voluntary "belt tightening" to reach our goals. The discipline works well

 

[baymule]

I'm enjoying all these responses. I too trust in God for my provision but I think He also wants us to see the signs of the times. Has he sent me a prophet like Joseph to warn of famine. Well no, but then again we have television and the internet. I have been doing a little dehydrating. I also have been watching videos on foraging for wild foods. I was raised learning about poke salad, nuts and fruits, along with fishing and hunting. I don't like to, but I can skin and butcher a deer, rabbit, squirrel, clean fish, cook on coals. I also feel confident that I could make soap and have had first aid classes and know herbal remedies. Does this make me less faithful, I think not. I really believe that this desire to learn is coming from God. I feel more and more that time is short. I worry about my family that doesn't believe in Jesus more than I worry about the SHTF scenario. I still think it makes since to be able to see your family through emergencies no matter what they are, terrorist attack, economy crashing, solar flare, hurricane, earthquake, etc. I like to watch Big Family Homestead blog and YouTube videos. I think Brad from Big Family is a good example of preparation and faith. Like my faith, my prepping skills are growing.

Well said!!! I tried to "like" your post about a hundred times, but it only like-unlike-line-unlike-like-unlike-like.........so I gave up. Once will have to do.

 

[baymule]

@MoonShadows you will love your Excalibur!! I bought the 9 tray and also got 9 solid sheets to go with it. You can make your own fruit leathers with the solid sheets. I also bought a food saver and use it to seal up dehydrated foods. I recently dry canned dried tomatoes. I packed them in half pint jars and put them in the oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. That was just enough to pop a seal.

@Beekissed you are blessed in that you live a self sufficient life. Many are not as fortunate as you and a rumble in the country's economy will hurt and hurt deeply. Most of us on here are committed to being as SS as possible. But if this country takes a deep dive, it will hurt everyone. Anything that is imported, and what is NOT imported these days, will skyrocket in price. The higher prices will make it difficult for the average family to get by.

We are blessed to live in a great community. We have good neighbors.

 

[Mini Horses]

Some of my fondest memories are of my grandparents who lived much as Beekissed......no phone, TV, newspaper, etc. Very self-sufficient. The cellar in hillside behind house and the hen house were my favorite places to sit. Life was hard work but productive. My grandma made THE best bread ever in that wood stove!!

Kids and grands that we have raised in the past years have kept some of us more active in the current issues -- wanted or not -- but I do know HOW to survive and work toward total non-reliance on outside sources for the necessities.

I know I don't want to volunteer to give up "some" things I now enjoy -- but could. A happy medium with reserves "in case" is where I am with all this. Always have the "what if" alternatives running through my mind, just to be prepared for a devastating event -- a "savings account" of many things -- alternative cooking, heating, food, weapons, ammo, etc.

 

[Beekissed]

@Beekissed, I did not mean to imply you were blessed because of the way you choose to live your life as far as meeting your daily physical needs, but because what appears to be a gift of rock solid faith and the way this faith appears to have allowed you to live in such a carefree, joyous way as you tell us you do.

However, saying this forum has no basis in reality, and that folks like us depend on the world's riches and goods to give us peace of mind, is quite harsh IMO, and the latter certainly an incorrect presumption on your part.

I didn't mean it to be a harsh sounding phrase, Moon, but it does seem to be truth...if one is worried about the economy crashing, that would seem to indicate a fear of losing one's money or goods or the availability of those goods in the resulting collapse. That would also seem to indicate that the fear is related to a dependence upon these things to feel at peace and to be without worry over it how one will continue on. Maybe I'm seeing that all wrong and the conversations about the economy are just idle chatter about something of little consequence? If so, I do apologize as I didn't realize it was all theory and that no one is really worried about such things.

I didn't say the forum has no basis in reality, as we are surely real and are talking on this forum, but the illusion of self sufficiency surely does have no basis in reality. There is not one person living on this Earth that is nor can ever be self sufficient or even sufficient, apart from God, so my assessment of the term "self sufficient" as having no basis in reality is truth.

Sometimes it's difficult to communicate properly on a forum, so please forgive me if I read the posts entirely wrong and made presumptions from what I read. It's a difficult thing. Two of my posts were misread here as well, so it seems we are all struggling to communicate our thoughts properly.

 

[Britesea]

@Britesea, can you explain a little more how the Excalibur design lends itself to conversion to solar power if electricity isn't available. I don't think I followed you from the picture you posted.

The picture shows some cans in a glass fronted box- painted black to increase heat. The air flow comes in at the bottom and rises to the top due to convection. At the top, the heated air flows into a box and circulates around the trays. I believe that by simply making a different front closure to the Excalibur, you could create a path for the heated air to go into the Excalibur box instead of the pictured one. If one could add a small solar-powered fan at the back, it would work even more efficiently.

 

[baymule]

@MoonShadows get some half gallon canning jars for food storage. I have ...... I think.....18 of them and I love them! You can dehydrate potatoes, hash browns seem to do best. Use a mandolin slicer to hash brown your potatoes, drop in a pot of water to keep them from turning black. Get the blancher pot going, blanch the potatoes, cool in cold water, then drain. Pat dry with paper towels and put in the dehydrator. To use, just take out what you want, cover with hot water for 15 minutes, drain and cook.