Well our feeders were. I said Boar because I meant an intact male used for breeding [That boar convinced my father that having one around was just too dangerous] We were lucky enough to have a breeder service near by that would take weaned piglets for payment for his Services] We didn't keep a Bull either and our cows got the service too.k15n1 said:
Guess I'll try again.
- Thread starter Icu4dzs
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Yep a boar on the same feed tends to be tougher. more lean and slightly gamey tasting. gread for bacon. but the hams are hard to cure properly because of their size. Chops not good. upper ribs cook long and slow for BBQ.Denim Deb said:
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Icu4dzs
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The beans are in. Next is the corn. Then it will be over for a few months until the spring planting. Riding in the combine is a very emotional experience for me. It represents another year of life that has passed. It just keeps going on. I do notice some stiff times and on occasion find a bit of "balance" challenge but in all, I am so blessed with good health and sound of mind (perhaps left to conjecture).
Spent quite a bit of time in the machine shop. Cleaned the lathe and did a bit of turning. I really need some training in that. Reading books on machine shop work just isn't the same. I do like it though.
I finally tackled the wall on the south side of the shop. It was covered with junk and I really need that space better organized. I used the rocket heater all day today. Had a devil of a time starting it this morning. Got the smoke diverter on after climbing up the ladder to where it penetrates the wall. Nice thing about that though is it is completely moveable and can be taken down rather easily if need be.
Mowed the lawn yesterday. Seems like that was the last chance I'll have before the snow flies. Expecting some soon.
Buddy is certainly NO worse for the wear as evidenced by his performance today. He decided he had to follow me while I delivered some bailing twine to my neighbor who is baling and ran out. I got on my 4 wheeler and tried to get him to stay in the yard but he insisted on coming. I had to go 2 miles and he kept up at somewhere between 25 and 30 MPH! What a fast dog! I bet he'll sleep good tonight!
The shop is getting better organized now and I am able to find things when I want them. It is funny how you put things someplace and then when you need them, assuming the shop has some sense of organization, you actually find them. So it is becoming with my machine shop. I probably ought to bring my tools back out of the canning shed because I really haven't had time to work on it but if I move my rocket heater OR build another one, I might be able to work in there a little more comfortably.
There is no shortage of concern among the people of this nation but it remains to be seen what if anything comes of all this "crisis mode" we seem to always be in, particularly in Washington. Wouldn't it be nice if folks would just quit the "politics as usual" and put their energy into doing what is best for the nation as a whole? I'm tired of this bickering and posturing.
I got the materials for at least two or more rocket heaters. Each one will be somewhat different. Thursday, I went to a steel company in the town where I have been working and bought a piece of I-beam that had been cut at an angle. I figure to use it as an anvil. I have to get it out of the trunk of my car, though...procrastinate? Who me?
Life is good. We still live in the best country in the world, both historically and currently. Take good care of what you have.
There is a sign in the hospital where I have been working that truly impressed me. It says:
"Thank G*d for what you have. Trust G*d for what you need."
I really like that one.
Best to all
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//
Spent quite a bit of time in the machine shop. Cleaned the lathe and did a bit of turning. I really need some training in that. Reading books on machine shop work just isn't the same. I do like it though.
I finally tackled the wall on the south side of the shop. It was covered with junk and I really need that space better organized. I used the rocket heater all day today. Had a devil of a time starting it this morning. Got the smoke diverter on after climbing up the ladder to where it penetrates the wall. Nice thing about that though is it is completely moveable and can be taken down rather easily if need be.
Mowed the lawn yesterday. Seems like that was the last chance I'll have before the snow flies. Expecting some soon.
Buddy is certainly NO worse for the wear as evidenced by his performance today. He decided he had to follow me while I delivered some bailing twine to my neighbor who is baling and ran out. I got on my 4 wheeler and tried to get him to stay in the yard but he insisted on coming. I had to go 2 miles and he kept up at somewhere between 25 and 30 MPH! What a fast dog! I bet he'll sleep good tonight!
The shop is getting better organized now and I am able to find things when I want them. It is funny how you put things someplace and then when you need them, assuming the shop has some sense of organization, you actually find them. So it is becoming with my machine shop. I probably ought to bring my tools back out of the canning shed because I really haven't had time to work on it but if I move my rocket heater OR build another one, I might be able to work in there a little more comfortably.
There is no shortage of concern among the people of this nation but it remains to be seen what if anything comes of all this "crisis mode" we seem to always be in, particularly in Washington. Wouldn't it be nice if folks would just quit the "politics as usual" and put their energy into doing what is best for the nation as a whole? I'm tired of this bickering and posturing.
I got the materials for at least two or more rocket heaters. Each one will be somewhat different. Thursday, I went to a steel company in the town where I have been working and bought a piece of I-beam that had been cut at an angle. I figure to use it as an anvil. I have to get it out of the trunk of my car, though...procrastinate? Who me?
Life is good. We still live in the best country in the world, both historically and currently. Take good care of what you have.
There is a sign in the hospital where I have been working that truly impressed me. It says:
"Thank G*d for what you have. Trust G*d for what you need."
I really like that one.
Best to all
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
X2 !
Denim Deb
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X3!
I don't think you have a handle on the national problem, as i see it there is a group that wants everything handed to them for no effort and an other group that is doing the work but is getting sick of the first wanting a free ride on their backs. It is not a simple problem Empires have fallen over this.~gdIcu4dzs said:
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Icu4dzs
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No, actually I see the "national problem" quite clearly. Currently, there are 11 states with more people on the welfare rolls, (on the dole as they say in the UK) that there are working people paying for the dole.
The math is quite simple. There has been a systematic process to create this situation and stopping it will allow those who are angered by losing their "benefits" to riot and rebel. Once they start rebelling, (as is desired by TPTB) then our nation will be destroyed. I am NOT having difficulty seeing this. I work in one of the sectors where much of the money they waste is consumed.
Many of them have infiltrated into this country illegally and the liberals think that is fine because giving out free money gets them voted into and back into office. I am NOT blind to this. I am horrified. I was raised to work, pay my taxes and defend my nation. These "grasshoppers" were NOT raised that way. They are consuming the national treasury at an alarming rate and the liberals are facilitating the destruction of our nation with this systematic and intentional activity.
One of their numbers was listening to a testimony by a woman physicist. She asked the physicist why the things she was talking about were happening and the physicist replied "Laws of Physics" to which the "majority leader" responded "Well, what do WE have to do to get THOSE changed?" Kind of puts it all into perspective.
Aesop told a story about the ant and the grasshopper. I'm sure many of you have heard it. We are now at the point where there are more grasshoppers than ants and they are about to consume the entire harvest.
The more you talk about it, the more the liberals will do one of several things:
1. Ignore you
2. Tell you that what you are saying is NOT true.
3. call you names like "racist" or some other derogatory term.
4. make fun of you in public so others will think the liberals are smart and you are an idiot.
These are all found in the Saul Alinsky writings as to how to deal with us who work hard and pay our taxes and obey our laws.
Look at the rise in crime, the advent of industries solely for the purpose of defeating criminal behavior such as surveillance systems, bars for your doors and windows, etc. We didn't need these things before the communists decided to destroy our nation and now we do. Any question as to whether or not I am seeing the "national picture?"
I will stop here for several reasons of which the most important is that I have said all these things before but there are not enough people who will resist this trend to stand up and take up the ballot box to get rid of these devils because the numbers at the ballot boxes are filled by those on the dole. We are doomed unless some miracle occurs. I don't see one in the near future.
Perhaps one will occur but I am not optomistic at this point.
YMMV
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
De Opresso Liber
Trim sends
//BT//
P. S. my new tractor was delivered yesterday. No debt!
The math is quite simple. There has been a systematic process to create this situation and stopping it will allow those who are angered by losing their "benefits" to riot and rebel. Once they start rebelling, (as is desired by TPTB) then our nation will be destroyed. I am NOT having difficulty seeing this. I work in one of the sectors where much of the money they waste is consumed.
Many of them have infiltrated into this country illegally and the liberals think that is fine because giving out free money gets them voted into and back into office. I am NOT blind to this. I am horrified. I was raised to work, pay my taxes and defend my nation. These "grasshoppers" were NOT raised that way. They are consuming the national treasury at an alarming rate and the liberals are facilitating the destruction of our nation with this systematic and intentional activity.
One of their numbers was listening to a testimony by a woman physicist. She asked the physicist why the things she was talking about were happening and the physicist replied "Laws of Physics" to which the "majority leader" responded "Well, what do WE have to do to get THOSE changed?" Kind of puts it all into perspective.
Aesop told a story about the ant and the grasshopper. I'm sure many of you have heard it. We are now at the point where there are more grasshoppers than ants and they are about to consume the entire harvest.
The more you talk about it, the more the liberals will do one of several things:
1. Ignore you
2. Tell you that what you are saying is NOT true.
3. call you names like "racist" or some other derogatory term.
4. make fun of you in public so others will think the liberals are smart and you are an idiot.
These are all found in the Saul Alinsky writings as to how to deal with us who work hard and pay our taxes and obey our laws.
Look at the rise in crime, the advent of industries solely for the purpose of defeating criminal behavior such as surveillance systems, bars for your doors and windows, etc. We didn't need these things before the communists decided to destroy our nation and now we do. Any question as to whether or not I am seeing the "national picture?"
I will stop here for several reasons of which the most important is that I have said all these things before but there are not enough people who will resist this trend to stand up and take up the ballot box to get rid of these devils because the numbers at the ballot boxes are filled by those on the dole. We are doomed unless some miracle occurs. I don't see one in the near future.
Perhaps one will occur but I am not optomistic at this point.
YMMV
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
De Opresso Liber
Trim sends
//BT//
P. S. my new tractor was delivered yesterday. No debt!
Dumbfarmhand
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Congrats on the new tractor. [I need to paint ours and make it a front acreage planter!] I hadn't heard the "communist" threat in a long time. Personally, Upton Sinclair (of "The Jungle") stated is what I think will be a reflection of the uber-patriot/theocratic reaction to an alleged breadown in society: "When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." The GOP made a devilish deal with the Fundies and now they are reaping that ill-wind in its wayward child, the Tea Party (brought to you and funded by the Koch brothers). The TP is weakening the GOP - inadvertantly strengthing the Libs. Nice show, Mr. Cruz, who wouldn't know a successful tactic if it hit him in his McCarthy-esque face.Icu4dzs said:No, actually I see the "national problem" quite clearly. Currently, there are 11 states with more people on the welfare rolls, (on the dole as they say in the UK) that there are working people paying for the dole.
The math is quite simple. There has been a systematic process to create this situation and stopping it will allow those who are angered by losing their "benefits" to riot and rebel. Once they start rebelling, (as is desired by TPTB) then our nation will be destroyed. I am NOT having difficulty seeing this. I work in one of the sectors where much of the money they waste is consumed.
Many of them have infiltrated into this country illegally and the liberals think that is fine because giving out free money gets them voted into and back into office. I am NOT blind to this. I am horrified. I was raised to work, pay my taxes and defend my nation. These "grasshoppers" were NOT raised that way. They are consuming the national treasury at an alarming rate and the liberals are facilitating the destruction of our nation with this systematic and intentional activity.
One of their numbers was listening to a testimony by a woman physicist. She asked the physicist why the things she was talking about were happening and the physicist replied "Laws of Physics" to which the "majority leader" responded "Well, what do WE have to do to get THOSE changed?" Kind of puts it all into perspective.
Aesop told a story about the ant and the grasshopper. I'm sure many of you have heard it. We are now at the point where there are more grasshoppers than ants and they are about to consume the entire harvest.
The more you talk about it, the more the liberals will do one of several things:
1. Ignore you
2. Tell you that what you are saying is NOT true.
3. call you names like "racist" or some other derogatory term.
4. make fun of you in public so others will think the liberals are smart and you are an idiot.
These are all found in the Saul Alinsky writings as to how to deal with us who work hard and pay our taxes and obey our laws.
Look at the rise in crime, the advent of industries solely for the purpose of defeating criminal behavior such as surveillance systems, bars for your doors and windows, etc. We didn't need these things before the communists decided to destroy our nation and now we do. Any question as to whether or not I am seeing the "national picture?"
I will stop here for several reasons of which the most important is that I have said all these things before but there are not enough people who will resist this trend to stand up and take up the ballot box to get rid of these devils because the numbers at the ballot boxes are filled by those on the dole. We are doomed unless some miracle occurs. I don't see one in the near future.
Perhaps one will occur but I am not optomistic at this point.
YMMV
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
De Opresso Liber
Trim sends
//BT//
P. S. my new tractor was delivered yesterday. No debt!
No doubt we have freeloaders. Any benefit than can be wrangled from politicians is out there, so I trust you included corporations who pay no taxes and delight in offshore accounts, the military-industrial complex that is locked in as Eisenhower warned about, and Wall St., the current culprit in our mortgage-induced near depression, who we gladly bailed out, in your doomsday scenario. Many of these leaches pay no taxes, screw laws whenever they can, and don't know the meaning of a hard day's work. I fear their corrosive effect more than an idle youth gang looking for trouble. I can deal with those (yes - libs have guns!).
Entropy may have set in with the US. I trust as a student of history, you understand that an empire (and yes - we are one) has its zenith, then degrades due to hubris and over-stretch. We are the modern day Rome with far-flung posts, with an exquisitely focused wealth in the few, and a general liberalization of drugs (the war on a drugs an abysmal failure) and of alternative lifestyles (with us since written history). Crime is actually down, but our tools to combat it has grown into a paramilitary police force that threatens us all.
Suffice to say that we can deny all these benefits, but many deserving, needy individuals will be caught up in the purge. Can we do a better job? Sure, but the tide of history shows that it may get worse. And as far as the states, it is interesting to note that the Red States get more dole, with a majority of Blue States giving more than they get back. So what is wrong with the policies of these Red States, predominantly governed by the GOP?
Just some thoughts from a dumb farmhand.
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Icu4dzs
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OK, so I LOVE my new tractor. It has some really interesting differences from the other one, but it can do some pretty cool things. I got the drain tile buried in no time at all. Turns out I dug about a 24" trench with about 2 scoops...much easier and more powerful than the other trencher I had. So much easier to use and move...only has to handles to control rather than 4. Afterwards I took it off the tractor and set the tractor up for the usual farm work that it does. I'm sure that will get easier as I do it more often.
Got that bugger of a railroad tie put in and hung the gate. Used the foot of the back hoe to tamp the soil around the post. Neat trick. Beats that 20 lb steel bar. Dug the 4 foot hole in a matter of minutes. I REALLY like that. :rock:
Got the junk picked up in the yard and for what it is worth, the yard is free of obstacles for winter. My friend Randy came over to get some diesel fuel for his tractor. He has been making hay bales for me and now I have enough for the winter...assuming the winter doesn't last another 7 months. He called me and said, "how much stuff is in th way of your baler, and I told him, "just the sickle mower". Next thing I know, he came over and pulled the baler out of the shed and took it away after filling his tank...I got 7 more big bales of hay so I'm not complaining at all.
I had a tough time lighting my rocket heater yesterday. The wind caused a reversal of flow and the smoke started pouring into the shop. I got a fan, started it and blew that into the rocket heater to reverse that flow and after a bit it worked. That puppy sure does put out some heat though. I think it requires more "tending" than I had hoped. You still have to "turn" the logs in it and it just doesn't like a large log despite the fact that it has a 6"x6" cross-sectional area. I am goin to put some split logs in it and see if that changes the dynamics of the fire just a bit. Having the large tubing seems to get the logs burning 6" from the bottom rather than just the tips of the wood so it consumes wood a bit faster but then it puts out a lot more heat.
I built a small metal loop to help keep one of the gates shut. Hadn't done anything like that before so it was fun to design something and build it.
: I used that little stick welder I bought that runs on 110v. It will only take up to a 3/32 rod, but for many of the things I do, that is surprisingly useful. My Lincoln 216 wire welder doesn't get as much use because I am not making "big stuff" lately. This little welder is so handy. I can take it nearly anywhere I want to go. I hope it holds up. I don't do that much stick welding because it is more difficult but now that I find my rods will work with this, "sky's the limit" sort of... I had a piece of 1/4" fence wire from an old cattle panel and have found so many uses for it.
While I don't disagree with the facts, I believe we must, if we are to consider ourselves "civilized" members of the human race, restrict our behavior and actions to remain within the confines of the law that we have. That our Constitution has been mutilated and damaged by big money interests does NOT escape me. Corporations are NOT people and are NOT ever going to be. The fact that they have been afforded that privilege is unconscionable and I don't support their behaviors. They have worked to destroy our society as much as the "PROGRESSIVE AGENDA" has worked to destroy it. (Ever hear of The Fabian School?)
If 1/7 people in this country are on welfare, how long will it take for them to completely consume our form of government as long as they are getting free money and don't have to work? (47 million votes carries a lot of weight) No doubt you would be offended when they vote for things YOU have to pay for...
But then"Brutus IS an honorable man."
Got that bugger of a railroad tie put in and hung the gate. Used the foot of the back hoe to tamp the soil around the post. Neat trick. Beats that 20 lb steel bar. Dug the 4 foot hole in a matter of minutes. I REALLY like that. :rock:
Got the junk picked up in the yard and for what it is worth, the yard is free of obstacles for winter. My friend Randy came over to get some diesel fuel for his tractor. He has been making hay bales for me and now I have enough for the winter...assuming the winter doesn't last another 7 months. He called me and said, "how much stuff is in th way of your baler, and I told him, "just the sickle mower". Next thing I know, he came over and pulled the baler out of the shed and took it away after filling his tank...I got 7 more big bales of hay so I'm not complaining at all.
I had a tough time lighting my rocket heater yesterday. The wind caused a reversal of flow and the smoke started pouring into the shop. I got a fan, started it and blew that into the rocket heater to reverse that flow and after a bit it worked. That puppy sure does put out some heat though. I think it requires more "tending" than I had hoped. You still have to "turn" the logs in it and it just doesn't like a large log despite the fact that it has a 6"x6" cross-sectional area. I am goin to put some split logs in it and see if that changes the dynamics of the fire just a bit. Having the large tubing seems to get the logs burning 6" from the bottom rather than just the tips of the wood so it consumes wood a bit faster but then it puts out a lot more heat.
I built a small metal loop to help keep one of the gates shut. Hadn't done anything like that before so it was fun to design something and build it.
: I used that little stick welder I bought that runs on 110v. It will only take up to a 3/32 rod, but for many of the things I do, that is surprisingly useful. My Lincoln 216 wire welder doesn't get as much use because I am not making "big stuff" lately. This little welder is so handy. I can take it nearly anywhere I want to go. I hope it holds up. I don't do that much stick welding because it is more difficult but now that I find my rods will work with this, "sky's the limit" sort of... I had a piece of 1/4" fence wire from an old cattle panel and have found so many uses for it. The tendency toward disorder is noted. The analogy to Rome is noted as well and agreed on both accounts. The question remains, "What do we do about it and how do we do it within the confines of the Constitution?" Of all the documents that have come to the earth designed to be used for the governing of mankind, The Constitution of the United States of America was the only one which "provided for and allowed the TRUE transfer of POWER without the shed of blood". This did not exist in history until then. We must do what we can within the confines of the Constitution or we become no better than the criminals (as cited) who act outside the Constitution (or attempt to conceal that behavior).dumbfarmhand said:
While I don't disagree with the facts, I believe we must, if we are to consider ourselves "civilized" members of the human race, restrict our behavior and actions to remain within the confines of the law that we have. That our Constitution has been mutilated and damaged by big money interests does NOT escape me. Corporations are NOT people and are NOT ever going to be. The fact that they have been afforded that privilege is unconscionable and I don't support their behaviors. They have worked to destroy our society as much as the "PROGRESSIVE AGENDA" has worked to destroy it. (Ever hear of The Fabian School?)
If 1/7 people in this country are on welfare, how long will it take for them to completely consume our form of government as long as they are getting free money and don't have to work? (47 million votes carries a lot of weight) No doubt you would be offended when they vote for things YOU have to pay for...
But then"Brutus IS an honorable man."
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Icu4dzs
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I was visiting a friend's church one day some years ago when I was stationed in California. On the wall was a very small needlepoint picture of Noah's Ark. Below the picture was a caption that "struck me to the very depth of my soul"!
The caption read: "It wasn't raining when Noah Built the Ark".
Somehow, that little picture and caption changed me because it made me get moving. I had always felt "something was coming during my life time" since I was 8 years old. As I am now 64, I seem to think it is closer than ever, and yet, who knows?
In about 1975, I began to observe a slow, systematic and methodical change in our country that convinced me to "learn those basic living skills" that my great grandparents would have used. I started with a garden, then I got chickens, and on I went. Each time I had the opportunity, I either got a book to show me how to do something or just started doing it to find out if I could do it or not.
Time changed my life and since they kept "giving a war" they would keep "inviting me back" because of the "stuff" that I knew. As time went by, I did get the opportunity to have my own place a little way out in the country by 1997 so I had 4 acres and a little barn behind the house. the garden was about 25x75 and I was able to get a nice little Ford 1310 with a number of implements to make my garden happen a bit quicker since time was limited for me.
That went on till about 2003 when I moved to VA and got a 10 acre place a bit more out in the country, but still WAY too close to "civilization" or only about 60 miles from W.DC. I studied post/beam carpentry and built a nice barn during my "off hours" and finished it in 2006. Not realizing how close to retirement I really was, and through a long series of interesting turns, ended up buying a farm in NE SDAK where I now live.
I first came to SDAK in the last week of August, 2001. I left the night of 8 SEP and was very, very nervous flying back to FL where I was stationed. I was accustomed to flying so that was particularly strange. Three days later, I found out why I had that feeling.
After doing some "ciphering" regarding my "retirement eligibility dates" I discovered that I had enough leave accrued to be able to go on terminal leave in two weeks and stay gone till my retirement date. I got in my truck, pulled my little tractor, my Harley Davidson FXDL and my tools and left for the "wilds of SDAK"
Since coming here, the feeling of "urgency" to be ready for TSHTF has been steadily working on me. Each of you has been writing about things you think you should be doing to be ready for this and nothing could be closer to the truth.
Some of you talk about propane refrigerators vs 12 volt. Some talk about generators and the list goes on. ONE person mentioned that he didn't like propane because it was possibly not going to be available for very long after an "incident" and that all energy would become so out of price range or just plain not available as to be not worth spending good money on NOW.
That is, IMHO, the most important consideration. Many of you discuss things as though a major incident would be a short term, relatively minor inconvenience. I am NOT of that opinion. I agree with those of you that in order to be able to deal with the impending "incident" we really need to be completely prepared to live in the 19th or early 20th century. I know some will have to revert to a much earlier period because they did NOT foresee and prepare but those who do will probably have the option of retaining some of the technological luxuries such as electricity can afford, as long as they begin to "make hay while the sun shines" and friends, I believe the sun IS still shining but that the storm clouds are nigh on close. YMMV
To that end, having even one solar panel or one small wind turbine or just a well pump, etc. will make things a bit better. Imagine if the lights go out suddenly, how will you adapt say in 6 months? There certainly won't be any gasoline to be had at the pump, no grid electricity to be had and the city folks will be nearly finished at killing each other to get a scrap of food and water. Their sanitation will be "NON-existant" and well, you can extrapolate the rest. Many will die, simply because they don't have food, medicine or care because they are elderly and weak.
Some on this Forum predict 80-90% casualty rates and from what I see, that might just be somewhat realistic particularly in urban/suburban locations. Remember 82% of the population lives in cities. Major inconvenience there will result in very high casualty rates through either violence, disease (cholera, typhoid,etc) or lack of life sustaining medications.
Of course there will be the strong, young warrior/criminals from the city who will venture out into the country hoping to steal what they need to live and will form small or maybe even larger gangs to perpetrate whatever evil and crime they choose. Then of course there will be the folks in the country who did prepare or lived that way prior to the "incident" and some that didn't (but they can "learn quickly") It won't take long before the SSS philosophy of the folks out in the country convince the roaming bands of criminals to leave them alone though. (SSS=shoot, shovel, shutup)
Where am I going with this? The answer is simple. I stated it at the beginning of this post. "It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark".
Start now. Change your buying habits to include things that will store for LONG PERIODS of time. Dry goods of all description. Stay away from canned foods because there are over 1000 Executive Orders that have been issued by the current POTUS regarding everything from the G'vt taking anything it wants "in the interest of national security". READ THEM. They ARE authorized by THIS POTUS to come and take your food and a long list of "whatever they deem necessary. Remember, at some point, you are going to have to start growing that stuff all over again so be thinking about how that will be done, too!
Now if we think about this logically, we can ask, "What will they take?" and the most likely items in the immediate period are things that are easily eaten without the need for much or any work/energy. Canned foods, etc.
So, what should we do as law abiding citizens of a now threatened nation? My recommendation is to start now. Get things that are able to be transformed into food but that will not be readily obvious to anyone who is willing to either steal or confiscate what you have. Get large volumes of dry goods, grains, and the ability to pump and purify water.
Has anyone actually done a complete survey of their house and surroundings to determine exactly what they have and what they need to survive in a situation where the economy has dissolved and there IS NO transportation system or one that will NOT be able/ready to re-start for a protracted period of time?
That is where I think I would start. Inventory what you actually do have and then take note of exactly what you USE. Determine how you will get or store what you use so that you don't run into a dilemma of not being able to get to town for the milk, eggs, bread, etc. that folks run around for now.
If you begin to examine what it would take to MAKE what you need and to realize that if you can't make it or can't get the raw materials to make it, you will have to do without it unless those in your immediate area are willing to barter time for things or vice versa. But even that will have a time frame after which the social system will need to be reconstructed. Therein lies my interest.
I have for some time wanted to assemble a group of folks who possess certain skills that were common and productive when my great grandfather was a boy as well as ones that are important/useful now. He survived long enough to bring my grandfather into this world and he came to this country in 1909. My mother's family came to this country in 1615 (yes, before the Mayflower) They all survived long enough to produce descendants of which I am one. They lived...so we can do it too!
The concept would be similar to the crew of a submarine who have all "earned their dolphins." The meaning of that is when a man enters the crew of a sub, he is supposed to have a primary skill for which he is trained before he gets there. After arriving, he is expected to be able to learn every other man's skills so that in the event of a casualty, any man can fill in for the injured man, particularly if saving the life of the submarine is in question.
I remember as a boy going to a fair every year in Kutztown, PA. which was run and staffed by the Pennsylvania Dutch community. I would go from tent to tent, studying the skills they used to live during the early times and they had a tent for EVERYTHING, including a gallows where at 12PM every afternoon, they would demonstrate the hanging of a woman who had murdered her baby. While that horrified me to think about from every aspect of my being, they were able to demonstrate THEIR way of operating a society and of having "the rule of law" in it. They had a tent for the cooper, the baker, the candlestick maker, the cobbler, the undertaker, the spinning of wool and the list goes on. All the skills required to live in THEIR time frame and technological level. I spent hours learning to use a foot-treadle wood lathe there. I learned the things I needed to know but didn't get the experience to do many of them until much later in life. Now I know WHY I was taken there as a young boy.
What skills are important? There are a long list of 18th century skills? How about making electricity? How about water purification and sanitation? How about farming grain and livestock.? I can go on but the idea here is to find out who has the skills that would allow us to adapt to a major change by cooperating with each other as if we had come to this continent (or to this planet) for the first time? What are the things of THIS time that we can retain so that we can live a more comfortable life after a major incident, raise our children and move forward with our purpose for being here? How many of us have said, "If I knew then what I know now?" Well, this is just such a consideration. If we have to go back to THEN, what advantages of knowledge can we take with us so that we can eventually come back to as close to now as possible?
Here is a list of skills that seem critical to the future in the setting we are discussing. While it is not by any means "all encompassing" there are a mix of old skills and new skills, some of which depend on old resources and some of which rely solely on current or at least mid to late 20th Century resources:
1. Growing your own food
2. Obtaining and filtering a steady source of water
3. Securing your home and possessions
4. Providing intermediate level medical care
both at the individual level and public health issues
5. Operating alternative power
6. Raising livestock for food/Hunting
7. Communications
8. Jack of All trades
basic carpentry skills;
welding,
plumbing; fluid dynamics
electrical work
9. animal husbandry/bee keeping
10. making soap/candles
11. sewing,
12. leather-working
13. knitting
14. cooking.
baking
15. Butchering/meat cutting/preservation
16. Forager
17. Weatherman
18. Diesel Engine (we can grow fuel for a Diesel engine)
19. Making electricity and building electrical motors/generators
20. Heating/cooling/refrigeration
As I think about it there are more skills that belong on this list and if one thinks long and hard enough, one could use such a list as the curriculum for teaching preparedness to anyone who is interested.
In some of these skills, I am very experienced, at others, only somewhat...(I didn't do well when I tried to learn to knit, and some not at all. I know nothing of Diesel engines or heating/cooling or refrigeration.) Obviously, people with engineering knowledge will be of significant help in such a situation as we might face when TSHTF.
While these skills are only a partial list, they are also not in any particular order of importance except that perhaps foraging and weather prediction may be somewhat more difficult in some sense.
Of importance is that these are some of the skills that all individuals should have, not just one particular skill. There are of course a significant number of more "esoteric" skills that would be important for at least one person in any group to have as what we called in the service "Primary MOS" with all the others at some level of mastery so as to be able to serve not only the immediate family but the town/group as well.
In my GreatGrandfather's day, we didn't know why food spoiled or why wounds got infected. They just did. We know a lot about public health now that wasn't available to them. We get to keep those things as long as people remember that stuff or we keep our books, etc. Eventually, we will even run out of bullets...what then? Albert Einstein once said, "I don't know what we will use to fight the next war, but the one after that will be fought with sticks and stones".
The difference that I see here is that there will still be "stuff" left behind. Much of that stuff will be serviceable if we can produce energy to use it. But we still need folks who understand that stuff, how it works and how to fix it and perhaps how to build another one. So what we REALLY need to protect is our knowledge of things that have been learned up to now. Apparently, we have eaten a big part of that "APPLE" that was forbidden to Adam..."...but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat" Therein lies a great dilemma.
I believe it is clearly time to assemble those types of groups of people with skills. None of us can be truly and completely Self-sufficient unless we leave society as we know it and survive in the wild like Grizzly Adams. Not likely if we have any family about whom we care at all and not likely to live very long out there, either.
So, I offer these things to you for your thoughts and consideration. I think the time is growing short and the storm clouds are just over the horizon. While many in this continent think "that can't happen in this day and age" I would say,
"Fine, and I'll bet you still wait for Santa Claus on 25 DEC but as for me, I'll put some things away so that winter won't seem so harsh when it finally arrives." I always think back to the passage, "...and there were, in those days, shepherds abiding in the fields tending their flocks by night. And a host of angels appeared unto them..." (Can THAT happen now or is that impossible too?) OK, I'm drifting a little here...
We don't need to revert to the Stone Age here; but figure out ahead of time what technological advances we can KEEP despite a major societal catastrophe such that the skill set of the 21st century is not completely lost.
That is where I believe we need to focus so that when TSHTF, we will be able to "shift gears" and get on with life. Yes, we'll have to do some "surviving" but in my estimation, I want to return to "living" as soon as it is possible, knowing full well that MY ride is getting shorter simply due to the natural order of things.
What do YOU think?
The caption read: "It wasn't raining when Noah Built the Ark".
Somehow, that little picture and caption changed me because it made me get moving. I had always felt "something was coming during my life time" since I was 8 years old. As I am now 64, I seem to think it is closer than ever, and yet, who knows?
In about 1975, I began to observe a slow, systematic and methodical change in our country that convinced me to "learn those basic living skills" that my great grandparents would have used. I started with a garden, then I got chickens, and on I went. Each time I had the opportunity, I either got a book to show me how to do something or just started doing it to find out if I could do it or not.
Time changed my life and since they kept "giving a war" they would keep "inviting me back" because of the "stuff" that I knew. As time went by, I did get the opportunity to have my own place a little way out in the country by 1997 so I had 4 acres and a little barn behind the house. the garden was about 25x75 and I was able to get a nice little Ford 1310 with a number of implements to make my garden happen a bit quicker since time was limited for me.
That went on till about 2003 when I moved to VA and got a 10 acre place a bit more out in the country, but still WAY too close to "civilization" or only about 60 miles from W.DC. I studied post/beam carpentry and built a nice barn during my "off hours" and finished it in 2006. Not realizing how close to retirement I really was, and through a long series of interesting turns, ended up buying a farm in NE SDAK where I now live.
I first came to SDAK in the last week of August, 2001. I left the night of 8 SEP and was very, very nervous flying back to FL where I was stationed. I was accustomed to flying so that was particularly strange. Three days later, I found out why I had that feeling.
After doing some "ciphering" regarding my "retirement eligibility dates" I discovered that I had enough leave accrued to be able to go on terminal leave in two weeks and stay gone till my retirement date. I got in my truck, pulled my little tractor, my Harley Davidson FXDL and my tools and left for the "wilds of SDAK"
Since coming here, the feeling of "urgency" to be ready for TSHTF has been steadily working on me. Each of you has been writing about things you think you should be doing to be ready for this and nothing could be closer to the truth.
Some of you talk about propane refrigerators vs 12 volt. Some talk about generators and the list goes on. ONE person mentioned that he didn't like propane because it was possibly not going to be available for very long after an "incident" and that all energy would become so out of price range or just plain not available as to be not worth spending good money on NOW.
That is, IMHO, the most important consideration. Many of you discuss things as though a major incident would be a short term, relatively minor inconvenience. I am NOT of that opinion. I agree with those of you that in order to be able to deal with the impending "incident" we really need to be completely prepared to live in the 19th or early 20th century. I know some will have to revert to a much earlier period because they did NOT foresee and prepare but those who do will probably have the option of retaining some of the technological luxuries such as electricity can afford, as long as they begin to "make hay while the sun shines" and friends, I believe the sun IS still shining but that the storm clouds are nigh on close. YMMV
To that end, having even one solar panel or one small wind turbine or just a well pump, etc. will make things a bit better. Imagine if the lights go out suddenly, how will you adapt say in 6 months? There certainly won't be any gasoline to be had at the pump, no grid electricity to be had and the city folks will be nearly finished at killing each other to get a scrap of food and water. Their sanitation will be "NON-existant" and well, you can extrapolate the rest. Many will die, simply because they don't have food, medicine or care because they are elderly and weak.
Some on this Forum predict 80-90% casualty rates and from what I see, that might just be somewhat realistic particularly in urban/suburban locations. Remember 82% of the population lives in cities. Major inconvenience there will result in very high casualty rates through either violence, disease (cholera, typhoid,etc) or lack of life sustaining medications.
Of course there will be the strong, young warrior/criminals from the city who will venture out into the country hoping to steal what they need to live and will form small or maybe even larger gangs to perpetrate whatever evil and crime they choose. Then of course there will be the folks in the country who did prepare or lived that way prior to the "incident" and some that didn't (but they can "learn quickly") It won't take long before the SSS philosophy of the folks out in the country convince the roaming bands of criminals to leave them alone though. (SSS=shoot, shovel, shutup)
Where am I going with this? The answer is simple. I stated it at the beginning of this post. "It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark".
Start now. Change your buying habits to include things that will store for LONG PERIODS of time. Dry goods of all description. Stay away from canned foods because there are over 1000 Executive Orders that have been issued by the current POTUS regarding everything from the G'vt taking anything it wants "in the interest of national security". READ THEM. They ARE authorized by THIS POTUS to come and take your food and a long list of "whatever they deem necessary. Remember, at some point, you are going to have to start growing that stuff all over again so be thinking about how that will be done, too!
Now if we think about this logically, we can ask, "What will they take?" and the most likely items in the immediate period are things that are easily eaten without the need for much or any work/energy. Canned foods, etc.
So, what should we do as law abiding citizens of a now threatened nation? My recommendation is to start now. Get things that are able to be transformed into food but that will not be readily obvious to anyone who is willing to either steal or confiscate what you have. Get large volumes of dry goods, grains, and the ability to pump and purify water.
Has anyone actually done a complete survey of their house and surroundings to determine exactly what they have and what they need to survive in a situation where the economy has dissolved and there IS NO transportation system or one that will NOT be able/ready to re-start for a protracted period of time?
That is where I think I would start. Inventory what you actually do have and then take note of exactly what you USE. Determine how you will get or store what you use so that you don't run into a dilemma of not being able to get to town for the milk, eggs, bread, etc. that folks run around for now.
If you begin to examine what it would take to MAKE what you need and to realize that if you can't make it or can't get the raw materials to make it, you will have to do without it unless those in your immediate area are willing to barter time for things or vice versa. But even that will have a time frame after which the social system will need to be reconstructed. Therein lies my interest.
I have for some time wanted to assemble a group of folks who possess certain skills that were common and productive when my great grandfather was a boy as well as ones that are important/useful now. He survived long enough to bring my grandfather into this world and he came to this country in 1909. My mother's family came to this country in 1615 (yes, before the Mayflower) They all survived long enough to produce descendants of which I am one. They lived...so we can do it too!
The concept would be similar to the crew of a submarine who have all "earned their dolphins." The meaning of that is when a man enters the crew of a sub, he is supposed to have a primary skill for which he is trained before he gets there. After arriving, he is expected to be able to learn every other man's skills so that in the event of a casualty, any man can fill in for the injured man, particularly if saving the life of the submarine is in question.
I remember as a boy going to a fair every year in Kutztown, PA. which was run and staffed by the Pennsylvania Dutch community. I would go from tent to tent, studying the skills they used to live during the early times and they had a tent for EVERYTHING, including a gallows where at 12PM every afternoon, they would demonstrate the hanging of a woman who had murdered her baby. While that horrified me to think about from every aspect of my being, they were able to demonstrate THEIR way of operating a society and of having "the rule of law" in it. They had a tent for the cooper, the baker, the candlestick maker, the cobbler, the undertaker, the spinning of wool and the list goes on. All the skills required to live in THEIR time frame and technological level. I spent hours learning to use a foot-treadle wood lathe there. I learned the things I needed to know but didn't get the experience to do many of them until much later in life. Now I know WHY I was taken there as a young boy.
What skills are important? There are a long list of 18th century skills? How about making electricity? How about water purification and sanitation? How about farming grain and livestock.? I can go on but the idea here is to find out who has the skills that would allow us to adapt to a major change by cooperating with each other as if we had come to this continent (or to this planet) for the first time? What are the things of THIS time that we can retain so that we can live a more comfortable life after a major incident, raise our children and move forward with our purpose for being here? How many of us have said, "If I knew then what I know now?" Well, this is just such a consideration. If we have to go back to THEN, what advantages of knowledge can we take with us so that we can eventually come back to as close to now as possible?
Here is a list of skills that seem critical to the future in the setting we are discussing. While it is not by any means "all encompassing" there are a mix of old skills and new skills, some of which depend on old resources and some of which rely solely on current or at least mid to late 20th Century resources:
1. Growing your own food
2. Obtaining and filtering a steady source of water
3. Securing your home and possessions
4. Providing intermediate level medical care
both at the individual level and public health issues
5. Operating alternative power
6. Raising livestock for food/Hunting
7. Communications
8. Jack of All trades
basic carpentry skills;
welding,
plumbing; fluid dynamics
electrical work
9. animal husbandry/bee keeping
10. making soap/candles
11. sewing,
12. leather-working
13. knitting
14. cooking.
baking
15. Butchering/meat cutting/preservation
16. Forager
17. Weatherman
18. Diesel Engine (we can grow fuel for a Diesel engine)
19. Making electricity and building electrical motors/generators
20. Heating/cooling/refrigeration
As I think about it there are more skills that belong on this list and if one thinks long and hard enough, one could use such a list as the curriculum for teaching preparedness to anyone who is interested.
In some of these skills, I am very experienced, at others, only somewhat...(I didn't do well when I tried to learn to knit, and some not at all. I know nothing of Diesel engines or heating/cooling or refrigeration.) Obviously, people with engineering knowledge will be of significant help in such a situation as we might face when TSHTF.
While these skills are only a partial list, they are also not in any particular order of importance except that perhaps foraging and weather prediction may be somewhat more difficult in some sense.
Of importance is that these are some of the skills that all individuals should have, not just one particular skill. There are of course a significant number of more "esoteric" skills that would be important for at least one person in any group to have as what we called in the service "Primary MOS" with all the others at some level of mastery so as to be able to serve not only the immediate family but the town/group as well.
In my GreatGrandfather's day, we didn't know why food spoiled or why wounds got infected. They just did. We know a lot about public health now that wasn't available to them. We get to keep those things as long as people remember that stuff or we keep our books, etc. Eventually, we will even run out of bullets...what then? Albert Einstein once said, "I don't know what we will use to fight the next war, but the one after that will be fought with sticks and stones".
The difference that I see here is that there will still be "stuff" left behind. Much of that stuff will be serviceable if we can produce energy to use it. But we still need folks who understand that stuff, how it works and how to fix it and perhaps how to build another one. So what we REALLY need to protect is our knowledge of things that have been learned up to now. Apparently, we have eaten a big part of that "APPLE" that was forbidden to Adam..."...but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat" Therein lies a great dilemma.
I believe it is clearly time to assemble those types of groups of people with skills. None of us can be truly and completely Self-sufficient unless we leave society as we know it and survive in the wild like Grizzly Adams. Not likely if we have any family about whom we care at all and not likely to live very long out there, either.
So, I offer these things to you for your thoughts and consideration. I think the time is growing short and the storm clouds are just over the horizon. While many in this continent think "that can't happen in this day and age" I would say,
"Fine, and I'll bet you still wait for Santa Claus on 25 DEC but as for me, I'll put some things away so that winter won't seem so harsh when it finally arrives." I always think back to the passage, "...and there were, in those days, shepherds abiding in the fields tending their flocks by night. And a host of angels appeared unto them..." (Can THAT happen now or is that impossible too?) OK, I'm drifting a little here...
We don't need to revert to the Stone Age here; but figure out ahead of time what technological advances we can KEEP despite a major societal catastrophe such that the skill set of the 21st century is not completely lost.
That is where I believe we need to focus so that when TSHTF, we will be able to "shift gears" and get on with life. Yes, we'll have to do some "surviving" but in my estimation, I want to return to "living" as soon as it is possible, knowing full well that MY ride is getting shorter simply due to the natural order of things.
What do YOU think?
