Posted on 05/21/2009 7:57:01 PM PDT by appleseed
Everything You Do Should Improve Your Position in Life Even If Nothing Goes Wrong
The survivalist community is often perceived as a bunch of gloom and doom types sitting on a pile of MREs, ammunition and guns in some far out corner of the North West. Of course the survivalist is also typecast as expecting TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) to occur any day now, in fact he is actually hoping for it. Honestly it is time for this stereotype to die a deserving death. Modern survivalists are many things but very few are actually concerned about the infamous black helicopters or FEMA Camps. Most instead are simply realists who understand that sometimes things do go wrong and it is better to be prepared than to expect someone else to solve your problems.
The real key to modern survivalism is the Modern Survival Philosophy which is a group ten key principles that guide the actions of many survivalists. While all are important it is tenet number one that really sets the stage for separating the doomsday stereotype from the reality. Survivalists are generally thought of as people who prepare to deal with disasters, shortages and anything that disrupts society. Modern survivalists do this but they do so in a way that improves their lives even if nothing major ever goes wrong.
For example many survival minded individuals grow gardens and develop more permanent food producing crops like fruit trees, berry bushes etc. on their property. They generally stick to organic production methods, focus on water harvesting and attempt to maximize production per square meter. This is a classic survival technique designed to remain sustainable if anything hits from simple loss of personal income all the way up to a collapse of US infrastructure.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesurvivalpodcast.com ...
A buddy of mine went out and bought a brand new Ranger Bass boat to fish in tournaments. Only thing he ever won was a budweiser can fishing pole.
Eliminating debt, firearms, storing extra food, living off the land, this article has some good stuff in it.
Self Reliant/Survivalist ping list
>> Everything You Do Should Improve Your Position in Life Even If Nothing Goes Wrong
I guess taking that satisfying “morning dump” qualifies, then. Even if the potty clogs up. Or not.
So basically...the modern survivalists and the 60s era hippies have one or two things in common.
“Store what you eat, and eat what you store.”
Sound advice.
Nam Vet
Preparing makes just as much sense as buying insurance and actually more cost effective in that you have something of value in your hand, verses a promise to pay. To me not to be able to support yourself though a some short term troubles is stupid and you might as well sign up for welfare. And for a head of a family that has not made preps to make sure his family has the the basic necessities to survive for at least a month with no or minimal relance on his neighbors or the ‘gubberment’ is a deadbeat.
Most of us rural and wilderness “survivalists” are only trying to find ways to make it through the next year without spending so much money, through road-closing snowstorms, etc. We don’t need much in the way of firearms for defense except for a big bore or two against the possibility of rare, surprised or overly-familiar, large animal predators. And yes, we concentrate more on gardening, cheaper energy and the like.
Many wealthier suburban survivalists are stocking up on semi-automatic firearms, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, grid tie solar systems, automatic generator backups, and so on. In a recent interview, Steve Forbes mentioned his acquaintances in Colorado, who each have 200-300 firearms stashed around their compounds.
...having difficulty finding a simple, manual, outdoor switch, because searches only return fancy, expensive transfer switches for suburban survivalist generator systems.
I’ve watched some of those You Tubes on Fema Camps, there was one that was a little disturbing, as it looked newly refurbished, had barb wire, was next to a train station and it looked like it had ovens.
What do you think? Have you seen this before?
Well, I’m not certain that my bug out bag really improves my life even if nothing ever goes wrong, yet I’ve still got it and recommend it.
Thus, his tenant #1 isn’t for me.
I’d replace his tenant #1 with insuring that you have on hand at least 1 month’s worth of cold, hard cash.
Bank failures, ATM, check, and credit card moratoriums are immenently possible during an economic crisis.
Non-survivalists aren’t going to want to trade, either. Forget gold. They will want cash. If you didn’t plan ahead by storing physical cash, then you could be put in an awkward position during a “partial” TEOTWAWKI meltdown where the banks aren’t open but your bills are still due.
So store some cash at home or in your office/retreat.
Food, shelter, firearms, ammo, armor (especially for your car), and a nice water well or water purifier/generator (e.g. for those living near large bodies of salt-water) should come right after having cold hard cash on hand.
And a bug out bag.
Bonus points if your dog can hunt and provide an alert/self-defense.
Sure, stay out of debt in the meantime and keep your day job or business...after all...society may keep on ticking.
I have a water purifying system (Berkey)and 3 ponds on my property. We use well water. I haven’t been able to find a way to convert the well to a manual pump in case electric goes out. Any ideas?
If your electric pump uses DC power, an old-timey hand-cranked telephone should be able to power it.
Traditional water well windmills are a great way to pump out well water without electricity at all, of course.
As far as a direct conversion to a manual hand pump goes, you’ve got to first determine if your current electric pump is powering a manual pump beneath it...or if your current electric pump is spinning an impeller to move the water.
Good info. Thanks! I’m not sure about the elect. pump that’s in there now. I have a hand pump and next time I have a few days off in a row, I’ll experiment with it.
LOL....while I would never, ever tell someone they couldn't own as many as they want, the fact remains that you can really only fire one effectively at a time, and one is likely to spend a lot more time carrying or packing a firearm than actually engaging targets.
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