Is Recession Preparing a New Breed of Survivalist? [Survival Today - an On going Thread #2]

May 05th,2008

[nw_arizona_granny]

Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training

I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood

[azishot]

I’ve really got to try this! Sounds so easy and inexpensive.

This past Christmas my sister-in-law gave me some “Friendship Bread” starter. I followed the directions but it just didn’t come out right.

Is this the same principle as the Friendship Bread starter?

[azishot]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Never knew about hot water canners. Deep in my mind I knew cast iron wouldn’t work but thought there might be some way to “improvise.”

I miss my gas stove. :(

[azishot]

Grammy here ——can you pick me up some stuff at the gun store on your way home from semb-eleben?

I’ be waitin’..........

roflmao

***Hope you’ve stopped laughing. Now, tell me in English what you’re talking about.***

[DelaWhere]

LOL
You may be new here, but I just gotta say I like your style!!!

Wouldn’t expect anything less from a fellow NRA member!

[azishot]

Thank you! I can’t figure out what she was trying to say.
Maybe she’ll answer...

My husband was the one who encouraged me to join. He’s been a member for years. Made me feel good to join such a worthwhile organization. Gotta be prepared on all fronts. Scarey times we live in.

[Wneighbor]

Just driving by to say I HAVE TOMATO SEEDLINGS UP!!! They’re my first ever tomato seeds to actually sprout!!!! and i think i have a couple of pepper sprouts too but i had to come in the house to get my reading glasses so i can tell.

[hiredhand]

You’ve got that right! Sometimes, just a small word of encouragement goes a long way! :-)

[Wneighbor]

My husband was the one who encouraged me to join. He’s been a member for years. Made me feel good to join such a worthwhile organization. Gotta be prepared on all fronts. Scarey times we live in.

I'm glad your hubby encouraged you here too. I am very glad to have seen your posts. Welcome!

[Wneighbor]

Well bless you! You have a good head on your shoulders. If we had a nation full of citizens like you we wouldn’t be in this current mess.

[DelaWhere]

You can see the first use I put the groundcover to in the following picture.

Every gardener has to try out new ideas, right?

Well, this is one of my great ideas to grow lots and lots of strawberries in a limited space.

Strawberries did beautifully, in blossom and loaded with small fruit.  Of course this appeared to be an ideal way to grow 500 Strawberry plants in just a 10 X 30 sq. ft. area.

Best of all, the berries would be nice and clean, and I could pick them mostly standing up.

Neighbors were commenting on how neat it looked and how great an idea...

I could almost taste the strawberry shortcake - the hours of drilling, fitting and building the towers faded into history.

Then,

One Sunday morning...

I went out to check on those berries with hopes that a couple of them had turned red - the sweetness was in my mouth even before I went out the door......... 

Oh, NO!

Our dear dairy goat was in goat heaven - she was standing on her hind legs finishing off some of the berries on the top layers and the sight was sickening....  How did she get out THIS time...

Here is what I had...

















Roots dried out and 80% of the berry plants shot!

This is how I then moved on and started planting on the groundcover for other crops.

As I have stated in another post, 200 tomato plants this past year and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of tomatoes.  Canned a whole lot of them, dried a bunch ate all I could, gave family, friends and neighbors all they wanted.

So, I guess the cardinal rule in gardening is try, try again.

This year I will be expanding this considerably - no tilling, NO WEEDING, earlier planting - Life is good again. :-)

[samiam1972]

Bump to self to read later!

[azishot]

Just saw your post and am soooo jealous that you’ve got tomato seedlings up! I’m out here in the Phoenix, AZ area on 1 1/2 acres that are plauged by prairie dogs that have wrecked my garden. I asked “granny” a few days ago when I joined this thread if she had suggestions. They dig tunnels all over and fencing doesn’t keep them out.

I’ve got one lonely tomato plant in a pot that I treat like gold. It’s producing pretty well and boy are they good! At least I can move it when we have a threat of frost...like tonight.

BTW...enjoyed your profile page. Beautiful family.

[hiredhand]

You are very sweet to say that, but I'm a bit of a sheep dog and if I were king for a 24 hour day, before my reign expired I would order and see carried out the public executions of those responsible as well as their families.

If our leaders weren't such a bunch of godless, greedy, self serving heathen they would be grateful that men such as myself heed the voice of God and don't simply do what we know needs to be done in "earthly terms" to fix this mess. Because to be terribly honest with you, it's nothing that some brave men can't fix. They're not fooling us. We see what they do, and they're bothered by this, but they're bothered like Bill Clinton is "bothered". He was sorry he was "caught", but not actually sorry for what he did. But we're convinced that The Lord has a plan, and therefore we withhold our own actions and wait patiently trusting for the promise to come. :-)

If there were more like me, we might not be in this mess, but I'm not sure. You and I and our types are fairly outnumbered right now and have been for a good while. :-)

Trust me when I tell you that nobody wants me or anybody like me in charge.... even for a day.

[hiredhand]

I was gonna say...that's a great profile page. ;-) Family is the BEST!

[gardengirl]

Sourdough, but same principle. Have to keep it warm and fed.

I use cast iron and my pressure canner on my flat top. I’m just very careful. :) If it dies, it dies.

[gardengirl]

That looks like a great idea—minus the goat of course! LOL

Goats have rubber feet and they’re smarter than the average bear, BooBoo. :)

Grass takes over a strawberry patch here before you can blink.

[gardengirl]

You might try raised beds and put down some rat wire, or hardware cloth, first. It won’t help if they come out of the ground and crawl over, but it will keep them from tunneling under and up.

[azishot]

Do you think this starter would work for anything other than sourdough? I love sourdough and will give this a try.

Maybe someday I’ll try the cast iron on the flat top when it’s older and scratched!

[gardengirl]

What are “naked oats”? I work at a feed/seed/garden center. We have feed oats and a lot of the guys plant them for deer/ wildlife. They grow just fine. If they’re ok for human consumption, it might provide a source for some of the posters. They only come in 50# bags, though. LOL

[azishot]

We’ve tried that and it didn’t work. These are Harvard educated prairie dogs. For whatever reason, if I have the veggies in big pots (like the tomatoes) they’re untouched.

I just miss having a “real” garden.

Thank you for the suggestion.