I was very fortunate.
I was a kid on my Grandparents farm in the north woods...so, tho’ there was no money, we always had plenty of food: in the gardens, in gleaming jars and barrels in the cellar; eggs and meat in the hen house; milk, beef and pork in the barn, fruit in the orchards; meat and fish from the woods and waters and “wild” greens (fiddleheads, dandelions, sorrel, lambs quarters, mushrooms, etc, from the fields and woods.
What we couldn’t grow, hunt or fish, we traded for: eggs and butter for flour, sugar, coffee, molasses, etc.
Today, I still make my own lard (though from fat back I get from a farm, not from butchering my own pig! I make ghee from butter (for storage). I still forage in the spring for fiddleheads, dandelions and such, and mushrooms in the fall.
And nothing beats mincemeat made with venison...for a hot piece of pie with coffee.
I still have my kerosene lamps and wood stove for power outages. Well, I’ve been burning only my wood stove so far - no furnace until the snow and ice cover up my wood pile.
I have my own well for water.
If the SHTF, I won’t be in near the trouble city folk will.
**If the SHTF, I won’t be in near the trouble city folk will.**
Don’t bet on it! My deceased brother-in-law was raised on a ranch in West Texas. They kept a cellar full of home canned goods to feed themselves and the hired hands in the winter.
One day, during WWII someone dropped a dime on them and the government agents raided the ranch, claiming they were “food hoarding”.. They confiscated every bit of food they could and left them with nothing.
How did they survive? Back in the hills they had a second cellar hidden and it was full of home grown produce.
You’re one of my many cousins, aren’t you?
;)