How would you handle it?

[Admin]

I was talking with someone the other day and they told me that they had to spend a few days at their folks place cause the power had been out from an ice storm and there was no heat in their house. These folks both work big dollar jobs and have a big dollar house in a big dollar neighborhood. In spite of all their big dollars, they had to seek refuge at another family members place that hadn't lost power because their dependency on convenience left them helpless. I guess big money can't account for everything. I have always lived my life in homestead fashion and tried to be as self reliant as possible. I don't like being dependant on society.

If we had a terrorist attack or natural disaster that shut down the grid for a month, how would you fare?

Would you be able to sustain yourself?
if so, for how long?

What sort of things would you do or change to survive the chaos in the cities as people started turning against each other for food and water?

[mike692]

I think I would do better than most, but mine was out for awhile the other day and I definately missed it. But I have plenty of firewood, a cookstove, lots of canned goods and a spring. I could survive indefinately.

I'm thinking that America is fixin' to face some rough times in the not too distant future, so now is a good time to discuss this and prepare yourselves.

[Admin]

Dec 26, 2008 22:07:24 GMT -5 mike692 said:

I'm thinking that America is fixin' to face some rough times in the not too distant future, so now is a good time to discuss this and prepare yourselves.

Got that right buddy but most choose to ignore it.

America has gotten so dependent on electricity that it would be absolute chaos if the cities lost power for a month.

[patricimo54]

Better than most but still not where I want to be. Beautiful Bride and myself have been working a storage plan for awhile. We are close to step one, a years supply of necessities. Long term water would be an issue, wanting to put a cistern system but thats done the road. We are about ready for a kitchen remodel which will include a propane cook top along with a propane lights to be used as a backup lighting. What we have now is a supply of long burning emergency candles. As far as dealing with the "Crazies" from the city we have what is called the "Castle Doctrine" here in Texas. Which means a man can use deadly force to protect home and family. Everyone knows most Texicans have a bunch of guns and plenty of ammo, but we pray we never have to use them.

[johnporter]

All right another topic that hits home. Kudos to you JC for starting such a topic.
Electricity to myself is like a candy bar. Its nice to have it but life goes on even when there is none. I spent 2 years in Maine living in a camp without running water or electricity so if we were to lose power today in NC, it would be a cake walk.
I have 2 springs, a ton of firewood, 2 woods stove, a root cellar full of food and a smoke house- what more would I need? LOL. Garden space has tripled since this fall as I found need to grow a few more veggies after reading some topics in the gardening section here. A plus is I have learned how to raise livestock and farm animals over the years, and always keep rotating my stock of animals (from field to stomach). Just need to stop being so dependant on the live stock auctions and rear my own animals from the stock I have.
John

[acewoodsman]

great topic jc i know here on our farm we wouldn't have a problem we have a well , we have a fireplace , plenty of canned goods , a root cellar , but i think the real problem people don't think about is if the world is in that bad of shape there won't be any gasoline or propane, won't be anyone to come out an fill ur propane tank, that leaves us with wood which also goes back to gasoline to fill ur chainsaw won't have that either, hand axe's an crosscut saws are something to think about, life will get pretty tough, my dad always said "when the going gets tough- the tough will get going" there's alot of truth in that

[Admin]

Some good replies here but a lot less than I was expecting and hoping for. Unfortunately that tells me that most would be in quite a pickle if they were knocked off grid for a month. Maybe this thread will be an eye opener for us and we can learn a little from each other about self preservation.

Electricity is a great thing. Even when I lived off the grid back in the 80's, I depended on some sort of electricity from time to time. I built a battery bank and had DC power for certain things and later I bought a Honda generator for times that I needed to run power tools. Whenever the gennie was running I made sure I was making the most of it and had the batteries charging as well as all my other task. Running a generator for off grid living isn't feasible, but will be a God send in a power outage if you have gas on hand.

When I built this house I tried to be equipped the best I could. I have a 6 burner gas cook top as well as an all electric range. I could cook if the power went out and also cook if the propane ran out. I also have an antique wood fired cook stove that'll handle any cooking task you can throw at it and I always have ample firewood cached away.

I had planned to plumb in permanent gas lighting but never got there. I do however have numerous kerosene and propane lanterns and several candle lanterns on standby. Candles are handy but they will throw a lot more light if you place a globe over a flame rather than leave it flicker in the air.

I still have the same generator that I bought in 86 so I can switch back and forth from freezer to freezer if I lose power in the warmer months.

As far as food is concerned, we have enough cached away to sustain us for a good long while.

Last year I talked a lot of building a new place on one of my more remote properties and that idea is back on the burner. If this materializes it will have to be off grid because it's a half mile back in the woods and road building is out of the question. I have been working on plans for total self reliance with root cellars, cold rooms, DC power from sun and wind as well as a boat load of other cool ideas. I just started today on dropping trees to make lumber for the new cabin.

Never a dull moment here at the homestead

I started this topic with talk of some wealthy people I know that were so inconvenienced by a short power outage that they needed to seek refuge from the storm. A simple wood stove in the basement, some bottled water and a Coleman camps stove could have enabled them to ride it out at home. A generator would have let life continue as they knew it.

I'd rather have half my common sense then all their money

[redpig]

The problem JC is that most Americans do not have the knowledge to survive when things dont work. How many years did the Indians survive without lights, gas, freezers, TV, Cars, and electricity. We all need to develop the knowledge of survival, and ready ourselves for any type of emergency. You need to think of the very basic things that will be available, and that you do not have to depend on others to provide. Good thread to wake us all up!

[mike692]

I'm thinking what's headed this way may be equal to or even worse than, the Great Depression. If that happens, we are going to be in rough shape. People then still had the skills to take care of themselves. So many people now rely completely on the government.

In the short time we have to prepare there are a few things I think we should concentrate on.

Number one is debt. Get rid of, or pay down as much of your debt as possible. There's a guy that has a radio program that deals with this in depth. His name is Dave Ramsey. A lot of you may not like what he has to say, but he was a millioinaire, went broke, and is a millionaire again. So he knows what he's talking about.

Put aside an 'emergency fund'. Enough to pay the bills for a couple months or an emergency repair. Whatever may pop up.

Get yourself a stock of seeds. Heirloom seed that can be saved from the parent plant and used year after year. Don't waste your money on hybrids.

If you have the space, buy breeding livestock. Chickens and rabbits are easy to raise and take up very little space. Rabbits are clean, quiet, and produce a byproduct that's great for the garden. Things like quail could be a good choice as well.

Put away things like ammo, canning supplies, firewood, matches, candles, oil for lamps, lantern fuel, etc. Stuff that may not be readily available. And stuff that will be good for bartering.

Most of this advice is dependent on the US dollar maintaining some value. People in Germany were using their money as wallpaper after World War II so don't think it can't happen here. You can't continually bailout failed businesses and not expect it to come back to haunt you in the future. I'm not an alarmist by any means. Just observing what's goign on in this country today and it isn't good.

Edit to add;

Just thought of something else I feel is important.

Start yourself a library. Field guides to edible and medicinal plants and mushrooms. Organic gardening (what if you can't get fertilizer or pesticides?) , cooking, raising and butchering livestock. Whatever you can think of that you aren't familiar with or could come in handy.

[mike692]

Oh and something else I have to brag on a bit. Yesterday was 'grocery' day. I spent a total of 50 dollars for the last two months. And I could have spent a lot less. I tend to buy organic and more expensive soap and shampoo. I'm at a good place in my food production I guess! ;D

Today I'm making beans and fried potatoes by the way. The only thing that I had to buy at the store for tonights meal was the salt and pepper.

[Admin]

WTG Mike ;D We'll be cooking a full meal deal on the ol Crawford tonight. I'll post pics later.

If you like sulfate free products I'll have to hook you up with some of my wife's products. She formulates all natural soaps and skin products. No petroleum and crap in these. She makes an awesome hand balm that keeps my hands from cracking without the petroleum crap. For our own use she even has a dish detergent that will remove grease from a frypan in cold water and is made from plant based ingredients. It's the best thing I've ever used on a camping trip. ;D She also has a oatmeal soap that smells so friggen good it's hard not to eat it.

[mike692]

I'd definately be interested JC. I always try to buy natural products like that. People need to realize that a lot of that stuff is just killing us slowly.

[fishpole]

i was in that ice storm JC, nasty one too. i lost a very close friend that night in a car accident, she was delivering grocery's to people with out power and swerved of the road into a telephone pole. really shook me up.
most of the people around here lost power but we're all so used to it we just fire up the generoator and we do just fine. as far the grid going down for a month? well god knows i aint hanging around manchester for that long. hank says a country boy can survive, and he can survive damn well but not in manch. i hate that city sooo much
-cory

[bowslinger]

we got canned stuffed stocked up and snacks for the kids as welli have small propane tanks stocked and a small box stove in my adation plus i got some lamp oil on hand for my oil lamps and lantrans plus a gallon of colman fuel and some extra mantals as well

[Admin]

Jan 3, 2009 15:56:32 GMT -5 bowslinger said:

we got canned stuffed stocked up and snacks for the kids as welli have small propane tanks stocked and a small box stove in my adation plus i got some lamp oil on hand for my oil lamps and lantrans plus a gallon of colman fuel and some extra mantals as well

Now that's what I like to hear ;D

A country boy can survive

[lilweasel]

Back during the ice storm of 98...we went without hydro or a generater for 14 days. Although inconvenient we cooked on the fireplace and the coleman stove. Melted water and ice for the toilet bowl and washing. Country folks can survive!

[penokeemtn5]

Dec 27, 2008 21:36:26 GMT -5 redpig said:

The problem JC is that most Americans do not have the knowledge to survive when things dont work. How many years did the Indians survive without lights, gas, freezers, TV, Cars, and electricity. We all need to develop the knowledge of survival, and ready ourselves for any type of emergency. You need to think of the very basic things that will be available, and that you do not have to depend on others to provide. Good thread to wake us all up!

Thats more or less it.It's people these day's think life would stop without mcdonalds and cell phones,let alone knowing how to grow a garden or raise a pig and some chickens,it's sad to see the shape of the general pop. of our country.The one's like us on here that do know how to do it all they think we're the odd one's.
The joke will be on them in the long run.

[ninedeer]

We would do just fine for a very long time.We have a farm with chicken,ducks,steers,pigs,the freezer is always full.Lots of canned food from the garden.Generator to run the well if need be.big supply of ammo for all my weapons.We will fair beter then most. ;D

[danjr]

my family is prepared

[samdog]

I do wonder what would happen if Walmart closed down. The luxury of going to the store for food is quite extrodinary when you think about it. Luckily for me, i think my hunting/trapping/fishing skills would allow me to feed my family in the event of a natural disaster. I also have basic foraging skills mushrooms/edible plants that i can rely on if the going gets rough.

[kylesredapple]

I have a well and a years worth of food but I have to admit that I am not fully self sustaining. I use propane and if that runs out and there isn't more to buy then were in a pinch. I do have a wood cookstove though.

[hounddog25]

since i was raised moslty(brainwashed...lol) by my grandparent who lived during the depression.well i have always been a prepper.several of my plans are not even close to being done but in a pinch i could make it all work .

one idea i ahve is to have solar power available at each ooutlet in the hous.the top outlet for grid power and the bottom outlet being power i am making froim the sun.this way i can choose from the two.if i have something go wrong with a solar system i want back-up for it until fixed.here useing no power only costs about 20 bucks to stay tied in so that is not much money for that .and you also get a minum amount of power for 20 dollars before the charges start.

i am one of those people who has back up plan to the back up plan....roflmao....and probably another one if need be....lol

country folks can survive.....that says it all.

just look at the headlines each day of job loses and all the stockmarket stuff....good grief.the stufff is hitting the fan as we speak.glad i got out of debt in 2007.i feel free from having that around my neck like a boat anchor.

i hope everyone is preppareing for what lies ahead of us.

[Deleted]

I've lived in a shack without power, phone, toilet, or running water (till I hooked up a water tank and a tap through the wall by the fireplace) for most of a year and I'm still around so I suppose I'd be ok.

[Admin]

Jan 30, 2009 21:51:28 GMT -5 @maarty said:

I've lived in a shack without power, phone, toilet, or running water

I lived that way for 5 1/2 years, then moved and lived that way for another 9 months. Then moved again and built a new place where I had power but no water and lived there for 13 years.

It's good to know how to live in those conditions when a major outage or disaster strikes ;D

Have a karma Maarty