My Sincerest Apologies to Preppers and Survivalists

My Sincerest Apologies to Preppers and Survivalists

Freggin Hollywood is the one that should be apologizing.

Every mention of the word prepper/survivalist and they're made out to be the villian.

Latest example of this is Netflix and The Decline.

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: TortoiseKweek

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: TortoiseKweek

originally posted by: schuyler
I have always planned not for a zombie apocalypse

Then your dog is safe... but hey, I think it needs to see a vet!

Jokes aside, unless you have a large property where you can stash years worth of dry / canned food, and grow produce in your yard, we're all kind of screwed. Timing is also important. Try growing stuff when it's -20 Deg Celsius. Not going to happen. If the world really does experience a SHTF scenario, we're all done for, except for those who have access to DUMB's.

You don't need to grow year round... you need to be able to store foods properly.

Or nobody would have survived 200 years ago.

If you are thinking that canned goods and MRE's are the way to go, then yes, you are doomed.

What it is actually all about is sustainability and self-sufficiency.

Yes, you need property to do that.

It actually is pretty simple with the correct property.

I don't have canned goods or MRE's or 1,000 pounds of pinto beans stashed anywhere and I haven't been to a grocery store (haven't left the property, actually) since the 16th of March.

We've doing just fine.

Did I say you can grow year round? That's why I mentioned winter being -20 C and why you need a large storage area! Cause it's impossible to do that!

I have 2 hot greenhouses and grow year round.

I live in Montana.

Sometimes here it is around -29 C for a week or so.

So I don't think impossible means what you think it means...

Earth sheltered/Walipini ?

originally posted by: YouSir

originally posted by: CharlesT
a reply to: visitedbythem

One of the things that ran out quickly was alcohol. I was tempted and almost did buy a still several years ago. I wish I had.

Ummm...there's a number of electric air still's on Amazon that sell for around $200.00...and also some non electric 3 pot stills for around the same price...

They've got excellent reviews...

YouSir

Theres always mouthwash or hand sanitizer.. or pruno. All you need is a bag and rotten fruit. Its easy to make intoxicants. I mean you might go blind or whatever, but youll be buzzed.

Not joking about the hand sanitizer though.. alcoholics have been known to drink the foam sanitizer when in the hospital.

a reply to: markovian

Is minor flexing of the arrow up and down?, sure, but not "archers paradox" which is flexing around the riser which needs to be compensated for.

With a modern crossbow or Compound you get minor movement up and down and with the ultra stiff bolts and arrows that most crossbows and compounds use even that flexing is Minimized. Then factor in let-off which gradually accelerates the arrow and limits the flexing even further as there is no sudden shock to cause compression.

Anyhow, yes, archers paradox is limited to finger shooters.

Back OT, I accept the OP's apology

originally posted by: neo96

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: TortoiseKweek

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: TortoiseKweek

originally posted by: schuyler
I have always planned not for a zombie apocalypse

Then your dog is safe... but hey, I think it needs to see a vet!

Jokes aside, unless you have a large property where you can stash years worth of dry / canned food, and grow produce in your yard, we're all kind of screwed. Timing is also important. Try growing stuff when it's -20 Deg Celsius. Not going to happen. If the world really does experience a SHTF scenario, we're all done for, except for those who have access to DUMB's.

You don't need to grow year round... you need to be able to store foods properly.

Or nobody would have survived 200 years ago.

If you are thinking that canned goods and MRE's are the way to go, then yes, you are doomed.

What it is actually all about is sustainability and self-sufficiency.

Yes, you need property to do that.

It actually is pretty simple with the correct property.

I don't have canned goods or MRE's or 1,000 pounds of pinto beans stashed anywhere and I haven't been to a grocery store (haven't left the property, actually) since the 16th of March.

We've doing just fine.

Did I say you can grow year round? That's why I mentioned winter being -20 C and why you need a large storage area! Cause it's impossible to do that!

I have 2 hot greenhouses and grow year round.

I live in Montana.

Sometimes here it is around -29 C for a week or so.

So I don't think impossible means what you think it means...

Earth sheltered/Walipini ?

Close!

I went with modern tech too... solar powered, uses water for the thermal mass (indoor pond).

A sunken variant of these...

Growing Spaces

a reply to: Lumenari

Composting is a pretty effective way to supplement heat too. Of course.. It can have downsides in an enclosed space.

Couple weeks ago I was also made aware of composting with black soldier fly grubs. Voracious lil things.. and they can serve double duty as feed.

*sips Starbucks macc*

yea doomsday preppers are sound all around.

so one of the most contagious viral strand in recent years reduced to just political squabble.... I think folks from the black plague, Spanish flu, or death fever would you opt for modern day logistics than doomsday preppers' advice.
lest we forget viral outbreaks from say a century or two ago.

doomsdayers throw enough at the ceiling and some'll stick... statistically.

Im pretty cool with preppers , all the knowledge they posses about surviving in the wilderness are traits that could potentially save your live.

In a SHTF scenario you can't go to google to find out how to butcher animals properly so you dont get sick.

And there are plenty of stories about people who got lost in nature for days or week on ends and having a few of those survival traits can favor the outcome.

In a world where technology rules it is quite smart to have that knowledge as a back up should it all fail.

originally posted by: CharlesT
a reply to: visitedbythem

One of the things that ran out quickly was alcohol. I was tempted and almost did buy a still several years ago. I wish I had.

You don't need a still at all to distill it. In the fall, during apple harvesting season you make hard cider (add yeast to apple cider and let it ferment for 2 weeks, rack it off the lees, and put into gallon jugs). Put some away in a cool dry place until the first multi-day freeze is predicted. Leave it out to freeze. All the water in that jug will freeze, leaving the alcohol unfrozen (called the apple heart). You slowly drain that off (many ways to do that, pick your favorite). What you have left is called Apple Jack, a form of apple brandy.

All with no electricity and using the natural environment to perform each step.

PS: I have a few quarts of that here that I made a few years ago, aging. I've also separated into batches to add various flavorings to be soaked in it (cinnamon, various herbs, dry hopping some, and lemon/orange peel).

I remember when the PBS program "Practical Sportsman" spun off from "Michigan Outdoors". The focus was more about comforts like a camper with hot water, a toilet, a shower, gas stove, fridge, etc. At first I had lost respect for the now aging host, but maybe he had the right idea for senior outdoors people. A survival situation would be similar for folks getting on in years, play it smarter rather than harder.

a reply to: schuyler

In my household we are civilized; we have bidets.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

And that is really the core of my "realization" that prompted the original post.

I can argue government overreach and individual rights and political borderlining all day long, but I have realized progressively over the last 3 mos. that it's not ... short of killing me, or perhaps imprisioning me, it doesn't matter what the government at any level does or says, or who holds temporary power.

Although we've been conditioned to believe we have to have our modern infrastucture in terms of survival ... there are a few basics we physically and mentally require ... and that's not the grid, or the 'net, etc.

But I hear you plainly. It certainly is a matter of "head and heart."

The politics or the logic or the facts are superfluous in light of core survival.

Emerson called it self-reliance. That's as good as any description. Thanks for your thoughts.

a reply to: Gryphon66

The Report From Iron Mountain should be summer reading for all high school students.

a reply to: projectvxn

Thanks for the suggestions.

The strongest one is your last one: face reality as best you can.

Thanks for your words and thoughts.

a reply to: Advantage

The funny thing in my case is that I was raised to be self-sufficient. My dad took us out of the suburbs to the country when I was about 12. Most of my survival skills that I do have come from that. And of course, I have worked my whole adult life to attain success in the System ... that is more fragile than a house of dust.

I won't come after your property. Thanks.

a reply to: YouSir

I'm not sure about the club ... I mean, I've had a slow-burning realization ... but I'm still a mouthy opinionated jerk.

Thanks though. We'll see. Keep you and yours safe.

a reply to: infolurker

Thanks for the links, very kind.

Okay, I started trying to individually answer all who were kind enough to respond.

I wrote this rant post assuming that ... it would fade away into nothing. I just needed to get it off my chest.

I log in a few minutes ago, and see it on the front page.

Stranger things.

I do sincerely want you all to know who bother to read this thread, that I really do appreciate the steps that some of you made to overcome past ... "disagreements."

I cannot change my spots. I am who I am. I do hope at some level we can all understand each other better.

Thanks, you crazy buncha so-and-sos ...

Gryph

Join the Freedom Fighter side!
Unfortunately, surgical masks and wipes weren’t really on my prepper list... I just happened to have a box of ten masks handy from 2 years ago when I worked home health care. My husband always gave me trouble about keeping tp on hand... turns out I was right.
Thanks for the sentiment ... you might find some of us have been right about Big Government ... it took a situation like this to show people what those who escaped communist countries knew all along.
Those bread lines were real and now it happened in the US, although still under the Capitalist market, it is the same principle caused by govt intrusion.
I think it was rather a dry run for bigger things.

"sure, but not "archers paradox" which is flexing around the riser which needs to be compensated for."

Many modern trad bows ('stick and string') are cut for center shot through the grip, meaning the force of the string pushes the arrow nock straight out of the bow, directly behind the point; no paradox issues at all.

Here's an example from my collection:

i.ibb.co...