How are you preparing for a deep recession or even a depression

Another thing I haven't thought about in a while... for those who want to grow a garden, make a phone call to your city trash disposal. Around here, the city has a monthly yard waste pickup and they dump the results into a massive compost pile. It's free for the asking. You pull your pickup around, whoever is on duty rides out in the Bobcat and fills it up, and you drive off.

This is dark, rich, loamy compost, almost black. Don't drop a penny in it unless you want to grow a copper mine. Spread a few inches of that on your garden spot, work it in after a couple weeks of rain, and you'll grow something. And best of all, it's free and you don't need fertilizer.

One no-no: do not complain if they can't take off right then to load your truck or something like that, don't gripe! They're doing you a favor. This is a setup that the city uses just because it's not worth it to them to try and sell all that soil, someone in the department understands composting, and if no one got any it would overflow their plant. If someone gets pissy, they will remember and always conveniently be busy when that someone shows up.

I don't know how other places do it.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: OGPatriot411

originally posted by: 38181
a reply to: litterbaux

I went and dug up a bag of coal. That’s my Christmas gift, with hand painted Christmas card, and a lump of coal, saying tough luck this year, the grinch won.

Are you sure you want to give away your coal?

Might regret that.

I’m Facetious obviously, hahaha! It would last a whopping 5 minutes burn time.
In other words a hand written card or hand painted card or letter is worth it’s weight in gold later on down the road in the wooden memory box.

a reply to: TheRedneck
Really want to get into it again, was something i loved as a kid.

a reply to: TheRedneck
Goin short on tether might make ya crazy rich. That may very well collapse soon.
Could be wrong.

originally posted by: 38181

originally posted by: OGPatriot411

originally posted by: 38181
a reply to: litterbaux

I went and dug up a bag of coal. That’s my Christmas gift, with hand painted Christmas card, and a lump of coal, saying tough luck this year, the grinch won.

Are you sure you want to give away your coal?

Might regret that.

I’m Facetious obviously, hahaha! It would last a whopping 5 minutes burn time.
In other words a hand written card or hand painted card or letter is worth it’s weight in gold later on down the road in the wooden memory box.

Agreed.

My family decided to exchange only hand made gifts between adults a few years ago and opening presents has never been more enjoyable or meaningful.

The gifts tend to be enjoyed for a lot longer than the store bought stuff ever was, are much more personalized to what each person might like or appreciate, and tought us each a lot more about everyone else's interests/hobbies/skills.

a reply to: openminded2011

Great advice.

I have most of those covered except 2. I've never liked fishing but I'm surrounded by rivers and lakes. I should get some fishing supplies and teach myself how to fish and clean them asap. I like fish but it's so expensive in the grocery store I rarely eat it. Plus I don't want to screw it up by cooking it wrong. If I was providing fish for myself I wouldn't be super concerned about that aspect.

I've also thought about getting some live traps. There's lots of small game around. I'm a little squemish around blood and guts but if it's between starving to death and having something to eat, I have a feeling I'll get over that fast.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Thanks for the tip. We have to call the city garage tomorrow anyway. I know in the last city I lived in they would let you come and fill up garbage cans with compost, you were supposed to give a donation but I never say anyone that did.

The funny thing was, they had a pop can spray painted white, to look like a security camera, up in the corner of the building to prevent people from other cities coming and filling up garbage cans. Smart but funny at the same time.

a reply to: litterbaux

Another thing we used to do to get compost was to raise rabbits in a raised hutch. The thing about rabbits is they cost nearly nothing to feed... just pull some grass from around the edge of a hayfield and they're happy as hell. We did get a bag of rabbit feed, but we only used it a few pellets a day during the winter or when one of the does was ready to birth.

The hutches are easy to build: they're just a wooden frame covered in hardware cloth (1/4" for the bottom and the first foot or so and 1/2" above that) with a wooden shed roof. We mounted the hutches on the side of a building about 3-4 feet off the ground so predators weren't a problem.

Rabbit waste is mild fertilizer and can be used directly, whereas chicken poop needs a year at least to rest before application or it will burn your plants. We tossed the waste hay underneath the hutch when we cleaned the cages (once every week or two) and let the whole thing just compost. As a side benefit, that area will attract worms that can be dug for fishing bait.

Rabbits also reproduce fast and their meat is pretty good. Only problem with that is people tend to get attached to the cute little things.

We lost our hutches back in 2011 to the pack of F-5 tornadoes that came through, but I would like to build some more.

TheRedneck

a reply to: litterbaux

An ear of corn would probably cost the same amount of gold that is found in most basic mobile internet devices. It would be a few flakes a mere fraction of gram. So hoard up now on scrap junk phones and tablets if you really love corn.
Perhaps itd be better to just pay in copper so the farmer can work on some plumbing projects.
Or you can go buy land with the gold and have your own farm.

The golden rule is he who owns the gold makes the rules. It enables magic to become to technology. Combined with platinum group metals the technology becomes even more magical. This is why these metals will always have appeal to the ruling powers of a people. As long as knowledge is archived gold will have value in markets.

I always assumed it was an out-of-place artifact (OOPart) that I hadn't seen before. It looked like some kind of ancient tool.

To answer the question of the post, I did like Chuckles55 did and put new tires on my vehicles. I've invested in tangible things that will be useful for the upcoming apocalypse. I need to buy seeds and a cast-iron wood burning stove.

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: collie
a reply to: rickymouse
Always wanted to ask... is that poop on a stick?

It is a carved rock with a hole similar to a bone marrow hole in it which has been permineralized. I don't know how they made it permineralized or if it was permineralized before they carved it. It is made from a piece of bone bigger than a cow according to the butchers at the supermarket, but they said they do not know if buffalo have any bones that are big enough to make it. Considering there are all kinds of permineralized pieces of bone around here, it could be a bone off some ancient big animal. Thought about bringing it to MTU to get it tested but figured I really don't care, my luck they would confiscate it and put it on display there for the good of the people. One guy told me he brought some old artifacts to the college here and they took them because they said that they were possibly burial artifacts so they have them on display at the college and told him he could not dig there anymore...seems to both of us they just conned him, if that was true they should have required them to be reburied, not kept at the college.

I have a picture of it on a link on my wall here, as I found it with the fibrous plug already removed which was probably the handle at one time. I should have kept the plug, it was like stranded clay. I guess the wood fibers can survive a thousand years.

all depressionary eras are bookended by 2 crash points..

we've had the first in 2007 and been waiting for the second crash point as this will be the one to bring us out of this era and end this broken version of society..

the firs great depression was between the panic 1873 and the second in the panic of 1896..

the second great depression was shorter panic of 1929 as the first and the second in 1938..

both great depressions where a part of great social and industrial change and led in turn to the last 2 great wars...

what this means is that we are waiting not just our second crash point but the point that takes us into the next great war,,

a reply to: litterbaux

I think staying out of the market for a few years is probably advisable, volatility will continue until the WEF deadline of 2030.

Layoffs, strikes and boycotts are/will make the market very interesting. Invest in the practical, land, home, property or save your money and move abroad...maybe move out of the city if you live in one.

We have silver and cash on hand and have several accts. The Etrade acct has nothing in it because they were bought by Morgan Stanley. One is a credit union which has interest bearing accts. I closed my paypal acct after their shenanigans. I think I have been financially penalized for making a donation to Trump, so that still lingers, making donations to conservatives and being punished, so you have to prepare for that as well...

a reply to: TheRedneck

Sooo wish it was free.

In North TX:

$30 per cubic yard
$20 per cubic yard if buying 10 to 99 yards
$15 per cubic yard for 100 yards or more
Also available bagged! $5 for one cubic foot bag

a reply to: GopiGrl

I got into some $7 UVXY calls this morning at open. You can make money even in a bad market. I'm down so much this year it's probably going to take 15 years to break even but I'll take scraps here and there.

In my 14 years of actively investing, I'm going to realize my alotted $3k loss this year for tax purposes.

Regarding having cash and silver on hand, I think this might be okay for a short period of time, like a natural disaster just to get through a bad couple weeks. I don't think it's the solution to a multi year "reset" of sorts. Having money in the bank probably isn't a good solution either. If we see a massive wave of foreclosures the banks will probably have to "bail in". This is exactly what led to the demise of FTX. They used customer money to hide the fact Almeda Research was losing money. I don't think the banks are going to get bailed out by the government this time around, they will be bailed out by depositors. I think this is where you were headed when you said you have money in multiple banks.

That's very smart.

a reply to: litterbaux

I wish I knew where they get their numbers. Today at work I haven't seen this many packages in one day in 3 years.

a reply to: Crumbles

We just had big shopping day come and go and we are in another big shopping day today.

Makes total sense you are seeing a lot of items ship right now.

a reply to: GopiGrl

That's still about $150 for two pickup loads. Not a bad investment if you're going to garden.

TheRedneck

In a really bad scenario silver is a good hedge for those things you can't or didn't store beforehand. As an investment I've never thought much of it and it's no substitute for things like a years worth of food, fuel, and medications.

a reply to: litterbaux

I reduced my spending on non-essentials like alcohol and fancier products. Made my own Christmas wreath. Cooking cheaper cuts of meat in au jus and gravies until they are fall off the bone. I found a frozen food place where the prices on some food is almost 75% less. Christmas presents will be practical and few. I drive less and when I do shop, it's one big shop to save gas. Reduced electricity use. Came out of retirement and found a rewarding casual job for extra money but mostly for socialization, that's why I am on ATS only now and again.

May 19, 2023

IF THE U.S. DEBT LIMIT IS NOT RAISED BEFORE JUNE 1, 2023....THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, WILL END!!

Lots of dire sounding warnings like that have been plastered all over the internet this month.

Here's the latest regarding the talks between McCarthy and Biden: www.npr.org...

After the baseless Covid-19 mass hysteria and fear-mongering, should we now view the "Default" warnings as way overhyped as well? I've ignored it until this week, for that reason.

-cwm