I am going to attempt another Wondering. Here it goes…
If you really believe the government and the elite are out to get you by reducing, well, just about everything including food, energy, vehicles, money, assets etc etc., what is your best bet? Store food and water, grow a garden that others can steal from you? Ammo up?
I’m thinking this “Reset” could take a very long time. Wouldn’t it be a smart move for “them” to make it a long drawn out process? Maybe for the sake of giving us just enough hope that things will turn around as we simply continue spiraling down the drain while billions die?
I wonder if the best thing to do is 1. learn what natural plants will sustain you in the wild and 2. how a person can inconspicuously plant these plants in quantities that will help you weather a, what, 5-10 year die off?
What plants would make the best choices? I would assume that people wouldn’t know enough to survive without a store or garden they could raid. By growing naturally, you could avoid the crowd?
What would you plant that nature would/could take care of all by itself without the need to be tended by humans?
The biggest of my T plants are nearly 3 feet tall, they represent a great bargaining tool, and those fruits in a barrel are going to turn 100 proof by the end of November.
What’s a T plant?
Tobacco
Oooh lucky you have the climate. Can you grow coffee too?
Buy coffee now. All coffee is imported. Rumor has it come November no more coffee.
Noooo
I’ve been stocking up on the freeze dried stuff.
Hey, better than nothing.
Get really good at fishing, boys and girls. Plants ain’t going to do that much
Dandelions and cattails are two strong contenders for ubiquitous, nutritious, abundant, and self seeding.
If the squirrels don’t steal them all, good to pick up some acorns. You can make flour with it, good for pancakes and your best maple sirop
Trees that produce acorns do so based on the previous year’s weather. Three years ago here in Northern VA we had a cold winter, and that next autumn there were tons of acorns on the ground. Last winter was mild, so I expect very few acorns this fall.
Plant Chinese Chestnuts, mo betta.
Purslane also — a common garden “weed” of which all parts can be eaten
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea
Day Lilies or Stella D’oros. 100% edible from the bulbs to the flowers. Your main competitor will be deer. Perhaps plant the self perpetuating lily crop and shoot the deer which come to raid them in the middle of the night. In town shoot them with a bow.
It’s a Felony since FJB to shoot one of the King’s deer even if they are eating 100% of your crop on your land. So shoot, shovel and shut-up; sooner or later we will deal with the Environmentalist too.
most of the plants to grow are location/geographic specific.
I’m in the south and several here are Moringa, Elderberry, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, bananas, mango, avacodo, etc
There are huge numbers of edible plants that do well just left alone. Most people are unaware of them..
Get a book specific to your locale and get busy.
Lambs quarters are supposed to be good to eat, but they are peppery. Some things (like grass) can be used if you have a juicer so you don’t have to try to chew it all up. You can still get hand-cranked juicers on Amazon.
A single male could maybe survive in the wilderness for an extended period by hunting and foraging. A family? Forget it.
We have forgotten too much from our caveman days.
Besides, what was the life expendancy of a caveman?
I’m thinking in terms of just long enough to survive the big die off.
After which, those who have planned all this out will cease having any further plans?
Your sentiment echoes something I’ve been seeing a lot of lately. Saw it from Mike Adams the other day, suggesting all you have to do is survive the chaos.
You can’t really believe that. Something is emerging. Something is being born into this world. And the Word has it that those days would be shortened, because if not there would be none left alive.
Bible up if you want a good look at what’s coming. It will NOT be any total collapse into utter chaos. It will be the birth of a system of total control over e v e r y t h i n g . . .
Crab apple bushes and autumn olive berries (an invasive species) produce large quantities of fruit that is work intensive but nutritious and tasty. Burdock roots and Jerusalem artichokes, when harvested at the proper times of year, are nutritious and also very good. The Jerusalem artichokes can be kept in the ground in the fall and dug up when needed -or until the ground freezes. Even regular potato plants are typically unrecognizable to most people.
Potato plants do look like the garbage foliage you see around vacant lots and around buildings etc. A small patch of potatoes will produce all a family can use. I am still learning about how to properly store them after harvest so they last for a year. Lots of fun and learning so far.
Potatoes would be one of the fastest things that people would learn to recognize.
Nature can provide food in abundance. Acorns are your friend, learn how to process them and you will have flour for carbohydrate and proteins. The list is vast and knowing what you can eat and what can be used for medicinal purpose is priceless knowledge. Bone up on this material available on the web. You can find charts for the area you live in. I live in a forest and over the years I have learned what I can and cannot eat. For instance the manzanita can provide fruit, wine, and a tasty soft drink or tea. They grow in abundance in my area. The list of great tasting and nutritional wild edibles is to big to list here. There is food almost everywhere you go on this planet. You just need to know what your looking for and where to look.
As far as meat goes, all animals are good for food. Eat some squirrel’s you may be surprise.
Is there a tuber or root vegetable that 1. Grows well without tending and 2. Can be ubiquitously planted while walking through an open field?
Jerusalem artichoke (topinambour) it looks like weeds grows everywhere even in fairly poor soil and it’s also good for your health. It’s been used in medieval times as remedy for lowering digestive problems. But unknown then it also lower cholesterol.
Thanks’ I will have to give the Topinambour a try. I live at 9500′ at growing veggies here is a challenge. Besides the elevation soil quality is poor.
turnip
Sweet potatoes produce a lovely vine that will crawl up anything that is not too big around and will look like a wild vine growing up a fence or small sapling.
If all we have to eat as a family is wild berries, squirrels and dandelions for a few years, we are dead. Not being pessimistic, just realistic.
Good knowledge to have regardless. Lots of free eats out there.
The menu is far greater than that.. City dwellers will be challenged and be the first to go in a starvation situation, most will die off. Know your land and what it can provide. Calories will be the challenge. An adult needs on average 1800 calories a day, start there on your research for wild foods.
Look up pemmican
Yes, you are very realistic. I spend quite a bit of time harvesting mushrooms and berries, 2 to 3 months. It is fun and good exercise. But it is extremely seasonal. The rest of the year has nothing.
Having said that, I own a number of books on edible wild plants for our region in hard copy. Not giving up so easily.
I’d rather die defending my greenhouse and garden than to live like that. Not to say that that is not valuable knowledge to have.
“not valuable knowledge to have” I’m counting on people who think this way. By the time they realize they were wrong, it will be to late to learn, less competition. Indian’s of old lived of this land. Having some of that ancient knowledge is far from useless.
Nobody said that it was useless and I didn’t say “not valuable knowledge to have”, I said that I am old and that I personally am not going to live like an animal rooting around in the woods just to survive the last of what life that I have left. I will take a few of the looters with me on the way out. 99% of the people who think that they can just walk off into the woods and survive are morons. You could give them a case of canned goods and half of them would lay down next to them and die because they couldn’t figure out how to get the cans open. It’s all big talk until you are shit out to lunch.
I agree. I am just going to keep farming and worry about thieves if it becomes a problem. I do have a couple of foraging books, just in case.
Exactly. Well said. Thanks.
Is your property visible from the street, Ken?
Seclusion is the best form of security. Failing that, you might learn how to farm without neat little rows. The more wild things look, the better. Everything should be hidden, or at least hidden in plain sight.
Sorry Dude, No Free Lunch.
Chickens are my favorite. You can raise them in your kitchen cupboard.
Got apples, pear, cherry and a peach tree. Ditching the cherries, birds get them all. Raised bed veggies for this old arthritic fool. Chickens are cleaning house on the raised beds now. Asparagus, thinking of pulling the bed, bending over to weed and cut, enough.
Turkeys are a nuisance, infested with ticks. Venison is not too bad, spotted ones are like veal and easy to carry. Moose, too much work. Grouse, partridge or woodcock, yup, chickens are easier. Porcupines, just kill them, compost them unless you are really hungry. Squirrels and rodents are for the farm dog.
Top of the food chain freshwater fish are heavy with mercury. Coastal saltwater fishing is fun, doable. A farm pond can grow fish but snapping turtles will clean that out. Crayfish are still there even though the water level is really low this time of year. Used most of the water in the garden.
Fiddleheads in the spring if you can walk through the rough areas. I know a mushroomer or 2, strange people but good. Plenty of acorns but the deer prefer them.
Ditching the cherries, birds get them all.
Eat the birds. Use a pellet rifle. No problemo. Same solution for the squirrels that currently maraud my pecan trees.
It is all personal preference.
Got some Bing outside the garden, when they hit, bingo. On the other hand those bush cherries are sweet as candy, the sugar is a killer.
I like the birds. Although hummingbirds are vicious, it takes quite a few to make a decent meal. Also, birds eat the bugs in the garden, feeder in the middle. A bird bath helps.
Toads are great to have in the yard. Since they showed up a few years ago we have no grubs or any crap like that.
Leave a porch light on to attract the moths for the frogs and chameleons to eat; moth caterpillars are cutworms and army worms.
Then the snakes come for the frogs!!!
Around here that means PIT VIPERS!!!
Gotta watch where you step.
We have had excellent success against birds using netting.
No, GNL, I don’t agree with a long term die-off. The people who wish to rule the world are getting long in the tooth and are impatient to rule now. The way Biden is talking, I see the violence before the mid-terms and that might be how martial law is enacted and the result is no mid-terms. The spicy times commence.
No mid-terms could cause major difficulties for the District of Corruption. I could see that being a launching point for secession of several states and an embargo on providing sustenance to opposing states. Big metro areas are totally dependent on rural areas and if the flow of goods stops, they will disintegrate quickly.
A friend tells me Georgia Cops are arresting people filming drop boxes; they say it is “illegal monitoring”.
I guess TLPTB learned how bad the optics of 2,000 mules was and decided the best way to keep the corruption hidden is to arrest the monitors.
Biden = gone by spring.
Sunchokes.
I can’t seem to get them to grow without irrigation.
THAT’S what you’ve been wondering? This site really is for dummies.
Oooh, you must be an intellectual.
Washington Post, CNN are better for someone as smaart as you.
lol yes, you’re going to grow some plants and think that will help you survive the reset you are forecasting. Where is you garden, fantasyland?
Yes, the plot is a fantasia come true. You have no idea.
I watch the mass killing in Ukraine and fear it is coming to the US. In Chicago the street death rate is higher than civilian death rate in Ukraine.
I can burn wood and stay warm this winter.
That was a negative and unconstructive thing to say. Why are you here?
To be a prick and to condescend. Why else?
Burdock (cockleburr), stinging nettle, wild parsnip (blister plant).
All 3 are things no one wants to touch or walk through a bunch of.
Dandelion is great – flowers, leaves and roots. Don’t forget purslane, grows almost everywhere.
https://www.ediblewildfood.com/purslane.aspx
.
I would add to obtain some kind of alternate transportation, like a bicycle, in case fuel becomes unavailable. I have one, though I seldom ride it. It’s meant to be emergency transportation just in case.
As for what to plant, here’s an idea – do a web search on guerilla gardening, or what to plant at home with covenants that don’t allow you to have a garden. I’ve checked on this, and there are edibles that can be grown discreetly despite homeowners’ associations telling you that you can’t do it. Basically, they look like ornamental gardens but can be eaten. One example might be sweet potatoes. I planted some of those this year (and by mistake, actually) and they have vines that take over your garden plot. Some people grow them for ornamental value, but needless to say, they’re edible.
If you have a homeowner’s association telling you what to do you are already screwed.
That’s it down vote me but don’t tell me what is wrong with what I said.
Add bike trailer for transporting stuff. Just don’t get it stolen. Those will be much sought after.
All you idiots who propose growing your own food or getting stuff from “the wild”, are not taking into account the millions of people who live in apartments or condos.
What is their “Plan B”?
Die
Wild Turkeys will feed off the carcasses of the Progs we shoot raiding our crops from the cities. Lots of Turkeys the following year.
Turkeys eat carrion? Are they fighting off the dogs, coyotes, crows, and buzzards?
all carcasses should be recycled through a maggot farm to feed chickens or fish. Waste nothing.
They don’t need any cycling. Chickens will pick the bones clean. Then they use their magical power to turn that pile of yuck into delicious fresh eggs and more chickens.
Buy more ammo
Always good advice.
Is that even possible where you are?
If you see the coming crash and refuse to do anything for yourself in the way of preparing or the more sensible thing… moving, then its all on you. Additionally its not those that HAVE prepared, responsibility for the stupids living in the cities who have not prepared, or refused to prepare.
Considering that, its not the people preparing and growing their own food that are the idiots now, are they…
I imagine severe brutality and cannibalism in the big cities, like too many rats in a cage without food.
Lack of water will be a bigger problem than people realize. If there is no natural source nearby, like within a short walk not a drive, you will be moving. The word is refugee.
Guerilla gardening
Yes, also French Intensive Gardening.
To a passer-by looks like a tangle of weeds.
If looks are deceiving, you might be deceived.
It is also resource and work intensive. It has the benefit of being very compact. When water gets scarce, I think it would be the first thing to go.
If you plan on sheltering in place, you need to have weapons and enough food that does not require cooking for 90 days. The biggest problem you will face is water & sanitation.
I would put your chance of surviving at 1 in 1,000 at the highest. Good Luck
Underground gravity fed pipe from creek. If nobody knows about it (govt.) all the better. Build an outhouse.
Only for people with land obviously. City folk are fucked when SHTF.
What is the purpose of having food that doesn’t need cooking if you’re not moving?
No electricity or gas is likely to go along with no running water.
I missed apartment and condo part of who you were replying to. However, if they have the wherewithal to store 90 days of food that doesn’t need cooking, then they can easily store water, fuel, and make other arrangements.
But of course they have none of that.
When it happens, 30 days will probably be enough, but I could see the gangs burning down apartment buildings once they have plundered them. Once the urban animal packs think they have picked the place clean and have killed as many of their enemies as they can, they will move to the suburbs. Transportation will be tough, as the gasoline supply will not last long, less than a week.
Any place without natural barriers between urbs and suburbs will be easy pickings.
I know a apt dweller that will survive in his place for 90 days. in 90 days (maybe 60) half the population will be gone and he can move out to a more defensible and farming type environment. all you need is 4 things and a brain…..with some luck.
TN
Yup, water and sanitation improves your odds by 50% covering just those 2 things.
Every area is going to be different. I live in a semidesert area so fiddleheads can’t be grown but travel to the coastal areas and they are everywhere. It takes some research to know what is edible and wild in your neighbourhood.
But defending what you have will likely be a better bet than living in the bush trying to stay out of everyones way, in survival mode. As soon as you establish a ‘camp’ you will be discovered by either trails you leave, smoke from fires or even the roof of your makeshift shelter will give you away. IMO, its better to stay with your established place, where all your preps are done and defend it until its indefensible.
If you live city… ur hooped… Suburbs… ur hooped Rural… you have a fighting chance and moreso the further you are away from any major city. Assuming you are mostly rural or small town then defending is the best option, more defenders, more experiential knowledge to tap and a trading base. Marauders will need fuel and ammunition to pack with them the further out they go from the cities and they’ll be seen very quickly allowing folks to meet’n greet them with home turf advantages.
But… aside from all that too, there is a ton of information available on the internet for identifying, growing, harvesting and preserving, just about everything. Download everything you can find from blacksmithing to growing zucchini. Dump it all on a tablet, get a small solar recharger and its a portable library that takes almost no space at all.
NO. EMP and you have nothing. Not a huge likelihood IMO but a possibility.
Do digital as it is convenient but make sure you have physical printouts. Then hit the copy shop and make copies. You survival “book” will be worth plenty in trade to those who did not prepare.
IMO, an emp in rural areas will be very unlikely, unless there are gooberment shits running around emp’n the countryside. If nuclear, its going to be cities not flyover country where results would be negligible.
Having multiple copies in paper is a great idea but…. now you have to store more ‘stuff’. I’m not saying no to the idea but I’m thinking that priority wise a tablet would be the better option. If you are really worried about an emp you could keep a spare tablet in a faraday bag.
Was thinking about this. So much old useless old tech laying around, but books, they just need keeping dry.
My barn has dozens of plastic tubs full of books. Parents were book hoarders. We never went anywhere without coming back with a couple of books at least. 60+ years of buying books makes a huge pile.
As I said, “Do digital”. But electronics can fail. Two is one and one is none. I have had a tablet go black and that was it. No fixing or fiddling would bring it back. Books are a storage pain, but they last indefinitely if cared for. And you can always wipe your ass with them.
and burn them for heat…
I’m just saying that most folks have lost a lot of knowledge over the years, even since my grandparents who farmed in Sask and only had electricity for a few lights.
They fixed equipment by fixing or making a replacement part that was broken. How many people can even operate a simple device like an acetylene torch or stick welder?? Much of that experiential passed down info is gone in families today in favour of the quick google search and 5 minutes later completely forgotten.
To start collecting book now, this late in the game is gonna be harder than scouring the internet for information. Youtube has tons of DIY videos for practical things… no not the free energy clickbaits. But real info like glassing eggs, making pemmican, simple welding, even shodding a horse. If you have all your bins of books cataloged great, but if not, then its a chore to search thru them to find the info you need, and likely, they’ll go unused because of the time it’ll take to scour thru them.
Because a tablet can store not only text documents but also videos and pictures. The bonus is that that info is very quickly retrieved. A 20gig usb can hold a freak’n ton of data that would require a barn to hold… 🙂 A tablet or a few backups, imo, are the better option, but to each their own.
That is why BOTH. I have probably a terabyte of SHTF stuff, but I also have books on much of the same.
The barn books are all the parent’s stuff. Watts, Rand, etc., those huge old beauty spot books full of magnificent photos of nature, lots of philosophy, fiction and technical stuff. Almost none of it of use in SHTF scenarios. Those I have separate as they are ones I have bought since they died.
I sort of cataloged the books as I put them in the boxes. Took pictures of the spines, printed them out and taped them to the outside of the bins.
The digital is definitely more convenient and portable. I would need a moving van to move the books. Or one hard drive in my pocket if digital.
Couldn’t agree more….
or maybe 3. move to a non-Western controlled country (including learning a new language) while you still can.
Too late for me. I’m too old to start over. This place will be our last stand, if it comes to that.
Look up food forests or.forest gardening, there’s plenty of videos on the u tube.
Get a book on wild and edible plants for you region and plant some of them around your property, plantains, persimmon, nutgrass, and also look into doing some.guerilla gardening with them as well.
I’m in zone 9b, so I have planted a good number of Moringa trees, also small and large leaf Chaya, as well as Avocado, Olive, Orange and Mangoes. Also two separate varieties of Sweet Potatoes and some Jerusalem Artichokes.
But the key is to put in random edible plants that can sustain you.
Don’t plant a garden in a set of rows and expect them to be un molested in a food scarcity situation.
Plant a decoy garden. If left alone you win. If it is pilfered it will be assumed there is nothing else.
Mix in a few toxic plants. You will know what not to eat, raiders probably won’t.
Chaya is the perfect plant in this matter. It’s toxic so animals avoid it, and people who don’t know how to prepare it will get sick from it.
However it’s very nutritious if you prepare it correctly. Plus it’s very fast growing and hardy.
Thanks. Learned something new today.
https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/982-chaya-the-maya-miracle-plant/
I’m not eating something that is highly poisonous when raw.
Forest gardening. BINGO. Now THAT’S why I post my Wonderings. I will search for videos.
Thank yeeewww.
As interesting as wild plants, food forests, etc. are, I would suggest traditional calorie crops to live on and gardens for vitamins. There is no reason you can’t use your garden to be growing the seeds for decades of gardens, you probably don’t have to live off of it right now. Find corn, grains, and tubers that do well in your area and propagate them.
I think people overestimate the amount of wild plant foods and their food value. I would still plant wild or domesticated perennials, but I would never count on them.
Absolutely be storing food. Yes someone can take it from you. That has always been the case. Have animals. They can be killed or taken. Trees can be chopped down. The only thing I would hesitate on doing would be having an obvious greenhouse. To me that looks like a giant target.
Some of these people are old. Will they wait another ten years to see the conclusion of their plan?
These people already live in castles. They have concluded their needs can be satisfied by a much smaller population of serfs outside the walls. They feel safer that way because they understand how outnumbered they are.
Let’s say you moved to your own piece of undeveloped land right now, in a decent climate, with your grab and go bag.
Most people would be dead in a year.
You need to already be where you plan to be.
Don’t plan to be a refugee.
My wife and I did this ten years ago. We started with an existing house and barn and all of our household goods.
We aggressively got to work developing self sufficient systems of food production. I am semi retired so all of my time is available for manual labor. We are hard workers, not lazy.
There is a town nearby and we have money, enough to buy a small utility tractor and supplies.
Many times recently we have found ourselves saying, “We got here in the nick of time.”
I don’t know if we could survive yet, after a major meltdown, but we’re a heck of a lot closer than we were ten years ago.
Dandelions … cattails …. acorns … purslane … grass …. crab apple … and other fucken rat/squirrel food.
So solly, but you people are fucken nuts-0. Your fantasy diet is just one step below the Klausian type assholes who say we should eat bugs ‘n shit.
However, a great big hat tip to Harrington Richardson who suggested Stella D’oro.
Honestly, I had no idea they grow in the wild.
=========
Me?
I’M TRUSTING JESUS TO KEEP ME FED!!!!
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Not even ONE Christian here has said they will do likewise. Instead, ya’ll are stockpiling and hoarding just like unbelivers!! Ya’ll say you trust God, but a more accurate statement would be, ===> you trust God and your hoarding little asses! lol — NTTAWWT
Weird, isn’t it? A filthy mouthed heretic like me is the Only Faithful One in your midst.
Don’t be so quick to judge people you don’t know all that well. We’re all sinners here. We know that. You don’t have to rub our noses in it.
The Bible expresses a strong theme of self sufficiency. Just do what you can to be self sufficient.
Trading the things we make is a fantastic way to complement that lifestyle. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
Depending on someone to sell you anything is one sided. You have to bring something to the table.
My neighbor has started growing wheat.
I mill flour.
He gave me 1500lbs of wheat berries last year. I could mill flour for the next five years with that much.
I give him all the flour he wants.
My wife bakes the most scrumptious cookies from that flour. Rich and hearty. Yummy like you’ve never tasted.
But then I have never tried Stella D’oro. They look a bit sweet for my taste.
FS……..I got a wonder mill JR to mill wheat berries, but the bread (hard winter red) seems to be small and like a brick. it taste good though. any suggestions?
Amen, sarcasm or not. I’m not eating weeds or weird animals. I trust everything will work out just fine. It always does for me.
There is an old story about an ant and a grasshopper.
“I trust everything will work out just fine. It always does for me.”
When you were growing up, did your dad call you princess?
Absolutely. Did yours?
Stucky aka Stella D,
God helps those who help themselves.
Putting up a watering and food hanger in the new “Deluxe” chicken coop today, increased the herd. Why would anyone deal with little cannibals like chickens? Egg fruit! Nothing like it. When the rich neighbors half eat their lobsters, the dog and chickens get a feast. Yup, I trade for good garbage. The next day the yokes get a little red. Don’t believe me? Marigold petals make the yokes sunshiny yellow, layer feed even comes with it. You are what you eat Stella.
Living the dream out here on the edge of civilization.
You had a chance to go to Hardscrambled’s villa, just saying…
“God helps those who help themselves.”
Not true. Also, not found anywhere in the Bible.
True, how about God helps the helpless?
Helped myself to salvation by accepting God’s blessing.
I have faith that God is going to help me.
Better.
A,
You got me hopping. Was not thinking about quoting the Bible, likely the way Ben Franklin, a magnificent sinner, in Poor Richards Almanac used the expression. But I checked.
🙂 I’m a magnificent sinner too.
Not verbatim but the theme is present.
No. I’m not going to get in a biblical discussion. But God wants us to RELY on Him. That’s why he takes you to rock bottom…to get your attention and see it that you need Him. I’ve seen many examples in my life where people are NOT “helping themselves” in any fashion whatsoever, yet God was there to lift them.
Sure, take His blessings that He offers you in whatever form it’s presented. Don’t be stupid. But, I don’t buy that theme that ‘God helps those who help them themselves.’ No way.
‘God looks after fools and drunks’
just a saying but applicable
Perhaps this is the quote you are thinking of.
“God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.”
― Otto von Bismarck
It is called paraphrase.
Nope. See above.
It’s an old proverb. Things must be incredibly dull if all you can read is a bible.
Know the Bible and you’ll have need of no other book.
Only fools who do not know the Bible would dispute that.
I admit, it would be fun to see the language and meaning shifts that would occur over the generations if they only had one book the entire time, especially one that had been translated and changed through multiple languages.
Your bible says you have to be a fool to be wise, so I’ll dispute that.
Your way wrong on that one. We do the best we can and be the best we can in every way. If our problem is not solved. we give up, surrender, then the miracle comes. This is the way of the holy spirit. If you have not experienced this. You have never experienced the holy spirit.
notice the ant…
While the ant chatted up the doomed ‘hopper it forgot to notice the aardvark.
A warning and chatting it up are two very different things… no time for chatting, have to store up for the winter, the parasite hope’r will die soon enough. Not sure about this but I’m thinking the aardvark will avoid the fire ants, especially when swarmed…
How different those two things are depends on the conversants, I’d say.
Not sure about the ‘vark, either, but I avoided them when I was down South.
I’m too old and gimpy to be foraging for berries and nuts
hope it’s fast
It’s called a confidence game. Why? Because you give me your confidence? No. Because I give you mine.” Mike (Joe Mantegna), House of Games
Everybody gets something out of every transaction. ~ same character
“Maybe for the sake of giving us just enough hope…”
The pushers & the pushed? The pushees? The pushovers?
I have been thinking about hunter-gathering. But that is in the larger context/headcount of the hopium dreams of “holding the line” (what was said about hoarding, recently?) – which is right high up there with following – holding to – the yellowbrick road. Holding the line, hoarding, Hodor:
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/news/a45133/game-of-thrones-hodor/
“If the rule/ers you followed” on the roman roads they built to funnel you “brought you to this, of what use was the rule/ers?”
The ag revo tied people to the land. The fertile river valleys grew crops of grain & gain of function predators that preyed upon the furrowing “line-holding” farmers who didn’t hold the liens … or the reins. What did the beasts of burden get out of the transaction?
The reign of hope, maybe. The king is dead. Long live the king.
“They” give you symmetries. Like lemonade, those symmetries can only serve … what, the platonic form of truth/justice/American way(?) … by their conversion into stymie-trees.
Plant stymie-trees.
And then, like Johnny Appleseed, move.
But … coming late to “the fat of the land” will kill most who try. That’s the real issue (well, the end of the issue). The extent to which each one has been yellowbrick railroaded into this boxcar canyon of specialization, division of labor, yellowpath dependencies …
… & the pushers know this. Cue Elvis, In the Ghetto. We Saw•war comin’ but Warsaw’s home, where the plants are, incl the hopium poppies, so we stayed put.
If it gets that bad it’ll get that bad. Breaking Bad is endless, so when’s the Q, not if.
Hope (if you can’t help yourself) for best, plan for something else … or accept that the purpose of symmetry is to subvert your ability to help yourself. Ssssymmetries “given” are bribes; bribes taken are self-hostaging … presto! you’re a status quo•tidian Indian, livin’ on the res, in the getØ.
Accept, too, that symme•try always begets asymme•try. If at first you don’t suck seed, try, try again. Or maybe give see seed a try.
Accept that SFU (stooped fooking humans) are incapable of learning this because, weak as they are, the incentives of greater fool parlaying & musical chairs offer enough wiggle room for them to conclude “it won’t happen to me…we…us” – I’ll get outta here with free lunches intact.
CuElvis again. Long Black Limousine.
Thanks glock n Load for reopening this topic.. Lots of great info in these comments if we are not too lazy to act on them. Edible Plants., acorn flour, pemmican, mushrooms, most garden weeds. Get info now as your are storing the readily available Murican food you are used to.
Here’s my 2 cents: 1. Root crops have a historical tradition of helping people stay alive in times of famine and war. Especially those that can overwinter in the ground. Potatoes alone have sustained whole countries. 2. Learn to harvest and eat the pests that raid your plantings–squirrels, bunnies, ‘coons, some birds. 3. Read “Edible forest Gardens”. Most native Americans planted their edibles in small, random forest clearings that they could count on when there was nothing better. (note: store something better in those same forest gardens. 4. For protein move further DOWN the food chain. With all the guns, ammo, and great hunters in this country all the edible, wild meat will be gone in a surprisingly short time. Example: some minnow traps may be worth their weight in silver as a source of renewable, fresh water “sardines”. 5. Mentally, do not limit yourself by saying things like “I’d never eat that” or “Life’s not worth living if I can’t have fill-in-the-blank”. Everyone in the lifeboat says they’d never eat raw fish until one flops in the boat on the tenth day–then they will fight over it. 6. Buck up and get your knowledge now. No one says it has to be your first choice, but what if it’s your only choice?
People will learn to eat all sorts of things when they get hungry. But anyone not already growing and storing food won’t know what they don’t know until it’s too late.
This!
Cherokee Candy Roasters and purple sweet potatoes grow well and store a long time; I used fence staples and fine rope to install netting to my barn rafters and place the food up there; it makes it hard for vermin to get to, and if they do, a mist of dilute Pyrethrin spray sends them far away. I plant some Daikon Radish and Purple Top Turnips in my Winter pastures which we eat too.
I have read that the pungent odor of a scented dryer sheet will keep mice/rats away. I put a few in my garage in early fall before the cold weather hits and have not caught a single mouse in several years and used to get 2 or 3 a year.
Peppermint oil on cotton balls.
Catch the mice and feed them to animals.
That would certainly smell better than the dryer sheets.
My house is visible from the state highway, so the first thing I will do is to quit maintaining the lawn and garden to help camouflage anything useful that is growing. My neighbor’s field peas had weeds almost as high as the pea plants and had he not been mowing around it, I doubt anyone would have bothered to look at all of the purple pods growing throughout the weeds.
Fence rows are a place when you can grow climbing plants such as sweet potato, cucumber, pole beans, peas, etc. Don’t make it look like it is planned, but let it go, only keeping the invasive vines out to improve production. You can leave old corn stalks and okra stalks to use as trellis replacements, as well.
Sporadically plant things around the property and make it look like they are growing wild. No pretty rows or well maintained spaces. Don’t forget to harvest seeds during the growing season. Plant leafy greens in your flower beds and they will look like weeds growing in an unmaintained bed. Many of them will go to seed at the end of the season and return in the fall or spring. I have volunteer lettuce, peas and beans that have sprouted this past week after some cooler temperatures and a little rain.
A well maintained garden is an indication of people present and a source of food for scavengers. Make the place look abandoned and they will not suspect anyone is there to protect it.
I like dogs.
If I don’t mow the predators can crawl up close.
If ya gotta mow… go prepared…
https://i.postimg.cc/NMjBZPHL/lawnmower2023.webp
I read an article some years ago, I think the fella was in Venezuela and he did this very thing. There were gangs roaming and raiding the outskirts of the cities. He went so far as painting around his windows to make it look like it was burned out. Did it work??? Dunno but I can assume it wouldn’t hurt…
I have double pane windows so can put a hole in the outside pane and still maintain the window’s air protection.
When gangs roam the neighborhood, throw some old TVs and other appliances out the front yard so it looks like your house has already been ransacked. Am I joking? Maybe. Maybe not.
I’ve seen stuff like that in the country. If I saw it as a looter, I’d start looking for ‘tards to rob.
If it all goes really bad, leave some shiny bait over a pit trap. Good pig feed.
I might be joking, or not too.
That’s got to play hell with your fields of fire
Bunnies are one of the easiest sources of meat to produce.
Bunnies can be raised in a fairly small cage, entirely enclosed and safe from predators. They are totally silent and don’t smell much.
Bunnies produce more meat faster on less feed than any other small animal. They are a heck of a lot easier to process than chickens. I’d clean a bunny any day over a chicken.
Farm raised chicken isn’t the same as the light fluffy stuff you get at the store; bunnies taste better. The meat is nice and light and does not have a weird flavor. Bunny meat does not taste like chicken; it is meatier, more like beef.
We eat bunny meat as part of our regular diet. It is great on the grill with a little seasoning, the same way you might grill chicken pieces.
Bunny poo is mild enough that it can be applied to garden plants immediately. No cool down period is required.
Bunny poo is the only chemical my wife applies to our garden. We harvested 400 lbs of tomatoes so far this year, with one or more waves to go.
That melts down into hundreds of quarts of the best tomato sauce, salsa, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and red wine marinara. The flavor is out of this world.
Inuit eat bunny pellets (arctic hare) when things get tight-rhymes-shite.
But homegrown chicken is the only chicken that tastes good. And they can get turned loose to feed themselves. How do caged rabbits taste compared to wild ones?
I wonder for the work involved how guinea pigs compare to rabbits.
I have never eaten a wild rabbit so I can’t say.
The meat is light in color. Looks just like uncooked chicken white meat. Does NOT taste like chicken; it’s more like beef.
“what is your best bet?”
take back your nation.
anything else is iffy.
I learned from Vermont folk medicine that the early spring leaves of the maple trees can be cooked and eaten, also the inner bark of the maple can be eaten raw or cooked.
The pines here in the south are heavy with huge pine cones, the benefits of pine nuts are too long to go into right now but just try them and I think you will like them. Cattails are edible right now if not too dried up. You peel the bottom of the stalk and use it like onions or garlic.
BL here.
Forgot to add above that Kudzu leaves, vine tips and flowers are all edible and the roots can be used to thicken soups when ground into a powder. I think you can eat the roots like potatoes also but I never tried that.
Lord knows that half the south is covered in Kudzu. 🙂
I agree. The plan is to drive you crazy. It’s going to come in waves. Notice how everyone is backing away from masks and jab mandates? Now you don’t really think it’s going away do you? They will just let you slip back into normalcy then WHAM! it’s back like the turd that won’t flush.
I feel if we aren’t, as individuals, actively trying to free the minds of others by putting our voice out there (making our own videos, writing articles, mirroring the content of others and at a minimum financially supporting those who are) nothing else we do really matters; it’s just the ‘my freedom movement’. (I have much to improve in this area myself.)
What plants would make the best choices?
So plants are sentient now? Didn’t get that memo..
Anyhoo, a few suggestions:
A hydro-electric power plant or a nuclear power plant (ideally a few of both), a few rows of water desalination plants, at least an acre of chemical plants of assorted varieties and of course a sewerage plant or two.
Some of those may prove useful in the future, should our betters allow us to have one.
Walt, you saved the best for last.