Neko-chan
Lovin' The Homestead
...
If the SHTF today......
- Thread starter okiegirl1
- Start date
I posted this over on Moolie's journal, but thought it might be useful here as well:
And, an addition to the list for those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest: Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest, by Binda Colebrook. Lots of information on keeping the garden going through our mild winters.
Lol, I must be following you around the forum today ORChick! I just posted a reply to your comments in my journal:ORChick said:
It's super important to learn as much as possible about how to do things, and that includes taking local wisdom into account just as much as "book learning", and also (perhaps most importantly) to learn by doing.moolie said:Good points ORChick, the old book IS better but I haven't seen a copy of it in years--even at my local used book shops all I can ever find is the new version
The more we do, the more we learn how things "feel" and how to deal with the variety of outcomes that are possible. Gardening is not so much a science as a journey, and I learn new things every time I go out to work in the garden--even if it is just how much I love the scent of tomato plants and marigold flowers or the sight of bees working busily amongst the apple blossoms or how the sunlight filters through the trees.
lee&lyric
Lovin' The Homestead
That's the 10,000,000 question. Our quest has been to find out how natives to the area lived and thrived hundreds of years ago. We know it can be done. The readings Moolie shared will surely be a help on our journey.Britesea said:
lee&lyric
Lovin' The Homestead
Amen, amen, Sister Moolie. Preach that word!!!!!!!!!! All hail from the choir. You've just described one of the reasons we are so excited to be moving onto our land and getting on with it and as the Cable Guy, Larry, says, "Git r done!"moolie said:
Certainly learning how the native Americans lived could prove very useful at some point, but you might also want to learn how the European settlers managed in your climate before electricity. I know that there are various architectural styles that can be employed to minimize summer heat - such as porches with wide roofs, or breezeways. Small windows and thick walls also. Summer kitchens outside the house, and cool cellars. Many/most modern homes don't take advantage of these as A/C is the norm, but if one is building or renovating it is something to think about.lee&lyric said:That's the 10,000,000 question. Our quest has been to find out how natives to the area lived and thrived hundreds of years ago. We know it can be done. The readings Moolie shared will surely be a help on our journey.Britesea said:
Leta
Lovin' The Homestead
- Joined
- May 19, 2011
- Messages
- 401
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 68
If TSHTF today... even without electricity, we could last a good while. I imagine we'd walk down to the Wilderness store and get (buy? loot?) a gun, same for the rental/sales place for a small generator to keep the freezer cold. I'd make sure I got my neighbor and our close friend from nearby.
We'd probably wait out the panic. We have a solid 6 months of food, even with "guests", if we hunted/scrounged, I bet we could last a year. We also have a good water filter, several food safe 5 gallon pails with water tight gamma seal lids, and we live two blocks from a lake, so we'd be okay for water. From the beginning, though, we'd be forming a plan on how to get ourselves down to my ILs. They have a farm and several outbuildings, including a guest house. There is a river running through their property with potable water. If we couldn't figure out a way to get that far (480 miles), we head east, to our friends who own a more operational farm that's only 25 miles from here.
I agree with everyone who said that the main thing is to be right with God. I would want a gun for protection in situation with no law enforcement, and to hunt, but I wouldn't shoot anyone who came to us out of desperation. And, since pretty much everyone I know always says they are coming to us if TSHTF, I mentally prepared for a big tribe long ago.
This is what we would do *today*. Ask me this question a year from now, and hopefully my answer is something like, "Stay put", but I don't wanna say too much because I don't wanna jinx myself...
I was good friends with this guy, M, in my late teens/early twenties. One of the ways that we became friends was that we both are not pessimists, not exactly, but we both thought that there would be some sort of Big Crash in our lifetimes- not just economically, but because it was pretty obvious to both of us that this current way of life is one big non-sustainable mess. This was back in the '90s- I'm sure neither of us had ever heard the term "Peak Oil", the green movement was but nascent, etc. So he and I were both pretty freaky, even among our group of mutual freaky friends.
One night, we all were staying up late and listening to music and talking about the world, and everybody started talking about The Stand. It had been passed around among us and most everyone there that night had read it. M and I were both the most up on What We Would Do If, and we were both getting peppered with questions about why we had thought about it so hard.
Then M got big tears in his eyes, and he said, "If there was an apocalypse, I'd have to kill you, Leta". I sort of chuckled and asked why. And he, very sincerely, told me that I had a leader's personality, and a gift of communication. He said that I was smarter than he was, that I spoke more languages and would reach more people, and that I would amass a greater cadre of followers, and well, he couldn't have that. I asked him what would prevent us from batting for the same team, so to speak, and he said that I was unrealistic because neither one of us could stand to be anything other the One In Charge.
It probably sounds silly now, but that conversation really, REALLY spooked me. Partially because a good friend was methodically planning my demise, but partially because he was right, I was very ego driven. I never spoke to M again, but the next day, I got up and resolved that, from there on out, I was going to be a team player, no matter what. If I was going to lead, it was going to be by love, and that I would take direction from others, just not against my better judgement. I found humility, and ever since, my life has been better- *so* much better.
So when people talk about keeping outsiders out in a post-apocalyptic situation, I just can't. I've been through the mental exercise, and I just know that I would have to start the world over trusting people. If they proved themselves dangerous, that's one thing, but I believe in my heart that most folks would just being trying to get along as best they could, and it would be up to the more prepared among us to shepherd them through that.
We'd probably wait out the panic. We have a solid 6 months of food, even with "guests", if we hunted/scrounged, I bet we could last a year. We also have a good water filter, several food safe 5 gallon pails with water tight gamma seal lids, and we live two blocks from a lake, so we'd be okay for water. From the beginning, though, we'd be forming a plan on how to get ourselves down to my ILs. They have a farm and several outbuildings, including a guest house. There is a river running through their property with potable water. If we couldn't figure out a way to get that far (480 miles), we head east, to our friends who own a more operational farm that's only 25 miles from here.
I agree with everyone who said that the main thing is to be right with God. I would want a gun for protection in situation with no law enforcement, and to hunt, but I wouldn't shoot anyone who came to us out of desperation. And, since pretty much everyone I know always says they are coming to us if TSHTF, I mentally prepared for a big tribe long ago.
This is what we would do *today*. Ask me this question a year from now, and hopefully my answer is something like, "Stay put", but I don't wanna say too much because I don't wanna jinx myself...
I was good friends with this guy, M, in my late teens/early twenties. One of the ways that we became friends was that we both are not pessimists, not exactly, but we both thought that there would be some sort of Big Crash in our lifetimes- not just economically, but because it was pretty obvious to both of us that this current way of life is one big non-sustainable mess. This was back in the '90s- I'm sure neither of us had ever heard the term "Peak Oil", the green movement was but nascent, etc. So he and I were both pretty freaky, even among our group of mutual freaky friends.
One night, we all were staying up late and listening to music and talking about the world, and everybody started talking about The Stand. It had been passed around among us and most everyone there that night had read it. M and I were both the most up on What We Would Do If, and we were both getting peppered with questions about why we had thought about it so hard.
Then M got big tears in his eyes, and he said, "If there was an apocalypse, I'd have to kill you, Leta". I sort of chuckled and asked why. And he, very sincerely, told me that I had a leader's personality, and a gift of communication. He said that I was smarter than he was, that I spoke more languages and would reach more people, and that I would amass a greater cadre of followers, and well, he couldn't have that. I asked him what would prevent us from batting for the same team, so to speak, and he said that I was unrealistic because neither one of us could stand to be anything other the One In Charge.
It probably sounds silly now, but that conversation really, REALLY spooked me. Partially because a good friend was methodically planning my demise, but partially because he was right, I was very ego driven. I never spoke to M again, but the next day, I got up and resolved that, from there on out, I was going to be a team player, no matter what. If I was going to lead, it was going to be by love, and that I would take direction from others, just not against my better judgement. I found humility, and ever since, my life has been better- *so* much better.
So when people talk about keeping outsiders out in a post-apocalyptic situation, I just can't. I've been through the mental exercise, and I just know that I would have to start the world over trusting people. If they proved themselves dangerous, that's one thing, but I believe in my heart that most folks would just being trying to get along as best they could, and it would be up to the more prepared among us to shepherd them through that.
Britesea
Sustainability Master
In Ibiza (an island in the Mediterranean- so you know it's hot AND humid), the native people live much as they did in olden days- although I do remember one incident when a farmwoman insisted that I come into her kitchen so that she could show off her freezer. She even took food out and clonked it on the counter and put it in my hand, to make sure I understood that it was frozen hard and wouldn't spoil! 
But, what I saw was that they still live in their old style fincas or houses, which tend to have extremely thick walls- 2 feet or more, and they cook outside in the summer (by the way, you haven't lived until you've tasted a real paella with seafood that was alive only 2 hours before, cooked over an open fire!). I noticed an odd little niche in the main room built into one of the inside walls- the bottom had rounded depressions, like shallow bowls. When I asked why, they happily showed me- These were to hold water. They used very large clay urns, that had a rounded bottom instead a flat one. The unglazed clay kept the water cool by evaporation, and when they wanted some water, instead of having to lift the heavy urn full of water, they simply tipped it in the rounded depression until the water ran out into a pitcher. The whole thing worked so beautifully, even a child could get a pitcher of water out of one of these urns which easily held 5 or more gallons of water. Many of these fincas have been in continuous habitation since Roman times. During the summer, they wake up at dawn, so as to get a lot of the work done before it gets too hot, then take 'siesta' from about 12 to 4- the hottest part of the day. After a substantial lunch, they usually take a nap inside their cool finca, or sit outside under the shade of the trees and sip cool drinks if there is a breeze. Then as the day cools, they work again until sunset, then eat supper and enjoy the cool evening; going to bed about 10pm. Most of them are farmers or fishermen and everyone has at least one olive tree. Some of the trees are a thousand years old and are still being tended lovingly by the descendants of those that planted them. They are watered by aquaducts that were built by the Romans. Instead of screen doors, they use something like a macrame hanging, with long strands of cord hanging down- it doesn't keep all the flies out, but I was amazed at how few flies they did have inside their homes.
I spent two weeks there and it was like living in another world. At the time, my mother did not have a phone or electricity (she did have a propane-powered refrigerator) and she was one of the very few year round residents to own a car. I learned a lot about how to live a more SS life just watching the Ibizans.
But, what I saw was that they still live in their old style fincas or houses, which tend to have extremely thick walls- 2 feet or more, and they cook outside in the summer (by the way, you haven't lived until you've tasted a real paella with seafood that was alive only 2 hours before, cooked over an open fire!). I noticed an odd little niche in the main room built into one of the inside walls- the bottom had rounded depressions, like shallow bowls. When I asked why, they happily showed me- These were to hold water. They used very large clay urns, that had a rounded bottom instead a flat one. The unglazed clay kept the water cool by evaporation, and when they wanted some water, instead of having to lift the heavy urn full of water, they simply tipped it in the rounded depression until the water ran out into a pitcher. The whole thing worked so beautifully, even a child could get a pitcher of water out of one of these urns which easily held 5 or more gallons of water. Many of these fincas have been in continuous habitation since Roman times. During the summer, they wake up at dawn, so as to get a lot of the work done before it gets too hot, then take 'siesta' from about 12 to 4- the hottest part of the day. After a substantial lunch, they usually take a nap inside their cool finca, or sit outside under the shade of the trees and sip cool drinks if there is a breeze. Then as the day cools, they work again until sunset, then eat supper and enjoy the cool evening; going to bed about 10pm. Most of them are farmers or fishermen and everyone has at least one olive tree. Some of the trees are a thousand years old and are still being tended lovingly by the descendants of those that planted them. They are watered by aquaducts that were built by the Romans. Instead of screen doors, they use something like a macrame hanging, with long strands of cord hanging down- it doesn't keep all the flies out, but I was amazed at how few flies they did have inside their homes.
I spent two weeks there and it was like living in another world. At the time, my mother did not have a phone or electricity (she did have a propane-powered refrigerator) and she was one of the very few year round residents to own a car. I learned a lot about how to live a more SS life just watching the Ibizans.
lee&lyric
Lovin' The Homestead
Britsea, as I read I imagined. I am stunned at the beauty you have described. I'm surprised you didn't drop what you were doing and move there too. What beauty. Lee just told me to look them up; THAT'S what we are shooting for in our lifestyle (plus the organic farm).Britesea said:
Thank you for sharing.
Lyric
