If there is a total economic and social collapse of society, how do we defend ourselves? Its all very well being a prepper now, but are we not going to end up with a situation where there are armed militias that will simply take over our resources? I have just purchased a small farm in Scotland. While I have resources at present, how would I stop others taking it over by force? If a gang turns up with guns, there is practically very little I can do about it. The situation is even worse here (and much of the world), as unlike the USA, we are legally prohibited from having guns. The criminals don’t care, as they have guns anyway. Even if I did have a gun, there is no way I could fight off a heavily armed militia on my own. It's a practical question and I wonder what we do about it? Do we try and form our own militias? Or do we abandon farming / land and live in the wilderness as hunter / gatherers?
In Ukraine during the Bolshevik induced starvation, the government officials would come in and take every last grain, every last scrap of RECOGNIZABLE food from the countryside. The citizens resorted to hiding it. They would bury it, stuff it up chimneys, under floor boards, in the hollows of trees and sew it into mattresses or pillows. Eventually, the officials caught on and started carrying with them long, hooked rods which they would probe the ground with or reach up into chimney's with. They would cut open pillows and mattresses. They would even take the cooking pots, telling the residents since they would have no use for them, they should "donate" them to the collective.
If your main worry is looters, good hiding places to "cache" food might be enough to do it. If your concern is more along the lines of a government action against hoarders, you will have a more difficult time.
Sometimes the best defense is camouflage, it definitely won't hurt.
In the first instance here are a few ideas
1) create a
Sacrifice stash. One that is hidden but designed to make them think they have found the mother load of what you have. Then have your main food hidden split up in several different other places that are much harder to find.
2) Make your house appear to have been already burned out and looted. This can be done by boarding up windows, painting (using the technique of
tromp l'oi, fool the eye) smoke stains above windows and doors, Using a blow torch, you can make it look even more realistic, burning the vegetation around it, scattering old clothes and maybe an old refrigerator laying on its back in the front yard with some rotting food still in it. Really make it look like it has already been picked over.
3)
Guerilla gardening. This is the art of deceptive gardening. Rather than planting things in neat little rows behind a fence, which is basically a neon sign advertising your crops as a fast food restaurant, you plant things out in the forest, here and there. Plant perennials where you can because they are shade tolerant and low maintenance once established and scatter some annuals randomly around the property. I am big on planting what I call "strangelings". Plants that are edible and nutritious but, not often recognizable to someone not trained in natural foraging.
As far as physical defense, here are a couple :
Coon holes can be quite effective. Dig18" holes around the most likely point of entry or least defensible point of approach or along a fence line (they hit a couple of those before getting far and they may be second guessing their decision to go further), and drive a sharpened piece of rebar (or more) into the bottom. cover with light sticks and brush....someone steps on those...yikes. For added pain,drive some spikes into the hole at a downward angle so that if they try to pull their foot out they are liable to get speared again. Makes them sitting ducks...
Another one, I have seen is called a popper. If you can get shotgun shells, you plant one on top of a nail, when it is stepped on, the primer is pushed onto the nail, in theory, setting off the shell. Makeshift mine.
Old tire treads cut off flat, put screws through them and burry them slightly on a dirt road or trail...will help take out an approaching vehicle or two.
Here are some other ideas...
12 Booby Traps For SHTF - Ready To Go Survival
12 Homemade Booby Traps When SHTF – Online Barracks
There is also this book availible on Amazon :
U.S. Army Guide to Boobytraps Paperback – February 4, 2010
by
Department of the Army (Author)
And the disclaimer is apt...these things used during regular times could land you in a heap of trouble.
Basically, the premise is to make yourself either appear to be undesirable or...such a frustratingly difficult target, using up so much of their few resources, that they go elsewhere.
No offence to anyone here. I am trying to give us all a doom-break, just for a bit of fun. It sometimes feels like a curse to be able to see the bigger picture as we all do and not be able to do much about it, if you get what I mean. I am not trying to be flippant or make light. I think it is a UK thing - we try to make a joke out of stuff when it is looking bad. I reckon some of you lovely people get this.
Arailia Spinosa £14.99p for 50 seeds. All legal to buy in the UK here.
