The basics of the "Basics".

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Sourdough

"Eleutheromaniac"
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Mar 17, 2018
Messages
6,100
Location
In a cabin, on a mountain, in "Wilderness" Alaska.
You don’t have enough trained, provisioned, hard-eyed allies.

Or water.

Or food.

Or ammo.

Or distance from hostile hordes.

Keep working those issues.
 
I have ZERO trained, provisioned, hard eyed allies. Not gonna change, nobody around I would trust that meets that criteria.
Water is stored, and can be collected, filtered and purified.
Enough food for a good bit.
Enough ammo to last the rest of my life, one way or another.
No distance from hostile hordes, not moving.

I am NOT a survivalist, I am prepared for potential disruptions in supply.

We all work within the limits of our capability.
 
water,food,shelter and security...repeat and repeat and repeat...rotate order as needed. this is the basics and will get you far.
 
Currently, I'm on the island that I grew up on. I've got allies, not tons but strong allies.

I get the water that falls from the sky, about 150" to 200"/year. Last year was 212". Water collection, storage, and restricted usage is a way of life.

Food is a problem. My 2 1/2 freezers (side by side) are full, so I'm good there. I live on the ocean so, although I may get tired of seafood, I'll not starve. My weakness is canned goods and dairy.

I've got plenty of ammo, at my other house, which does me little good.

I live on an island so the only zombie hoards I have to worry about are already here.

Power is hydroelectric, so we my run low on a dry year but not out, and not in the winter. I can heat with, oil, electricity, or wood. We are outside the likely area of an EMP strike.
 
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I figure we have a couple years with the food, a good spring on the place allows for indefinite water and more ammo than I could survive to shoot in an all out throw down.
Same except the springs slow down in August to a trickle. My family is like minded and is small tribe.

Ben
 
I think one of the things we need to start pounding on the "prepping" drum, is that having only some of the basics covered will likely be fatal, and having anything short of "all" the basics is extremely dangerous.
I notice that on forums, people compare or rate their progress to those who "Don't" Prep at all. I guess that sounds better, and feels more successful.
 
I think one of the things we need to start pounding on the "prepping" drum, is that having only some of the basics covered will likely be fatal, and having anything short of "all" the basics is extremely dangerous.
I notice that on forums, people compare or rate their progress to those who "Don't" Prep at all. I guess that sounds better, and feels more successful.
I think there is a "prepping spectrum" so to speak. Some folks are in for a complete apocalypse and others just don't want to be left empty-handed at a minor disruption in the supply chain. Hubby and I don't "prep" for the zombies, but try to live traditionally in order to get us to the next harvest of that item (so typically 1 year +). This happens to be labeled as prepping to many folks. If you are in for the long haul, your list is a solid one.
 
I "Fully" support people prepping at what ever level they feel like prepping at.......Period.

I think there is a "prepping spectrum" so to speak. Some folks are in for a complete apocalypse and others just don't want to be left empty-handed at a minor disruption in the supply chain. Hubby and I don't "prep" for the zombies, but try to live traditionally in order to get us to the next harvest of that item (so typically 1 year +). This happens to be labeled as prepping to many folks. If you are in for the long haul, your list is a solid one.

However I feel there is a "possibility" things could get quite yucky. Those "zombies" you joke about, will be those who prepped for a shorter duration, then the duration of the event that happens.

If people want to joke about zombies, fine with me. If they want to belittle the more serious preppers who they see as.....silly serious and fearful of zombies, that also is fine with me.

But they should be keenly aware.........that part of prepping, includes "Hardening Your Heart" to face what you "might" need to do to protect yourself and your loved ones, from those who "WILL" become animals when it is clear to them, they did not prepare for a sufficient duration.

Hardening my Heart, has been an arduous training. I had the good fortune of that training started at about age nine or ten.
 
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I "Fully" support people prepping at what ever level they feel like prepping at.......Period.



However I feel there is a "possibility" things could get quite yucky. Those "zombies" you joke about, will be those who prepped for a shorter duration, then the duration of the event that happens.

If people want to joke about zombies, fine with me. If they want to belittle the more serious preppers who they see as.....silly serious and fearful of zombies, that also is fine with me.

But they should be keenly aware.........that part of prepping, includes "Hardening Your Heart" to face what you "might" need to do to protect yourself and your loved ones, from those who "WILL" become animals when it is clear to them, they did not prepare for a sufficient duration.

Hardening my Heart, has been an arduous training. I had the good fortune of that training started at about age nine or ten.
Just to clarify SD, I was not belittling or joking. The zombies are already among us. I don't know another way of exemplifying the differences. And I do agree that naivety can be costly.
 
I "Fully" support people prepping at what ever level they feel like prepping at.......Period.



However I feel there is a "possibility" things could get quite yucky. Those "zombies" you joke about, will be those who prepped for a shorter duration, then the duration of the event that happens.

If people want to joke about zombies, fine with me. If they want to belittle the more serious preppers who they see as.....silly serious and fearful of zombies, that also is fine with me.

But they should be keenly aware.........that part of prepping, includes "Hardening Your Heart" to face what you "might" need to do to protect yourself and your loved ones, from those who "WILL" become animals when it is clear to them, they did not prepare for a sufficient duration.

Hardening my Heart, has been an arduous training. I had the good fortune of that training started at about age nine or ten.
I tend to focus on what happens after the unprepared have starved to death or passed due to diseases and we have composted the pile of bodies of marauders trying to assault our fortified hilltop. 50 man years worth of food will run out eventually and we have to have the seeds and the know how to grow more than we consume. We have know how and where to build the dam to power the mill to grind the grain.

Prepping in my minds eye is not only planning to survive but also thrive.

Ben
 
I don't consider myself a serious prepper, but I do want to learn as much as I can from what life throws at me. I also don't want to have to relive other peoples mistakes. No I prep for the little events that I have seen in my life and for the ones that are likely to happen. I also agree with @Neb that you need to know how to live a sustainable life style no matter what happens and you only get that knowledge by practice.

People think that they can transition from a consumer society to Jeremiah Johnson over night. Yep, that hunting, fishing, and gardening stuff has a long learning curve and is very unforgiving to a starving pilgrim who don't know how to cook.
 
I tend to focus on what happens after the unprepared have starved to death or passed due to diseases and we have composted the pile of bodies of marauders trying to assault our fortified hilltop

I consider that the 'easy' part (easy being relative). It's getting through the dying time I worry about the most.

We have a mountain of information of how to thrive in a low population agrarian lifestyle. Every one of our ancestors up to a handful of generations ago pulled it off after all.

We have very little information on what the transition down from a high population high tech society, to a low population agrarian or hunter gather lifestyle looks like.
 
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Same except the springs slow down in August to a trickle. My family is like minded and is small tribe.

Ben
That's the problem we have with our spring, we're adding an extra 1,100 gallon tank along side of the 1,100 gallon cistern we built back in the 80's, I also bought a hammer drill and some 15" masonry bits to drill some horizontal holes in the hill side of the spring, I'm pretty sure the spring has silted in over the years and by drilling those holes I can get past the silt, albeit a slow steady outflow is ongoing, the heat and lack of snow and rains we didn't get last winter has me concerned. We have many neighbors with like minds and we look out for one another. All I'll say about other things is, we're pretty much ready to just stay home, anything we get in town, we consider "Topping Off'.
 
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