Peter Grant, author over at Bayou Renaissance Man is as sharp as a tack. He recently posted an essay titled "So, what am I doing to prepare for what's coming?"
This post is not intended to dispute any of his points. I do not have a single quibble with anything he wrote. Rather, this is a different person in a different part of the country in a different place in his preparedness trajectory writing about the same topic.
This essay is this blogger's perspective on Mr Grant's question.
Tools
A tool is anything that multiplies your effort.
As a man in my sixties, the average man in his twenties can easily clean-my-clock and then have his way with Mrs ERJ or others I am dedicated to protecting.
Add a tool, like a knife, and then I own a space around me out to six feet.
A different tool, say a handgun, and the average smuck might own the space out to fifteen or twenty feet.
A shotgun extends the space to 75 feet and a carbine to 200 feet.
Yes, I know these distances seem really short. I know a guy whose daughter can makes smiley-faces out of paper plates at 400 yards with an AR, but she is not the average smuck.
The point is that a tool can take an average person and with a bit of training multiply their effect.
So, what am I investing in?
Tools:
- I was gifted with five CB radios. Now I need antennas.
- Extra chains for my chainsaw.
- Chain lube. A chainsaw can turn a pint of gasoline and some sweat into three face-cords of firewood. That is a heck of a multiplier.
- Seeds.
- A cabinet for my egg incubator project. I am leaning toward a non-functioning mini-fridge.
- Spare air filters and plugs for my rototiller and chainsaw.
- Woodchips and poly-film for mulch.
- Files and knife sharpeners
- 3/4" poly tubing hose, 300 feet
Livestock
Livestock are tools in that they can turn grass or cornstalks or bugs or garbage into human-quality food.
The beautiful thing about well-adapted livestock is that it is self-replicating. It
does not require parts from China, software from Google or Apple nor
does it depend on oil being pumped out of the ground.
Gene Logsdon was a protege of Wendell Berry. Berry was more of a theory guy. Logsdon was more of a dirt-under-the-fingernails guy. Both of them were "agriculture" guys.
Logsdon once commented that it was hard to beat a good strain of livestock or seed-line of corn as an investment. His thinking is that there are some bloodlines that take money out of the farmer's pocket and there are others that put money into it. And you cannot tell just by looks, because most of the ones that win ribbons at fairs are the first kind and many of the ordinary looking ones belong to the second class.
For example, if you want to raise red-meat and cannot grow out an Angus or Angus-cross steer and put some "finish" on it then you have no business trying to grow anything more exotic. An Angus-cross calf is the Toyota Camry or Ford F-150 of the cattle world. (This may not be true in the deep-South. There a cross with some Brahma in it may be the better choice)
Hampshire cross hogs, production Rhode Island Reds and wool-breed ewes crossed to black-faced terminal rams are the same.
Dogs are a lot more personal and opinions get heated. In my part of the world a low-maintenance dog must weigh at least 20 pounds and a fellow can get most of the utility that a dog offers in a dog that weights 40 or 50 pounds. Cross-breeds offer vigor and avoid some issues. Dogs with bodies that are proportioned similar to a coyote, fox or wolf will be more functional than dogs that are extremely stylish like pugs, English Bulldogs, Dachshunds or Greyhounds. The dog's coat of hair will also be a critical feature if your dog will be spending much time outside.
The SPCA has been wildly successful in getting most Americans to neuter their pets. That will be a problem when spicy times arrive. Pets will suffer from high mortality and replacements will be in high demand. Hot tip: If you have an intact bitch, the potential sires will line up for you. If you have an intact male...no such luck. This might not be a bad time to purchase a non-neutered female Jack Russel Terrier or German Shorthair Pointer or Blue Heeler or whatever breed scratches your itch.
Barn cats are a powerful argument for spontaneous generation.
Livestock does need to be fed but if you chose well they will adapt to the feed you have available.
Not enough room for traditional livestock? How about yogurt, viili, skyr or sour-dough culture?
Chainsaws and rototillers are only worthwhile if you have fuel and oil. Once that's not available their big paperweights. A mule and a plow will always work. So too a 6 foot crosscut saw. True survivors can get things done without electricity or gasoline.
ReplyDeleteGod bless Norman Bourlag.
ReplyDeleteTo me the big issues to take care of are water, heat, and cooking, without grid power.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest is getting water from my well without grid power - and preferably without a generator.
I suggest a Simple Pump. It can be installed along with an electric pump and can be either hand powered or you can have a DC solar powered pump version. I have one on my well and it works even though my water level is over 300 feet down. It take some work but it will fill a pressure tank.
DeletePurchasing supplies now that you KNOW you will need in future is not wasted at all. Whatever critical supplies you require each week should be layed back as a matter of course, if you have the room to store it.
ReplyDeleteFor our region, potable drinking water will be a huge issue. Very few flowing water sources in our area. One blessing - water table is usually high, but is saline. So water distallation will be a favored method of obtaining drinking water. So fuel to burn will become a critical factor.
Food sources - do the needed research on what grows in YOUR area and learn how to recognize, process and store it. Every root cellar has its limit and can be confiscated / stolen at another's discretion. Knowledge of this is extremely valuable.
For those that have lived their entire lives in artificial abundance, the default back to normal will be shocking.
ReplyDeleteFatally so for many.
DeleteIF you need to do "Last Minute" purchases yer doing it wrong.
ReplyDeleteRe, southern cows. I winter over in Okeechobee Florida. We are surrounded by cattle ranches. Angus appear to dominate but I also see a lot of brahmas. In fact the local high school is known as “ the brahmas”. It gets hot down here, don’t know how the black angus don’t get cooked in their own skin.
ReplyDeleteGot the 5 ft. two man saw. Also, got the filters, plugs and chains for the Stihl. Even got the replacement electronic package for the chain saw. My dial in will be to see if that electronics package is protected or sitting in a paper sack.
ReplyDeleteJust switched to a couple lithium iron phosphate batteries to run refrigeration. Batteries were taken to be EMP proof or rather expected to be unaffected. Probably true of standard deep cycle. BUT those LiFePo batts have a circuit that prevents excessive discharge. Maybe the battery is resilient but what about that circuit.
Same with the Milwaukee cordless tools I have started adopting. I have worn out the Dewalt tools and you have to switch to the new system so as long as I have to start over I looked around. The lithium batteries they sport stop abruptly indicating to me that there is the same sort of battery protection circuit. I plan to buy some batteries, charge them up and put them in a cage. I am also intent on buying the components to repair a battery circuit protection circuit but the math is wearing me out. How to get from the circuit example to the voltage I desire?
I am wrapping boxed extra electronic devices in foil. The hardest part of recovery is hardware availability. I have always had extra wires, network cards, routers, switches and cables laying around. Had a lightning strike a couple decades back. Fried the network at the office via radiating energy getting caught in the network and traveling to the center. Computers were protected. Not so much for the router switch and modem. So I have extra.