Posted 8/20/2012 1:07 am
The Russians survived their collapse with kitchen gardens. Of course, they were used to a system that wasn't working well for a long time.
What Sepps don't get is that there are 3 sectors of the economy: primary, secondary and tertiary.
The US put all its eggs in the tertiary basket (i.e., "services" like swapping toxic securities back and forth) and will continue to suffer until it gets back to basics.
I see people doing all kinds of preparation stuff, I thought I would never see in my life. In my neighborhood of middle/uppermiddle class houses in New England, I have seen gardens put in (easy to spot because of all the 6 foot tall chicken wire to keep deer, rabbits, and racoons out), gray water systems being installed, rain water systems (some sort of water-inflatable bag that you place under the porch and into which you run roof rainwater seems really popular), beds of ornamental plants that hired gardeners tended being replaced with blackberry and raspberry bushes, a few greenhouses are also being added, and one neighbor drilled a well even though we have street water. All this after having standby propane (or diesel if you can't afford) generators sprout up in the neighborhood.
I'm seeing this also. Zoning laws are also being changed to allow people to keep a certain number of chickens on their properties. Lots of suburbanites keeping chickens and growing vegetables in their back yards.
Posted 8/20/2012 1:34 am
If Romney gets elected all that will change.
Mormons are required to keep supplies for half-year survival.
Plus they are encouraged to learn self-sufficiency, get then seeds and land and they will
survive and prosper.
Maybe it is the teenage marriage for older men thing. Remember, vote Romney!
Costs a lot more than that for 10 years of food, especially if you bought it pre prepared, preserved and ready to go.
Many of those foods are very high in sodium content too, so you have to be careful.
If you buy bulk items and plan on self preserving and canning, it will cost less, but 10 years of food is a hell of a lot of effort. Plus, if your'e new to all of this there's always the chance that you open up the cans 5 years later and it's full of bugs and critters that have been munching on it.
The main point is that your home garden/farm should only produce things that you can't buy super cheap right now. Properly stored wheat is incredibly inexpensive.
We are on a 1 acre min and people are starting to clear off trees to actually use the properties - this is about 1 hr out from Grand Central by train. There are supposedly "pet" goats in one guy's yard.
Everybody in the neighborhood have lake rights, basically a series of lakelets with the biggest being a 6 acre lakelet that hasn't seen anything more than a row boat and vast amounts of algae since I bought my places 10 years ago. There is now a committee to clean up the lakes and stock it. The street's catch basins empty into them. Apparently they want to get an environmental grant to build leaching basins or sand filters or both.
Fireplaces are being replaced with woodstove insert and our neighborhood has two gas powered log splitters that can be borrowed if you ask.
Many of us dropped out a long time ago. I am almost finished building my earth ship abode. When I am done the only thing I will not produce myself will be my internet connection.
