Any survivalist/preppers on this forum?

[snakeblitz33]

With the oncoming gloom and doom it seems of the rest of the 21st century - many people have started this new mass "trend" for storing food, water, and medicines in order to prepare for disasters, economic collapse, disease, mass starvations, etc. I am personally worried about our whole food system - how everything is flown in and most of our food is at minimum from 1500 miles away. That's prompted me into gardening in the last few years.
I don't buy into the whole 2012 thing, nor do I forsee a complete economic collapse or a world-wide collapse of civilization in the near future - but I do believe in emergency preparedness ... especially now that I have a daughter that I have to look out for. I prep. I've been prepping since before I knew it really had a name and searched for it on the internet. I believe that having extra food stores, clothing, medicine and emergency tools can help you get out of situations that are unforseeable - such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and all kinds of other disasters. I prep also for survival - I save money for emergencies such as a job loss - so that I can have at least six months to find a job that will support my family again. I store food for these emergencies as well - it's a great way to have peace of mind in an unsteady world.
I may sound crazy, but I have also invested time in learning basic blacksmithing/forging, carpentry, basic electronics, canning food, growing gardens/veggies/berries/fruit trees, learning a martial art, I've spent time at the gun range shooting my pistols with my wife and getting both of us familiar with home defense. I've done many things over the course of my lifetime - which I think everyone should learn in order to survive.
My number one advice to ANYONE right now is - start amending your soil and growing a garden NOW. You never know when something may happen to the national food supply.
So, who else here is a survivalist or prepper?

 

[mantisman51]

I'm not a prepper or survivalist, but I want to be as independent as possible. So I am digging a 100'x50'x10' reservoir in a wash on my property. We have almost no surface groundwater around here, but get a lot of rain from July-September during the monsoon. So fill up a basin and it will last pretty much all year and if you put some of that sun screen fabric over it, it won't spoil so we will have water for all the vegetables, fruit trees and goats without depending on a 250' well. I am also 100% off-grid solar/wind generation. And I have always kept a good supply of firearms and ammunition. My home is rammed earth with all windows facing the South and East, so there is no heat or cooling required. If I still have any joints or vertebrae left, I am going to dig a large underground pantry. My property is on a 5% grade, so it'll be a fairly simple process. But I want to make it at least 4' underground with a steel and concrete reinforced opening...just in case the zombies do appear.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Hah, I like your thinking.
Yes, I am looking into buying some land in the country myself in the next two to three years. My wife is getting a decent job soon and we are looking at a 6.62 acre property for 21k in a pecan orchard.... I have to run some soil tests and take a few trips out to inspect the place, but we may be buying it this Summer if all goes well!!
I am building my own house as well. All of my windows, and my greenhouse faces south. On the north side, I am building a concrete pantry in a 20x30ft room that I am going to bury with soil when I dig out my 1acre pond (for water and fish)
I am trying to get as off-grid as possible as well - solar panels, wind mill, water well, large pond, large vegetable garden, grow fruit trees, berry bushes etc. The place that I am looking at is pretty good location to start a taxidermy shop and walk-in-cooler rental room. So... I'll have a low electric and water bill - no sewer or trash bill - and I will be growing all of my own foods. I'll have to buy in grain to feed the chickens and hogs though. But - that's no big deal. Yeah, I'm a country boy. LOL
Speaking of the saltwater hobby and being off grid, I am thinking of my permanent tank in my house I am going to build, and to save a lot of electricity - I am thinking about using solar tubes as a main light source - supplemented with LEDs occasionally. Should be interesting to say the least!
Mantis - would you be so kind as to look at my floor plans when you get the chance?!

 

[mantisman51]

Sure. Where is it?

 

[reefraff]

I have two Walmarts within a few miles I can rob

 

[rickross23]

2012 is jibberish.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I have two Walmarts within a few miles I can rob &#58
You and everyone else have that same idea.
After Katrina, the grocery at Walmart was picked clean in a matter of hours.

 

[bang guy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mantisman51 http:///t/391503/any-survivalist-preppers-on-this-forum#post_3472293
I'm not a prepper or survivalist, but I want to be as independent as possible.
This is what I've been doing as well. I can feed my family if I have to but I think the most difficult part would be to keep others away. We have a lot of wild game, a lot of wild forage, plenty of water, and lots of hardwood.
Please announce yourself in advance before visiting!

 

[rickross23]

Check out my thread: which one. Pwease.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I'm glad to see that some of us are on the same page!
I know what you mean, bang.

 

[reefraff]

We have tons of game around here even though it is the big city. My biggest concern would be water. I have a 11 foot pond and a hot tub about the same size in the back yard that would meet the water need short term. I am gimped so I can't do the mr outdoors thing but if things start looking too shaky I am more than able to stock up at the grocery store. If I was going to rob something it would be a pharmacy for stuff like penicillin and such. That and the wife's asthma meds would be worth their weight in gold.

 

[snakeblitz33]

My reasoning for trying to stock up on medications and so forth now - before you need to rob someone of them yourself - is that you would never know who is armed and who would kill you to save themselves or their family that also has asthma or another disease/condition. In a situation where that would occur, I would much rather be sitting at home, listening to the radio and being safe with my family than risking my life over some medicine/food that everyone else thinks they can also take/steal/rob/loot.

 

[reefraff]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/391503/any-survivalist-preppers-on-this-forum#post_3472359
My reasoning for trying to stock up on medications and so forth now - before you need to rob someone of them yourself - is that you would never know who is armed and who would kill you to save themselves or their family that also has asthma or another disease/condition. In a situation where that would occur, I would much rather be sitting at home, listening to the radio and being safe with my family than risking my life over some medicine/food that everyone else thinks they can also take/steal/rob/loot.
Unfortunately there is no legal way to stock up on prescription drugs.

 

[njbillyv]

There's a way to stock up on almost anything, but what you'll really need are guns and a lot of amo. It really doesn't matter what you have if you can't protect it.
Do you know there are areas in several states without building codes, particularly out west. You could build a house in the middle of nowhere (hint, Arizona) on the cheap and really be off the grid.
Question: If you're white and lived in Florida, what are you going to do the day the Zimmerman verdict is read?
Luckily our president has worked tirelessly to calm the situation.

 

[mantisman51]

Well, I'm just about as "middle of nowhere" as it gets, but we do have building codes and permits. HOWEVER, we have what's called an owner build/owner occupy permit that allows us to build our homes any way we want, just the septic system is inspected. In order get your permit signed off, an inspector walks around your structure to ensure it is the size stated in the permit and nothing eminently dangerous-like a wall falling down or electric wires dangerously exposed, stuff like that. They don't even go inside the house for OBOO. Up til 1994 or 1995, we could build without any permit of any kind at any time. But even the Old West has to modernize a little.

 

[mantisman51]

p.s. House and septic permit-which includes all other improvements like pools, barns, sheds etc-was $455. So it ain't free like it used to be, but what does just the septic or house permit cost in a place like NJ or NY? $10,000? $20,000?

 

[mr. limpid]

Really guys, they been talking gloom and doom since the 60's from nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union, and now they are called Russia and eat McDonald's. I'm not against defending yourself just make sure you kids don't find your weapons. As for growling your own food, we all should just because it is healthier and chickens why do I need bigger and whiter breast, have you seen are youth today were are those hormones ending up. Being off the grid great if you live outside of city limits because buildings codes will not allow tall structures on your property and structural calculation are need to install solar panels on your 30 year old roof. So don't worry because the big corporations wont allow for any stoppage of there profits. So stock up on food like spam have you seen the exportation dates on those cans. I suggest we all sit back and gaze at our tanks have a beer and chill.
Just my .02

 

[gemmy]

Gloom and doom has been the basis long before the 60's. The Jehovah's witnesses was founded based on the belief that the world was coming to end in the 1800's. It is all based on how the Bible is interpreted.

 

[reefraff]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Limpid http:///t/391503/any-survivalist-preppers-on-this-forum#post_3472448
Really guys, they been talking gloom and doom since the 60's from nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union, and now they are called Russia and eat McDonald's. I'm not against defending yourself just make sure you kids don't find your weapons. As for growling your own food, we all should just because it is healthier and chickens why do I need bigger and whiter breast, have you seen are youth today were are those hormones ending up. Being off the grid great if you live outside of city limits because buildings codes will not allow tall structures on your property and structural calculation are need to install solar panels on your 30 year old roof. So don't worry because the big corporations wont allow for any stoppage of there profits. So stock up on food like spam have you seen the exportation dates on those cans. I suggest we all sit back and gaze at our tanks have a beer and chill.
Just my .02
Son if you don't already know I can't explain it to ya

 

[mantisman51]

I don't care if our society trundles on down the road like it has for 200+ years. I want to be able to tell those big corporations to stick it up their apple holes. I want to never have another payment of any kind, except the unavoidable property tax. My family is doing without a lot of stuff for now. But in another year, we'll be able to save up for 2 or 3 months and buy whatever we want, without begging a banker or saying, "pretty please". So while I will give due deference to your post Limpid, I think the the lessons of the loss of wealth and the obliteration of people's investments and retirements have already been forgotten and it all will happen again as people indebt themselves all over again. I just won't be a participating sucker the next time around. And if something truly catastrophic happens, well I just hope for their sake the suckers don't come begging from me. I'll tell them to go eat their big fancy house and car.