Is anyone preparing for the future?

[dixie_belle]

I don't want to be thought of as one of those "weird survival people" but I am a tad concerned. Nothing in particular, just maybe inflation or odd weather patterns that would disrupt food distribution. Is anyone else doing anything to prepare? If so, do you want to share what you are doing?

I've started a few things: got a garden going, have some laying hens, been stocking up on food. I've even started making all our bread and have ordered a grain mill to make all my flour. Flour only has a shelf life of one year after it's been ground, but wheat lasts forever if you keep it cool and dry. If my bread tastes yummy now, think what it will taste like once I am making all my own flour from hard white wheat.

I've also been doing lots of research on shelf life of different foods. Amazing what I've discovered. It wasn't that long ago that I could get veggies on sale like four cans for a dollar. Now they are over a dollar a piece. That's nuts. So I'm spending today's dollars and buying food with a 25 year shelf life. OK, so if nothing happens, I won't have to buy food when I'm old and grey. But if we have super inflation or once hubby stops working and we are on social security, we'll have our food insurance.

Used to be I never worried about the "what if's" of life. But lately, I don't know, I worry. And I'll readily admit I am very fortunate. Hubby and I are officially retired but he works part time from the house and we live off this income so we haven't had to touch our nest egg. And hubby is probably the most intuitive person I've ever met. He can build anything, fix anything, it's amazing. Our bills are minimal : house is paid off, cars are paid off, no utility bills thanks to our solar panels. And yet, there is always that little voice saying: what if......

And so I continue to research and prepare for the future.

 

[Hosscrazy]

You know what - it never hurts to be prepared! We've been stocking up on water and food - it's for an emergency, such as earthquakes or something like that, but it's always good to keep on top of things!

Liz N.

 

[susanne]

We're lefty survivalists (that is said with tongue planted firmly in cheek -- in truth, we barely register as either).

I don't believe in any impending doomsday, but I don't want to depend upon or give our money to big business, petroleum, banks, etc., any more than is absolutely necessary, so we are slowly working our way to self sufficiency (which is pretty humorous, considering that Keith and I are wildly impractical and only marginally handy). We have the veggie garden, apple trees, berries and enough chickens to supply eggs for us, our family, our neighbors and possibility still enough to trade (we will not be eating our yardbirds, however). Next up are milk goats. We compost all manure, along with kitchen scraps and coffee grounds, to build great garden soil without outsourcing, and we use vinegar in lieu of herbicides. I'd love to have a root cellar for food storage (potatoes, onions, canned foods, etc.) but to get one, I'd better start digging... And since we are, after all, lefty survivalists, we plant a row in our garden for the hungry.

I'd love to put up solar panels when we build, but our house will face the wrong direction and will be too shaded by tall fir trees. We are too sheltered for windmills/turbines, so producing our own electricity is unlikely, but we do minimize our power usage. We use sweaters and comforters to limit heater usage and keep our house very cool in winter. We use daylight as much as possible.

We already have a well and septic, so no need for municipal water or sewer. We need to get a generator or some sort of manual system for our well for power outages.

We have a start for rainwater collection, but need more. That's a no brainer in Oregon!

We are a bit more dependent upon our motorized vehicles than we'd like, but that's the price of living where we can have all of the above. We minimize our gas consumption by combining trips and incorporating grocery shopping and other errands into Keith's commute (lucky boy).

At this point, we talk more than we walk, but we're working on it all of the time.

 

[Sonya]

Many people are preparing these days....we have a stockpile of food and ammunition and a hand pump for our well...we grow a graden and we hunt. It's not odd for a meal for us to include wild turkey, deer, rabbit, fish, etc...we also gather veggies from the woods...morrel mushrooms, wild asparagus, fiddleheads (yummy). Of course none of this is necessary (right now) but we enjoy doing it....feels good to know that you can 'survive'...and it tastes better.

 

[Riverrose28]

For too many years then I can recall we have been getting prepared for whatever! We grow our own veggies, I spend alot of time canning and probably have over two hundred canning jars. We also have laying hens, just got six more yesterday, plus our woods are full of deer and wild turkey. WE have stocked up on rifles, ammo and do have a room on the North to store root veggies like potaoes and onions, I can the rest or feeze. We have a generator. Problem I'm having right now is hoarding gas, seems like as soon as I get a good supply one of the kids needs it. Maybe I SHOULD HIDE IT. We don't use oil we use wood stoves for heat in the winter, but I do love my airconditioning, but if I had to I guess I would find away to live without. We also have a rain barrel for things like flushing, washing, etc. don't use it now, but its there if I need it. WE currently buy groceries only once a month and buy in bulk and break down, but in all seriousness I could servive without the grocery store if it came to it. We also store seeds from year to year in bags in the freezer. Believe me as a senior citizen this life is not at all easy, but works! Hope the day never comes when I need to find out how bad it is. All My kids that live in their fancy houses know they are welcome here with our smelly woodstoves and no carpet, but food, warmth and love.

 

[Jill]

We have been stock piling food with long shelf lives, ammo, etc. I don't think "something big" will happen, but like you say -- doesn't hurt to be prepared. And I love the prepper shows!!! So much fun and I tell you, it's really interesting to me how many other people I talk to are also loving that show and taking actions either as a result of watching, or are watching because they'd already been taking action.

I joke that between Doomsday Preppers, FOX News, and The Walking Dead, man, I'm ready for anything

 

[susanne]

One of the most important things they tell diabetics (esp. type I) is that what may be a minor inconvenience to most, such as a traffic jam, can be life threatening to a diabetic without emergency food. Then there are cases like Katrina, ice storms, even the recent Colorado hailstorm and other natural disasters that can isolate people and wreak havoc upon the unprepared. Whatever the reason, everyone should be prepared for at least a week of isolation, and that includes food and water for pets and livestock. We were hit by a freak 3 foot snowfall just as we needed to buy hay. We could not get out of our driveway, let alone down our mountain road. Fortunately one of our neighbors had a barn full of hay and a tractor, so we were okay, but we learned our lesson -- we always buy hay before we run low.

 

[ozymandias]

I'm so jealous of you folks.

I really admire anyone who can live self sustained.

If I'm not able to sit in front of my 70" LED flat screen while playing on my ipad3 I feel deprived lol !!!!!

I can't have chickens because my dog eats them

Guess we're lucky we don't live in an area prone to bad weather conditions.

 

[susanne]

Too funny, Ozymandias! Note that I didn't say we do (or ever intend to do) without computers, internet, or electric and electronic musical instruments or digital music studio!

Compared to those over on the Homesteading Today forum who truly live off-grid, we're mere posers, but I figure every step in the right direction counts.

 

[ozymandias]

lol !

Thanks for making me feel a little better Susanne

By the way - I LOVE your "lefty" row for those who are in need. If more of us did that - there wouldn't be people in need. Bless you xoxo.

 

[Miniv]

We are SOMEWHAT "prepared" for whatever......... We have the garden, have chickens and ducks that provide eggs, and in a pinch for water we can boil our irrigation water. We also have a wood stove with plenty of our own wood supply from the Juniper trees. I also buy certain canned goods in bulk. For power, we have a generator that's just big enough to power the important things in the house, such as the fridge and a few lights.

 

[Matt73]

Not to make you freak...but the whole world is heading towards a major depression (much worse than the 20s). Glad I'm not living in a major city anymore. And, no, it's not because of Barack Obama's legislation lol.

 

[dixie_belle]

We've been busy doing various things to prepare for just about anything. I've got food that will outlive me (sorta weird to think about) and two pantries; one for food for now and one for food for much later. If nothing happens, when i'm old and gray (like next week) we could quite literally go without a grocery store for months. I sorta hint to my grown children that they might want to stop spending on fancy cars and furniture and start saving but it falls on deaf ears. And the very last thing I want is all of them coming back here to live and bring all their significant or non-significant others with them. I shudder at the thought.

 

[HGFarm]

It's great to be self sustained, unless the government decides to come in and take what you have...... They are once again trying to pass here having every animal microchipped- supposedly for 'food safey' with livestock- so then why are they pushing it for horses, dogs, cats, etc... too? I guess I am getting a bit off topic here, but I think we will see the day when 'our stuff' doesnt necessarily belong to us.

I wish I had a place here for a garden but I live on a 'rock pile'. Have thought about raised beds but that is a lot of work for an old lady who also works full time. I hope when I retire I can have another garden because I really enjoyed the ones I had before and Mmmmmmmm, it's delicious.

 

[circlesinthesand]

Having lived through several major disasters, I'm often thinking about preparation for the future, we're constantly in a state of preparation for the future, I always stock pile non perishables, and I believe in economic savings all around. I'm also working toward self sufficiency, mostly for food sources. We're also in a constant state of recovery as well, I still am working on things the last Hurricane destroyed.

I have ducks that started off as a test to see if I could raise poultry, my grandfather used to raise all sorts, and when I bought the bebe ducks, my dad said Pawpaw would be proud He used to incubate and sell the bebe chicks. I can remember playing with the chicks as a kid and helping him feed the older ones. He had everything from peacocks to guinea, turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, I think he even had swan. His back yard was full of HUGE Fig trees with poultry all around it, he'd send us kids under the low lying bushes of the fig trees to get the waterer and feeders so he could fill them It's one of my fondest memories, being under those fig trees, like a fairy hiding under a mushroom

But sadly my females were killed by the neighbors dogs who ripped through their cage

I was just starting to get eggs too! I still have the males and they're on fly larva, mosquito & flea and tick patrol I will be getting chickens soon as I get the coop built. We're going to do our own meat birds as well as layers. I'm studying how to make a whizbang chicken plucker at the moment

We will be putting in a garden each year starting this fall. I have had them in the past but have had too much going on this spring. We have the start of a fruit orchard, citrus mostly but we have figs and blueberries started too, along with our wild blackberries in the pasture. I've canned figs but I usually freeze the berries instead of canning and I've frozen the citrus juice too. It's a nice way to keep it going all year long. I have been composting, and we're looking into irrigation options as well since we're in a drought at the moment. REALLY trying to go mostly green with everything, going back to the roots of my childhood where our livestock was grass fed. I also remember my grandparents making their own smoked sausages and hams One set of grandparents were farmers, the others were ranchers. I know how to take care of plants and animals, mostly... My dad is helping but we've both been away from it for too long. I'm also going to start raising lamb along with my goats for various reasons, including the fact that I have working Aussies and would love to trial them in addition to their agility trials. I'm going to use the extra lamb, goat and duck for my dogs as well, and put them on a raw diet which from my research is best for them anyway. We're building our farm up little by little. There is just so much to do. I want to work up to a HUGE garden, probably more than I can really handle but I'm trying to plan for effective management techniques and employ the animals for their natural uses. My goats and poultry are going to clear out old plots for the garden I plan to use a rotational system for both the livestock and my plants. I already do so to a certain extent, with the horses ducks and goats, but as I add more livestock it will get more and more intensive.

ah, the plans, the plans....one day we'll get there...one day...

 

[Miniv]

Laurie.... Instead of a raised garden, have you considered planting a few favorite vegies in pots? We have our tomatoes in pots and I know other people do other things that way too....

 

[susanne]

Ditto container gardening!

I've planted my tomatoes in huge pots a number of times, and they did great, even surviving one summer when everyone else's rotted. I also do potatoes in pots (actually, I use our old, leaky, muck tub troughs), continuously filling to cover emerging leaflets to get more tubers.

Can you turn your rocks into an asset? Many herbs relish dry, rocky soil and thrive under those conditions.

As for raised beds -- they're only hard work the first year, assuming you make the sides permanent. Besides, you have mini magic manure for the best soil available.

 

[Miniv]

Forgot to mention using straw bales. We have a row of straw bales along a fenceline for planting. Last year we dug into them a bit and added some soil. We planted pumpkin plants and it worked out great. This year we've planted pumkin and a couple other types of squash.

 

[HGFarm]

Actually no I have not tried that and how interesting that I have a couple of big half barrels that are empty and a couple of other big pots as well- that's a thought!

 

[vickie gee]

As in get bills paid, get retired, hope and pray the nation rebounds, yep!