OK, I give up, here is my 2 cents worth on survival toolsgreenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
As most of you know, I have been rather active on this forum over the last few weeks. As most also know, I don't believe in the 'total meltdown' but rather in a series of nasty and sometimes dangerous problems that can be fixed given time and money. For this reason I have mostly avoided posting answers to requests for lists of survival tool and so on because I don't think taking to the woods (so to speak, sorry) is a viable answer. But I was raised in an area so rural that we did not have running water until I was ten years old (early 60's ) and dial telephones only came in about 1958 or so. So when it comes to the simpler side of life I can claim considerable experience, and I have been rather upset at some things you all seem to be leaving out of consideration. If you are really going to try to survive in difficult situations you are going to need more than food and heat, so I am (against my better judgement) giving the following advice with the warning that it applies only to the sort of country life I lived in the 50's and 60's.1. Get a good axe. You also need a buck saw, with two extra blades. If you think you might need to build anything with logs, you need a bark spud, broad axe, adze, felling axe and a froe to make shingles with wouldn't hurt either. And a couple of good sledge hammers of different weights.
2. You will need vinegar. Lots more than you think you will need. Also baking soda, cream of tartar (tartaric acid), and Saltpeter. Don't forget honey - it keeps much better than sugar. Get several 25lb bags of salt, also at least 30 or 40 lbs of black pepper.
3. You need a lot of meat curing preparation - the old fashioned sugar cure will work if you really, really follow the directions. Be careful or the meat will spoil. Smoking meat will work better in most cases - but you need a lot of charcoal and a good smoker. You can make your own charcoal - but practice it before you need it and learn to recognize various trees - you don't want to make charcoal out of elm (or several other things). To smoke meat to keep - you must cover it with salt and black pepper to begin with, and then smoke it until it dries.
4. Learn to make soap. It isn't hard to do.
5. Don't store guns. If you aren't going to use them, just don't buy them at all.
6. If you want a garden, you must have seeds. Also fertilizer is nice, as is a compost heap and 10 or 20 lbs of insecticide will be needed per year. Also helps to have some fungicide. This isn't a game if you intend to mostly eat out of this, and you really don't have the time to pick bugs and crush them - a tedious job I really hated as a kid.
7. Garden tools - minimum is a spade or two, fork, rake, hoe, grubbing hoe, mattock and perhaps a plow. You can pull a plow with human power, it just goes slowly. Much faster than a spade, though.
8. Glazing or canvas for plant beds. You can heat plant beds with manure and get early crops.
9. If you have fruit or nut trees you need the tools to care for them.
10. You can ferment almost anything to make alcohol - and a still equals fuel. Triple distilled alcohol will burn in a standard engine with little adjustment needed, a simple preheater will help though.
11. Canning equipment and jars with lots of extra rings. There are many good books on canning, check them out.
12. Dig a well, cover it, and then set up the correct set of filters to purify the water. The govt. will send you information on the right way to do this (I mean building your own sand filters and so on) if you just ask.
13. If you don't know how to fish, learn how. Also there are several places that will sell you tools and etc. for making nets.
14. Learn the CORRECT ways to dress game. Just as an example - improperly handling a rabbit can kill you - learn to do it right or don't take chances.
15. Learn to identify plants - many are edible and many can kill you or damage you in other ways and if you are going to the country you had better know which is which.
I would put in more but I am pooped. Country life is a lot more complex than city life which has always seemed simple and direct to me. Knowledge is your best survival tool, learn all you can.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 14, 1998
This is a very partial list and I don't claim otherwise. For instance I left out knives, sharpening tools and files entirely.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 14, 1998.
Ticks in all the boxes for good advice Paul.Country living is, as I have said in an earlier post, like having two city jobs. It can be really tough on women. It killed lots of fit men young, check out the graveyards in the country areas.
Practical Stuff next..
You need good steel for all your tools/knives/equipment and you need to protect it from rust. I would add alkathene pipe in 1 and 2 inch diameters as a most versatile material. Lots of hard and soft steel wire, we call it number 8 fencing wire in NZ. Agricultural plastic in clear and black varieties is useful material for all sorts of things like lining water containers and building seed raising cloches, fixing leaks. Nails, screws and fxings, lumber in various sizes, timber preservative/paint. Glass panes for your windows. Measure up early and have a stock cut from a glazier. Putty for fixing the panes in frames. Get a basic set of mechanics tools for each of your vehicles and do a course in car first aid. (applies to women too). Keep a set of essential spares in the car as well.. fan belt/spark plugs, radiator hoses, wiper blades and spare tyre. Learn how to change a wheel. Get warm woollen clothing and learn how to wash it and repair it. Get leather boots with steel toe caps and leather dressing. Get woollen socks and hats. Get maps of the area you are in, twenty mile radius of your home. Get a compass for everyone. Learn how to read the map and compass. Get everyone a whistle. Get used to wearing it and establish warning signals for various events. Get and carry a first aid kit if away from the home. Learn about the wildlife in your area. Take nothing you can't use, kill nothing (plant or animal) you can't eat, leave nothing but footprints. Keep waterways and water clean. Leave the area you live in like you want your grandchildren to find it. Meet and get along with your neighbours. Live with country folk who know how to do all the many things Paul and others mention.
Good Luck.
-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), October 14, 1998.
Paul (although more to the public),Glad to hear someone else with a rural background pipe in. I live in a small town and I am the largest town for 90 miles in any direction.
Too often people in Urban centers tend to overdramatize a problem because EVERYTHING is handed to them. They have no clue what life in the countryside is like. A rural person can switch to urban life a lot faster than an urbanite converts to rural. Every February I have to spend a week in NYC on business. My friends there are are always amazed at how well I can navigate a city considering my background.
I think a lot of it comes from the fact that we have to think in a totally different mindset. I know that if I am heading out to an area I am unfamiliar with than by golly I throw some items in the car in case of an emergancy. I have learned over the years that there is one cardinal rule to rural life, expect every day to bring a new inconviance.
I have sat here and read article after article about how people on the East Coast mention the (whatever year it was) blackout and they know what everyone means. Around here if I said "Do you remember the '98 blackout?" people would respond "Which month?" On average I have about 4 significant blackouts a year. I have candles galore and flashlights in almost every room. It is a way of life. Last year alone I was under 2 seperate one week long boil orders on my water. And don't even get me started on what life was like during the '93 floods. Because my town was not right on a river no one came to help us.
What no one seemed to realize was that we were cut off in a complete circle. We became an island. Stores started to run out of groceries, mail took weeks where it should have taken days, power went out at least once a day, boiled water was an every day occurance. Did we cry? Did we riot? Did we loot? Nope. We just went on with our lives and that was with NO help from the outside. No one brought us water, no one brought us power, no one brought us anything as we did not have the water at our doorstep. We shrugged and went "Oh well" and went on.
Oh well...maybe Y2K will make people realize that Midwestern, and other country folks, shouldn't be ignored to the extent we are. We do have SOME smarts thank you very much.
Rick
(yes, this was not all Y2K related, some of this is my constant anger at being treated like yokel just because of where I live. So? Just because I can fish, skin a deer and own multiple weapons (guns and other assorted items) it does not mean I some dumb chaw-spitting yokel!)
-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 14, 1998.
Here's a good URL for cooperative extension sites. These have all the basic information. Check your state's site and also some of the others;http://www.reeusda.gov/new/statepartners/usa.htm
If you want basic information - start here.
-- j (hemwat@bellsouth.net), October 14, 1998.
Good place to start for information J. Also the public library has many books about rural life.Rick, I know exactly how you feel. These people who seem to think everything will stop if the power is not reliable for a few months are making me nervous - we can easily do much more damage to ourselves than Y2K can do if we panic the first time the lights flicker. Sounds like you were living near me - during the floods last year I moved from Henderson KY to Memphis TN. Lots of folks were flooded out and some of the people in Spottsville who got silly and built below the dam only knew where their house was by feeling for the chimney with a pole. But most all of us survived, and life goes on. I have no doubt Y2K will cause problems, but civilization is just not going to fall because of failures in chips that were not found in time. And the banking people always think any problem with them signals the end of time - they are the most self centered organizations in the world. They are going to start a panic that will damage much more than Y2K will, and that is what I am preparing for.
These folks who are ready to run to the country - many or most just don't seem to know what they are getting into. I have seen (and so have you) any number of people try to move out of town and sample the easy rural life - and fully intend to do it all by hand - no pesticides, no fungicides - its all going to be pure and natural. I have seen them either go over to mechanized farming or run back to the city, too. And the ones that talk about horses and mules, OH MY GOODNESS. A horse requires more specialized know how and more special tools than any other domestic animal in the world - mules are sturdier but need much the same care - and if you don't understand mules and how to persuade them to work - oh lord. These folks just don't know what they are getting into. I bet most of them would just die if they were plowing behind a mule on a short trace and he passed gas and blew their hat off. Its happened to me. Picked up my straw hat and went on plowing.
Do they know not to go near a hurt or sick wild animal. RABIES. Kill them and burn or bury them at once. Do they know the difference between a rat snake you would put in the corn crib and a copperhead that will kill you? Do they know their pets will probably die within a few weeks in the country unless they keep them penned up - an animal raised in the city has little chance with coyotes, foxes, mink and weasels. Good Lord, do these people even know how to sharpen an axe? If we get a couple of million trying to run to the country, there will be tragedies enough for stories for the next century or two about the year all the city folk ran for cover.
Lacking sophistication in the ways of city life usually is just embaressing. Being a newbie in the country can get you killed really easily - farming is listed as number one on the list of most dangerous jobs. Hey, I've worked in the coal mines - I'm good for number one and number two. And I've got the scars to prove it!
Yes, this does come off as a bit of a rant, but I am really tired of this assumption that if you can make it in the city, country life is a snap. Try it, you will find out differently.
Good luck folks.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 14, 1998.
"Did we cry? Did we riot? Did we loot? Nope. We just went on with our lives and that was with NO help from the outside. No one brought us water, no one brought us power, no one brought us anything as we did not have the water at our doorstep. We shrugged and went 'Oh well' and went on." -- Rick, this is a good example of why preparing on a personal level for Y2K means getting out of the cities and into the country. Bad enough with loss of utilities, but its the attitudes of the people that make all the difference!
-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), October 14, 1998.
I appreciate all of your posts. However I don't agree that all country people are self sufficient. We are farmers in an isolated part of Nebraska, and our life style is typical of most country people. We grow lots of corn, but we go to the grocery store to get our food. We don't chop wood for fuel, or make our own soap. We don't have the equipment to plow with horses let alone by human power. We live in the modern age just like everyone else. Yes, we have to temporarily go without electricity at times during the winter. However, we can always go into town to get necessary supplies. I resent this stereotype that all country people will go on as normal when y2k hits. Y2k will affect us all, and we don't know much more about self sufficient living than our city cousins.
-- Louise (~~~~~@~~~~.~~~), October 14, 1998.
Louise,Correct, lots of folks are involved in agribusiness in rural areas. Just as there are suburban people who have backyard vege gardens.
I should have added skills in welding, gas and arc to my list.
Self sufficiency is more likely possible in mixed farming areas than in agribusiness zones. Wilderness is still wilderness because it wont support people. Were I in the US trying to decide where to relocate Id be moving to a mixed farming (crops and animals) area where soil and climate favour plants and animals.
Any other views on this one?
-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), October 14, 1998.
Paul,The list you enumerate is a good indication why so few people live that way in this country any more- it's too much work for too little reward. Of course, when it comes down to staying alive and relatively comfortable (compared to inner city refugees warming beenie weenies over a utility pole fire)it has somthing to recommend it.
My own reco for the list is bees and their related equipment (hives, extra supers, smoker and veil etc. They provide pounds of useful stuff (honey, wax) AND pollinate everything in sight for little work on your part. Unfortunately due to a couple of newly introduced pests our little friends are having a terrible time of it right now. They need all the help they can get- won't you adopt a hive of your own?
nemo...
-- nemo (nemo@deepsix.com), October 14, 1998.
Nemo I kept bees for 20 years. Never had good luck with the pure italians or midnite strains - so got some wild bees from the area - darker and meaner than italians and had good luck with them for many years. Would have loved to have seen one of the 'work em without gloves' guys give em a try - I never got hardly any stings from standard honey bees but these fellows would go 70 or 80 feet to get you away from their hives. They did not like company at all unless it was a summer evening and then they calmed down a bit. But they were extremely hardy and never let wax moths or mice give them problems. I think the mites finally got to them though they seemed to be recovering, but then a cow kicked the hives over in the middle of winter and that was that as I was way out of reach at the time it must have happened.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 15, 1998.
Nemo I kept bees for 20 years. Never had good luck with the pure italians or midnite strains - so got some wild bees from the area - darker and meaner than italians and had good luck with them for many years. Would have loved to have seen one of the 'work em without gloves' guys give em a try - I never got hardly any stings from standard honey bees but these fellows would go 70 or 80 feet to get you away from their hives. They did not like company at all unless it was a summer evening and then they calmed down a bit. But they were extremely hardy and never let wax moths or mice give them problems. I think the mites finally got to them though they seemed to be recovering, but then a cow kicked the hives over in the middle of winter and that was that as I was way out of reach at the time it must have happened.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 15, 1998.
Louise my post was meant for the folks who seem to think they can take to the woods and carve out a comfortable living with nothing but their trusty boy scout knife. What I lived on in the 50's was probably the closest thing to a truly self sufficient farm most people will ever see this side of the 20th century. And we got quite a bit of things from the outside - but we could have survived quite well without them. My point was that if you really must try to do this - which I don't advise and I have 'been there and done that' you will need the tools to do it with. And if you believe the power will be off for years and years then you need hand tools and animal power. Most who talk about being self sufficient aren't prepared nearly as well as they think.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 15, 1998.