Friday, May 16, 2014

bison fantasy farm


BISON FARM FANTASY

You might wonder why I, surely smarter than the average bear who reads Life After Doomsday a few times and then decides to open up his own web site with thirty-seven graphic ads per page and pretends to know a thing or two about the Apocalypse, am still living up in an area that only supported a few Indigs hunting and fishing and they were probably the rejects of other tribes and didn’t have much choice in the matter.  I mean, it isn’t like I haven’t moved dozens of times before.  It isn’t like I’m adverse to walking away from investments that didn’t work out as expected.  My survival plans here are far from perfect but they did coincide with my plans for the economic collapse.  But that doesn’t mean I HAVE to stay here.  The people here pretty much suck, Yuppie Scum from California, most women gold digging for a mine worker.  I could very easily move out to East Texas on my lot there.  One bus ticket, a few media mail packages to send my best books and fees to ship my guns through a couple of gun dealers is all it would take if I didn’t want to go the U-Haul route.  Money certainly isn’t keeping me from there.

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Even if two mobile home lots isn’t a lot of land, it is enough to grow close to enough calorie crops to supplement stored wheat.  If I put a small shack with porch on the land I can use most of the rest for gardening ( despite the above title, it is far from a farm.  But it also has no debt so I’m way ahead of the mortgage backed real farms ).  Being somewhat tropical I imagine it is going to be mostly corn-not exactly my favorite but then unlike some I realize one corn in hand is better than two freeze dried stews in the bush.  I can’t count on fishing in a crash- too much competition most likely.  But I should have enough land to grow something chickens will like and have plenty of eggs.  It is a feasible plan.  It fits nicely with an economic collapse.  It fits nicely with a retirement where Social Security has been broke and ended. 

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But it is a terrible plan for a die-off.  I would be something like a hundred miles ( if that- I forgot exactly, having researched the place nine years ago )  east of Dallas-Fort Worth, a Texas size mega-city of two million people.  Those people are not just going to just stay in place to starve.  They are going to say, hey, Tyrone, let’s go kill that honkey mo-fo who is responsible for oh-pressing ours peoples, word up and represent ( yes, I’ll admit a healthy dose of White Fright about living there ).  I’m not terribly safe here only six miles from the teeming metropolis of twenty thousand, but if I’m so inclined to Go Hermit I can move twenty miles up the road and be safe from everyone ( except my own then isolated mind, freed from the calming effects of civilization ).  Economic collapse is not the same as civilization collapse.  I’m healthily paranoid enough to be utterly convinced of a civilization die-off in a very short time.  Farming would be dangerous.  For ME.  Not to say everyone should follow my own example.  I throw it out there as an option.  Not as a cure-all.  Word up, homies.

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15 comments:

  1. Also Elko is pretty far from any nuc plants, water ain't too deep 125' in the Bullion area (I've read that you can hand pump 125'), low entitlement bennies paid to the townies, too dang far to walk to from Cali or Vegas, great sleeping weather, good solar gain, plus go 20 miles away from the h-way and town and no one will find you without a plane.

    It's not a bad place to live during a slow collapse. A fast collapse means we are all doomed. (hat tip to B/C Dude)

    Gil

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    1. And worse case, make your own "well pail" out of PVC pipe and lower with a rope for a gallon or two at a time.

      Delete
  2. I think you have a very good plan. It follows Ol' Remus' s first rule of survival -- Stay Away From Crowds.

    The second best thing you can do is stockpile the $#1? out of cheap, fossil fuel dependent supplies -- grains, beans, ammo, antibiotics, water filters, toe nail clippers, etc.

    The third best thing you can do is start living like the collapse has already happened -- live cheap and without all the modern luxuries. That way you are already ahead of the curve mentally when the real crash happens.

    After that it's all about making the best use of your time above ground. Visit family, learn interesting hobbies like underwater basket weaving and feeling good that you're not one of those corporate suckers tied to their desk so they can keep a wife and home mortgaged to the hilt.

    Idaho Homesteader

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    1. Is it just me, or have toe nail clippers suddenly been made to twist apart and break? Seriously, never in my life did a pair fail on me, and last month two pairs did. Now I'm paranoid and I have to stockpile more pairs.

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    2. I have about 20 nail clippers. With kids, I live by the saturation method. If you buy only one or two, the kids lose them. I keep buying more until every nook and cranny that you can lose stuff is full and I still have several on the shelf. I do the same thing with scissors, hair brushes and potato peelers. Can't have too many LOL

      Look for older, better made clippers at Thrift stores. St. Vincent Thrift is the best place in our area.

      Idaho Homesteader

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    3. And friggin can openers! Total crap right now. The $6 pair doesn't last but a few months. The $3 the same. The $1 pair a few days only.

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    4. Get the old Swing-a-way that were made in the US. They last forever. I buy them whenever I see them at 2nd hand stores.

      Idaho Homesteader

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    5. I'd invest in something like this James:

      http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/100-pk-military-style-p-38-can-openers.aspx?a=372726

      They can be a pain to use at times, but are generally pretty durable, and would also be a great barter item.

      Delete
  3. On a somewhat related note James, I came across the below publication:

    Secret Garden of Survival: How to grow a camouflaged food- forest. Paperback by Rick Austin

    http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Garden-Survival-camouflaged-forest/dp/1481839772

    Might offer a few helpful tips to those that plan on trying their hand at the post apocalypse husbandry scenario? I also saw something one time, at I believe Creekmore's site? Something to the effect of combining the three sisters gardening method, with a stealth garden, for maximum post collapse effectiveness?

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  4. James, I don't think you could do better than ETexas. You could easily have two crops a year, mostly greens, cabbage, etc., I would think. The people are good.They have been preppers for generations. Your barter possibilities would be almost endless. With shotguns and dogs, life would be good. Julia in Dallas

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  5. James,

    I think the issue is *detectable* farming being dangerous. As long as you're in desert or near-desert USA areas, you have long growing seasons. With the water options above, more difficult to detect farming might work if you can manage to route sunshine to below ground.

    A couple ideas come to mind, about which I"ve done varying amounts of research: permaculture, hydroponics (grow media not usually being reusable - bah), air growth (aeroponics?), light tubes to direct light from above ground ($), the 3rd world plastic water/soda bottles in the ceiling "free light" technique, and some promising symbiotic fish-fish waste-plants systems (jinner city farming). Just some scattered thoughts for your consideration. As with gardening, you want to get your chops down cold before you bet your life on the outcome. Mushroom farming with worms & such? I don't know how many calories and nutrients mushrooms provide but my guess is you couldn't live off it. Gardening is a wide field, and I hold no particular expertise. Solar panels (difficult to shield) down to a bulb system seems pretty ridiculous. Clunk ... sputter ... this is me running out of ideas.

    Saratoga

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    Replies
    1. Sometimes just throwing ideas at a wall get something to stick. Its thinking outside the box- never a bad thing.

      Delete
  6. Earth bermed greenhouse with camouflage sunshade cover.
    Sure the glass or plastic might break over years (clear packing tape could help reinforce cracks etc. for quite some time) but a stockpile of glass gleaned from teardowns due to the housing market implosion could help. Face the green house the right way to heat or cool it. Have a place for the too hot air and too cold air to go to, or vent to, and collect the interior condensation if water is an issue. This of course presumes some existing slope to build into, or heavy equipment to haul the dirt to berm with. But the building itself doesn't have to be too much - just a framework with some light permitting panels of whatever source you can find. 6'+ tall inside would be nice, 6"-12" deep soil in most of the beds would do. Other than fasteners and auto opening/closing vents most of the parts should be scavenged for free. You could build a tiny one in a weekend, then another and another as time and materials allow, practicing and improving on each.
    -Grey

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