E-Mail 'Ready for TEOTWAWKI: What’s Bringing Us Along - Part 2, by K.G.' To A Friend

23 Comments

1. Wonderful article. I like the way you think. Will ask God to bless your family with incredible location, more than you can imagine, to call new home in two years.

2. Good luck with your preps. Sounds like you are nailing it down.

   Would recommend that you look into vertical gardening based on your space limitations. It would allow you to better utilize the limited space you have more efficiently.

   1. Cattle panels laid on their side then angled up toward the sun provide a strong framework for some of the heavier trailing plants like cucumbers, melons, squashes, and pumpkins.

      1. Yes! Cattle panel add to vertical gardening real estate. We have ours arched between raised beds inside the greenhouse, but they work in outdoor gardens as well. Cucumbers, sugar snap peas, and small cherry (or one of the cherry-like tomato varities) have produced nicely for us. We hope the idea helps, and is successful for others too!

3. You are so correct that getting ready includes skill learning and experience. Many younger folks feel invincible and count on their physical strength to power through tough times and the community needs these young folks to do just that. But experienced gardeners, health and medical professionals, hunters, tanners, those who know how to preserve food in many ways, tailors and seamstresses, cobblers, etc., know it takes time and experience to be successful with these skills. Keep learning and practicing.

4. How would you get the ressources for reloading in such a time, especially for the primer but also the propellant

   1. Dan- proper storage and stack it deep! Kept dry, dark and cool, think steel cabinets and dehumidifiers. Powder and primers can last almost indefinitely. But a steady hand loader rotated as well

      1. Clear, but why then not buy and store proper cartridges?

         1. Do that as well, can you ever have enough? but stored materials allows the handloader to load various clibers from the same stock ( 30-30 Win, 30/06, .308, etc) and there are several powders that work across several calibers, and various stored bullet weights and types allow various loads for different size game/ threats.

            1. Thanks, i didn´t thought on that.

         2. Reloading is generally less expensive. In my experience pistol cartridges can be reloaded for very roughly 1/3 the cost of equal quality purchased ammo. Often less. Rifle ammo probably 1/2 the cost. Again often less.

5. Excellent article. Thank you.

   In a TEOTWAWKI situation is there a more labor intensive activity than security and observation? Even we old coots (and our young brides) with decent vision and firearm skills should be an asset to most groups.

6. One of the very best barter items to stock up on is Liquor ! All kinds.
   Liquor will get you anything you need !

7. Stock up plenty while you can
   Neither will go bad if stored properly

8. My first thought concerning gardening was the square foot gardening, companion planting and vertical gardening combined. You can grow a lot in a small area using these methods. Many years ago in the old Mother Earth News magazine they showed an experiment of vertical gardening using stacked concrete blocks with spacers (approximately 1 inch) in each of the 4 corners. They placed perforated pipe down the middle and used well fortified soil. Inside the blocks. They watered from the top. The man was able to grow 4-6 plants on each layer. He pre started the plants fist then tucked them in the sides. He used netting to make little slings for the larger fruit. It was truely amazing all he could grow in a very small area. We may need to get resourceful down the road.

9. An excellent 2nd installment and conclusion… The strategy and underlying philosophies are good ones with a focus on steady, balanced, broad based, forward progress.

   Animal House makes a very good point as well and reinforces what you’ve shared… Time and experience are important to building and developing skills. There is no question about this. It is no doubt not lost on members of this community!

   Thank you for sharing these thoughts and your experiences with all of us!

10. Dan,

    Besides the flexibility that Wingfoot mentions (which in itself is a huge advantage), one can purchase the supplies necessary to reload today for roughly 50% of the cost of cheap, target grade ammunition, and roughly 25% of the price of specialty or match grade ammunition.

    Some specific examples: I can reload 9mm target rounds for .11 per round and 9mm hollow point rounds tailored to self defense for .25 per round, and 308 Win rounds suitable for whitetail hunting for .36 per round.

    That means I stretch my ammo dollars by 200-300%, and I can build nearly anything that anyone requests.

11. In competitive weightlifting there is at least one formula to allow people of different ages to fairly compete with one another. For example a 30, 40, 50 year old could all compete with each other. It is called the Malone-Meltzer Age Coefficient.

    http://www.mastersweightlifting.org/forms/malone.htm

    To use them, you multiply the weight you lift by the Coefficient for your age. For example, if you lift 100 pound in a lift at 60 years of age you multiply it by 1.509. So it is equivalent to lifting 151 lbs when you were 30.

    The coefficients were calculated by comparing the competition lifts of lifters of all ages over many years to see how well trained individuals decline over time. I find the values to be scary accurate.

    What is the point? For me it is to set reasonable age adjusted goals. When I lift today my heavy lifts are now what my light warmups were when I was 30. It can be discouraging and could lead me to just abandon the weights, exit my garage, sit in my easy chair and just drink. Or it could lead me to throwing a stupid amount of weight on the bar and injuring myself. But when I complete a hard workout, multiply it by my coeffient and find that I am lifting as much or more, age adjusted as I was when I was when I was 30 it keeps me motivated. I can compete with my younger self on a reasonable basis. This helps me to keep going out to the garage and and keep striving to improve at least on an age adjusted basis vs. quitting.

    Yes it is fundamentally just a head game but I think it is a healthy head game.

    A good book (the only book I know of) on serious weightlifting for older people is “Gray Hair and Black Iron” by Brooks Kubik.

    https://www.amazon.com/Gray-Hair-Black-Iron-Successful/product-reviews/B003334Y26

    If you are 50+ and into barbells I would consider buying it. He has a slew of other good books he has written over the course of many decades as well. His theme is researching the training methods of the competitive lifters and strong men prior to the advent of steroids in the 60s and 70s. This also coincided to the time when competitive lifters made little or no money and so had demanding day jobs which took their time and energy as well. In other words he researches training methods for regular people.

12. For your herbal medicines, try to find herbs that grow in your area that you will likely need post SHTF, either ‘weeds’ that grow naturally in your area or herbs that can be easily grown in your area. For those you will likely need, should something go seriously wrong, I’d advise purchasing them in bulk and making tinctures with cheap vodka. Herbs lose their potency after awhile but once they are tinctured they will likely last mostly forever, just try to keep them out of bright light. Get a good book on making herbal medicines, such as ‘Making Plant Medicine’ by Richo Cech, because not all herbs release their ‘good stuff’ n alcohol, for example, Lobelia (which is a MICRO-DOSE medicine) for asthma needs to be tinctured in apple cider vinegar. Also, there are some people who cannot take ANY alcohol for one reason or another, and so you will need to understand alternate ways to make your medicine. Also, do not be terribly concerned about alcohol and children, most doses for children are less than a tsp.

    As with anything, NOW is the time to do your research and get your herbs, you will likely not be able to do it after TSHTF.

13. Really enjoyed your article. Encourging us to do what we can with the skills we have, always open to learning new skills, being honest with our own personal assessments and getting involved with trusted people. You’re invited to my place anytime. Maui dan.

14. Great article, lots of good stuff. We geezers are going to be a treasured asset amongst the youngsters after the SHTF. “WOW! Grandpa converted the chainsaw over to run off moonshine! And Grandma cured me with some kind of weeds she found in the north pasture! I hope all that Geritol has a long shelf life cuz we’re gonna need Grandma and Grandpa around for a LONG time!”

15. Great article. Would love to hear more in future articles about your progress.

16. Re: Community garden. Though you want to think the best of people there are nefarious characters out there. If the plot is big enough to put a small shed on it be sure the lock up all your tools and equipment after every visit. My friend has had several shovels, bags of soil, etc taken by the “homeless” who come by and snack on others hard work. So if you have an almost unripe tomato you would want to pick it when you see it or it would be gone the next day. Same with melons and other individual fruits of the garden (not so much lettuce, chard, peas, etc).

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