RAF, I agree that living self sufficiently is more reasonable than living the typical consumerist life and then expecting to transition smoothly to a survivalist mentality and life style. First 10 years of my life we didn't have electric. Never had running water. This at my dad's country house in the Ozarks where we spent all our summers and other vacations. So I'm used to it and enjoy getting back to basics...
What's your water source? That high up in the Smokeys I'd expect you have some clear streams nearby? I have a well with a well bucket for long term powerless emergencies. Two koi ponds with 4000 gallons and a lake just a thousand feet away which the local morons regularly pollute with herbicides however. PS my original Owen ancestors (Jason Owen) that we know about lived there in the Smokeys back in the 1700's. Obviously you are on the grid. Do you have backup power? Some people around here have gas generators but I don't because in any true emergency you are going to have problems getting gas. I do have around 50 gallons of gas but that's for my chain saw since firewood is my almost exclusive heat source. With all the forest around I should never want for firewood and thus heat and cooking... What I'd like to find is some practical solar system I could run communications off of at least. Anyone know of one? Edgar On Nov 29, 2012, at 10:05 PM, R A Fonda wrote: > On 11/29/2012 8:40 PM, Joe wrote: > >> Hope you saw it last night, both the moon and Jupiter > > The moon just rose above the ridge a little while ago, behind the bare > branches of the trees; very dramatic, with a strong halo ... pink outer ring > and an inner white to faintly golden ring almost as wide as the moon's > diameter. One of the all-time great ones. > > > What else should I stock-pile? < > > I dunno ... I'm not 'that kind' of a stock-pile survivalist. I am just > working toward as much self-sufficency as is practical: kinda like the > old-timers around here lived in the late 1800s, with orchards, gardens, > vineyards, berry patches, etc..., and I am not expecting things to get > suddenly savage, but just to spiral downward in a continuation of current > trends. For instance, I am maintaining heirloom seed lines in our garden > crops, and have scrounged up old fruit-tree cultivars that will live without > spraying. I found varieties of cherry and plum trees that the Amerinds grew, > which can be propagated by root-shoots, so they don't need to be grafted, and > they don't need spraying though, of course, they don't make commercial > quality fruits or yield heavily. Eighty + years ago people were living all > over these mountains, which are now part of the national forests, and there > are still apple trees growing out in those forests where there were small > farms. The trees now growing there are either root sprouts or seedlings from > those old trees, that have survived without care for all these decades. I > went out, some years ago, and gathered half a pick-up load of apples from the > better trees with nice fruit. I planted all the seeds, and got hundreds of > seedlings, and gave them very little care for a couple of years. For the last > couple of years I have been planting the most vigorous survivors wherever I > can find a good site, and I gave a lot away to people who appreciated the > idea of saving these old cultivars. Last year I found fox-crap full of wild > persimmon seeds, so I planted them. I dug up some really antique grape vines > where an old house was being bulldozed, so I do things like that rather than > just 'stock-piling' stuff, though the day will come when buying vast amounts > of consumer goods that wont spoil (aluminum foil and canning jar lids come to > mind) might be a great investment. > > RAF > >
