Your Ideal Doomsday Survival Situation/Prepper Thread

[Skybird]

Leak-proof. Works like a charm.

[Shady Bill]

During Covid-19 isolation I started a food and water storage program. I built up a stock of food, fresh water, ammunition and basic medicines that would last a family of 3 for 12 months.

I look for new things to add to my Plan B bag. I recently ran into;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader

A palm-sized electronic device that displays the contents of SD card downloads of the entire wikipedia database. This device can search and display the entire wikipedia database which is updated 1x/2x per month.
I now update this every couple of months.

I really enjoy raspberry pi and arduino projects. It seems it shouldn't be that hard to search these wiki dump files. Quite frankly, the $140 Wikireader is garbage. It is flimsy. Is anyone aware of something much more rugged that is designed to use very little battery power? This thing is not designed for field usage, it is a toy. Not something you want when the Russian's knock out our internet.

What is in your "Plan B bag"?

[Armistead]

Have a 78 acre farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge and prepared to farm old school. Right now I lease most the farmable land to a tobacco farmer. I love studying the 'old ways' when my grandpa worked the land with his father. I took several classes done by the Amish community nearby. I did do plow about half an acre this year with a horse team and hand plow and I don't know how grandpa did that with about 50 acres at the time. Also salt curing ham in the smokehouse and getting good at canning. Course I live in town about an hr away, but that's where I would be if the world went to smut.

[Shady Bill]

Thank you for sharing that. This sounds incredible.

I always wondered how much fertile land is required to feed a family. What crops are best to grow? which crops are most nutrient rich etc. I study these things.

All survival skills we have sadly forgotten. Things our forefathers knew instinctively.

I commend you for trying to preserve this knowledge.

[Shady Bill]

I highly recommend anyone to download onto a local drive the following;


https://ia800904.us.archive.org/3/it...ivalManual.pdf


It contains very useful information, explained in a simple manner.

[ET2SN]

We had a pretty good thread on this topic but I guess its gone?

All I can really offer is:

There is nothing in the Universe more useless than a vehicle with an automatic transmission and a dead starter.

This doesn't mean everyone needs to buy an antique Jeep. The point is to really look at your "worst case" plans, if you have any, and re-think them logically. Your plans should change over time to reflect your situation.

For example- what good is a home generator if you don't know how to run or maintain it? How would you get gasoline if the gas stations have lost power?

Stockpiling rice and pasta is worthless if you can't boil water just like canned foods are worthless without a manual can opener.

Instead of hunkering down, plan on how to move quickly. Being able to move quickly is worthless without an idea of where to go. Remember that de-commissioned missile silos are prone to flooding. Always plan for things to screw up. While we're on the subject, try to keep your plans as simple as possible.

Hunting for game is fine, but what are you going to do once you drop that buck or a cow? Having 200 pounds of meat is great until it starts to rot. Learn how to make do with less.

If you're spending 36 consecutive hours defending your compound from strangers- YOU'VE ALREADY LOST. How are your People Skills? Can you build a team if it means your life depends on it?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Shady Bill

What crops are best to grow? which crops are most nutrient rich etc.

Hirse.

Long forgotten, but in Europe's past this was THE dominant starvation-preventing crop, not wheat or any of the other.

Hirse is very interesting. It does not belong to the class of grass seeds like wheat, rye, barley, and lacks the chemical defense agents of these plants that give some people troubles, it also does not cause ATI sensitivity. It is rich in nutrients, and although it must be peeled (we cannot digest unpeeled hirse at all), it looses only that amount of its nutrient content and minerals that equal the volume of the peeled-of skin of the complete Hirse-grain, because whereas wheat has the nutrients concentrated under the skin and looses them more or less completely when peeling, the nutrients in Hirse are equally distrubuted throughout the full grain/fruit, and so you loose only a small quantity of nutrient value when peeling. Hirse is also easy to grow, I read, it needs less care and especially less water than the other crops and grains, and is more robust against heat and dryness. Its extremely versatile in the kitchen, can be used salty or sweet, soup-like or dumpling-like, and you can easily replace rice with it. Different to Quinoa and Amaranth, it does not have these Southamerican grains' typical and somewhat bitter own taste that i do not like at all, and since you can plant hirse everywhere its better for climate protection (no need to shuttle it from one continent to the next, if only we would start to farm it in bigger quantity). For cooking, you can do practically everything with it.
I love Hirse, and if I would start doomsday farming myself (I know nothing about farming...), Hirse would be my first choice for grains.


One disadvantage: Baking bread with it should prove difficult, I would expect... As I read it you must add wheat flour, hirse flour alone does not work well. Personally, i would not care at all to break bread in case of such doomsday emergency.


It currently gets farmed almost completely in Asia (China... is there aqnythign we do not depoend on China?) and a bit in africa, but sees a slow-advancing revival in Europe as well, which i absolutely welcome.

As a matter of fact I have a rich reserve of Hirse in my clever-prepper-doomsday-cellar. Becasue that alöso is an advanatge: it is easy to store and last longs. You only need a cup pf hot water do prepare, you waste much less water than for boiling potatoes or pasta, for example, like rice cooking the you need only a small quantity of water and it gets completely consummed, and you must not boil it all the time. Heat it up once and then switch it off and leave it alone. Works with milk as well, if need be.


You may have realised it by now: Im a great fan of hirse.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

We had a pretty good thread on this topic but I guess its gone?

In this universe nothing ever is gone. It only transforms, or moves to another place.


https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...hlight=prepper

[Jimbuna]

Threads merged.

[Shady Bill]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Threads merged.

Thank you! My apologies. You guys truly have a thread for everything.
Very impressive

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Shady Bill

Thank you! My apologies. You guys truly have a thread for everything.
Very impressive

I'm searching for a thread about surviving an economical breakdown.

Having a hunch on who made this thread.

Edit
Found it but it wasn't so much about economical breakdown though
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=195918
End edit

Markus

[ET2SN]

Black market and gray market economies are not all that unique.

Its pretty basic. "I'll trade you a canteen and its good water (assuming you have several) for that steel pitcher in your scrap pile". "Throw in a pack of iodine tablets and its a deal". "Half a pack of tablets and we'll shake hands".

On a more practical, short term, level- make sure you have some cash on hand. Spend it only when you have to. A short stack of ten and twenty dollar bills can go a LONG way. Avoid carrying large bills, don't be the A Hole trying to buy a summer sausage with a 100 dollar bill. In an emergency situation, NO ONE cares if you're well-off.

[ET2SN]

Something I've been kicking around for this thread is the concept of Leadership, what it really is, and how to use it.

In the military, a good and effective leader knows how to follow orders. They also have the experience and training to make them good at it. Many sailors know how to move the boat but there can be only one Captain, right?

Well, maybe not. I guess the point of this post is what if that natural leader ain't you? Having a big ego can be helpful but it can also guarantee that you'll starve alone and cold.

Let's say you're part of a group that includes a little old lady who grew up on a farm before she had to move to the city. Guess who sits on top of the leader board for your group?

[Skybird]

You survive like you have trained. Best train with this :

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Leak-proof. Works like a charm.

I found theses little round 100% cotton facial pads make a for very good fire starter when used with one those strikers. They come in plastic ziplock bags so always stay dry, very convenient. All it takes one little spark and they catch fire.