I have made my whole life a practice of preparing for a day when supply lines are failing, inflation is high and governments cease to function except pathologically - knowing most of what grows locally wild and edible, saving seeds, knowing how to grow food, hunt and fish - how to be resilient. I am pretty good at fermenting things too, which alcohol would make a fine currency in times of trouble. I also know how to build and maintain a house, and how to take it off grid if need be. So I'm feeling pretty good about the future, compared to a lot of people these days. Thanks for writing about it.
Sourdough starter, though maybe hard to maintain where you are… Many lost fermentation arts, which is probably why people struggle to digest things now.
Apples are typically fermented into cider. Not the juice box kind. Works best in a place where you can freeze out the water a couple times too ;)
I have, just on my own. I live with my ex and they don't see any need (they, jabbed). Frustrating.
I am focusing on things that need no refridgeration, (though I have a fridge and small freezer), such as dried cheeses and dried meats/jerky. (home dried, oven 175 degrees, 6 hours or so) Beans and legumes. Figs and dates. We have water set aside, but only 30 gallons or so and I haven't refreshed it for more than a year, so its time to re-up the water storage, which means finding new plastic containers for it , those becoming scarce in general in commerce now. Re your article, I really appreciate all the little details of your 4 day 'test of scarcity'. And the little chicks...I imagine about 6 Muscovey ducks would be a good start for me, (I raised them years ago so I am a bit familiar). Perhaps the front yard could be turned into a duck area, but I would need a serious fence to keep them safe, (in addition to the lockable hutch off the ground). That I learned from my experience years ago. Rabbits are much quieter says my Vietnamese acquantaince. My grandma used to say that she would kill and pluck her neighbors chickens, and her neighbor would do the same for her, because it's harder to kill the ones you have gotten friendly with. Best Amy
Mom's roommate in Las Vegas likes gathering up say 10 one gallon jugs of alkaline water and setting them in a corner in case of emergency. It' good thinking but by one year in I told him to replace them they tasted so much like chemical plastic they didn't smell or taste drinkable. I try a replenishment method where we have a large stock and move up older stock for eating and drinking. This keeps it front of mind and encourages constant thinking about how to prepare and use things you buy. I think a lot of people just splurge on some $300 survivalist box kit with a 50 pound bag of barley and some cans of meat or something then just throw it in a corner of a garage or basement for a few years. If they really needed it they might find that the barley got mold or was invaded by insects, the canned meat tastes too metallic to consume, and then they'll remember that they don't know how to cook anything with barley anyways. It's a way of life and knowledge in your head is the most valuable thing you have. And Ducky has gone to a friend who had some girl Moscovey he claims he'll give us some ducklings when they grow. I'm hoping he's sincere and the old guy hasn't been tuned into fricassied duck, but precisely because he was pretty old I doubt he'd be too yummy and no Thais showed interested in him. My husband had a job killing other people's chickens a few years ago you are precisely correct people tend to get attached to the ones around you. Ka has killed two roosters and a hen in the last few months our rule is don't kill any with names...
I wanted to keep my focus on food but yes electricity would be a huge concern and medicine. A few years ago our neighbor Naloon was trying to raise shrimp and crabs in raised beds next door. She noted that she lost money on the deal: the electric for the pumps cost too much, too many shrimp and crabs died before they grew, et cetera. We tried to raise catfish a few times because they can survive in low oxygen but they got algae on their scales and died young. There's a lot of trials and error and I was always trying to figure out how to make a gravity fed water pump for aquaculture. Some of energy is using common resources in your area instead of square peg round hole thinking. We have solar panels on our house in Las Vegas, for instance, though I am really pissed that they are tied on grid. We also live in one of the best places for solar panels on Earth, whereas I'm not counting on them to power your Christmas lights in Finland with their three hours of winter daylight and nor should Europeans. Renewables in general (taking out nuclear) work on a small scale personal household level and should not have been fitted for industrial uses. Regarding medicine a food yes I have studied it a bit. My mother in law was a veritable dictionary of native Thai foods and their healing applications and I think a lot of compounds are undiscovered by western thinking. We have a beautiful rosemary bush in Las Vegas, along with plentiful mint and maybe 400 aloe that grow along the walls. Food should be your medicine to the greatest degree possible...
I have made my whole life a practice of preparing for a day when supply lines are failing, inflation is high and governments cease to function except pathologically - knowing most of what grows locally wild and edible, saving seeds, knowing how to grow food, hunt and fish - how to be resilient. I am pretty good at fermenting things too, which alcohol would make a fine currency in times of trouble. I also know how to build and maintain a house, and how to take it off grid if need be. So I'm feeling pretty good about the future, compared to a lot of people these days. Thanks for writing about it.
Sourdough starter, though maybe hard to maintain where you are… Many lost fermentation arts, which is probably why people struggle to digest things now.
Apples are typically fermented into cider. Not the juice box kind. Works best in a place where you can freeze out the water a couple times too ;)
I have, just on my own. I live with my ex and they don't see any need (they, jabbed). Frustrating.
I am focusing on things that need no refridgeration, (though I have a fridge and small freezer), such as dried cheeses and dried meats/jerky. (home dried, oven 175 degrees, 6 hours or so) Beans and legumes. Figs and dates. We have water set aside, but only 30 gallons or so and I haven't refreshed it for more than a year, so its time to re-up the water storage, which means finding new plastic containers for it , those becoming scarce in general in commerce now. Re your article, I really appreciate all the little details of your 4 day 'test of scarcity'. And the little chicks...I imagine about 6 Muscovey ducks would be a good start for me, (I raised them years ago so I am a bit familiar). Perhaps the front yard could be turned into a duck area, but I would need a serious fence to keep them safe, (in addition to the lockable hutch off the ground). That I learned from my experience years ago. Rabbits are much quieter says my Vietnamese acquantaince. My grandma used to say that she would kill and pluck her neighbors chickens, and her neighbor would do the same for her, because it's harder to kill the ones you have gotten friendly with. Best Amy
Mom's roommate in Las Vegas likes gathering up say 10 one gallon jugs of alkaline water and setting them in a corner in case of emergency. It' good thinking but by one year in I told him to replace them they tasted so much like chemical plastic they didn't smell or taste drinkable. I try a replenishment method where we have a large stock and move up older stock for eating and drinking. This keeps it front of mind and encourages constant thinking about how to prepare and use things you buy. I think a lot of people just splurge on some $300 survivalist box kit with a 50 pound bag of barley and some cans of meat or something then just throw it in a corner of a garage or basement for a few years. If they really needed it they might find that the barley got mold or was invaded by insects, the canned meat tastes too metallic to consume, and then they'll remember that they don't know how to cook anything with barley anyways. It's a way of life and knowledge in your head is the most valuable thing you have. And Ducky has gone to a friend who had some girl Moscovey he claims he'll give us some ducklings when they grow. I'm hoping he's sincere and the old guy hasn't been tuned into fricassied duck, but precisely because he was pretty old I doubt he'd be too yummy and no Thais showed interested in him. My husband had a job killing other people's chickens a few years ago you are precisely correct people tend to get attached to the ones around you. Ka has killed two roosters and a hen in the last few months our rule is don't kill any with names...
Amy's photo: Thai *Jungle Red Roaster w/hens* are the main genetic origin of all Roasters and Hens.
Interesting! I never knew that...they're hardy and quite common in the area...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl
I wanted to keep my focus on food but yes electricity would be a huge concern and medicine. A few years ago our neighbor Naloon was trying to raise shrimp and crabs in raised beds next door. She noted that she lost money on the deal: the electric for the pumps cost too much, too many shrimp and crabs died before they grew, et cetera. We tried to raise catfish a few times because they can survive in low oxygen but they got algae on their scales and died young. There's a lot of trials and error and I was always trying to figure out how to make a gravity fed water pump for aquaculture. Some of energy is using common resources in your area instead of square peg round hole thinking. We have solar panels on our house in Las Vegas, for instance, though I am really pissed that they are tied on grid. We also live in one of the best places for solar panels on Earth, whereas I'm not counting on them to power your Christmas lights in Finland with their three hours of winter daylight and nor should Europeans. Renewables in general (taking out nuclear) work on a small scale personal household level and should not have been fitted for industrial uses. Regarding medicine a food yes I have studied it a bit. My mother in law was a veritable dictionary of native Thai foods and their healing applications and I think a lot of compounds are undiscovered by western thinking. We have a beautiful rosemary bush in Las Vegas, along with plentiful mint and maybe 400 aloe that grow along the walls. Food should be your medicine to the greatest degree possible...