Self-Reliant Living is Critical

[blufire]

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Perusing current news articles and even threads on forums sometimes brings me to the point of wanting to shake some people to get them to wake up and to see the bounty around them and to say to them ‘you don’t have to be a victim to people in authority or to circumstances you feel are out of your control’.

Be Self-Reliant! Take control of what is negatively or apathetically affecting your life! You don’t have to live in fear or constant worry of things you may feel are out of your control or out of your ability to change.

An Example: The residents in and around Flint, Michigan are drinking, cooking and bathing in highly contaminated water and have been for over a year. People are literally dying or will suffer health ailments for the rest of their lives from using water THEY KNEW something was wrong with it.

http://news.yahoo.com/how-the-people-of-flint--michigan-ended-up-with-contaminated-drinking-water-043602916.html

I ask myself WHY would anyone with half a brain drink water they knew wasn’t right? People have become so apathetic they feel their local, state and federal governments will take care of them to the point they blindly continue with actions that are dangerous to their health AND life.

Who holds the greater responsibility? The government or the individual?

If I lived in Michigan this is what I would be doing:

• Set up a system to collect rainwater and store in barrels or cistern
• Find where there are local natural springs and set up a collection system
• Collect water from streams, rivers or ponds
• Even water from the municipal system

Of course these would need to be filtered and there are many filtering systems from high dollar reverse osmosis systems to Berkey water filtration systems with additional filters that take out the worst of containments, including lead and fluoride (I use) to the old standby of sand, charcoal (make your own) and boiling.

With what these people are spending on buying bottled water (that probably isn’t much better) they can invest in a Berkey filtration system and be rest assured their water is pure and one set of filters last for many gallons.

Neighborhoods can group together, families can group together, friends can group together .. . . . . share the work and share the expense!

Learn. Learn. Learn. How you can take care of the basic necessities essential for life. Don’t stop at one solution, have several . . . . . options are your friend.

Self-Reliance is freedom and peace of mind . . . .

[blufire]

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85 million people will be effected by a massive snowstorm in the Eastern U.S. in the next 3 days. Snow fall accumulation records are expected to be shattered in many areas. Forecasters have been warning for over a week that power outages for millions will be a stark reality. Government officials are telling people to stay home and stay off the roads.

The actual storm will be 3 days but problems the storm will cause will last days and weeks for many.

Sadly there will be many deaths . . . . . . . . deaths that could have been avoided if people were more self-reliant because most have the expectation that the government, police, rescue squad or others will take care of them. But these agencies will not be able to physically get to them for days.

There will be those who will bitterly complain that their governments failed them and are at fault for the inconveniences and dangers this storm will bring and that they will have to endure.

I live on the border of Kentucky and Virginia at one of the highest altitudes in the Appalachians, right smack in the middle of it. As I type snowflakes as large as cotton balls are cascading from the sky . . . . . it is absolutely beautiful and I am unconcerned with what the days and weeks may hold.

But, my heart goes out to those not prepared and are expecting others to take of them without taking responsibility for themselves, their family and their neighbors.

I have lived on this farm for almost 5 years (this will be my forever farm) and my first priority these past 5 years has been to secure backup and secondary backups for heat, water, food, medicine and transportation (if I need to leave this mountain). Necessities like water, food and heat I have 4 and 5 sources.

These self-reliant measures have not been expensive, most have just taken a lot of willpower, know how or experience and tons of hard work and sweat equity. I would like to mention I am a 56 year old woman with one reconstructed knee and the other knee is mostly bone on bone. If I can do it most anyone can!

As our planet continues through the ongoing climate change self-reliant and sustainable living is going to become more and more important . . . . actually it will become a matter of life and death . . . . and already has.

[Aianawa]

Your inspiring Blufire, I do love love waking to the snow quietness.

[Dreamtimer]

I'm working on becoming more self-sufficient. It's a process. I always appreciate tips and advice. I come from a family that was always modern, interested in modern amenities, and definitely not into survival or even long-term disaster prep. I recall we had to go shopping just after the blizzard of '78 because my mom hadn't gotten enough groceries before hand. We couldn't drive, and we couldn't even carry it all home and someone took pity on us and gave us a ride. I should have learned from that experience....

I had never seen that much snow in my life. Growing up, if I got hot, I went inside to the AC. If I was thirsty I got water from the tap, or the fridge. If I was hungry I got food from the fridge or pantry. There was no hard work of gathering, growing, raising, harvesting, preserving, etc. Just shopping.

In the system we live in it seems almost impossible to be self-sufficient. Of course it's entirely possible. There have been many good ideas and information shared here and all of it is much appreciated.:thup::tiphat:

[bsbray]

Thanks for the thread, blufire. I really appreciate these kinds of posts. Btw I ordered that book "Four Season Harvest" you recommended me, so I have it now and I plan on reading through before winter's over so I can implement some things this year.

[blufire]

Thanks for the thread, blufire. I really appreciate these kinds of posts. Btw I ordered that book "Four Season Harvest" you recommended me, so I have it now and I plan on reading through before winter's over so I can implement some things this year.

I really think you will like this book and especially if having year around fresh food is something you would enjoy. I get a little thrill every time I harvest fresh greens in the middle of January. Also, implementing ‘four season harvest’ techniques brings garden jewels to the table sooner. Last year we had ripe tomatoes by the middle of May.

A few hints I have found helpful over the years in becoming a sustainable gardener/homesteader

The USDA zones are outdated. The planet climate change is happening so rapidly that we are failing to change with it or adapt adequately. If the charts say you live in zone 5 then I suggest to go down to zone 4 for all your gardening plantings and especially long term things like fruit trees.

Start the seed and plant varieties that are suggested in books like Eliot Coleman’s ‘Four Season Harvest’ but every year save seed from your best plants and plant that seed the following year and save seed from that plant and so on and what you will have in 3 to 4 years is seed that is fully adapted and acclimated to where you live, your soil, you altitude etc. . . . super seed.

Even if you start with hybrid seed or plants . . . . save seed from that hybrid and the first year you plant the saved seed you will get a very poor harvest but save seed from the best plant from the hybrid plant parent because you will have the best result from the hardiest genetic material that presents itself in the new plant and go on from there.

Of course I also always plant regular ‘purchased’ seed and plants to ensure a sufficient harvest but I keep those plants far from the one I am cultivating into my ‘super seed’. I am almost at the point I will no longer have to buy seed or plants but I have a few more years because of the new growing areas I am creating all over my mountain farm.

[enjoy being]

The infrastructure based around technology that has replaced survival skills, such as freezers, water pumps, and food markets has created many changes in the past decades since their uptake. Much of these changes have been in dependency being created parallel to the claims of independency for the individual. Skills and knowledge cast aside and replaced with focuses on the new survival technique of squeezing money out of others.
From my view point the helplessness and out of shapeness of people is more frequent in big cities and seems from my place of view to also have been quite severe in the USA generally, for quite some time.
I am not sure of my opinion exactly, as I am quite a hard nosed person on one hand, and caring on the other. In one opinion, I see letting the responsibility of remaining capable of survival slide as a tough luck response. I abhor the embracing of the system by people who are pretty much too far gone and are a blight on the rest by sucking everything dry and blindly holding out their hands for more while trying to maintain a mask of being successful versions of humanity. In this view, I say let the stupid eaters devour each other, helping is being an enabler to the greater problem of an overflow of leeches and liars.

[sandy]

It is all about indoctrination Nothing...............yours definitely is different than the leeches and liars I presume!!

[enjoy being]

Exactly right Sandy, I have not led a life blindly entwined in an embrace with the system and let go of the tethers which keep me from being a helpless model citizen busily forcing my will on others in order to placate fears based on lack of knowledge of how to survive without credit to exchange for processed foods. I have not joined the army of those who have fallen into line and have become part of the machine which sucks the life out of others. I have not been part of the housing speculation which has ramped up the division and the eagerness to stomp on others. I do not laugh at people who are poor and state they brought it on themselves. I have managed for the most part to stay on the fringes of fashion and see through most of the mechanisms which cause people to join the pack.
I live in a country that is not long out of its settlement period by global standards and we tend to have a reputation for invention and 'down to earth' knowledge of nature and how to's.
Yet, even here, there has been a take over in the minds of city folk especially. Victims trying to be sophisticated like the faces they see on TV. Bitten by the bug of consumerism and out on the prowl for symbols of status at the cost of others, leaving no time for reflection and getting back to basics.

I also have not been indoctrinated into the total belief that all is like it is because of the power of the few and that the many are the innocents. I have elements of the indoctrination into the belief of the conspiracy of the existence of human meddling and selfishness and error making.

[blufire]

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Just to be clear. I am not a survivalist. I am not a prepper. I do not live in fear or trepidation.

I am a self-reliant, self-sufficient homesteader . . . . if you must put a label on me.

I do not live as in the 1800’s . . . . although I could.

I am working toward melding the ‘old ways’ of living with new technology. Although I have started with the ‘old ways’ because those ways cost very little. This farm is at the point that with the money I make from it I can reinvest in new technology.

The way I live is very satisfying and is abundant and produces a wonderful peace of mind.

Although at times my body hurts in various places! Nothing a hot Epsom salt bath and hooch can’t take care of! :thup:

[Aianawa]

All of us were asleep to then be aware To awaken, we are blessed, can you imagine being asleep still, beggers belief, spose it is what one does with their awareness and awakenedness.

[blufire]

10153289960821791




Mod edit (by Aragorn): I've fixed the video link. Click the image to run the video. ;)


Here’s a great idea for winter gardening. This family is growing food in Canada in single and subzero weather.

I’m definitely going to incorporate some of this into one of my growing tunnels.

Thanks for fixing the video . . . . not my thing!!!

[blufire]

https://vimeo.com/109995031


This gal (who is about my age) has been living off grid for 30 years in Australia. I feel a great kinship with her.



thanks again Aragorn for fixing my link . . .

[bsbray]

I just built the bins for a worm farm and coconut coir is in the mail. The worms themselves will be next, once everything else is situated. Then I'll have free worm compost from food scraps for this season. :D

This guy has over 1000 videos on YouTube about organic gardening, and all kinds of edible plants that most people don't know much about:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1qUnyCcDM

[Aianawa]

Thank-you Bsbray, I have some vids to learn from and create, good timing for me.

[blufire]

........

The article below is an very resounding reason why I feel living a self-reliant lifestyle is critical. A couple of dates mentioned in the article are 2030 and 2055 and I feel when people see dates this far out in the future they just automatically dismiss it. But these dates mentioned are when these problems will have doubled. Most fail to realize that the years leading up to the 'doubling' are going to be very difficult.

I know for me personally I find I cannot work as long as I once could out in the heat and yes, I know some of this is my age but I also know I have never experienced heat this soon in the year as well as prolonged cold periods in the winter. So I cannot produce as much as I once could and I can no longer provide fresh farm foods for others because I first have to preserve food for myself and those I am responsible for. This is what the article is saying. Productivity is going to be increasingly and drastically reduced as our weather changes globally. That means less food, less goods, less EVERYTHING.

The 'Globalists' and 'They' have seen this coming for many, many years and have been preparing for it.

Climate change is real folks and the catastrophic results are happening NOW and will increase yearly . . . . . .




https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/07/19/as-the-world-grows-hotter-some-workers-are-becoming-less-productive/


Scorching Heat Is Driving Down Economic Productivity Around The World

From construction workers in Dubai to farmers in India, workers around the world are suffering from excessive heat fueled by climate change. This heat is leading to huge productivity losses and mounting economic strain for dozens of countries, according to research published Monday ahead of a U.N. forum.

The study builds on research detailing how extreme heat in some places prevents employees from working during the hottest hours of the day. People simply tire faster and accomplish less the hotter it gets. That lost work time translates into significant hits on the gross domestic product in nations across the globe, and it is a problem that could deepen as the Earth continues to warm.

“For certain tropical countries that are not so well-economically developed, they might lose up to 10 percent of working hours during daylight,” said Tord Kjellstrom, one of the co-authors of the research and a visiting professor at Australian National University. “It’s a whole working month that would be lost because it’s so hot you can’t work.”

[Sweeping study claims that rising temperatures will sharply cut economic productivity]

Kjellstrom and fellow researchers found that in dozens of countries, daylight work hours lost to excessive heat have increased since the 1990s. They also estimate that at the current rate of global warming, that trend will continue. For instance, countries such as India, Vietnam and Indonesia could see the number of lost work hours more than double by 2055 and more than triple by 2085.

The idea that heat and work productivity are intertwined is not a new concept, of course. Researchers have long studied whether the high heat in the southern U.S. hampered economic activity there, even as the North benefited from an industrial boom.

More recently, researchers have begun increasingly to look at the issue through the lens of climate change.

By the mid-1990s, persistently hot, poor countries such as Bangladesh were estimated to have lost 1 to 3 percent of all daylight work hours to extreme heat, which can cause exhaustion, stroke and sometimes death among exposed workers. In West Africa, research found that the number of very hot days per year had doubled since 1960. Serious heat waves have become more prevalent in various parts of the globe. Those figures could only be getting worse over time.

“In Southeast Asia, as much as 15% to 20% of annual work hours may already be lost in heat-exposed jobs, and this may double by 2050 as global climate change progresses,” Kjellstrom and a colleague wrote in a separate study published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health. They estimated that by 2030, reduced labor productivity could account for losses of “several percent of GDP, which means billions of U.S. dollars even for medium-sized countries.”

The effects of heat stress aren’t felt only at the country level, but also at the human level.

Not only does extreme heat put the health of individual workers in danger, but it also hurts workers and their families financially.

“The worker faces income loss when less is achieved within the same period of time, or a loss of leisure/family time if more work is required,” the authors of Monday’s paper wrote, noting that the health of children, women and elderly relatives face increased risks when family incomes are reduced.

[As the climate changes, risks to human health will accelerate, White House warns]

“It’s extremely likely that the poorest countries and the poorest communities are the ones most affected,” Kjellstrom said. “It slows down and undermines efforts to reduce poverty in the world.”

This week’s research adds to data detailing productivity losses due to scorching heat.

A 2010 paper that studied countries in Central America and the Caribbean found that once the temperature surpasses 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit), economic output in labor-intensive sectors of the economy starts falling. Specifically, output drops about 2.4 percent for every increase in degree Celsius. This was true of both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.

A study released in late 2014 by the National Bureau for Economic Research suggested that warmer temperatures result in quantifiable economic costs.

That paper showed a fairly dramatic negative influence of heat on economic productivity. In particular, the authors found that for a single very hot day — warmer than 86 degrees Farenheit — per capita income goes down by $20.56, or 28 percent.


the bold and underlining are mine for emphasis.

[Jengelen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCKkHqlx9dE&list=PLGnWLXjIDnpClM4NUJ_5bEv34f3ePjLiu

Not sure if I did the embed thing correctly but anyone interested in surviving primitive needs to book mark this guy here!

[Dreamtimer]

Jengelen, I'm amazed. What an amazing structure. What a lot of work. Do you know where he built this?

[lookbeyond]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCKkHqlx9dE&list=PLGnWLXjIDnpClM4NUJ_5bEv34f3ePjLiu

Not sure if I did the embed thing correctly but anyone interested in surviving primitive needs to book mark this guy here!

I dont know if i want to survive if the problems that result on Earth are the result of something devastating like an asteroid hit/massive climate change due to multiple volcanic activity, i dont have the survival instinct to fight or die when it comes down to defending food supplies etc, no guns here and dont want to live in fear of violence.. i would however live happily in this little hut way off grid in a heartbeat if i was on my own

[Jengelen]

"Dreamtimer: Jengelen, I'm amazed. What an amazing structure. What a lot of work. Do you know where he built this?"

When my friends, brothers and family watched this we all asked that over and over through the films he does. He does an even more permanent type cabin later with a heated slab rock floor even and its much more awesome than this but much more work too! We concluded this guy must be early 30s probably someone that went with his parent maybe to a missionary work overseas perhaps to some jungle environ. for a time living among some natives! A couple of the guys watching though, are pretty sure it could be Arkansas due to some of the trees but I can't say enough on that to know.

I have some others I like also that in a pinch have proven to be quite handy to know!! Learn this one and one day you may thank me!! Although its not quite as simple as it may look. The first time we built some of these it took a bit to get things together just right but it sure works and well!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iR_3zWd0hA

[Dreamtimer]

He appeared to be mixing the dirt with water to make the pots. Do you know what kind of soil would be necessary? Here we have sandy soil and also clay. I imagine the clay would work quite well, though I was under the impression it had to be mixed with something. Those thick leaves look like magnolia. We don't have bark like that around here, although I'm sure there's something that would work. Amazing.

[Jengelen]

Yeah I don't know much about the pottery. I think he mixed some straw in there though and it helps hold it together. I know you need some clay in it also. The red clay Mississippi river mud bottom is the best! MMP or Mississippi Mud Pottery there out of Alton, Il. makes some of the best stuff. My wife favors a lot of that due to her mother's tastes and flare and they have quite valued pieces of some of them but there are normal things simple and I think it has to do with how they bake it.

One way they get this high high gloss almost shiny and the other is more flat and dirt like! But I can't say which is better just that I know personally for my own coffee cup the shiny ones baked as they are are more ceramic than pottery feeling. I like the stone ware pottery look myself and the flat finish of fired vs the baked but again as for time and all that and the mix I really don't know. I've always wanted to do that though and have that on my bucket list before I leave! :-)

[bsbray]

If you dig around for old books in a university library you might be able to find more info on these kinds of primitive techniques and what kinds of clay are best and this kind of thing. I've noticed that most modern authors are too far removed from this kind of living to have much direct experience about it, or else they must think that it's common knowledge in their field by now and just don't talk about it.

I read a book published around 1890 on the Mound Builders of the Ohio Valley lately and the author was talking about their use of clay. He described the process by which they made their pottery and it was fairly simple but I don't remember now the specifics of it. For brick the Native Americans would just mix heavy clay soil with reed-like grasses and let it dry out in the sun or under a fire. It worked well enough that they found intact examples of it under the surface soil, that must have been hundreds of years old already. They think a lot of their mounds were regularly faced in brick but that rain over time has eroded them into just a layer of clay soil on the surface.

[Jengelen]

Everyone should have at least one copy of this. Very cool book, lots of info for everything one needs on the homestead! I believe this is now available in places as a free download also... https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Traditional-American-Skills/dp/0895770865/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469300111&sr=8-1&keywords=readers+digest+back+to+basics

[Elen]

Another interesting site.

An extensive list of E-Books (PDF format) of Old Knowledge in the way things were done 100+ years ago.
These books are a testimony of the skills, ingenuity and resolve of our fore fathers.

All these books are in Public Domain.
Author of this list is unknown!

http://oldknowledge.rodev.net/

[blufire]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-resiliency-report-obama-us_us_5813a021e4b0390e69d01562

More and more of these articles are appearing. "They" are warning us what the future holds . . . . you just have to read between the lines. This rapid climate change is still being largely attributed to carbon emissions and human and activity but I think it is a ruse (to a large degree). These articles never talk about that the same thing is occurring to other planets in our solar system and it illogical to believe that carbon emissions are causing the extremely rapid global climate change . . . . not to mention the pole shift/tilt that is also rapidly increasing.

Could it be more something like this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/science/planet-nine.html?_r=0


Stop and think about how our global governments would actually handle a possible ELE (extinction level event)? My bet would be exactly how they are currently doing it. They are telling us over and over that the ice is melting rapidly and severe climate change is an absolute but are being extremely vague on what is causing it and completely ignore what is happening to other planets in our solar system. They also give no information on how we will correct this other than reduce carbon emissions.

I think "they" are preparing for the worse and hoping for the best. I don't think they know exactly what will happen . . . . just that it is.

Just food for thought and a bi of a bump out of the rut we have been placed in.