What about a Practical Survivalism group?

With the recent discussions of uncertain times, many here have expressed an interest in practical survivalism. In my view, this would include such topics as comprehensive planning, food storage, first aid, self-defense (guns and otherwise), shelter-in-place, communication, rural topics, urban topics,local networking and even basic mechanical skills. I understand that many will have a knee-jerk reaction about this topic, but why should the right have a monopoly on the subject when it's applicable to anyone? Thoughts and input?

about a potential depression, I'm all ears.

about how people in Appalachia coped with a nontechnological world. Those books show you how to construct simple, foot powered tools and how to preserve your harvest without refrigeration or canning.

The knowledge is out there.

There are also a lot of hobo tricks, like starting fires with a battery and a little steel wool or cooking in a paper cup (the contents keep the cup too cool to burn).

There's plenty of survival knowledge out there that doesn't require a concrete bunker full of processed food and an arsenal to protect it.

Right wing survivalism relies on hoarding and force. Let's let ours rely on cooperation, community, and knowledge.

They are indispensible.

Great idea. :thumbsup:

Check out the link non program trading is down to 29% that means people are pulling money out of the market.

the Readers Digest book on homesteading, is a good book to read if you live in the rural areas. My house is a 200+ year old stage coach station. If people lived here before electricity, etc, in the past, I am confident it can be done again.

I've been reading a lot about food preservation without electricity, and it sounds like food poisoning was pretty common. 44 degrees is the key number. I'm looking at microhydro to power essentials, like refrigeration. They still had loads of ways to preserve food without refrigeration.

http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/colloquium.html They have a good plan for a solar food dehydrator and a solar oven (to can foods)...

I like John Seymour's "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It." Gives a good overview, and inspires.

Always remember the great foods of the world were born of necessity. I swear that the French would try anything, and now their experiments are gourmet treats...(Snails, mouldy milk, spoiled grape juice, mouldy meat, meat preserved in it's own fat...)

especially in alternative home energy, growing food, and living simply in harmony with the environment.

we have every back issue of Mother Earth News -- plus lots of back-to-the-land books. I would always love to learn more.

How many ways can you cut expenses without compromising health and safety? If you live in a metro area and close to work, transportation costs can be held down with public transportation or human powered vehicles. If you have debt whether credit or mortgage, pay it off however possible. If you're a suburbanite, be sure that basic needs can be served by local sources. Make sure your home is as energy efficient as possible. Change all lighting to high efficiency and replace the furnace with something that is above 90% efficiency. You can recover the cost of a heating system change in a year or two in the northern states. If you have any basic manual labor skills like carpentry, plumbing, electrical, etc build a local network that you can trade your services with those who don't have the same skills. There may already be a local barter community that would welcome you to the fold. I think it would be better to learn to grow your own produce than to try and stockpile food. If you stockpile canned foods, go for the generic brands because they're probably coming from the same source as name brands. If you aren't much of a cook....learn. It's much cheaper to feed yourself if you can do it all from scratch. I haven't bought prepared food in three years and can do well on $30 a month for supplies. My parents grew up during the last big depression that started in 1929. It is a great asset to be able to get input from those who have experienced it before.

There's a grocery chain here in the South, Sav-a-Lot, that is stoked with nothing but generics. Their canned vegetables are usually 3/$1, canned spaghetti, ravioli, and such are $.69-.75 per can. Canned tuna, beef, vienna sausages, and hams are pretty cheap too and the prices on their canned fruit aren't bad either. My intention is to set up a component shelf in my walk-in closet and stock with the following:

3-5 12 packs of soda
10 1 lb canned hams
25-30 cans of assorted beans/mixed beans
20 cans of pasta
20 cans of fruit
5-10 boxes of snack crackers and saltines
10-20 cans of vienna sausages
15 or so cans of mac and cheese
30 cans of single serving pasta, stew, Beanie Weenie, and such
10-15 cans of beef stew
I'm also looking to get about 10-20 gallons of either Dannon or Deer Park spring water. Their containers last longer and don't degrade.
I'm completely urban on a third floor apartment, so if something happens, I'm battening down the hatches.

self-sufficiency and energy efficiency. Unfortunately, most of the sites on the web are on the extreme Right side of the political spectrum. It would be nice to have a place here for those of us interested in such things.

I want to get away from consumerism as much as possible.

my own veggies.The squirrels loved my tomatoes last year.Doing it differently this year with netting etc.
Container gardening is great way for apartment dwellers.
Barter community sounds like a great idea,also recycle communities.I joined recycle.com,but most of them are to christian for my taste.I'd hate to give my stuff away to the enemy.

too bad it will be targeted and labeled an extremeist militia group by the FBI.