Hope I can ask this. I'm looking for a survivalist site that isn't full of right wing nuts

Actually, I'm looking for a site that is more for preparation during hard times. KWIM? I've checked out a couple of survival sites, and they have some darn good information, but I don't want to put up with the right wing crap.

I don't mean to be a downer, but I truly think things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

I don't want a stockpile of ammo that can kill half my city. I don't want ten years of dried food. I just want to be prepared for hard times.

good luck in your search.

sites about living off the grid? You might want to look for specific issues - growing your own food, humanure. commune-style places, natural building, water filtration and gray water systems ... I don't know - that's a lot of off-the-cuff word association - maybe some of it gets at what you are looking for?

And I doubt that anyone would want me around under those conditions, anyway. :rofl:

But there are probably some elements there that interest you. It's easier to change small habits - and when we start to change small habits, it affects the way we think and spirals out from there sometimes. It's like becoming vegan ... some people just wake up and decide they are going to do it. Others aren't at that place, and may decide instead to do one or two vegetarian meals a week but not make a complete dietary change. The small shifts, they have value, too.

Small things might be deciding to put in a fruiting pear tree instead of a flowering one. No real change in expense or habits - the decision to landscape in edibles instead of nonfunctional ornamentals is more of a shift in mindset.

What sorts of things are you looking for - financial stability, food supply, living in sustainable ways? You probably have some sort of image of what you are looking for in a site, no?

Financial stability will take a while, but in the meantime, I intend to start storing more food.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=268

Gardening group http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=246

and realize that what you're going to need are the willingness to adapt to changed conditions and the ability to learn new skills.

You can't eat ammo, but you can barter skills for food, whether fixing the plumbing or knitting a sweater.

Stan Goff's sitehttp://www.feralscholar.org


There are links to sites like http://www.pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/gardening/seedballs.shtml

I didn't because there is a lot of other stuff to sort through also, so on first glance it might not look like the target site - but I have to say, it's the first one that came to my mind, with some secondary ones being offshoots of it from the regulars there, like legumesam and such.

There's a lot of good material by liberal-thinking writers in terms of energy foods, efficiency, and tips on being resourceful that I'd never have thought of if I hadn't clicked on some of these sites.

You can start at a really basic site and move from there.

http://camping.about.com/

:-)

recipes using common items.
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/recipeindex.htm

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/

The forums appear to be down at the moment, though.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1982-09-01/Euells-Country.aspx

That reference to "Stalking The Wild Asparagus", may bring a tear of nostalgia to many here.

pnorman

There was a small effort to get an emergency preparedness forum on DU to no avail. There is some relevant posting in the frugal living group (pay particular attention to threads starting with "EP").
Survivalism is starting to branch out so it is just not just the wingnuts, but its hard to find much out there without their influence. While the Mormons are certainly not ones I would emulate in most ways, there is a lot of good information in the LDS preparedness manual.
There is no shame in being prepared. Hard times are coming. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

That brings up a lot of good stuff.

Five Acres and Independence, M. G. Kains

Putting Food By, Ruth Hertzberg etc.

Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew

How to Build and Furnish a Log Cabin, W. Ben Hunt

Blood-Lust Chickens and Renegade Sheep, Nick & Anita Evangelista

Basic Country Skills, John & Martha Storey

You might also look into the Foxfire series of books...lots of good info, and good reading for the post-Apocalyptic age!

There is a series of books called Foxfire, put out in the late '70's that have a pretty complete list of how to do all sorts of things ranging from how to grow various plants to making soap to medicinal plants etc. etc. Basically it's how to live like our 19th century ancestors. Interesting, informative books that are useful today. They're out of print, so you'll either have to scour the used bookstores for them or get them off of ebay.

Frugal living groups will have a mix of political opinions.

People following The Compact seem to be more liberal generally but not completely. But that's a group of people who are trying to not buy any new stuff - they fix things, buy used, are happy to spend money on services not things, etc. But there's a lot of good information about how to live without buying new stuff.

Tom Brown, Jr.'s Tracker School
http://www.trackerschool.com/about_tracker_school.asp