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To grow your own vegetables you will need some seeds, some good rich soil, some water, and lots of sun.
Do not buy hybrid vegetable seeds. Most hybrid seeds are only good for one growing season.
(Hybrid seed note: Some people recommend that you should try to reverse engineer the second generation seeds from a hybrid vegetable to get one of the original parents of the hybrid vegetable. I totally disagree with this recommendation. During a serious hard times event when your family may be desperate for food, and when you have to work hard all summer trying to grow some food, then why would you want to bet your life and the lives of your family members on some random experiment where you are trying to force some second generation hybrid seeds to grow something you can eat. This is a gamble I strongly recommend that you do not participate in.)
Instead please look for and purchase heirloom vegetable seeds or open-pollinated seeds, unless you have a very good reason to do otherwise.
Many of the heirloom vegetables have been popular with home gardeners since the mid to late 1800s.
Heirloom seeds will produce the same exact vegetable year after year after year if you will save the seed that is grown each year and plant it again the next year.
During a serious hard times event I suggest you consider growing mostly root vegetables, such as beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, radishes, turnips, and peanuts.
The edible part of a root vegetable grows below ground. Therefore it is invisible unless you know what is growing below the vines or leaves you see on top of the ground.
However, in order to provide some reasonable variety in your meals and to help avoid appetite fatigue, you will also need to grow some vegetables where the edible part of the vegetable is above ground. Anyone who happens to walk by your garden area will see these vegetables and they will know exactly what you are growing and how much you are growing.
Therefore in order to help minimize the complete loss of your entire vegetable crop to looters and thieves during a serious hard times tragedy event, it might be a good idea to have at least two or more vegetable plots. One vegetable plot should contain your above ground vegetables and it should be conveniently located in any area that gets full sun all day. A second or third vegetable plot should be in a more obscure area that also gets full sun and it should contain your below ground vegetables. You should probably allow a few random weeds to grow in this area to help hide your below ground vegetables. Since the vegetables will be growing below ground the only thing visible above ground would be some leaves or vines. And unless a person knew exactly what type of leaf or vine it was, then it would be very easy to mistake those leaves and vines as random weeds. In order for this to work you should not plant your underground vegetables in a nice neat straight row. Instead plant them in a random haphazard fashion all over this remote garden area, and whenever possible, mix the different types of vegetables together so you don’t have all the leaves of one specific type of vegetable growing close to one another. This means each type of vegetable would be randomly scattered throughout this garden plot and this would help to create the visual picture of lots of different types of weeds just haphazardly growing together.
A wilderness emergency could possibly happen to anyone, anywhere. When confronted with an unexpected survival situation man has the potential to overcome many challenges, beat incredible odds, and come out a survivor. But just what is survival anyway? Survival is the art of surviving beyond any event. To survive means to remain alive; to live. Survival is taking any given circumstance, accepting it, and trying to improve it, while sustaining your life until you can get out of the situation. And most importantly, survival is a state of mind. Survival depends a great deal on a person’s ability to withstand stress in emergency situations. Your brain is without doubt your best survival tool. It is your most valuable asset in a survival situation. It isn’t always the physically strong who are the most effective or better at handling fear in emergency situations. Survival more often depends on the individual’s reactions to stress than upon the danger, terrain, or nature of the emergency. To adapt is to live. Mental skills are much more important than physical skills in survival situations. A person’s psychological reactions to the stress of survival can often make them unable to utilize their available resources. You most likely won’t use your physical skills if you don’t have a positive mental attitude.
There are two possible scenarios for the beginning of hard times:
Scenario One: You have some money and many of the local stores are still open for business.
Scenario Two: You don’t have any money, or you do have some money but the stores are all closed.
The overwhelming vast majority of people who have thought about the possibility of hard times are expecting the hard times to unfold according to the first scenario above. Therefore they have not done anything to prepare for any type of hard times. The reason they don’t prepare is because they believe they will have plenty of time at the beginning of the hard times to buy all the things they will need. Although this might work it is my personal opinion that this strategy has about one chance in a million of being successful.
The most likely scenario will probably be the second one above. In the second scenario:
A person will not have any money, or
A person will have some money but he or she won’t be able to get to it because the banks will all be closed, or
A person will have some money and he or she will really, really want to spend it on the things he or she desperately needs but all the stores will be closed because the stores are now empty and they have nothing left to sell.
The second scenario is the one that occurs when an area is destroyed by a hurricane or a tornado or an earthquake. The people living in Japan on March 11, 2011 discovered how quickly an unexpected hard times event (an 8.9 earthquake and a 30-foot tsunami) could completely disrupt their normal life style and thrust them into a day-by-day survival mode where they had to deal with radioactive fallout, limited amounts of food and water, and intermittent utility services. Simple things, like batteries, or a flashlight, or a battery operated radio, were unavailable in Japan after March 11 and during April of 2011. Many, many people in Japan really wanted to buy these things but all the stores in Japan were sold out of these items. The only individuals who had these items were the people who had purchased them before the earthquake and the tsunami hit the island of Japan.
For most of us producing all of our own food is just a fantasy. It evokes visions of multiple acres of fertile land, long work days, and expensive machinery. However, none of these are necessary to achieve self-sufficient food production.
There are many gardening techniques that can produce an abundance of food for you and your family without requiring a lot of space, money or equipment. What each of these methods will require is your time, but not the dawn-to-dusk work hours associated with farming.
Rather, you will need time to study and practice these methods and other food preparation skills such as learning to mill your own wheat or corn flour to make breads, tortillas, pastas from scratch, or learning to can, pickle, or preserve food in all its forms.
Your diet should also be considered when planning for the best self-sufficient food production method. Do you need meat and dairy products? How much grains do you require? Yes, in order fully produce all of your food off-the-grid, you may have to make changes to your current diet if your resources are limited. Some may view these as dietary sacrifices, yet the folks that can claim a high level of food self-reliance will all claim their diet is far healthier than the average American.
With dedication and proper planning, everyone has the ability to survive the looming food crisis by producing their own food. None of the following methods should necessarily be considered by itself. Each offers unique techniques that can be mixed and matched for the best results. Their optimal application depends on calculations of your property size, climate zone, or your budget and time constraints.
Here are the 4 best food production methods for self-reliance:
“PackedLight” 9v DIY LED Flashlight The “PackedLight” isn’t a new trick, just my take on it. Using a 9v battery you can make a small flashlight to add to any kit, tool box, glove compartment, or even your wallet.
SEE PICTURE GALLERY AT END OF POST
Materials:
1-3 LEDs of any color. I suggest red, green or white.
Resistor rated for 6.9 volts at required current for LED’s being used.
Dead 9v batteries. You may need a few different brands to find the part you like.
A good 9v of course.
JB Weld or something similar.
tape or small piece of non-conductive material
Tools:
Wire cutter / sharp scissors
Soldering iron
uhh… a stick
Helping-hands, alligator clips or even a pair of hemos would be helpful but aren’t a requirement.
Turmeric is a useful perennial plant that is an integral ingredient of curry powder. By growing vegetables, you know that curry powder gives a yummy taste and beautiful yellow color to a number of delicious foods such as chicken curry, chicken soup, mustard paste, curry sauces etc.
It is commonly used in the foods of south Asian countries not because of a reason that it is native of South Asia but also due to its first class taste which enriches the flavor of food. Its usage is not limited to kitchen as it is also used in the manufacture of some ailments and also as a yellow color dye for the fabrics in the textile sector. It has a property of relieving the different pains therefore it is termed as a natural pain killer. In India it is also recognized with the name of Indian Saffron though it has not any relation with the saffron.
Now you get a short introduction of turmeric, the next step is to inform you about the growth requirements of this plant. You can easily grow this plant at your home but it will be possible only when you fully consider some basic requirements related to its growth.
For the rapid and effective growth of Turmeric the soil of your garden must be enriched with organic minerals and material that make the growth of this plant speedy.
Second thing that is essential for almost all plant is light condition. Select that place for the growth of your plant which is exposed more to sunlight. The shady place is not suitable for the implantation of turmeric as this plant needs maximum exposure of sunlight.
Maintain the regular supply of water for the plant but it does not mean that you spray too much water on the plant. Over water may decay the root of this plant so be careful.
You can add extra nutrition to the soil by using the different kind of fertilizers.
I’m not sure how the early settlers along the Oregon Trail or the western frontier got along without duct tape, WD-40 or trash bags, but life surely would have been easier with them!
Trash bags, in particular, are included in all my survival kits. They have a multitude of uses, including being containers for picking up trash! But in an emergency, when correctly used, trash bags can prove a quick, temporary shelter from the elements.
I first noticed this trash bag shelter use at an Iowa State University football game in the early 70s. The weather got really bad during the half, with snow, rain and wind. But one row of die-hard Cyclones pulled out a roll of plastic trash bags, cut holes for their heads and arms, and weathered the storm. I don’t recall how the football team did!
Since then, I’ve taken shelter in trash bags on a variety of outdoor activities. Trash bags are particularly valuable on hunting trips, because a large bag gives you a place to lay meat while you’re butchering.
Obviously, if you anticipate bad weather, be prepared for it, stay home or take along a lightweight, four season backpacking tent.
Being a woman in TEOTWAWKI presents special challenges that many times in survival literature aren’t touched upon. So I’d like to talk about a few things that are specific to being female.
Menstruation
Let’s face it, that monthly visit creates a lot of waste from pads and tampons that in a SHTF scenario will be very difficult to dispose of. Imagine if you will, that our infrastructure has broken down and trash is no longer being collected, you have to find a way to get rid of your own trash without creating a world where garbage floats in the streets when it rains. You’re doing okay though because all food scraps go to either the animals or the compost, paper is used as tinder, and jars are reused for whatever purpose you can find. However, synthetic pads and tampons, much like baby diapers, must be disposed of in a way that doesn’t become toxic for your family. So, what do you do? My suggestion is go for reusable. I know, in our modern society that reusable pads may be considered “gross” but as long as you wash them after every use they’re just as clean as single use synthetic, and some argue that they’re actually healthier for you. A major plus to reusable in a SHTF scenario is that you can make them out of any fabric you have available as long as you have some needle and thread (though cotton and flannel work best). You can find patterns and suppliers online; just do a quick Google search. Another reusable option is a diva/moon cup. A single one can last up to a year so it would be simple to stockpile a 5 year supply just in case. If the thought of reusable supplies still grosses you out just a bit and you don’t think you’ll ever go that route unless you’re living after TEOTWAWKI then you’ll want to keep a stock of single use pads or tampons for your short term preps. The best way I’ve found to do this is a combination of couponing and freebies. Almost all companies that make feminine products offer free samples through their web sites, and all of those free samples come with a collection of coupons. Simply go to the manufacturers web site, order your free sample (some will let you order a free sample once every 6 weeks), and then use the coupons combined with sales to lay in a large, almost free stash of your feminine products.
Shared Survival Knowledge 