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Practical Prepping Protocol even if Poor
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[quote:raindroppe:MV8zOTYyNTk1XzcxODEyNDU5X0FDOTE2NkVC] [quote:darth:MV8zOTYyNTk1XzcxODExMDYyXzVEMkVCOTI=] [quote:Pooka:MV8zOTYyNTk1XzcxODA1ODQ4XzZCMjA4RjUx] [i]Darth said: Yes, I hoard seeds. Every couple of years I buy one of those cans of survival seeds. However, I have found that the best crops to grow on my land are sunflowers and turnips. Will try planting wild rice this year in the swampy areas. The sunflowers grow so fast that I could get up to 3 crops per year. My seed stores are very diverse. Could plant many acres. Winters are mild. I see few snakes around here. I think the wild hogs love eating them. Of course, snakes are ideal survival prey. Houston is big, but farther South along the swampy coast, density is much lower. The bays are huge. Look up Matagorda and the Laguna Madre. There are many miles of coastal swamps to bug out in. Bring your mosquito netting and repellent! Those salt water skeeters can stand flat footed and rape a turkey. BTW, Matagorda Island is overrun with wild hogs. Once again, I firmly believe in bugging in if at all possible.[/i] So glad you have a good storage of seeds - with all your acreage, and possibly your neighbors' as well, you are in great agricultural shape. How will you supplement a diet of sunflower seeds and turnips and perhaps wild rice? And how will you protect your crops? You certainly will have wonderful foods for barter if you can protect the crops from the desert. Perhaps you have cattle you can protect, as well as other sorts of seeds for salads and vegetables. Love your humor with the skeeters and turkeys. I wrote a to a friend one time when I was in Alaska that I would love to send her a mosquito so she could see the size of it, but I couldn't afford the freight. LOL I won't be coming your direction - I was thinking of others, perhaps closer to the area, who might need an escape plan. Bugging in is by far my preference too - for myself as well as for anyone else, if at all possible. If I have to leave, it will be toward a forest, most likely, and I live in the PNW. Thank you for the information - it was fun to read and may well help someone who is in or can get to that area! [/quote] I did not mention the other crops. Many types of grain and vegetables will grow here. Far from desert, it is hot, humid, and swampy. The biggest problem is the soil. The topsoil is thin and high in clay with poor permeability. You have to add sand, wood chips, or other material to improve it. Drainage is critical as well. I have been experimenting with green manure crops. Last Summer, I planted mung beans which had been in the freezer for 9 years. I was amazed at the growth of the beans. Two pounds of dry beans grew into about 500 lbs. Legumes can definitely improve your soil. As other posters have pointed out, you cannot just have some hand tools and a can of seeds and expect to see instant crops. It can take years to improve the soil adequately to plant high demand crops such as tomatoes. I highly recommend the book, Gardening When It Counts, which shows you how to get crops when the soil is poor, dry, or whatever. BTW, I have a tractor with a backhoe, so I tried using hugulkultur (look it up on utube) to improve my soil. It definitely works somewhat, but without a chainsaw and tractor, it would be a LOT of brutal hand labor. Hell, it was challenging using the machines. I dug shallow trenches, added tree trunks and wood chips, mixed the topsoil with fertilizer, and then scooped it up to make a raised bed. Forgot to add that melons grew great on this. As for livestock, I have poultry and goats. Both will almost feed themselves in the right conditions. My goats come running when they hear my chainsaw because they know I will cut down some tasty brush and tree leaves for them. As for defense, our small town will organize if required. Most of us know each other. I believe in organizing and guarding the perimeter of the town. In addition, we would use those with military experience to man OPs and run patrols. The common survivalist idea of people cowering in their homes waiting for the looters to attack is ludicrous. Gen. Patton described the futility of purely static defenses. Looters should be engaged at maximum range, not when they are at your doorstep. Refugees should be taken care of to the extent possible. They can provide skills and labor to build shelters, grow food, or whatever. I will not give away free meals except to children. Adults can trade goods or labor for food. [/quote] Look into Ruth Stout gardening methods, many vids on youtube. Improves your soil dramatically with very little work. Not for all crops, but most. If you decide to try, make sure to source your hay from someone natural or organic. Industrial hay can have toxic pesticides/herbicides that will ruin your food production from these chemicals. Also manure. The plants take up the chemicals in the spray without issue, the hay is eaten by the animals without issue, but using hay or manure that has been subject to these chemicals can destroy your garden. The hay...the plant retains the chemical herbicides and as it decomposes in your garden will wreak havoc on whatever you grow as the chemicals are released, same with the manure. You must source your hay carefully these days as these toxins were not around in Ruth Stouts day. But if you can get hay that's free of this, or straw, it is an almost no work garden that improves the soil dramatically. [/quote]
Original Message
Continuation of another thread of wonderful people with the best ever ideas for practical prepping even for those with little money.
We discuss power outages including CME and EMP, heating and cooking methods, first aid, foods; we run disaster scenarios to see if we know what to do.
This is probably the only prepping thread a person would need, whether long-time prepper here to share, or newbie prepper here to learn and everyone in between.
Welcome!! Join us! Learn! Teach! Enjoy!!
What you need to put in a good medical/first aid kit is listed on Page 99. Copy or even add to the list there.
Discussion of hand-held HAM radios, especially Baofeng, begins on page 145.
Diabetes during SHTF Page 175 and others
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