Getting Ready

I mentioned in my last posting that I believe we are in for a financial meltdown and that I am starting to get ready for it. I said that I would let you know what I am doing and what I believe every survivalist should do. So, here goes!

First you need to look at what the price of gasoline might be. If it doubles, will you be able to afford to drive your present vehicle? I do not think that I would be able to. Therefore, I am rebuilding an old motorcycle and keeping both of our bicycles in good shape. We live in the country about six miles from town and I believe that I could ride my bicycle to town to pick up a few items. For more than a few items or traveling farther I would use the motorcycle. When I talk about motorcycles, I do not mean some big Harley that gets the same gas mileage as a mid-size car, I mean one of the older cycles in the 50 to 175cc range. The one I am rebuilding is a 1967 50cc bike. It is a two cycle engine so it will have plenty of power to carry me and will get excellent mileage. It has a kick starter and a three speed transmission. That type of cycle, a moped or a 50 or 100cc scooter is what I recommend for a survival vehicle in a financial meltdown.

If the price of fuel doubles, what do you think the price of groceries will be? The farmers will need to get more for their crops and the truckers will need to jack their rates up just to cover the cost of fuel. That should make the cost of food skyrocket. As I live in the country I am planning a larger garden this year than I had last year. I am also going to use as many non-hybrid seeds as possible so I can save my own seeds. This will mean the following year I will not have to buy nearly as many seeds and by then we may not even be able to buy any. I suggest that anyone that has space for even a small garden plant one. Plant in containers on the porch or deck and plant in the house if you have to. Another thing that I am going to do to supply my food is to raise chickens. I intend to go to a small animal auction and purchase six heavy laying hens, one rooster and two bantam hens. Six laying hens will provide plenty of eggs for my wife and I and when we get ahead on eggs, we will put some under the bantams to hatch. Most breeds of modern chickens have had the hatching gene bred out of them. They will not set on eggs till they hatch. However, the bantams are still excellent for this purpose, which is why I am going to have a couple. The eggs that the bantams hatch will be used according to our needs. Some of the hens will be kept to replace the older hens, while any hens over six will be used for fryers along with the roosters that are born. The old hens that are culled out will be used for stewing and soup. In this way we can provide our own eggs and some meat. For those of you who cannot have chickens where you live, I really do not know what to tell you. Perhaps you could get someone who lives close to you but in an area where chickens are able to be raised and by purchasing more chickens than you need and the feed for them split the eggs and meat. We are all going to have to work together.

I am going to do an extra amount of fishing, hunting and wild plant gathering. Fishing and hunting can both provide meat and wild plant gathering will add to the gardening I am going to do. One of the things I am going to do with the fish and game I get as well as much produce from my garden is to can it. If all other fuels go up, you can expect the price of electricity to skyrocket right along with everything else. It may ever come to the point that some of us will not even be able to afford to pay our electric bills. That is one of the reasons that I am going to put less in the freezer and can more. Fruits and vegetables can be canned, meat can be canned and there are ways to can fish. I am also going to build a smoke house so that I can smoke some of my fish and possibly some meat. Some things can also be salt cured. Look back to the old ways and bring some of them back to life. What did people to to preserve their food before electricity? The fact that I am going to do more hunting and fishing and gathering is another reason that I want a bicycle and a motorcycle. I have several areas in which to fish within five miles from home. These places will be reached by bicycle. I have to go farther to do any hunting that I cannot do on my five acres, so that is where the motorcycle will come in handy.

While there is much more I will be doing to get ready, I am going to change the subject and talk to those of you who may live in cities or large towns or villages. If I were you I would be ready to move out at a moments notice. I feel that there is going to be widespread rioting and looting once the people cannot afford food and the government is not there to help them. Plan now to have a place to go. If you have relatives that live in the country or even a small town, that may be where you want to go. I have four children and five grandchildren along with a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law and they all would be welcome here if things got to bad where they are. If you do not have relatives strategically located, do you possible have a good friend that is. By offering to help them out they may allow you to live on their property. If nothing else, locate a spot in a national forest and set yourself for long term camping. Hopefully it would not be too long. At all costs, get out of the cities if you value your life. At least in the forest you could gather enough food to live on. If you have been reading this blog for a while you may have noticed that I talk a lot about having food set aside for this type of situation. If you do not now have a supply of survival food, go back into my past blogs and see what I believe you need. Then if you need to cut out and live for awhile away from everything, you will be prepared. Being prepared for whatever comes up is what survivalism is all about.

There is much more that I am going to do, but that will have to wait for my next post. I will give plans for security, medical and several other things. Stay tuned and in the meantime check out my other blog.

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