No Matter The Length Of Time One Creates Emergency Food And Supplies…
…it’s never enough in long term shortages. Just like our traditional paying jobs (or squirrel communities) we keep working in order to maintain our new, smaller pipelines of supply. Even the stored dehydrated rations have to eventually be turned, constantly mixed with fresh food, and replenished. AhHem, a straight diet of dehydrated food is very hard on digestive systems.
My father (a successful survivor of The Great Depression in the Deep South) taught all 7 of his children by example how to ensure the health and happiness of our tribe. That included our extended family, friends, and good neighbors. Key point is he was masterful at building community. Someone mentioned leadership in commenting here; I’d say that skill & talent is quite important.
All our lives we worked, celebrated, grieved losses, learned, and played together. It was one of the greatest gifts of my life to grow up in that environment. But it did not happen by accident.
Since I never really stopped “being well prepared” for serious emergencies (always a matter of degree based on risk factors) I’ve lived with less stress than many in that regard. But it’s hard in other ways. We will all have different root causes of worry. Together, we humans can help each other create balance.
Having things of value to barter is critical I think. And it’s never a bad idea to store dry beans & rice & nice ham bones, not only for ourselves but for close, trusted friends that are hungry. Handy, to keep this type of inexpensive & easily stored food as it can diffuse dangerous encounters with frantic folks desperately trying to find nourishment for say…their children.
When things get really bad we were taught not to lose our souls. I hope I can stay steadfast in the soul department.
Be ready to use good judgement in any conflict…Dad always said.
What’s highly trade-able or in-demand today may change tomorrow. I think we will develop our senses more sharply as we enter this period of of getting by with less.
Honing situational awareness skill is essential.
When I look to the next stage of our future…I am positive that having, or creating, a strong community with those nearest is potentially the most important and often the hardest transition to make for some.
Going it alone will make for hard times. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k35haKwqY14
Metals industry. Large industrial facility. Supplies: anything electrical, bearings, gearboxes, instruments, sensors, all stuff to keep our processes running. Raw materials, simple stuff like packaging, paint markets, tape etc.
I agree! We are starting to do that on simple levels with some friends who are like-minded. Right now, they’re pet sitting in exchange for using our freeze dryer and vacuum and continuous sealers to preserve food. It would be a great exercise to explore creative ways to barter beyond what might seem obvious. What would you barter with/for?
Thank you so much! That’s been a big question mark for awhile especially since I was not comfortable with the shelf life of the poviodine solution I was mixing. I’ll be ordering these right now!! ?
I only have an information scout membership, which has been more than fine up until now. It seems I can’t access anything other than public commentary as everything I click on says I have to upgrade. Has there been a change on what’s available for the cheapskates? Best
Everything I can! Especially the use of a freeze dryer!! Animals, food, help, plants, seeds, soil amendments like compost tea, tools, etc. And getting groups together to do bigger projects, like barn raisings, etc along with meals. I think it needs to be big time barter and work parties - COMMUNITY!
The wisdom is SO important, Chuck! I would love to learn what you could teach and hear all the stories! Why wasn’t I so curious when I was in school!?!?!? The need to learn everything has really gripped me since I turned 50 four years ago, and it went into frenzy mode about two years ago. Must learn more!
Government buys 100 million+ vax does for the fall. Of a vax for an extinct virus. Of a vax that no one wants any more. https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/us-government-buys-105-million-more
Do you guys think we are in for another fall/winter of derision, othering, dehumanizing, coercion, and name-calling? Will the population go along with another round of this? Or will it be rebellion?
I am currently stuck away from my home and family taking care of my mother across the country. I am unable to return home until mid August and I am scared to death i may get stranded here alone.
What is going to happen is hyperinflation. What that means is not just shortages, it means that all your money (in dollars) will be completely worthless. Not just worth less as in higher prices, it means completely worthless.
When that happens all assets denominated in dollars will become worthless also. That means stocks, bonds, anything that is a paper promise by someone else.
Historically, when this has happened around the world, only two things will matter to people. Food and heat. In other words, those things that keep you alive. All other “things” will lose their value.
Please read the book “When Money Dies” which is a true story of what happened to ordinary people in the German hyperinflation. https://www.amazon.com/When-Money-Dies-Devaluation-Hyperinflation/dp/1586489941
The only other thing that will keep its value through and beyond hyperinflation is gold. But only actual real gold held in your hand. Not any paper promises to give or store your gold for you.
I feel you on that premonition in 2019.
So I’ve attached two pictures. First has the date I purchased N95 masks for the first time in my life just as a precaution (Nov. 18, 2019) and the second marks the first gold coin in a series of purchases, also the first time buying bullion (Sept. 12, 2019).
I also feel that when you started your coverage on Covid I had a particular sensitivity to your content that made me quickly adjust and admittedly over-adjust in some aspects.
Right now I just feel like there is no longer a calm before the storm - just clear chaos.
Thanks for the great discussion. Just one comment / disagreement regarding the idea that back when one parent could support an entire family on one income, that this was because of lots of surplus energy. While I agree it’s a factor to consider, I don’t think it’s that simple and I don’t think it’s actually the main driver. I suggest the reason we can’t do single income families anymore is instead more because we have been turned into debt serfs and few people actually own anything substantial anymore. Those who don’t outright own their homes are slaves to the predatory financial system which sucks up their incomes through real estate costs of various forms. We all know that the financial system is set up to depress the price of oil and precious metals; and to inflate the cost of financial sectors like real estate and stocks and bonds. Well, which of those takes up the lion’s share of people’s monthly expenses? Where I live you are looking at over $2000/mo for a basic apartment, not suitable to raise a family. For a decent house or condo, you’re looking at $3-5000 per month or more. By contrast, a single person can get by very well on $1000/mo for food. In a city, gas expenses could be minimal.
There is no fundamental reason why a parent couldn’t raise a family on one income today. There is ample housing, in the US at least (not so much in Canada), so housing supply isn’t a problem. Energy hasn’t become so expensive yet that it’s prohibitive to food production and moving around. Thus, there is no real world fundamental product or service that necessarily requires such a huge monthly expense to just live. Most of the expenses preventing single income families from being feasible are for housing, and that is a financial situation, not fundamental.
We have lots of technological automation and robots to do our historical jobs so it should take fewer workers to achieve the same economic output as previously. Additionally, resource efficiency has generally improved over history. All else equal, this should allow people to work less and less while earning the same standard of living as before. But we don’t realize those gains because we are in a financial hamster wheel where any gains made by average people are taken away as soon as they are made, so the hamster just can never climb up the wheel.
Of course, this analysis may change over the next year when the oil crunch hits, as Chris is discussing, and people’s prosperity will be genuinely restricted by commodity shortages.
Edit: as proof of this, look at poorer countries with lower wages. People there are able to get by generally comparably well as we are here on a monthly basis, even with commodites generally costing similarly to what they do here, otherwise arbitrage would even out the price. People in the “3rd world” are more sensitive to spikes in commodity prices bcause their incomes in absolute terms are less than ours, but they don’t pay for exorbitant real estate gouging. More of their incomes go to real things. That’s why a family in the “3rd world” can be supported by a similar number of working parents as is needed here.
Not sure what value I and my wife will bring to the event in September, but happy to discuss where we are in our own resilience journey. We designed and built a greenhouse from scratch last year at a reasonable price (probably overdesigned, could be done at even lower cost without the wooden base), and put it to good use this year. We been harvesting tomatoes and salad greens since March from our basement in Michigan, before moving additional starts to the greenhouse and finally to the garden spaces. We (stocked up on and) do use some conventional organic bagged fertilizers to prep beds, but are relying on ferments made from kitchen scraps and water (needs about 3 months) and most recently trying to recycle urine. Made maple syrup for the first time this spring, now need to enclose the patio as an area for evaporation and general workspace for canning and other harvest management. If I can resolve a shipping issue, trying to get a micro excavator delivered to continue developing a food forest on our 1/2 acre tract. We’ve been using duck eggs to get acclimated to them as ducks are probably more manageable than chickens for us. That project is for next year, as after returning from the event, we’ll start a rabbitry. Let me know if there is anyone I should reach out to that may be coordinating activities. Right now we’re rolling in summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and broccoli/broccolini. One thing that has become abundantly apparent, organically grown, fresh picked and eaten, is the best food I can recall eating. It becomes a disappointment to go out and eat on occasion. I’m an old retired engineer, but my wife is all green thumbs, and seems to coax any seed or cutting to life, while I mostly build stuff. Looking forward to engaging with like minded folks. We attended a “Truth About Cancer” convention in 2019, and we gained the knowledge and strength to beat the ovarian cancer diagnosis she received while trapped in China for 8 months during the early Covid no fly period. The cancer industry applies incredible pressure for chemo from the moment the patient regains consciousness out of surgery. We refused, with the conviction that the “industry” is both fallible and greedy. 3 years later and the antigen test results continue to stay in the noise with only a nutritional regimen. When the systems really break, and neither modern farming or modern medicine are relevant for most people, I won’t be surprised to see a reduction in chronic illness.
Sorry for filling up this much white space, but hope I can contribute in some way during the event. Please reach out and let me know what is needed.
Best