How much longer do I have?
 

I'm new to this forum - been on kitco for 18 months and have moved to GIM

I just feel like I'm running out of time to get prepared for what's on the horizon.
I have moved out of the city and live about 85 miles from a big city in the country. I have started planting gardens and have been interested in collecting seeds and building a greenhouse.
I'm looking for a good water purifier and dehydrated foods to store. I have plenty of guns and ammo but am lacking a decent perimeter at this time. There's 2 boys ages 10 and 8 so having a loaded weapon is not an option at this time.
How much food would be adequate for 5 people to last for 3 months? My real worry is decent drinking water.
I unfortunately do not know a lot of locals but have been wanting to meet and talk to some local farmers to learn their trade. Do you think the Amish would help a stranger learn how to do the day to day old fashioned way?
I agree with trying to make this community stronger - just need to get out and talk to people I quess. Any suggestions of events or functions that might be helpful getting to know local farmers, police etc?

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

If you can ("legally") keep a loaded gun in your home, now would be a GOOD time to train those boys with a firearm.

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

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Re: How much longer do I have?
 

Exactly,my five children were trained at a much younger age than these boys
are now.

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

You need to teach your children how to handle firearms of all sorts safely.

The 10 Commandments of gun safety, etc. Show them how a rifle or shotgun will blow up a water-filled milk jug. They need to be always aware of who is handling a firearm and how to avoid being in an accidental shooting.

Knowing to leave when idiot buddies start clowning around with weapons may keep them from being victims.

You should be able to confidently keep loaded guns in your home, knowing your boys won't do dumbass things with them. Teaching them how to shoot accurately at targets, not cans, sticks, or other plinking targets will engender confidence and maturity regarding weapons. If you are serious, they will be serious.

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

you are already as ready as you can be. 900 mre for 3 months. catch rainwater, tarp, or plastic sheeting. dried beans, rice, flour, in plastic pails. potatoes keep well for months. hunt wild game with .22. good literature available in the web, sas survival guide. good luck.

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

Welcome to the board silversliver. :applause_

I have no idea how long we still have before things really start to fall apart, it could be months, it could be several years still. We are running out of time though and I would suggest starting to lay up as many supplies as possible as quick as possible. As you go through your daily life make note of all the things you use from food to hygiene products, to consumables such as napkins, paper towels, cleaning products, all the things you use in your daily life and start purchasing them in quantity. I would suggest a minimum of a 1 year supply. It's important to start NOW though as you will find that unless you have a lot of money to spend, it will take a long time to accumulate all the things you will need.

I think you should store as much food as you possibly can. My wife and I store a variety of regular storebought canned food, dehydrated foods and freeze dried foods for long term storage. Like the adage goes, store what you use and use what you store, rotating through at least the regular storebought canned foods on a regular basis to keep them fresh.

Need to go cheap on water storage? Start saving 2 liter soda bottles, or bleach bottles. They make it easy to store water. For short term storage with bleach bottles, just empty the bleach out, hold the jug upside down until the last drop drips out and the fill with water. The amount of bleach still coating the inner walls of the jug will be the correct amount to treat the water that you place in it. For longer term storage, I would recommend Oxy-Stabile.

http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_inf...oducts_id=1137

This will keep water safe for a longer period of time than bleach treating will.

For water filters, a Big Berkey Water Filter http://countrylivinggrainmills.com/filter.html is probably state of the art for non-portable filters. For portable filters a Katadyn Pocket Filter http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_inf...roducts_id=133is a time tested filter used all over the world. These types of filters are especially nice in that they both use ceramic for the filtering medium. They can be cleaned numerous times and allow you to forgo storing numerous replacement filters.

As far as guns go. With respect, but even if your children are young, they can and should be taught to respect guns and leave them alone unless under adult supervision.

Good luck, start now!

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

and this is just as importants jims advice hold tight could real bumpy china dumping their usa bucks

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

Welcome to Gim.
Can't help much with the Gun issue, but getting them familiar with both the good and bad aspects (accidents and not a playtoy) of guns would be prioritized.

Water purifiers can probably be found doing a search on the Inet. Dehydrates are usually best done yourself I think or in dehydrated soup starters and 9 bean soups. I used to dehydrate zucchini and onion alot and they turned out well. Bannanas and apples also. There is some companies that sell 5 gal buckets with resealable screw off tops. Might check into them.

The Amish farmers would be a per person opportunity. We have some in our area who save their own seeds from year to year with the hopes of building resistance to the diseases rather than spray or use genetically modifieds. I have to admire that guy. But there are also Amish who see their crops as $$$ to pay their mortgage, taxes and feed their families just like the guy who has 400 acres of corn. It's a profit/loss equation. Thus you kinda have to ask around and mingle just like you said.

If there is a produce or hay auction or a horse auction in your area, that would be a good place to begin to be noticed and meet/greet some of the locals. That's usually a place where they set aside an extra hour or so to catch up on the news, where the best hay is for the horses, what the price of grain is doing.

Yes, to answer your question about the Amish. But you would need to build trust, and it really depends on what you mean by the 'day to day'? You really dont' want to learn to clean out horse stables do you? Or do you plan on getting horses?

The amish would definately be able to offer some greenhouse advice. But there is also so much info on the net that's available for free too. You might want to consider subscibing to mother earth news or some similar publication. There is alot of basic common sense ideas in it. That and 'Farm show magazine".

How big is your plot? Are you doing raised row, square yard or just planting a truck patch? What area did you move to?

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

I get Countryside magazine, it has lots of articles on raising animals and gardening, you can get a free issue from their website. Just search the name I cannot remember the url.

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

What we do around here is just talk to people. I have fruit trees, and asked my new neighbor if she'd like to have some, she did, and returned the favor with applesauce. My other neighbor has young boys who catch the bus at our driveway, I offered to keep a watch out for them (we've had two cougars killing pets in the area this fall), another neighbor doesn't have enough pasture, we offered ours.

Make the effort to be outgoing and friendly and don't be afraid to ask for help, people generally love to give it.

Re: How much longer do I have?
 

farmers-- go to "farmers markets" and talk to the vendors. always stop by roadside stands and chat, with your ears open. another idea: get your kids involved in 4-h stuff. plan to start your garden next spring. you may be able to break sod for beds now before the freeze depending where you are. look into this fast. I have been gardening for going on four years now, its not easy and you cant learn it overnight or just from books. its very experience intensive skill.

cops-- helps to be a lawyer or involved in politics. cops have an authoritarian mentality and they look down on everybody who is not a potential boss. avoid being perceived as a cop wannabee, that is awful.

I do recreational shooting, IDPA, IPSC, USPSA, you can join a gun club to learn that stuff.

State what kind of neighborhood you got. Rural, suburban, urban? Proximity to major cities? Proximity to large numbers of criminally inclined demographic groups?