Comments on: Country Folks Can Survive

By: ZenOfJazz

ZenOfJazz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:35:28 +0000

Still need someone who can cook for an army?
Economic news is looking … a tad … depressing.

By: Eric Sanders

Eric Sanders — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:21:34 +0000

Hopefully we will soon have a president who knows something about survival, and a VP who knows how to shoot straight and wet a line.

By: ZenOfJazz

ZenOfJazz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:42:29 +0000

Hmm. Cooking for a small army is easy. Procuring the grub is the hard part. For an active group (foraging for food, working a farm, etc) assume 6 oz of protein per person per day. Backfill with grains (rice, barley, oats, corn, wheat, buckwheat) to feel full, and fruits/vegetables to prevent scurvy. Feeding 10 adults therefore requires about 4 pounds of meat, or equivalent protein in beans. Carbs for breakfeast, (ie, cooked cereals, pancakes, etc).
If the fruits are short season and you have a lot, brandying the fruits is a good way to preserve them.
Making alcohol was my cold-war “survival skill”. I figured if the whole world blew up, and I survived, anyone I met would need a good stiff drink. So, beer making, winemaking, mead making, cider making, and the distiller’s art were easy enough to learn. Distilling any of those products down will give a concentrated alcohol, but the real trick to turning it into something other than moonshine or hootch, is to have decent aging, usually in charred oak barrels. Gin, and vodka fortunately do not require aging, which is why bathtub gin was so popular during prohibition.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:49:03 +0000

i know ive gotten soft in some areas as well, but i also know we have lived 2 weeks without utilities, have gone 3 days without food, and there is a well (currently unused) in our back yard. so maybe all of our prior “bad situations” have trained us for a bigger ’situation” to come. this time ill have my grown sons to help me rather than depend on me. i say let it crash.

the only thing that has me hooked is the fact that i had to go out and buy a new truck for work last month. maybe chrysler finance will crash too!! bwahahaha!

now hiring: cook for small army.

By: tch

tch — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:25:59 +0000

I am putting my savings toward precious metals – brass, lead, maybe some more steel.

By: sadcox

sadcox — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:56:13 +0000

@Hungry Mother
I want to hunt with a boomerang. That would be the ultimate. Maybe you should start hording extra packs of sugar from Starucks.

@ZenOfJazz
I need a friend like that. Not because I think we’re headed for a survival of the fittest situation. I just like knowing those kinds of people. And I eat like a small army.

By: ZenOfJazz

ZenOfJazz — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:30:51 +0000

The skills for living in the country are a good thing, but they won’t do us any good in the city. If it all blows up, the best we can hope for is to make it to our friends out in the country. Anyone need a friend who knows how to produce most kinds of alcohol, butcher most anything you can hunt, and cook for a small army?

By: Hungry Mother

Hungry Mother — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:47:08 +0000

I’ve got some fishing poles, but I’m not a very good fisherman. I don’t have any guns, but I have a few knives and a boomerang I picked up in Australia in 1991. I have 4 GPSes, so I guess my best chance is to hire myself out as a guide for food.

By: Farming, The Economy And A Local Ag Disaster – Newscoma

Farming, The Economy And A Local Ag Disaster – Newscoma — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:16:30 +0000

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