It dawned on Danyl and me that many people (especially city-folk) may be thinking of survival in romantic terms, rather than the day-to-day realities of the "simple" life. Cooking on a woodstove is wonderful, but it takes cutting wood, chopping it into kindling/small pieces to fit, constantly keeping in mind that the fire box may need to be stuffed, turning baking goods to heat evenly and on and on. The simple life is a beautiful, fulfilling, peaceful way to live. It's also a spartan way, and not physically easy. So we are holding an event at our community in New Mexico in October (Columbus Day Weekend) ...sort of a dude ranch for survival newbies! Hope to see some of you there! Details at Place of Refuge 2012 - Welcome Peace, Shayna
no thanks. I think I will keep my money for preps here instead of enriching you. No hard feelings I hope. Others may be interested, but most here seem to be pretty much not newbies to survival and preparations.
I used to live in Mass. also. (I confess, I was a "DEC-ie" back in the day!) IMHO, MA will not be a viable place for survival. Way too many people. Good Luck and Peace, Shayna, placeofrefuge2012.com
horology, I live in west/central MA in the woods, literally. No intentions of moving from this very small town.
As an (also) former MA resident, there's some truth to the difficulties of surviving in the east of the state, from just west of Worcester to the east coast. Out in the Berkshires, the odds are better. I'm glad to be elsewhere even tho' I miss Ipswich (north shore) to a degree. Preps in those days were cache on the BIL farm and ready for a 150 mile dash. (Have ex DEC-ies in the ex in-law and current outlaw crew west of Springfield.)
LOL A DEC-ie is (or rather was) an employee if the Digital Equipment Company, a computer company in the 80s, now defunct. Unfortunately, Ken Olsen thought desktop/personal computers was "just a fad"!!! Peace, Shayna placeofrefuge2012.com
horology, too funny. I retired(early) last year from Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials division and left soon after acquisition by Dow Chemical. Where would we be without our computers, eh? Then again, we may have to someday. Good to research as much as we can while we have this important tool.
Yes, the woods of western MA are beautiful. I would say 15 miles west of Worcester on is pretty secluded. I love it out there. I don't like Massachusetts tax and laws, but in a SHTF situation, it is a most viable area to live off the land.
Not to turn this into a p*ssing contest, but... here is secluded -- I live 20+ miles from a paved road, my nearest neighbor is over 5 miles away (and he's a hermit so he doesn't really count), we are 11 miles from an electrical connection and 11 miles from a phone connection. Cellphone signal is 40 miles away, in the town of 250 people. The closest mall is 250 miles away, and that is about 1/8 the size of the Worcester Galleria (I used to live in Marlboro - "Mah-bro"). Einstein was right...everything is relative! Cheers! Shayna placeofrefuge2012.com
I used to work for some folks in Marlboro myself, and lived at the Westboro Inn for about 2 years when I first arrived. I met all kinds of great people from all over the world. Tough to find an affordable place to live there. I lived in Worcester also, and in Marlboro. Altogether, it's a great area. Just a few minutes drive west and viola! --forest. But the state laws do suck, taxes --an excise tax on cars? COME ON! I hear you though.
I hear you both. MA never met a tax it didn't like, but we're fighting that(again.) I'm a bit further west of "Wistah", as it's about 45 min. by car. Lots of woods, I can't see my nearest neighbor through the trees and we're about 500 back from the little country road we're on. We own the woods and wetlands in the back of our house so it's not easily accessible. Too many critters for the average city folk. Lots of arable land(and cow manure). This is my second year at vegetable garden growing and I'm giving the stuff away. All my neighbors own weapons, are reliable and can bring much to the table in the event of a catastrophe.
