Self Reliance - Self Sufficiency - Self Self Self

Discussion in 'Off Grid Living' started by Illini Warrior, Mar 8, 2018.


  1. Illini Warrior

    Illini Warrior Illini Warrior

    here's an article that's probably one of the better that I've seen in a year or two - 100% on target - and it just happens to preach my mantra ....

    your preps are just a stop gap - a hedge - until your self sufficiency plan can kick in and then help fill gaps on those lean months ....

    when a SHTF hits - no matter how minor or serious - don't take it at face value - it can and most likely will get worse by other SHTFs adjoining and compounding together ... an initial 1 month predicted longevity suddenly is more like 6 months or longer ...

    https://www.theorganicprepper.com/when- ... nt-enough/
     
    NMBear, sarawolf, techsar and 4 others like this.
  2. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    Sounds selfish lol.

    Very few of us will be self sufficient.
    Probably the only people who will ever be totally self sufficient are dentists and general surgeons since there will be an unending supply of people willing to trade anything you could think of to feel better.
     
    Ganado and Ura-Ki like this.
  3. Depending on what happens, If it REALLY goes down, can you plow a field with a mule or horse. How many plows are still available. Can you harness a mule. Where do you get harness. Do you know what diseases equines catch. Do you know NOT to feed an equine corn. Do you know how much feed an equine eats even when it isn't working, ie: winter time. How about seed. We all know what fertilizer will be. Can you protect your fields from marauders. What happens after a bad harvest. Do you think you could eat "long pig". My cousin was a medical missionary in New Guinea when it was still not uncommon. I'm old now but my best hope is that any disruption would be short lived.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2018
    john316 and Ura-Ki like this.
  4. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    From the article linked
    I would say those are good priorities and some of them are hard. Safe food storage is one that worries me. Since I live in the city now, water is a huge problem. I would have to go out and seek water after a few weeks unless I had warning and could fill everything.
     
    snake6264 and Ura-Ki like this.
  5. I hate to disagree with you Motomom but electricity wouldn't even be on that list. It certainly would be nice, I wouldn't last long with out it, hell I'm a retired industrial electrician. I think the only people that would stand any chance are the Amish/Menonites..
     
    Ganado and Ura-Ki like this.
  6. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    True Martin, electricity is a luxury and I think most of us are prepared to do without. Lighting I could sub with candles/oil lamps plus adjust my life to utilize daylight hours. Electricity helps dry the cloths also but I have rope and clothes pins. Electricity runs power tools so we have mostly manual tools.
     
    sarawolf, Ura-Ki and chelloveck like this.
  7. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    There is a reason electric tools were made.
    Doing things manually takes a lot more out of you. try cutting a piece of 5/8" plywood with a hand saw. Last I observed our bodies age faster under hard work .
    The idea of prepping is, "outlasting those that failed to prep" or prep sufficiently or at all, or improperly .
    Electronic surveillance will serve me better, than putting my own body out there to be shot at , at least for as long as it may last.
    Posting a picture of my product ,works out better than leaving it out to b stolen . If you plan on doing business post SHTF every advantage you've got will be marketable .
    Even if cell sites are down indefinitely, the remaining functions of phones are still an asset, cameras and games and GPS ,people will want power for .
    Having the resources to maintain some semblance's of technology will be an asset for as long as they will last even if it is for entertainment value .
    .
     
    Motomom34 and Ura-Ki like this.
  8. TnAndy

    TnAndy Senior Member Founding Member

    Most doctors/dentist couldn't do their jobs without the support staff. equipment and supplies they have...ole Doc Adams from Gunsmoke is long gone. A good Amish farmer would be way up the list IMHO.
     
  9. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    What I always think about is the Mind Set, being mentally prepared carries more significance then actual preps and your set up! I often ask my self if the world suddenly stopped right now, could I get by, make do with what we have and have done? I also have the Mind Set that my forefathers got along nicely if not comfortably with a hell of a lot less then I have, so I always try to temper my thinking to those things I can do, tho vs I have put up, and the set up we have built! It all comes down to mind set! I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO ANY THING, I AM THE MASTER OF MY OWN DESTENY! Every thing else is cake after that!
     
    sarawolf likes this.
  10. Illini Warrior

    Illini Warrior Illini Warrior

    I doubt that many dentist or surgeons will be that operational post-SHTF - unless the local militia/deputies set a guard - the dentist office will be trashed for drugs within hours .... and surgeons operate almost exclusively these days out of hospitals - and don't give them a long life either - they'll run short of supplies and eventually overwhelmed by the multitudes ...

    if you have a good organized group - sizable compound - behooves you to set up a clinic - member up a med staff including a doc - and/or get prepped up to bring in a wasteland wandering doc that's empty handed and needing your compound's umbrella of security ....
     
    Benjamin A. Wood and Ura-Ki like this.
  11. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    Any surgeon or dentist who has done doctors with out boarders knows how to operate in a third world country with out modern conveniences. As part of their very, very long education they do learn about the old ways, they just don't practice them.
    For example the first hospital to practice the sterilization technique during the Civil War had something like an 80-90% survival rate, with out antibiotics or anesthesia. After the civil war sterilization technique was pretty much university adopted across all of medicine.
    Even the Roman doctors were preforming advanced procedures such as c-sections and cataract surgery, they even did autopsies and could determine cause of death.
    I would think modern educated surgeons and dentists could at least replicate 200A.D., maybe even civil war level medicine with some support.
     
    Benjamin A. Wood and Ura-Ki like this.
  12. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    I think the volumes looking for free help are going to be over whelming every resource especially medicine, seeing it is usually the liberals that abuse the system and abuse them selves and don't listen to wisdom. These buy alcohol or cigarettes or drugs ,or the means to steal them, over buying food . How do I know , ? I live in California and know several with that mentality .
     
    Ura-Ki likes this.
  13. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    They will probably die off first.
    Especially of exposure if during winter without the government there to help them with every aspect of life.
     
    3cyl and Ganado like this.
  14. TnAndy

    TnAndy Senior Member Founding Member



    I don't know.....my dentist breaks into a cold sweat when I ask him to forgo the numbing shot for a simple cavity filling.
     
    johnbb and Ura-Ki like this.
  15. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    It will certainly be a learning curve for most.
     
    Ura-Ki likes this.
  16. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    What about a vetenarian? They have medical training and their patients cannot say what ails then so a Vet IMO has to learn to be instinctive. When I go to the Doctors, they only ask what their computer tells them But when I take my dog to the vet, the vet observes the animal, feels for woulds and asks questions of the owner. And I vet can work on different animals so they have knowledge and think outside the box IMO.
     
    Benjamin A. Wood and Ura-Ki like this.
  17. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    An awefull lot of medical professionals are going to have to adapt or suffer the same fate as the rest. Wife and I have had this discussion many times, how and when to help, and when to stop helping! We are just two people, and while her medicine is vastly more in-depth then mine, my basic skills in battlefield trauma fare outshines her by quite a bit, so together we are far more valuable, but also a valuable target! It's been a real test of our morals to be sure, and while we have "The Plan" it will only last till first contact, then we have to take a look at what were prepared to do, and more importantl when do not do it! That's the big question for us! It may sound cold and heartless, but the stark realities of personal survival far outweighs our need and desire to help!
     
    oldman11 likes this.
  18. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    to me that last sentence say it all and makes perfect sense!
     
    Ura-Ki and oldman11 like this.
  19. Illini Warrior

    Illini Warrior Illini Warrior

    something I'm wondering about in regard to organized med care in an emergency - it'll be have to be guarded without doubt - wondering if that guarding will evolve into a forced lockdown - maybe a forced relocation for the med staff to another hospital somewhere ....
     
    Ura-Ki likes this.
  20. Navyair

    Navyair Monkey++

    Good article, thanks for sharing.
    Some random thoughts for 2021:
    If you don't have some portable solar panels, consider buying some. They are fairly inexpensive and you'll want to experiment with them before you actually have to use them. You may have to design cabling, change out the inverter, and so on.
    Do you have some of the inexpensive batteries that can recharge your phone/tablet/e-reader? Can you recharge them with solar?
    Do you have spare cash put away in case the banks are closed and ATM's are out? Some might also say have trade goods and gold or silver. (My late best friend said "Shotgun shells. With shotgun shells I can get all the gold and silver I need." He was kidding, of course, but had a point...these days ammo is "as good as gold" since it is so lacking in stores.
    If you've buried a cache, have you shared the location with your spouse? I only point this out, as my great-grandfather went to gold in the early 1900's after losing $ in a bank panic in the 1890's. Only thing is, he died suddenly, leaving my great-grandmother penniless. She lost the farm and nobody knows where he buried the gold.
     
  1. Dunerunner
  2. Dunerunner
  3. Dunerunner
  4. Yard Dart
  5. Asia-Off-Grid
  6. Motomom34
  7. Asia-Off-Grid
  8. UncleMorgan
  9. Brokor
  10. Brokor
  11. Brokor
  12. Brokor
  13. permacamo
  14. CATO
  15. emergencypreparedness
  16. tinkerbell
  17. pgrass101
  18. monkeyman
  19. monkeyman
survivalmonkey SSL seal        survivalmonkey.com warrant canary
17282WuJHksJ9798f34razfKbPATqTq9E7