When we talk of preparing for survival we stand on the shoulders of giants. We all know that to survive we are going to need to use our heritage seeds to grow a garden and have not only food, but seed we can plant for next year. Lets took into that in a very superficial way. Potato Selected from a plant grown in South America, then selected even more for size, taste and storage. While it is available as a seed, it is usually grown as a clone. Peas, corn, carrots, cabbage, wheat, rice, beans, oats, barley, etc. All selected over time from wild stock that in some cases was dangerous to eat and in all cases much more to our taste, storage, food value, and such. Are seeds so can store and reproduce so they are self replacing. Then there the animals. Chicken Selected development of an eastern wild bird. Further selected for egg production, hardiness, reproductive success, meat production, etc. Cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, etc. Selected and bred from wild stock that in many cases doesn't even exist any more or from very selected areas. Dogs, cats, ferrets, etc. Selected and bred, with more or less success, to be both associates and hunting or defensive aids. Then the tech aids. Axes, knives, all the blacksmithing tools and the things we can make from them. Some like axes, hammers, anvils, knives. etc have a useful use life of generations and could in many cases be reproduced from the debris of the present civilization. How many anvils could you make from 1 mile of main line railroad track? Or knives from a single automobile with leaf springs? If you have the needed anvil, forge, hammer, tongs etc to work the metal? Or the knowledge to make a kilm to make pottery and thus be half way to casting metals as you are learning to handle high heats. The chemical aids. If you can tan leather, use oak or animal brain and urine, then you can make horse tack, saddles, etc. You can also make beer, wine, paint your house, protect the handle on your axe, use your knowledge to create natural fertilizers, insecticides, insect repellents, treat your water, and wounds, etc Defense aids. In the short run you can use all of civilizations tools. Rifles with modern ammo, night vision that gives you the ability to survive under conditions that would of been impossible 50 years ago, optics and cameras, etc that allow a person to both observe and shoot to distances that are real force multipliers. But even after that tech is gone, we still could reproduce modern bows, muzzle loading fire arms with black powder, traps and snares, etc. Many things that were available in about the 1840's. This type of thought can go on for ever. With a solid knowledge base, often a good selection of books from about the 1900 period, and selected tools, much of the reliable replaceable and quite comfortable society could be replaced. We now have the base to prepare for the short run, food storage, weapons, communication, medical, transportation, at a level I could not even dream of during the Cuban missile crisis. Being a member of the USAF reserves, a collage student living within sight of a SAC base and with less than 1 year old twins, I had a powerful introduction to both the concepts of prepping and the importance of a bug out location. The real long term survival benefits come in the here and now, I am 87 years old, sitting in a house I built in 1980 that has never had a mortgage, warmed by a wood fire, just finished a dinner of mixed vegetables, potatoes, and haddock, playing on my computer and looking forward to a nap. God has gifted me 4 years that I didn't expect and both a very comfortable and relatively unstressed life. If I hadn't prepared 50 years ago I could be in a very different situation. While most of the things I did prepare for never happened, the very act of doing so has made my life much more comfortable and been impactful in my life. While they are both gone now, in the long run I do believe that the most important decisions in your life are have God match you up with a good wife and good dogs
