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Can you survive? Say all transportation which brings in food was disabled. Would you know what plants to eat? Could you make a still to gather water? Would you hunt and kill animals. Can you make weapons to protect your families? Is strategy something you think about?

azzow2 9 Aug 10
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39 comments

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7

I’m high maintenance, dead in no time

No wallpaper soup for you then.

5

Nah. I'd be dead within a week. C'est la vie.

4

As a kid I related so hard to Henry Bemis from this Twilight Zone episode... as a loner and an avid bookworm, my post-apocalyptic life would still be fulfilling as long as I had books — AND MY GLASSES, because I can’t see 5 inches in front of my face without them! ???

I remember that episode what a lesson in humility.

I remember that one , too . Empathy !

4

I've always thought, I should have been born a couple of hundred years ago. I already do things like building my own house, and woodworking shop. I cut down trees on my property and built a barn. We garden and can vegetables. We've preserved foods by drying them. I've killed squirrels and rabbits for food. I don't doubt I could do about anything I need to do to survive. My health is good for a 61 year old southern man. With that said, I think doomsday prophesies are nuts, but anything can happen I guess.

As a realist, we know it is unlikely I like to use it as an exercise for the creative part of my brain.

4

I'm not wasting my life preparing for something that will never happen.
I'm pretty skinny though. Skinny people do better in famine situations and losing 1k of fat will statistically extend your life more than having a nuclear bunker.
I'm adaptable and optimistic too. I'll be fine.

4

I would eat my neighbors ??

3

ever read "the Road", by Cormac McCarthy...? creepy.

I will ogle it.

@azzow2 it seemed a little real to me. a man Journeys with his young son in a post-apocalyptic America.

Yes, and I could not understand why they left the underground shelter with all the food and water.

@16classic he didn't have much time.

3

The number #1 rule is that you don't disclose what all you have or people will be pounding on your door looking for handouts.
I have a huge garden -- I can, freeze, preserve my own food. I have a seed bank.
I believe in the 2nd Amendment, I have multiple CCLs, and I have a 4x4 pickup.

That's all anyone gets to know for sure.

Seed bank that is a good idea how do you preserve seeds? Do they retain vitality in a sealed vacuum for a prolonged time?

@azzow2 Yes. three years is good...that's the longest I've tested. I start with all heirloom seeds from Baker Creek seed company....then I saved seeds from what I grew first as practice to learn how to do it and still have good seeds. Next Spring, I will plant some 4 year old seeds also to see how they do. Every year, I save more... eventually, I hope to have a 10-year bank.

[rareseeds.com]

@SkotlandSkye Last year I planted sunflowers one of them grew kind of mutated with 5 flowers on one stalk saved some of the seeds this year the mutation is even greater.

@SkotlandSkye Last year this same set of seed was a different plant as you can see this one has a ton of budding flowers.

@azzow2 that's really interesting. I noticed that my 3 year old zucchini seeds had much darker leaves than 1st year plants.

3

Survivalists and many people in general have romantic, albeit unrealistic ideas when it comes to apocalyptic level survival. In reality, the game would soon disappear via over-hunting and roving gangs would be looking for people with cashed resources to exploit. It is difficult to hide sheep, goats, chickens, etc., so subsistence farming seems problematic.

Right, it would be a riot scene and a kill or be killed scenario.

3

I have some sheep I graze on my land so that would keep me going in lamb, and I would barter with my farming neighbours for other meat and milk and eggs etc, I would try to get my hands on some seeds and try to grow on my own land, some vegetables. I have a large store cupboard always full of canned and and packeted food and a freezer full (needs defrosting at the moment...thanks for the reminder), as I am on my own here I reckon I could last some years! No water, if there was a drought would be more of a problem, but living in Northern Ireland, the wettest part of UK it’s not really likely. I don’t think I would be much good as a forager, but needs must and skills could be learned if it was a matter of survival.

Your biggest problem would be poachers and looters.

@azzow2 How true, I don’t have a shotgun licence but would have to get one. I got rid of my husband’s shotguns after he died, but I could buy another one .

3

My 18' diameter round pool has 10,000 gallons already, and I have bleach. I hear mice/rats are delicious. I am in a suburban environment, but my brother is near woods, and only a 17-mike walk away. So, live off my body fat, drink the pool water, feed the little dogs moles, then take a hike I guess.

Grass roots can also provide nourishment as well as insects.

3

If I need to know I'll just google it. 😉

3

I’d be alright for the most part. I’m more worried about dealing with other survivors.

As long as a synergy is agreed upon all would be good.

@azzow2 much like people in the now, everyone brings their own ego to the table along with whatever skills they may have. That synergy is a rare thing, not impossible, just rare. I suppose the mutual drive to survive may provide some glue but can just as easily provide friction.
I’d likely go it alone until I could connect with friends who I know I can trust.

@azzow2 it's probably that in the first instance that sny co-operation would be family groupings which would ultimately resolve in clan warfare, the most successful forming a feudal state and off we go again! Golding's Lord Of The Flies, a great example

@ixseil access to renewable resources is good but what about defense against malcontents?

3

Nope. I'm another one who'd end up useless sans meds and therefore dead.

3

I'd be dead meat. Unless I could write some software to do this.

godef Level 7 Aug 11, 2018
2

I still have some of the knowledge but not the mobility necessary.

2

Here, on this island we promote resiliency. First off I would never hunt and kill another animal. I have a garden and orchard ans a small reserve of food and water. I have a solar system that would drive the water pumps (well and collection system). Life would be tough but most of us would find a way.

I agree when the situation becomes grim most people pull together.

2

There is a Prepper / Survivalist group on here if you are really interested in this subject.

[agnostic.com]

Nope just looking at the creativity of others on this one.

2

I've noted the locations of all of the Trumpanzees in my area. In the case of some sort of cataclysm or major breakdown in civil society, I'm not ashamed to say that ritual cannibalism is On The MENU!

2

I probably could pick out some wild plants to eat although when I've tried purslane it doesnt seem to agree with me so it would be hit and miss for a bit. As for the rest I know a bit. Unfortunately none of that does me much good against a jerk with a glock.

2

Yes. And I can. I would lack the weapons making knowledge but I would be ok on the rest.

Think of this you can make a slingshot with a Y stick and pantyhose.

@azzow2 We shouldn’t underestimate hurling rocks at people as a solid defense.

2

I have two fat cats and a six pack of beer, after that I'd be out of luck

2

Nope. I'm screwed. I would be one of the first ones to go......

Your inner survivalist could come out.

@azzow2 It probably would but it would only carry me so far. Our world would revert back to the survival of the fittest scenario and I am far from being one of the latter.

@patchoullijulie Made me think of that movie where Tom Hanks was stranded on an Island (Cast Away) You would adapt.

I'm with you?! All the looten 'n' shooten. Who could be bothered. Ultimately the secular version of living under Isis! Nah! Whisk me away to the Underworld for a long and restful sleep?

So maybe your no.1 strategy would be to find a partner that knows how to survive.

@JackPedigo Aha...I didn't think about that option..... mmmmmm 😀

2

This discussion reminds me of two excellent books from long age: “Alas Babylon” and “Malevel”. For me it is an interesting psychological question as to why we like to speculate about such a thing, and why we enjoy reading apocalyptic novels. I even wrote an apocalyptic novel. It’s almost as though we WANT to see the end of civilization.

Of course in our minds, we are the ones who will survive and prove our strength and prowess. In an actual apocalypse we’d most likely die.

I love your assertion of our almost fetish like fascination with post apocalyptic survival. Almost as if there is a subtext that, as a Western culture, we almost crave it to abnagate any responsibility. I don't known of any Eastern cultures that have a similar outlook but I maybe wrong. It seems no matter how secular one is there is still the infection of The Revelation of St John running in the background.

2

Nope, I'm pretty much out of luck.

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