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,,,,,Books don't take up alot of room and theives generally wouldn't know a rare book from a common book so you don't have to worry generally about having it stolen. Books are very transportable and fairly lightweight.,,,,,,
We call it the mountain of books. The wife and I have over 10,000 books. Many lettered or limited editions. I would give a rough guess of three tons of books.
Invest in ammo, guns are worthless without it and with ammo you can barter anything you want! or get an oil well
The supreme weapon of all sits on your shoulders.
I am a combat vet and I do have a few firearms.
However in a SHTF scene, there is a practical limit to how many firearms you can carry, and to how much ammo you can carry.
Anyone whose entire plan is to stock up on firearms and ammo; had better focus on staying in their own neighborhood.
As far as bringing your firearms into other regions for the purpose of taking other folks stored supplies, I think that it would be much easier to die in your own driveway, rather than hiking across country just to die in some other guy's driveway.
Agrees with Forest...
Also stupidity can kill alot faster than a gun.
And Ferret...have moved with thousands of books - wasn't fun! Friends are bribable tho. Altho, wierd as it might seem, books are more more transportable and sturdy than alot of other things.
DH wishes tho that I would sell feathers than books everytime I do a bookshow!
Add cleaning supplies and I think you have a SHTF situation about covered.
Alcohol is so easy to make that none of the beer/scotch ideas make sense. What will maintain value depends on the nature of an emergency. When Hurricane Wilma came through, the fuel pumps were off and gasoline was a valuable commodity. In a time of famine, wheat and corn are valuable.
... Alcohol is so easy to make that none of the beer/scotch ideas make sense.
What will maintain value depends on the nature of an emergency. When Hurricane Wilma came through, the fuel pumps were off and gasoline was a valuable commodity. In a time of famine, wheat and corn are valuable.
I disagree.
Like gardening: anyone can say that growing all of their own food is easy, until they try it. Early colonies on this coast died from starvation, as it took a few years before their gardens finally produced enough to feed the settlers.
We have had a garden in each location where we have lived. Each time being in a different climate, with new soil, it took a couple seasons before we began to get reasonable production.
We are now once again starting our garden in a new location, and again it is taking a few years to get going well. We are still not able to produce enough to support a family.
That skill set is not just in being a 'master gardener'; but also it is in garden bed, and seed variety.
Beer is easy to make; for anyone who makes beer. Folks new to brewing will make some nasty batches before they get used to the process, and that is assuming they have access to a modern 'kit'. If they must first scrounge together the equipment and ingredients, then even those results will be delayed.
The brewing skill set requires practice and the right equipment.
Everyone knows how to bake bread from grain. However I am on forums where folks are trying it for the first time, it often kicks their but.
They need advice from folks who are already gristing, threshing and grinding. Even once you have good flour it still takes skill and practice to bake a loaf of bread. It took my Dw a long time before she finally got the skill set.
The baking skill set comes from practice, as well as a bunch of equipment.
The first time that we attempted threshing was humorous.
We all know how a still works, but not everyone has an operating still. I would suspect that during a SHTF scenario anyone who then tried to scrounge together the parts and to operate a still would be in for a surprise, or three.
The skill set of stilling takes practice, and perfect equipment.
Everyone knows that you 'can' produce vehicle fuel from grains; but not all of today's vehicles will run on alcohol. The skill sets required to grow grain, harvest, brew, still, and tweak a vehicle to run properly, are involved. Putting these skill sets together after a crisis would take years.
I can only recommend that if anyone is interested in having any of these skill sets; they must begin practicing those skill sets now, rather than later.
I think you're all off track. I've been investing heavily in socks for the coming economic meltdown.
I have a portfolio of summer weight socks, nice %100 cotton ones. In a separate duffel bag I have my portfolio of winter weight wool socks...smartwools, wigwams and some heavy rags.
A dozen pairs of unused boots, some mittens, and harmonicas. I'll be nice and comfy and, when I play the harmonicas, you'll either offer me one of your beers or shoot me with the stockpiled ammo.
fb, we come from different places. By age six, I knew how applejack was made by leaving hard cider out overnight in the winter and pouring off the alcohol from the ice. I had a working still out of copper pipe and a couple of paint cans before I was a teen, along with homemade rockets. My tastes never went towards moonshine, but I could easily make hootch within a couple of weeks if I was making a bet and wanted to go through the hassle, and lots more if I felt the need to get serious about it. It isn't rocket science and in the typical juvenile scenario, the real issue would be growing the corn or grains or whatever to make the mash.
My point was that beer goes skunky within a few months and is a poor choice. Scotch and whiskeys in the barrels continue to age and can retain value, but alcohol itself would be dirt common in a SHTF scenario and one of the worst possible choices for trading. Imagine trying to bargain with a bunch of armed alkies who know you have a stash. Trading in alcohol (or drugs) would be super-stupid if you wanted to stay alive and safe.
I would sooner make and use woodgas for fuel, because it is fast and cheap and doesn't raise the ire of neighbors or the Feds, nor require bunches of security. Someone trying to steal wood and charcoal and use it in an engine without the proper knowledge wouldn't have a happy experience.
Crops are another matter. Whenever I have planted a garden, it has been with the advice and guidance of locals, and I've always had some crops that were successful. I'll grant that grain growing and harvesting, threshing, flour making, and bread making are a process, but the subject of the thread is more of what would keep value and be useful in trading, and dent corn is easy to grow in mass quantities and likely to be even abundant in farming areas. Tortillas, cornbread, grits, all pretty easy.
What would be tradeable and hold value would vary depending on the scenario. In many of those possible scenarios, people would be involuntarily off prescription medications. Insulin could be a big item along with antibiotics and herbal alternatives. Safe lodging could be another hot item. A basic hot nutritious meal once a day could be a big seller. You can't eat gold or silver, you can only get so drunk without dying, but basic needs like food, shelter, clean water, and enough heat to keep from freezing continue.
FWIW, the first settlers in America came into a land that was amazingly poor in foodstuffs. Native Americans in the New England area tended to be nomadic to take advantage of what few crops were available, and live off ice fishing and some stored food in the winter, while hunting in the less brutal seasons. Europeans were used to a grain based staple diet and were ill-prepared because of their inflexibility in modes of survival.
... Native Americans in the New England area tended to be nomadic to take advantage of what few crops were available, and live off ice fishing and some stored food in the winter, while hunting in the less brutal seasons. Europeans were used to a grain based staple diet and were ill-prepared because of their inflexibility in modes of survival.
I recently learned [from the Pequot museum] that the New England tribes had only began learning skills of horticulture within the previous generation, well less than 40 years, prior to colonies settling.
So while tribes were in the mode of teaching each other how to grow corn and squash; they likewise taught the Europeans.
The knowledge of growing domesticated crops had slowly creeped from Central America up and Eastward, just barely arriving before European settlers.
PS. as for the ice-distillation method remember that it tends to focus the fusil oils which are toxic.
First world people tend to complicate things with theory and book learning. The food grains, bread, and water are the staff of life for the majority of the world's people. Charcoal making is a great and universal survival skill.
A month or two in the third world living out in the bush with a peasant farming family is the best investment for self-sufficiency/preparedness I can think of. You learn tricks of the trade, like how they inject poison into the melons your neighbor has been stealing and are your only source of income at the Kingston market. Guns are visible, make a loud noise, and can be stolen from you. Stealth and a cutlass work in a tough situation.
In addition to socks, I invested in time living in the third world, but it's aluminum foil hat zone to think I'm going to end up in those conditions.
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