How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ?

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   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #31  
I have been through 2 week power outages before but the 9 day outage in late June was so wide spread that all the gas was sucked up in a hurry. Diesel was available long after the gas was gone. That said water, heat,food and shelter. I think the wife and I could make it a while and I expect there would be more than a few family members here holed up till it passed. You can make a drilled well bailer with some rope a piece of 3" or 4" plastic pipe and rubber for a flapper check. So if you have a drilled well you can get the water out but it is a little slow.
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #32  
Always interesting to hear people with resources and not in a disaster tell others without resources and in the middle of a disaster how they should behave. The reality is that while those of us who are reasonably well prepared can get along for a while when faced with a disaster, if you have ever been in such a situation, you quickly discover that personal energy and capability is far shorter than you thought it would be. Exhaustion is real.

Ever actually try to hunt and fish for food for a family of maybe 5 for a period of say 3 days?? Easy to talk about, hard to do on a schedule dictated by hungry tummies. Yep, maybe if you are in a scarcely settled game rich area you could do it for a few days, maybe a week. However, as the American Indian discovered, when people begin to take resources faster than replacement rate....food gets hard/impossible to find. Veggies take a while to grow...and it has to be the right time of the year...and preserving for long term is non trivial.

In a disaster, you run out of stuff quickly...note the long lines of people with a 5 gallon can waiting for gas for generators....etc... And replacing batteries, diapers, water, fuel, tires, parts, whatever breaks, is no longer a simple trip to the store. You just do without or use less effective methods.

Now, throw in the oft cited specter of attacking hoards wanting the remaining resources you do have because they are completely desperate, and suddenly you are no longer performing the tasks of providing food and shelter but now are also tasked with security although the other needs have not diminished.

Yes, I have generators, hundreds of gallons of gas and diesel, multiple vehicles, weapons, all sorts of tools and knowledge of how to use, etc. Nevertheless, living in a community hit by tornadoes which have killed dozens and injured more, I realize that preparations I make can only ameliorate the effects of a disaster for a while...sooner or later, either services and support systems are restored, or things go down hill and not in a good way. I recall the following poem:

No Man Is An Island

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

John Donne
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #33  
I think that a lot of people there could have done more to prepare but thought that the weather man was crying wolf. Many of those folks that were flooded DEEP seem to be the working class and not 2nd homes on the beach type (not much sympathy for the 2nd home beach house owner). It seems like their homes were handed down from before it was high dollar beach front prop. But all in all I think that city living on a lot that is prolly smaller than many of our shops or barns, leads to dependancy and prohibits the lifestyle that allows self sufficency.

What did Hank Jr. say... a country boy can survive!
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #34  
IMO, a generator isn't really on my list of survival gear. While I have two, and try to keep a fair amount of fuel on hand, it's really more of a convenience item. A few things I think are good to have:

- water purifying pump w/ extra filters (think backpacking type)
- candles, oil lamps
- wood stove and/or cook stove
- full assortment of hand tools (non powered)
- good rifle w/ plenty of ammo (honestly, even a .22 is fine)
- canned and dried food
- fishing tackle
etc

My wife and I are by no means 'prepers' and most of what we have on hand is used for other things. The generator I use for my construction business. Tools I use around the farm. A lot of my 'survival gear' I use for camping, backpacking, 4wheeling trips etc. Rifle and fishing tackle just because I enjoy those things. Canned food because we raise a garden and that's just what we do. We also try to keep a decent amount of misc. supplies on hand because it's more convenient to go into the pantry than drive to the store. It's really not hard to be self-sufficient when you live in the country, on a farm, and enjoy the outdoors. I can see how it'd be a lot tougher in the city but not impossible.
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #35  
My biggest challenge is the 470ft well. Not really sure where my water level is, but I am working toward large above ground cisterns to collect the rain and snow melt anyway(15000gal fere-cement) In the mean time, its a couple 300 gal totes in the barn, swap out the water for fresh twice a year. The secondary advantage of the large above ground cistern is ability to re-fill the water/fire truck quickly. It takes way too long from the well. The rest is a work in progress but we're getting there. Hope to dig the root cellar next year, Always have a year of firewood in the shed seasoning, staples in plastic barrels... Only been at it for two years.
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #36  
What if you are on maintenance prescription medications. Your Dr. requires a visit every 3 months for refills. If a situation arose toward the end of your 3 month med supply, what are you gonna do? Ken Sweet
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #37  
No way and anybody who says they could are delusional. The folks in Sandy's path are getting water from the outside world. If they weren't they would all be dead by now!
Youre right. In a densely populated area it would get ugly very quickly. Starvation, disease, human predators. Out in the sticks more people are self sufficient in the short term at least. But a flood is huge. We would not be self sufficient after a flood unless we were prepared -- and we arent because there is NO chance of flooding here. Most everything else we could keep the farm fully operating for about 2wks. More if we knew we had to. After that we would have to be getting a lot more creative.
larry
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #38  
I don't store enough gas to keep our fridge and freezer running for months, but I think I could keep things frozen for a few weeks just with what's in the tanks of the cars, atv, etc.
I always think I should keep a couple hundred pounds of salt around and then we could gradually convert our herd of goats into storable food if it ever became necessary. We normally do 95% of our heating with the wood stove anyways and try to save the propane for the hot water heater and cook stove.
I think we are pretty disaster proof with the exception of a tornado or fire. Fortunately those effect a relatively small area so odds are very high we'd have plenty of help available from family and friends.
 
   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #39  
Over the years, experiencing & surviving floods, fires & droughts...etc on the farms, I'd probably say we're more self resilent & self reliant than most.

But self sufficient ? Isn't it a state of mind ? A question of how many compromises you're willing to make ? And maybe as an individual how adaptable you become in vastly changed environment to ultimately survive/prosper from the experience.....?
Sure in our case due to farm/rural life we have own water sources (tanks, bores, dams), food (from vege garden, an orchard & we slaughter our own cattle/sheep), comprehensive first aid/medical supplies & have the machinery "paraphenalia" of generators, pumps, tractors, earthmoving gear, trucks.....etc, & bulk on farm fuel storage, & access to 00000's Tonnes of grain, a few thousand sheep, & significantly more cattle from the paddocks & feedlot........etc & we are very much used to being quite remote & isolated from close "help"....

Do we consider ourselves self sufficient ? Longer term, No way, & IMO I think anyone who claims to be fully self sufficient is dreaming......
For starters in our experience floods bring threats of disease that only the fool hardy would claim to be adequately prepared for, without medical assistance any injury is potentially life threatening from infection - so if your tetanus shots aren't up to date or/& you haven't access to comprehensive sterile medical supplies/assistance that full pantry of canned food & a water purifier aren't going to be required for long.......

Yes it's prudent to prepare when there is a valid threat of a pending disaster, but in our experience once you survive the initial "impact" how well you come out the other end will largely depend on your collaboration with neighbours to share the challenges, clean up & vast manpower requirements to restore normality than any one individual's food, fuel, water, resource ....etc "hoard".......
 
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   / How self sufficient are you ? Honestly ? #40  
The folks that have problems are the ones that go to McDonalds 3 times a day for food.

There are many folks that don't live within an hours drive of fast food and last a lot longer than 3 weeks during the dead of winter without needing to run to town for supplys.
 
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