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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Survival of the Smartest

So I am sick as a dog and really should be in bed, but instead here I am talking to you...whoever you are....

I have come across a blog that I find fascinating! It started with my fascination about polygamy and reading several blogs of Americans who are living this lifestyle. I stumbled across a website that combines the poly lifestyle with something else that fascinates me, Survivalists. Not the doomsday type survivalists, but the realists, the people that realize our economy may not hold out forever and disasters like Katrina and 911 may put us in the position to be self sufficient at some point in time, especially those of us isolated from any metropolitan area. They are the "Bama Girls" and they call their blog The Self Sustaining Kitchen It is filled with ideas about how to recycle items, can, dehydrate and store food, as well as general country living things. Here is the link....I will add it to my blogroll too http://www.bamagalskitchen.blogspot.com/

This site got me thinking about something I made a mental note about years ago. After 911 happened, I remember thinking that I should really try to be prepared in the event of a disaster like this. I look now at the flooding going on in our neighboring counties and realize the cost of food and supplies is going to increase dramatically because of this. In fact much of the farmland that is flooded right now is used to grow corn for ethanol production....so once again that is going to impact fuel prices, which affects us all across the nation. On the flip side of that, in the last decade wheat production has gone down because so many farmers here began to grow more corn, due to the demand for ethanol....this is why your bread costs so much more lately, especially healthy whole grain bread. When you consider my family of 4, who generally lives paycheck to paycheck, or damn close to it, that is a scary prospect. Higher food costs and fuel costs could sink us in a hurry. We already have a lot of trouble with people robbing fuel from the farm tanks and even vehicles parked in the driveways, most of us have guns handy to ward of varmits like skunks, coons and possum...but they are handy for theives too! There may come a point in time when we are forced to protect ourselves from theft of food and other supplies as well if things continue this way.

Anyhoo, it just got me thinking. It is a subject I am sure I will write about more, I just had to share this little gem that I found. It is funny and informative. Just 2 wives and their hubby living the country life, much like me, minus the other wife.

For now I need to get to bed, even my fingers ache. I hate being sick. It makes me whiny....and I hate it when people whine!

3 comments:

Shannon said...

I'm sorry to hear that you are sick. My husband has been talking a lot about tightening the old belt, because he fears horrible things with the economy. Sales in his business are down by 70 percent from just last year. Yikes! This is going to be hard for me. I really need to figure out some food storage. Thanks for the link!

C said...

I read that blog, too!
My family is also "preparing," and we worry a lot about the economy. We don't trust the governement's ability to hanle crises, and to tell the truth, I don't trust their motives.
Anyway, we have a BIG garden this year and we plan to can and freeze a LOT. The chickens will help, too.
You know, I read that many hatcheries were backordered this year because so many new people are buying chickens to try to more self-suficient.
I relly fear we are headed for another Depression (or worse), and all we can do is try to plan ahead. Most people these days lack the skills neccessary. Few people know how to garden, hunt, process animals, sew, make soap, cook with a woodstove, etc. We are working on all of that...

Maybe it's something a lot of us Polygamous people have in common? lol
Certainly a distrust of the government is (with good reason).

Dee said...

There are two book I recomend to any one trying to live a simpler more self sufficant life. Both can be found on Amazon used.
The complete Tightwad Gazette and the Fannie Farmer 1896 cook book. If you are raising critter Yahoo groups Cheap Critter is a good place to learn ways of caring for and feeding the critter. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cheapcritters/
The internet is a wonderful place to learn...Love this blog....es