Are you prepared? Trying to be more self sufficient

OK, I'll play.

I'm nowhere near what I'd like but.. current set up...

2000w generator, 2gallons fuel on had at all times.
Mr buddy heater , 8 tanks on hand
Approx 2 weeks food supply, freeze-dried and canned combined.
20gallons drinkable water, 450gallons in my rain tanks right now.
Assorted camping items so be able to get by.

I'm in the mindset of bugging in if a disaster happened. I've set up nicely and live in a small town. Only way I'm leaving is if the home is gone

 

You’re probably set up better than 95% of the people

 

So some of you are in the gardening thread and have seen these pics but I’ll throw them in here.
We have lived in this house since ‘91 and had a garden every year. With the desire to grow more food I enlarged the garden 5’ either way. It’s plowed and dished and ready to till we don’t plant until Morhers day


we also added 6 Elderberry bushes that are stating to grow nicely



our big addition however this year was a green house. My wife is very into plants, about 350 tropical indoors and she also starts her own seeds for the garden




she just up potted most of her starts last weekend most of the peppers and tomatoes came from seeds I learned to harvest from other heirloom plants we grew



she canned like 60 jars of tomato products from the garden last year and dehydrated a lot as well. Our biggest hope with the greenhouse is to be able to extend our growing season if only a bit it will help.

 

Our plan, for now, is to bug in. We both carry get home bags in our cars thankfully she only works 4 miles from home and I’m only 10.
We all have 1 1/2-2 acre lots around here. Guy on one side of me is a Navy Vet, I’m an Army vet, and the guy on the other side was a police officer. That guy is kinda trying but not really. He said he wants to build a water system so I got him an IBC tote 2 years ago it still not done. Try’s to garden but doesn’t work it, I got him to get a second AR 2 Christmas ago and has never shot it nor the one he had already. The Navy vet I helped him get an AR at Christmas but still hasn’t shot it. Most of these folks just stay inside. They say they want to prepare but I don’t see it. The folks behind us hell idk if they’d even understand preparing for anything.
We have a fall back at a friends about 8 miles away who has 30 acres with a stream and they do prep.
I’m not dumb enough to show these people our stuff. I don’t keep a lot of arms but enough as one person n here has seen but I only show any of that if I’m trying to help them figure stuff out

 

I wish I knew more about seeds and how to harvest them.

 

You tube. There are many videos on it. Peppers are super easy. Tomatoes are a little more involved because you have to seperate the seeds from the gell like stuff they’re in but still pretty easy. I especially do it if we have a plant that yields really well

 

You mean seeds don't naturally come in the little paper envelope???????

 

Idk about the paper packets I thought she only bought them for the pictures. Vegetables and meats are grown in the grocery store duh

 

To those that say they don't know how - start now. Start small if you don't have an official garden. 5 gallon buckets with holes for drainage. There are fabric bags you can grow in. Heck, plant in the flower garden. Grow SOMETHING. Start learning.

If you are near Indiana, we host homesteading events a couple of times a year. There is one in June that is free to attend. The big one will be back October 2025. There are others everywhere. Go and learn. Then START SMALL. Don't take on too many projects (don't ask me how I know). One thing a day is more than 99% will ever do.

 

They have a homesteading event near us also but I always miss it. We don’t have a homestead but we are doing what we can

 

Got a link to the gardening thread? I'm not a huge gardener, but have about 10 5 gallon buckets full of plants for this year and kinda dipping my toes in it.

 

Honestly its always learning...

 

Agreed; its all pretty new to me honestly, even though I grew up with parents/grandparents that gardened. I don't really have any space currently besides a small concrete pad/back porch that gets some sun. I made a wooden raised stand to hold 5 gallon buckets with drain holes and just planted a handful of things a few weeks back. Have done peppers before this way, and honestly, they're so easy, anybody could do it. I couldn't kill those plants if I tried.

 

I will find it when I can I’m bottling at work right now. It’s a good thread with helpful people

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gardening-thread-show-me-your-gardens.322242/

 

Being prepared is my life.

You guys have covered home preparedness a lot....but I also try to prepare my vehicles for breakdowns etc. My Tacoma is kind of my "Go Truck". It's going to be parked with a full tank of gas, flashlight, a tool kit, first aid kit...I even have an ATLAS for it (Millennials this is the Google Maps app of the 1980's in spiral bound form) . so it's ready to roll for any emergency....BUT

A few weeks ago I was under my mom's house (crawlspace) for an hour or so. I came out, finished my work, and got ready to leave....No truck key.

Crap...went back under the house and found it luckily.

Went home and bought a spare truck key (mine doesn't have a transponder so like $5 at Ace Hardware) and one of those magnetic boxes. I hid the box on the truck with the key and $100 cash in it. Not all that helpful in the zombie apocalypse, but might be just the ticket to get you home if you lost your wallet and keys.

Case in point on preparedness....I was at a wedding 2 weeks ago. My brother tries to leave the reception and finds my nephew (who was bored) had run the battery down listening to the stereo with the door open on their SUV. He sends the nephew back in to ask me if I have jumper cables. DO I HAVE JUMPER CABLES? Of course I do. I'm a man. 10 minutes later they were cruising out of the lot in their $60,000 SUV with my third set of jumper cables in case it wouldn't start again.

Reminds me...I need to buy a set of jumper cables. He never did give those back.

 

Great points about vehicle preparedness. O the topic of vehicle prepping, I've always heard many talk about desiring an older, more "mechanical" type of vehicle vs "electrical" modern vehicles. I think the most realistic threat we could easily encounter is an EMP type event, rendering all electronics and most vehicles useless. Most of us obviously can't afford to have and upkeep a hundred different vehicles for different scenarios, but just a fun thought to add to the conversation!

Definitely agree that vehicle preparedness is equally as important as home, if not more. Most of us are working class, and most likely wouldn't be comfortably at home during the start of an event. Getting home/bugging out to make it to your bug in spot is a challenge to be faced within itself.

I remember another thread on here not long ago about a made up scenario/needing to bug out from an urban environment. It was a fun read; I'll link it back here if I can find it.

 

How would you fight your way back home? | Tacoma World

 

I'm curious....I read a lot about people learning (or needing to learn) how to garden and grow their own food for some type of catastrophic event. How much would a person, or family, need to grow in order to sustain themselves on a daily basis? How much land would it take (acres I would assume)? How do you protect larger tracts of crops from predators like rabbits, squirrels, etc.? How much would you actually need to grow to actually sustain the average family of four? I'm not a prepper, but I do have enough to get by for probably about a month before I'd be shit out of luck. Gardens are great but I believe your best bet is going to be some sort of long term stored food, such as freeze dried, that are compact and easy to store and carry, in case you need to leave and relocate somewhere else. The ability to hunt will prove to be key, in my opinion, in any long term scenario. Another question I have is once you've bagged a deer for example, how do you preserve it for "long term" storage without refrigeration? Water is where I lack any substantial capacity like some of you already have. IBC's are a good idea, I need to look into that!

 

https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/renewable-energy/biogas-generator-zm0z14aszrob/
Biogas
Heres another i was reading about a while ago. Would be beneficial for cooking. I read a few and doesnt seem to take much for daily use for cooking.