How will you survive?

[Iain]

Can't be, no clocks, calenders etc, no Mondays, weekends, public holidays, pay days, sickies, unions although I suspect a government wouldn't be too far away.

[Christopha]

wongo, the banks will be closed.

all the bank managers will be against the wall with the lawyers, the politicians, the oil execs and the military generals without thier own militia - all in a nanosecond... you ever seen a video of a bunch of ragheads tearing up a seppo flag ? thats how quick it will be...

You on the other hand will either die quickly with the rest of us, or, you'll be hiding your wife and kids and going out hunting with an axe and a knife for cat, possum, king parrot, indian mynah bird or dog - no bag limit. you'll also be stuffing your shirt with old $5 bills and super statements to keep warm and to start fires "later on". you can go live in any mansion you like - so long as you are prepared to wipe out the previous inhabitant... and I didnt mean cockroaches - you'll have to share with them regardless; there'll be no more mortein...

all your precious timber will be burnt cooking dog, cat and possum and your jet will be turned on its side int he doorway and used as a defensive device or just rust in the corner as a makeshift table - you may even wind the handle up and down a few times thinking of the good old days...

the new rich will be those with the "McGiver knack" of building a tram froma bale of straw. Or be the ones with cans of pal buried in the back shed. Seeds, arable land, swimming pools hidden underground with clean water will be commodity items for barter. Those with reminant medicines, guns, bullets, matches, ligther fliud, flint and lighters or keys to secure facilities or out of the way places will be wealthy.

Those with some goats, chooks and sheep will probably be ok too - the cows will roam wild and the oz enviroment will suffer the shock of the cloven hoof until they are hunted out very quickly by the survivors of the apocolypse. A new meat will be in the shops - "long Pork" YUM!!!

Those in the country will hide and become the true inbreds and send out hunting parties to steal wimin and kids and long pork - they will become ace sharpshooters and a 303 with a long scope will be a priceless item = I predict most rifles will have at least 100 kills and 300 owners before the ammo runs out...

"Your stuff" will be stuff you can hold with both hands and run away with yelling "mine, mine, mine!!!" so long as you dont get shot in the back by your hunting partner because he's a bit hungrier than you or he likes your wife.... Your thigh muscle is probably very tasty with all that basketball jumping you've done....

Oh... marksmanship with bows and arrows, feudal societies and short life expectancies will be the norm. a bloke in his 30's is old, a bloke in his 40's is meat and a bloke in his 50's is unheard of. quick build a trbuchet and a stone wall!! make some friends and bind with blood for life to protect eachother - you'll all have to live in the same unscalable fortress and your poo will be fertilizer for your farm in the "special hidden place..."

Dont worry about your super - quick, buy rubber gloves and stock up on panadol now, dress your timber while you can....

Perhaps a little drastic.... but a very interesting Mad Maxish future... one thing totally wrong though, how the hell will this plastic crap money be any good for firelighting?

[bitingmidge]

Clinton may well have a point about needing rabid wombats.

The trouble with this whole debate is that the only people who think seriously about it are the raving loonies. (See Clinton's post if you don't believe me! )

Take this bloke for example http://survivalplus.com lots of good stuff, interspersed with beaut home-spun wisdom like :

Consequently, only the rich got colon cancer. Colon cancer is caused by the buildup of carcinogens on intestinal linings.

So read all this stuff to further your knowledge, but believe it at your peril!

He does have a theory espoused somewhere there that I quite like though- by learning to produce your own food (and again here in Oz, most of us are less than one generation detached from those skills, so it's a bit of a moot point), one will be free when "the catastrophe" happens.

He says there are three types of survivalist (in the US):
1) those who hoard preserved food, which will present them with a stockpile that will last till they run out, or have it stolen.

2) The radical militia movements, who hoard food and will then go and kill anyone else who has food when theirs runs out.

3) The producer who just keeps making (farming) their own, and who eat stuff that the other two wouldn't consider eating (green vegetables and grain for instance) and will therefore be ignored as "not worthy of being killed for".

Great stuff!

P (I wanna be a farmer too! )

[bitingmidge]

Oh, and to further my respect for Kurt, he strongly advises his readers against migrating to Australia to avoid the crunch!

A few survivalists have considered migration as a way of getting out from under the impending doom of the American system. R. Hodkinson of Australia recommends his country as a place for Americans to settle. He means well but he obviously has known few Americans.

For most American migrants to Australia, the place is a miserable experience, both for them and the Australians they deal with.

http://www.survivalplus.com/philosophy/page0004.htm



Cheers,

P

[ernknot]

Oh, and to further my respect for Kurt, he strongly advises his readers against migrating to Australia to avoid the crunch!


http://www.survivalplus.com/philosophy/page0004.htm



Cheers,

P

Spread the word, spread the word!

[journeyman Mick]

Who's this bloody R.Hodgkinson bloke think he is? We need to find him and tell him to stop invitng everybody over!

Mick

[silentC]

So back to the worms, what my mate has done is he has set up an old bath and he has hung a bottle from the bottom under the plug hole. This fills up with worm tea, which he feeds to his plants. That's what I'm going to do.

My uncle had bees. What's the go with that?

[bitingmidge]

Worm tea isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Why not just pee on your lemon bush like everyone else does?

Or collect cowpats, and drop them in a drum of water to make liquid manure?

Or do the same with chook poo?

It's just that worms have got such tiny little bumholes, so they have to work really hard to produce enough to feed the Azaleas. (Did you hear about the dyslectic dingo.... never mind )

Or just stick the worms in the ground and use plenty of organic mulch, and you'll get the same without needing a bath, a bottle, or the need to carry it over to the plants!

Cheers,

P

[silentC]

Yeah but what do I do with my vegie scraps then? Come on Mr Answers!

[journeyman Mick]

Feed 'em to your chooks or compost them. Actually if things get really tough you'll be looking very hard at what's "scrap" and what goes into the soup or stew.

Mick

[bitingmidge]

Or just stick the worms in the ground and use plenty of organic mulch,

Veggie Scraps= organic mulch.

Dig them in or lightly cover them in your veggie patch.

Works for me!

Cheers,

P

[silentC]

OK, so worm farms are for city slickers and if you have the space to plant a decent garden, you can cut out the middle man and just bury the stuff in the ground and let nature take it's course. Is this what you are telling me?

Haven't got any chooks yet but they are on the list. My nan used to feed egg shells to her chooks. Now that's recycling...

[bitingmidge]

Well there won't be any veggie scraps left to feed to the worms if you're getting chooks!



P

[silentC]

What if I feed the vegie scraps to the worms, collect their poo to grow more vegies, and then feed the worms to the chooks?

Bugger this, it's all too hard. Think I'll sell the house and move into an apartment at The Coast.

[echnidna]

keep a little worm farm for bait
feed scraps to the chooks
eat their eggs
let them hatch chickens
the hens you keep to replace the old ones
the roosters you eat
make the chook shed so foxes can't get into it.
forget the townhouse it hasn't got a decent shed.