The meat,bones,gristle and bread of surviving.

elkhound · #1 03/31/14, 10:02 PM

The meat,bones,gristle and bread of surviving.....hold on i am going to ramble.

the other day ernie talked about there only being bread lately...he was ready for meat of survival discussions....or thats how i took it.

in survival be it daily now or during a shtf situation...survival comes in basic form of bread.i am talking bread as in both the actual stuff and as a description of other ordinary day stuff.

survival doesnt come in a big ol hunk of meat..it comes in drabs and dribbles on all levels mostly.like ordinary working folks they mostly live pay check to check putting bits and pieces aside until desired amount is saved....same as survival...it comes in garden produce,or store bought goods ..a bit of rice,a can of broth,a few zucs,1/2 bushel maters..etc etc. truck loads of goods we might describe as meat only show up on select times..like tax time when many get refunds..many need that to get caught back up from the previous year or put it away for their future...you see my point...like a working homestead...you dont get a steer or a lamb instantly..it takes time...from pregnancy to kill time its gathers itself together bits and pieces at a time until its grown into a 1000# steer...or the harvest of a tater crop..or a tomato crop...or a deer in the fall.its not something that happens over night..it builds...till it becomes the bigger unit we all might call meat.if your a vegetarian it might be a crop of soybeans you grew to turn into products or all the veg you grew to eat.

like getting water and making it safe..you gather it then you filter or boil it...you do it a bit at a time till you have a gallon..then the next etc till you have daily water needs met.

after all our shelves of home canned goods happen...one canner load at a time....that started with a single jar....which started with the first ripe mater

the bread,gristle,bone of each step gets you the meat of survival.or what i am saying is the bits and pieces are the meat.

i think all our little conversations here add up.

sorry for rambling.....but i may do more as i have pondered this on and off today.

emilie · #2 04/01/14, 07:10 AM

Thanks for sharing.

Tommyice · #3 04/01/14, 08:21 AM

Elk I wish you'd ramble more. I find them to be informative, inspirational and entertaining. And so chock full of truths!

elkhound · #4 04/01/14, 08:38 AM

bits and pieces.....ernie has stated here several times that he feels the solar is just something to help transition from having electric to not. i uderstand what he is saying and he states its because eventually a parts breaks and you might not be able to get that repaired.humans as a whole through history has always used something for light at night time be it a campfire or candles or seal oil burning in a shell or a kerosene lamp...but even these break down in the most basic thought as in they get used up.i think the trick is to use what you have as best you can. an example being if i had a bit of solar and had a set of battery powered tools and it took 2 days to fully charge them(just tossing a number out) before i could use those tools...well..then my days of using those tools doing chores would be limited to "power tool day" would be limited to every 3rd day.other days would have to be used on another element of survival needs...be it garden work,wood cutting and splitting.etc.

survival in everyday life and shtf is about looking at what your needs are and then making it happen and manage your available resources as you see fit.nobody can do that part or evaluate your needs/wants except you....you just gotta be person enough to accept the decisions you make.....more to come..maybe...lol

elkhound · #5 04/01/14, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommyice

Elk I wish you'd ramble more. I find them to be informative, inspirational and entertaining. And so chock full of truths!

you know how long it takes for me to ramble from the one finger press...

Tommyice · #6 04/01/14, 08:52 AM

Dragon Software--you can speak your rambles then. LOL

I also enjoy it when you slip pictures in there too

Wolf mom · #7 04/01/14, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elkhound

survival in everyday life and shtf is about looking at what your needs are and then making it happen and manage your available resources as you see fit. Nobody can do that part or evaluate your needs/wants except you....you just gotta be person enough to accept the decisions you make.....more to come..maybe...lol

Truer words were never said.

The only thing I'd add is that information input from you and people like you, help make it easier to make better, informed choices.

lindamarie · #8 04/01/14, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elkhound

you know how long it takes for me to ramble from the one finger press...

try doing the one finger press on a keyboard on a phone. Only Barbie would be able to type with more than one finger.

but the one finger press allows more time to gather our thoughts before pressing the key. Hopefully by the time all the keys have been pressed, our thoughts make some sense.

elkhound · #9 04/01/14, 09:23 AM

reasons to be here,influence,atta boys and atta girls.....ernie(not picking on you just a post you made triggered thoughts) stated he was going to re evaluate why he was here and hoped he didnt influence others in a negative way.

being here on this forum the way to communicate is through posting threads and posts and sharing pictures and of course youtube stuff....its the only way it can happen.blank paper cant become a book unless you put pen to paper...a forum cant be unless folks type out threads and messages.the only way this can happen is if we all post ..other wise its just dead.

influence of others....you hoped you didnt influence someone in a negative way....i understand that thought....but truth is most folks pick there own path and go with it as a whole.i dont want to influence anyone in a bad way either but good and bad is left up to the individual as we all dont see it the same way.but what i do want to do is inspire others to do...if its only a single tomato plant in a pot,a gallon of water and 5# of rice in their cabinet.we all are different and have different abilities and resources available to them.

i am a picture person i joined here over in singles section because of others posting their photography work...i have always carried cameras around while adventuring in the wilds...you wouldnt believe how many 35mm i have destroyed..the last one i bought i got insurance on it and it never broke...lol..go figure.then i went digital and it was on like donky kong....its nothing to hit the woods and snap 500 pics.

posting a picture i think adds weight to what you say you do...shows your not full of crap and you actually doing it.i can see in a picture how things are built and in youtube how things work and it gives me ideas.plus i think it inspires others..it inspires them to do and to take pictures and share there successes and failures. is that not what we all are to do inspire and encourage.the greatest thing a person can do is encourage others.....i may spew yet...lol

elkhound · #10 04/01/14, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommyice

Dragon Software--you can speak your rambles then. LOL

I also enjoy it when you slip pictures in there too

i told ya if i get dragon i am going to give whynot a run for her money....lol

i just dont like the name of it and the fact it recognizes me and adapts to me...thats spooky...

lindamarie · #11 04/01/14, 09:50 AM

I have a hard time doing the quote thing at times, smart phone smarter than me.

this is in response to what elk posted earlier....

we have solar. Compared to what others may have ours is small. We have 3 panels, a whopping 150 watts. Actually we just got the third panel. For 13 years we ran off just 100 watts. That's not a lot if you plan on having a lot of electronic stuff; whether it be ac or dc. When it stayed cloudy for days, we didn't generate enough to keep the batteries topped off. If they discharge to much, they don't last long. Yes, we have a generator. It costs gas to run, oil, upkeep and most of all it makes a lot of noise. We used it to top off our batteries when not enough sun. And even then we rarely ran it. We do run it at least once a month or two for a few minutes to make sure it runs. The thing is, yes we have lights, can use an inverter, and charge the cell phone, and the tool batteries. But..
a tree could fall and take out the panels, batteries, panels, inverters, and charge controllers are expensive. I still keep oil lamps, candles, flashlights on hand. Yes, my dh has tools that run on batteries, they take time to charge, extra batteries are expensive and sometimes what you are working on needs to be finished quick. We don't depend on just those tools.

we have a manual log splitter, muscle powered saws, drills, hatchet, ax etc.

we don't have a washer, I do laundry by hand. No refrigerator or freezer. All that got left behind 14 years ago. I do have a spring house, root cellar and recently an old fashioned ice box. (dh built it for me, who needs jewelry). I can lots and dry food.

you need to think outside the box. We heat with wood, have a wood cookstove also. I have an antique propane stove...but there again, I would have to go and buy propane and haul it in here.

there's more I wanted to say, but I rambled enough and still need coffee to be able to make sense.

elkhound · #12 04/01/14, 09:56 AM

OMG...i just lost several paragraphs to a computer hick-up...i may need to go outside behind barn and cuss a blue streak....!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tommyice · #13 04/01/14, 10:02 AM

Linda do you have a car charger for your cell phone? I never charge mine in the house--always in the car. I also got a USB adapter for the cig lighter in the car so I charge the Kindle and iPod. That Kindle charged in the car kept me sane during the power outage from Sandy. It has a keyboard so I was able to keep in touch with my Singletree friends when the cell phone wouldn't work--too many cell towers were taken out by the storm.

lindamarie · #14 04/01/14, 10:12 AM

we charge them in the house with the car charger, have dc hook up in house for lights (led), charge the portable DVD player. We hardly use an ac items. Although last night dh had the guitar and amp hooked up.

I sew with a treadle, hand grinder for meat, old fashioned egg beaters, wire whisks, dishwasher my two hands, hot water heater wood stove and solar, water pump gravity fed.

7thswan · #15 04/01/14, 11:04 AM

Elk, I will help and post pictures why we come to this site. Here is a beginning.

newfieannie · #16 04/01/14, 11:05 AM

I've got a dishwasher in this house but never used it just to store stuff. don't have one in the country. not a bit interested. I got the old fashioned beaters and grinders. when I move to the country I wont have near the stuff I have here in the city and I'm looking forward to it. course house taxes will be less than half what I'm paying here.I'm still looking for a treadle machine. was a few minutes away from getting one last month. ~Georgia.

elkhound · #17 04/01/14, 01:29 PM

encouraging others.....we need to do it.......if they grow a single mater..put a gallon of water and 5# of rice back...we need to givem them a atta boy/girl...it might be the best they can do right now.we dont know their situation or walked in their shoes.

i had a girl working for me one summer from university of new mexico(i think it was)...she had a break down crying fit in woods after about 2 weeks...she was upset because she was the last one to our work rig every day for the ride home.i talked with her about that we were not in a race we were there to do a job and that i needed her. i talked of all the things she might miss out on if she left as what we were doing probably would be a thing of the past one day.i pointed out the fact its not a race comparing herself to others its only the race in her mind...all she needed to do was put one foot in front of the other and she could get there sooner or later.i also pointed out the fact she was not the last there that i was...and that i was the oldest and slowest of our group.i also pointed out the fact that nobody was going anywhere till i got there...cause i was the boss....lol....besides that i could whoop all of them blind folded....roflmao

i said give me one more day.....then one more day..one more day...before she knew it the entire summer was gone and months had blew by and school was ready to start back up.she thanked me for that little talk and getting her to stay she was able to see wildlife and go places she may never see or do ever again.

survival is like that....give me one more day....one more day...one more day

be encouraged yall !!!!!!!!

manygoatsnmore · #18 04/02/14, 04:49 AM

Elk, your thread is dead-on. The theme of our monthly prep journal and to-do list is the same...encouragement for whatever preps we do each day, the knowledge that many tiny steps add up to some big accomplishments.

elkhound · #19 04/02/14, 07:02 AM

yalls monthly prep thread here is what inspired the singletree monthly homestead thread...they have expanded the concept into a monthly kitchen thread to show whats cooking and going on in our singles kitchen too.