Most Americans would starve standing next to a cow in a field of ripe wheat.

[MA Duce]

True. I'm one of those people who has no idea what to do with wheat or cows. But I'm figuring it out.

HINT: Google Scythe and winnowing fan......

 

[Wheeler44]

Alas poor Wheeler........I was one of those poor city kids sent off to the Grandfolks farm during summer break from school. Grampa walked out to Southern Oregon from Nebraska when he was only 8yrs. old. He didn't show much sympathy for a young city kid. I was introduced to the sickle and scythe.. the hoe and of course weeding by hand. My folks grew up during the depression and were accustomed to raising livestock and gardening....In the early '70's they drug us kids from our comfortable suburban home in Tigard to a small homestead in Alaska.....

Poor me, forced to learn where food come from and well instructed in how it got from there to the plate, including how to make the plate ready for the next user....


Thanks Grampa and Nana...Thanks Mom and Dad...Special thanks to my Step-dad for making learn how to cast bullets and to reload. And thanks to all of my "old guys" that forced me to learn my trade and the other "arts" .....

W44

Teach someone something useful.....They may publicly thank you some day.

 

[Hook686]

My father always told me, "Life is tough, and then you die." I really wonder what all you farmers are gonna do when the hord of hungry folks come over the hill with their guns.

 

[HollisOR]

My father always told me, "Life is tough, and then you die." I really wonder what all you farmers are gonna do when the hord of hungry folks come over the hill with their guns.

Probably the hoard would thin itself out by the time they got to the country. They would be killing each other in the aisle where the can food was on displayed. Yes, would be better to have a farm farther from the city and closer. It is not going to be a good time for anyone and death can come sooner than expected. It is something we all are going to do, it is a matter of when. Hopefully some order would prevail, then there is control of ingress and egress.

 

[Sasquatchvnv]

I got 20 acres and a backhoe...

My father always told me, "Life is tough, and then you die." I really wonder what all you farmers are gonna do when the hord of hungry folks come over the hill with their guns.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

HINT: Google Scythe and winnowing fan......

Tie the wheat in bunches and use a sharp machete works too..

The same process works for mustard seeds

 

[Blitzkrieg]

My father always told me, "Life is tough, and then you die." I really wonder what all you farmers are gonna do when the hord of hungry folks come over the hill with their guns.

Unless I need serf labor..

Really, would you like to be the dufus, armed or not, standing out there in a man's hard won field of food, stealing it while he looks at you through a 4 x scope?

 

[HollisOR]

I prefer my post hole digger,

then as it has been mentioned, one of these:

 

[Silver Fox]

My father always told me, "Life is tough, and then you die." I really wonder what all you farmers are gonna do when the hord of hungry folks come over the hill with their guns.

Step 1: set my bowl of home made beef stew down
Step 2: gather everyone with their shootin' irons
Step 3: place everyone into position
Step 4: engage targets
Step 5: repeat as necessary
Step 6: go home and clean guns
Step 7: let the coyotes clean up the mess

'Nuff said.

SF-

 

[lowly monk]

Step 1: set my bowl of home made beef stew down
Step 2: gather everyone with their shootin' irons
Step 3: place everyone into position
Step 4: engage targets
Step 5: repeat as necessary
Step 6: go home and clean guns
Step 7: let the coyotes clean up the mess

'Nuff said.

SF-

I still enjoy kill,dress and grill.

 

[powersbj]

My father always told me, "Life is tough, and then you die." I really wonder what all you farmers are gonna do when the hord of hungry folks come over the hill with their guns.

The "farmer" isnt gonna make it either. Combines/plows/Agcats/tractors don't run without gas, the fields in eastern WA don't get water without a functional infrastructure. The corp meat farms all die off unless their just in time inventory of feed comes in daily. The fields all require chemical fertilizer to grow anything since all the bacteria have been killed off years ago etc etc etc...

Now the rednecks.... Well, they might just give you some trouble...

 

[Blitzkrieg]

The "farmer" isnt gonna make it either. Combines/plows/Agcats/tractors don't run without gas, the fields in eastern WA don't get water without a functional infrastructure. The corp meat farms all die off unless their just in time inventory of feed comes in daily. The fields all require chemical fertilizer to grow anything since all the bacteria have been killed off years ago etc etc etc...

Now the rednecks.... Well, they might just give you some trouble...

More and more people are organically gardening. We plan a well protected organic gardens area at our new home that we are soon to build. Our peat bog swamp and the forest leaves and such will supply all the long term rich compost we will need

 

[PaulZ]

Jam that "Organically" stuff; I will throw plutonium on it if it makes the yield better. BTW peat and forest leaves won't grow a thing without nitrogen

 

[Wheeler44]

Jam that "Organically" stuff; I will throw plutonium on it if it makes the yield better. BTW peat and forest leaves won't grow a thing without nitrogen

Actually you can grow abundant and nutritious food with organic techniques. A little chicken poo, some rotted to black sawdust from an old mill site, some kelp and a bunch of fish carcasses will grow just about anything that grows around here and grow it well.

 

[MA Duce]

I'm pretty much stuck with root veggies where I will be if things get extreme unless we can build a greenhouse and tap into nearby hot springs. I will definitely be putting in a stew garden.
Hopefully anyone coming into our area will have fresh veggies to trade or surrender.....

 

[PaulZ]

"poo " and "veggies" holy smoke, do you guys live in the Hawthorne district?
Organic global warming crystal healing enthusiasts will have a rough time in
a SHTF situation

 

[chemist]

"poo " and "veggies" holy smoke, do you guys live in the Hawthorne district?
Organic global warming crystal healing enthusiasts will have a rough time in
a SHTF situation

Yeah, right, because the way it was done for the past nine thousand years up until the last half-century isn't feasible or sustainable.

 

[kenjo]

I often think how blessed this worlkd would be to transform back two hundred years for 1 year, getting rid of all modern conveineces except medical (vaccines and drugs) that is, I think is one of the only good things that has come out of modern conveniences.

Don't forget dentistry.

 

[MikeE]

Yeah, right, because the way it was done for the past nine thousand years up until the last half-century isn't feasible or sustainable.

Well said. Organics have moved into the mainstream - alot of advances in Oregon coming out of the nursery industry. The commercial yard debris compost that Metro has helped to get up and running is good stuff and has formed the base of my gardens for almost 20 years. It does need to be supplemented, particularly with Nitrogen and Phosphorous. Actually, Phosphorous - the major element that helps plants to produce flowers and set fruit, is the limiting factor in NW soils, we don't have good domestic sources. Rock phosphate is definitely a survival supply for people hoping to grow their own. On the low-tech scale - chicken manure does have phosphorous, crab shells, fish by products are other sources. Imported rock phosphate can be had at Concentrates Incorporated. Even using super-phosphate, a souped up chemical version of rock phosphate, is not a bad idea.
I suppose SHTF situations come in many flavors, but economic collapse is surely one of them.I think we're going through the early stages now. To survive, we'll need cooperation between city and country. We'll get alot more done by using our brains then by waving various weapons around, although i do not discount the security issues.

 

[Wheeler44]

"poo " and "veggies" holy smoke, do you guys live in the Hawthorne district?
Organic global warming crystal healing enthusiasts will have a rough time in
a SHTF situation

That right there is funny.......My Grampa didn't walk out here from Nebraska because Oregon had abundant supplies of nitrogen and phosphorous. My family has been gardening organically since the seventies.

Personally I think that folks that "think" they know it all might not fare as well as they hope, while folks with an open mind might just be okay. But good luck anyway.