WAC Gun Show Oct 13

[gmerkt]

Oh boy, the biggest WAC show of the year. Maybe, relative to their other shows lately. But relative to past years, not. It's pretty obvious that attendance and buying/selling action is way down. The show has an adjusted starting time of 9:00 AM these days, as against the old time of 8:00 AM. Used to be within an hour of show start, traffic on the off-ramp from the nearby freeway was lined up back onto the freeway. This year, it was an easy off.

Once in the hall at the fairgrounds, used to be aisles were so crowded at this show that you had to kinda crab-walk from side to side to get through. No crowding at the show today, pretty easy passage through the aisles. Mostly same old crowd of geriatric old buggers such as myself, not all that much new blood in sight. And that's part of the problem nation-wide. People all crowded up in cities, no place to shoot, faces stuck in electronic diversions; young people are falling away from guns.

These days sales at WAC shows are inhibited by the legal requirement to run a private sale through an FFL dealer. The show management tries to facilitate this, but going through the process can be slow. Some guys are stuck in the old days, just won't buy a gun on paper. If the NICS computers go down (as sometimes happens), the sales cannot be processed and mostly fall through. People don't want to have to drive around unnecessarily to complete the sale.

A more recent political development in WA is having a stifling effect, in my own opinion. Although the proposed I-1639 only concerns semi-auto rifles, I think it's causing people to have reservations in general about buying more guns.

One of the more onerous provisions of I-1639 is that it will require a mandatory 10 day waiting period for transfer of any semi-automatic rifle. No exemption for concealed permit holders as there is for handguns. This probably wouldn't sound like such a big deal to a non-gun person. But for someone thinking about buying such a rifle at a gun show, it might be a deal breaker. They might not want to mess around with having to make a second trip to somewhere ten days after the show is over to pick up their purchase.

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[MrRob96]

I agree with a lot of your post. I make it into the WAC show as much as a can, being a member and all.

My buying and selling is usually stifled by not finding anything I want at a price point that sells.

I think this is precipitated by the mindset of sellers at the show. Every show I'll find a gun I'm interested in, but I'm not a collector willing to pay top dollar and that's the dilemma. I think most sellers there get their price off what a good example sold for on GunBroker.

A local gun show should not be trying to get highest bid auction prices from a Nationwide auction site. Maybe 80% of that number to get the guns moving. I know sellers can haggle and are allowed to ask whatever they want for their guns. And buyers respond by not showing up or walking on by.

A few weeks ago I drove up to Monroe to catch the WAC show. That's a hell of a drive from the Tacoma area, but I like seeing what's available.

Same old stuff. Beat up Garands for $1500+. Beat up M1 carbines for almost the same. I saw a Swede K31 I would have picked up but it was $1k. Again crazy GunBroker prices.

Maybe inventory is low on the guns people are really interested in. I know a lot of enthusiastic gun owners that never go to gun shows because it's a waste of time for them due to prices and inventory.

I've got my eye out for a BHP, but I'm not gonna pay $2500 for a collectible C series or T series which I routinely see at WAC. I've got my eye out for a shooter grade FN made gun for less than half that. Never see it. Same goes with P08 Lugers. Not many people are looking for $3k+ all numbers matching artillery Lugers. You can find a few at WAC. Any decent $1k shooters? Probably not. They get snatched up quick.

Apply this to any milsurp. Same goes for new manufacture guns. Full street price at the gun show. May as well walk in to your LGS which you prefer to support anyways and are open more than one weekend every 1.2 months.

Only thing I usually pick up there is reloading supplies. Haven't been able to find a 45-70 die set tho. bubblegum loads of 357 magnum or some old hunting cartridges.

I think there's little value in going to a gun show for a casual gun owner, so they're filled with hardcores and old buggers with nothing to do. I'm not an old bugger yet but on the path, clearly.

Just my thoughts when I see the inventory and the lack of buying/attendance and hear my friends gripe about beany baby and knife shows.

 

[Slobray]

I try to hit every WAC show in Puyallup, but like this weekend, I have to miss some because of work. I usually wander around looking for those rare (and getting rarer) good deals. I haven't bought anything at the show for quite a while, for pretty much the same reason as @MrRob96: the prices higher than I'm willing to pay.

The best benefit of membership (for me anyway) is the WAC Gun News Magazine. The want adds in there, that's where deals are found. The hardest part is getting to it before the other members snatch it up.



Ray

 

[HuckFin]

Since I-594 I have not bought any guns at WAC nor have most of my friends. Besides the paper trail I also get delayed 100% of the time. I still support WAC by buying ammo, gun parts and accessories but not as much as I used to.

 

[gmerkt]

Yes, it's true that as a venue for deals, gun shows have failed us lately. I agree, electronic media have set the price levels. Information is cheap. People no longer have to spend years learning about guns; anybody kind find out stuff about guns in seconds on the internet.

A few weeks ago I drove up to Monroe to catch the WAC show. That's a hell of a drive from the Tacoma area, but I like seeing what's available.

Wow, you bother to go to the Monroe show from Tacoma??! I'm about 20-something miles from Monroe, I quit going to it. It's become a real concentration of the same old krapola from the same guys. I've been a member of WAC for 31 years, I've witnessed their expansion and now contraction. They started up the Monroe shows to satisfy what they thought was demand in the "north end." And I guess it was a money-maker for some period of time. The Monroe shows of the past were often pretty good ones when they were held in the old livestock sheds; I remember seeing deals there.

These days, WAC would be well-advised to discontinue the Monroe shows. They've been pretty consistent money losers for the club lately. The club itself is struggling mightily. The political and demographic trends don't auger well for its future. As a member who resides in the north end, I'd rather the club consolidate its show venues into the main one at Puyallup. I'd much rather drive the greater distance for a better show. For as long as I've been in WAC, the concentration of membership has been in the south end anyway.

In times of slack demand such as appears to be the case at present, the only way to move guns is to chop price. Yet the old timers are loathe to do it. Sometimes reality takes a while to sink in. However, I did notice that some of the tables loaded with AR stuff had lower prices. Market saturation and politics has pretty well collapsed AR prices. And WAC does have a significant social function. Lots of the geezers don't mind hauling the same junk from show to show to show, it's what they do for activity.

Same goes with P08 Lugers. Not many people are looking for $3k+ all numbers matching artillery Lugers. You can find a few at WAC. Any decent $1k shooters? Probably not.

Here's what I'm thinking re. Lugers. This is just my impression, but it seems to me that much of the fascination with Lugers is gone. The WW2 vets who collected them are mostly dead. Their sons who prized them are long in the tooth. There doesn't seem to be all that much of a contemporary market for them. Those who want Lugers already have them. I'm not saying there isn't some demand for them still. But it's a much thinner market than it used to be when they were hot stuff.

Up until recently, at gun shows I'd look for bargains in hand loading stuff and ammo. At the WAC shows, that would be in the back rows where the occasional table holders are hidden away. Not necessarily as punishment for infrequent table renting but because the regular stroke daddies with the same old junk have a bit of pull with the club to get what they consider the "best" tables closer to the front of the hall. I know from my frequent conversations with other members that this can be counterproductive for those regular table holders. People looking for the deals and the good stuff automatically head to the back of the hall and start there. Sometimes, I don't even go up those first several rows of "regulars" because I know their tables are covered with over-priced, same old stuff.

The other shows in Wash., I don't often go to. The Big Top Promotions shows that started a few years ago, those are floated by an FFL dealer out of Lynnwood. He has his shows in locations all over the state, smaller shows in motel conference rooms, etc. If there are 50 tables there, this dealer has his stuff on about 35 of them. It's mostly a show set up for his primary gun business. Kind of a travelling gun store, you might say. Lots of new guns, not so many used ones.

The Falcon Productions shows are still going, I guess. I haven't been to one for a long time. I think these are the guys who used to do a show at the Skagit Co. fairgrounds in Mount Vernon, I used to drive up to that one but the someone told me the fairgrounds didn't want to do gun shows anymore. There used to be a show held at the Logger Fairgrounds way up in Whatcom Co., near Everson, wasn't it? That was a kinda long drive. Used to be a show held in the National Guard Armory in downtown Everett, that's been gone for a long time.

You just never know what you're gonna find at show. I've known about the cartridge collector's show at Castle Rock for years, never went because, well, that's really in SW Wash. as far as I'm concerned kinda a far ride for me. One time the cartridge collector's show was the same weekend as a militaria show in Tumwater. So I packed up a few guns, drove first to Tumwater (which was a waste of time), then on down to Castle Rock for the cartridge collector's show. Not only was that show interesting, but I was able to buy a nice quantity of GI ball .30-06 ammo on clips in bandoliers and boxed GI .45 ammo very inexpensively. On the way back, I stopped at the Issaquah Sportsmen gun range so I made every mile on this trip count.

Whenever I'm down that way toward Olympia and beyond, I think about a former co-worker. I worked in downtown Edmonds for over 20 years. In my early time there, one of the other people whom I worked with lived in Winlock. She drove her little Geo Metro three cylinder back and forth between Winlock and Edmonds every working day. That was a real commute, and that was 30 years ago.

 

[KKG]

FWIW the WAC I Monroe has NEVER been a big money maker for the Club. A really good Show brings in about $150.-200. but their are enough Northenders to keep it happening. WAC is still looking for their own building but because of the stigma of Guns being present it's been very hard. The Fairgrounds has been trying to push us out for years and that's why the cost keeps going up. One of the best features of the current WAC Gunshows is the $10. transfer fee. Because of the way WAC is setup they know there will be very few delays and I have not heard about a single denial; which speaks well for the Club. I've been a member for over 40 years and am one of the Old F**ts who is there Show after Show. I'm not there because of health reasons but my Bride went down to help out one of the other table holders yesterday and we now live in Snohomish so it's not the 30 minute drive it was when we lived in Kent.

I'm hoping to be a Monroe table holder but will still plan on doing the Puyallup Gunshows as well.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I basically HAVE what I need & concentrate on reloading components & AR parts for 80% builds so no new papered guns for this guy.

 

[gmerkt]

FWIW the WAC I Monroe has NEVER been a big money maker for the Club. A really good Show brings in about $150.-200.

You will note, I didn't use the word "big." In better times, it's broken even or shown a profit. From time to time Phil Shave has released bottom line figures for the Monroe shows and I got the idea that a good show during the Obama era netted more than $150 to $200 profit. But my memory could be wrong. For the long term survival of WAC, it has to consistently at least break even. Even then, under current conditions it may detract from the club because of the expenditure of human energy to do it.

WAC is still looking for their own building

Oh please, the WAC "Building Fund." You're talking about Unicorns here. That fund was instituted not too long after I joined in 1987. It was an add-on to the regular dues, like an assessment. The subject of how that fund has been run is a source of great frustration to me, just a very ordinary member with no particular insider information or influence. We were told in a kind of back-handed way that under the person (whose name I won't mention) who kinda ruled the club by himself for many years that (I don't recall exactly what was said but words like) "some building funds were unaccounted for." I don't know if sticky fingers or mismanagement was involved. Or maybe just a simple, lazy co-mingling of funds. That person left under a cloud.

Once the fund was allowed to increase without interference, I don't know if they had good, qualified people actively looking for property to buy. For a long time, no mention was made of the status of the fund. Then some new management crew came in and for a while, there was a pretty steady accounting in the Gun News of the fund. All during this time, the price of real estate continued to inflate. The Recession of 2008-09 might've been a good time to make a move. I've always wondered, "What are they waiting for? Why don't they make a down payment and borrow the rest against potential gate receipts and dues payments? After all, that's income and the basis for many loans." But I'm not a banker, maybe it wasn't good enough.

Or why haven't they at least bought some bare land somewhere? Land tends to increase in value. So long as the building fund remains a cash asset, it's subject to predation. Money tied up in land, not so much. I've heard and read about and personally seen this several times with non-profit organizations. They are potential victims of internal theft. "Volunteers" in trusted positions get tempted or don't know what they're doing.

These days, once again, we don't hear much about the status of the fund. One issue that was publicized was that the fund was plundered to donate money to fight I-594. Which of course was a dead horse either way. Even had the election gone our way, the money was still gone.

There have been a few proposed site selections for a WAC-owned facility. All were located in the "south end," one I remember being in DuPont. Which as to distance I don't object to because as I said, I've gotten the impression over the years that a majority of members live down that way. Wait long enough, "south end" locations for the WAC pocketbook will be Pe Ell or Mossyrock. If I-1639 passes and membership continues to dwindle, we can meet in the VFW hall in McCleary. It'll be big enough.

I must confess my own guilt at having never attended a club administrative meeting to air my frustrations. Largely because the meetings were far enough away from where I live to discourage attendance. And, not on the same days as the gun show. I know everyone wants to hit the road when the show is over, but routine monthly administrative meetings could be held after the end of the first day of the show. It would save those involved from making another trip and might bring about more regular member involvement.

I really wish I could be more positive about the future of the WAC. But it's not just me, lots of people can see where this situation is going. Politics and demographics are against us. Laws on the books now, some that are proposed and probably some we can't even yet imagine won't go away. Cities are going to continue to grow and sprawl, shooting places are disappearing, youth are coming along who don't know or use guns. We hear phrases such as "a disappearing way of life." I think those of us who like, own and use guns are experiencing one.

 

[erwin643]

Oh boy, the biggest WAC show of the year. Maybe, relative to their other shows lately. But relative to past years, not. It's pretty obvious that attendance and buying/selling action is way down. The show has an adjusted starting time of 9:00 AM these days, as against the old time of 8:00 AM. Used to be within an hour of show start, traffic on the off-ramp from the nearby freeway was lined up back onto the freeway. This year, it was an easy off.

Once in the hall at the fairgrounds, used to be aisles were so crowded at this show that you had to kinda crab-walk from side to side to get through. No crowding at the show today, pretty easy passage through the aisles. Mostly same old crowd of geriatric old buggers such as myself, not all that much new blood in sight. And that's part of the problem nation-wide. People all crowded up in cities, no place to shoot, faces stuck in electronic diversions; young people are falling away from guns.

These days sales at WAC shows are inhibited by the legal requirement to run a private sale through an FFL dealer. The show management tries to facilitate this, but going through the process can be slow. Some guys are stuck in the old days, just won't buy a gun on paper. If the NICS computers go down (as sometimes happens), the sales cannot be processed and mostly fall through. People don't want to have to drive around unnecessarily to complete the sale.

A more recent political development in WA is having a stifling effect, in my own opinion. Although the proposed I-1639 only concerns semi-auto rifles, I think it's causing people to have reservations in general about buying more guns.

One of the more onerous provisions of I-1639 is that it will require a mandatory 10 day waiting period for transfer of any semi-automatic rifle. No exemption for concealed permit holders as there is for handguns. This probably wouldn't sound like such a big deal to a non-gun person. But for someone thinking about buying such a rifle at a gun show, it might be a deal breaker. They might not want to mess around with having to make a second trip to somewhere ten days after the show is over to pick up their purchase.

Just keep in mind: No state-level law enforcement agency in WA is currently enforcing I-594. I would still use your own discretion, though (You don't want to sell to some obvious druggie, junkie, weirdo, etc.)...

 

[erwin643]

I agree with a lot of your post. I make it into the WAC show as much as a can, being a member and all.

My buying and selling is usually stifled by not finding anything I want at a price point that sells.

I think this is precipitated by the mindset of sellers at the show. Every show I'll find a gun I'm interested in, but I'm not a collector willing to pay top dollar and that's the dilemma. I think most sellers there get their price off what a good example sold for on GunBroker.

A local gun show should not be trying to get highest bid auction prices from a Nationwide auction site. Maybe 80% of that number to get the guns moving. I know sellers can haggle and are allowed to ask whatever they want for their guns. And buyers respond by not showing up or walking on by.

A few weeks ago I drove up to Monroe to catch the WAC show. That's a hell of a drive from the Tacoma area, but I like seeing what's available.

Same old stuff. Beat up Garands for $1500+. Beat up M1 carbines for almost the same. I saw a Swede K31 I would have picked up but it was $1k. Again crazy GunBroker prices.

Maybe inventory is low on the guns people are really interested in. I know a lot of enthusiastic gun owners that never go to gun shows because it's a waste of time for them due to prices and inventory.

I've got my eye out for a BHP, but I'm not gonna pay $2500 for a collectible C series or T series which I routinely see at WAC. I've got my eye out for a shooter grade FN made gun for less than half that. Never see it. Same goes with P08 Lugers. Not many people are looking for $3k+ all numbers matching artillery Lugers. You can find a few at WAC. Any decent $1k shooters? Probably not. They get snatched up quick.

Apply this to any milsurp. Same goes for new manufacture guns. Full street price at the gun show. May as well walk in to your LGS which you prefer to support anyways and are open more than one weekend every 1.2 months.

Only thing I usually pick up there is reloading supplies. Haven't been able to find a 45-70 die set tho. bubblegum loads of 357 magnum or some old hunting cartridges.

I think there's little value in going to a gun show for a casual gun owner, so they're filled with hardcores and old buggers with nothing to do. I'm not an old bugger yet but on the path, clearly.

Just my thoughts when I see the inventory and the lack of buying/attendance and hear my friends gripe about beany baby and knife shows.

Well, some of the vendors there travel between the shows for a living. It's their livelihood (some even primary) How about at least trying to support them? As for the fat old farts sitting on over-priced antiques: Thats their problem (Mainly because they don't know how to move anything. Or, they're just there for something to do, while getting their five-different entitlements).

 

[gmerkt]

Just keep in mind: No state-level law enforcement agency in WA is currently enforcing I-594. I would still use your own discretion, though (You don't want to sell to some obvious druggie, junkie, weirdo, etc.)...

Won't do it. Your not seeing people getting caught in the act on the spot isn't a clear picture. Sometimes these things take a long time to catch up. Like the Smith & Wesson Model 29 that I bought in 1986, sold in 1992, been out of my life for decades. A couple of years ago, I got a call from a sheriff's dept. in California, wanted to know whom I had sold the gun to. Fortunately that was long before we had a legal obligation to run a private transfer through a dealer. The paper trails never go away. So let me point out if you bought a gun (especially a handgun, soon to be a semi-auto rifle) through an FFL post I-594, then let it go off paper, you're still on the hook. It might not be a problem right away but the issue is lurking as a possible problem forever. Or at least until you die, they can't get you after that.

How about at least trying to support them? As for the fat old farts sitting on over-priced antiques: Thats their problem (Mainly because they don't know how to move anything. Or, they're just there for something to do, while getting their five-different entitlements).

If they are getting all those entitlement checks, that's not a good reason for supporting them. Agreed, some are doing it to get out of the house but that in itself isn't a reason for me to want to love them. One of those of whom you speak, e.g., old, obese, and likely on at least a couple of entitlements, is a regular table holder at both Monroe and Puyallup. I won't mention his name, many of you have seen him, was a big wheel in 1911's at one time, proud of being a Marine 50 years ago and rubs your nose in it. Based on his dealings with a friend of mine who is also a WAC member, the guy is slippery and welches on debts. Kinda like crooked Facebook advertisers, everyone sees their ads, thinks all is good because their ad is on Facebook but in truth they're not on the up-and-up. Meaning, people go to these gun shows and see the regular table holders. They figure these are the good guys, they've been around a long time. Uh-oh, not necessarily so.

If I've mentioned this before, forgive me for being repetitive. One of my other WAC friends believes in the theory that gun shows are a place for all the broken and otherwise undesirable guns to get dumped. And it's the same people who are swapping the same crappy guns back and forth with each other. Well, of course it's an exaggeration but like all such, there is some truth in it.

 

[erwin643]

Won't do it. Your not seeing people getting caught in the act on the spot isn't a clear picture. Sometimes these things take a long time to catch up. Like the Smith & Wesson Model 29 that I bought in 1986, sold in 1992, been out of my life for decades. A couple of years ago, I got a call from a sheriff's dept. in California, wanted to know whom I had sold the gun to. Fortunately that was long before we had a legal obligation to run a private transfer through a dealer. The paper trails never go away. So let me point out if you bought a gun (especially a handgun, soon to be a semi-auto rifle) through an FFL post I-594, then let it go off paper, you're still on the hook. It might not be a problem right away but the issue is lurking as a possible problem forever. Or at least until you die, they can't get you after that.



If they are getting all those entitlement checks, that's not a good reason for supporting them. Agreed, some are doing it to get out of the house but that in itself isn't a reason for me to want to love them. One of those of whom you speak, e.g., old, obese, and likely on at least a couple of entitlements, is a regular table holder at both Monroe and Puyallup. I won't mention his name, many of you have seen him, was a big wheel in 1911's at one time, proud of being a Marine 50 years ago and rubs your nose in it. Based on his dealings with a friend of mine who is also a WAC member, the guy is slippery and welches on debts. Kinda like crooked Facebook advertisers, everyone sees their ads, thinks all is good because their ad is on Facebook but in truth they're not on the up-and-up. Meaning, people go to these gun shows and see the regular table holders. They figure these are the good guys, they've been around a long time. Uh-oh, not necessarily so.

If I've mentioned this before, forgive me for being repetitive. One of my other WAC friends believes in the theory that gun shows are a place for all the broken and otherwise undesirable guns to get dumped. And it's the same people who are swapping the same crappy guns back and forth with each other. Well, of course it's an exaggeration but like all such, there is some truth in it.

You missed my point on supporting the shows. I wasn't referring to supporting the old farts with the overpriced old rifles (because some telephone-sized book gave them their prices). I was referring to the people who work their asses off traveling from show-to-show (within the region, and some multi-state), literally moving a house with hand trucks full of merchandise that is starting to becomes boat anchors, thanks to the new apocalypse in retail: Everything from Dept. stores to flea markets, at this point. Add to that the over-saturated firearms market from the Obama years, the demographic shift of low-testosterone Soy Boys who are happy with all their worldly possessions in a backpack (speaking of which, the entire preparedness movement has gone off of a cliff as well. Forget whether the whole movement has been hijacked by bible-thumpers or not [which it did]. No one is prepping anymore).

These people still represent what this country used to be about: Hard work, not giving up. Maybe things will turn societally (for good or bad) and turn consumerism back on.

 

[gmerkt]

Hey, things change and people have choices. There isn't much that anyone can do to turn back the clock on retail vs. online. Those guys still hauling massive loads of stuff from show to show, they'll learn or go bust. In fact, gun shows themselves seem pretty endangered. They may fail for lack of participation or there could be one too many mass shootings in the country and some kind of new federal law will kill them. Only time will tell but from my viewpoint, the good old days are long gone.

Here's a picture of a free gun show that I used to go to. This was held once a month in a dirt lot behind Stan's Gun Room in Santa Ana, Calif. This picture shows only part of the venue. It was pretty simple, you just drove your car into the lot, opened up the trunk and set up your goods. Buyers would wander in off the street. This picture dates from 1973. So the situation has gone from this to what we have now in my lifetime. What do you think might happen in the course of another lifetime?

 

[erwin643]

Hey, things change and people have choices. There isn't much that anyone can do to turn back the clock on retail vs. online. Those guys still hauling massive loads of stuff from show to show, they'll learn or go bust. In fact, gun shows themselves seem pretty endangered. They may fail for lack of participation or there could be one too many mass shootings in the country and some kind of new federal law will kill them. Only time will tell but from my viewpoint, the good old days are long gone.

Here's a picture of a free gun show that I used to go to. This was held once a month in a dirt lot behind Stan's Gun Room in Santa Ana, Calif. This picture shows only part of the venue. It was pretty simple, you just drove your car into the lot, opened up the trunk and set up your goods. Buyers would wander in off the street. This picture dates from 1973. So the situation has gone from this to what we have now in my lifetime. What do you think might happen in the course of another lifetime?

View attachment 513560

At this rate, we may very well not make it to another lifetime.

 

[gmerkt]

speaking of which, the entire preparedness movement has gone off of a cliff as well. Forget whether the whole movement has been hijacked by bible-thumpers or not [which it did]. No one is prepping anymore).

I meant to comment on this and forgot. "Prepping" seems to me to be a reasonable thing to do. It's a form of planning and may be done on a number of different levels. It never hurts to plan ahead. I've been around long enough to remember when "Preppers" were called "Survivalists" and yes, people who focused on this activity were subject to derision by what you might call the mainstream. Then as now. But here's the reality. People get burned-out on preparing for something that never comes. The reality that they were getting ready for has not happened. And for that I personally say, thank God. Some of us know that even if "it" has never happened, there's always the chance that it could. So we stay ready anyway, however needless the activity may seem on the surface. But we're not all made the same, some right-thinking people can't stay the course true and steady. They fall away.

Which reminds me, I'd better get down there and rotate my Concord grape jelly jars.

 

[erwin643]

I meant to comment on this and forgot. "Prepping" seems to me to be a reasonable thing to do. It's a form of planning and may be done on a number of different levels. It never hurts to plan ahead. I've been around long enough to remember when "Preppers" were called "Survivalists" and yes, people who focused on this activity were subject to derision by what you might call the mainstream. Then as now. But here's the reality. People get burned-out on preparing for something that never comes. The reality that they were getting ready for has not happened. And for that I personally say, thank God. Some of us know that even if "it" has never happened, there's always the chance that it could. So we stay ready anyway, however needless the activity may seem on the surface. But we're not all made the same, some right-thinking people can't stay the course true and steady. They fall away.

Which reminds me, I'd better get down there and rotate my Concord grape jelly jars.

Make your own from your own blackberries. I do.

 

[gmerkt]

Make your own from your own blackberries. I do.

We've done blackberry before. My system won't abide the seeds and the work of straining them out is one step too many. More often, we've done salal berries, those make wonderful preserves. They've got a flavor that is fruity and kinda nutty at the same time. The Indians used salal for medicinal purposes. The salal preserves help with gastro-intestinal issues. Tea made from the dried leaves has medicinal qualities that I haven't yet explored.

Our raspberries get eaten fresh long before there are any left for preserving. We've got huckleberries. One time it was decided that we'd pick enough huckleberries to make a pie. That was a challenge, it takes a lot of picking to gather enough for a decent pie. The squirrels get the strawberries one or two days before they are ripe for the picking.

Our land is on a westerly-facing slope (no morning sun), lots of trees (lots of shade). It's not much good for growing edibles. Our premier crops are berries and firewood. In a survivalist situation, I couldn't rely much on my land for vegetative sustenance.