So I'm reading this book - The World Ends in Hickory Hollow and it's making me think of what I would plant and/or do when the "bombs fall"......
What would you keep / plant? When?
And not to mention the skillsets...having the ability to spin cotton or canning veggies... what other skillsets would you need when responding to what you grow.
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lorax
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I'll assume that for this end of the world three things: a) I survive it, and b) I live where I do now, and c) I get to keep my machete.
If I could have only one plant, it would be a banana, probably a mixed-use type like 'Maqueno', 'Limon', or 'Orinoco'. This would provide me with: basic shelter, basic cooking vessels, and fuel for fire almost immediately, a good, mineral- and fibre-balanced food source within 6-8 months, and within 10-12 months I'd have usable fibre, adhesive, and animal traps. I'd also have basic medical from the plant, since the sap has antibacterial properties and the leaves can be used for wound dressing.
I already have the skillsets I'd need - gardening, basic construction, outdoor survival, tree climbing (the plants I mentioned get quite tall before fruiting, about 20-25 feet), the processes around fibre extraction (retting, canneling, etc.), spinning, weaving, trapping.
If I could have multiple plants, I'd be adding a timber bamboo and a running bamboo (fibre and structural timber, food, fuel, and medicine), the tree Croton eleuteria (medicine), Hungurahua, Coco del Monte, and Chontaduro palms (food, clean water, weapons for more advanced hunting ie bows, darts, dartguns, wood, protein from the grubs that colonise overripe fruit, cooking vessels, and roof thatch). I'd also likely try for an Ilex guayusa tree (caffeine), and an ayahuasca vine or similar (toxin for hunting). With these few plants more, I would have permanent shelter, probably a more advanced loom for clothmaking, basic furnishings, and probably a pretty good standard of living. I'd likely have a fairly varied diet because I know what's edible for forage in addition to what I have listed, and I'd have basic medical supplies.
For this extended set of plants, I'd also need to know how to join without nails, how to thatch, how to construct and use the basic hunting tools, and how to forage.
Actually, looking at it that way, it wouldn't be all that different from how I have lived in the Amazon. I would definitely be making my way to the forests in the event of a catastrophe anyhow - it's the "civilized" areas that go to pot first.
If I could have only one plant, it would be a banana, probably a mixed-use type like 'Maqueno', 'Limon', or 'Orinoco'. This would provide me with: basic shelter, basic cooking vessels, and fuel for fire almost immediately, a good, mineral- and fibre-balanced food source within 6-8 months, and within 10-12 months I'd have usable fibre, adhesive, and animal traps. I'd also have basic medical from the plant, since the sap has antibacterial properties and the leaves can be used for wound dressing.
I already have the skillsets I'd need - gardening, basic construction, outdoor survival, tree climbing (the plants I mentioned get quite tall before fruiting, about 20-25 feet), the processes around fibre extraction (retting, canneling, etc.), spinning, weaving, trapping.
If I could have multiple plants, I'd be adding a timber bamboo and a running bamboo (fibre and structural timber, food, fuel, and medicine), the tree Croton eleuteria (medicine), Hungurahua, Coco del Monte, and Chontaduro palms (food, clean water, weapons for more advanced hunting ie bows, darts, dartguns, wood, protein from the grubs that colonise overripe fruit, cooking vessels, and roof thatch). I'd also likely try for an Ilex guayusa tree (caffeine), and an ayahuasca vine or similar (toxin for hunting). With these few plants more, I would have permanent shelter, probably a more advanced loom for clothmaking, basic furnishings, and probably a pretty good standard of living. I'd likely have a fairly varied diet because I know what's edible for forage in addition to what I have listed, and I'd have basic medical supplies.
For this extended set of plants, I'd also need to know how to join without nails, how to thatch, how to construct and use the basic hunting tools, and how to forage.
Actually, looking at it that way, it wouldn't be all that different from how I have lived in the Amazon. I would definitely be making my way to the forests in the event of a catastrophe anyhow - it's the "civilized" areas that go to pot first.
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Ozark Lady
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- Location: NW Arkansas, USA zone 7A elevation 1561 feet
We have been reading about quick bomb shelters that a person can build, and planning out how to build in advance, because our rocks just aren't easy to dig through.
https://www.homelandcivildefense.org/view/homelandcivildefense/s141p1407.htm
This is practical, basic survival. It is a 510 page pdf with lots of very good information. And lots of things you CAN do to protect yourself and for little cost.
https://www.homelandcivildefense.org/view/homelandcivildefense/s141p1407.htm
This is practical, basic survival. It is a 510 page pdf with lots of very good information. And lots of things you CAN do to protect yourself and for little cost.
Peanuts!
I could live forever on peanut butter and crackers. I used to always carry an emergency pack of water, peanut butter, crackers, sleeping bag, radio, flashlight, and matches when I traveled a lot in Kansas in the winter. Only had to use it once in about twenty years. Those sudden blizzards were killers.
Ted
I could live forever on peanut butter and crackers. I used to always carry an emergency pack of water, peanut butter, crackers, sleeping bag, radio, flashlight, and matches when I traveled a lot in Kansas in the winter. Only had to use it once in about twenty years. Those sudden blizzards were killers.
Ted
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Ozark Lady
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- Location: NW Arkansas, USA zone 7A elevation 1561 feet
I think that I would grow... Poke Sallet, not because I particularly love it.
But because that stuff will grow anywhere, first up in the spring and last down in the fall. It grows on soil, rocks, even in my rain gutters, up on the roof!
You have greens in the leaves, asparagus in young stems, and okra out of the big stalks.
The old plants make excellent fire starters!
Another choice would be blackberry or raspberry plants, they also grow anywhere, wanted or not, but not quite as useful as Poke Sallet is.
But because that stuff will grow anywhere, first up in the spring and last down in the fall. It grows on soil, rocks, even in my rain gutters, up on the roof!
You have greens in the leaves, asparagus in young stems, and okra out of the big stalks.
The old plants make excellent fire starters!
Another choice would be blackberry or raspberry plants, they also grow anywhere, wanted or not, but not quite as useful as Poke Sallet is.