Syn - I agree with you about no ethnic back ground that hasn't suffered...well maybe the British. My family back ground is Irish peasant that left Ireland during potato famine and also religious persecution. They didn't let it hold them back they "bucked up" and got on with it. Now my stock comes from every where so I am a true Canadian....a mixed breed mutt. 😀
I like the idea of raising heritage animals, the others have been so messed with by genetic manipulation that they no longer represent what the animal used to be. I try to get wild meat...moose is my favourite and then we have buffalo ranches here that I go to. I also have the lake that have several variety of fish in it. The vegetable I grow are from seeds of unaltered plants. Did you know that GMO plants can't reproduce? I didn't. I am going to try...this year was a bad year for me with hubby....to plant next year's garden with all heritage plants and I'm then going to save the seeds and plant them the next year and see what happens. Gotta get that green house built.
I also am going to live as frugally as possible...not that I have to but in the future who knows...I would like to see what changes I have to make to my life style and mental attitude. Should be a good learning experience.
I watched a show last night about "what if the oil ran out". It went from day 1 to 40 years showing all the major changes that would happen. Pretty interesting. The last part in 40 years showed how people would go back to the 1800's way of life and grow your own food and eat only locally grown food, bartering system, shop at markets. Money didn't mean much. Showed how people worked as a group, each with their own specialty. Neighbour helping neighbour.
Can you imagine that happening now with people not knowing their neighbours and everyone so focused on "me" and looking out only for themselves. Road rage it would be life rage ❗ I guess that's why we are working at being preppers.
Hey Syn,
Ever though of adding other asian vegetable varieties like mung beans (bean sprouts can be grown and eaten in a few days), or bok choy, Yu choy (which have both spring/summer crops as well as fall/winter crops. Another plant you may want to invest in, is the Goji plant. It is loaded with Antioxidants and vitamins.
Another thought would be to grow edible weeds, as you know they are very hearty.
If oil runs scarcer , and we are seeing the difference in our product cost already as it is less abundant petrol being harvested now , and the fact we have to compete to buy it with the rest of the globe . It isn't like everyone reverts to a Little House on the Prairies existence . I think there will be a lot of blood shed along the way . I think there always has been blood shed for our 'progressive ' lifestyles we are privileged to . Much of it other species . But I think a whole lot of people might be scrambling like overcrowded rats attacking each other if any time of scarcity occurs for whatever reason. I am sure historically that has been the case over and over. And I think people are so accustomed to conveniences afforded in this technological period that they feel entitled and even if they were willing to make some last ditched effort to adapt back to some self sufficiency they will not have the knowledge or have acquired the resources and will be in a desperate situation . And frankly already a lot of the population are content to ride off the welfare of others . I don't see any of that working out so I will take responsibility for my own family but it is laughable if people think they can simply join up and be accommodated in any kind of long term and wide spread dire situation . It is hard perservering work and investment and sacrifice and starting sooner might yield you a better outcome than thinking you can start later.
I germinated goji from dried fruit from the bulk bin one winter but my seedling care was pretty bad and they died . I have grow light now for indoor starts . Last summer I did one coldframe full of leafy veggies from an Asian green seed mix and I had some leafy greens all winter , not abundant but some fresh daily from the garden to augment our meals . I have 4 acres that has been organic almost 20 years so I already grow edible weeds and enjoy things like dandelion, lambsquarters and chickweed . I consider the blackberries weeds but will be eating lots from now through end of September . About the weeds, Dr. Vandana Shiva says when they pitched new GMO rice varieties as higher yield and better nutrition that were round up ready and thus sprayed in India. They found they lost the other herbage (weeds) that grew and they used to supplement the cooking flavours of their dishes and that loss was a greater loss of nutrients than the gmo rice brought .
And yes I have bought sprouting seeds too : ) All great ideas Rmdpreps!
I think about this stuff a lot. GMO is horrendous, playing God much like the use of nuclear power , and way beyond our actual capability to deal with safely once embarked . Some GMO plants have been engineered in such a way that they cannot reproduce and terminate , not all. Others might simply be resistant to certain chemicals or have say genes inserted to resist a blight but can reproduce and can transfer their genetics to non GMO plants contaminating the supply of genetics more and more. That is happening now, our sources of safe non GMO seeds are dwindling and they are rapidly learning the introduce genetics are not as safe as they were pitched as being. Some are rampantly out of control now that were so dangerous they were deemed to be unsafe to introduce and they are now out of control and the companies doing this own the government factions so nothing keeps them in check but the individual people in mass. We can grow our own, support our local organic farmers and simply refuse to buy any product of it , but overall we protest little . We protest a little about what is being done to the food but are pretty much ignorant of what they have introduced in regards to fibre plants in production like cotton and silvaculture in our forests . But we are learning now the genes can be transferred from plant to plant through cross pollination etc. We are creating these crisis with our own day to day habits collectively .
I will just say what is on my mind, I am not sure why members of municipal councils are so ignorant that I am abhorred they collect paycheques paid by the public, some idiot woman on Langley Council and the mayor of Coquitlam thought a motor racing speedway in the middle of Campbell valley nature park and right above the embankment into the fish bearing creek at that was a good idea and seem to have no clue at all about issues like peak oil or climate change or environmental degradation obviously . But it is these people who are making plans for our municipalities which I have zero confidence in. Recent Province newspaper acknowledges Vancouver is 11th ranked in large cities at risk world wide due to climate change .
In the article the question is raised who is going to pay for mitigating measures , well those of us as the taxpayers are, but we also are pledged to pay 30 billion a year with other developed nations to bail out poor countries affected by climate change and that is projected to be raised to 60 billion per year . That is not reflective at all of the funding spent abroad on other measures to support other countries or what we pay to deal with refugees . Japan is making climate change refugee policy already and want those wealthy enough to swell their tax base ( I read this in the Japan Times over a year ago ) . Councils might be more intelligent and pass costs onto land development present and future on prime low lying soils in the especially those in areas needing that protection and making them pay the costs to redeposit soils in areas that are being used for agriculture to bolster food production . These morons who are ruining agricultural lands in the valley taking fill over their soils should be cut off and fill diverted to serve as dyking material or soils good for raising low ling lands and if it is compromised with toxins say it could be caught and cost of dealing with it imposed on the party responsible instead agricultural property owners prostituting their lands as fill sites that presently goes on.
At least they are beginning to think about these things but seem to be failing to connect the dots how serious the big picture is as climate change, environmental degradation, food security , falling peak resources, overpopulation and those who are completely unsustainable and feel so entitled they will never lift a finger to do anything for themselves , and economic downturn all converge at a time more and more health risks are present in our food systems etc. I am still thinking they are going to way off the mark in putting adequate measures in place . Rant over : )
Syn - you hit the nail on the head with so many items....Where did common sense go to? We are suppose to be the stewards of the planet but we are acting like spoiled greedy children that has infinite resources at our disposal to waste. We think it's OK to play god by manipulating genes in plants and animals that took thousands upon thousands of years to evolve. They evolved this way for a reason.
I read a book called Ishmael many years ago and once you get your head around the character that is the teacher and really understand his words it makes you stop and really look and think about life differently.
I believe the slow collapse is the biggest global threat that we have to be concerned about.