Here's a view from above Jamie
http://i49.servimg.com/u/f49/15/29/25/80/getmap10.jpg
Printable View
Here's a view from above Jamie
http://i49.servimg.com/u/f49/15/29/25/80/getmap10.jpg
anybody thought about what animals you would want around?
I think chickens would be a must for their eggs, meat, and they eat bugs.
rabbits?
Chikens yes, as you said for the eggs plus a source of meat and they reproduce frequently. Pigs, as I have said natures recycle machine, anything that doesn't turn into waste is always kep, plus a 200 pd hog is worth its weight in gold. Cats, rodent control, helps prevent the little varmits from destroying valuable harvests and during growing season. Plus we have a large population of gophers in MN, ie Minnesota Gophers, which will also reduce injuries, they also deter skunks, coons, ground hogs, etc. A couple good dogs, labs, huskies are preferable in my book. Also a couple of geese wouldn't hurt, a few cows ( very few for myself) as it takes a lot to feed and care for a cow or a herd. Plus they're fucking big and there is more of a chance of hazzard, rouding up cattle on foot is fun when your a kid but quite a chore when your older and a waste of energy.
Animals should be versatile and useful, as long as you select the right kind. Ever thought about trapping? I have done a fair bit as of late, and it is something that is worth it's weight in gold if you have access to a key spot where certain animals frequent. Trapping also leads to tanning, while clothing is readily available, it is quite safe to tan anything without having to risk going any where for anything. There are many recipes any where on the net for using the brains from a deer or other animals to tan a hide. I have tanned 4 deer hides, and two muskrat. It takes time, and a lot of it to do it right, but in the end the product can be great. Which also transpires into sewing, learning to sew is a valuable lesson.
K I got off topic and I could easily keeping going! :)
Brenden, great points.
I don't think you got of topic. This all food for thought. Might as will spit it out while your thinking about.
We can always rehash any topic. We might come up with better proven ideas or someone might throw in their 2 cents .
We might have go back and make a list of all the good ideas that everyone has thrown into the discussion .
I forgot to ask you mel, how much did that moat cost you :) . Nice set up and place you got there, do you have a lot of antelope or deer around the area?
here are a couple of post from these preppers near by my place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSqmk...feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlBAVReyDl0&feature=channel
Eagle,
I was wonder what you sounded like. lol joking
Seriously those are the fanciest chicken coups I have ever seen . Very resourceful group.
I hope they know that once the chickens get used to the coup you can let them run free and they will return to it at sunset. Ginney's (probably spelled wrong) will roost in a tree at sunset.
Then you can save money on feed by allowing the chickens to eat the bugs in your your. This is also handy to help control bugs.
That chicken wire will help keep black snakes out. I about shit myself as a kid when I found a black snake trying to eat an egg at my grandfathers house.
Just got done with a book I picked up the other day, yeah I got quite into it so it was a quick read. "One second after." By William R. Forstchen. A damn good read. It is a book centered on a small town in North Carolina, it is about a man former Army Colonel who deals with trying to keep his family safe after the United States was attacked with an EMP. The forward is by Newt Gingrich, and the information in the book was derived from unclassified reports.
I personally really enjoyed this book, it has the suspense to keep you into reading it, but it also provided a lot of information and insight as to how a community and family would react. Just a suggestion to ya guys, I picked it up on ebay for $7, and free shipping.
Just got done with a book I picked up the other day, yeah I got quite into it so it was a quick read. "One second after." By William R. Forstchen. A damn good read. It is a book centered on a small town in North Carolina, it is about a man former Army Colonel who deals with trying to keep his family safe after the United States was attacked with an EMP. The forward is by Newt Gingrich, and the information in the book was derived from unclassified reports.
I personally really enjoyed this book, it has the suspense to keep you into reading it, but it also provided a lot of information and insight as to how a community and family would react. Just a suggestion to ya guys, I picked it up on ebay for $7, and free shipping.
This spring has been great for me, getting out into the woods and hiking about for a few days at a time with a limited pack and supplies. I have been putting to practice a lot of the things I read and watched over the winter. If nothing else, and I'm just nuts for "preparing" it sure has had some relaxing affects, and gotten me in better shape than I would be otherwise. Building fires has always been an interest of mine, and getting the practice in is rewarding and cool from a natural perspective. I've also put about 2000 rounds, down range this spring. It's been a blast.
I'm new to prepping formally, but have done some without even reallizing it.
Here is a site for podcasts:
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/
So an issue that I found come up the other day at the range. Weapons maitenance and replacing parts.
The other day while the girlfriend and myself were out shooting the AR's on of them started to jam, it would not eject the old round. The round was stuck in extractor. I knew almost immediatly what the issue was, so now we were shit out of luck for using that rifle for the day. Took it apart and sure enough the ejector spring was screwed, then I remembered that I had a BCM extra spring upgrade kit in my cleaning pouch I had with! So I quickly replaced the spring, which actually is a much heavier spring than the original factory piece and the rifle was back on line.
I am not a gunsmith, the AR platform I am quite familiar with, so I am not to sure how to completely disassemble all of the firearms I own. It also got me thinking about picking up replacement parts for the firearms I own. For my AR's I already have some excess springs, firing pins and pieces, that I picked up for the sole purpose of replacing warn ones when it happens. That instance on the range really got me thinking about it though, what if my .22's start going down which is an absolutely essential weapons to have due to the size of the round its accuracy and the amount of ammo you can easily and cheaply have on hand. I think I need to start breaking down my weapons further than I normally do and start getting some extra pieces.
one thing to look at is the type of weapons you have. as said above, you may want to squirrel away a couple extra spring sets. But, also think of much simpler operating weapons. while that semi auto may be the thing to have in your eyes, takethe blinders off and look into pretty much failsafe weapons. I'm talking revolvers, single shot rifles and shotguns, etc.
while that ar may put alot of rounds downrange... it sure as hell doesn't when it breaks down. And those minutes you use fixing it may be life or death, while having a pretty much failsafe backup can change that game.
Also having at least one large caliber will literally scare the crap out of people or at least make them pause and change their game plan. and large caliber ammo is pretty much useless to all but a few incase you have some scroungers sneek into camp.
One other thing... scopes... pretty much useless when really in the rough, only takes one good knock and you can toss it. Know how to use iron sights, its pretty hard to knock them out of whack.