1 I learned years ago never to underestimate the free market, and feel no administration can eliminate it, as the market is people. That said, some years ago I built a comfortable compound in the mountains for family enjoyment and added safety asset allocation to my investment portfolio. This investment presently looks prescient.

2 I have two siblings who own farms, one who has been at it for 30 years and another who retired and is expanding into many of the necessities. We've teamed up to split the cost of raising chickens for eggs and meat, sheep, pigs, beef for meat (one of the latter we just butchered, a first for me).

One brother-in-law started bee-keeping last summer and harvested 5 gallons of honey by late fall. Other plans have been made over the winter to round out our needs.

Seasonal gardening has always been a hobby for me and we usually get all we need from that by the summer and fall. I've stretched it now to year round last fall by quickly constructing a greenhouse here at my suburban home late last fall and we've grown just about all the veggies we needed to get through the winter -- spinach, cilantro, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, beets, bai chai, peppers and cukes -- and there's a big surplus that I give to my sisters.

The wood stove is going in this summer which will eliminate the surge in winter NG use. About the only thing left to address is self defense and I have a nephew who can help out with the shopping my wife and I have to do there.

3 We built a small "Country Place" in the late '90s and moved in Dec '99, and spent a chilly New Years Eve out here. We live on 16.7 AC of mostly jungle, but with a lot of large Post Oak trees mixed with Ash and Yupon. (Click on my name for our blog...we are also into birding)

I fixed up my house in Houston and sold it before the bubble popped. We actually paid that house off free and clear. The proceeds were going to build a new house out here, but we are pretty happy with what we have and I don't think that will happen.

We are unincorporated here, so I have my own backyard shooting range. The Gendarmes don't bother us, so it is something I like to do now.

We don't have access to natural gas, so I put in a 1000 Gal propane tank and use it for heating, a 10 KW generator, hot water from a tankless heater, and cooking. We have our own sweet water well and in a pinch the generator can be fired up to run it. We need to buy two more small generators, one to power the well, and the other for the Aerobic waste system if we have a long time outage.

I have guns and Ammo, and am fixed for the future as I see it.

Marc

4 This is an interesting thread. Hopefully, one of the positive things that will come of this current economic crisis is that people will relearn survival skills that unfortunately have been lost by many in our culture. At the same time they will discover the joy or raising their own gardens and producing their own meat and dairy products, etc. Additionally, people will rediscover a sense of family and community.

It hasn't been all that long ago when the concept of the "neighborhood" in the country life meant something. Of course, many places have never lost sight of that. Perhaps this movement, or preparation to move, back to the country will be good for folks who either have never experienced it or have lost it for one reason or another.

I'm reminded on an old John Prime song. I don't remember the name of the song but the chorus went something like:

Move to the country, blow up your TV, throw away your paper, have a lot of children, feed on 'em on peaches and let 'em find Jesus on their own.

We have become such a materialistic society, filling our lives with worthless junk that we think will make us happy. Time spent with our families doing constructive projects, raising our food, etc. will be good for those of us who follow that path. And it may very well depend on our survival, though I seriously doubt that.

Nevertheless, I'm thankful to have grown up with the skills that I have and thankful that I've spent most of my adult life growing and preserving a lot of my own food; Not because I think that our society is going to completely disintegrate but because it's a good way to live. However, if it does all fall apart, I'm blessed to live in a community, so far out in the boonies that we use chicken wire for out internet connections, and where most folks grow a big garden, there's an abundance of game (and many people feed their families with it) and we DO have a neighborhood where people help each other.

I think we'll see more of that in the cities as well. Not the hunting for game, of course, but folks rediscovering the importance of being part of a "community".

This economic crisis will pass. I and my neighbors are looking for the silver lining in the cloud. In the meantime, we shall continue to help each other as we always have.

One thing's for sure. Civilizations and societies are always changing and evolving. That's life. I'm encouraged to hear about people who are willing and able to adapt to changing circumstances. These changing times and difficult circumstances may very well prove to be more of a blessing for many people than they realize. I hope so.

Best Wishes to All from your liberal conservative/conservative liberal fellow American.

Dude

5 You're not quite fixed, Marc. You're dependent on propane deliveries (and probably fuel deliveries for the generators).
Until you can install alternatives for those you still are vulnerable, especially in winter.
For shooting, you might want to look into constructing (cross)bow and arrow so you have a backup when the bullets run out.

Might be a bit extreme, but you seem to want to go all the way and you're not quite there yet.

6 I started to do this 2 years ago, unfortunately I didn't go as conservative with my investments. But if it gets that bad, it won't matter who has the money. But unfortunately it will become who has the food, guns, ammo, items to trade and the will to use the guns against those who refused to do what might have been necessary and then want what is yours. Back to survival of the fittest so to speak and many have no remaining survival instincts.

7 "For shooting, you might want to look into constructing (cross)bow and arrow so you have a backup when the bullets run out."

It is always good to have options.

Learn to roll your own rounds, learn to cast your own projectiles. Learn to make your own powder. Learn to flintknapp, learn everything you can. If you are interested in survival (even if the bovine excrement does not hit the rotating air circulation device) the primitive skills can provide hours of educational fun.

8 "For shooting, you might want to look into constructing (cross)bow and arrow so you have a backup when the bullets run out."

It is always good to have options.

Learn to roll your own rounds, learn to cast your own projectiles. Learn to make your own powder. Learn to flintknapp, learn everything you can. If you are interested in survival (even if the bovine excrement does not hit the rotating air circulation device) the primitive skills can provide hours of educational fun.

9 Jeepers, I hate clicking links to find myself at Amazon.

Those bastards actively promote pedophilia via selling books about NAMBLA.

When asked to stop, they cite "freedom of speech" and keep selling.

They are free to sell that trash, but I am free to boycott them.

I would encourage you to spend 30 seconds investigating and decide for yourself.

Books ARE available elsewhere.

Please google it for yourself.
http://www.google.com/search?q=nambla+amazon

On to being prepared.

I have sufficient firearms and am working on stocking reloading gear & supplies.

I have a generator and gas enough for a few days.
Woodburner in one room and propane to last a year.

It's not enough, but I'm doin the best I can with what I got.

Y'all need to be paying off your debts and hoarding your cash or buying that which won't be as affordable 6 months from now.

10 {rolls eyes}

I'm assuming none of you are over forty, then.

We had a few years where survivalism was in fashion back in the 1970s; even Jerry Pournelle wrote for one of the magazines available. The motivations were similar: economic hardship, war, general threats to civilization.

...And we all know how that turned out. The USSR fell apart; the economy not only recovered, but boomed; and we quit worrying about nuclear holocaust.

We've been through this before, and we will again.

11 Wow, I actually own 2 out of the 3 books mentioned: Emergency and Atlas Shrugged. Interestingly, Emergency was written by Neil Strauss, who is best known for his book "The Game" which is about his journey into the world of pick-up artists (i.e. guys who go around seducing strange women). Actually a very entertaining read.

12 Cabela's has cornered the ammo market by ordering over $34 million worth. I could find no pistol ammo in northern Idaho until I went to the Cabela's in Post Falls. They had hundreds of boxes of every imaginable caliber and bullet type