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["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

At least half this county is off the grid.  About 25% of the county we moved 
from is off the grid.  The local power company is only sort of tied into the 
national grid and can easily be switched off.  At this point in time, there 
have been few instances, even during droughts, when the local power company 
had to buy energy.  Generally speaking, the connection to the national grid 
is idle.

We have two creeks on our property.  We also have a couple of places that 
have underground springs.  The only problem would be getting the water up 
the hill.

The current woodstove is great for heating and I can do basic cooking on it 
but I'd need a wood cookstove.  I could BWB on the current one but not 
pressure can.  I've had pretty good luck (knock on wood) reusing canning 
lids, although I think I'm going to buy a whole sleeve of them next time I 
have a couple of extra dollars.

Gardens all good to go and we'll have two hoophouses up by the end of the 
summer.  We're also gutting an old travel trailer and will be using it 
during the winter as a greenhouse.  I hate store bought lettuce and hate not 
having salad in the winter, so I'm getting creative. <g>

Woodwise for heating and cooking we are set for several lifetimes.  We also 
have several 150'+ pine and Doug fir trees, so if we need to build anything, 
we're set there also.  The fruit trees are now past the age of needing 
watering.  We have lots of raspberries, strawberries, marionberries and 
blackberries.  The house is super insulated and we have a 35 year metal 
roof.

There are several "ice" caves around the area and they could be used during 
the summer for some types of food storage.  Raising pork wouldn't be a 
problem as we have enough acorns to sink a blooming battleship.  They'd have 
to fight the squirrels but, hey, they can be nasty little carnivores, so 
they'd probably eat the squirrels too <g>

Chickens for eggs.  Can't grow wheat around here but rye and barley grow 
quite well as does corn.  Plenty of venison, wild turkey, quail, pheasant, 
troat.

Medications?  Well, there are alternatives, at least for me.  I'd miss iced 
tea in the summer but then again I wouldn't have the ice <g>

We've got a couple hundred or so books.  Several stringed instruments.  Lots 
of art supplies.  Bins and bins and a hope chest full of material.  Lots of 
thread and buttons, elastic and zippers.  Tons of yarn.  Lots of board 
games.  We can entertain ourselves.

I've got lots of medical "stuff" and am quite handy with improving when it 
comes to stitching critters up.  Humans work about the same, so I'm o.k. 
there also.

And, we've made it a point to let the world think the dogs are vicious.  And 
even if they didn't think so before getting here, most folks are afraid of, 
if not petrified of, AmStaffs, Pitbulls and Staffordshire Terriers, so they 
would be once they got here.  Although, the Pitcur Hound is the one they 
should be afraid of <g>  So, I'm not too worried about folks coming calling. 
Well, if they could even find us in the first place.

We'll get by.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT gmail.com>
To: "Homestead List" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 10:05 PM
Subject: [Homestead] TEOTWAWKI


> http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/06/10/electronic-armageddon-solar-flares-disaster/
>
> The end of the world as we know it.
>
> 4-10 years without electricity would definitely change the world, and even 
> when there is a return to pre-CME ability, our whole paradigm will have 
> changed, I hope.  There will be fewer people-the entire medical system 
> having collapsed.  Transportation returns to simpler means, and the world 
> essentially turns back the clock by 100 years.
>
> IMO, this is THE disaster to prepare for.  How will you get water?  Do you 
> have the skills you would need?  If you only had power for an hour a 
> day(rolling blackouts) how would you use it?    Can you improvise for your 
> medical needs?  Would you move to a different climate?
>
> I honestly don't know if I would survive ten years.  I'd like to think I 
> could, but I dunno if my body would be up to the labor needed, especially 
> without the meds I currently take.  Do you think you would survive ten 
> years after a CME takes out the grid, creating a global meltdown?
>
>
> --
> The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are 
> willing to work and give to those who would not.      Thomas Jefferson
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