Sustainability Basics


You have some emergency stores. They might last a month, or if you have planned really well, perhaps a year. But they will not last forever. What then?

That is the crux of sustainability. Planning for a time when normal systems of distribution of goods and services will be down for an extended period. A time when you may have to rely on your own resources to survive.

There are so many things we take for granted in our society that we have, to a large degree, lost the ability to provide for ourselves. That may be fine as long as all is well in the world. But when we look at today's headlines, it does not take much imagination to project just a little into the future and wonder if tomorrow will be the same as today.

Perhaps we need to take a little time, while we have it, and learn about some of the skills we would need in that future. Truth is, most of them are fascinating and fun. That is why Renaissance Pleasure Fairs and County Fairs and other entertainments of that nature are so popular. Once people get into some of the old ways of doing things for themselves, it is very enjoyable.

You don't have to learn everything. Even in the middle ages, people had different trades. But it would be good to learn how to do some things for yourself. Interestingly, learning some hands-on skills in just one area makes learning different skills in other areas much easier. So doing a little something buys you the ability to learn more quickly if the situation suddenly arises. It's a good insurance policy.

Food


Have you ever thought about growing your own food? Many of us have, and then consider how hard it would be to learn how to do it, get all the materials, and then spend time taking care of it. We usually pass on the idea, once we think about it long enough.

It may be time to rethink.

Growing your own food is going to be a very good thing to do in the near future, even if a big event does not happen. Look at supermarket prices. I need say no more. Prices are skyrocketing. Having your own mini-garden makes excellent economic sense. And if that skillset happens to translate into an ability to grow all of your own food if things go south, so much the better.

Seeds. You can get seeds at many stores, as well as all the things you need to grow things. But if you are thinking of keeping those seeds for some time in the future, you really should get seeds that will grow if you have to keep them for several months, or several years.

Nitro-Pak has Survival Garden Seeds in a #10 can, packed and sealed in such a way that the seeds should be fertile for 4 to 5 years. Very important: they are non-hybrid, which means that the plants will produce seeds you can plant for the next season. It is an unfortunate fact of modern life that many seeds today have been bred to produce one crop only. Their seed, if they produce any, are not fertile. To me, that is immoral. But it is something you must take into consideration when buying seeds for survival.

The Survival Garden in a Can is such a popular product that Nitro-Pak was out of stock for 5 months. They just got new stock in. I have no idea how long that stock will last. To find this product, use their Search window and search for seeds

How Do You Grow Food? An excellent question. It has a very long answer. There are usually extension courses at your local college, and possibly from your state's Department of Agriculture. One online source is verdent.net. Please do not be put off by the site's almost obsessive pushing of 'organic' food. Whatever you think of the 'Green Revolution' that produces most of our food today using petrochemicals, that argument will be mute when those chemicals are no longer available. All food will be organic. There will be no other choice. Might as well start now.

Besides, even though they put things a bit strongly, I agree with them.

Water


We will have more on sustainable water later. For now, let me link you to what we have on Emergency Water. If you extend some of those methods, and build more sturdy structures, you can have water on a permanent basis.

Shelter


Tents. Tents can last for a long time, if you keep them in good repair. The ones made of quality materials might last years. This is a good reason to invest in a substantial tent when you are thinking about emergency preparedness.

Yurts. Currently one of our cohort is building a yurt. That is the kind of shelter that has been popular since before the days of Genghis Kahn, and is seeing a resurgence today as people become aware of its benefits. There are different kinds of materials that can be used to build a yurt, so he is experimenting with several to see what works best. When we get the results, we will publish them here.

Dear readers, we have plans to make this a huge, ever-expanding section. We have just touched on a couple of basics to get things started. If you would like to be notified when new sections are added, please click here.