I think this is the beginnings of an economy based on perpetual growth and fossil fuel energy running headlong into geological energy constraints. Basically I see an undulatory downward path for the rest of my life. From here out, I think any rallies in our economic condition are going to be met with spiking commodity prices that knock us right back down.
Joined: Nov 09, 2004 Posts: 1249 Location: Big Rock Candy Mountain
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:16 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
Fishing line and hooks (big river nearby)
Matches
China tea: this is pretty good tea for the price, I just ordered 30# last month (great minds think alike):
http://www.herbco.com/bulk_teas/bulk-teas-black-tea-china.php
About 200 species of edible and medicinal plants.
Now at 8,800# dry food--just ordered 500# sugar yesterday.
Vegetable oil; baking cocoa (I like chocolate cake)
Books, always books
Boots: 63 pair and counting; wool sox; jeans, gloves, etc..
Toothbrushes
5 gal plastic buckets (the kind the stores throw in dumpsters) Any kind of sealable drums.
Axes and crosscut saws (like the spring creek guy, I hang them on my walls)
Old records (78's) for my wind-up Victrola (good stuff: Skillet Lickers, Jimmie Rodgers)
Concentrated soap, bleach, citric acid, H2O2
Pelletes agricultural sulphur (for my blueberries)
Push-reel type lawn mowers, scythes
Plastic sheeting
Joined: Dec 27, 2004 Posts: 13065 Location: naive idiot fantasy world
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
Sugar, matches, seeds, beans, rice, water. Not enough of any of these. _________________ "...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
FoolYap I've "heard" that the diesel fuel stabilizers/treatments will greatly prolong the life of diesel. I would also suggest that you store it in air-tight containers.
You might also want to store some extra oil, air, and fuel filters along with oil for the tractor.
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6959 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
If by collect you mean to store stuff for future use I guess I collect hardware and material of all types. If I think I need 2 of a thing I know from experience I probably need 3 so I buy 6.
Same with staple food.
As far as what I hoard I guess I can't say. By definition I think a hoard or a cache is supposed to be closely held, secret in fact. _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 440 Location: central MA, USA
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
TreeFarmer wrote:
You might also want to store some extra oil, air, and fuel filters along with oil for the tractor.
Good idea, thanks.
I forgot to mention that I've stockpiled chainsaw bar oil and fuel. Should also buy a reel of chain, I suppose, and probably an extra bar or two. Hope to hell I can buy gas for it for the coming years; I have a two-man saw, but would find that pretty tough going in another decade or two.
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:39 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
we don't have much money left over to buy stuff (we're trying record speed mortgage off paying as interest rates here in OZ are going through the roof). All I do is going regularly to the op shop looking for things that might be god in future: working clothes, blankets, sewing stuff, DYO books, but there are rarely tools.
Joined: Sep 14, 2004 Posts: 6535 Location: Rural Virginia
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
I dislike shopping, so I have never become a hoarder of objects. Even so, I have more stuff lying around than I'm ever likely to use.
I see food hoarding as self-defeating, since long-term storage is usually a significant problem (I read a book on this subject and it discouraged me). It's likely I'd end up with a lot of mouldy, unused. and unusable food. Also, whatever food you can hoard would probably be used up fairly quickly in a real crisis (within a year or two, tops).
Generally I derive more pleasure from throwing stuff out than from acquiring it.
Things I tend to buy a fair amount of, when necessary: Hardware, tools, lumber, seedlings. Books and old VHS movies.
Perhaps you could say I'm a hoarder of land. 75 acres and counting. Now that's one thing I'm dotty about. _________________ "Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:23 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
Books, and information I have printed for future use (I have folders of it).
I have a good start on staple food supplies and water containers to be prepared for an emergency, albeit not a very long emergency.
Gardening supplies.
My husband hoards much more than I do. He has big stocks of fishing gear, small engines to rebuild, tools, extra lawnmowers, etc., etc.
I have one eccentric collection; my Christmas tree ornament collection. It's very eclectic and includes things my kids have made, as well as ornaments I've purchased from far-away places. My friends and relatives have also given me beautiful ornaments, many of them handcrafted.
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:11 pm Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
I'm a pressure cooker whore, I admit it. I have 7 or 8 good pressure cookers, the All American or equivalent with the metal to metal seals. When I find a $300 pressure cooker that will last forever at a garage sale for $10 I just can't help but rescue it. Two for us, two for each of the kids, guess I can rationalize it. BTW, if you do serious canning, two or three pressure cookers are the only way to go, one heating while one cooling, makes the day go a whole lot faster.
The other thing I hoard is info. We have a huge library, more books than our local small town library, and I have about 40 GB of ebooks on a couple of portable hard drives, some fiction, but history, medical books, reference material of all kinds.
Joined: Aug 03, 2007 Posts: 4384 Location: Boston Suburbs
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:13 am Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
I think hoarding things is pretty silly. I mentioned this in a different thread, but the Walmartization of the world has led to a glut of "stuff" in a George Carlin sort of way. People in the US are addicted to buying new stuff. So the used stuff just winds up in a landfill or a thrift store or shows up at a garage sale. People already have too much stuff!!! Most of it is useless but there is plenty of enough "stuff" that is of practical use post-PO that I seriously doubt you'll have trouble finding it for many years to come even in a hard crash scenario.
Last edited by mos6507 on Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:18 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 440 Location: central MA, USA
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:01 am Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
Heineken wrote:
I see food hoarding as self-defeating, since long-term storage is usually a significant problem (I read a book on this subject and it discouraged me). It's likely I'd end up with a lot of mouldy, unused. and unusable food. Also, whatever food you can hoard would probably be used up fairly quickly in a real crisis (within a year or two, tops).
I'd agree when you're talking about trying to stockpile a year's worth. But it's always good to have some amount of stable food on hand, yes? At least a week's worth anyway, to float through mini-disasters that prevent you from getting to a store?
Joined: Sep 14, 2004 Posts: 6535 Location: Rural Virginia
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:01 am Post subject: Re: What do you Collect? What do you Hoard?
FoolYap wrote:
Heineken wrote:
I see food hoarding as self-defeating, since long-term storage is usually a significant problem (I read a book on this subject and it discouraged me). It's likely I'd end up with a lot of mouldy, unused. and unusable food. Also, whatever food you can hoard would probably be used up fairly quickly in a real crisis (within a year or two, tops).
I'd agree when you're talking about trying to stockpile a year's worth. But it's always good to have some amount of stable food on hand, yes? At least a week's worth anyway, to float through mini-disasters that prevent you from getting to a store?
--Steve
Well, sure.
Commercially canned goods can safely last several years; just be sure to rotate them (eat out of your stores and keep replacing them; don't just let them sit there waiting to be used).
But in the survivalist sense of the term, I consider food hoarding rather pointless, ultimately. It's a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
Food could soon become so expensive that it might be difficult to collect and hoard in huge amounts.
If your neighbors are starving and you're looking well-fed, they may make dangerous-to-you conclusions about what you have in your basement.
IMO the only answer is to establish yourself on some land in a remote place and learn how to live off the land. This is in itself an incredible challenge.
We've talked about this subject many times before here, inconclusively. _________________ "Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother
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