For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 4063 Location: Graceland
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:53 pm Post subject: The Suburban Homestead
There is so much trash talk about living in a suburb, but it seems to me that if you did the following you would have a pretty nice setup for whatever might come along:
(Some of the suggested items would be expensive, but if you implemented the whole list over a few years, it could be manageable)
1. Plant a good sized garden
2. Plant fruit and nut trees appropriate to your climate
3. Place solar equipment on the roof, probably for a simple grid tie system to start with
4. Harden the home's security with steel exterior doors and frames, build 3/4 inch plywood window shutters that can be put on with little notice, things like that
5. Set up a roof rain collection and storage system
6. If allowed in your area, raise something like rabbits. My dad did this when I was a kid and it was fun (though I didn't fully appreciate what happened to the rabbits)
7. Setup your home's gas appliances to run off of propane and have a large tank installed
8. Upgrade to high efficiency appliances and an ultra-efficient HVAC system. Get a large freezer and fill it with frozen food. Get to know people in the area who raise livestock and get set up to buy a "half cow" or "quarter cow" from time to time
9. Get a propane powered generator. Learn how to maintain it and figure out how much of the stuff in the house it will run
10. Eliminate any debt you may have, including the mortgage
11. Get a bicycle and ride it
12. Get a rifle and a handgun and learn to fire them well
13. Do everything you can to improve the quality of the soil on your lot
14. Make a deliberate effort to get to know your neighbors (even if you don't like them)
15. Build a gun turret on the top of your house (just kidding)
16. Get a good large dog like a German Shepherd or Doberman. Spend time with the dog, train it to be a good guard dog.
17. Do all of the things you can to increase the passive efficiency of your home--caulk, seal doors, that kind of stuff
18. Keep a good supply of food, water, medicine and other supplies in your home
19. Start a collection of DC powered lights and appliances.
20. If you have a real fireplace, use it for heating, figure out what it's capabilities are. Keep a couple of cords of wood on hand
21. If you have a roomy attic, do a semi-buildout to make use of ALL of the available space for storage of supplies--shelves, hooks, cabinets, etc.
22. If you are permitted to park one at your house, purchase a SMALL camper. Don't get anything you can't pull with one of your current vehicles. Learn how all of the camper's systems work and learn how to maintain them.
***
If you did many of these things and a lot of others I didn't list, wouldn't that mitigate a lot of the potential problems with suburbia? In other words, if you had to head for the hills, wouldn't living this way in the suburbs make the transition to rural life much easier?
People who hate the suburbs may not stop hating them, but if that is where you live and you like living there, it seems like there is a lot that you can do to provide a more self-sufficient life for you and your family.
I grew up in a medium sized city and I watched my dad raise rabbits, have a large garden, and do lots of other things along these lines, and it caused my city upbringing to have sort of a farm-like quality to it in some ways. _________________
Joined: Mar 14, 2008 Posts: 43 Location: The Netherlands
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:23 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
good post. You are right: we can't all run. If everyone runs, we will run into one another anyway. Better to stay put (if you have no much better option) and prepare to make the best of it.
My wife and I will also be moving out of our apartment to a house in the suburbs. We will just make sure that the garden is big enough, and that should suffice. It is very difficult here in Holland to buy a detached house (unless you are rich), so learning to live with the neighbours is a necessity of life. It can still work, provided everyone works towards the same goal. _________________ Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.
Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 362 Location: central MA, USA
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:53 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
Good list. I wonder, though, how many suburban folks live with Home-Owner Associations which would severely restrict what changes they could make in their yards? Heck, many disallow simple stuff like hanging your laundry outdoors to dry. I would think that anyone living with HOA restrictions would put that as their #1 on the list:
1. Move to a suburb without an HOA, or agitate to get their HOA non-PO-friendly rules relaxed or removed.
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 6:21 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
There will be some neighborhoods that will never change. Some of the anal retentive home owner’s associations around Disney World will be measuring lawns with micrometers till the last person moves out. Others will change with the times. When everyone has an abandoned car in his drive way the enforcement of such rules will begin to slide.
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:33 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
The weakness in some of the suburbs is that they rely on natural gas and municipal water and sewer. Some of our suburban fuel customers outside the HOA controlled developments have a well, septic system, generators, wood/pellet/coal stoves, 1,000 gallon underground propane storage tanks and dual 275 or 330 gallon heating oil/kerosene/diesel basement storage tanks.
You're only supposed to store 660 gallons of fuel in your basement, but some people have a little more.
Some of the HOA controlled developments with natural gas lines won't allow homeowners to have propane tanks other than portable tanks for their barbecue.
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:26 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
Thanks for posting this... I'm 58, and I live in the suburbs; I've been on this forum for quite some time and for much of that time I was slowly working us round to the point of view that it might be good to move into the country. We had been driving out of town looking for land. Now my hubby is awaiting exploratory surgery for possible cancer, and it has turned all my thoughts upside down. We have lots of hospitals here, including teaching hospitals, and this is where we need to be. I haven't been idle during these years on the forum - I'm trying to teach myself gardening, and we've bought and installed rain barrels, and I've purchased one small solar panel (but haven't a clue what to do with it!), and I drive a car with good gas mileage. I still have a job here (hubby is retired) which I REALLY need to hang onto, for insurance reasons, of course. And I doubt that we could sell our house now, with the way the housing market is. As you can probably tell, I'm rather depressed and tired right now - but there's a perverse sort of comfort in the fact that the decisions about our future course of action have actually been made for us, really, by this new situation in our lives. I still will look for land when I can, but it will not be with a view to moving out there, lock stock & barrel. Rather, it will be as a bugout place, AND as something that we can leave our grown-up children.
Anyway sorry for all this rambling, but I saw this post and it just "jived" with all the stuff going on in my head right now. Thanks for pointing out some of the POSITIVES of a suburb. At least the rules & regulations in our suburb are not too restrictive - there's nothing against having a veggie garden, and clotheslines have to be hidden (ours is!).
As for the "zombie hordes" I'll worry about them later; I've got too much other stuff on my mind right now.
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:37 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
The only fly I see in your ointment is the fact that the local Gubmint and your neighbours would not allow you to do any of the things that you want to do to get peak oil ready. Think local planning and Bylaws. The local and state Gubmint wood send in the Waco Killers to clean you out.
Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 4063 Location: Graceland
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:43 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
deMolay wrote:
The only fly I see in your ointment is the fact that the local Gubmint and your neighbours would not allow you to do any of the things that you want to do to get peak oil ready. Think local planning and Bylaws. The local and state Gubmint wood send in the Waco Killers to clean you out.
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:51 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
I ggest you get a copy of (The Ballad of Carl Drega) and read the catalogue list of people murdered by the state over zoning laws etc. You can find it here. http://www.vinsuprynowicz.com/
Joined: Dec 18, 2004 Posts: 4114 Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:14 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
Nice list Tex... we have 1,2, 10-14, 17, 18 and a few others underway such as a small scooter and basic fitness and self-defense training. The tactics on your list will certainly ease the pain somewhat, but anyone living out in or near the city will never be independent. It takes much more to make that happen.
It doesn't get cold enough here to fear death by freezing so alternative home heating methods are thankfully not needed.
Soil improvement is critical and has been mentioned here dozens of times. We must compost all kitchen scraps. Most suburban and city dwellers toss compost material in the garbage. There is no excuse for this waste. Composting and crop rotation keeps your soil healthy and costs nothing. _________________ Everything is Impermanent. Shakyamuni Buddha
Joined: May 13, 2007 Posts: 597 Location: Athabasca, Alberta
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:15 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
Don't you think that should there be a crisis in petroleum and natural gas supply, that propane will not be affected?
I don't think you can produce enough food on a suburban lot, using organic methods, to feed yourself even on a subsistence level. _________________ Appuis ait fabrum esse suae quemque fortunae.
Alias Redneck
Joined: Nov 16, 2007 Posts: 276 Location: Rural Western Idaho
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:38 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
BigTex wrote:
There is so much trash talk about living in a suburb, but it seems to me that if you did the following you would have a pretty nice setup for whatever might come along:
(Some of the suggested items would be expensive, but if you implemented the whole list over a few years, it could be manageable)
I grew up in a medium sized city and I watched my dad raise rabbits, have a large garden, and do lots of other things along these lines, and it caused my city upbringing to have sort of a farm-like quality to it in some ways.
A good list, Tex -- but I would add the admonition that people who live in the suburbs should not become discouraged if they don't see themselves being able to do all of this stuff.
Pick the ones you CAN do and do those first.
For example, it's tough to look at going solar, upgrading to high end appliances, etc (kind of spendy) and paying off the mortgage at the same time.
I would recommend that the FIRST thing to do is to convert as much of the yard as possible to raised beds. As the crops are growing, learn how to "put them up" -- both via canning and freezing.
Do invest in a freezer if you don't have one. Chest freezers are cheaper and seem somewhat less convenient, but they are more efficient. You can organize the different foods using plastic "egg crate" boxes that you can buy at Staples, Walmart, etc. Makes the chest freezer easier to use.
The caulking, etc, all make sense, and could be done pretty cheaply.
So I guess what I am saying is, take heart, even if you don't have a lot of bucks! Because there is still a great deal you can do (from Tex's list) right away ... and keep the others on your list of things to work toward over the next 4-5 years.
No way the mortgage here on this 7.5 acres is going to be paid off in 4 years. But hope to having everything else in place by then.
Lumpy _________________ Dean Karnazes : "Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up." --- Jackie Joyner-Kersee: "It is better to look forward & prepare, than to look back & regret."
You might not be able to have a well in the suburbs - you'll want to check the quality of the aquifers under your place. In the Los Angeles area, for instance, the aquifers are mostly horribly polluted.
Fireplaces are not efficient for heating - you'll want to get a woodstove insert. _________________ "...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:25 am Post subject: Re: The Suburban Homestead
It takes an average garden size of 1 to 3 acres to feed a family for a year. Unless you can garden year round. That does not include a cow for milk/cheeze or chickens.
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