Country Folks Can Survive

Who has the most to worry about if large financial institutions crash? Is it the people Washington is trying to protect–Wall Street?

Who will be hurt the least? Is it the people Washington is trying to stick with the bill–the taxpayer?

Somebody told us Wall Street fell, but we was so poor we couldn’t tell.

–Alabama

Something to consider. If you have a little piece of land, can shoot straight, and don’t mind wetting a line, there’s not much chance of you or your family starving. Bonus if are on well water, have a wood burning stove, and “spent the summertime cuttin’ up logs for the winter.”

‘Coma is talking about farming and the economy, and she mentioned on Twitter that a lot of people in Hoots are worried about what may happen with this bailout. I grew up out in the country, but I’m a little ashamed to say that my genes have softened considerably in two generations. My grandparents would have no problem fending for themselves with a garden, a fishing pole, and a shotgun (bow, if needed). In fact, they pretty much did that anyway–that’s just how they lived.  It’s very admirable.

You cain’t starve us out and you cain’t make us run, ’cause we’re them ol’ boys raised on shotguns.

–Hank Williams Jr.

I feel lucky that I was given at least a taste of that way of life growing up and could probably scrape by.  I’ve seen enough to not worry much about people in rural areas.  Make fun of them if you want, but country people are sturdy.

We are probably headed for some pain as a nation…probably have been for a long time.  The question we have to ask ourselves I think is if we’re willing to take a little bit of pain in the short term, or a lot of pain in the long term.  I say let’s take our medicine now–no bailout!

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9 Replies to “Country Folks Can Survive”

  1. I’ve got some fishing poles, but I’m not a very good fisherman. I don’t have any guns, but I have a few knives and a boomerang I picked up in Australia in 1991. I have 4 GPSes, so I guess my best chance is to hire myself out as a guide for food.

  2. The skills for living in the country are a good thing, but they won’t do us any good in the city. If it all blows up, the best we can hope for is to make it to our friends out in the country. Anyone need a friend who knows how to produce most kinds of alcohol, butcher most anything you can hunt, and cook for a small army?

  3. @Hungry Mother
    I want to hunt with a boomerang. That would be the ultimate. Maybe you should start hording extra packs of sugar from Starucks.

    @ZenOfJazz
    I need a friend like that. Not because I think we’re headed for a survival of the fittest situation. I just like knowing those kinds of people. And I eat like a small army.

  4. i know ive gotten soft in some areas as well, but i also know we have lived 2 weeks without utilities, have gone 3 days without food, and there is a well (currently unused) in our back yard. so maybe all of our prior “bad situations” have trained us for a bigger ‘situation” to come. this time ill have my grown sons to help me rather than depend on me. i say let it crash.

    the only thing that has me hooked is the fact that i had to go out and buy a new truck for work last month. maybe chrysler finance will crash too!! bwahahaha!

    now hiring: cook for small army.

  5. Hmm. Cooking for a small army is easy. Procuring the grub is the hard part. For an active group (foraging for food, working a farm, etc) assume 6 oz of protein per person per day. Backfill with grains (rice, barley, oats, corn, wheat, buckwheat) to feel full, and fruits/vegetables to prevent scurvy. Feeding 10 adults therefore requires about 4 pounds of meat, or equivalent protein in beans. Carbs for breakfeast, (ie, cooked cereals, pancakes, etc).
    If the fruits are short season and you have a lot, brandying the fruits is a good way to preserve them.
    Making alcohol was my cold-war “survival skill”. I figured if the whole world blew up, and I survived, anyone I met would need a good stiff drink. So, beer making, winemaking, mead making, cider making, and the distiller’s art were easy enough to learn. Distilling any of those products down will give a concentrated alcohol, but the real trick to turning it into something other than moonshine or hootch, is to have decent aging, usually in charred oak barrels. Gin, and vodka fortunately do not require aging, which is why bathtub gin was so popular during prohibition.

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