The worst has
happened and the social order is in a state of break-down. You had hoped that this wouldn’t happen, but
you were smart enough to plan ahead in case it did. You have a comfortable home in the
country. You have stored food, medical
supplies, hunting and defensive weapons, a good stock of ammo, garden tools,
and heirloom seeds. There’s no live water
on your land but you had the foresight to have a 75 foot deep well
drilled. You installed a good wood
burning stove in your house and cleared off a good size piece of land where you
can plant a garden. You and your family
are safe; it’s day one and you are ready to survive.
First things
first, you need water and fire wood to start the day with breakfast. While your wife is digging through the food
storage you go out to draw some water from the well. There’s no electricity so it’s a rope and
bucket. You need water for 4 people to
wash up, fix breakfast and do the dishes.
Three buckets ought to do it. So,
you spend about 15 minutes pulling on the rope, hand over hand; and then haul
the five gallons (41 pounds) of water up to the house.
Now for the fire
wood. There are plenty of downed and
seasoned trees from where you cleared your garden spot, but you will have to
cut them up with a crosscut saw and split them with an axe. You could use your chainsaw but you know
that’s not a good idea. Too much noise
that might attract unwanted attention, and besides you need to save the
gas. So, you spend the next 45 minutes
sawing, splitting, and carrying firewood for breakfast. You can come back after breakfast and cut
more for the rest of the day’s cooking and to heat the house tonight.
After breakfast
you decide to get started on the garden spot.
You have food stored, but it will eventually run out so you need to
start right away getting the ground ready for a spring garden. This will require digging up three or four
stumps, digging up roots, hauling out rocks, and hand turning the soil. You want to put in a 40 foot by 60 foot
garden so preparing the ground will occupy most of your working days for the
next several weeks. Of course then it
will be time to start building a fence around the garden to keep deer out. You walk to the tool shed and get out your
grubbing hoe, shovel, long pry-bar, and a pair of leather work gloves.
OK. Now go look in the mirror. Are you physically ready to live like
this? Everything that you do will
involve muscle power. We are so used to
modern conveniences that we have totally lost sight of how physically
challenging life is without them. Our great-grandfathers
had to consume about 4000 calories a day just to maintain their body
weight. Today many of us gain weight on
2000 calories a day. We have to make a
special effort to indulge in any physical activity.
In our very
uncertain future, the term “survival of the fittest” could mean exactly
that. The physically fit may be the only
ones that survive. I would suggest to
you that physical conditioning is just as important to your survival plans as
food storage, or self defense. You could
join a gym and take the traditional route of jogging, resistance training,
aerobics, and etc.; but I’ve never really understood the logic behind paying
one guy to do your yard work and then paying another guy to let you work out
in his gym. Wouldn’t it be more
productive and more realistic to get out and do some physical labor similar to the
types of things that you would need to do on a self-sufficient farm. How about starting a garden using only hand
tools, splitting firewood with an axe, or hand digging post holes for a new
fence. You’ll get some great exercise,
and you’ll have something to show for it besides muscles. If a survival situation never arises you
haven’t wasted any effort. Being fit
will improve the quality of your life no matter what happens.
2 comments:
Nice post
In a zombie apocalypse, I believe you, only the fittest would survive. Although there's quite a chance that the planners and the clever ones would thrive, as well. In our family, we have a bug out bag for any emergencies that come our way- weather disturbances, calamities, and even attack from the bad guys. One more thing, though - a survival axe is needed,as well. Although you have matches,and fire starters - always make sure you have the ability to cut wood, and that's what an excellent axe is for. Interested? See: http://myoutdoorslife.com/gear/camping-and-hiking/finding-the-best-survival-axe.html
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