[Madpaddy]

Sorry,

I've had a few stifff drinks tonight but I can't help thinking that this is a very bad day. In fact you can get the term "End Days" from Wednesday.

We have Gonu, a probable Turkish invasion of Iraq either in progress or imminent, Israel preparing for war with Syria http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4279, Iran nuclear situation ongoing, Greenland melting (CNN) and jumbo squid swarming off California coast (CNN).

Oh and http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 38,00.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he planet will be ravaged by starvation, thirst and environmental catastrophe if world leaders fail to keep global temperature rises below 2C, they have been warned ahead of this week's G8 summit.

[RonMN]

Madpaddy, it's time to think of yourself.

People wont listen? Let them go...there are many people I truely love & I've learned to look at them as "walking corpses". in their mind, nothing bad can happen...I tell them about new orleans & they say "it couldn't happen here". I tell them it could be something OTHER than a hurricane & they call me a "Fear monger".

I ask them what benifit would I have from scaring you? and they ignore me.

If huge squid are invading the coasts...I'll learn to love calamari...Ya just can't teach people that...and you can't prepare for them either...they'll just be pissed off that you can't provide those waffle fries with blu-cheese dressing

[Bas]

End Days? nah, history has proven that human society goes from certain equilibriums into upheavel and chaos and back to an equilibrium again; the future won't be any different in these terms.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'E')nd Days? nah, history has proven that human society goes from certain equilibriums into upheavel and chaos and back to an equilibrium again; the future won't be any different in these terms.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'E')nd Days? nah, history has proven that human society goes from certain equilibriums into upheavel and chaos and back to an equilibrium again; the future won't be any different in these terms.

[Madpaddy]

I actually apologise to you guys and myself for using the term "end days" which I agree reduces the credibility of everything else that is written after using those words by about 50%.

I just can't verbalise this feeling I'm having lately. I'm a pretty intuitive person and sometimes freak my wife out by telling her who is there when the phone rings or guessing the card she has in her hand or especially the time I bought a new fire extinguisher for no particular reason only to use it to put out a fire the next day.

But really, I have a vaguely nauseous feeling most of the time now which has nothing to do with bad Guinness and an almost overwhelming sense of foreboding. This feeling is not helped, by knowing, that the information we need as a civilisation to mitigate the coming hard times is out there but like Captain Smith, we choose to ignore the ice warnings.

It's fraying around the edges like a cheap carpet.

[Madpaddy]

I am also fraying around the edges like a cheap carpet.

[basil_hayden]

It does seem peculiar that the headlines match those from 20, 30, 40, or 50 years ago, with mostly the same players, in the same regions.

Half of me thinks "Well we made it through last time, we'll make it through this time."

Then the other half of me remembers the petroleum situation, which seems to up the ante and make the world stage appear more desperate.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best is all one can do when you're armed with uncommon knowledge.

[Ebyss]

For what it's worth MP, I'm feeling exactly the same way - and it's so bloody infuriating that people aren't "getting it". I feel like every day I'm getting closer and closer to that cliff, and I'm running out of footholds - it's happening faster than I thought - and I have so much left to do to prepare.


I don't even know how to grow carrots for Christ's sake.

[Grifter]

I think learning to hide might be a good idea.

[Chris25]

Buying a gun would be an excellent idea, but in england even pea shooters are banned.

I think we are on the cliff now. Heck, I havn't even lived life, i'm not even in a long-term relationship. I have so much to do in so little time.

I can grow a few things but it would give me a bloody low quality of life. A few beans and radishes every day; God help us all.

[erl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ebyss', '
')I don't even know how to grow carrots for Christ's sake.

[Ebyss]

How do I know what soil is good soil? Where do I get such a thing? Can I use my garden soil? I have clay. I also have tonnes of manure, but I think you're not supposed to use manure on carrots.

How many seeds do I put in? How far down? How much water do I use? How often do I water it thereafter? Every day? Even if it rains?

This is what scares me - I am utterly clueless when it comes to gardening, and yet I know I would love it.

[strider3700]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('erl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ebyss', '
')This is how my kids do it. It really is easy.

[strider3700]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ebyss', 'H')ow do I know what soil is good soil? Where do I get such a thing? Can I use my garden soil? I have clay. I also have tonnes of manure, but I think you're not supposed to use manure on carrots.

How many seeds do I put in? How far down? How much water do I use? How often do I water it thereafter? Every day? Even if it rains?

This is what scares me - I am utterly clueless when it comes to gardening, and yet I know I would love it.

[Ebyss]

Thank you! I've copied that into a word file!

I wasn't trying just to prove a point, but the panic when I think about just how much I don't know is hard to hide. I guess it just illustrates that "plant seeds and grow food" isn't straightforward and easy - it takes knowledge and experience, and I have neither :/ This is where I begin to realise that I'm much, much less prepared than I had hoped to be.

[strider3700]

Step 1 read the prep forum
Step 2 work your ass off actually doing things.

It doesn't matter if the edge doesn't get here for 50 years you won't be ready but you will be far better off. Besides eventually you'll get to a point of diminishing returns and it really becomes questionable on if it's worthwhile.

I went from starting from scratch to better prepared then 95% of people in 2 years. I would bet that you could go from scratch to better then 90% of people in one growing seasons worth of time.

Figure out when to plant for a fall garden and start this year. One weekend's worth of hard work and then a bunch of learning time and you'll be ahead of where you are.

[Ebyss]

Don't worry - I've read the prep forum top to bottom - it's just the practical aspect of it. I've never, ever "grown" anything. Ever. So I don't know how it all works. I'm afraid to just jump in and throw seeds down - and yet I keep saying to myself "how hard can it be?".

It's all the terms like "pinch" and "thin" and "prune" - I'm like "Prune what? where? how much?".

I think I need to enroll in a gardening class or something like that. It's funny, because livestock are easy for me. I can grow a mean buttercup though - my fields are full of 'em

Thanks for the advice - it really is just a question of doing it.

[oowolf]

Plant the "Jerusalem Artichokes" dude. You just stick 'em in the ground and run. Soon you're surrounded by acres o' tasty tubers that are frost hardy and can be left in the ground til Spring. Properly prepared, they are equal to potatoes in calories. Carrots have 1/2 the calories. Calories are what survival is about.

[strider3700]

plant anything just to get started. Yeah unless you get real lucky it will be a partial failure the first time. Under water/overwater is hard to figure out because it's different for everything. The good news is unless you're really really bad you usually just affect your yields. My tomatoes are all stunted due to over watering this year. The books just say don't over water because how much they need depends.

vegetables I don't prune anything, I don't pinch. Thinning is easy. It's just the plant equivalent of culling the weak. Two carrots too close to each other the smallest or least healthy looking gets pulled.

A class would be fine if you can find one starting tomorrow. If not just try something. no need to waste time. You don't have much left.