[RedStateGreen]

It's never too late to learn, and knowledge is the best preparation.

Learn where the closest not-your-tap water source is (even if that means how to make/use a solar still or cut the head off a barrel cactus), ten edible plants in your area, and three ways to make fire. Get some extra canned foods when you go to the store, or if you have the money, buy the things you eat in bulk.

(I have found this article so very helpful in understanding this last concept)

Start. A. Food. Garden. Now!

Growing food over the winter is really easy (all it takes is some cold-loving seeds, some dirt, and a few layers of row covers (with plastic on top if it gets really cold out, like below 10F), and may save your life. Growing food in the summer is even easier, depending on your climate. But it does take some practice to learn organic methods (which when chemical fertilizers go bye-bye, will be what you're left with).

You do not need to till or break anything, including your back. Cut the weeds back and use them for mulch. Start a compost pile, or dig holes in your garden and put kitchen scraps in them, then cover with dirt or cut weeds. You will need some water, or you can water them with pee.

The main thing is to get started. All the preps available won't help you if you don't do something.

So here's what you do:

Make a list of the ten things that scare you most about peak oil. Pick the things that are putting you into panic mode.

Figure out three things you can do about each one of them. Get creative.

Now you have a list of thirty things you can do. Pick one. Do it.

You'll feel right as rain.

[Sixstrings]

I think a "Great Depression" scenario is more likely than the "doomer-roving-gangs-apocalypse." The best case scenario would involve as many as people as possible becoming more self-sufficient, and the re-localization of our economy.

So, no matter what happens, there are things you need to start doing as a "lifestyle change." You don't need to call it prepping, this is going to be a new way to live. A less energy-wasting way to live.

And guess what? That's really not a bad thing. I am going to finally start gardening, not necessarily because of peak oil -- just because I've had it with the crappy produce at the store. The corn is crappy. The tomatoes are crap. I can't ever find good romaine lettuce that isn't already wilted.

I also want to learn to make my own bread. I have all this in mind, because not only is it an issue of food getting scarcer and more expensive in the future -- I'm also tired of the poor quality, and imagine it will only get worse.

To sum up, in the area of food, the more you do for yourself the healthier and higher quality your food will be. Even if a disaster never comes, these are good things to be doing.

There's a really good DVD out called something like "the Zen of food." Watching that is what's got me so stuck on making a change in how I eat. I now have a real desire lately to thumb my nose at our pre-processed cornstarch consumerist culture.

So with food, it's a win-win. Without a doubt, food quality will keep going down and prices will go up. In that scenario, learning to do more for oneself is the way to go.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RedStateGreen', 'I')t's never too late to learn, and knowledge is the best preparation.
Learn where the closest not-your-tap water source is (even if that means how to make/use a solar still or cut the head off a barrel cactus), ten edible plants in your area, and three ways to make fire. Get some extra canned foods when you go to the store, or if you have the money, buy the things you eat in bulk.
(I have found this article so very helpful in understanding this last concept)

Start. A. Food. Garden. Now!
Growing food over the winter is really easy (all it takes is some cold-loving seeds, some dirt, and a few layers of row covers (with plastic on top if it gets really cold out, like below 10F), and may save your life. Growing food in the summer is even easier, depending on your climate. But it does take some practice to learn organic methods (which when chemical fertilizers go bye-bye, will be what you're left with).

You do not need to till or break anything, including your back. Cut the weeds back and use them for mulch. Start a compost pile, or dig holes in your garden and put kitchen scraps in them, then cover with dirt or cut weeds. You will need some water, or you can water them with pee.
The main thing is to get started. All the preps available won't help you if you don't do something.

So here's what you do:
Make a list of the ten things that scare you most about peak oil. Pick the things that are putting you into panic mode.
Figure out three things you can do about each one of them. Get creative.
Now you have a list of thirty things you can do. Pick one. Do it.
You'll feel right as rain.

[Ludi]

I wish it were easy! So far, that has not been my personal experience!

[green_achers]

Not the first word that pops into my mind.

Now if you plant a number of different things, you're bound to get lucky with some of them, especially if you're starting on ground that has been fallowed for a while (lawn, etc.) But that's a far cry from producing enough to affect your real nutritional needs.

... which is not to say you shouldn't do it. It could make all of the difference. (And it's fun.)

[AnIowan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RedStateGreen', '[')b]Growing food in the summer is even easier, depending on your climate.

[AnIowan]

The fact I've posted 39 times and joined in May of this year is living proof it's never too late.

I've increased my knowledge (much to my wife's dismay) about a number of topics, but I've also started taking some action as well. Will this do me any good on a fast collapse? Probably not. In a slow slide, we'll have food to eat, we'll have a place to call home, and we'll have methods of making our own food. Life certainly won't be easy, but it will be ours, and we can make it as we please.

While I'm prepping, I'm also living a life that is great. I can pull weeds in my garden that is easily 10X the size it was in town. My kids can play with our dogs. I can walk outside to get things in my robe and nothing else if I want to (too much info I know). The best, my wife and I can sit outside drink a glass of wine and star watch. All of this was not possible in town where we used to live. Purchasing this little acreage was the best prep I could have ever done.

I'm rambling now, but no, it's never too late to get started.

[Hermes]

No. It is never too late to prep.

A carefully spent $10,000 and you'll be in a better situation than a millionaire who hasn't prepared.

And the biggest preparation you can make is mental. I second the concern about "analysis paralysis" though. Yes, learn about the problems and solutions, but move quickly towards taking ACTION once you know enough.

[RedStateGreen]

Stick a seed in the ground, water it, it grows. Easy, especially if you're throwing on all kinds of fertilizers the way everyone around me does.

I didn't say providing all your nutritional needs using organic methods (which is not easy), I said growing food. Besides, if you tell them it's hard they won't even start. I'd rather have them grow something and start learning than stay clueless and bust into my garden when TSHTF.

There's no such thing as bad weeds (well, except for poison ivy, that's bad stuff). Free mulch and rabbit food!

[Heineken]

Whenever I've just thrown seeds around and waited for the crop to roll in, I find nothing there to harvest. Gardening takes almost daily attention, I've found.

Weeds compete vigorously with your plants of interest for light, nutrients, and space. Labor and materials are needed to control them.

RSG, if you tell people food growing is easy, and they get into it on that basis and then find out how hard it is, might they not get discouraged and quit?

I'd rather know the full score before I get into something.

[Hermes]

Personally I've found that gardening has made it all the more clear to me what a crushingly horrific starvation it will be for the masses.

Yes: you can put a seed in the ground and it is likely to sprout. But then the work starts.

I find that I'm tempted to tell others about how easy it is to grow vegetables, but I constantly catch myself envisioning the easiest ones to grow as I tell them how easy it is. Furthermore I forget all the time watering and setting up the garden. I also don't factor in all the time put into the lost crops. I don't factor in the time and expense in carting in better soil and mulch.

And I don't tend to weigh the drought years against the rainy years when I'm describing it either.

I think I tend away from it because I want to give people hope.

Will I do it? Yes. I will certainly grow vegetables. Is it easy? No.

[phaster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('allenwrench', 'I')n another thread discussing whether educate sheeple or not with PO indoctrination

http://peakoil.com/fortopic42965-0-asc-0.html

One member thinks it is too late to prep in a meaningful way.

Now, I tend to agree that everyone cannot prep in a way that will avert disaster. Though I believe there are a certain amount of sheeple that can restructure their lives.

But this question also brings up the topic of cut off date and if it is in fact too late to prep meaningfully?

[madison]

Information, courage, and a bit of time to undergo a paradigm shift in your thinking are the best prep tools in existance. They are also free.

People, or the sheeple, will respond best by having examples to follow. This is where those of us aware of resource depletion come in - teach everyone or share with a few people only. Either way, the more who know USEFUL information, and who are ready to ACT on the information, the better off we all are.

For example, I've been putting out black painted milk cartons full of water for free solar heated hot water. I've had five of my neighbors ask about it. While none of them are as poor as I am, and thus for now they are able to pay for their hot water, a time may come when they'll use this free resource of my example and get free hot water, too

A bit at a time can add up to alot over time. I do a few things a month as my limited budget allows. You'd be surprised how much it adds up.

If you and your neighbors are all in the same sink-hole, then share information and brainstorm solutions. I think that's what it will eventually come to - people letting go of their pride and independence and coming together out of desperation and as a last resort. If it's that bad, there may actually be action after all.