The Joys of Spring.

The days roll on, and I'm currently reading the book "When Prophecy Fails". Interesting, although a case study of a single group - a UFO/spiritualist group makes a couple of prophecies, and the book looks at what happened as the prophecised cataclysm day came and went.

Defining a day (and, quite often, time) to an oncoming armageddon has so-far proved to be a good way to get yourself laughed at by everyone who didn't believe you in the first place. The past couple of weeks have seen a few prophecies come and go... Although, to be fair, the ones by reasonably respectable economists are more along the lines of earthquakes - the wrong stresses in the wrong places at the wrong time, and you're waiting for a while. I am inclined to believe the economists a bit more than a self-declared religious prophet, but either way...

Fear is the problem. Is it possible to be prepared without, in some way, giving in to fear? After all, preppers are responding to a perceived problem, some times irrationally. Part of the problem is media portrayal of preppers. Although, to be fair, the ones who abandon everything in order to prepare for something that they might not even live to see (let alone live through) seem to be acting purely out of fear. In addition, it's usually a single scenario that gets people acting, usually in line with the zeitgeist - nuclear war, epidemics, economic collapse.

Of course, these are the people that have the best toys - I would love a decent size underground bunker, but I'm not prepared to sacrifice everything else in order to get it. A retreat, further out away from civilisation, with a lot of land available would be good - but you make up for that by lower access to... well, what you need in order to set up well. You pay more if someone has to come out to drill a bore for a well - although you don't get questioned by local government as much when you do.

I watched an interesting documentary the other day, examining a few different groups, mostly just single families, although the documentary makers (they were critiquing the set-ups) had a few interesting points. Firstly - Groups - be they neighbours, a couple of other families, whatever, make things easier than Father, Mother, and Two Young Children. Secondly - Water is Life. And Thirdly - don't be obvious. It also reinforced something written by a right wing survivalist - if you're obvious, you become a target.

I have extended my plant collection - a few dye plants, a couple of medicinal ones (White Willow, source of Salicilin, the precursor for aspirin), a few other seeds.

Yes, I am planning around global economic collapse... And as much as food and water are essentials, it's useful to have options for doing other things is important. And - let's face it - if you can produce something that  people need (like an aspirin substitute), then trading is made easier...

Book learnin'

I am having to face one of my own shortcomings... I am great at collecting knowledge, not so great at practising it. But I am learning. And at least I can make friends with people who have the basic skills to make better use of the books I collect, but it is depressing...

And, I am at least starting to apply things.

Money makes the world go 'round...

Reinforcing my thoughts over the past decade and a half, I've read a few things recently that say that Yes, Money Is An Illusion. It's hard to carry change for a goat.

Money just is a way of keeping the tempo, it's not the tune.

That and, economically speaking, things are diving hard, fast, and it won't be long before we hit the metaphorical ground. I really should read up about barter economics.

Environmental collapse, global war... I think these things I can deal with. Economic collapse might be a problem. I'm not worried about the money side of things, but the human - if things got as bad as 1920s Germany, would I be able to protect the food crops I'm growing, the chickens, the cows, and so on from people wandering about looking for a meal? When a mob doesn't care that it's a milk cow, how do you stop them ripping it apart with their bare hands for meat? What good are chickens laying eggs, when all people can see is the meal from the chicken?

Can you refuse people food, just so that you have enough to eat for yourself? I will have to investigate a few other potential crops, things that don't look obvious. I will also have to get things like bags of flour, honey, salt... Growing your own sounds easy, but I'm learning that it isn't. Fortunately, I have some time to establish food trees. I don't know for how long, though...

Springing into action...

I have been busy... Particularly seeing as spring has, as they say, sprung.
Time to put in new trees, remove any that haven't survived - although the only
thing that has needed removal is a grape vine that didn't like where it had been
put. Apparently, grapes like poor quality but well drained soils, so I've put it in
one of the worse spots in the garden...

There's obviously a limit to space, and a limit to habitat, but I'm trying as many
different trees as I can - particularly things that like having poorer and dryer
soils, so many Australian native trees, a tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) hedge,
olive trees. I've a few more fruit trees coming in, and am slowly getting everything
established.

I'm also trying some Red Aztec maize - looks different to regular, shop-bought
corn. The main thing being that seeds will not store indefinitely - the best way to
store them long-term is to germinate them. I also have some cotton on the way,
although I'm yet to put the seedlings into the ground, ideally near the outlet for
the sewage treatment system - I'm not going to eat the cotton, they are annuals,
and they like plenty of water. Although, this may mean building a cotton gin at
some stage... and I already have to work on the solar food dryer. On the plus
side, I may be able to get a couple of stills made up for me, including a still for
steam distillation - important for extraction essential oils, particularly tea tree oil.
I want some Salix alba (as I'm sure I've already said) - it's the source of what
we know as aspirin. What can I saw - I have a degrees in Chemistry and
Engineering, so am looking at industrial uses of my plants, not just for food.

I really need a spare pair of hands around here, one that doesn't mind spending
time out in the garden. It takes time and energy to grow vegetables and grains,
and I need to do more to establish some growing beds.

Green acreage

Spring approaches, which means that it's time to start getting the garden ready... Trees to start mulching, last bits of pruning to be done, layouts to be finalised. Being on limited space is always a problem, but you make the best of what's available. While economies of scale would be nice to use - it can be easier to deal with large quantities of one or two crops - better self-sufficiency means getting a few of several.

There are plenty of places to get trees, herbs, and miscellaneous plants, you just have to make some judicious choices in regards to what you want and whether it makes sense (efficient use of the space, useful food or self-sufficiency product) to grow... And be prepared to lose the trees because they don't like the area, climate, etc... Also, if they get eaten by insects... My citrus trees are not going well, but perhaps by encouraging bird-life, I can get the birds to eat the insects that seem to plague the plants...

Which reminds me - there are a few seasonal crops I need to start up for spring... a couple of edibles, as well as cotton. Cotton is another of those crops that become easier to deal with when you're processing a lot of it - you start to build/accumulate/etc. things like cotton gins.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't get rid of all my non-cropping plants and just put in as much as I can. The problem with that is that getting rid of all your trees the ground no good. Apart from soil washing away, grass isn't good at getting moisture into the air. When you start cutting swathes of trees down, you make growing harder. Yes, I'd be putting in replacement trees, but they will take time. On the whole, I think I'll maintain my current pace - keeping most of the big, healthy trees, getting rid of scraggly or dying ones, but get rid of them as newly planted things are able to establish themselves...

Money, money, money...

I've been reading a lot recently, lots of different topics. When you're a polymath, you have to.

I am currently finishing off When Money Dies, which is a lot at hyperinflation in Germany in the 1920s. Rather scary, really. Deficit spending to pay for a war (which they didn't win), people losing confidence in the coin of the day, and the rise of extremists (particularly ones on the right wing of politics) who target scapegoats for the problem.

I wonder what that reminds me of...

It does remind of something that I've long held: Money is an illusion, it is an abstract that allows us to keep track of bartering. It only really exists while people believe in it... Once people wake up from the dream, everything goes sour.

On The Beach...

I just the other day listened to, and finished, a radio production version of Nevil Shute's On The Beach. A very difficult two hours because

Spoiler Alert


Everyone dies.

Every single person. Not with a cry of rage, but with barely a whimper.

Young, old, rich, poor, deserving, undeserving.

Those with potential futures, those without.

By the end, no one is left.


I don't know which has affected me the worse - the tragedy of death, or my infuriation at their acceptance of their oncoming demise. The characters seem to accept what is going to happen with pathological stoicism - like getting half-way across a road, seeing a truck coming several hundred metres away, and calmly lying down, getting ready for the truck to hit you.

The story is set in Australia, in the early 1960's. Global nuclear war erupted in the northern hemisphere, killing (as far it can be determined) everyone, if not in the initial conflict, then in the radioactive aftermath. The clouds carrying the deadly dust are slowly moving down past the equator, slowly covering the globe. The end is coming, those remaining can see it, but no-one seems to make a move to preserve themselves; they accept what is coming, although enter a collective fugue state - they know what is coming, but continue life as normal, albeit with rationing, talking about what gardens they will plant in the next year.

No-one seems to say: This is coming, we can use our ingenuity to at least not be complicit in the extinction of the human race...

That last sentence has struck me - by accepting their oncoming fates, not trying to save themselves, the people in the story are as bad as those who started (,continued, and finished) the war in the first place.

Maybe it has to do with the book being written in 1957. Would people react that way now? After seeing how people can work together in emergencies, perhaps we wouldn't just lay down to die. Fifty years of study of radioisotopes, new technologies, and so on, might mean that people know more about what to expect - and how to survive the worst of it...

Time and Place to Think...

Well... Life is progressing, for both good and bad.

On the Bad front... I'm learning that I'm not cut out for corporate retail. After the business being bought and rolled into a national chain, I've found myself answering to someone who I can't work with... Which means looking for a new job somewhere - the hard bit is finding something suitable without moving. And I don't want to go back into retail.

I'm putting a lot of work into the garden, I don't want to move from here.

On the Good front... Well, I'm putting a lot of work into the garden... Got plenty of Casuarinas (to put nitrogen into the soil), and quite a few Tea Tree Oil trees (readily grown and medicinal)...

Apart from a few medicinal trees, I think I've got most of what I want. So, all that really remains are some water tanks.

I've been thinking a lot the past few weeks, I have much to say, but not the energy to say it all.

A Lesson Learnt.

Autumn is well and truly here, and it's time to look at those seeds that want the cold weather. Admittedly, that's not much that falls into that category...

And that's when I looked in one collection of grain seed, and found that weevils had found it a most bountiful home. Rye and wheat seed (about a pound of each) now useless... The rye, in fact, looks a little fermented. Unusable, at any rate.

Lesson learnt: there's always something that will want to have a go at the seed you've carefully tried to store. That's even if it is still viable.

It seems that one of the best way to store seed is to be using it, refreshing your supply from what grows. It would be easier if I could devote more time to gardening, especially when it comes to grain and vegetables.

On the other hand I've found that one of my coffee trees, about three years old now, has plenty of beans on it. Processing is apparently a bit of a pain, particularly if you're only doing small quantities... It seems economy of scale rules again. It seems to be the way of things, of course - it's not much harder to do processing of a lot, than to do processing of few. A bean that I planted a year ago is developing quite nicely - and it had been so long that I didn't recognise it for a couple of weeks, until the leaves developed into the recognisable shape.

Coffee beans still on the tree.

So I have about five coffee trees of various ages... Come the apocalypse, at least I'll have my own source of fresh caffeine.

The Black Sapote is coming along promisingly, I'll have to propagate its seeds... Having grown that one from a seed, it's a good bet that it will be easy enough to grow more. My olive trees are very slowly putting on size, I don't expect them to to come into fruit for some time - it's good that I'm not desperately depending them to grow quickly... I should probably get a few more, see if there are better spots in the garden. 

Having said that, my citrus are the favourite targets of moths/butterflies... I don't want to continually spray, so I have to search them regularly for catepillars. I think, though, that they might be a preferred target - much tastier than anything else... This is why a garden with plenty of variety is good.

Ages ago, I looked at a "survivalists' real estate agency" - and noted something very striking. A lot of the properties available were useless from a self-sufficiency point of view - basically rocks and dirt as far as the picture showed. No creeks or rivers, no sign that you could make a good effort of growing anything. A couple of them were promising - permanently flowing creeks, lots of trees growing, even game... A lot were only worth anything because there was nothing going for them... Camouflage, I suppose - be so desolate and out of the way, with no way of long term self-sufficiency, that no one bothers to look too much closer. Sounds like too much hard work and money - a couple of years supplies, a big basement, some large and well hidden water tanks....

I still need water tanks... I should just pop a couple onto the credit card (although I loathe that idea), and be done with it.

In the Land of Cotton...

I've found out that one of my plant & seed suppliers has cotton! At least, seed suitable for planting, so I have ordered some. Having cotton means the capability to produce fabric, hence being (theoretically) self-sufficient in that respect. There are plenty of people in the area who raise sheep and goats, and I'm sure a few people in the area have what only can be described as hemp - all sources of material for clothing. Admittedly, cotton can be a water intensive crop, as well as being labour intensive... There was an Industrial Revolution for a reason... Producing cloth for clothes is a full-time job for someone...

More reason for building up a community of preppers.

Don't get me wrong - I appreciate that there will be opportunity to scavenge... But scavenging is for limited resources - with people competing for it. At some point, it will run out... or rot... or burn up... Then, you have to know how to make or grow it.

Admittedly, when it comes to fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, it's a more difficult process to make. Not impossible, but how many preppers/survivalists are also industrial chemists? I must admit to cheating slightly on the fertiliser front - nitrogen fixing plants are so very useful. Of course, that's one chemical out of a whole lot that mean that we have more food than we know what to do with.

On another industrial chemistry note, the woad and henna are growing fine, but I should get some indigo and madder - and a book or two on dye plants and how to use them. I should also get a greenhouse, but that's another matter...

Each new day...

I've begun to appreciate something very important.

Each day the world doesn't end is one more day...

One more day to prepare...

One more day to gather the tools and equipment...

One more day to practise growing food and other crops...

One more day to learn the skills needed to thrive, not just survive...

One more day to learn and make mistakes that aren't going to risk your life...

Growing continues, some trees are proving good, some not. Tomatoes are spreading - I'm not really controlling them, just letting them spread around the place. Luffas are growing like weeds, but I've though of something interesting - see how many dried ones I can sell in the local area at an interesting price, marketing them as locally grown and organic... A local store has thin lengths of bamboo, barely a metre and a half, tall selling for $16... If someone is willing to buy at that price, I will have to find out who - and start cutting down and drying for that long. That money can then go back into prepping...

The Limit of the Game...

I haven't written much recently, due to low energy... Which made me realise that, all in all, there comes a limit to survival...

Energy.

Which, in engineering terms, is the ability to do work. You want to do something, you need to have the energy to do it... Gardening, keeping yourself alive... keeping other people alive, rebuilding. The reason that the developed world has been able to do so much is that energy has been readily available for the past couple of hundred years. Unfortunately, it means that we have also been going through resources in a major way - oil deposits laid down over millenia get gobbled through in decades. Metal ore deposits get pulled out of the ground  as quickly as they can be found.

Don't think I'm getting all Militant Greenie, though... There is a point - it will get harder to do more. Oil, coal, gas will get harder to obtain, more work has to be done to get raw materials. Which makes rebuilding harder to do.

Or, at least, rebuilding as come before.

Maybe a chance to wipe the slate clean will be providential. There's a lot of technology that does not need to be redeveloped, if enough of the knowledge can be preserved. Plastics can be made using materials other than drilled oil. A lot of things are solved problems, but you have to know the directions that you are going in, even then things aren't always doing to go to plan. And it requires you to have enough security to rebuild, people to help...

It takes energy to do work to create energy. You can only hope that, at the end of the day, you are able to produce more than you use.

Degeneration

I'm having to deal with customers who call for nuclear attacks on countries that they dislike, for no other reason than some voices (not necessarily sane) dislike those countries and are calling for their nuclear obliteration. I've lost the will to point out how many civilians would die, purely because they are on the wrong place on a map. How many babies will be turned to dust before they learn the concepts of Good or Evil.

How those voices calling for destruction would feel if their "enemies" did the same to their beloveds...

There was a side-by-side comparison of two photos I once saw. The first had Soviet children, reciting an oath; the second had US children, reciting the Oath of Allegiance. The photo pointed out that, as far as a lot of people would see, one photo was of children being indoctrinated, the other of children being patriotic... but that opinions would differ as to which was which.

I can find pity for those indoctrinated from birth, yet annoyance at those calling themselves "free"... But, at the moment, I cannot tell which are which.

Rushing toward the Apocalypse...

I am still feeling what only can be described as echoes of what I described previously. Even though floods, storms, fires, and earthquakes have struck so far this year before then... Four types of disaster, four classic elements.

Of course, the fifth and last element is variously referred to as ether, void, or quintessence.

How that might turn out, I cannot begin to imagine.

H.P. Lovecraft might have been a mediocre writer, compared with a lot of authors, but he had something correct. The nameless horror, the one that we cannot describe, the one that defies logic is worse than any other.

Signs and portents...

I know don't know what to think...

I went out in the garden for a post-breakfast amble, checking the growth of my trees and other plants, looking at the fruit that is developing. Several pawpaws are on the way, from a hermaphroditic tree; they come as either male, female, or hermaphrodite - the last being most useful, because you can plenty a lot of them before they start producing flowers, and not have to worry whether you're only planting relatively unproductive males. So, the seeds from the hermaphrodites will be saved and sprouted... If nothing else, for gift and trade value. I should get a couple more to ensure some better genetic variety - but finding nurseries that have other lines is difficult in these days of mass production and mass marketing. I'm not a huge fan of pawpaw, but it is nutritious, easy to grow, productive - and papain, from the leaves or raw fruit, is also good for tenderising meat, useful if you start having to feed weakened people using game with tough muscles.

Gardening ramble out of the way, though...

I was inspecting one pawpaw tree when seven drops of blood hit the ground, only a few feet away from me. No birds nearby, no other people within visible range.

Seven drops in the shape of the seven hills of Rome...

Do I believe in signs and portents? I don't think so...
Do I believe in prophecy? I believe that people can make prophecies self-fulfilling...

But when a cold wind blows on you on a warm morning when you are looking closely at seven drops of blood on the ground...

Waiting for God(ot)

I've decided that waiting for TEOTWAWKI is a lot like Waiting For Godot... Lots of hopeful signs, yet never seems to happen... and you're left wondering...

Or Waiting For God - Lots of hopeful signs, yet never seems to happen... and you're left wondering...

The one thing that I have learnt is that you're never prepared enough - there are always more things that you need, you're never quite totally prepared. I've been thinking (as I've had the chance) about what else to get. A solar water still would be very nice, so would a solar food dryer. I've not found solar food dryers anywhere, but a few plans... Doesn't look too difficult - and I should get the handyman spirit.

Sitting on the sidelines, watching the world go by...

The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation - Bertrand Russell

Or so I heard.

Well, the interesting thing about being in a region that has suffered a minor disaster (your milage may vary on whether or not it is classifiable as "minor"), is watching how people react in the face of problems.

We had things well prepared for, although we have been able to do some better assessing of what else needs to be done. We had some bottled water standing by, although could do with water tanks. Our on-site sewage plant is fine, although is reliant on having electricity. Perhaps with solar panels being installed soon, I can work out a way to disconnect the panels from the grid-connect inverter if local power ever gets cut, and get an inverter for the house, albeit needing one capable of handling 3kW, and a battery bank (which is the pricey thing, especially if you're not using it. A generator would be very useful, I guess - but finding one that's reliable and good for continuous use will cost. We had plenty of food, although could do with more things like powered milk. I haven't had to get the small, gas stove out yet - that was an option. I ended up getting a decent radio yesterday - receives AM, FM, shortwave, will recharge batteries (when running from some power source), has several power options. Having a transmitter would be nice, I should get some reasonable power UHF transceivers.

Being up in the hills is nice, we have been well insulated from any problems... Although it was interesting telling my new manager (long story, will fill in at some stage) that No, We Are Evacuating - everything will likely be alright, however it's not the time to risk getting caught out. Especially when waters don't need to rise up much to leave you under a metre of flooding.

As it was people further down river, etc., from where we are have been hit, although nowhere as bad as things could be.

That hasn't stopped people panic-buying food and other items. Seeing photos of supermarkets that have rows of shelves empty, particularly of perishables and food that needs cooking. Eggs are good, but don't last long out of a fridge (particularly if you buy a lot of them), and need cooking if you're to avoid salmonella. I have also heard about people going overboard in buying things that they wouldn't actually use. And I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few cases of cholera reported in the next week or so - really, when there is sewage overflow into flooding waters, you don't want to go swimming... Mosquito-borne diseases are expected to rise...

There have been a few good things coming out of what's happened - people seem to cope with problems, volunteering to help, taking what's happening in their collective stride. It does raise the question, at least to a pessimist, on how bad things could get before such collective cooperation started falling apart... And, is the help that people are giving each other a social artifact (dependent on the society), or is it universal of humans... There is plenty of communication, those in charge are still seen to be in charge. Strangely enough, too, countries that we would be rushing to help in times of their crises because of the infrastructure problems they have, have offered to help...