Of Spring and Snakes

The hardest part of trying to prepare is finding the time to do so... There are only so many hours in the day, particularly if you're working full-time. I do need a small cadre of people, I really do.

I could do with some people who are scared enough of what the future might hold, but want someone who can navigate a course for them... People who can be tended, gardened, as need be.

Spring has struck in full force, although rain is yet to appear. Fortunately, ground water is providing the means for lots of growth, with some saplings growing at an astonishing rate at the moment. The ground is dry, grass is dying, but there is much green. A superficial glance sees things as marginal, but more is hidden than meets the eyes. Most trees are beginning to produce their crops, small at the moment, but showing promise. The most interesting trees might take several more years to reach good production levels, though - a few trees are producing usable foods, not in large quantities, hopefully this year will see more.

The arrival of spring and dry weather also means the arrival of highly venomous snakes, hidden in the undergrowth. The trick to most snakes is not to bother them - even the most venomous would rather not  bite, but will when roused. Perhaps a suitable mascot...

Ethnopharmacology and Industrial Botany

I so would love to have a bit more land - more land would give me a bit more room to plant all the trees and plants that I want to... That might mean having a couple of people looking after them all for me.

I have some plants like white willow - the bark has been known from ancient times to be useful as a medicine. There are plenty of other plants which I could find very useful...

I've been looking to find rubber trees, but I think I'd need plenty of land, and not have them too close to any house - apparently, the roots can be very invasive. Would be useful to have, though - a source of latex rubber without having to depend on oil deposits, pumps, refining equipment.

If nature is capable of doing most of the work for you, you should let it.

Eucalyptus grandii seems to be a very useful source of wood - grows very quickly, can be coppiced (ie cut down, and will regrow from the stump). Makes forestry a better activity - you can cut down and not have to replant manually - saves precious time, energy,  and resources.

I will admit that I'm looking at scenarios where the environment is not completely wiped out when SHTF - but if the world freezes over, it's going to take much more resources than I currently have access to. Not that that type of scenario would be impossible to deal with, but I'd want to go underground, would need geothermal power, need a significant aquaponic system just for air, let alone food. Not an unsolvable problem, but we can only do as much as we are able.

I definitely requires more land... And I can't quite just keep plants in pots, wait until TEOTWAWKI, and plant them out into the land around me, can I? Actually, not grandii - apparently, it can grow seven metres in its first year. Okay, anything that produces viable seeds would be okay to use, but I wouldn't want to have to graft post-SHTF just to have a viable food supply, or water a hundred potted plants pre-SHTF.

I'm also trying to grow some cotton - having moderate success doing so, though I've not sprayed it against pests, so I am not sure whether the raw cotton is getting eaten before it's ready. I have to plant some pyrethrum out - a very good insecticide. Add in there various dye plants, and you can see potentials. The whole of Organic Chemistry as a field of study and industry started because of the want of large quantities of dyes.

There are more plants out there that have uses PSHTF than just the ones that you can eat.

2012

I shall clarify my position...

I do not believe that 2012 is necessarily any specific signifier of disaster; I accept it as a possibility.

I do not believe that TEOTWAWKI is going to be a Biblical event; I believe that people might be willing to make it such.

I am not certain that astronomical events are coming to destroy us; I know that there are certain threats, and acknowledge their probabilities, and possible responses to them.

I do not believe that only the strongest, meanest will survive; I regard humanity as being strongest when it bands together, yet gives individuals some freedoms.

I do not believe that technology is going to be the cause of any downfall; I believe that it is human fallibilities that misuse technology that could be.

The joy of Spring...

The joy of Spring is that you get to see what has survived winter and, in my case, what has also survived several weeks without rain.

The grass is looking brown, yet my trees have (for the most part) begun to wake up, having tapped into the ground water before winter. My sole grapevine has opened its leaves, a few nut and fruit trees are on the verge of doing so... and, importantly, my white willows are showing life - even two that have been sitting in pots, not really cared for or watered well. Apparently, they are fairly resilient, so not too much of a surprise. For those not familiar, the white willow is the original source of Salicylic Acid - the active component of headache tablets such as Aspirin - and important when you want to think about about self-sufficiency...

Just thinking about it, it would be a useful item to have for trade in the long-term. To use it, you have to process, you can't just steal fruit, but they do a lot of the hard work themselves, you don't have to have major industrial processes. There is a certain magic to it - to the uninitiated, it is just a tree indistinguishable from others, while it's a source of something important. If you take sufficient care, it can be coppiced.

Of course medicines will be available in the short term in a crisis, and aspirin is common enough that even in medium term situations, getting it shouldn't be a problem - but what if it is?

Likewise eucalyptus oils, tea tree oils... clove, if I can get a sapling and get it going.

Having said all that, it's good to see so many plants waking up.