Survive- The Economic Collapse

by Piero San Giorgio

  At first sight, preparing and stocking food for months or even years for yourself, your family, and all those who will join you, or even in order to feed refugees, sounds like a colossal effort. But if you begin doing a little at a time, it is not so difficult or burdensome. Considering that the price of food is going to go up appreciably in the coming years, it will be a significant source of savings. I have drawn up a list of products to be ordered over the Internet, to be delivered directly to my SAB, and which I will send off at the last minute. This list contains all sorts of perishable products that cannot be stored for a long time (bananas, pasteurized milk, fresh fruits, and vegetables). The day we go on high alert, the order goes off and, with a little luck, it will be one of the last to be filled and end with delivery to a sorting center. If it doesn’t arrive, I’ll know the situation is really bad.

  Hunting, Fishing, Vegetable Gardening, and

  Animal Husbandry

  Even if your food stock serves you well in difficult times, sooner or later it will run out. So it is necessary to know how to hunt, cultivate, and breed healthy, fresh food in order to have maximum autonomy. In the Soviet Union, 10 percent of the agricultural land, allocated for individual gardens, generated 90 percent of agricultural production destined for domestic consumption. It was these gardens, nearly all of them cultivated according to the techniques of permaculture, that saved the lives of millions of Russians when the Soviet Union collapsed. Only so many people can live on a given area of land. There must be a balance between land and its inhabitants. A lack of balance always brings catastrophe. Be very careful about the number of people you accept into your SAB, and also about the number of people living in the surrounding communities. Do not let a disequilibrium develop.

  One way of partly meeting one’s nutritional needs is hunting. You should begin your training now by, first, acquiring a hunting permit from the proper authorities. You should also begin learning how to hunt and with various weapons (rifles, bows, crossbows, etc.) and how to prepare your catch once it is killed. (The subject of weapons will be treated in the chapter on defense.) In any case, you will have to adapt to the quarry of your region and understand the hunting techniques that are most appropriate for each species.

  If you live near the sea or a river, fishing can be an excellent source of food, fish being the best kind of animal protein and the best source of omega-3 and -6 oils. As with hunting, arm yourself with the necessary permits and tools proper for the type of fishing you choose. Another way of having abundant fish is to make your own fish pond. A pond that’s 100 square feet and three-feet deep is enough, and it’s easy to make. You must, however, carefully choose the aquatic plants best adapted to the fish you intend to raise. There are numerous sorts of aquatic plants suited to the depth of your pond. For example, water hyacinths, aquatic forget-me-nots, or water irises are proper for shallow ponds. For deeper ponds, you might choose pickerel weeds, arrowheads, or water lilies. Equip yourself with the proper tools for fishing for the species of your region (lines, nets, etc.).

  Your principle source of healthy, varied, and balanced food will certainly be your vegetable garden. First of all, you must determine the surface area you will need in relation to the surface you have available. The advantage of having an SAB in a rural area is obvious: more space, more cultivable ground, and better access to water. In the city, you will have very little space on your balcony or terrace to develop a sufficiently large cultivation area. Once you have determined the minimum surface area, you can reserve the remaining surface for husbandry or pasturage. You should know that animals require more space to produce the same quantity of food. At a minimum, you must allow 550 square feet of vegetable garden per adult under permaculture (1,000 square feet per person would be preferable). Permaculture gives you the maximum possible healthy yield, is effective against pests, and does not damage the soil. It is useful to leave fallow an extra section of a few square meters per person, in order to rotate crops from one year to another. Do not hesitate to reserve one part of your garden for flowers, which will attract good insects and bees (useful for pollination). Ideally, for a family, plan on some 10,000 square feet. Such a large surface will allow you to grow all kinds of things all year round and raise a surplus that you can preserve or trade. Use a wide variety of fruits, cereals, vegetables, and herbs. In this way, you will insure yourself against any plant sickness striking a particular plant, which can destroy an entire year’s crop: even in the worst case, only a small part of your garden will be affected. Plan on species that sprout early in the spring and others that only sprout in late autumn; thus you will have something fresh to eat most of the time. In this spirit, inform yourself about what grows at each time of the year in order to know when to sow and when to harvest each root or vegetable.

  Buy seed stock now and maintain three times as much as you expect to use. Thus, you will have a store on hand, and you will not be left empty-handed if you must restart a crop that did not sprout. For greater autonomy, recover seed from living plants and make sure the seeds you buy are organic (and not genetically altered or hybrids, since these are modified so as not to sprout more than once). Stock your seeds in a dark, dry place in rodent-proof metal containers. Remember to cultivate the foods you enjoy—but in moderation! As an adjunct to your garden, or if you live in town, you can also grow vegetables and small fruit trees in pots and large tubs. This is very useful if you wish to have a few oranges or lemons, where the trees would suffer from frost. A greenhouse can also help you grow fruits which would normally require a warmer climate. A greenhouse of 100 square feet is a good start. If you have wet areas on your land, you can also plant wild rice, which will attract migrating birds that can add to your food supply.

  To improve the productivity of your vegetable garden, you can use natural or organic fertilizers. Organic fertilizers are vegetable matter (compost or other vegetal waste matter). They can be made from plants cultivated or prepared for this very purpose (such as nettle manure or algae) or manure piles (composed mostly of vegetal litter and half-digested vegetal excreta).

  To sow, cultivate, maintain, protect, and, finally, harvest the fruit of your labor in your garden, you will need good tools. Buy all the necessary tools in a specialty shop, and only buy high-quality items: remember that you are going to have to use these tools for a long time, and you will not easily have anyone to repair them or any place to go to buy others. Avoid all tools that require gasoline, electricity, or modern technologies. Think of it as if you were living in the 19th century, or even the Middle Ages. What worked then will work tomorrow: seeders, scythes, billhooks, saws, wheelbarrows, hand mills, etc. Also remember to get replacement parts for your tools (handles, axe heads, etc.).

  Protect your crop against pests that, if they are annoying now, will become deadly enemies when your survival depends upon your agricultural production. With all due respect to vegetarians, to get cereals and vegetables, rats and harmful insects must be pitilessly destroyed; this genocidal mission requires frequent attention. Having cats or dogs specialized in rodent hunting is a good idea. Prepare traps for mice, rats, and moles. Buy the material necessary for making wire and picket fences to protect your crops from the depredations of larger animals (boars, deer) and smaller (hares, squirrels). Also protect your animals (poultry, rabbits, etc.) from fox and wolf attacks.

  Having a cat who likes hunting mice is a good idea in an SAB, as is a guard dog. It will be even more important to fight insects. The best solution for this in a world without pesticides could be organic, with the help of other insects and plants. Beetles pursue aphids, nematodes infect and kill slugs and weevils, etc. To protect your fruit trees, install bird foils, reflective paper or Mylar strips; attach old CDs to branches with fishing lines or install bird nets. For the interior of your home, choose plants that provide visual comfort, but, above all, clean the air.

  If you have space left over after installing and protecting your garden, animal husbandry will help you meet your needs
for animal protein in the form of meat, eggs, or milk. Certain animals are useful for their strength (oxen, donkeys, etc.) or for riding (horses, etc.). As with everything else, improvisation will not work. You must know each breed and all the peculiarities of the animals you wish to raise: their proper food, their natural rhythms and life cycles, what care must be given them and, if necessary, under what conditions they can be prepared for consumption. Most animals today are super-specialized and selected for maximum efficiency in producing meat and milk. Unfortunately, these Frankenstein animals are sometimes unable to reproduce, or lack basic instincts (nesting, etc.). They are neither nutritionally healthy nor able to live on their own. If you want to raise animals to produce eggs, milk, wool, hide, or meat or for plowing, you must select healthy animals adapted to your region, climate, and type of soil. Ideally, you should choose local breeds with good genetic diversity, and which do not require the constant presence of a veterinarian. So choose carefully: free-roaming chickens (rather than those from coops) are able to lay eggs, reproduce, and provide good meat for consumption; healthy rabbits with a varied genetic patrimony; pigs, sheep, goats, cows that can caper and frolic, and provide good meat, milk, wool, etc. Looking for such animals will give you occasion to meet many farmers in your region and establish contacts that will be useful later. When you are buying animals, pay attention: you must have all the authorizations and follow all health and other regulations. Take care to ask the sellers questions about the animal’s health, age, breed, and reproductive capacity (look to see if it is castrated). Consult a veterinarian or expert, especially the first time. But it is up to you to choose: buffaloes, bison, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chicken, rabbits, emus, ostriches, geese, turkeys, llamas, alpacas, mules, donkeys, horses. . . Finally, learn to keep your animals on your own land: provide walls, fences, or barriers. Keeping animals is no game. Although the result can be excellent (fresh eggs in the morning), the daily work required can be significant. A cow requires more work than a pig, which requires more than a sheep or chicken. In all cases, learn to care for your animals and treat them as well as you would a human (well, sort of) in all areas, including when you must slaughter them to eat or to cut short their sufferings in case of sickness or an accident.

  Again, it is from practice that you will learn and develop know-how. Start by thinking small: a few square feet for a garden, a few fowl or rabbits. After a while, enlarge the terrain, plant more, develop your technique, try raising a sheep or a pony. . . Gradually, you will become more experienced and self-sufficient. Even if you are rich and someone manages your farm for you, learn to do everything yourself. Your manager will not always be there, and it is better to practice before someone makes a mistake with terrible consequences.

  In general, take inspiration from nature and its laws. Practical agriculture cannot limit itself to a technique or production goals. It must view the whole environment in which it is inscribed with a real sense of ecology: water management, reforestation, the prevention of erosion, care for humus and soil, respecting and preserving biodiversity, etc. The agriculture practiced in your SAB will thus become a regenerative force for the soil, and your local production will be healthy and nourishing.

  Are you ready to become a farmer?!

  *

  Created in 2008, the “Francilière” association has the goal of defending France’s heritage and culture.

  Established in the Burgundy region, its projects are covered with the dual objective of conserving and transmitting the values that are at the heart of European civilization and the people who forged it across time. The foundation declares that it “participates in safeguarding and favoring the permanence of the environment and the common heritage of the European peoples.” It pursues this goal while respecting natural balances and with a constant care to foster fraternity among its members. One of its callings is to promote and support the creation of a place for meeting and exchange. Its seven founders renovated an abandoned rural site, which they renamed “La Francilière.” This site, organized as a community, is entirely similar to an SAB. It is a place that accepts permanent residents, but its vocation is also to accept tourists, which permits it to be self-financing. All year long it welcomes individuals and families into a warm and convivial atmosphere. Internships and themed residencies are offered within the framework of the association’s cultural activities. According to its members, it defends a “certain idea of France” that “under the combined effects of immigration, demographic decline, and a fashionable ideology preaching universal crossbreeding, risks causing everything French to disappear from France in a short time.” Practically, a household with sleeping quarters, living rooms, a kitchen, and toilets is equipped to receive a large number of people. A large garden and field are already being used to grow cereals and vegetables, thanks to techniques inspired by permaculture (complete with hedgehog shelters) and traditional agriculture. A food reserve, the fruit of surplus production in the area, has been put in jars and stored at a constant temperature.

  Point 3: Hygiene and Health

  <
  réjean ducharme

  artist

  _wild to mild

  /1973/

  <
  maurice druon

  writer

  //1918-2009//

  <
  plutarch

  philosopher

  //40-125//

  <
  jean de la bruyère

  philosopher

  //1645-1696//

  Having spoken of the importance of food and water, and thus having studied the two essential needs for human survival, we must now develop the theme of safeguarding human life. The third fundamental principle of an SAB is the management of hygiene and health.

  Here, we come up against a major stumbling block of civilization. Although one can easily establish efficient subsistence agriculture independent of modern science and technology (with a source of water, work, and simple tools and techniques), medicine is different. It is probably in this domain that our life has changed the most over the last 150 years. We have gone from a perilous world of high mortality—with short life spans filled with physical suffering, with an uncertain, improvised medical system incapable of diagnosing and treating illnesses—to a world where everything can be treated except a few rare diseases or those caused by human behavior (cancer from tobacco, diabetes due to poor nutrition, etc.) or the environment (carcinogenic pollution, etc.). We haven’t achieved immortality yet . . . but modern medicine’s ability to extend and improve people’s lives, even in very poor countries, is not short of astounding!

  If the economy collapses, we will be confronted with the rapid—and perhaps permanent—disappearance of modern healthcare. Even if a doctor is available, what happens if treatment becomes impossible because pharmaceutical factories have closed, or the ingredients necessary to produce medication are inaccessible? In serious cases of social unrest, hospitals and doctors are often taken to task, or even destroyed and murdered by mobs who do not understand the implications of their actions, or that medical treatment cannot be given to everyone indiscriminately. In periods of turmoil in Rwanda, the Congo, and Cambodia, and to a lesser extent in Uganda, Togo, and El Salvador, hospitals have been sacked and burned; often, patients and certain doctors who tried to protect them have been executed by militias or angry mobs. This does not mean that such aberrant behavior could happen in the West, where the role of modern medicine has traditionally been held in higher regard. But who can be sure? In short, you should do everything you can do to remain healthy and out of hospital.

  Good advice, certainly, but not always practical. And we must be practical; so let’s start at the beginning.

  In order to avoid being ill, in weak health, or wounded, you must never
get sick, have accidents, and need medical care. It sounds obvious, but it’s simply logical. First of all, you must prevent medical problems from occurring as much as possible. Then, if a problem occurs in spite of our precautions, it must be treated effectively. Priority should be given to treating the statistically most common problems, without neglecting the less common and more difficult ones. Finally, one must be realistic and honest: there are a lot of injuries and illnesses that cannot be treated without the help of a doctor with an operating theater and modern medications. Lacking these, one must be prepared for the worst: a lingering death, terrible suffering. All the more reason to practice daily prevention.

  How does one do this?

  Not being able to undertake long medical studies at my age and become a specialized caregiver, doctor, or surgeon, I decided to converse at length with some friends and acquaintances: emergency personnel, surgeons, anesthesiologists, and Red Cross doctors. Moreover, I have studied works on military and rural medicine. Two works in particular have been indispensable to me:

  Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner was published in 1977; Werner describes treatment methods in Third World villages. The book is extremely comprehensive and covers our concerns perfectly. This book and its companion, Where There Is No Dentist, are available for free download at

  www.piero.com.

  68W Advanced Field Craft: Combat Medic Skills is the combat medicine manual of the American Army, which has acquired a great reputation for its ability to save the lives of its soldiers. This well-illustrated manual explains how to treat injuries as varied as fractures, bullet wounds, burns, chemical poisoning, and radiation damage. It is a wonderful reference to have at home.

  All the doctors I interviewed and all the works I read (listed in the bibliographical section) agree that prevention is the best way to avoid problems, that if a problem occurs, a doctor must be consulted quickly, and that if there is no doctor and no medicine, one must try a few simple techniques and hope for the best. What I write in this chapter is a summary of these interviews and studies. This will give you a start on developing a system to follow. You will quickly understand that you must investigate each of the elements yourself by reading books, taking courses, and talking to your doctor (and asking a lot of questions). Never try to provide medical or surgical care at home, as an autodidact or autonomously. Do not improvise where medicine is concerned. There is good reason for a medical student’s long years of study and practice. As much as you can, in case of a sanitary or medical problem, consult specialists.