Most disaster preparedness typically includes creating sufficient food and potable water stores and enough ammunition and firearms for protection. However, those wanting complete self-sufficiency and life sustainability will often choose to live off the grid.
A good prepper may even plan on having a well-stocked gun cleaning kit to ensure the barrels and operating parts of their AR15 upper receiver and lower are cleaned and maintained frequently. If you are looking for some coupon codes to build out your rifle, check out Primary Arms.
The problem most survival preparedness plans experience is that many of them usually are a bit short-sighted. Yes, you may have planned your survival needs for a couple of weeks or months, perhaps even a year, but what happens if the calamity lasts longer than that?
The thing about disasters of epic proportions is that they rarely happen when we expect them to happen. That’s why they’re known as disasters.
When forced to live by your wits for a long time, sustainability becomes a necessity. Think of it this way. If forced off the grid and the situation is so dynamic that all the things you frequently took for granted are no longer available, how long will your bug-out and go bags last? What will you do when food, water, and fuel oil or electricity remain unavailable for great lengths of time?
In this kind of situation, you’re going to go through your food stores and water supplies ultimately, and that’s when you’re going to have to live off the land and learn skills to sustain yourself in the future. Here are a few of the more essential skills you’ll need to remember when attempting to maintain a life off the grid.
Hard But Doable
Remember that you may not have chosen the lifestyle you’re currently in and that you may be living in a state where the winters are brutal, and water is scarce.
Living off the grid requires a complete shift of thinking and habits. It will be extremely hard at first, but you can learn to survive over time with plenty of forethought. Sustainable survival in these locations means planning and preparing a homestead or shelter that can protect you from the elements.
Remember, you’re now trying to survive in an infrastructure that has experienced a complete meltdown. There won’t be any electricity unless you develop an alternative solution such as solar panels or gas-fed generators. Although an electric source provided by gasoline or diesel may seem an optimal solution, if the fuel source suddenly becomes unavailable, your source of electricity dries up and wither away.
The same goes for sewage and running water. During a cataclysmic event, you need to shelter in a place where water is available, at least so you can boil it to create potable water. Regarding sewage, you most probably will need to go back to the days of an outhouse behind whatever shelter you make.
When your food source depletes and you’re off the grid, you’ll need to make sure you’ve found a location that provides you with an ample supply of wildlife to hunt. You’ll also need to take up farming. While you may not live in a place that has nutrient-rich soil, you’ll need to keep moving until you find a spot.
Become Migratory
Survival sustainability may require you to migrate. If the apocalyptic conditions exist, you’ll need to find a place that offers plenty of wild game and fish and has good soil for growing crops. If you’re currently living in one of the northwest states in America, you’re already off to a good start.
Most northwestern states have wide-open spaces, plenty of wildlife for hunting, and the soil is excellent for crops. You may have to endure a little cold weather, but there are places in the northwest where you’ll experience moderate winters.
Growing and Gathering
Should you choose not to migrate, you’ll still need to locate an area with good water sources for drinking and watering your crops. One thing many survivalists fail to include when planning a way of sustainable living is having the right kinds of starter seeds.
Non-germinated seed packets such as potatoes, tomatoes, corn, radishes, spinach, or any food source you can grow yourself that doesn’t require an overabundance of water should be a regular stock item in your preparedness kit. Additionally, stock your sustainable survival kit with seeds of berries and fruits such as blackberries and blueberries.
You’ll also need to develop natural pesticides such as salt spray, onion, or garlic sprays to prevent all those pesky bugs from eating away at your crops.
If you’re new to gardening, a few things you should remember about planting all the seeds you’ve included in your sustainability plan. Seeds get eaten not necessarily by you but by birds, moles, and certain types of worms.
If you plant your seeds too shallow, don’t expect the seeds to germinate because they’ll go missing in action. Another thing to remember is that your seeds can rot. If you plant them too deep and overwater them, they won’t germinate and grow.
Remember, without sufficient electricity; you may not have the opportunity of freezing what you hunt or the vegetables you gather, so you’ll need to create a way to store them properly.
Transportation Off the Grid
In a dynamic situation that lasts for what seems an eternity, getting fuel for your vehicle will ultimately become an issue. You may find yourself needing to travel using low-tech solutions such as snowshoes, cross country skis, or even a bicycle or two.
Not only will you rapidly reduce your carbon footprint, but over time you’ll end up in the best physical shape you’ve ever been since you were a teenager.
Wear What You Hunt
While none of us expect to revert to what mountain folks and trappers of years past wore, you can develop skills to make belts, shoes, and jackets from the hides of some of the animals you hunt.
Additionally, you can repurpose many of the clothing items you took with you into other forms of suitable clothing if necessary. If you’re lucky and willing to plan far into the sustainable future, you may have considered stocking up on cloth you can use when the time comes for a new shirt or a pair of pants.
Sustainability Through Protection
If you’ve managed to build adequate shelter and have an excellent crop of fruits and vegetables going on, the last thing you’ll want to happen is for an intruder or band of vagabonds to steal what you’ve worked hard to create.
You need to have the tools and standards to sustain yourself, which means sufficient ammunition and functional weapons to defend against intruders.
Depending on the number of thieves descending upon your homestead, consider bringing along fully functional semi-automatic rifles and pistols. Also, make sure you have more than ample supplies of loaded magazines to repel the intruders and protect yourself.
Always stay prepared, even if you’re taking a short hike to a nearby water source, carry a pistol for varmints of the four-legged and even of the two-legged variety. Think of your firearm as if it’s an American Express credit card. Never leave home without it.
Leaving Society Behind You
When forced off the grid because of a dynamic event, it means you’ll be spending a life maintaining your specific quality of living. It may be for a short time, and it could be a much longer time than you intend, but either way living off the grid means leaving society behind you and taking care of yourself and your family’s basic needs.
In the event of a catastrophic grid and infrastructure failure, choosing to stay put in the city may not be the wisest decision to make. It’s a hard life when you completely change your lifestyle, but after a while, you’ll realize the freedoms gained by living a complete and self-sufficient lifestyle.
At some point, you’ll realize that you’ve now managed to take charge of your destiny. You’ll suddenly realize that you’re sustaining a life where you’re growing and hunting the food you eat and living without needing to depend on others to do it.
Many survivalists choose to give up city life and take it upon themselves to embark on a self-sufficient journey without the need of an apocalyptic event. These kinds of folks have spent years doing all the things that you may end up forced to deal with, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn how to take care of yourself and your family and survive.
Remember, it’s not just about leaving society behind and striking out on your own. It’s about learning to do the things necessary to promote a positive and more permanent outcome. None of us knows what the future has in store for us. There may come a time when the infrastructure collapses and our existence as we know it dramatically shifts.
Preppers all understand that the worst could happen and try to prepare for it, but you need to start thinking beyond a few days, weeks, or months. The grid may fail to come back for a very long time, and you’ll need to do everything right not only to survive the initial situations but to maintain a sustainable way of living.
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