Thanks for the really informative replies. I don't know how this thread would benefit .gov but I commend the suspicion.
I'm currently in Wisconsin and I haven't encountered any like-minded people. None. Lots of people, here and elsewhere, talk a big game but will never live a self-sufficient life. Even the Amish here. It's a rare breed that will.
I'm seeking high elevation and workable natural resources, but plentiful resources is obviously a better situation. I was looking at northern NM. Southern Colorado was looking beautiful until I looked into the absolutely insane regulations and restrictions on land "ownership." Too high a neighboring population anyway.
My dream was/is remote Alaska but getting there and getting set up would eat much of my savings. I would also probably be completely alone for the rest of my time.
Weather patterns are changing, and will be dramatically different in the decades to come. Everything will be. Calm and stable periods on this planet are the exception, not the rule. Trying to get set up ahead of that in anticipation. Political and economic chaos right now are only the beginning in anticipation and are a waste of time to concern oneself with.
We're entering the cyclical ~12k year disaster. Solar flares during this recurring period of weakened magnetic field will take out the modern electric age (the 1859 Carrington event was just the beginning of the current weakening of the Earth's magnetic field and the accompanying polar excursion we're observing now.) People and government will get really ugly, then survivors will adapt. I don't plan on participating in that.
The galactic cloud that causes this event (and that affects the entire solar systems, observable right now across our own and neighboring systems) will eventually lead to a micronova of our sun. The energy, heat, ions, and material impacts will be catastrophic. This has all happened repeatedly. Low elevations of earth will flood as the earth tilts 90° just as it always has. The poles and equator will be much different than they were (the magnetic poles are drifting and accelerating already). Some ancient religious stories are based in truth. This is also evident by alternating layers of polar and tropical fossils in the polar regions.
People will survive; they always do. But not many. I'm in my mid-30s and going at things alone, I only hope to make it past everybody's initial freaking out. A lot of what will happen past that isn't in anybody's control, aside from being in a strategic location. Will be quite the experience though. So we have that going for us, which is nice.
A long post to say that I believe the current dry areas on/directly East of the Rockies will become more moderate.
I don't expect a lot of intellectual responses *on any forum, but the fraction that will be might be very helpful and enjoyable on my rare day off.
Thanks for the really informative replies. I don't know how this thread would benefit .gov but I commend the suspicion.
I'm currently in Wisconsin and I haven't encountered any like-minded people. None. Lots of people, here and elsewhere, talk a big game but will never live a self-sufficient life. Even the Amish here. It's a rare breed that will.
I'm seeking high elevation and workable natural resources, but plentiful resources is obviously a better situation. I was looking at northern NM. Southern Colorado was looking beautiful until I looked into the absolutely insane regulations and restrictions on land "ownership." Too high a neighboring population anyway.
My dream was/is remote Alaska but getting there and getting set up would eat much of my savings. I would also probably be completely alone for the rest of my time.
Weather patterns are changing, and will be dramatically different in the decades to come. Everything will be. Calm and stable periods on this planet are the exception, not the rule. Trying to get set up ahead of that in anticipation. Political and economic chaos right now are only the beginning in anticipation and are a waste of time to concern oneself with.
We're entering the cyclical ~12k year disaster. Solar flares during this recurring period of weakened magnetic field will take out the modern electric age (the 1859 Carrington event was just the beginning of the current weakening of the Earth's magnetic field and the accompanying polar excursion we're observing now.) People and government will get really ugly, then survivors will adapt. I don't plan on participating in that.
The galactic cloud that causes this event (and that affects the entire solar systems, observable right now across our own and neighboring systems) will eventually lead to a micronova of our sun. The energy, heat, ions, and material impacts will be catastrophic. This has all happened repeatedly. Low elevations of earth will flood as the earth tilts 90° just as it always has. The poles and equator will be much different than they were (the magnetic poles are drifting and accelerating already). Some ancient religious stories are based in truth. This is also evident by alternating layers of polar and tropical fossils in the polar regions.
People will survive; they always do. But not many. I'm in my mid-30s and going at things alone, I only hope to make it past everybody's initial freaking out. A lot of what will happen past that isn't in anybody's control, aside from being in a strategic location. Will be quite the experience though. So we have that going for us, which is nice.
A long post to say that I believe the current dry areas on/directly East of the Rockies will become more moderate.
I don't expect a lot of intellectual responses *on any forum, but the fraction that will be might be very helpful and enjoyable on my rare day off.
Friend Happy Camper on here. He’s a giant in the field.
Yes, the avg iq has been dropping for decades. No surprise, and it doesn't hurt my feelings. Enjoy
If it's just now dawning on you that you need to become more self sufficient and put away supplies and food for when things go south, you have a lot of catching up to do.
It's never too late though.
Forget the desert. The desert kills people like you for grins. Seriously.
I've been looking into getting as distanced as possible from large populations and wildly out of control emboldened government. It's how I want to live my life and I don't care to debate the merits.
I have a lot of experience with cold-weather survival and self-sufficiency, but Northern land is much more expensive. There are small high desert plats that are extremely affordable, because they're in the desert. People do have self-sufficient homesteads in this kind of climate. Solar powered refrigeration, rainwater collection, cisterns, greenhouses, and small livestock such as chickens.
What concerns me is my lack of experience in this kind of climate. Also not having as many meat hunting opportunities. But I could afford a lot more equipment and structures with the much cheaper land. Perhaps more socially interesting on occasion.
Any thoughts/advice/ramblings would be greatly appreciated.
Too bad crossfireoops isn't around any more to give you a really good, multi-page reply.
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
I've been looking into getting as distanced as possible from large populations and wildly out of control emboldened government. It's how I want to live my life and I don't care to debate the merits.
I have a lot of experience with cold-weather survival and self-sufficiency, but Northern land is much more expensive. There are small high desert plats that are extremely affordable, because they're in the desert. People do have self-sufficient homesteads in this kind of climate. Solar powered refrigeration, rainwater collection, cisterns, greenhouses, and small livestock such as chickens.
What concerns me is my lack of experience in this kind of climate. Also not having as many meat hunting opportunities. But I could afford a lot more equipment and structures with the much cheaper land. Perhaps more socially interesting on occasion.
Any thoughts/advice/ramblings would be greatly appreciated.
For a trial run to see if the desert is for you check out the “burning man” event and see if you can hook up with a hippie chick that already has her own place.
"I was born in the log cabin I helped my grandfather build"
A cistern in the desert? I've heard some far fetched shirt but this one is out there. Man can't survive in one place without a plentiful water supply.
I have a buried cistern. It was originally used by the well to store water so the pump only ran when needed. Well was dry when we bought the place, but we plan on storing rainwater in it. The water collected doesn't all need to come from the roof. A ground level collector can easily feed into a buried tank. One inch of rain on an acre is 27,000 gallons. Most is lost to evaporation, transpiration, runoff, and other means.
For the moment, we are looking to collect non-potable water for bathroom use and use jugs of potable water for drinking and cooking. It's not ideal, nor easy, but it is doable.
Here's a reference: Modern Potable Rainwater Harvesting: System Design, Construction, and Maintenance by Daniel M Brown
Do you own the water rights to collect the rainwater? This is going on in OR right now. People can't have rain barrels because someone else has the rights to all the runoff from their property. It doesn't matter how long your cistern has been there. It's who owns the water rights on the land that matters. If this western drought continues, many people are going to get bit when the rights holders send in the sheriff to shut down their water collecting systems. It's not theirs to collect.
Many desert homes were broken off from ranches that sold off land that wasn't good for grazing. They didn't sell the water rights along with the land.
I understand the legal requirements here, but the sad part is I doubt many of those ranchers have an effective way to retain the water runoff from heavy rains. I mean it's pretty obvious the most effective retention system is immediate capture with retention in an enclosed cistern which greatly limits losses. If the home owner uses the water it is almost certainly discharged back into the water table through drain field leaching or garden watering.
I don't think people are thinking very deeply about this subject.
You're missing something here. Heavy rains? We haven't had a rain over 1/2" in several years. 1" rains are a pipe dream. Runoff is almost nonexistant. There is no excess water to fill a cistern or pond. This area gets 10" of water a year, mostly in the winter. Most of it soaks and and the soil is bone dry by June. This area is great for agriculture but it's all from irrigation from mountain snowfall. Without that, nothing can grow here but sagebrush. You need to find land with a good strong spring or creek and have the rights to use them. You won't get it by storing rainfall when there is none.
If the rain on roofs is of no value then why on earth would the ranchers sic the sheriff on anybody.
Thanks for the really informative replies. I don't know how this thread would benefit .gov but I commend the suspicion.
I'm currently in Wisconsin and I haven't encountered any like-minded people. None. Lots of people, here and elsewhere, talk a big game but will never live a self-sufficient life. Even the Amish here. It's a rare breed that will.
I'm seeking high elevation and workable natural resources, but plentiful resources is obviously a better situation. I was looking at northern NM. Southern Colorado was looking beautiful until I looked into the absolutely insane regulations and restrictions on land "ownership." Too high a neighboring population anyway.
My dream was/is remote Alaska but getting there and getting set up would eat much of my savings. I would also probably be completely alone for the rest of my time.
Weather patterns are changing, and will be dramatically different in the decades to come. Everything will be. Calm and stable periods on this planet are the exception, not the rule. Trying to get set up ahead of that in anticipation. Political and economic chaos right now are only the beginning in anticipation and are a waste of time to concern oneself with.
We're entering the cyclical ~12k year disaster. Solar flares during this recurring period of weakened magnetic field will take out the modern electric age (the 1859 Carrington event was just the beginning of the current weakening of the Earth's magnetic field and the accompanying polar excursion we're observing now.) People and government will get really ugly, then survivors will adapt. I don't plan on participating in that.
The galactic cloud that causes this event (and that affects the entire solar systems, observable right now across our own and neighboring systems) will eventually lead to a micronova of our sun. The energy, heat, ions, and material impacts will be catastrophic. This has all happened repeatedly. Low elevations of earth will flood as the earth tilts 90° just as it always has. The poles and equator will be much different than they were (the magnetic poles are drifting and accelerating already). Some ancient religious stories are based in truth. This is also evident by alternating layers of polar and tropical fossils in the polar regions.
People will survive; they always do. But not many. I'm in my mid-30s and going at things alone, I only hope to make it past everybody's initial freaking out. A lot of what will happen past that isn't in anybody's control, aside from being in a strategic location. Will be quite the experience though. So we have that going for us, which is nice.
A long post to say that I believe the current dry areas on/directly East of the Rockies will become more moderate.
I don't expect a lot of intellectual responses *on any forum, but the fraction that will be might be very helpful and enjoyable on my rare day off.
First, advice is to find Jane before leaving.
Second, dude, you are working in a different time scale. Human calamity will happen long before natural calamity.