CHORES AT THE RETREAT

My thoughts this morning are about letting people do what they do best. We are not in global war as yet. TEOTWAWKI is not here. We really haven't seen a national SHTF as yet. It has been tough for a lot of folks but we are still living and a lot of areas have not turned radioactive. We can still buy groceries and fuel and clothing, etc. The point I am making here is that when groups spring up and development proceeds as it should, there will not be much use in assigning responsibilities that are not needed.

This premise is based on an overlay of your basic survival scheme. You will have a plan for TEOTWAWKI but until it gets here you won't need it. It means to let people do what they do best while you are all getting ready. Let your gun shooters practice. Let your medical people study and practice. Let your food growers test different seeds and growing methods. Let your fix-it people work on your water system. It will keep them sharp and your system ready to work.

The estimates that I have read concerning food production says that if your group will be raising food in a primitive fashion, it will take 50% of your people to handle the work. And we are used to 3% or 4% of the populace taking care of this necessary chore. Quite a difference in the lifestyles! But if fuel is unavailable for machinery. folks will be walking to the garden and the milking parlor and the hay fields. And they will be getting the product home any way they can. And that all takes time and effort. Lot of coordinated effort. And the technology of horses will be on the rebound throughout the countryside. You can haul hay and grain to your barn in a wagon if you have the horses to pull the wagon you might have acquired. You can get produce for your garden to your Summer kitchen if you have a horse and wagon. Sure will save a lot of backaches to have some well trained horses. And having horses will necessitate having a blacksmith who can keep their shoes in good condition and the hooves trimmed. That person is called a Farrier if you don't already know it.

So the list of jobs to produce food and get it to the table grows all the time. There are people working in a primitive society that greatly contribute to the production of food that never touch the product on it's way to the table. Ever hear of someone named Miller? They are the people who grind your corn and wheat and oats. A big bowl of oatmeal in the morning with a little fruit is sure satisfying. But you have to have a Miller to do it and you have to have someone drying fruit to have in your breakfast oatmeal. Grinding grain for a small village is a big job. Especially if you have to do it by hand. Sure, a big dollar electrical grinder is a nice thing, but it doesn't work too well when the power is down. Without electrical power it is time to turn the hand crank. And if your hand grinder breaks then you must have someone to fix it. Fix-it people are very important to survival.

Your Teamster, the person who hauls your wagon with those horses you have trained, has a busy day every day. First thing is to go get the morning milk to the spring cellar. Gotta keep that stuff cool or it can go bad on you. They might swing by and get the mornings eggs at the chicken coop. Then the days main activity will begin. Hauling produce from the garden to the Summer kitchen. Making a trip or two from the hayfield to the barns. Hauling a load of firewood to the storage sheds. Then back to the milking parlor to get the second milking picked up and delivered to the spring cellar. And you gotta have someone to look after the harness. You have to keep it oiled and cleaned. You damn sure don't want rotting harness on your rig!

I have to get busy shelling out my beans for the day. The Handmaiden and I sorta goofed off yesterday and we have to get back into our production rhythm. Prep, prep, prep. But our stash is looking good and can still look a lot better if we stay busy. I got a post from Vlad Strelok yesterday that said that Cayenne was a Quick Clot substitute. And I have seen some proof that he may be correct. It bears more investigation before we start keeping it in our medical bag but you never can tell. It may happen!

Be fruitful and multiply and stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net