Am I a Survivalist? Installment 1> Deb's Daily Doses

Am I a Survivalist ? Or will I be a survivalist because of my lifestyle?
Survival is about more than stocking up those canned non perishables that we donate to charity food drives as the dates expire.
It's about more than Arming yourself with weapons against roving " bad guys" who are probably just starving and want your food, as opposed to using them to hunt for more food . It's More than hiding in the "super" secret, filtered air, underground bunkers. It is about survival worth living, and in my humble opinion, about being able to survive in a viable habitat in a manner sufficient to assist others.
I was born on Friday the 13th, and My mom died when I was very young . In my baby book , in large shaking scrawl it says she was struck by lightening, hanging my last diaper . I had two brothers, and My dad did try to keep all of us kids together . He struggled on for a while, but eventually it was too hard working full time at the Gilbert & Bennett wire mill, and trying to keep up with the needs of three children. When the state stepped in , I was too young to understand all the details, but apparently they decided we needed to be placed. After a bad experience at the first home, we were split up. I was lucky enough to be fostered out to a down to earth hardworking family in New Milford Connecticut .

I spent many many wonderful happy years growing up At Reimer Ridge Holstein Farm.
When I arrived there I was only 6 years old , and my life was changed forever. I went from a skinny pasty faced city girl, used to orderly sidewalks and limited views of the skyline, to a healthy sun bronzed ,high spirited, ride a pony at break neck speed, whoop and holler with the best of them tomboy .
There was always something to do. We brought in the cows for milking, Bottle fed calves, Piled hay in the wagons as the bales shot out of the kicker, mucked stalls, and worked with mom in the gardens. If it needed doing , you did it. When we had free time we roamed the woods and pastures and cornfields, and Rode our ponies and bikes. We fished for catfish in the summer and skated in the winter on the little pond in the pasture just off the side porch .
To this very day the memories are so clear I smile as I reminisce relating them to you dear reader. It was like it was in my blood, and I took to the land, and the animals like a fish to water. I was hooked, and would never again be able to live happily, confined within a crowded city .

My children always complained, and to this day, grown, married and with children of their own, still occasionally mention at social gatherings, how We always lived in what they termed the Boonies. Even though for most of their childhood we were way up in the Adirondack mountains , on the Canadian border, I wouldn't have called it that myself. There was a small town within 20 minutes or so for necessities , and a sizable city for shopping and such not too much further. They attended a small school in St. Regis Falls N.Y. where K - 12 grades were in the same big building, and the whole school only had 363 kids . As a parent I of course thought that was great, and they of course , especially as they entered high school thought it was terrible . The winters were hard and long, the summers just as busy, but far too short. In our small community world, when I raised hogs, and the farm up the road had cows coming in fresh that spring, they sent the milk up for my hogs, Come end of October I sent a nice package of sausage, and bacon . Simple living is a wonderful thing.
Perhaps if I gather a following , and become more familiar with AC I may have the opportunity to elaborate further on simple living tips, and some of the many amusing moments of life that have happened between then and now , but I ramble from my topic ... Am I a survivalist, or , is it a lifestyle?

Many of us, if TSHTF would be lost . No electricity, no stores to buy ready processed food items... No weekly television shows, No Internet ! UUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. Yes , we would miss some things. The manuals available make it abundantly clear it would be difficult to survive a complete infrastructure failure. I am not talking thermonuclear global war, because then all bets are off. It will be up to the bunker people to carry on then I guess.
For a select few though an infrastucture collapse may seem to be a welcome relief from the pressure of earning enough money to meet the steady and ever growing financial demands of life in the middle class lane.

If we woke up tomorrow and the entire organized financial world as we know it had crumbled, be it by a virus wiping out the majority of the population,
or whatever doomsday scenario you can imagine , what would you do? Hopefully your family and loved ones are already in close proximity, because they will only be able to travel as far as the gas they can scavenge along the way to join you.There will be no phones, and travel may not be safe . You have No work to go to , everything is shut down . No corporation left to send mortgage payments or car payments to. No electric company to pay, because there is no power anymore. By the end of the day your local store shelves will be emptied with no restocking in the forseeable future. What would you do? How much would life change for you? What would you miss the most? The Least? I look forward to comments and questions from you reader.

I have a small farm, with chickens, ducks, one milking goat , a couple of horses and a pony, extensive gardens, and a large greenhouse. What we produce here beyond our needs, we donate through our local salvation army . I would encourage everyone who has ever wondered what to do with extras from their small hobby farms, if you don't want to deal with reporting income to uncle Sam by selling it , Donate it. As a lifestyle the gardens are just about year round. Root crops are in now, potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes,etc...I have unaltered seed stock from years of gardening, .

If I woke up tomorrow, and it was truly IT, I know where I will be .
I will be working even harder in the gardens because i will need to feed myself , and my animals, who will in turn feed myself , and hopefully others. Among other tips I would like to share in the future , we have added a line off our well, before the electric pump, that runs to a hand operated pump, so we will still be able to pump water. This of course is only suitable for those of you with private wells. Potable Water will be in great demand .

Was this a survivalist Move or planning strategy? No, It was a lifestyle necessity . During storms, and power outages it is still important to water your animals, so that is why the hand pump. Is it good for survivalist tactics ? There are many attributes in a Lifestyle that is close to nature that go hand in hand with survivalist thinking. Our chickens produce baby chickens , as well as dozens of eggs each week, also donated to our Salvation Army.

I have found in my experience when discussing the topic of survivalists ideals among groups, that many people have a preconceived opinion that survivalists are "dangerous" . That there is too much emphasis on weapons, and protection , and isolationism . I would like to invite comments on this notion .I feel many survivalist are very much misunderstood. Some are very hardcore . The noble , humane reason of course to " survive" should be to help others .
There are always bad apples though , and as long as there are bad apples, there will be a need for some gun toting, gung ho, brave good guys too.
The Survivalists lifestyle forum is officially open for comments.