10 replies to this topic

[dogmom4]

Urban/Suburbanites! What do want to know that will help you become more self-sufficient? Give us your ideas and we can do this together....

[Jewlzm]

Well right now Im trying to figure out what is the best door safety wise to purchase as a replacement for the tinderbox piece of ^$#@ I have now LOL. I live in suburbia I guess you could say. Right now Im in protection mode. The best "least noticeable" ways to fortify your home.

[BiscuitMaker]

I notice we never talk about garbage----what will we do if the town or city can't pick it up? Think about it.

[JCK88]

Compost garbage. (except meat scraps. In SHTF scenario, I doubt there would be any leftover meat, so...all other garbage could be composted. Hey, we do this now, in fact.

Use all scrap paper if it can be used, burn what cannot.
In the old days, families burned their own trash in their back yards. My mom said they had huge barrels to burn the trash in.

Most trash these days is packaging material. When you are cooking from basics, from scratch, there is not a lot of packaging to worry about. The bread comes from bread pans, not plastic bags and the cookies aren't in cute protective sleeves, they come right off a cookie sheet.

Any other ideas?

[JCK88]

I don't live where I can have farm animals (and I'm allergic to chickens anyway) But I do have a couple of acres, some of it wooded, some not. So, I have been redoing my flower beds and incorporating herbs and tomato plants. Last summer, this worked quite well and so this year I am making some trellises in the back to grow cucumbers, too.

I think more ideas for small space or front yard gardening might be good for those who at least have some kind of small yard.

When I lived in Washington, DC, I grew sunflowers, corn, beans, tomoatoes, broccoli and lettuce and red peppers on a patch of earth behind the apartment building that was bordered by an alley. The neighbors were thrilled when the flowers bloomed and soon, you saw others gardening in the small plots behind their apartment buildings until the entire alley was a profusion of green and blossom. It brought the neighborhood together, because for the first time people came out of their apartments to tend their plots and they discovered the simple joy of saying howdy in a friendly manner. Nothing was ever stolen. The only people who ever used the alley were the garbage collectors and they soon got involved watching the stuff grow, too.

Even if you live in the city, you often can find a little piece of earth. And if not, you have a window, a porch, a balcony, or you can get grow lights. Even just making sprouts in the kitchen is something.

When we lived in the city, we had a tiny apartment with a kitchen so small that the first time I washed the floor, I put the mop handle through the back door window and brought neihbors running who thought someone had broken in, LOL! But, I canned in that kitchen. Yes. I canned. I would go to farmer's markets and buy stuff to can. I would go on weekends out to the country and pick peaches, apples and pears and berries, bring them home to that tiny kitchen and somehow can them!

In that little apartment, I also sewed my first quilt. I carried the sewing machine home on the subway and carted it four blocks to the apartment. (My office was next to a fabric store I would haunt at lunch for bargains.)

Also for those in small spaces, ideas on how to store preps without having to move the people out might be helpful...
hmmm...and things about self-defense.

Prepping in the burbs or the city may mean not being able to butcher your own beef, but that doesn't mean you can't can beef you buy at the supermarket. So...maybe talking about canning on a smaller scale, but still adding to preps that way. I'm just rambling, I know. (but you asked!

[cookiejar]

Originally Posted By: BiscuitMaker

I notice we never talk about garbage----what will we do if the town or city can't pick it up? Think about it.

I'm on it...

and Judy, those were some great dicussion ideas. Thank you!

[Fritz_Monroe]

I'd like to see sort of a checklist, but not really. Maybe a list of some of the stuff that the (sub)urban people need to make sure is taken care of.

There's great info in this forum, but it takes some digging. By having a checklist, it will serve as a reminder to the newer folks as to the way they should be thinking.

Aside from that, I'd like to see some info on alternative meat producing. We all think about chickens and rabbits when talking about urban meat raising, but are there other sources for meat? It sounds odd, but I've read about the natives in South America raising guinea pigs for food. So, anyone have any other sources for meat on the hoof in the urban areas?

Also, I haven't read the trash thread yet, so it may be in there. Dealing with sewage, or just portable potties. From dealing with the bucket, to composting toilets. We all have to do it, how do we deal with it?

[Aint2nuts]

I am in Arizona, and I am really concerned about where water will come from when the SHTF (Or if)That is my biggest concern. I have water barrels but they won't last that long.

I know ways to get small amounts of water,(Tying plastic bags over tree limbs, etc) but for large amounts that my family would need, would be difficult.

[Jules]

If internet and phone lines went down in a crisis how would we all communicate? Does anyone here have a ham radio? I'd like to know what is going on all over the United States especially in a blackout.

[PureCajunSunshine]

...how about dealing with sewage in the city/'burbs WTSHTF? Something to do with preventing raw sewage from backing up into the house...? A whatsitcalled? An anti-backflow valve? No that's not it..a plug? What is it? And where do you get one?

Fortunately for me, I live on my retreat...but some of my friends and family are 'stuck in the city' for now...

[Greywolf UK]

Most plumbing suppliers will have plugs/dams for all different sizes of sewerage pipes. failing that a couple of sandbags will stop 'loaded' backflow if not the liquid.

they will also stock drain rods, these beauties will clear a blockage by someone lower down the system that is causing backflow to you



GW