A little known fact is that I can be alarmist.
(Okay, it may be a well-known fact.)
One of the things I worry about is Peak Oil. For those who don’t follow handy links, Peak Oil is the idea that there is:
1) a limited amount of oil in the world, and
2) at some point we will hit the peak of oil production and after that oil will start running out
Everything after that will be based on sky rocketing prices for energy and all the wonderful cheap things it provides. Communication, food shipping, fresh water, sanity will all be in short supply as our means of powering cell phones, cars, water pumps, and talk shows just disappear.
Several years ago, when I jumped on the Peak Oil bandwagon, it was considered a crackpot theory to all but paranoids like me, geologists, and oil company executives.
Now, with $60 a barrel prices, China and India becoming demanding gasaholics like the US, and brownouts being a household word, I feel a little more vindicated.
Equal parts paranoia and intellectual exercise, the Survival Shack was born. Talking to interested friends, I started to catalog means of living comfortably in the event of a total breakdown of society.
Like Thoreau, I would have a cabin in the woods. A place I could retreat to and avoid looting hordes, road warrior wannabes, and doomsday scientology cults that would inevitably spring up when the lights stop working.The Survival Shack has several prerequisites attached to it.
1. No survival camp compounds.
First and foremost, the Survival Shack must be able to exist innocuously in society before the world ends. To this end, the Shack would exist as a vacation home until its true purpose was required. This makes me seem less crazy and makes it an easier sell to the girlfriend.
No one wants to date a nutjob that builds a bunker in the woods
So, the Shack should look like a real home, pleasing to the senses.
2. Comfort is an essential goal with an eye to the long term.
What may be comfortable now when I’m in my prime may not be comfortable twenty years after the collapse of society. Decrepit old Joshua is sure not schlepping up and down stairs and harvesting wheat by hand.
Life after the fall will be hard, but it shouldn’t be unbearable.
So, plan for the long term. Make sure all features will stand the test of time.
3. Self-sufficiency is a necessity.
I am planning for the end of society. That means running to the local grocery store for french bread is not going to be an option.
The Shack will have to be built with construction, power, storage, and other necessities already accounted for.
In terms of a weekend / vacation home, this is a great premise. Having water and power when you visit is great. Again, looking to the long term, more will be required. Where will you store vegetables and cured meats during the winter? Is the roof repairable with local materials?
You can see have this can get tedious.It’s also a lot of fun to talk about with friends after lots of drinks.
In the Shack section, I plan to catalog plans and concerns that have come up over the course of years of debate. Admittedly, we’re not experts on survivalist construction, farming, homesteading.
Still, we’ve come up with workable ideas for Location Requirements, Construction Designs, Foodstuffs, Power Sources, and Crucial Supplies. Lots of these overlap, but again the overall effect is to create a vacation house that can transform itself into my Survival Shack when the unthinkable happens.
(PS I can see the inherent absurdity of a survivalist blog, but bear with me. It’ll be fun.)
