If some catastrophic event occurred could you survive on your own?

[Vastator]

Do you have skills you can barter with? Do you have the wherewithal to take control of your life without your employer or government holding your hand?

Yes.

My backyard borders a fifty plus acre stand of woods that in turn runs to the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay. The woods are populated by squirrels I feed peanuts to keep off my mulberry trees and out of my small garden. Also present back there are rabbits, possums, whitetail deer and the occasional coyote. In the two plus years I've been living here I've discovered a deep channel that bends in to about twenty yards off the shore at the eastern edge of the woods.

Through it run schools of Shad, Rockfish and large silver Shiner fish. The channel also holds catfish, carp yellow and white perch, sunfish and the odd Pickerel--plenty of species in sufficient numbers to feed us, in combination with a deer, small game, our homegrown vegetables and berries. I am a master of making large quantities of hearty soups that feed many. Additionally, from my great grandfather's recipe I learned how to smoke and cure hams; we keep several on hand. Lastly, there are easily caught blue crabs and fresh/brackish water mussels to supplement our diets.

Water sources include two streams with sections of rapids and boiled bay water if necessary.

Our home is small but durable and located in a large, anonymous neighborhood which reduces chances we'd be targeted specifically as opposed to any other neighbor, randomly. We have three floors, each one defensible and plenty of high ground--including a roof suited for fairly covert observation. As a last resort I've well thought out a doctrine of dividing supplies between the woods and our home--in the event of an actual SHTF scenario--so as to allow us to abandon our property to occupation and then return when again vacated by whatever invaders--a flexibility similar to an analogue or hardwired back-up survival system. Additionally our home could be "prepared" for a group of invaders too large for us to repel with surprises in many forms which would leave it undamaged and able to be occupied after sprung.

How long could we hold out barring nuclear, chemical or biological instant death? Years.

The peanuts are far more calorie rich than mulberries. Just sayin’...

 

[night_son]

Do you have skills you can barter with? Do you have the wherewithal to take control of your life without your employer or government holding your hand?

Yes.

My backyard borders a fifty plus acre stand of woods that in turn runs to the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay. The woods are populated by squirrels I feed peanuts to keep off my mulberry trees and out of my small garden. Also present back there are rabbits, possums, whitetail deer and the occasional coyote. In the two plus years I've been living here I've discovered a deep channel that bends in to about twenty yards off the shore at the eastern edge of the woods.

Through it run schools of Shad, Rockfish and large silver Shiner fish. The channel also holds catfish, carp yellow and white perch, sunfish and the odd Pickerel--plenty of species in sufficient numbers to feed us, in combination with a deer, small game, our homegrown vegetables and berries. I am a master of making large quantities of hearty soups that feed many. Additionally, from my great grandfather's recipe I learned how to smoke and cure hams; we keep several on hand. Lastly, there are easily caught blue crabs and fresh/brackish water mussels to supplement our diets.

Water sources include two streams with sections of rapids and boiled bay water if necessary.

Our home is small but durable and located in a large, anonymous neighborhood which reduces chances we'd be targeted specifically as opposed to any other neighbor, randomly. We have three floors, each one defensible and plenty of high ground--including a roof suited for fairly covert observation. As a last resort I've well thought out a doctrine of dividing supplies between the woods and our home--in the event of an actual SHTF scenario--so as to allow us to abandon our property to occupation and then return when again vacated by whatever invaders--a flexibility similar to an analogue or hardwired back-up survival system. Additionally our home could be "prepared" for a group of invaders too large for us to repel with surprises in many forms which would leave it undamaged and able to be occupied after sprung.

How long could we hold out barring nuclear, chemical or biological instant death? Years.

The peanuts are far more calorie rich than mulberries. Just sayin’...

Yeah, but they don't grown on "trees" around here . . . and the squirrels eat them anyway.

 

[PredFan]

Do you have skills you can barter with? Do you have the wherewithal to take control of your life without your employer or government holding your hand?

Yes. I'm sort of a prepper.

 

[blastoff]

Do you have skills you can barter with? Do you have the wherewithal to take control of your life without your employer or government holding your hand?

As long as there’s still Room Service...

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Easily.
It would suck though.

 

[eagle1462010]

 

[petro]

If the government was gone I'd pillage and murder to see my family fed and protected. I'd probably try to manipulate my way into controlling a bunch of dumb thugs that could do most of the dirty work for me. I would be absolutely ruthless and would use fear to get what I need/want.

Negan?

 

[petro]

Easily.
It would suck though.

Agree.
I like my comforts and warm bed, and good whiskey.
I wouldn't doubt my abilities, but really looks like too much work living the land.
Hooked on watching The Last Alaskans of those folks who live way off the grid and the day to day of just having the basics and surviving brutal winters just show how lazy I have become.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Easily.
It would suck though.

Agree.
I like my comforts and warm bed, and good whiskey.
I wouldn't doubt my abilities, but really looks like too much work living the land.
Hooked on watching The Last Alaskans of those folks who live way off the grid and the day to day of just having the basics and surviving brutal winters just show how lazy I have become.

Making it through the summer months would be a bitch!!!
No A/C in East Texas would be brutal!!

 

[ozro]

Being prepared includes not talking about what one has.

 

[Confounding]

If the government was gone I'd pillage and murder to see my family fed and protected. I'd probably try to manipulate my way into controlling a bunch of dumb thugs that could do most of the dirty work for me. I would be absolutely ruthless and would use fear to get what I need/want.

Negan?

Negan made a lot of classic T.V bad guy mistakes that I wouldn't make. Being arrogant/careless enough to leave loose ends always seems to get them in the end. I'd never leave loose ends. Rick made it clear from the start that he wasn't going to cooperate. Negan should have killed him the very first time he met him; that's what I would have done.