I hope, of course, nothing like any of these scenarios will strike in our lifetimes. Perhaps something awful could happen, but collectively as a society we will be able to deal with it well, minimizing strife, loss of life and other hardships that might follow.

But maybe we won’t. What would I do then?

That question, when I ask it to myself, induces a raw sense of urgency that otherwise is completely absent. And why shouldn’t it be? After all, we live in a world of plenty. Shelter, food, water, clothes, sunshine, music, and safety abound. We are surrounded by the fruits of industry: buildings, roads, cars, entertainment, fresh fruits, low prices, cheap fuel, technology, iPhones, parties, and a million other desires and treats at our fingertips. What… me worry? Indeed, often there seems little sense in expending any effort fretting about some dark day that may never come. And usually I don’t.

But occasionally I do wonder if my nonchalance may one day prove foolish. OF course it is short-sighted to have only enough food to last me through next week; just enough water to make it through the weekend. I’ve no generator, no spare fuel, no cupboard full of dry goods. The question is whether I’ll ever have to pay a price for for my levity?

Especially after reading xtina’s latest post on gardening, I am reminded of the web of interdependence that I take for granted daily. I blindly accept the proposition that all the comforts and conveniences we enjoy today will always be there. And yet, it is obviously not so. Just last month, my colleagues in Charlotte were in a constant state of anxiety as the local gasoline supply dried up. People literally could not find gas, for weeks on end. It wouldn’t take much to disrupt our supply chain and render some essential resource difficult or impossible to aquire.

So what can we do about this?

My conclusion: become a survivalist. Methodically procure key provisions necessary to survive, without shelter, for a month or two. Water, food, and toiletries are obvious. Batteries, flashlights, matches, candles, are other essentials. To some degree this is merely common sense. Whether one labels it such or calls it ‘survivalism’ is largely a product of degree, I imagine. Should I consider things like self defense, a safety shelter, or, say, a stash of seeds and agriculture equipment?

I am not yet prepared to commit to the more extreme tenets of survivalism. But I do intend to make some common-sense provisions so that, should something catastrophic happen, I won’t be caught completely off guard. Perhaps over time I will endeavor to learn new skills and procure more serious equipment. But first, how about some water jugs and canned beans.

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There are metric crap tons of survivalist info on teh interwebs, and I have no idea which ones are of any use or not, ergo the dearth of links here.

Earlier this spring I designed a type of raised bed that would enable Lucas to help me in the garden. Wade pulled out his tools and crafted an exquisite interpretation of my plans. Then the worst part of my morning sickness hit and the project lay fallow for many weeks. Curious neighbors stopped by and inquired as to our plans for this big, giant redwood box resting on the flagstones. Once I started feeling better, I collected all the ingredients needed for the mix to build the soil for the planter. A few weekends ago, we put the ingredients in and dumped the contents of the composter into the mix. Months of kitchen scraps, ash from the fireplace, sawdust from various projects, grass clippings, paper towels, and haircuts had transformed into a nice, loamy dirt-like substance. There were a few clumps of brittle egg shells that hadn’t broken down all the way and a few paper mache-like rocks, but in the last few weeks most of these artifacts have disintegrated, becoming indistinguishable from the other dirt components. Now onto the seed planting and sprouting. (Note: I am sure we are planting late/early for a winter garden, but I am just trying to get something going here and will hopefully learn a lot from trial and error.)

For the last few weeks, I have been researching plants and planning the garden. This week I finalised the plan in selecting the plants we’ll (try to) grow and experienced an inexplicable joy at seeing all my months of plans get to this stage, but a few small things were needed before we started sowing seeds. The bottom of our 24 inch raised bed is covered with some landscaping fabric to keep unwanted growth from creeping into the vegetable garden. There is a store ’round these parts called ‘City Farmers‘ where you can obtain a dazzling array of necessities for all types of yardening. Dis ain’t your daddy’s Home Depot. Yesterday Mom and I took a field trip to afore mentioned City Farmers Nursery to obtain copper tape and red wiggler worms. The copper tape is for the outside of the raised bed. It is an effective means of keeping slugs and snails out of the vegetable patch. The worms are for the inside of the bed to keep the dirt alive and aerated. Since I didn’t want the one pound bag of worms, we had to go back to the vermiculture bed and dig for the worms ourselves. O, dewd! A year ago I had no idea about all this kind of stuff. I grabbed a little rake and got to it. In about 20 minutes or so we harvested about 75-90 worms, but we also found a bunch of big, fat, happy grubs, which a nursery employee had asked us to put aside if we liked to feed to the chickens later. Later, the owner of the nursery let us feed the grubs to chickens and turkeys and oh my dosh, now I know where the slang ‘grubbed‘ comes from cos those fowl grubbed hard on those grubs.

Well, the bed is ready and we are going to be sowing some seeds later this week in the hopes of growing some organic, local, seasonal veggies like collard greens, chard, amaranth, carrots, eggplant, and brussel sprouts. We’ll see where this fork of the path takes us.