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01-18-2009, 03:57 AM | #1 |
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Farm grab
farm grab
FARM GRAB Chaos and lawlessness brings misery and the end of trade. The end of trade brings death and an extreme low standard of living. So government is welcomed. It doesn't even matter if the former gangs become the new government. So what kind of government can we expect? My guess is close to a medieval type. You won't have knights on horses jousting or kings ruling from a throne, but you will have governance based on a local, decentralized, agrarian based economy. Land will be the coin of the realm. Land will be controlled by the rulers, as it is the remaining value. There will of course be other valuables such as the few remaining oil deposits pumped by old tech, salvaged metals, salt deposits, manufacturing centers, etc. But the collapse will be brutal enough that we see a repeat of post-Rome. No more centralized manufacturing, a breakdown in trade and a shortage of money. Land, and the food it grows, will be wealth, as it will be all that sustains life. Today we substitute oil for fertile land, and we fight for the oil. Tomorrow, we fight for the land itself, and the crops grown by hand organically. With a lack of trade and credit, precious metal will be the only form of payment. And as that is in short supply, food based barter and the ownership of land is the only way to own more wealth. You can't create more money, but you can steal more land. And you can't afford to pay your armies, but they can be given control of land. Land grants to retiring soldiers, land grants to your "knights" that can muster men at arms, land increased through royal marriage or war. * Rome grew powerful by taking fertile land. It took in slaves through winning wars, who not only worked the lands but provided a surplus of energy to create a wealthy ruling class. It amassed such a surplus it could build public works that in turn increased its reach and power. Alas, it was surrounded by less ideal lands. Wet and cold northern Europe, African desert beyond the fertile coast, Islam in the east, etc. Once it conquered that ideal land its growth model started to contract. That was the start of the end. They survived nicely on their surplus for a time, but it was on the road to ruin. Just as we are with oil. Once the peak of production was hit, it was the beginning of the end. We are simply witnessing the fall. Without a surplus of energy, either fertile land in ideal climates ripe for conquest or petroleum to substitute for that, you can't have a rich society. You fall back to a substance economy, the land barely enough to feed you and factions fighting over those meager spoils. The Dark Ages were such a time. The depleted soils of old Rome, the less fertile northern land. They supported a population, but not well. By fighting for a surplus, one could just survive. This encouraged a militant society, spurned a continuing arms race and ultimately enabled these people to colonize the globe. But it was a nasty, mean environment to live in. A Darwin evolutionary petre dish. America is headed there. Our once deeply rich and fertile farmlands are depleted, our oil is running out and our treasury can barely pay for a hold on everyone elses oil. The remains will yield little and the huge population will suffer famine and war as the meager lands feed far less. And an armed and militant race will fight each other for that surplus that allows one tribe to survive at the expense of the other. * This is why I hold such low expectations for farmers in the future. You will be occupying the only wealth left. You won't be allowed to keep it. Gardening is a great way to insure yourself during the collapse phase, it will supply needed foods. If you minimize salad crops and maximize calorie crops such as corn and potatoes it will be a very productive enterprise. Long term, however, the large homestead self sufficient in food is in danger of being "nationalized". A word to the wise. * The above post is an excerpt from my book in progress, "Life After The Collapse". So, yes, I cheated today. The book is from one half to one third completed. So far I have 20k words, or almost forty pages of dense scribblings. In comparison, "The Frugal Survivalist" was 42k. I'm not sure if I'll wait to publish when completed or offer it in several parts. I picked today's example thinking about long term plans being thwarted, a sure path to insanity as all your efforts can always be "war gamed" away. Then I read China saw 100,000 ( could that be a misprint? ) factories close last year and they need 15 million new jobs a year just to keep up with population growth. I felt better for expecting the worse after that. END http://bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/ |
01-18-2009, 05:13 AM | #2 |
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Re: Farm grab
Hell bells Baggywrinkle, that scenerio is very depressing. Perhaps I should just go shoot myself now, get it over and done with!!!!! Lol Not bloody likely, this woman's not giving up the vision. The vision of how I see it, and the more I envision it, is a self sufficient paradise, of people growing food, cooperating, sharing goods and living well. Communities thriving.
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01-18-2009, 06:12 AM | #3 | |
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Re: Farm grab
Quote:
If you know the likely scenarios you cannot be blind sided and surprised. Go and read about the genocide of the Kulaks. Knowledge is power. Stalin also imposed the Soviet system of land management known as collectivization. This resulted in the seizure of all privately owned farmlands and livestock, in a country where 80 percent of the people were traditional village farmers. Among those farmers, were a class of people called Kulaks by the Communists. They were formerly wealthy farmers that had owned 24 or more acres, or had employed farm workers. Stalin believed any future insurrection would be led by the Kulaks, thus he proclaimed a policy aimed at "liquidating the Kulaks as a class." http://www.historyplace.com/worldhis...ide/stalin.htmDeclared "enemies of the people," the Kulaks were left homeless and without a single possession as everything was taken from them, even their pots and pans. It was also forbidden by law for anyone to aid dispossessed Kulak families. Some researchers estimate that ten million persons were thrown out of their homes, put on railroad box cars and deported to "special settlements" in the wilderness of Siberia during this era, with up to a third of them perishing amid the frigid living conditions. Men and older boys, along with childless women and unmarried girls, also became slave-workers in Soviet-run mines and big industrial projects. Back in the Ukraine, once-proud village farmers were by now reduced to the level of rural factory workers on large collective farms. Anyone refusing to participate in the compulsory collectivization system was simply denounced as a Kulak and deported. Don't shoot yourself. Make them do it. If they are going to destroy you and everything you have worked for, make it expensive for them! Listen to the wisdom of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Do not go quietly! Come home with your shield or on it. Strange words coming from a Quaker? Pacifism is not my forte when it comes to my family. I'm working on it! ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!
meaning "Come and take them!", is a classical expression of defiance reported by Plutarch in response to the Persian Army's demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons. It corresponds roughly to the modern equivalent English phrase "over my dead body". It is an exemplary use of a laconic phrase. Last edited by Baggywrinkle; 01-18-2009 at 06:51 AM. |
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01-19-2009, 08:37 PM | #4 |
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Re: Farm grab
OK?
Here's where I got to ask........what is a Baggywrinkle? I first thought.... well...I imagined ..... this persona too be just one person? Then, I started reading more post and threats + added up all the work done at the Avalon Forum Library?? I fiqure> thePost + Thread + Library + Daily personal task = 3 maybe 4 persons?? I want Mr/Ms/junior> or the entire Baggywrinkle clan > to come clean and clear up how many of them are working here? I feel> I am being tag teamed! by these Baggywrinkles! I once again want to feel adequate!! I need to feel I am> accomplishing something here again??? I don't like this feeling of inadequency > that this Big Green InFo Machine (Baggywrinkle) is causing me. I await your disclosure> Baggywrinkle! But> you probably won't answer me ...will you? You can go back to work now> Gi |
01-19-2009, 08:41 PM | #5 |
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Re: Farm grab
You've got Baggywrinkleitis gio!
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01-19-2009, 08:50 PM | #6 |
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Re: Farm grab
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01-19-2009, 10:50 PM | #7 | |
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Re: Farm grab
Quote:
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01-20-2009, 02:02 AM | #8 |
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Re: Farm grab
This is baggywrinkle
Can you find the baggywrinkle in this photo? How about here? Give up? HERE I am! Much more fun then Where's waldo.. Baggywrinkle is a soft covering for cables (or any other obstructions) to reduce sail chafe made from short pieces of yarn cut from old lines that have been taken out of service I'm an anachronism from another time. There is only one. There can be only one. You couldn't stand any more. One day I was there in 1850, I blinked twice and I was here... Of all the rhymes of riggers wit the saddest is this it doesn't fit! Now, can you tell me what a trunnel is.... |
01-20-2009, 02:11 AM | #9 |
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Re: Farm grab
trunnel
noun a wooden peg that is used to fasten timbers in shipbuilding; water causes the peg to swell and hold the timbers fast [syn: treenail] tree·nail or tre·nail (trē'nāl', trěn'əl, trŭn'əl) Pronunciation Key n. A wooden peg that swells when wet and is used to fasten timbers, especially in shipbuilding. Baggywrinkle is a soft covering for cables (or any other obstructions) to reduce sail chafe. There are many points in the rig of a large sailing ship where the sails come into contact with the standing rigging; unprotected sails would soon develop holes at the points of contact. Baggywrinkle provides a softer wearing surface for the sail. Baggywrinkle is made from short pieces of yarn cut from old lines that have been taken out of service. Two parallel lengths of marline are stretched between fixed points, and the lengths of yarn are attached using a hitch - similar to a cow hitch - called a "railroad sennit". This creates a long, shaggy fringe which, when the marline is wound around a cable, becomes a large hairy cylinder. |
01-20-2009, 02:12 AM | #10 |
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Re: Farm grab
Most Popular Links Other Relevant Links BwaHaHaHa, LOL! |
01-20-2009, 07:56 PM | #11 |
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Re: Farm grab
Did I get it right?
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01-20-2009, 08:47 PM | #12 |
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Re: Farm grab
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01-23-2009, 01:40 AM | #13 |
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Re: Farm grab
quote from Baggywrinkle
"I'm an anachronism from another time. There is only one. There can be only one. You couldn't stand any more. One day I was there in 1850, I blinked twice and I was here..." Your not the only one here with that sentiment, I'm really wondering as of late, did I get off at the wrong stop...... on the Multi-Universal Bus line? Still> I envy your tenaciousness, towards living life on this planet> in a pure and simple way. |
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