February 15 Bunker Index - Hungrytime

Should you decide to go off-grid there is a phenomenon I would like to tell you about. I initially thought it was just my own family's experience but after talking to a number of others who have went off-grid I learned it is quite common.

Your reliance on the world will actually increase for a short time as you transition.

It seems counterintuitive doesn't it? As I consider it, however, it makes more sense. Few people will go from a happy, carefree life in the suburbs to an off-grid lifestyle. There is usually a process. First you see the cracks in the facade, then you begin to prep, and then you begin to become more self-reliant through gardening, livestock, etc. If you decide to then turn an on-grid home into an off-grid one (difficult to do) then it's a pretty simple transition. But if like us you decide to move to a more sustainable location, you are faced with what will feel like a big step backwards.

We go to the nearby grocery store at least once per day. Usually in the morning to get a cup of coffee and something to eat for breakfast, and then later in the evening for dinner. We simply do not have the storage space yet for more than one meal for a family of seven. Our new gardens are not yet producing, and it's the middle of winter still so our chickens are only half-serious about laying (we get about 4-6 eggs per day ... enough for 2-3 people for breakfast).

It also seems like half of the tools I need have been either lost in the move or are buried in storage, so I find myself repeatedly running to Home Depot or some other big-box store to grab something. Nothing is handy and nothing is yet organized.

But take heart! It does improve. Over the first year, so I'm told, things begin to come together. Indeed, even in my own household at the 2 month mark we've begin to adapt and figure out ways to be more efficient. I suspect by mid-spring we will be doing quite well and have a thriving homestead up and going. So long as the Lord continues to bless our efforts!

Oh, by the way, the world is supposed to end sometime this morning. Something called a "Carrington Event" is going to fry all of our electronics and then we'll all die, so if I don't see you guys later and you suddenly find that there are cannibal biker gangs roaming the streets then you'll know what happened.

1. In New York, the policy of stopping and frisking people who the police feel "look suspicious" has risen to an all-time high.

2. State inspectors rejected a lunch a schoolchild brought from home. When did they gain this authority? More and more parents are finding that their authority over their child effectively ends when they child walks through the school doors.

3. A man was thrown in jail because he didn't have a license for his dog. Good luck avoiding the police state.

4. A sheriff's deputy shoots a Marine who was getting into his own car and about to drive away with his own two teenage daughters. Deputy claims he was protecting the girls because the man was acting erratic. Clearly there is more to the story, but the situation explained sounds like the deputies surrounded him and then when he didn't immediately acknowledge the police authority, they shot him.