I Lived In A Post-SHTF World For 3 Years, And This Is What I Learned...

As a professional physician having always lived in a big city, I never imagined that at some point in my life, the social and economic situation of my country, Venezuela, would lead me to learn and use survival skills that I had read about but never even thought of applying.

Without being in a declared war or a formal armed conflict, we have experienced different situations of chaos for about 10 years in Venezuela. But in the last three years, the country has become a true SHTF scenario, where the only way to move forward is to learn how to survive.

I feel that the lack of food, clean water, and, at the lowest point of the situation, electricity, has given me new skills that have undoubtedly prepared me for any catastrophic situation.

After three years in this contingency, I can now share every situation that took me by surprise and the techniques I had to learn by doing.

You can read the rest of the article HERE if you liked it.

a reply to: sevenpod
Cool man! Thanks for sharing!

a reply to: sevenpod

Water is always #1. Which reminds me, I need to pick up a couple of more 275 gallon totes.

The most tragic thing I can imagine in this context is someone starving because they can't identify edible plants, herbs and roots growing a few walking minutes away.

I recommend looking into natural herbs and how to identify them. How to make reductions and essences from them. When I first came into contact with this was when we were on vacation in the Black Forest. I was very young but I can still remember my mother wandering off the road like a force was guiding her.

She would look around and check trees and then dart right into the underwood to come back with nut's, roots or herbal plants. I only recently discovered the magic of the forest and rediscovered the knowledge for what to look for and what it means.

If you listen to it, it will tell you a lot. If you observe it, you will see a lot. There's so much lost knowledge about it, I am learning an old Germanic handwriting currently to be able to read the very old texts and understand them.

No wonder a lot of knowledgeable were burned as witchers or witches because sometimes it's like magic for others, if you don't know what to look, feel and smell for.

a reply to: loveguy

You're welcome

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

The most tragic thing I can imagine in this context is someone starving because they can't identify edible plants, herbs and roots growing a few walking minutes away.

One of the most intelligent things I have heard today. We have become spoiled here in America. I tell my nieces and nephews, every time they turn up their noses at something, that they had better thank the good Lord that they will see the day, where they will eat anything they can get there hands on, whether it is alive or dead.

We have edible items all around us that we have never thought of as food, and can be the difference between life or death. Knowing what is in your local area is the wisest move you can make.

Almost every local university has a guide showing you the safe edibles in the area.

a reply to: infolurker

Has anyone ever tested rainwater? I tried to catch some in a jar but it had a few bugs in it. I'm working on a filter of some sort to put on top. Well it's a coffee filter, I'm trying to find a large rubber band to secure it. I moved my junk drawer contents to an old Samsonite suitcase and a duffel bag that was going to be a bugout bag but all I got for it was Band-Aids and a few energy drinks. I collect junk like my Bible collects dust. Unfortunately.

a reply to: EdisonintheFM

One man's junk is another man's treasure.

That Bible, may be the most valuable thing you have, if things get as bad as it can.

You never know.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

No doubt. I value it more than silver and gold.

Not joking.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

I do feel for those that don't live outside of cities. Wife and I found a house years ago, absolutely beautiful, spacious, modern design, however less than 1/4 acre of land. So we took that blueprint and found 10 acres about an hour and a half outside of the city, same beautiful modern house with enough woods that I never have to see my neighbors or the road. I wish I had the budget to get a full solar and wind system installed but it's going to have to wait a little bit.

All the neighbors are farmers or people that were done with the city. Almost everyone has a chicken coop and food planted, we're working on building our garden now so it's ready to go next year. Chickens are on the roadmap as well as a self sustaining fishing pond. Trying to not get caught unprepared if we can.

a reply to: sevenpod


Appreciate your insight.

Lumber prices here in the U.S. went exponential.

I used to salvage long leaf heartpine and refurbish in my woodworking shop for future projects . I ended up using all these planed boards for
my animal shelters .

The cause rewarded me spiritual gifts exponentially.

originally posted by: EdisonintheFM
a reply to: infolurker

Has anyone ever tested rainwater? I tried to catch some in a jar but it had a few bugs in it. I'm working on a filter of some sort to put on top. Well it's a coffee filter, I'm trying to find a large rubber band to secure it. I moved my junk drawer contents to an old Samsonite suitcase and a duffel bag that was going to be a bugout bag but all I got for it was Band-Aids and a few energy drinks. I collect junk like my Bible collects dust. Unfortunately.

I had this weird honeysuckle type of bush. It had beautiful flowers, so I cut some and put it in a vase. I learned something really valuable. The stem of that honeysuckle kept water from becoming stagnant. I had that vase for about two months, and the water was crystal clear the entire time, no scum, no mold etc, crystal clear. Not sure if it was drinkable but sure was interesting.

a reply to: sevenpod

Thank-you for putting together this "resource" thread. It may come in handy for millions of Americans at some point.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Huh. I'll look into that some more, that is interesting.

And I think it was in this thread that someone mentioned how we can survive in a forest, because the essentials are growing right in front of us and most of us are unaware.. I know I'm ignorant when it comes to survival.

But I'll do some surfing on the interweb and try to find more on the honeysuckle.

Thanks

a reply to: sevenpod

I have three locations where a months worth of rations for four
are hidden away. Be adding more soon.

Check out this website . . .

Survival Blog

Look up a guy named Selco in the website search engine. He lived through the Balkan civil war and has really good advice from his experiences.

Also, please have a look at this ATS thread . . .

Venezuela - A Real Time History Lesson

Perhaps your insights can be posted there, thanks in advance.

I just dropped two hemlock spruces near the house yesterday. The broad branches are covered by flat needles that shed water, perfect for a shelter roof. The roots make super strong cord for lashing together a frame for a shelter. The hemlock spruce is found in wet hardwoods on the high ground of swamp lands.

When I was weeding the garden, there are dandelions, lamb's quarter, wood sorrel, field mint and purslane I left to for salad greens. That's just from the weeds in my garden. Other wild edibles are the roots from cattails, most flower petals of any plants are edible, wild strawberries that just turned ripe, dew berries, thimble berries, raspberries and wild grapes will be along soon.

originally posted by: ThatDamnDuckAgain
The most tragic thing I can imagine in this context is someone starving because they can't identify edible plants, herbs and roots growing a few walking minutes away.

When you live in an urban environment that can be very difficult, plus living by foraging is extremely difficult if you can't hunt. You'd need to be spending most of your day looking for food just to get sufficient calories to survive.

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck

When I was weeding the garden, there are dandelions, lamb's quarter, wood sorrel, field mint and purslane I left to for salad greens. That's just from the weeds in my garden. Other wild edibles are the roots from cattails, most flower petals of any plants are edible, wild strawberries that just turned ripe, dew berries, thimble berries, raspberries and wild grapes will be along soon.

Which won't provide you with enough calories for a day. Let alone to live off of. You're talking about snack food.

One should not forget medicinal herbs. One just needs the basics.

Warm thyme tea with a little salt added will clear many an infection far quicker and more effectively than antiseptics from the shops.