I’m only half kidding. I’m a bit of a prepper and I have lots of powerbanks and devices that charge from USB but besides idling my truck I really had no other way to charge any of them in case of a long-term power outage which seemed a bit of an oversight on my part.
Not like this solves the issue. 30 watts (under ideal conditions) isn’t much but it’s a start.
productive gardens and food sources > than deep pantry
I have both and can replenish and scale, shift my intake strategies as resources become harder to allocate.
My focus is on casual prepping as a hobby that in the worst case can one day turn out to have been useful. Actual self-reliance is a full-time job. The vast majority of people have virtually nothing stocked up. Someone who has intentionally put aside supplies for even a week is ahead of 99% of people. It takes surprisingly little to cover one’s basics and anything extra is a luxury.
Being able to hunker down the first week or two is critical. Fist-fighting at the gas station is not what one wants to be doing during the early days of collapse.
Vast majority of people do not own enough land to grow even close to all their own food.
I focus on the higher valued things instead. Mostly anyway. Along with experimenting with what I can get to thrive in my area.
I have just over an acre of highly productive riverfront land. I have multiple garden, orchards, chickens and can add a pair of goats readily.
The native landscape and wildlife that borders my property and is within walking distance is wildly abundant. Knowing what to forage, the native plants that are edible and medicinal is paramount to long term and situational survival, bridging the gap. Knowing where to fish and hunt and becoming familiar with the critters in my region is also hugely valuable.
You’d be surprised on how much one can grow using permaculture and understanding the seasons and capabilities in your region.
Nice, but that is truly vast compared to most of us. I have about 40m² of usable growing space in the back garden and maybe 5m² in the front.
Also don’t have a river. Everything that isn’t drought resistant is already dead.
As for foraging, sure its fun to do. But if it became required there are now almost 100k people to compete with such a small amount of foragable land. Not going to work.