I mean the scenario of a serious collapse of civilization with the use of nuclear weapons.

I wonder what is best grown from vegetables and what is not? For example, what about potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbage and cucumbers? I want to understand how to feed myself and other people, even if there are crop failures, droughts, bad soil, soil depletion, or something else. I doubt that forests will always be able to provide food, they will only be a good addition, but you should not expect stable food from them, as I managed to see, besides, I am planing to survive not alone, but with a group.

As for the location, since after the collapse, hungry crowds will rob villages and farms that they can reach or know about, I will have to build a house from scratch somewhere a hundred kilometers from cities and civilization, Although maybe I’ll be lucky to find an abandoned house? and plow the land and so on, and unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to prepare everything in advance, and I’ve never grown vegetables before and don’t know how difficult it is in the long run, especially as it used to be, without tractors and other things, but only with the help of a hoe and hard work.

I’m also wondering what healing skills I should know? Will basic first aid skills be enough, or should I write down or memorize how to deal with severe food poisoning, serious illnesses caused by exhaustion or parasites, etc.?

In general, if it is not difficult for you, please tell me where I can get the necessary and verified information without wasting extra time on videos or articles on YouTube, especially if they are edited or completely made with the help of AI including also articles? I don’t trust AI generated content, the authors of which I don’t know if they check the reliability of the information or if they check for five minutes or a maximum of half an hour, believing that everything seems logical and can be posted on the network.

I’m sorry that the post sounds so strange or perhaps paranoid, it’s just that there are so many things to talk about that I decided to cut it down somehow.

  • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
    8·
    2 days ago

    There are some basic initial conditions to consider before you can even start answering this:

    1. What climate are you in?
    2. What kind of terrain are you in? (Mountains, lowland forrest, jungle, coastal…?) 2a) Do you have the option to get to a new type of terrain / climate?
    3. What kind of tools/materials do you have access to from the start (we’re talking, do you even have a hatchet/knife, jacket, backpack, water-tight container, etc., or is this a “the clothes on your back” situation?)

    I have some experience in some of the worst survival conditions you can imagine (far sub-freezing coastal and mountain climate). In those conditions, your by-far first priority is heat and shelter. The cold will kill you in hours if you don’t know what you’re doing. Even in far better conditions, knowing how to survive just being outside (before you even consider food) is what will probably get most people in an unsupported survival situation.

    Fact is: You can survive for a week or two without food, but most people would probably be so preoccupied and exhausted by just existing outside unsupported over more than a few days that they wouldn’t have the capacity to do anything more than exist. The first prerequisite for survival is to have enough experience and good enough routines when it comes to keeping yourself dry, warm, and rested, that you actually have leftover capacity to start thinking about things like finding food, moving to more advantageous terrain, making tools, improving your shelter, etc.

    If this is a hobby to you, I could recommend trying to do some minimalistic camping. Learn how to build a good shelter, and how to make a fire with a fire steel (is that what it’s called in english?). You could start out with as much gear as you need, and cut down on gear as you get more comfortable. Figure out what you need to do to stay warm and dry, even if you’re outside for several days in the rain/sleet/snow. Maybe most importantly, you’ll get some experience on what different conditions are like when you’re outside in them constantly, and can’t go inside to fix and dry your gear.

    Regarding food: My personal experience is that the most reliable source of food you can find is probably fish. Fishing requires very minimal gear and works year-round pretty much everywhere in the world. I’ve been on a couple self-sustained trips just living off the fish I caught (not more than a few days, but I caught enough that I didn’t go hungry). If I were in a long-term survival situation, the first thing I would need to know is probably how to preserve fish more efficiently than I do today. If you have fish and berries, you should be able to keep chugging along for a couple months, which should be enough time to start developing even more long-term solutions.

    Bottom line: I think that in a situation like the one you describe (surviving unsupported outside of civilisation), most people would be done-for by exposure within a couple weeks. Some people would be able to survive past the first couple weeks before succumbing to starvation. If you’re able to make it more than the first couple months, that’s when you can even begin considering things like “what is a good farming strategy”. Of course, this is not considering the people that would survive off looting, occupying buildings, etc., only considering people that try to survive in the wilderness.

    • deadymouse@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      1 day ago
      1. What climate are you in?

      Quite good, the air is fresh, in the summer it is quite tolerable, albeit hot, in my country, fortunately, fascists may not build data centers. maybe…

      1. What kind of terrain are you in? (Mountains, lowland forrest, jungle, coastal…?) 2a) Do you have the option to get to a new type of terrain / climate?

      Mountains, I’m not there yet, but they’re pretty close to me, about 100-200 kilometers.

      1. What kind of tools/materials do you have access to from the start (we’re talking, do you even have a hatchet/knife, jacket, backpack, water-tight container, etc., or is this a “the clothes on your back” situation?)

      I want to make such a set for myself, what do you think?: One or two knives, possibly a third spare, One axe, not too big, but strong and durable, A high-quality hiking backpack, needles and threads for repairing clothes and backpack, knowledge or a written recipe for creating strong threads from improvised means, which nature gives(I know it sounds a little silly and not realistic but, by the way, I would like to learn a few craft specializations, maybe this will help me in exchanging services with other survivors?), A plastic two-liter bottle of water, and another bottle but empty. Then clothes: winter jacket, thermal pants, two pairs of thermal socks, two pairs of autumn socks, autumn pants, summer light pants (I’m not sure, but it seems that unlike shorts they should save at least a little from cuts or something else, I’m not good at this), shorts, summer socks, autumn shoes but also suitable for winter or rainy weather, light but durable summer shoes. Solar compass (if the one from the store breaks, I don’t trust the moss).

      In general, as you can see, my knowledge is pathetic, by the way, what about “water-tight container”? I’m ashamed to admit, but I didn’t think about it. Can this increase the life of tools by slowing down rust in high humidity for example?

      • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
        2·
        19 hours ago

        I think it’s cool that you like to plan/practice for survival situations, and I think I can give some pointers:

        Regarding “water tight container”, I was thinking primarily for carrying water (e.g. bottles). You’re probably going to want at least 4.5 L of water capacity unless water is very abundant where you are.

        Regarding tools: I would say your no. 1 priority is a good, big, slightly heavy multipurpose knife. Basically, something small enough to clean a fish, but big and heavy enough to cut down a tree. My personal favourite is one of these.

        In general I think my major tip regarding all kinds of gear (especially clothes) is that you want to minimise the number of pieces of kit you’re carrying. You don’t need several pairs of shoes, you don’t need shorts, etc. to be perfectly clear: I have ONE set of kit that I use from +30 C to - 30 C. There is not a single piece of kit that I carry in summer which I don’t also carry in winter. So, some starters:

        • If it’s not either wool or an outermost (shell) layer, you don’t need it.
        • Your shell layer has one job: To keep the elements (water + wind) out. Its job is not to keep you warm. A jacket that you can only use in winter, because it’s too warm in summer, is not a jacket you need.
        • Always think in layers. If it gets colder, add more. If it gets warmer, remove some. You should not be carrying one sweater for + 10 C, and another for - 10 C, you should instead be carrying an innermost layer for 20 C, and 2-3 progressively thicker layers that you add on top as the temperature drops.

        So basically, any idea of “summer clothes” (in the sense I assume you mean) can probably go straight away. Wool socks, a thin wool t-shirt, and a pair of hard-shell trousers with good air openings are summer clothes, they just happen to also be winter clothes when combined with other layers.

        I think my best tip to get a feel for this is to pack a kit with everything you think you need, then try to hike maybe 20 km / day for a day or two with that kit. My bet is that your kit will be halved (at least) after the first couple attempts, as you notice how much weight you can cut out.

        Finally, I would say that the single piece of kit I have with the highest weight/utility ratio (besides a knife) is possibly my sleeping mat. A good sleeping mat is the difference between feeling alive or not after a night outside, and it weighs next to nothing for what it’s worth.