# Could You Do it?



## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

There was a film series in 2002, a reality show, that had three families go to Montana and homestead. They were not allowed any technology, but had to do it all using what a pioneer in the 1883 would have had, e.g., just hand tools, wagons, horses, and their own smarts about how to make the best use of what they had on hand. For the show they all had to transition from their life in 2002, to what it was like in 1883. You watched them actually live that life, trying to build a homestead and get ready to survive the first Montana winter. At the end of the show they were evaluated on how well they would have done, or even survived. Only about 30 percent of these kind of homesteaders actually ever made it.

If the SHTF, and you had to go back to this kind of life and make it without what you depend on now, could you do it?

Here are the episodes. There are six of them. You can see how hard this was and their personal journey and changes.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF6lM65O9ITglGwsPDxGE4Vm7GUODi-b7


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## ApexPredator (Aug 17, 2013)

Not sure why you would have to as junk would be laying around EVERYWHERE whole cities of junk.


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## jro1 (Mar 3, 2014)

it would be really interesting to see how long you could make it! if the fam was up to doing it, I think I would give it a shot. However, leaving work would be difficult, the bills still need to be paid!


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

ApexPredator said:


> Not sure why you would have to as junk would be laying around EVERYWHERE whole cities of junk.


I dunno. Food? Safety? Do you want to go anywhere near a major city if the SHTF? It would seem to me you would want to get as far away from urban populations and as self sufficient as you could. What do you do when the food in the stores run out? Grow corn in central park in NYC? Good luck with that.


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## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

This why being ready to survive that first winter is a priority. There is a huge learning curve, emotional curve, physical curve, psychological curve waiting for many of us. Getting through the first winter will make those lessons useful rather than fatal.

I hope to be spending the first weekend in April honing old, and learning new, skills which would be most useful in more primitive conditions.


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

jro1 said:


> it would be really interesting to see how long you could make it! if the fam was up to doing it, I think I would give it a shot. However, leaving work would be difficult, the bills still need to be paid!


I watched the series. You really got to see people's character come out under the stress of the lifestyle in 1883 Montana. They never stopped working and were exhausted every night. But...most everyone on the show came to respect the lifestyle and found more meaning in it and became proud of their personal successes at overcoming the obstacles in their 1883 life. They found less personal value and satisfaction in the day-to-day meaningless grind they left behind in their 2002 life.


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## ApexPredator (Aug 17, 2013)

rebroome said:


> I dunno. Food? Safety? Do you want to go anywhere near a major city if the SHTF? It would seem to me you would want to get as far away from urban populations and as self sufficient as you could. What do you do when the food in the stores run out? Grow corn in central park in NYC? Good luck with that.


Wont need to go near a major city(althought they should be empty) there are plenty of minor ones and 6 months after your going to be very lonely. For example there is a metal fabrication shop just down the road from me I doubt anyone is gonna loot those machines or that forge for awhile one good night op and bam youve got a modern forge/machine shop. Or the local tractor dealership doubt anyone is gonna loot 50 vehicles that go 5-10 mph or the rototillers that go with it


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

ApexPredator said:


> Wont need to go near a major city(althought they should be empty) there are plenty of minor ones and 6 months after your going to be very lonely. For example there is a metal fabrication shop just down the road from me I doubt anyone is gonna loot those machines or that forge for awhile one good night op and bam youve got a modern forge/machine shop. Or the local tractor dealership doubt anyone is gonna loot 50 vehicles that go 5-10 mph or the rototillers that go with it


So...where are the people in the empty cities going? Hmmmm...Let's think. After you and your food outside the city maybe? Which will all be canned food since you are not growing any. And...how is that forge machine shop going to save you if the power is gone? I guess you could sleep there with your canned goods. (You do have a manual can opener right? A manual one? No power you know.)


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## Pacombatsurvivor (Feb 17, 2014)

Don't know if I could do it. Not in my Bol plan anyway. As far as the larger cities go when shtf you'd want to avoid them. If they want to come to me they'll make it within 800 yards.


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

That would be really tough, might be a different story where it didn't get so cold. Kinda unfair to throws folks into that situation when back in the day they learned from mom and dad and grandpa and grandma. Be honest, not all, but alot of folks don't even know how to build a fire. Watched that Alaska show, young guy thought all he needed was a bic lighter.


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## ApexPredator (Aug 17, 2013)

LOL I guess it comes down to how resourceful you are. Of course thats why I am staying mobile people are gonna rush the rural areas fairly early I think any development will draw attention. Ill step back and let it pass then move back in after a 6 month camping trip. I will be growing food 12 months post SHTF and yes there will be power its not hard to do. A watermill can easily supply enough power for basically anything and even an emp isnt going to short out 30 amp machines maybe the finer circuitry but you can easily bypass it plus you can run a forge on charcoal and man power so.... you can live like the Amish.


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

Just had to add, I don't worry too much about folks leaving the city. They'll pilfer as much as they can and with no power to fuel up cars, they won't get to very far. Even if they do, with no preps, they won't be welcomed to most camps. jmho.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

I am lucky enough to be living that life. We are not quite living like the 1880's as we do have machinery. If something were to happen and we had to go without. We have all of the equipment and tools needed. Hell, the ranch still does a lot of things like we were still in the 1880's. When we have the prepper gathering here, you will see what I'm talkin about!! There are still old buckboards and plaws we can draw with horses if we have to. I try to use some of the stuff when I can just so I will know how if I HAD to. I will have to check out the link and see how they do.. Gotta love Montana!


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

Well...I have to agree with you. Live like the Amish. I like it.


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

I think you are right about this.


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

Beach Kowboy said:


> I am lucky enough to be living that life. We are not quite living like the 1880's as we do have machinery. If something were to happen and we had to go without. We have all of the equipment and tools needed. Hell, the ranch still does a lot of things like we were still in the 1880's. When we have the prepper gathering here, you will see what I'm talkin about!! There are still old buckboards and plaws we can draw with horses if we have to. I try to use some of the stuff when I can just so I will know how if I HAD to. I will have to check out the link and see how they do.. Gotta love Montana!


I know I love Montana. "The Last Best Place"

I saw a bumper sticker this week. "Montana is full, but I understand North Dakota is nice." LOL. We don't need to turn into California.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

Absolutely could do it, but wouldn't look like that Swiss Family Robinson working their selves to death doing everything the hard way, over building and nary a keg or a stalk of tobacco.


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## bad (Feb 22, 2014)

Our area is about 50% amish. It isn't rare to see a horse drive down the road. A pony leading the way with the Amish cowboys riding behind. 

We lived in the house that we have for 3 years without electricity. We use a gas chain saw to down wood but split it by hand. We have a double bladed axe I guess it would work for cutting wood to fire length. We had a business in town with all the conveniences of the 21st century. 

For the last two years we have had electricity but still heat with wood. We still wash clothes by hands in a bucket. 

We have this show playing, it should give us some insite on what we need.


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## Beach Kowboy (Feb 13, 2014)

Our roads are washed out due to all the snow melting. We wont be able to resupply for at least a month and probably 2. This is one of the reasons we prep. I just came from the chicken coop and had another 5 eggs. That is almost a dozen so far today. I have some more chickens,bobwhite quail and ringneck pheasant coming next month too. The chickens cornish cross for meat and then some cinammon queen and barred rocks for eggs. Then we'll use the pheasant and quail for meat. I might even turn some extra pheasant out for hunting..


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## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

If I am thinking of the correct program. There was a specific episode of one of the white men constantly feeling sick with head ache. When he finally gave in and they took him to a doctor they determined he was chronically dehidrated. This was A big message to me at the time. For what ever reason I have little tolerance to not having enough to drink. That is a huge prep per message and lesson to be learned. A head ache will set in on me in an hour under high stress and work with out water. I suspect many of you are the same.


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. 

Over?


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

alterego said:


> If I am thinking of the correct program. There was a specific episode of one of the white men constantly feeling sick with head ache. When he finally gave in and they took him to a doctor they determined he was chronically dehidrated. This was A big message to me at the time. For what ever reason I have little tolerance to not having enough to drink. That is a huge prep per message and lesson to be learned. A head ache will set in on me in an hour under high stress and work with out water. I suspect many of you are the same.


Again. WTF? Over.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Pretty much what we plan on doing but In Wisconsin. We have a major advantage over our families that first came here.
Knowledge they had not even dream of yet.
We will do just fine if we have to turn the clock back 150 years.
Will be cutting a lot of wood and pissing the EPA off.


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

LOL. The EPA will be cutting wood too.


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## spokes (Feb 22, 2014)

It took us about three days to get through the 6 episodes but we finally finished.

Several things struck me. 1) Nobody talked about foraging. I'm big into it and can hardly wait for spring growth to appear so we can have our first tossed salad made from yard greens, young plantain leafs, dandelion leafs and wood sorrel. I am sure that there were nuts to be found for fall harvest, hickory, walnut even pine nuts. The only berries they referred to were the choke cherries that they used to make whiskey. Interesting as every woman and child would know what berries and nuts were readily available for harvest along with the wild veggies that were easy pickings. 2) I'm sue that the settlers would be dealing with occasional clashes with the Native Americans that were around, if no other way then the young braves coming in to steal horses and livestock as part of their right of passage into adulthood. 3) While some families 'fudged' and had contact with modern households to trade, that wouldn't be their option in the 1880's. 4) Outside of a couple of whiners about how tired they were, my arms hurt and oh my I'm loosing weight, they had no real medical emergencies to deal with. No broken bones, no fevers, no real illnesses that would have popped up. No, I'm not saying that they should have been put in that position, but a reference would have been nice.

On the positive, it was nice to see the young people grow and mature from whiny spoiled brats to functioning individuals with strengths and weaknesses.

Could we do it? At our age it would be hard. Older adults who moved west I imagine doing it along with a group of younger family members, grown children and their families in order to have help with the heavier work.. Do we have the knowledge to do it? Maybe the basics. We live pretty simply now and went without electricity for 3 years so we could do that again. I make our own bread, know how to cook on a wood stove even though right now I have the luxury of an electric range, I could do it without any difficulty. We can raise our own food and have wood to harvest. We have a young orchard that would provide us with fruit and trade goods and a good store of canned food..

I did see things that we need. A cross buck saw is one of the things we could use in case the chain saws go down. A horse or mule to work the farm should the tractor go belly up. Animals to raise for meat.

What the show did was fire up my need to prep more and get things stored up that we really need.

Thanks for passing the link along.


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## rebroome (Jan 16, 2014)

spokes said:


> It took us about three days to get through the 6 episodes but we finally finished.
> 
> Several things struck me. 1) Nobody talked about foraging. I'm big into it and can hardly wait for spring growth to appear so we can have our first tossed salad made from yard greens, young plantain leafs, dandelion leafs and wood sorrel. I am sure that there were nuts to be found for fall harvest, hickory, walnut even pine nuts. The only berries they referred to were the choke cherries that they used to make whiskey. Interesting as every woman and child would know what berries and nuts were readily available for harvest along with the wild veggies that were easy pickings. 2) I'm sue that the settlers would be dealing with occasional clashes with the Native Americans that were around, if no other way then the young braves coming in to steal horses and livestock as part of their right of passage into adulthood. 3) While some families 'fudged' and had contact with modern households to trade, that wouldn't be their option in the 1880's. 4) Outside of a couple of whiners about how tired they were, my arms hurt and oh my I'm loosing weight, they had no real medical emergencies to deal with. No broken bones, no fevers, no real illnesses that would have popped up. No, I'm not saying that they should have been put in that position, but a reference would have been nice.
> 
> ...


Thank you for such a thorough, comprehensive review of the episodes. All your points, pro and con are valid. I felt it was a good glimpse of what life would be like if the worst happened.

Before I wrote my book, LEAVING THE TREES, Leaving The Trees: Richard Earl Broome: 9781484874677: Amazon.com: Books I spent some time looking at all the episodes so I could do a more accurate depiction of what life would be like after a societal collapse. One of new the things I introduce in the book is the potential impact from the introduction of GMOs in our food chain. Fiction yes...but who knows? I would submit we have to think more deeply about GMOs. In Montana they sell GMO free bread in the local markets.

*"Your camp has done so well growing your pure crops along the foothills. Using virgin land, untainted seeds. Brilliant. We want to integrate you into the larger community we have now. We really need you. We have not done nearly as well as Roberta's camp has with growing food. It's a significant problem for us.

The GMOs have caused some serious issues. I won't go into it all, but we don't trust our food supply now. Our people are getting sick with strange illnesses. We think the GMOs are the source of this. We are also running out of our food and without good soil and untainted seeds, we have no means to grow decent food. This is why we have engaged in this ruse, to get inside your camp and to see if there is a way we can come together to help us all." ---From LEAVING THE TREES, page 81.
*


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## spokes (Feb 22, 2014)

The GMO question is one that has been hotly debated on other forums I frequent both pro and con. I think the population in general is ignorant of what manipulation is going on with the food that they eat. Not so much the meat end of it but the feed that is being fed to the animals that we eat, and the grain that goes into our breads and grain products. 

Like most 'new' things, nobody really knows the long term effects of such manipulation. For eons mankind was eating unadulterated, unmodified, non-chemicaled foods that were either hunted, gathered or grown himself. Natural herbs and seasonings were used to preserve and enhance. There were no chemical preservatives or additives.

Compare the diets of the 'homesteaders' to the diet that they ate in the current time period. Everything for the most part was unmodified, with the exception of the can goods that I saw stored under the one bed and the salmon that they focused on in the general store.

We probably started the down hill slide when the first fast food restaurant opened. In a SHTF scenario, the people who depend on the fast food joints and junk food for their main sustenance will be the ones less physically fit and ignorant as to how to feed themselves healthily and the homesteaders were eating a healthier diet, especially toward the end of the experiment when they were harvesting their own food and butchering their own meat (BTW, wouldn't they have to hang JoJo Pumpkin to age the meat and not be butchering it and what looked like eating it the next day?)

These, the uneducated and unmotivated are the future marauders should the SHTF. They are the ones who will not have a stockpile of food, know how to grow or forage their own food and will feel that it is totally acceptable to steal whatever they need. Once the Doritos and Bud are removed from the grocery stores and the shelves are bare. 

These are the people that make me want to set out on the front porch and clean my rifle and sidearm.


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