Surviving December 21 2012 Christmas Gift List

 

For the last year people have been starting to stress out about what might happen on December 21, 2012.  At times it feels like we cannot avoid hearing about it. There are many movies, T.V. shows and more on all the time.  Even my kids are hearing things about December 21 2012 at school, teachers, other parents and even other students.  My children are becoming scared about all the different things they are hearing about.  Because of this we have been talking with our children about the different possibilities of what might happen, and what things we can do as a family to deal with the different possibilities.  From this we have created a Christmas gift wish list – things we want this Christmas that we think can be useful if things go bad, but stuff we would make use of even if things don’t go bad.  I hope this Christmas wish list of ours is of interest.

Hand Crank items.

My kids really want hand cranked flashlights.  My daughter wants the hand crank flashlight and radio combo.  There are some solar items out there but I like the idea of hand cranks – if the weather is bad you can still use the items.

We also looked at old fashioned egg beaters – the hand crank ones.  We have been looking for them at our local stores for the last couple of months.  We have only found them online, so we will be picking up two of them soon.

There are many other hand crank items out there that can be useful for everyday stuff.  I have no problem using them, and not using electricity.

Cooking items

A weighted pressure canner (not cooker).  We already picked this up.  We are taking advantage of sales and canning fruits and vegetables.  Actually we are cooking complete meals and saving money already.  It is great.  Also if the power goes out – no worries about the food going bad like the stuff we have in our freezers.

We are going to be getting lots of canning jars, lids and other canning products needed.

Hibachi grill that can be used outside.  This is a quick and easy way to cook, even in the winter if the power goes out.  We can use it all summer as well.

Wood and charcoal BBQ and Smoker.  This is a great way to cook, even in winter.  Smoking is a wonderful way to cook and we would use it all year round.  Again this is a great way to cook if the power goes out.  Also we don’t have to worry about running out of propane.  We will stock up on charcoal and wood chips but if we run low we can always get wood from the forest around us.

Air tight wood stove.  This can be added to our home if need be.  Even if we had to put it into our basement and the chimney out the basement window in an emergency.  It would keep our home warm, and we can cook on it.  If we owned our home we would have a fireplace or an Air tight wood stove installed.  We actually would love to have a fireplace now.  They are great. 

Cast Iron Cookware.  I grew up watching my mom cook using only cast iron cookware.  I even had some that I loved but someone took them on me.  So I would love to replace them.  There are a lot of great reasons to use Cast Iron cookware.  They can go from stove (top and oven) to campfire no problem.  They cook more evenly than any other cookware I have ever used.  They hold heat well, so you can heat them up and actually turn off the stove and the food will keep cooking.  When seasoned the flavours you can get out of the pans and other Cast Iron cookware is amazing.  The funny part is that it used to be difficult to find more than the occasional Cast Iron pan but now Sears has come out with a complete line of Cast Iron cookware – including cupcake pans.  I plan to buy the Cast Iron Cookware piece by piece – and maybe pick up a couple as Christmas gifts.

Hand crank pasta maker.  I have wanted a pasta maker for a long time.  I want to make fresh pasts, but I also want to use the pasta maker to help roll out my shells for Chinese dumplings, pirogues, tortillas, pie crusts, and pizza dough.  The one we found is less expensive than all the electric ones we were looking at but it is also smaller and a lot of the accessories available with the electric ones are not available.  The one we found does some basic noodles, but it is a start. We use it for many things not just noodles.

Power source.

I would like to pick up some solar panels and start using them every day.  Unfortunately we rent and our landlord will not let us put any up.  There are many small emergency solar power generators that we could pick up.  They can go in the windows.  A few of them can be used to provide power for the fridge, freezers and stove if need be.  There are many different types of solar power collectors or generators some are small and are able to power a laptop; others are able to keep larger equipment powered.   This is something that my son would really love to have – he wants to be able to play his computer games no matter what.

Transportation.

Bikes for the entire family.  We don’t need gas to get around with bikes.  We can also attach little carts to the back of them if needed.  Also to be blunt it is a great way for us to do something as a family, and I could use the exercise.   We live close to a nature trail we could be biking on as a family – so why not get bikes and start doing it.

E-bikes.  We have wanted E-bikes for the last year.  They don’t take much electricity and are way cheaper then cars to run.  Only problem is that we will soon be a family of five.  They don’t let the kid e-bikes on the road the way they do the adult e-bikes.  So if we do get them it will be for trips without the kids.  Another drawback is the limited storage space.  If we go shopping we can only bring small amounts home.  There are some e-bikes with passenger seating and carts attached to the back but I am not sure how the law down here sees them.  Are they vehicles that need to be treated as a car – with the insurance and road rules or not.  We want to make sure we don’t buy something we cannot use all the time.  On a good note – if we buy an e-bike there are solar generators that can be attached to charge them so we may be able to use them even when the power goes out.

Electric car or van.  We would like to have one but our home is not set up for that and our landlord will not let us set it up.  If we move it would be something we would look into again.

Survival or Camping gear.

Fishing poles, wire, hooks and everything else that is needed when fishing.  We live by a lake so fishing is something the kids are interested in doing.  At this point I don’t think I want to eat anything they could catch in the lake, but it is better to have the option of fishing.

Compression Bows and arrows.  My son has been interested in archery for years.  This is a hobby he would like to take up.  We have a couple archery clubs in the area that he can join.  It is a good option if things go bad.  Compression bows and arrows are great for hunting.  The arrows can be reused, repaired or new ones made much easier then bullets.  I know my son would love to learn how to shoot with a bow and arrow even if he never does anything more than shoot at targets and enter competitions.  He was excited when he found out that archery is an Olympic sport.  If he starts now he has 8 years to get good at it and maybe have the possibility of trying out for the Olympic team if he is great at it.  If not is it something he would just enjoy.

Camping equipment – any and all.  This is everything from tents, sleeping bags, back packs and cooking equipment.  My husband would like to include hunting gear with this.  I know my kids have wanted to go camping for years.  We used to go camping in the summer all the time before the kids, but we got rid of our camping gear years ago.  I think once we pick up camping gear again we will go camping again.  As for hunting, that is something my husband used to do before he moved down here.  I grew up with my family hunting every year so I know it is a great way to get meat cheap.  I am not fond of hunting but if that is something my husband wants to do again I can work with him.

I am sure that there are more things we will add to our 2012 Christmas gift wish list as we think of them.  Mainly we wanted to let our kids know we are not helpless.  If things do go bad we know what we need to do and have to survive just about anything.  Since we sat down with our kids and created our Survival Christmas list my kids are feeling better, safer.   

We have plans to get most of the stuff on our list slowly.  We can see the advantages of using them and cutting down on our energy use.  Some of the items would give us things to do as a family, others we just like the idea of having them.  We changed how we buy and cook in the last six months, not just to save money but to eat better.  The canning equipment and smoker/BBQ are just an extension of this.  We are using this to improve our lives – even if nothing goes bad December 21, 2012.

The last great depression was in 1929, will the next one start in 2012?

 

It is time to talk about December 21, 2012 and how similar things are just before the 1929 great depression.  I have to admit it is scary when you look at how similar things are.  The biggest one is that most of the world finances seem to be controlled by 1% of the population, both now and then.  I can see how this is a real problem.  The people who have the money to make the changes that are needed don’t want anything to change.  They have what they need and don’t want to change that, or give up the control they have.  Simply put - why would the person (or people) on the top want to do anything to change that?  There is more money sitting in banks doing nothing then there is in the economy being used.  One important thing the people with the money have forgotten – you cannot make and sell things to people if they don’t have money.

Food bank lines look much the same now as they did during the great depression.

 

People who want change are not in a position to create change, unless they force a change.  Many people are afraid and are starting to rebel all over the world.  There is anger, destruction and a lot of fear.  Many people feel helpless and angry so they lash out at easy targets.  Some are trying to make life better, others have given up and are not trying to do anything, and they expect things to go bad so why try or care about anything?  I see it every day, not just on the news but in my neighbourhood.

The second biggest similarity is the drought and other natural disasters (and some not so natural) that have destroyed much of our food sources.  A lack of money combined with a lack of food – that is a bad combination.  People will do what they need to so they can feed their family, even kill others for food.  The lack of oil is creating an increased cost of food, from putting it into the ground, harvesting it, transporting it and converting it into “food” we buy at stores.  This means it is harder to get food, the cost keeps going up.  Now with crops being destroyed food costs are  going to be even more expensive.  Wars are already being started over “land” between China, Japan and Taiwan.  However, it is really about being able to fish around the Islands – so it is about food.  In the Middle East it is about oil, but really it is about being able to keep the economy going, farming and getting food to people.

 

How did we get out of the last depression – war!  So it is not surprising that war is a common worry, and is actually starting in many places.  Countries are going to war with each other.  In Canada Montréal is trying to separate from Canada again.  Populations are starting to rebel against their Governments.  People are afraid and angry. 

I knew more than a year ago that something bad was going to happen.  I also felt that it was going to be caused by people; either greed or fear would be the cause for most of the bad things that were going to happen.  Other than a few natural disasters I still feel that most of the easy to see upcoming problems are being caused by people.  That does not change the fact that we are in trouble!  I don’t know what is going to happen, I do feel that we are going to be sucked back into another great depression, and all that comes with it – death, war and drastic changes. 

I know what we are doing to try and protect ourselves and our family.  We don’t have money to move, or get to a better place but we are doing what we can.  We have ideas of what to do if things go bad, but no real plans because we don’t know exactly what is going to happen.  There are just too many possibilities to worry about them all.  We concentrate on what we can do, and changed how we do things now.  We are not going to let fear win; we are going to concentrate on survival of whatever happens. 

I think people need to talk about their fears and what they do if things go as bad as we think they will.  Please comment and let me know your fears, expectations and what you are going to do to survive the changes to come. 

The Real December 21, 2012 to Fear!

It is not going to be the world exploding, or a Sun flair creating an EMP that changes our world. It is not going to be a sudden unexpected event. The process or danger has been known for at least 30 years if not longer. We are already experiencing a small version of what is to come. We have been using our natural resources too fast: oil, water, space, energy and food. We have been destroying natural lands, polluting our air, water and soil, and pretty much killing off nature.  There are consequences for this, we know this. Or I should say I know this, I grew up knowing this, they told us in school a long time ago.

I think the world will reach peak oil production on December 21, 2012! As consumers we may never know that we have reached peak oil production. The large companies don’t want us to know. So there is not going to be a big announcement about it, we will just start feeling the pinch, until it becomes a strangle hold.

We already feel it at the gas pump, the grocery store, clothing stores and just about every aspect of our life. Prices are going up already, how much worse is it going to get? Almost everything is shipped from somewhere. If we have to reduce oil and other energy consumption how is our world going to change? The prophecy of 2012 is not destruction but change, real change in how we live. It makes sense to me that it referring to the changes we are going to experience in the next 20 years, or even 10 years as the oil becomes even scarcer, our energy sources will have to change, how we consume or use the energy will also have to change. Not just taking the bus instead of having a car, but everything from turning our lights off to where we get our food.

Things are going to change whether we want it to or not. We don’t have a choice any more. It is not going to be something as simple as reduce, reuse and recycle. We suddenly won’t have the things we have grown to expect as part of our standards in life. Change is coming! What we do now will determine a lot. We can hide from it, or start looking into real proactive change. You know, doing the things we have been told to do for the last 30 years.

Start investing in alternative energy creation such as wind power, now. We are in a position to do small things to make our lives better. We have to communicate with our Governments letting them know we want proactive, positive change now, not once it becomes a requirement. Let’s encourage the innovators now instead of bailing out the big companies that are trying to keep things the same.