O.K., I promised to get onto where we should live and I should explain that one. First, we need to look at where we should NOT live and that will give us a better idea of where would be good.
Well, first off I need to explain that where you live depends on when we are talking about. There will be a few distinct periods involved in this collapse. The first period will be during the actual collapse. The primary die-off. During this period you do NOT want to be in an area with large groups of people. This will definitely mean that you do not want to be in cities. Cities will be major death traps. Between riots, people fighting over food, people trying to fight their way out of the cities, etc., you do NOT want to be trapped in any city during this period.
Me? I'll be at my pre-arranged bug-out spot. It's in the bush. It has access to water. It has plenty of nearly untouched area for hunting. I expect to be there for a couple, to three, months. This is the time period that I am guessing will be the bare minimum required to get past he primary die-off. After that amount of time, I would expect most of the madness to have died down and people will be just trying to stay alive.
After that period comes the second major period, the secondary die-off. The first winter. The first summer. Whichever it is doesn't matter but it will be the first period where you will be trying to survive with your own plantings, etc. At this time, you will probably prefer to get back near a city so that you can use pre-collapse gear, like hoes, etc., so that you can continue. You will still need to be near water and hunting areas but being near a city, as well, can make your life a lot easier. For example, it IS possible to plow, etc., with wooden implements but it is much simpler to use modern steel gear.
The next period is a growth time. This is the time where people will start getting back into groups. To start with ... we are probably talking about VERY small villages or tribal collectives. It is VERY difficult to hunt/farm on your own. Especially while still protecting what you have from others. This is why people got together, in the first place, and the same situation will arise again. You cannot farm all day and stand guard all night. If you hunt in a group, you can take down a much larger animal than one man alone.
Hunting and farming are both synergistic pursuits. One man can, possibly, farm enough to support himself. Two men can farm enough to support three or four. Three men can farm enough to support a half dozen. The same applies to hunting with primitive techniques. This is why tribes / villages evolved in the first place and the same reasoning will apply after this. As I stated earlier, in a previous post, there is going to be VERY LITTLE difference between the survivors of this collapse and our earliest ancestors. The major difference will be, in the beginning where we will still have access to some high-tech equipment and we will have modern seeds.
Modern plants are a LOT different to the plants our ancestors used. Our plants have been artificially selected over thousands of years for greater output and more reliability.
But, I digress, we were discussing living places. During the first three months you DO NOT want to put down roots. Your first living place is purely temporary and you need to be able to pick up and move at a moments notice in case the situation changes. After that, you want to get plants in the ground and hunting grounds discovered as soon as possible. That will mean that you can no longer move. This means that you want to be very sure of your area before you decide.
It's probably best to find this area NOW. You need space for planting. You need areas for hunting. You need access to clean water. And access to a city will be preferable.
I really can't tell you what your area will be because you will need to find an area that will suit you and your lifestyle. I have found mine. I am hoping that I can use it when the time comes and that somebody else hasn't taken it. ALWAYS assume that ANY plan that you make can fall apart. Always allow for the fact that situations will change. NEVER assume that a plan WILL work. Make contingency plans. NEVER just walk into an area because you decided beforehand that it looked good.
Gotta head for bed now, as it's late, but I'll have to think on my next entry.
