Fuel?
I get nearly 30 hours to 12 gallons of diesel in my tractor. With a 28 mph top speed (lets say 22 to drop the RPM's a bit), I should be able to make it quite a few miles without needing fuel. This includes having the ability to carry 2.5 yards of water in the bucket (much less due to sloshing, but I could carry 55 gallon drums). 40hp Diesel is the way to go. Given the EMP of an atomic blast and the fact that the tractor uses no transistors (not even a relay for the starter, you push on a lever which engages the contactor and bendix on the starter), it would be the sole method of transportation for us for a while.
I also have approx 200 gallons of home heating oil I could also use for the tractor at any time. Combine that with 25 gallons of Kerosene, a KeroSun heater and 3 acres of hardwood (2 cords already dried, cut and split) for the wood fired boiler, I think I'd be A OK for a little while on the heating and fuel front.
Gas?
Who cares. I have 15 or so gallons in storage with Stabil (not like that helps these days) and manual saws/mauls/axes/etc.
Currently have 130 tomato plants in the ground (72 of them Roma) for canning, 36+ green bean plants, 100+ radishes right now, 40+ spinach, 25+ lettuce, 50+ carrots, some onions, 35+ cucumber plants and god knows how many basil plants. Once I catch up on my canning supplies, this should be a cheap winter for me for heating, veggies and the like. Planning to clear out another half acre and lay down a few pounds of seed potatoes for starch. Once that is done, the root cellar will be added in the side of the hill for root food storage.
Ammo?
100 packs of 12 guage Birdshot is about $27 at Wal-Mart. I just started my weekly purchasing, it will continue for a while. Also have some deer shot. My grandfather just gave me an Ithaca Model 37 featherweight that just needs a recoil absorbing pad and a little practice time to cash in on the deer that freak my cat out every morning in the yard. The case-buy's at Dick's for UMC 9mm landed me with a few thousand rounds sitting in my armory along with a couple thousand rounds of bulk-pack .22lr. The good old trusty Marlin Model 60 tube-fed will do fine at taking down the smaller "meals" around the property if it ever comes to that.
Water? 25 gallons in jugs of drinking water at all time. We're well fed. Also have running water/wetland on the property. I'll admit, I haven't bitten the bullet for a generator to run the well pump yet. Going to try to put that money into a couple PV panels and deep cycle batteries to have a TRUE long term solution.
Transportation?
All the vehicles we have are either 4wd, AWD, the tractor or motorcycles. Just in my basement alone I have enough transportation for 8 on motorcycles given 4 of them can ride with a passenger. I could easily fit another 8 people in the back of my 14" aluminum deep hull boat on the trailer behind my truck or the tractor. If it ever came to it, I could get people moved. Maybe not in protected vehicles, but they could get moved. Next door neighbors have horses, chickens and German Shepards. At least two of the three are large enough to be ridden.
It's kind of fun to think about this stuff!
I know there are holes in my plans, but it's nice to realize that most of the time, being really really CHEAP also makes you ever increasingly independant.
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
