Let's say I don't want to be a self-sufficient farmer after the apocolypse

[conuly]

What else can I do to sustain myself? Give me some ideas, they don't have to be necessarily good or easy ones. I'm not talking *right* after, either. I'm talking when the dystopias pick up, several years down the line after things have settled down. (Ever notice how these books always assume that if you survive the initial upheaval of life as you knowing suddenly grinding to a halt, you'll be all right?)

(And yes, this entire post assumes the end of the world as we know it is coming. If you don't think that's likely to happen, speculate anyway.)

Comments

Re: Why, thank you. Thank you verra much.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

I don't like his writing style, but I agree with his point. Perhaps it comes from being raised in a fairly isolated rural environment, but I feel that you should be able to do almost anything for yourself--maybe in a halfhanded, rough-made, amateurish way, but enough to get you through.

Essentially...what happens if you either can't FIND anyone to do it for you, or you can't afford to pay someone to do it for you? If you have the requisite skills yourself, everything's fine. If you don't, you're up the proverbial crick.

I've made a backstrap loom. I've made cheese and yogurt and churned butter. I've helped to butcher poultry for the table and dug potatoes. I dye wool, spin and knit. I brew my own beer and wine. I'm a damned fine cook and baker. I've bound books and made paper. I've even made my own ink (once was enough, what a mess). I know how to work leather and the rudiments of tanning. I can do rough carpentry and change a tire if I have to. Sewing and mending is easy.