Today I have a great guest post from DB from FloridaHillbilly.com Thanks DB. Enjoy this article while I enjoy my hammock on vacation.
Last week, here at SurvivalPunk.com, the importance of training was the topic. Expanding on that same thought process, I want to expand on “stuff” vs. “skills”.
I keep seeing and hearing about “Survival seed banks”, and how important it is to stock up on seeds for emergencies. I agree with this train of thought…up to a point. And at that point, the train of thought becomes a train wreck.
Gardening, in theory, is simple – seeds, soil, water, harvest. In practice, there are few too many variables to go into in a single page blog post. The most basic ones, and in my opinion, the ones that are the key elements in your success or failure:
- are pests that would affect your crops (in an emergency there are no pesticides)
- do the plants offered even grow in your area well enough to provide a crop
- can/will your family eat what is grown
There are many others, but these are key questions to ask yourself about seed banks you can purchase pre-assembled. When looking into these questions, you’ll find that most off-the-shelf seed banks do not fit your needs, at least not 100%. However, with experience, you can get most to produce, and know what works best for you. Experience is the key. Seed banks, like guns, first aid kits, and almost everything else are all only as good as the user.
To prove this works for everything, here is a great non-prepper example – cameras. Does the camera make the photographer capture great photos, or does the photographer skills make the camera capture great photos? Seventy plus years ago, Ansel Adams used cameras that, by today’s standards, are very antiquated and obsolete. And yet he produced world-class photos that are almost impossible to reproduce today with the top of the line “smart” cameras – if you do not have the skills to do so.
This is the same with ANY item. There is no one answer for any pre-emergency planning as to what is the perfect widget. However, after the SHTF, the answer to what is the best widget is always “the one you have now”. So do the research now, get the widget for your needs, and then USE it.
As to the seed bank, choose any of the off-the-shelf seed banks, look the list over, and see how those three factors affect the list. Use their list as a guideline to build your own. Then grow the plants you think will work for YOU. Learn from your success and failures. But learn YOUR tools.
You must practice with whatever tool you plan to use in an emergency, be it gun, knife, seed bank, or camera. A tool is only as good as the person using it.
db
I’d like to thank James for asking me to post here. You can find me over at FloridaHillbilly.com, where I’ll talk about many of the same things you’ll find here.