Just to explain a few reasons why this forum is not like some other forums of related topics:
* I'm not promoting activities that involve tractors. If you can't do it by hand, then don't do it. You won't have parts for the tractor and you won't be able to afford gasoline.
* I'm not promoting activities that require a lot of equipment in general. We're just not going to have the infrastructure to maintain it.
* I'm not promoting lifestyles that are dependent on cheap fuel. You will not be able to live in deep rural areas and commute to towns for work much longer, unless you are far richer than I am.
* I am not promoting ostensibly "green" building methods that make use of trendy building materials--particularly ones that you have to import. The USA is already massively overbuilt. Generations of immigrants will bless you. We don't need any more straw-bale houses, yurts, lodge pole houses, earthships, etc. If you really do need to build, you'd better be prepared to use what is on hand.
* I'm not advocating any particular lifestyle. People will survive in a variety of different circumstances. It depends partially on what resources you have available to you, which is a function of your personal circumstances, and on what's going on in your part of the world.
* I am actively discouraging "homesteading". Homesteading is a solution looking for a problem. The problem is not that we don't have farmland; the problem is that it's sitting under shopping malls and exurban tract houses. Land prices have been bid up so stupidly, and taxes have risen commensurately, that it is not terribly feasible to buy a farm and try to run it profitably. Most of the best farmland is already used for farming ,or has been developed, or even in cases where it has been abandoned back to forest there are compelling economic reasons for that, some of which will still be showstoppers for wannabe farmers. So instead, a lot of people are foolishly buying land that, to be frank, is still massively overpriced relative to its uselessness for productive purposes outside of maybe solar farms or windmill farms. I am seeing advertisements for fairly small parcels of land in the driest, rockiest parts of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, that are totally useless for farming, and the price is still too high. The thinking is that someone will build out there to "get away from it all". THAT IS NOT PRODUCTION THAT IS CONSUMPTION.
* I am actively discouraging people from moving too far from lines of transportation and communication, that are already far too tenuous already. SOME people are rugged enough that they could survive in deep-rural areas--the vast majority are not. Most people in rural areas will be in huge trouble the day Wal*Mart shuts down.
* Conservation of resources is probably far more important than solar panels, wood stoves, and other "magic bullet" solutions. Sometimes solar panels and wood stoves are an excellent solution to a problem, but those are generally in specific situations, like when you are too far from civilization and you happen to live in a particularly sunny or wooded location.
Some things I AM doing that probably throw some people:
* Until the day they turn out the lights, you will have to make a living the conventional way. The same will be true as situations stabilize. Some people might be lucky enough that their old lifestyle is never interrupted significantly. For these reasons, I post information about how to get by in "normal" times.
* Life goes on in other ways too. A lot of my posts are pretty mundane.
* Fertilizer seems to be a topic missing on the forums and blogs of the majority of my competitors. They think Billy Bob's Organic all-purpose fertilizer will still be available at their local nursery as the system breaks down. I doubt it.
* Friends and family are a resource. In order to utilize them effectively, we need to maintain a far higher standard of good relationships than is modeled on the lobotomy box (television). For this reason it is a frequent hot-button issue of mine, and you'll see lots of references to family and friends.
