Sharecropping The Apocalypse: A Prepper is Cast Adrift

by Ron Foster

  First thing to do is to cut the feet off at the first joint from the toes upward toward the body. Then remove the head.

  Next, cut around the mid-section of the hide around the diameter of the body as shown in the diagram. Place two fingers under each side of the cut and pull the hide outward toward both ends of the body. This should remove the outer hide like pulling off a glove.

  Next, cut down the center of the belly side from groin to neck. Remove the innards. You can eat the heart and liver. Ensure the liver has a smooth wet deep red appearance. Any other color may mean the animal is diseased and should be used as bait for larger prey or discarded.

  Next, wash the carcass if water is available. When eating meat in a survival situation, it is important that you have water to help digest the meal.

  You can then cut the meat into large chunks to make a soup or stew or you can cook it over an open fire like a shish kabob.

  It takes about three squirrels to make a full meal with addition to whatever plant food you can find.

  I know that all those preppers are probably collectively carrying a mile or so of 550 Paracord in packs and bug out bags and that’s a good thing. Later on I will break my rule about teaching people how to use that stuff to catch deer and teach them a few snare sets and triggers but not for a while yet. How many long guns do they have amongst them Crick?” David asked

  Simple Small Game Twitch Up Snare

  “ None that I know of, there was a lot of confusion as to the gun laws, concealed carry permits etc. on a federal reservation so some people don’t even have their pistols with them. I have a spare rifle or two at the house and maybe a couple single shot shotguns I will lend to the cause however and I have plenty of ammo put back to supply the weapons for a good bit.” Crick responded.

  “David I sort of had my doubts about the wisdom of Crick making you come all the way up here on that dangerous trip to just bring some fish traps and some of that survival knowledge of yours to this little party but I must say you are awfully handy to have around sometimes. That spool of picture wire trick for your atomic rodent rodeo that you brought was brilliant.” Loomis said thumping David on the back in a comradely fashion.

  “Thanks buddy, but I got to hand it to you and Crick for finding this place, that great tractor giz whiz and organizing this rescue. Man just keeping them folks from killing themselves or each other over on that island must have been a chore and a half already.” David responded with his own compliment.

  “We had ourselves a few hiccups in the beginning but that’s a great bunch of survival like minded people. Once we got organized they basically just further bonded together and pitched in on surviving as a community versus a bunch of individuals.” Loomis said proud of the folks at Prepper Stock.

  “Now we got to get them same people into a sharecropper frame of mind and that may cause us a little friction. Everyone right now is pulling for the moment as one thinking they just needed to hold out until rescued, now that they are out of the confines of the encampment and have the option of bugging out on their own and hitting the open road I think they are going to be harder to direct and less compromising in their outlooks.” Crick said wisely.

  “That fact opens up a whole another can of worms but this subject needs to be discussed further and in depth. I haven’t had much of a chance to bring up road conditions to you yet and that might influence them to want to stay as close to this place as they can. The radio probably has left out several things of importance no one has considered as of yet.’ David said ominously.

  “I thought you said it was all clear roads and no problems getting down here?” Loomis objected.

  “I did, but I didn’t tell you what was occurring on my own home front that causes me some major concerns. Hell I might even want to move back down here with you all myself.” David said and told them what he knew about the foreign troops manning security checkpoints at strategic factories and facilities.

  David told them that he hadn’t had for himself any firsthand experience or even seen such forces in action but related his neighbor’s observations and experience with the surprise of seeing allegedly Russian troops guarding the missile plant not far from his house.

  “There goes your wagon train plan Loomis. There is going to be absolutely no telling who you are going to run into trying to cross the state now. My offer of a horse to get you home still stands but maybe you might want to rethink on whether or not you’re getting home in a hurry getting beats staying here.” Crick advised.

  “Oh I am going home one way or another my friend. But I might could see myself sticking around for awhile to help you with this little rodeo you got getting cranked up here. I am thinking that is the best thing that I can do at the moment for the both of us. I can help you with some of the administration around here but at the same time borrow that horse of yours that you are offering and use it to do a scout around the area and see what exactly are the conditions in the near proximity of this place. I mean this place is pretty well off the beaten path as far as the highways and byways leading here to it but if the government is augmenting its security forces with friggin Russian paratroopers we might just have a bunch of them foreign troops camped out over at those blown dams and power stations that got destroyed. If we are somehow in it now for the long dark and are only focusing all our efforts on just to surviving, then we might be missing the bigger picture that we should be observing if the business and government continuity plans actually are being implemented and if they are they going to have a chance to work.” Loomis offered for consideration.

  “You got a point there Loomis, now if there is actually construction or repairs going on over at the Dams then things might not be near as bad as we think that they are. On the other hand, who is to say at this particular moment in this disaster that some desperate backwoods hick doesn’t shoot you for your rifle or wanting to eat your horse? You might just be riding along down the road without a care in the world one day and some starving yahoo or highwayman wants to take advantage of the situation to see if you got any interesting morsels in your saddlebags or bullets that fits his gun. I don’t think the lone Ranger approach is as cool as it sounds or might be considered to have any merit at the moment.” Crick said and Loomis immediately and loudly told Crick what he thought of the term “Lone Ranger.”

  “Hey settle down you two, I can see both of your points but we got to expound upon the pros and cons about them and not argue so much about doing something exactly one way or another. Maybe as just a suggestion mind you, if you got enough horses to do it Crick a larger show of force might work, or as Loomis probably can already do, take a swamp fox commando approach with a lone rider to send out scouts. Either way I can see the necessity in both ideas but right now we need a cohesive front for all those preppers coming over here from Castaway Island that might help keep anyone from straying off property too soon until we actually know how dark those woods in front of us are. The preppers are basically a unit now from living and surviving together, lets remind them to remain so for awhile longer and that any losses to our little ad hoc community lessens the chances of the others no matter how good their own homes and preps look at the moment. We need to stress safety and success in numbers and appeal to their desires to strengthen the weakest links instead of break the chain. As a group or a tribe we are a force to be reckoned with be it from nature or from aggressors. As individuals we are subject to the whims and chances that nature and other groups or tribes wish to subject us to.” David said seeing that this was no time to lose the chain of command or let everyone’s personal individuality takeover.

  “Point taken David and it’s a good one, but let me remind you that probably over half of them preppers have misguided notions of bugging out or have just given up to the realities of hard living and are hoping deep down in their hearts that a bunch of FEMA buses are waiting on this side of the river to take them to a camp somewhere with a real bed and a warm meal, if such still exists. It’s hard to say r
ight now, what with such an overwhelming need for services and supplies if it’s even possible the government resources can be up to the task at any level. There are over three hundred million people in this country facing dire straits and there’s no way in hell the government can possibly have that many stores in hand let alone available in every location that they might be needed in. Many folks won’t be contained here longer than it takes for them to eat a bit, regain their strength and carry on with whatever mythical or real road trip they envision going on with or without our blessings.” Crick said advising David of the true nature of the spirits and mentalities of those people they were trying to rescue.

  “I know one or two folks over there that it would be particularly merciful to just go ahead and shoot them but they are plain people and part of us in a predicament all the same. We have been discussing in several group meetings and in private who wants to get on the bus, who wants to get home by bugging out and who sees no other recourse other than just trying their hand at staying over there and attempting some more woods living. It didn’t take long for even some of the more hardcore types to say the hell with trying to eat the cambium or the soft inner layer of bark on a pine tree as a get by method of food procurement. David you seem to have come up with the new glue that binds by providing the means for ready food and hope for all and to me with all my survival knowledge that seems pretty amazing, but like you said that ain`t going to last for long. Hell I still can’t wrap my mind around that nuclear squirrel and rabbit option you dreamed up. Them little goomers are smart and that trick might not work for long as they see their buddies strangle and dangle and will avoid those areas soon enough if you don’t wipe out the majority of that kind of game the first go round. Now hear me out! It is a great idea but not the solution for the long-term benefit of providing for these folks and they are going to see it as clear as me eventually. They will realize you are depleting and educating the game around here to human hunting and trapping tricks thus making the surviving animals harder to catch and more wary. We need to start planning other options to leave this area if need be before the inevitable starvation starts again.” Loomis predicated in a condescending tone to David’s exuberance he had somehow miraculously provided a solution to their woes.

  Crick eyed David how he was going to respond to this accusation and alleged lack of planning with great interest. He knew David had specifically said he didn’t know what that atomic option of his was going to do to the squirrel and rabbit population close to the sharecropper shacks that would soon be occupied by destitute and perhaps somewhat deranged from starvation people they had taken under their wings to give them a better chance of surviving this apocalypse. He saw the method to David’s so called madness in providing such a solution but he didn’t think that such an extreme affair was necessarily that great of an idea now.

  David had not seen how weak and pitiful looking many of those poor souls were already. Weeks of lacking good food, the strain of wondering how loved ones were getting by and how they themselves could possibly go see about them to help out played heavy on his mind. The hell with zombie preparedness movies, some folks were already walking around like the shambling dead from infected mosquito bites, red bugs, poison ivy, oak, untreated minor cuts etc. plaguing the survivors came to mind and the first prep he remembered when coming to his home to bring back preps and relief was various medications like Calamine lotion. Zinc oxide, clear nail polish, rubbing alcohol and peroxide etc. to give some relief to the debilitating maladies that most everybody had some experience at this date and time. A thousand and one “got cha`s” lived in the woods to make a strong man weak and great woman cry. A basic lesson of outdoor skills in the flora and fauna of this neck of the woods was not only necessary but had to be done before the strongest and bravest of the lot were disabled beyond helping others in something as basic as identifying poison ivy before butts were wiped or trees climbed as nature said you just think you can survive here.

  I always used poison ivy mnemonics to remember what the plant looked like in nature and to teach others like Leaves of three leave them be.”

  The Wikipedia article on Poison Ivy ends with a list of traditional mnemonics to help people identify Poison Ivy. I thought it would be fun to re-print a few of them here along with a photo illustrating the saying.

  Leaves of three; let it be.

  The catch is that there are plenty of plants with three leaves that are safe to touch, such as wild strawberry vines. Blue Jay Barrens blogged about safe, three-leaved plants in a post called Three-Parted Leaves. But if you have difficulty telling one three-leaved plant from another, it’s probably best to avoid them.

  Side leaflets like mittens, will itch like the dickens.

  Unfortunately the side leaflets on poison ivy don’t always have these mitten thumbs. If you look at the “leaves of three” photo shown in the previous item, you’ll note that it lacks these mitten thumbs.

  Longer middle stem; stay away from them.

  Red leaflets in the spring, it’s a dangerous thing.

  PLUS

  Hairy vine, no friend of mine.

  This was photographed April 23rd. It is unusual to see red leaves in the spring.

  Raggy rope, don’t be a dope! Another one is Hairy vine no friend of mine!

  This was taken January 13th after all the leaves were gone. The vine is still poisonous.

  Berries white, run in fright!

  This was photographed on December 8th, also after the leaves had dropped.

  This mnemonic kind of goes with my edible berries one

  White and yellow, kill a fellow.

  Purple and blue, good for you.

  Red … could be good, could be dead.

  If [red berries are] growing in little clusters, they're probably not good. If they're growing in little singletons, they probably are good.

  People’s brains changed when subject to the stressors of deprivation and disease. They are sometimes liable to try to eat anything. What was unthinkable before became nagging thoughts of “don’t think about that” as weird cannibalistic or aggressive thoughts of theft or violence occurred. Just that little bit of knowledge about edible berries goes a long way.

  Avoid ever having to use this method without careful planning. Some plants can be deadly, and even if you follow these guidelines perfectly, there is always a chance that a plant will make you seriously ill.

  Prepare yourself for wilderness outings by learning about the local flora and fauna, and carry a guidebook or taxonomic key to help you identify plants.

  Even if you are unprepared and cannot find food you know to be safe remember that, depending on your activity level, the human body can go for days without food, and you're better off being hungry than being poisoned.

  Find a plant that is plentiful. You don't want to go through the rigorous process of testing a plant if there's not a lot of it to eat.

  The Universal Edibility Test is a series of tests you can use to determine if a plant is safe to consume. At the site HowStuffWorks they've outlined the prongs of the test and how you can apply it safely in the field. The initial part of the test is to separate the item into its parts like leaves, stems, roots, buds, and flowers—many plants have edible and inedible portions. The first actual experiment is the contact test:

  First you need to perform a contact test. If it's not good for your skin, it's not good for your belly. Crush only one of the plant parts and rub it on the inside of your wrist or elbow for 15 minutes. Now wait for eight hours. If you have a reaction at the point of contact, then you don't want to continue with this part of the plant. A burning sensation, redness, welts and bumps are all bad signs. While you wait, you can drink water, but don't eat anything. If there is no topical reaction after eight hours, move along to the next step.

  Some plants have edible parts and poisonous parts. In order to test if a plant is edible, you must separate it into the leaf, stem and root and test each part separately for edibility.

&n
bsp; After you have separated the plant into parts, inspect each part you are preparing for parasites. If you encounter worms or small insects inside the plant, discontinue the test with that sample and consider seeking a different sample of the same plant. Evidence of worms, parasites or insects indicates that the plant is rotten, especially if the organism has vacated the plant.

  Many parts of plants are only edible during certain seasons (for example, acorns collected after the fall are usually rotten). If you find grubs inside the plant, the plant is rotting, but the grubs are edible and contain high amounts of protein (although they taste sour and are gritty).

  8

  FREEDOM FLOTILLA

  Early the next morning found all hands on deck down at the old ferry landing bustling about and making ready to perform a rescue. Loomis and Clem got the turnbuckles off the steel cable holding the pontoon platform anchored close to shore and eventually with a lot of experimentation and work Crick and crew managed to secure the barge to the tractor and bolted the cables together. After a few tentative maneuvers to get the feel for his unwieldy craft Crick signaled that he was ready to push it up river and would meet them at the plantations landing before setting off for the rescue mission.

  Preparations for today were minimalist at best, Getting ready to receive 50 or so starving people when there is so little extra food around was problematic. A big hog scalding cauldron was scrubbed out as best they could and Bertha and Rossy Ross were making a thin watery but wholesome stew out of some vegetables, two chickens and a piglet that Clem had donated to the cause. Bertha would thicken it up later with some flour dumplings and a basketful of Egyptian walking onions that Rossy had gathered from the gardens.