What do you look for in a bug out location?

I had an occasion during last weekend to visit a person who had a very good set up on an eight hectare secluded block about twenty kilometres from where we live.

At one time he was set up for the duration, vegetable gardens, an orchard as well as poultry of several varieties provided him with the greater percentage of his nutrition. A small solar power system provided him with all of the electricity he needed and solar hot water capped off an extremely good set up.

Two years ago the drought hit, he lost not only all of his water sources for irrigating his vegetables, fruit and most of his poultry but he also lost his employment due to the downturn in the agriculture sector.

This type of situation can effect each and every one of us, we know, because at the present time we are suffering the same drought and the same hardships but not to the same extreme.

For us and I suspect many others the only way we have to overcome like events is to, in the good years, put away as much as we can for the poorer years. We are not looking too bad at the moment as we still have enough of our own preserves to tide us over until the start of next season, 2015-2016.

If 2015-2016 is a poor to bad season then we are going to be extremely hard done by. At the present time we are preparing new vegetable garden beds that will be capable of utilising our grey water and will nearer the next summer have more shade over some of the garden areas. We have had wicking beds in now for two seasons and have found them to be very efficient and are looking to get more but would like a different system for getting the water to them.

There is one person from our area that is adamant that he is going to move his family to Tasmania because of the climate but I am not sure that it would be a good move as who knows if the same type of droughts are not going to happen there in the future.

I have never believed that hiding away on a mountain top or other such place has been the best of ideas. We need a supply of food and to get that we need a supply of water. Without food and water we are in trouble.

I have looked at many of the postings on this site about how a good portion of the members are preparing themselves for a time after the lights go out but in all seriousness I firmly believe that many would not survive because they do not appear to take food production into account.

Yes, I know that many will take their assortment of firearms into the bush and knock over kangaroos and rabbits but at the best they are aiming for a fairly poor lifestyle.

I read an article some time ago that was posted on an American prepper site. The article contained data to the effect that if all of the wild/native animals in the United States were shot for food and processed so there was the minimum of waste they would supply every inhabitant of the United States with three meals. I know there are kangaroos and rabbits in our area but I also know that there are millions of people in Australia that either cannot or do not grow any of their own nutrition.

Zombies seems to be the popular name for the masses who are not preparing for the/any lights out scenario, but I wonder, will we not all become zombies if we do not have enough to feed us.

I couldn't agree with you more peter1942, and that's why the wife and I are ramping up our food production areas, watering storage facilities, back-up pumping system for the bore and most importantly educating ourselves to be able to supply adequate calories for ourselves and our stock even in the most trying of times. We often look back to simpler times as the knowledge of those before us can oft prove to be more than just bucolic rhetoric; I'd go so far as to say that perhaps they knew a thing or two even without hard science to back their claims. There are innumerable tomes out there written by farmers past who were not only adept at their farm skills but also deft of pen.

I can recommend a modern publication that ticks all the boxes: The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe.