Implied in this post is a general fear of economic collapse/loss of food security/nuclear or bio Armageddon.

I'll suggest that if you haven't been raising up at least some of your own food for the last five years, a summer of trying just ain't going to cut it.

If you can't live "cash only now" it's not going to get any better soon.

This is the worst possible time to be pulling back from your network of family, friends, and yes, government.

No binder is going to help you keep food on the table if you don't have either the skills someone will pay for or the ability to grow your own - and sell enough extra to pay for the tools and taxes that go with it.

There is nowhere in the USA where you'll find a truly "self sufficient" compound. Nowhere. You need ammo? You need a shovel? You need a knife?

All of the fish are contaminated with toxins and you can't live off of freshwater fish for any length of time. The majority of the farms are growing genetically modified grains that can't be saved as seeds (they commit "suicide" unless they are treated with a proprietary gene modification process to allow them to sprout.

My point is that the world today is irrevocably entwined. Even Ted Kaczynski lived in a PLYWOOD shack, not one made of found materials.

I don't deny that being more self-reliant is a good thing, to an extent, but ultimately, it's a fools errand to really think that you're ever going to make things better without a network of people and institutions.