A Year Without Summer

In the early 1300s, there were three years without summer, in a row. In Europe, the crop failures were devastating. Starvation lead to disease. In a generation, the population was cut in half, and then almost half again. These three years without summer weren't an isolated event, they were the harbinger of what later became known as the Little Ice Age. According to some historians, this little ice age lasted into the early 20th Century. But that's all in the past. Humanity survived. Would you be able to thrive in a year without summer? Two? THree?

 

Survive in today's materialist, at my fingertips world, yes. But if collapse happened then no. I am planning on growing and forging, plus the wild game would starve.

 

Certainly would thin out the herd, 3 years of winter, nearly 1,100 frosty days in a row.

I think I could make it a year, but it would be a grind, a normal winter is a grind for me.

3 years, I honestly don't know if I'd make it or not.

 

er....a year? Actually you are talking about 2-3 years worth of winter. I would say we wouldn't make it as of right now. Definitely, not enough vitamins to compensate for veggies, that's for sure. Geez, vegetables would be worth their weight in gold! And, I just watched a video about '9 meals away from anarchy', scary stuff. Told the wife I was going to buy more beans and things...

We are putting up a Greenhouse next Spring. I think I will get a bigger one than I planned. EDIT: @Ganado BTW Good post! You never fail to scare me into action. LOL!

 

Almost have my 12 x 25 greenhouse ready, built from as much junk and scrap I had laying around, still cost close to $200, but that includes 7 pickup truck loads of mushroom/ topsoil mixed dirt too for the raised beds on the sides. Will be putting plants in pots in the middle.

 

Year without a summer?

Move to Alaska. We have them all the time.

 

Some say we may be headed that way all ready! Not a bad idea to put a plan in place and start a small prosess to get things moving in that direction!

 

Caused by volcanic eruptions, and it will happen again.

Technology they didn't have in the 1300s.

Only problem is if other people know where a green house is, well you know how that will end.

 

Perhaps an investment in a small to medium-sized backhoe is in order as well.

 

If the years without summer are caused by volcanoes then you would need plants that grow with low light. Cold Weather/ Low Light (Shade) Vegetables | Survival Monkey Forums

 

With my "brown thumb" the weather doesn't really matter when it comes to what doesn't grow in my gardens.

 

@BTPost, & @DKR what do you do for fresh greens in the winter?

I saw some people who used small tunnel greenhouses early spring and late fall (double walled) and alot who grew in buckets in Alaska in their greenhouse. You still have 20 hours of light in the summer don't you?

@Bandit99 thanks for the thumbs up on the post. I don't mean to scare people, that is counter productive, I just try to post stuff I think about. What if.... I'm weak on preps in alot of areas (I will have to pester @AD1 soon for communications) and I happen to be going thru my lists on food and seeds. Fall & winter garden rotation etc. I was in Washington when Mt St Helen's blew, it was pretty grey that year, which is what prompted this thread.

 

^I was in church when it blew it's top.

 

The chruch of the highwire act?

 

No a real church. I didn't say I was awake though.

 

@Granado
I use sprouts in the winter. I do have a portable greenhouse (10 x10) where we try to raise tomatoes, but I really need to get something fixed with a autovent, etc.

I have potatoes, zukes and pumpkins taking over the yard now. We had a rare, hot summer - when it wasn't pouring rain fro 2 or 3 weeks at a time.

 

@DKR nice!, I started looking at sprouting a few months ago, I even tried wheat grass juice, it was awesome and surprisingly sweet. As a result, I have switched alot of my preps and geared to sprouting, as it doesn't require much light even for wheat grass.

 

I really like this topic because it makes me consider a different scenario. And, Yellowstone had a 4.8 the other day, can't hurt to prepare. Also, this topic is perfect because it's a boil the frog slowly topic. A lot of people won't figure out that food is going to go away until it's too late. I think it opens the door for a lot more strategic shopping as people in the know figure out what the game is going to look like.