Running to the Hills Part 2.

Yesterday we spoke of how it doesn't matter if you piss off Mother Nature because she owns your ass already.  Today we will speak of flora and fauna.

In the Mad Max setting the fauna will be gong crazy.  Not truly crazy but they won't have as much problems from humans anymore.  Wolf and bear populations are going to be getting big because humans won't hunt them as much.  Coyotes are going to wait for a human to get careless and then they will steal whatever game the human caught.  What about dogs?  Dogs that can fend for themselves and hunt will get into big packs and probably be a major problem.  Some of the little lap dogs might have some problems but they are all pack animals so they might surprise us.  People that can hunt might do well, how many can hunt without prepping the area with feeders is the real question.  In a recent Handgunner magazine there was an article on skinning a rabbit.  People actually wrote in and complained that something that disturbing was in the magazine.  I saw the pictures, I wasn't thinking about that.  I was actually thinking "Rabbit, not too tasty."  Some would disagree but the only time I've had rabbit it was in a French restaurant with a sweet sauce on it.  I'm not a fan of sweet sauces on meat so it was a bit of a turn-off.  How well would those same people do if they had to prep and eat whatever they killed?

Flora is pretty easy.  Can you find edible plants in the wild?  You could try and nibble stuff but that could also make you very sick.  Ask the lady I know that got salmonella from eating a salad.  What does rice look like in the wild?  How about potatoes?  Going back to the "hunter/gatherer" lifestyle is going to make for a short life, maybe you want to try cultivation instead?  When do you plant stuff?  What do you not plant next to each other?  A lot of gardeners will know this but do you have the seeds?  After you've grown the crops (if half of the stories my father told me about farming are true I don't ever want to do that) how do you store them?  Potatoes can be pretty easy but what about fruit?  Do you know how to can?  Can you make jellies and jams?  That's not even getting into the whole spice area.  Columbus was looking for a different route to China because of the spices.  If you don't have the spices from your kitchen how will your cooking be?  You say that hunger will make you ignore the blandness?  Have you not met your fellow Americans?  You put it in front of me and I will eat it.  Most people aren't like that.  They will be in their fantasy world thinking that they will be saved so if they skip this meal it won't hurt them.  Skip too many meals and you don't have the strength to get your next meal.

Food for thought isn't it?