I mean the scenario of a serious collapse of civilization with the use of nuclear weapons.
I wonder what is best grown from vegetables and what is not? For example, what about potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbage and cucumbers? I want to understand how to feed myself and other people, even if there are crop failures, droughts, bad soil, soil depletion, or something else. I doubt that forests will always be able to provide food, they will only be a good addition, but you should not expect stable food from them, as I managed to see, besides, I am planing to survive not alone, but with a group.
As for the location, since after the collapse, hungry crowds will rob villages and farms that they can reach or know about, I will have to build a house from scratch somewhere a hundred kilometers from cities and civilization, Although maybe I'll be lucky to find an abandoned house? and plow the land and so on, and unfortunately, I don't have the ability to prepare everything in advance, and I've never grown vegetables before and don't know how difficult it is in the long run, especially as it used to be, without tractors and other things, but only with the help of a hoe and hard work.
I'm also wondering what healing skills I should know? Will basic first aid skills be enough, or should I write down or memorize how to deal with severe food poisoning, serious illnesses caused by exhaustion or parasites, etc.?
In general, if it is not difficult for you, please tell me where I can get the necessary and verified information without wasting extra time on videos or articles on YouTube, especially if they are edited or completely made with the help of AI including also articles? I don't trust AI generated content, the authors of which I don't know if they check the reliability of the information or if they check for five minutes or a maximum of half an hour, believing that everything seems logical and can be posted on the network.
I'm sorry that the post sounds so strange or perhaps paranoid, it's just that there are so many things to talk about that I decided to cut it down somehow.
I actually think places like villages are your best bet. An organized rural community of a few hundred people will be much better off than a single person or household living alone in the wilderness. You can share the work required and you'll have a safety net in case anything goes wrong, like if you've been injured for example. You can also organize defence by putting up guards etc.
I've thought about it, but I still want to prepare for the worst, given that I can't predict what to expect from the future, and the scenarios of a very likely future are not very comforting, to say the least.
I understand that villages are better choice, and I'd rather stay there than suffer alone and risk a quick death from exhaustion, but I'd still like to prepare for the worst, because unexpected gifts can be expected from our lousy world.
You cannot prepare for both; it'd take too much time and energy to focus on one path and diversifying your efforts would lead to either one failing even worse.
I think commonplace civilians like you and I have probably no chance. Solar is one thing. Water-sourcing and -filtering is entirely another. You also need lots of land and farmhand knowledge to grow food lasting beyond a year; winter would kill a lot. Even chickens, which could be a major source of sustenance otherwise, barely produce eggs during the winter.
Our best bet is really a co-op.
I agree.
In this case, people do not seem to grow anything in winter, let the soil rest and eat food canned in the basement, so to speak, which does not spoil from a few months to half a year if you are lucky.
True, canned fish with rice and chickpeas could go a long way! But if civ truly collapses, all of them would become extremely hard to come by... So you'd best start hoarding now... getting your solar setup in order... Etc.