I think if we look at the parallels between now and teh great depression of the thirties we can actually learn from that time.
Canning, gardening, recycling clothing and being frugal. and yes putting pennies in a penny jar.
We don't have to go overboard but we have to rememberthat fragility is the key word of every ones job and we all walk a precipice. Being penny wise and making do with so many things and taking advantage of swaps online, freecycle site etc can help any dollar go further. And allow those pennies to add up.

Yes, we should neglect history. History had thought many valuable things and how to survive different types of things we face. If we know our past we would certainly succeed in our future no matter how hard the obstacle we face.

Here is a site that deals with all the ways of doing things that have been lost to all but the oldest generation of American society. Might be useful to familiarize ourselves with some of them... just in case.

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_librar ... ices1.html

UJ,

That's a pretty cool website. My folks purchased an old grindstone real cheap at an auction recently simply because they like the "old rustic" charm of it. Now I'm wondering if I can get it back to the point of being operational. Might come in handy if ever needed. Thanks for the link.

I bid on one of those pedal powered grindstones but when it went up to $100 I dropped out. I did pick up a couple old walk-behind plows and a cultivator pretty cheap.... just in case.