New Member Howdy From Finland!

Howdy! Y'all can call me Mikael.
I suck at introducing myself if I'm being perfectly honest, so this is gonna be short and sweet.

As the title suggests, I'm from Finland (born and raised!). I haven't started prepping yet, but I am extremely interested in it. Well, what should you guys about myself... I'm an avid reader, and an aspiring author, so I'm also into post-apocalyptic fiction. I love dogs, hiking, fishing and nature in all its glory.

I'm looking forward to talking to people and learning more about prepping!

 

Good morning Mikael,

Welcome to the Forum.

"Prepping" is preparedness tailored to your situations and environments. You've got a solid foundation just from your experience with hiking.

Do be careful with the fiction. Remember "Truth is stranger than fiction." Anon.

Again, welcome and remember we're here to learn from all Forum members. I'm sure your posts will be appreciated.


Transmitting from the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia, USA

 

Tervetuloa

In my mind's list of Countries to Respect, Finland stands near the top. Your bravery in fighting the Russians is astounding. Though Finland lost territory, still the loss of one Finnish soldier cost the Soviets six men. That says a lot.

Everyone adores the Sako rifle. It is a combination of elegance and engineering. I have a Tikka and it shoots sub-minute-of-angle. Saw the rifle in a pawn shop. They didn't know what they had. Got it along with its very good scope for less than what it was truly worth. I'm not parting with this rifle. Its accuracy is superior to my marksmanship.

That you already love being in nature will put you in good stead for your preparations for hard times.

I'm going to now pepper you with questions. Please take no offense. I'm almost old enough to be your grandfather, do take into account that old men can be nosey-aggressive. We elders can be a bit set in our ways, hopefully I'm not too old to learn from those who are yet young.

I know not the culture of Finland -- only what can be read online ... which is to say, shallow information.

Questions:

Have you served in the military?

Where you live, what is the population density? Would you call where you live urban, suburban/near-city, medium/small town, or rural? Is your area agricultural or industrial?

Are you trained in the use of firearms? I can't ask if you own or have access to firearms due to the centralized government of Finland -- they may not be friendly to the concept of Liberty. Were I to be able to ask you about firearms, I would ask: Do you hunt with a shotgun? Do you hunt with a center-fire rifle? Do you hunt with a rimfire rifle?

Have you, or do you now, grow your own garden? Better, do you live on a farm or have family with farm land?

How close are you to forests? Do you live in more of a valley land or a mountainous region?

Is your ancestry and your current family members of those people who hunt, camp, enjoy the outdoors? Have their skills passed to you? (I ask this because I was raised and taught by people who hunted, fished, raised their own vegetables -- one of my grandfathers in his youth was a subsistence-hunter; if he didn't kill it, his family had no meat for the table.)

End of questioning. Do not hate me, it's just that I wish to get a better feel for where you are coming from. Our environments shape us ... mightily, we are shaped.

I hope you realize the fiction you read is fiction. I have never seen any films or television shows that depicted post-SHTF events in any way accurately. As a matter of fact, I view it all as disinformation. Even books written by experts / military survival experts contain incorrect information. I avoid survival literature. That is why I view sites such as this. I want to read practical experience -- in the final analysis, that is all that counts. That is why I ask you about your ancestry, who better to know how to adapt than those who did so! All environments are unique. "One size does NOT fit all."

In your education concerning surviving hard times, make friends with your local elderly folk. They are encyclopedias of information. Plus, their information includes specifics about where you live. In speaking with them, let them speak. Will they ramble and get off-track? Yes. Think about this, if within that which they have told you, only 10-20% of the information is what you think is valuable or maybe only marginally useful, one day some something within the "marginally useful" may save your life. And there is the matter of their wisdom, their mental attitude, such may be even more valuable than the simple facts. Never neglect studying at the libraries of the human mind. Mine this gold before they take it with them to universes beyond.

“Were it not for the leaping and twinkling of the soul, man would rot away in his greatest passion, idleness.”
― C.G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Mikael, I know you not, yet I see you not as idle.

 

Welcome from Alaska!

 

Another welcome from the Great State of Alaska.

 

Make that three, Welcome.

 

Welcome from Eastern Missouri. Right in the middle of the USA. Good to have you with us. Lots of good people, and lots of info here. Read the old posts to find the topics of interest. Ask questions. Look forward to seeing your posts.

 

Mad respect to the nation that repaid its debts to the USA fully! Did you take civil defense training in public school?