a summerhouse in the wild - trips to my "dacha"

[Andrew Veresay]

 

We (my family) have a summerhouse (rus."dacha") outside my city.

 

It is not permanent settlements - people usually have gardens there and use this to either grow their own crops or as a place to rest and relax. These people are city dwellers who were granted these small pieces of land by the state in the Soviet times.

 

There is nothing like luxurious cottages or swimming pools there - just small cabins these "settlers" managed to build with their own hands for their scant earnings. Sometimes just a shed on a piece of field where they keep tools and a small brick house (such as mine) at most.

 

This "settlement" (quite a lot of land owners) is outside the city, near the adge of natural and old forest, neighbouring a village.

 

There is no electricity, nor running water, not even to mention natural gas or centralised heating.

 

So i see this summer "cottage" as my survival site - only option that i can have at this time, and not bad at all.

 

Few years ago i assumed larger part of responsibility for this patch of land as my aging grandparents are no longer able to devote the effort needed. I am trying to learn gardening, and am doing carpenter choirs needed.

 

I want tro share my experience, and hope it can be an inspiration to others!

 

photoes:

 

http://s707.photobucket.com/albums/ww78/veresay/dacha/?start=0

 

http://s707.photobucket.com/albums/ww78/veresay/dacha%20vacation%20...

[Andrew Veresay]

I took a walking trip to my summerhouse on May 22.

It was unusual for several reasons:
- it has been raining for two+ weeks now, so everything is soggy
- i usually go there by bicycle - now on foot (7 kilometers one direction, 14 km there and back)
- it is relatively cold now

so i went there by foot. Took a military poncho/raincoat, a backpack under it, good shoes, self defence - a knife and self-made club (my house is away from the permanent city settlement, on the edge of large and completely wild woods - who knows what can happen? especially that it is a summer house settlement - people do not live there permanently, so noone there when bad weather. and wild dog packs are very real and big threat even now - ive encountered them many times. some of these dogs knew people so are generally friendly, but those born in the wild are "unsocialised" and extremely dangerous - i had an electric tazer the sound of which effectively scared them away, until it broke down and is now useless).

so knife and club - and im all alone into the wilderness in extremely unfriendly weather.

add to this that there is no asphalt road to these summer house settlements - only "ground" road, which gets slippery in the rain. and add to that that we had a minor storm with tree branches craked off and laying on that "ground" road - had to walk over it.

it was unique experience - similar to post-pole shift.

[Andrew Veresay]

one very major thing that i was thinking constantly before and now have my own experience of - SHOES!

good dry waterproof shoes is a thing of unprecedented importance for post pole shift.

my shoes were pretty good, but after a day of walking the soggy water sunken mud i ended with wet feet.

what comes to mind as a solution here is water proof, "sealed" "hermetic" rubber boots (гумаки, калоші).

so shoes are major major issue for Aftertime!

i checked my garden which was unattended for almost two weeks - since rain began. and also did a great sything job - a hand sythe used for cutting the grass. (American Peace Corps volunteer with whom i maintain contacts in my city told me that for Americans hand sythe is a thing of age-old past, noone ever uses it, and it was used centuries ago. we in ukraine use it as a routine, in the villages :)

[Andrew Veresay]

yesterday i took a camera with me and made some photoes - will upload it onto photobucket and post a link here!

[Rosemary Stephen]

Yes It is inspirational indeed Andrew. Gardening is fun. Make sure that the area were you are is not located in a polluted area because you may have heavy metal accumulating in the soil. If it is the case, you may have to be more selective with your crop. Roots that are fibrous tend to accumulate heavy metal and radioactivity more than tap roots.

I hope you do not have a polluted area.

[Andrew Veresay]

OK, here are my photoes from yesterday:

http://s707.photobucket.com/albums/ww78/veresay/dacha/

[Andrew Veresay]

I'll dig a trench and cover with metal sheet or wooden panels and sod

Lothar Schwarz said:

Back to basics, great pictures Andrew.

No shelter yet??

greetings from Stuttgart
Lothar

[Nidhögg]

Hi Andrew

You were asking about shoes, I've bought shoes from military surplus here in Sweden, the price was 17 euros or something like 20 dollars a pair. They work really well under extrem conditions I'm putting up the link but it's all in Swedish I'm afraid. But there is an option on the bottom on the page for orders from outside of Sweden. The shoes are called "Gummipjäxor" and are found on the page that says "skor" at the following link: http://www.bbfab.se/

Live well

[David Ian Swan]

Hi Andrew, Nice story. In America they call them "dirt" roads, in NZ we call them gravel, or metal roads. Because of the crushed rock they are topped with ( which is called road metal.. even tho it is rock).

I suppose a true "dirt" road has no rock on it.. but will only be good in the dry. I live on a "gravel" road, but not far from a main highway. Dust in the summer and mud in the winter.

[Andrew Veresay]

hahaha!

Well, per the Zetas Ukraine will have milder climate than today, and further west - the warmer, as it will be close to new Equator!

szlh said:

Thank you for sharing your photos, Andrew -- very beautiful and inspiring, and hey, you will be growing bananas and coconuts there soon! lol

[Lisa]

What a wonderful little place you have. How beautiful it is.

[Steve Hanson]

A lovely place to start over!
Steve

[David Ian Swan]

Well not to be negative ..but following ZT this is not a great survival location.

Not high enough altitude..coconuts will not grow underwater..:-).

Also even given that you have water , shelter and wood heat/cooking, and space for a BIG garden.. which is a huge improvement over a city apartment.: This location is not remote enough, even tho rural, is surrounded by close neighbours, and you need to be 20-30 Ks ( 12-20 miles) away from a city. Not an easy walking distance.. and hills and river crossings are good obstacles too. Maybe if it is a very small town nearby... less than 10,000..is better.

I'm sure Andrew knows this stuff...

Not that you can get everything perfect.. but altitude is basic, and remoteness is a big factor.