The central station, as if after a bombing, once beautiful houses now stand with cracked plaster, no windows or doors at all, schools and hospitals without signs, rickety lamps that never light up and garbage everywhere... Even on the central streets and squares. No, this is not a poor Russian province. This is the city of Detroit, which is located in the most exceptional country on this planet. IN THE USA.
Michigan Central Station, Detroit
This is what Detroit looks like today - once a large industrial city. Just 30 years ago, this is where almost all American cars were produced from assembly lines: Ford, Chrysler, Pontiac. Now there is practically nothing left here. Why did this happen? As paradoxical as it may sound, in a country where the word “black” in relation to African-Americans can land you behind bars, whites, like many centuries ago, do not want to live next to blacks.
In 1950, the US government launched a program to populate the city with black citizens. After this, white-skinned citizens began to leave the city. And after a few decades, the city, in the literal sense of the word, was practically empty. As a result, Detroit authorities declared the city bankrupt. Now they don’t even issue birth and death certificates here, the mayor’s office doesn’t have money for paper...
Old Detroit
Nowadays you can see many such “ghost towns” in the United States of America. They are mainly found in the southern US, in the northeastern states, in old industrial areas, and Detroit falls into this area. There are streets, there are buildings, but they are empty. There are walls of factories and factories, but there are no workers in them - they do not work.
The Western model of democracy, which for many of us is associated not only with freedom of speech and fair elections, but also with economic well-being, high salaries and stability, in fact, exists only for the elite. Ordinary Americans experience for themselves what we in the Soviet years would have called “the bestial grin of capitalism.” Proof? Please. The city of Sacramento, the center of the 'golden state' of California.
Today, this place also looks like an abandoned city: empty shops, closed schools and clinics. Previously, teachers, doctors, construction workers and other American middle class lived here. Now, due to non-payment of mortgages, banks have taken away their housing! And today hundreds of homeless people are forced to spend the night right in the forest and in tents!
In 2011, Forbes ranked the California capital fifth on its “honorable” list of the worst cities in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said at the time that 2011 was the city's worst year in the history of economic development in the country.
For example, they planned to create an ultra-modern and attractive shopping center, Elk Grove Promenade Mall. In 2008, unable to withstand the race, the developer of the shopping center, the Chicago construction company GGP, quit the race and filed for bankruptcy. By the way, this was the biggest real estate crash in US history.
Today, the entire area is in an unfinished state and is an attractive location for filming apocalyptic films. On an area of 400 thousand square meters. m. it was planned to build dozens of stores such as Macy’s, Target, JCPenney, boutiques and a huge cinema. In the place where, by the end of 2009, many Elk Grove residents were planning to shop for Christmas, grass and shrubs are now growing lushly.
This is what it should have looked like:
And it looks like this:
Sacramento's problem is a nationwide problem; before that, unfinished shopping and entertainment centers in North Carolina, Kansas, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon and other states were closed.
Rarely does an American go on vacation to Kansas. Foreign tourists do not come here in principle. I drove along the most remote village roads, and even found off-road terrain. And you and I will visit cities together that you have never heard of.
It seems like just travel notes from small towns. But this is one of my most important stories in the entire American cycle. Please read it carefully.
When you don’t know where to go, but there is only an imaginary area and the point of the next overnight stay, point at the map and go boldly. Leaving a motel in the suburbs of Emporia in the morning, I specially configured the navigator so that it would only take me on rural roads. Avoid highways.
The names of the cities did not say anything. I trusted fate and just drove by. Five hundred people live in Olpa, and it is the local regional center. There is a cafe, hairdresser, bar and shop. There is also a town hall. Every morning the mayor of this tiny town comes to work and raises the flag. Nothing else happens in the city.
Three years ago, the state allocated money for a new water tower. Old-timers still remember the day it was installed. The most striking event of the century.
This does not prevent Lilliputian Olpa from being dressed up for Christmas and New Year, although no one will greet him on the street. There is also a school football team here, the Eagles, for which everyone roots. And collectible stamps from the “Duck Hunt” series were delivered to the post office. That's all the news.
To have some fun, local farmers park their tractors in artistic ways.
In the whole city I did not meet a single living soul except the mayor with the flag. Five hundred people is a lot. If they all go outside at once. But somehow they manage to fit compactly on two streets and in three dozen houses.
This is what imaginary Kansas looks like. In reality, that’s exactly what he turned out to be. Except that in the summer the fields are sown with wheat, corn and oats. But this is not the wilderness yet. You see, asphalt. Surely it must end someday?
An inconspicuous turn and the dirt and gravel road begins. This is exactly the same as in our villages, only flat. We won't see any more asphalt in the next couple of hours. Only country roads that wind between fields and farms. On maps they are visible only in very close proximity.
Winter here is cool, the ground is covered with frost, and steam comes out of your mouth. Snow also happens. The fields are waiting for spring and sowing.
The dirt roads run along endless fields. They are still very smooth, even though tractors and trucks drive on them. Somehow they manage not to break it.
One day I came across a broken track, frozen mud and obvious traces of heavy equipment. I wanted to kiss the ground, it smelled like the Motherland! But you can’t: all the land is private, even entering an open gate without asking is a crime. If a person wants to have a bad road - please. But for me it’s really a secret why the primers between are so ideal.
Cows covered with frost. Reminded me of blessed Montana.
Here's a new major city, Virgil. And even a semblance of asphalt. Don't worry, it starts and ends with the boundaries of the settlement. The school bus also functions as church transport: it transports both children to the nearest city with a school, and gathers the surrounding elderly people for services.
Possibly the smallest post office in America! It consists of one single room with PO boxes. Residents of the city do not have boxes; all letters will be brought and left here. There is no postman either. They would be happy to hire, even willing to pay a whopping $11 an hour by local standards. But there is no one, no one to do this. There's no store, no bar, nothing in Virgil. And the population is 70 people.
Eric Holmes is not at all a descendant of the fictional British detective. He is a village postal courier who travels a 200-kilometer route every day, collecting outgoing letters and delivering parcels. Eric drives an ancient blue Dodge and the postal service pays for his gas and repair costs. He put a beautiful sticker on the side himself. Although everyone in the area already knows Eric’s car: locals, as a rule, drive pickup trucks.
People here are not like in cities. They don't replace cars every three years, but drive them until they fall apart. Then they remain to live out their lives here, in the villages. A junkyard and a museum of automobile antiquities, two in one.
Kansas Chainsaw Massacre.
There is also oil in Kansas. Not as much as in Texas, I don’t even know if there are large deposits and enterprises here.
All land is private and belongs to someone. You are especially lucky if there is oil in the depths of your site. Even if it’s just a little, put on a pump and your gas will always be free. Oil companies are willing to buy barrels from private owners. It's like buying milk from a farmer.
Endless American expanses that make your soul want to sing!
For those who love privacy. A man built himself a house away from everything in the world. Keeps livestock and chickens. In the summer he cultivates a garden of a couple of hectares. In the fall he sells all his corn, or whatever he has.
When you travel along remote paths, you become closer to nature. Migratory birds sat down to rest on the field. As soon as I opened the car window and “aimed” at them, the flock took off into the sky.
I also saw a raccoon. Not a bear, but also good.
Abandoned city of Quincy. Several families still live practically as hermits, but the city itself no longer exists. Well, like hermits, there are roads, cars too.
One of the houses, in very good condition, is for sale. It costs 25 thousand dollars, which is very cheap, even despite the wilderness.
Suddenly I found myself in Toronto. Another very small town in Kansas, population three hundred. The main street and a couple of parallel ones, with private houses. There is also a Masonic society here.
In some ways, all this is reminiscent of the cities of the Wild West seen in films, just as authentic. A supermarket and cafe once existed, but have long since closed. Torontonians go shopping to Walmart, which is about an hour's drive away.
In all of Toronto there is only a post office and a senior citizens' centre. Of course, I couldn't help but go inside.
Large room with wood paneled walls. A couple of tables are occupied in the far corner.
And the old people were just waiting for someone to come see them! Oh, a new face! Also a young man! Come on, tell me who he is and why he came. Of course, they were impressed that I came to their town all the way from Russia, and they gave me coffee and cookies.
Are you scribbling? :). I love American old men. They are so different from our pensioners, and I am sad that this is the case. After all, both of them worked all their lives and deserved a good life. In the States, there are entire cities of old people who live there for their own pleasure, have fun and play sports.
The “over 70” club exists through the efforts of Kansas oldies themselves. They receive a small amount of money from the state once a year, which they spend on coffee and disposable cups. In total, the community consists of several dozen elderly people from a city with a population of three hundred. They gather every day, and in the evenings it gets crowded. They celebrate holidays together, spend ordinary days talking: they can’t sit at home. They play bingo on Tuesdays and cards on Fridays.
Like the “real” Toronto, Kansas’s little brother has its own tiny Lake Ontario :) Grandmothers called to come in the summer and swim. And the fishing is great.
I can’t even believe that just half an hour’s drive from here in any direction are high-speed modern highways. But they exist. Tens of thousands of cars fly past these godforsaken villages every day.
Nice neat houses. The little girl Ellie, who was carried away by the tornado, probably lived in one of these.
Coyville consists of ten houses. But once upon a time, before all these highways and Walmarts, it was nothing like a town. His whole history hangs near the sports ground. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest city in Wilson County. Named after Oscar Coy. In the unforgettable times of the mid-19th century, it succeeded in many ways and was the leading city in the region. The first store to open in the area was in Coyville. The first mill and church were built here, the first blacksmith opened a shop right there. There was even a Masonic lodge. How touching is the significant importance of the smallest American cities. Everyone will find something unique to tell about themselves. Today the population of Coyville is forty people.
Fredonia took away the championship laurels long ago. There are a couple of businesses here and a car dealership. Well, there are restaurants, even the Golden Dust Hotel. But he turned out to be surprisingly less interesting than all the others from today's story.
If you're planning a road trip around the United States, you'll come across antiques shops everywhere. They sell all kinds of junk here, like flea markets under the roof. Don't be lazy to stop and look inside. Sometimes the most unexpected purchases happen there!
Of course, there are also “fake” junk shops that just sell cute souvenirs for the home. This is another way for retirees to spend their time. This woman’s daughter went to live in a big city and helped her mother open a store near the road so that she wouldn’t get bored in her godforsaken wilderness.
Kansas is amazing. On the one hand, there really is nothing to do: there are no cities, the nature is monotonous and flat... But the people living here left a very strong impression: I will also tell you about the unusual and strange Kansans I had a chance to visit.
It so happened that our whole family spent the fall of this year not in New York, but in the Catskill Mountains, which are a two-hour drive from Manhattan. 187 km from the George Washington Bridge, if you use distance rather than time. You need to cross the Hudson, get on Route 87, turn on cruise control and drive north for a long time at a speed of 110 km/h until the terrain begins to change and the outskirts of high mountains appear on the horizon. Then you need to get off the highway, turn left and begin a slow climb up. At first it will be quite flat, but after passing through many sleepy villages the road will reach the pass and begin to meander between the mountain peaks.
Afterwards, a rather steep climb will begin, overcoming which you will find yourself on a huge plateau located at an altitude of approximately 600-800 meters above sea level. The air temperature will drop by five degrees and you will find yourself in a completely different climate zone. If flowers are still blooming below, then above will be real autumn with all the riotousness and variety of colors that North American nature is capable of. This geographical location gave us a completely unique opportunity to enjoy this fall four times. First up in the mountains, then down in the Hudson Valley, then after moving to New Jersey and finally in New York itself. Autumn was running away from us towards the south, and we were moving after it.
1. Catskill Mountains- this is a very special place, literally unlike anything else around. Completely different people live there (I compare with New York), there is a different climate and its own atmosphere. I can't call her particularly friendly. There, for the first time in my entire life in America, I felt like a stranger. Of course, no one showed any aggression towards me, but somewhere deep inside, a feeling began to arise that you were superfluous here. Following him, the understanding came that everything was so different that I was unlikely to ever fit in here. The way of life is completely different than in the city. People drive different cars, dress and look differently. He behaves differently. Rest - please. Living permanently is a big question.
2. The central street of the neighboring Tannersville. Population 539, according to the 2010 census. A very cozy village that lives off the tourists who come to the Catskill Mountains.
3. There are no Starbucks or even McDonald's. There are, however, pizzerias and Chinese eateries. For all the usual “benefits” of American civilization, you have to go down.
4. The local coffee shop (if you can call it that) is only open four days a week. Many establishments are open only in winter, when the ski season begins.
5. The local liquor store actively exploits the main history of this region - the story of Rip Van Winkle from the novel of the same name by Washington Irving. It tells about a village resident who went hunting in the mountains, drank vodka there with unknown men and slept for 20 years.
6. Local pharmacy. No soulless corporations like CVS or Walgreens. Everything is very homely.
7. There is also a library and two cinemas, which, in addition to Hollywood, show foreign films and independent films. There is also a piano museum.
8. And there is a post office in every tiny town. For some reason this struck me the most.
9. There are a lot of abandoned buildings in the outback.
10. Some simply fell apart from old age.
11. The most popular way to sell a car in the outback is to simply park it by the road with an advertisement for sale.
12. The main local attraction is Caaterkill Falls. It has several rapids. The one in the photo is the most accessible, but also the most uninteresting. To see the beauty, you have to climb the mountain, or drive a car from above. But there the road is blocked and there is a notice that the waterfall is closed for reconstruction. They write that the upper part was closed because of idiots coming close to the edge and falling down. In 2004, one lady who fell, but unfortunately survived, even tried to sue the state, hoping that he, they say, should have thought about her safety and installed a fence. The judge told her that the danger of falling down was so obvious that anyone else would have followed their instinct of self-preservation and not climbed to the very edge. She lost the case.
13. A young calf studies cats.
14. Cows on the farm.
15. The local railroad, which once served the surrounding farms, has now become a tourist attraction. A train of four cars and an old locomotive that rolls back and forth along a single-track line.
16. One of the parks run by the State of New York, where you can come with a tent. For $22 you get a tent/camper space, a table with benches and a fireplace. There are toilets and showers with hot water.
17. I was surprised by the amount of old agricultural machinery and especially old tractors. Many are not only on the move, but also in full use.
18. It’s October on the calendar, which means the glorious Oktoberfest holiday has come to Hunter. The celebration took place every weekend at the ski resort. For this reason, the lift was turned on.
19. The groom and his friends are waiting for his bride.
21. Rough four-wheel drive buses that transport zipline clients.
22. View of the surrounding mountains.
23. Let's return to earth. Grandfather is celebrating his 90th birthday.
24. Thanks to this photo, I learned that Finnish Nokian tires are sold in America (I even remembered the long-forgotten word Hakkapelita). I've never met them in New York. Although it is understandable. In New York, no one puts winter tires on their cars, but outside the city they already have to. The use of studded tires in New York State is legal from October 16 to April 1.
25. A typical picture for the New York outback. There are farms, cowsheds, barns and silos everywhere. Contrary to popular belief, not all barns in America are red.
26. And, as I already wrote, there is a lot that is abandoned and collapsed. Not on every corner, but it happens. It is surprising that abandoned sites show almost no signs of looting or vandalism. Everything is just slowly falling apart.
27. Fields with agricultural machinery.
28. Birds flocked to the south.
29. In Jordanville smelled like home.
30. Holy Trinity Monastery, founded in 1929 and belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
31. Compound. There is a theological seminary on the territory, where people come to study from all over the world. I chatted with several novices. One was from Serbia, the second from Australia, the third was American. Everyone is very good-natured, open and speaks Russian with a funny accent. The one from Australia dreams of living and serving in Russia, but the Metropolitan does not allow him there. He says his place is here. He was very upset about this.
32. It is interesting that on the territory of the monastery they use the pre-reform spelling of the Russian language.
33. A farm where alpacas are bred. Very funny animals. They look like a sheep went on a spree with an ostrich
34. A street in one of the small towns.
35. Active collection of firewood has begun in the region. Many houses are heated with them. The farther you are from New York, the lower the prices. I bought wood for the fireplace for $10 for three large bags. In the Jordanville area they were already asking $5 for the same volume.
36. At sunset.
37. Frostman Castle, built in 1916 by German emigrant Julius Frostman for a country retreat. Frostman made a huge fortune in the wool industry. In the 50s, the Frostman estate was sold to the Christian YMCA, which set up a summer camp for children there.
39. Another town is South Fallsburg. Completely unlikable.
40. Rivoli Cinema, built in 1923.
41. Suddenly I came across people whose appearance is so familiar in Brooklyn and completely unusual for the American outback.
Vacations in the Catskill Mountains were once very popular among the New York Jewish community. There were many establishments where families came to relax for a week or so or sent their children for the whole summer. The reason for this was not a special love for the local beauty, but ordinary anti-Semitism, which flourished in the USA until the 60s. Here New York Jews felt relatively comfortable, which was not the case in other places. There were many summer camps, hotels, bungalows and holiday homes in the mountains with three meals a day and entertainment. For this reason, the area was popularly nicknamed the “Borscht Belt” or the “Jewish Alps.” The analogy with the Alps is more or less clear, but coming across the name of a soup familiar from childhood was somehow unexpected. It turned out that borscht in those days was primarily associated with Ashkenazi Jews, who brought this dish to the United States from the Russian Empire. It was served in all local establishments.
The plot of the film “Dirty Dancing” with Patrick Swayze takes place at one of the Catskill resorts, where a Jewish family from New York came to vacation.
43. Abandoned houses. The sign says that entry is prohibited and there is video surveillance, but there are not even electrical wires there.
44. Ellenville Township.
45. Road works. New asphalt is being laid on the road connecting two villages.
46. The roads are excellent, but there are practically no cars. It's a pleasure to drive.
47. For a snack, a story about how I bought eggs. The process is very, very simple. On the side of the road there is a wooden booth, next to which there is not a single living soul. It says: Free range eggs. Like, chickens are kept in natural conditions, not in cages, and their eggs are of different sizes. And the price is $4 a dozen.
48. In the house on a shelf there are containers with eggs and a bunch of empty ones - people bring their own from home so that farmers do not have to spend money on purchasing them. You take the container and put the money under the pebble. All. The eggs are yours. At the time of purchase, there was $18 under the stone. I added my five to them and took one dollar in change.
49. The eggs themselves are not at all like store-bought ones. Even those that are expensive and called the fashionable word “organic”. These are real rustic: multi-colored and different-sized, with feathers and specks of droppings. A sign inside reminds you that they must be washed before use. They also sell vegetables and firewood here. You also take it yourself, but you have to throw the money into an iron box with a lock and a slot.
50. This is what the real New York outback looks like.
Kiev resident Sergei Sputnikoff first came to America in 1995 as part of an exchange program to work at a summer camp for black children from the Chicago ghetto. He liked it in the states and constantly returned here until he married an American, Cheryl, in 1999. Since then he has lived in Michigan, in the town of Berrien Springs. In latitude it is approximately the city of Sukhumi. There are many farms in his district where agriculture is very developed. He set himself the goal of introducing his former compatriots to life in the American outback, far from big cities, skyscrapers, traffic jams and other delights of city life.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
We invite you to read some interesting notes from Sergei about life in the American outback, which he leaves on Pikabu. The following is the text in the first person.
Gullible Americans. Selling firewood on the side of a rural road
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
This picture can often be seen in our district. In addition to firewood, farmers sell crops from their fields. There is no seller, you just take what you need and throw the money into a steel box attached to the box. The owner's house in this case was located about 200 meters from the road.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
$5 for such a bundle is, in principle, expensive, but tourists buy it for the fire because... You can’t climb through the local forests for firewood; they are private property here.
Roads in rural America
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
The cardinal difference between roads in the American outback is that there are a great many of them. Back in 1995, when I first arrived in Michigan to work at a summer camp and rode around on my camp bike on rare weekends, I noticed how different the number of roads was. While our roads usually connect neighboring villages, here the roads are laid out as if in a matrix. The road map of Michigan looks almost like a checkered notebook. The roads generally run east-west and south-north, with intersections every mile.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
In addition to asphalt, there are also primers sprinkled with crushed stone. There are many more asphalt roads; according to American friends, massive asphalt paving has been carried out in our district.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
By the way, the double solid line in this photo only indicates that overtaking in both directions is prohibited in this section. In this case, a double solid line can be crossed when exiting/entering the road.
In total, Michigan has 193.5 thousand kilometers of paved roads, of which 15.5 thousand kilometers are highways that belong to the state, 144 thousand kilometers belong to counties and 34 thousand kilometers belong to cities and villages. This is with the size of the state of Michigan being about 250.5 thousand square kilometers and a population of about 10 million people. It would be interesting to compare with a region of Russia or Ukraine that is similar in size and population.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
Michigan, like other northern states, is famous for its poor quality roads. Personally, it seems to me that one of the reasons is the winters. The laws of physics in America have not been repealed, and with constant frosts and thaws, the asphalt will “crumble.” In the southern US the roads are much better because there is no winter there. Lack of funds also has an impact. One source of revenue for road maintenance is the gas tax, now 26 cents per gallon (up from 19 cents in 2016), and vehicle registration fees. Michigan is among the top five states with the highest gas taxes. Of course, if you consider the fact that in Michigan the minimum wage is $8.90 per hour, and a liter of gasoline is about 90 cents per liter. Those. In gasoline, the salary is about 9 liters per hour.
American hair salon. Cost of haircut in our area
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
I grew up in the USSR, when going to the hairdresser meant sitting in line for a couple of hours and paying 50 kopecks for a haircut. What is the situation with hair salons in America?
Prices, naturally, differ according to the level of service and the coolness of the interior. The average price of a regular hairstyle in our area is about $15. It is also customary to add $1-2 for tip, so-called TIPS.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
Here is my son Oliver sitting in a chair. The funny thing is that, compared to Soviet hairdressing salons, the worker always carries on a conversation with the client, discussing various topics from sports to fishing and hunting.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
Personally, such moments irritate me, but this is the local culture of customer service. In the video below you can see how the American hairdresser diligently conducts a conversation with my daughter while cutting her hair.
Buying a Christmas tree
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
With the onset of Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November, the so-called holiday season has begun in America. Many Americans immediately after a family holiday feast on Thursday go to buy a Christmas tree over the weekend, which is called a “Christmas tree” here. In addition to artificial Christmas trees in supermarkets in our area, you can choose, cut down and buy a Christmas tree directly from a Christmas tree farm.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
The price of a Christmas tree is determined by length and variety, usually $5-6 dollars per foot or about $16 per meter. Plus $5 for cutting or $0 if you are ready to choose and cut yourself. That’s why such farms are called “cut it yourself” - U-CUT. After you select and cut down a Christmas tree, for additional money they can strip it of excess needles.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
And then packed in a mesh bag for easy transportation.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
After that, we tie the Christmas tree to the car and go home! In order for the tree to live as long as possible, we have a special stand with a plastic basin into which you add water as needed. In the center of the stand there is a huge screw, which holds the tree in the correct position.
Pikabu / Sputnikoff
The funny thing is that many Americans only celebrate Christmas and completely ignore New Year's. It's quite common to see discarded Christmas trees on the side of the road a couple of days after American Christmas, December 25th. Some of our emigrants take advantage of this and pick up free Christmas trees just in time for the New Year.
The article is someone else’s, I will comment on it at the end with my video. And I will also note a couple of interesting articles from the Internet. Read the article for now.
Last night I watched 6 episodes of the Discovery Channel documentary series “Home Rescue” and couldn’t put it down.
Millions of Americans are moving from cities to the wilderness (2 million people over the past 10 years) and starting to farm there. In America they are called “mini-farms”. And so a group of three experienced people (the father is a builder, his son is a hunter and his daughter is a gardener) help such migrants set up their economy.
First, about the motives for relocation. The motives are different. Some are eccentric conspiracy theorists fleeing the city from microwave radiation and chemtrails, others are romantics, and still others (the majority of them) are forced to leave for the wilderness, having gone broke. They show a farm in Nevada: a mother, father and their five children. My father lost his job, the house was repossessed by the bank. We moved to the semi-desert, buying 16 hectares of land for 6 thousand dollars. They live in trailers. But despite poverty, the family has a large jeep. In general, all six displaced families I looked at have jeeps.
About the main thing that struck me. This is a huge number of animals in America. For example, they talk about a mini-farm in Pennsylvania and give statistics: 1.5 million deer live in this state. In one state! Hunting is one of the main elements for the survival of such mini-farms. In Pennsylvania, for example, they even encourage people to hunt, because the multiplying deer are already threatening the local ecosystem (they devour all the growth in the forests, poison crops, deer diseases can spread to livestock, etc.) You can kill at least 2 deer per family. Each – 50-60 kg of meat. These two deer provide enough meat for the whole year. They show elk being shot in Montana. And even in semi-desert Nevada there is hunting help: catching poisonous snakes, which are then sold to farms for the production of snake venom.
All farms have a standard set (they already have it or a team of “saviors” advises making it). Powerful solar panels (farms in the wilderness, outside the grid electrification) - i.e. your electricity. A source of water (usually a well; even in semi-desert Nevada, water was found at a depth of 40 m and supplied to the farm). A large capital greenhouse is a must, which produces 1-1.5 tons of vegetables per year (this is enough to feed the family and for sale). Definitely chickens and goats. It is believed that these are the most profitable animals and which any city dweller can learn to handle (other animals are not recommended). Each person in the family should have 5-6 chickens and 2-3 goats. A herd of 6 goats produces 12-14 liters of milk per day, which is 0.5-0.7 kg of goat cheese every day. Eggs sell for $4-$5 a dozen as organic.
Those. the basis for the survival of such mini-farms: their own electricity, a well, mandatory hunting, a large greenhouse, chickens and goats. Well, there’s also a lot of forest everywhere (except Nevada).
When I was watching the series, I caught myself thinking that it would be good to make the same program for the Russian outback. Moreover, the principles of survival will be approximately similar (the only thing is that there are ten times fewer animals in Russia; but there are more bodies of water, and you can focus on fish).
And here is my video.
And the second video is a short trip to the neighboring village.