My "Can't Live Without" List

There are some things in life no one can live without...water, air, warmth and food.
But there are some things that you just don't want to live without. For some women, it might be shoes, for some guys it might be a shiny new car....Whatever, we all have those things in our lives that make it more enjoyable.
I was thinking about it today and wondering, if the SHTF, what items I currently have in my life that I would want to find a way to reproduce or somehow keep going.
My list and what I can do about it in a post-collapse world:
Ginger (the spice). I use ginger in a lot of cooking, in my spice tea, even put it in my bath in the winter to warm me up. Ginger grows in tropical areas, so my best bet is to get my hands on some ginger seed or fresh root stock and grow my own. Since we plan on moving to the North East US within a year, I guess I better plan on having a small hothouse for tropical type plants and such to feed my addiction to ginger!

I am going through all the spices I use and trying to figure out how I will grow them in the future. Cinnamon is a tough one, I don't think I could manage that. Pepper is another toughie, although I have heard of some folks in the US that have had limited success in hothouse growing small pepper trees/shrubs. Turmeric and other spices that go in curry is another area, also a tough endeavor.
I plan to keep investigating the ginger (and other spices) issue, there's gotta be a way!

Dr. Pepper. The only soda I haven't been able to banish from my life. The only soda I like. I don't suppose they'll give me the recipe, so I guess I will have to consider Dr Pepper as going the way of the dodo come the collapse! Now, I can make soda pop. Ginger beer, root beer, sarsaparilla, etc. have been home made for quite some time. I even have an old recipe for a lemon/barley beverage that bubbles like soda but is naturally fermented. It has a slight alcohol content (under 1%), but that won't be the main reason for making it. When chilled, it will be cold, tasty and refreshing.I suppose I will only make it for special occasions, though.

Citrus fruits...I guess we are back to the hothouse again. (That sucker is getting bigger all the time in my mind!) A couple of small lemon trees, a dwarf lime tree or three and definitely some dwarf orange and grapefruit trees.
I have been looking at charts to see what fruits and veggies will not grow outside in the shorter growing season in New England. Looks like we will need a hothouse AND a greenhouse!

I will miss computers and t.v. We plan to be off-grid and to generate our own electricity, but there won't be a lot to waste on entertainment! I mainly watch documentaries, I love them so! I watch a lot of History channel, to. Now, I can buy dvds of many of the programs I watch and then store them for later enjoyment.
I need to get instructional dvds in skills where we (as a family and as individuals) are lacking. I can go to youtube and find a lot of the instructional videos for free, too. I do have a program on my computer where I can download videos from youtube onto my computer and then burn them onto a dvd, so that's one way to get some instructional videos! (Well, if I can figure out that program!)

Most things that are on my *can't live without* list, I can make myself, I have found. I can sew and do leatherwork. I can bake and cook. I can do basket weaving and some woodwork.
I guess all that puts me ahead of the game in a post-collapse society, so that's a Good Thing!

Now...just gotta get my hands on the recipe for Dr Pepper.....