$10/Gallon Gas & Other Future Concerns

My wife and I have random discussions sometimes like "What happens when gas becomes too expensive to buy?" and two guys in my small group at church are feeling the effects of downsizing at their respective jobs (there's only 4 guys in the group). Here's some ideas of where I'm looking at getting prepared (it sounds crazy even to me, but I'm getting ready):

1. Gardening: Besides my own yard, in 2 years I'll be looking to start some community gardens in my neighborhood. I live in an older part of Joliet, IL where there are several empty lots that the city owns from buildings torn down but have never been built on. Some reasons are due to the neighborhood, some are due to the lot sizes are too small to build something these days.
2. Root Cellar: The excess we'll be growing needs to go somewhere. I'm planning on making one in our basement to handle enough food to feed my family for the winter.
3. Car: I'm working on learning more and more web programming at my current job with my hope to be able to telecommute in the future and not drive as much. I'm researching making my own Ethanol/Biodiesel or making an electric car.
4. Heating: Next year or the year after we'll be installing a wood-burning stove into our home to help with the heating costs and my eventual goal will be a wood-burning furnace (don't know if we'll need to go that route...)
5. Retirement: I'm looking at us possibly purchasing 5-10 acres out in Missouri or another country completely and building a family farm or enclave. Wherever we are, we plan on serving others in need.

Besides building up your investments, are you doing anything physical as a backup plan if your investments go south with everyone else's? Have I gone nuts?