These days, the term “prepping” is tossed around without
really an understanding behind the meaning.
I, personally, rarely use the word preferring terms like “self-reliance”
or “homesteading.” Often a “prepper”
conjures up images of some whacko holed up in the mountains with a cache of
guns and ammo who rejects society and will kill anyone who comes within miles
of his compound. Come to think of it,
maybe I am a prepper. But really, to be
a prepper means to be prepared. “Prepared
for what?” you might ask. And the answer
is anything. It is not very farfetched
that some type of incident or incidents could occur where individuals would find
themselves in the position of having to be more self-reliant in some manner and
to varying extremes.
As a matter of fact!
- we’ve already experienced it this year. Remember our initial reaction to
COVID-19? I don’t know about your
neighborhood, but the grocery stores here in my town were wiped out. Not just of toilet paper, but all paper
products, canned goods, dried foods, meats, you name it. And it lasted for weeks.
So, it wasn’t a super extreme version of a SHTF
scenario (for you non-preppers, that means a Shit-Hit-The-Fan scenario, a large
incident that causes all of society to crash), but it certainly brought to the
forefront how easily we could find ourselves in one.
No, my friends, it is not just for the whacko’s
to contemplate what might happen in the event of a societal crash or even
partial crash.
Epidemic?
War? Alien Invasion? Asteroid Crash? Government Takeover?
Yeah, a lot of possibilities. And don’t forget the very real possibility of
a Zombie Apocalypse! So, do you know some
basic survival skills? What if there
were no grocery stores? What if there
was no electricity? What if other people
were trying to take what you have by force?
To understand where we need to go, we have to understand where we came from. My personal belief is that it is a very
pitiful situation that people have become so disconnected from the land and
from their food. And I don’t just mean
meat, but yes that’s a big one. Plants
too. So many people don’t have any idea
how to grow a garden. It is so important
that everyone learns how to grow a small garden. You can raise your favorite crops! And it’s more than just popping a seed in
some dirt and watering it. Much
more! Do you know what crops grow in
your location? Do you know your
agricultural zone? Do you know what kind
of dirt to use? How to fertilize and
with what type of fertilizer and when?
How much to water? How much
sun? Every plant is different. You can pretty much pop any seed in any dirt,
add some water, and it will start to grow.
But the real test is, will grow to adulthood and flower and produce
fruit? What conditions do you need for
the flower to produce fruit? Do you need
two of the same plant to cross-pollinate?
And then there was meat!
…and don’t even get me started on meat. Sorry, this is a pet-peeve of mine (pardon
the pun). Society has become so
disconnected from where they get their meat.
We go to McDonald’s and order or a burger. Sometimes, for those that can actually cook,
they buy a piece of steak from the grocery store. But that meat came from a living animal. A lot of people view hunters with hatred, but
that hunter loves animals just as much as anyone else. That hunter also has the conviction to pull
the trigger and kill that animal, gut it and clean it, and chop It up for his
family to have food. While you may
detest hunting, it is a much more noble means of providing meat on your
table. I’d also like to add that a large
percentage of funds from hunting licenses goes towards environmental
stabilization.
So, you can grow your veggies and you can kill and clean a
rabbit. Now what?? Well, you’ve eaten meat for a day, but what
about the next day? So, you kill and
clean a deer. Now what?? What do you do with the extra meat and veggies
that you don’t eat today?
Canning and Preserving.
That’s right. One of
the main skills to learn in prepping is how to can and preserve food. It’s the only way to make it through the year. You can’t grow plants year-round, at least
not most and not with a lot of fruit production. You probably (maybe?) can’t hunt year-round. Or at least you wouldn’t be able to kill large
animals on a regular basis. So, you have
to learn how to preserve the excess food that you have. And trust me, this is a science all to
itself. It takes a lot of knowledge and
math to know how to properly do these things.
Unless you don’t care about killing yourself and your family with some
bacteria.
Then there’s all the other things: building a fire, cooking, building
shelter if you need to, living without electricity, making and repairing clothes,
raising animals (chickens are the best to start with), and on an on.
You can start now!
That’s right! No matter where
you live, you can start learning with a small backyard or patio garden and some
backyard chickens. Chickens are great
because it teaches you how to raise animals (there’s a lot of science for that too)
and you get the benefit of daily fresh eggs.
Just think, if you raised 2 chickens who lay one egg a day each and had
a few bell pepper and tomato plants, you could, if nothing else, survive off a
southwest style omelet every day. You
wouldn’t be eating a lot, but you could survive!
So, I think I’ve made my point. These are important skills to learn. The good news is you can learn them. There are many resources out there to help
you with gaining the knowledge you need to survive if things get bad. Don’t think that it can’t happen. It can and likely will. Only you can take the steps necessary to
ensure that your family will be able to face the undesirable consequences.
The blog you are reading right now was designed to help you
take those first steps: Read More. Click on the “Follow” button to make sure you
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Thanks, and I hope this was useful information for you!
#outdoorlife #direcklyonthecoals
