Are you a prepper?

[Jstpssng]

There are a lot of things which out pioneer ancestors ate which we wouldn't even think of. For instance, burdock roots were used as a laxitive as well as other purposes. The day lilies around old homesteads weren't just there for looks; they ate the blossoms as well as the roots. I don't suggest that you go out to try them though, as homesteading was a tough job and there are reasons they didn't always live to a ripe old age.

I've had thyroid problems since I was thirty nine, so the chances of me lasting long after my meds gave out are pretty slim. Based on previous experience I would grow more and more lethargic and eventually not be able to move.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

We have been flooded in 3 times in the last 20+ years. Once 9 days without power as well. Didn't want for anything. So I guess I am a prepper. Don't do anything different than normal for us.

I think the TEOTWAWKI preppers are a little extreme. When I have mentioned disaster prepping on some groups, I have been derided as a "weather prepper," and told that I was not a real prepper. I have had visitors during disasters who were convinced we still had power when the light was an Aladdin and the heat and cooking smells came from the wood stove. The worst thing that ever happened was one morning I was reduced to mashing up coffee beans with a framing hammer. Never again.

 

[Jstpssng]

The worst thing that ever happened was one morning I was reduced to mashing up coffee beans with a framing hammer.

That's enough to make you reconsider your goals in life.
"Disclaimer; I get my coffee from it's natural environment... a Folger's container."

 

[jyoutz]

Jeff Foxworthy: “If you have more freezers than cars in your garage, you might be a redneck.” Guilty.

 

[JasperFrank]

This thread reminds me of the mother of a former partner. The Mom lived in Elkton Oregon. A very small town along the Umpqua River. When ever we would visit, it was like stepping back in to the early 20th century. She had no TV, only a radio. One of those old timey washing machines with the rollers on top. No computer, and the entire house had only five electric lights. The only heating was a wood stove. Her house was a country house, meaning that it was obviously built by hand and local labor from rough-hewn timbers. I constantly had to fix things that were going wrong with it.

But she loved it so much she had a local artist paint a picture of it.

Issibelle, the Mom, was a force of nature. She once pigeonholed me in a conversation, "You will be good to my daughter, because all men are wastrels and drunks, but you seem to be Okay."

I guess there was some history I didn't know about?

Any way, Issibelle was the ultimate prepper.

A full quarter of the house was set up for home canned food storage. She was always canning something. And canning things we wouldn't think to can, like salmon or venison meat. She had an entire net work of people that exchanged labor for her canned goods. I never saw money exchanged, only this for that. I don't think she ever left the great depression of the 30's. She stayed there.

And also so fun to see her Remington, 22, single feed, bolt action rifle, right by the front door. And you know it was loaded.

 

[/pine]

IMO...One of the most important things to have if you keep a garden is a mortar and pestle...grow your own herbs and spices and make your own rubs etc...saves a lot of money compared to grocery store prices...

 

[Yander]

The whole point to prepping is nothing is dependent on utilities, so the deep freezer is useless.

Not so fast, I have enough canning supplies and know how and generators to keep the deep freezers going for a week. Propane gas stove. If SHTF, we would be canning everything we have in the freezer, meat probably.

I've always said, If I have six months to react to a real food shortage, I need six months of time to make some radical plans. Grow, can and I have chickens. I could weather a storm better than many because I already grow, can and stock up a little, not a lot. I could live six months off of what we have, which would probably be more like 3 months, because I'm certain my kids couldn't and I would be helping them.

So if you are going to stock up on some things, stock up on canning supplies.

 

[Jstpssng]

I decided to try raising a little wheat this year. A bit late, and without preparation so it isn't going to work out; yet next year I should be able to do a bit better. My biggest mistake was not burning the weeds which came up before the wheat did; I am fighting an infestation of red root amaranthus which apparently came in with the pig feed a few years ago. I'll be tilling everything under before that goes to seed. Probably plant winter wheat and winter rye this fall.

 

[Yander]

I decided to try raising a little wheat this year. A bit late, and without preparation so it isn't going to work out; yet next year I should be able to do a bit better. My biggest mistake was not burning the weeds which came up before the wheat did; I am fighting an infestation of red root amaranthus which apparently came in with the pig feed a few years ago. I'll be tilling everything under before that goes to seed. Probably plant winter wheat and winter rye this fall.

I think it is wise to experiment this way now. When we run into a situation where it is a necessity it is too late to experiment. Learn these skills now so if they are needed you will know.

I experiment with growing too.

 

[JasperFrank]

I looked at Sun Frost many a moon ago. 2K? What? They were 1,200 dollars even back in the mid nineties. If I walk into a liquidator store of canned goods with 2 thousand dollars, it would take two trips in my small, but capable car. But we would have one entire year settled. You can never have too much.
In the Apocalypse, which isn't going to happen, but if it does, the currency will be canned goods and ammo.