Have you ever taught others how to prepare? (cow, wild, lamp)
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I think it's time I took my exit from this board. I know, 'don't let the door hit you in the arse', and so forth. But my gosh golly jeepers, the attacks and paranoia here are just plain weird.
I've tried to hang with it, but because I'm not braced for the government to declare martial law and take all my crap, I'm derided. I'm just a normal woman who believes in being prepared for an emergency. What's so wrong with that?
And yes Happy in Wyoming, I may indeed have some things to teach. You don't know me.
Thank you for all your opinions and your time. I've certainly learned a lot.
Please stay, hang around and keep posting. Nothing wrong with being prepared for a simple emergency (not so simple when they happen).
I don't think anyone jumped her case, but I can understand her frustration. Holding a conversation in this forum in particular often means trying to talk in between the blowhards and naysayers who assume that their way is the right one, and everyone else just woke up and started storing Aquafina in the bedroom closet of their NYC apartment. In her defense and Rabrrita's none of us truly know one another, and all come at this from different educational and background biases. For anyone to share what they know should be a welcome thing. Even if it is fairly basic for some, there will be those perusing this forum who can use the knowledge at the stage they find themselves. Or we can publicly discount one another and make sure no knowledge is taken under consideration by those with a need to know.
For what it is worth, Rabrrita is right in that most folks have a certain disaster they want to plan for, and often ignore far more likely and immediate disasters that undermine their long-term security. I have personally watched people spend themselves into bankruptcy and foreclosure whilst stacking food and ammo throughout the house they were in the process of losing. How does that make sense? So Rabrrita follows a model of prepping for the most common and likely disasters, rather than for societal collapse. For people who need to prep for those things, he does a service. If you are farther along, are prepped for the things he envisions, and are working on prepping for unprecedented disaster, say nothing, and let him educate those who need what he has to offer. So Prephappy advocates 3 days' food and other simple preparations. If you are beyond that, nod and read on. There are PLENTY of folks who need to stock three days' food and water, so what she says needs to be heard. This forum will be far more useful to all of us if we can just learn to say nothing unless we have something educational to add. Myself included.
I don't think anyone jumped her case, but I can understand her frustration. Holding a conversation in this forum in particular often means trying to talk in between the blowhards and naysayers who assume that their way is the right one, and everyone else just woke up and started storing Aquafina in the bedroom closet of their NYC apartment. In her defense and Rabrrita's none of us truly know one another, and all come at this from different educational and background biases. For anyone to share what they know should be a welcome thing. Even if it is fairly basic for some, there will be those perusing this forum who can use the knowledge at the stage they find themselves. Or we can publicly discount one another and make sure no knowledge is taken under consideration by those with a need to know.
For what it is worth, Rabrrita is right in that most folks have a certain disaster they want to plan for, and often ignore far more likely and immediate disasters that undermine their long-term security. I have personally watched people spend themselves into bankruptcy and foreclosure whilst stacking food and ammo throughout the house they were in the process of losing. How does that make sense? So Rabrrita follows a model of prepping for the most common and likely disasters, rather than for societal collapse. For people who need to prep for those things, he does a service. If you are farther along, are prepped for the things he envisions, and are working on prepping for unprecedented disaster, say nothing, and let him educate those who need what he has to offer. So Prephappy advocates 3 days' food and other simple preparations. If you are beyond that, nod and read on. There are PLENTY of folks who need to stock three days' food and water, so what she says needs to be heard. This forum will be far more useful to all of us if we can just learn to say nothing unless we have something educational to add. Myself included.
Addressing the content but not the forum member I've quoted, I personally think the problem is that "prepping" is mainstream consumerism at its finest. With few exceptions, most clueless people seem to be prepping for a complete economic collapse, civil war, and food riots or other such catastrophic events. Now how exactly does one prepare for that? I don't see any way to do it considering how extreme such events are. Why are they prepping for such things? Because the financial moguls have tapped into a realistic fear that exists in many doubtful Americans and fear sells quite well. I agree with Mac_Muz on why the topic starter took offense and posted about it.
As far as prepping goes, put down the checkbook, stop hording 1+ months worth of food, thou$and$ of round$ of $$ammunition$$ that you'll never $hoot, and quit buying "prepper" supplies because most of it's either junk or pointless in lieu of what the prepping is for.
I'm one of the naysayers, and I have been for quite a while. I do not possess some crystal ball to predict what will happen if such events unfold. However, I do have the ability to look up history, and whether these things happened in the Roman Empire straight through name any modern nation, the same events always seem to unfold, so I'd say I've got a pretty good idea of what to expect, and a plan of action doesn't include "bugging in" an area that has 300+ people per square mile, 1 year's worth of food, and a closet full of dark guns and ammo.
Since most people seem to take everything personally, I'll try to explain myself a bit better. As countryboy73's pointed out, 3 days worth of supplies is absolutely reasonable. I do not consider it prepping if people that live in areas that are prone to frequent power failures and or other natural and man made disasters stock up on essential items that they're going to need for events that last a few days to a fortnight. I am also not addressing people that are homesteading for whatever reason they see fit. I'm talking about the most myopic sods known to man, doomday preppers, and I don't mind calling a spade a spade. Most people posting in this forum with prepping related topics are in fact getting ready for a complete failure. I can deduce this fact from their nom de plume, topics they start, and the content of their posts. Furthermore, all one has to do is pop on over to youtube to get a vibe on just how extreme many of these people are.
One of many reasons why doomsday preppers annoy me to no end is that I apparently have been buying "prepping" supplies for the past 30+ years, and I didn't even know it. Now the quality surplus things I used to buy and use daily have exponentially increased in price since 2008, and it's not due to inflation and or debasing of the dollar. The root cause is supply and demand fueled by doomsday preppers.
Prepping, the most clueless form of all the rage consumerism to hit mainstream, and a rather perverse word that's recently entered our lexicon. Many of them also have insipid prepper related names as well...
It's too bad that good old Adolf didn't have the Internet, survivalist forums, and city data back in the day so he could have 100% guaranteed the survival of himself, Ava, and his cabinet while the Russians advanced on his bunker. He could have bought his way into survival purgatory by stocking up on a year's worth of food, millions of rounds, a closet full of the dark guns he coined the term for, and all those other good prepping supplies.
When a prepper approaches me in personal life, and asks me about something, I always question them about what they're prepping for. If the answer's anything to do with getting ready for TEOTWAWKI or whatever it's called, I don't even bother talking to them.
On the other side of that coin, I've taught a lot of people how to shoot, reload, and harvest firewood as well as what clothing to buy for exploring the outdoors through four seasons, basic bushcrafting, and a few other things. Unfortunately, most people seem to only be interested in buying a bag of tricks that's supposed to sit in the closet inside their "bug out bag" and when the emergency hits, they're going to suddenly be full of practical experience because "Souther Prepper" or some other youtube personality, book, and or forum member has told them what they need in order to survive.
I too struggle with trying to add something educational to this exchange of ideas in light of what some people are getting ready for. I feel that most of the difficulty lies in the fact that this is a justifiable fear and a rather emotional topic. I wish we had a few more homestead members in this forum, but unfortunately city data is a rather diverse mix of people, and the lion's share of us are "normal" members of society.
Last edited by bolillo_loco; 04-07-2013 at 10:39 PM..
Reason: No Rhodes scholar here
The "reality" of Chicago, or NYC, or LA, is not the "reality" of 30 miles outside of Bison, South Dakota.
*chuckle*
You can take someone from Chicago, NYC or LA plunk them down 30 miles from Bison, SD and they'll think the world is already at an end. lol
To the original question, those of us who live in places like 30 miles outside Bison have always prepared. But no one calls it that in this part of the world, we just call it "life."
And yes, I've taught people how to do this stuff.
I've taught countless kids and adults how to sew both clothing and quilts, and how to work horses, and what I know about beef production, and why their hens might not be laying, and how to can tomatos vs. freezing, and how to lay in squash or potatoes, how to identify whether it's a serious oil leak or just needing a new valve or head cover gasket, how to budget, how to square up their house frame or build stairs or plan out the plumbing runs, how to keep baby trees happy or which gunsmith is my favorite... And on, and on and on.
Like I said, it's just "life" in my part of the world and part of that is the sharing of knowledge, information sources, and skills. But the only one who gets paid for it is the local extension agent.
The whole problem with prepping, is you may not be able to re-supply. Prepping only works to buy time, and if you don't buy enough time it's game over.
Prepping works for 3 days , but I have known of longer times and some folks get real stressed. 2 weeks with no power, no heat, no damned tv can send some people over their edge.
Ice storms just kill me... The weather is calm and not that cold. drizzel falls as water but freezes on contact with things like trees rocks roads etc....
That drags the power lines down and will bust up the poles.
Next thing you know, it's comedy hour on the radio. Whiners calling in to say their foods are going bad, because they don't have enough smarts to go out and get FREE ICE to put in the freezer.
Here on CD I hear it all the time from the superior inept, about what a waste this is, but come that next storm and everything changes.
With assorted other real living skills you almost have no need to prep depending on the season.
Fiddle heads will be up soon. Maple sugaring is ending. (I took this sugaring season off) Japanese Knottweed will be up soon as will milkweed and many other plants moderns won't eat and call weeds.
As usual this time of year brings me 0 work in the shop... Oh well I found some other work.
At this point I am not even sure what plants will go in the garden. Seed from what we had before but no new seeds this time. Last year the garden took a rest too...
I don't really need the garden and it does take a lot of time. I can just eat wild... Maybe I heard to many libers on CD say they will come take the harvest from my garden, but i don';t know how that would happen when i have guns and they don't.
I guess the way that works is someone from the Govt will come take it an then just give it up....
So maybe it's for the best that i just don't plant it, which will miff off the raccoons
I took a hike over the weekend and wasn't prepped The trail was hard glare ice about 1 inch thick. Couldn't wear boots and couldn't wear spikes, so instead we bushwacked to a pond I had no idea was there and sat on the ice to have tea.....
Then bushwacked thru a swamp still in snow, to another trail I knew would be there, across that trail bushwacking again into a thicket so tight that i couldn't see my wife in her black and bright yellow jacket at 14 feet.
I just don't like boot creepers but i needed then to trail hike this last time.
..........
I'd be interested to know your experiences. I value your words of wisdom.
Thank you.
No one I mention prepping to is interested. A few didn't even know what I was talking about. Here in TN I know some people do hoard for short emergencies like severe weather - ice storms etc.
Perhaps the conflict comes from the fact there is no clear cut definition of "prepping".
Some just want to stock supplies for 3 days to a couple of weeks,
Some want a measure of self sufficency from having a garden or a couple of chickens all the way up to off grid/grow all their own food/make their own clothing/seperate from society.
I think most folks are always worried about the future, especially when the government seems to be so hostile to the American public as it is now, so that does make a certain fear factor part of the equation.
There are always those that go overboard, and "doomsdayers" are a good example of that.
Lots of folks are interested in some of the stuff I do like blacksmithing, want to learn it even if they don't want to make a career out of it.
Teaching the basics doesn't hurt anything, and gives folks something to fall back on in lean times.
I just used my blacksmithing to generate enough money to purchase my new bull for my cows. That is money for something I needed, but didn't have the extra cash in the bank for such a purpose. If you have marketable skills that you learn when you don't need them, they can really come in handy when you do.
It is a measure of security in uncertain times that I think is common across the entire spectrum of "prepping". Folks just want to feel that they could survive if they had to, or in an emergency like a hurricane or flood or earthquake or job loss or whatever.
Others like me or Mac or itsMeFred or others just live this way anyhow no matter if the government wants to put us in camps or a meteor causes a magnetic flucuation that causes the poles to shift, or if we get snowed in for a while. It's just what we do.
If you enjoy what you do, and folks want to learn, why not pass the knowledge along?
Haha! I am one of those working to live "separate from society"(to the degree I find feasible). For me, that means hunting or growing my meat and eggs(do that now, for the most part, including curing and smoking my own bacon and hams), growing or foraging for my greens, veggies and fruits(doing a LOT of that), heating and cooking with wood I cut myself(got the heating part, working on the cooking), heating my water with solar and wood, either getting it via gravity from a cistern/spring/rain catchment setup, or pumping it with a simple self-maintainable windmill(gotta move to get there), and building my home and other structures from local materials. Maybe a little solar or solar/wind setup to power lights, etc. Icehouse for refrigeration. Make my living from selling the extra plants, seeds, food I generate, plus selling products or services I am able to create without relying on China to get supplies for. Wife can make our clothes and bedding(already does to some degree), not sure if we want to bother making cloth ourselves.
We just want to unplug to the extent feasible without reducing ourselves to the point of laboring 24/7, just to eat and stay sheltered and clothed. Modern society simply irritates us with its incessant commercialism, materialistic lifestyle, and general rudeness. I guess if we get to where we want to be, we will be prepped for whatever we face that is survivable. And since I teach others various pieces of what I know on a regular basis, I suppose I am helping educate preppers in some cases. Never really think too much about prepping for some societal armageddon, but figure I can make it even in that condition, as long as Mircea's merry band of mutant zombie bikers stays in Indiana to burn, rape and pillage...
Haha! I am one of those working to live "separate from society"(to the degree I find feasible). For me, that means hunting or growing my meat and eggs(do that now, for the most part, including curing and smoking my own bacon and hams), growing or foraging for my greens, veggies and fruits(doing a LOT of that), heating and cooking with wood I cut myself(got the heating part, working on the cooking), heating my water with solar and wood, either getting it via gravity from a cistern/spring/rain catchment setup, or pumping it with a simple self-maintainable windmill(gotta move to get there), and building my home and other structures from local materials. Maybe a little solar or solar/wind setup to power lights, etc. Icehouse for refrigeration. Make my living from selling the extra plants, seeds, food I generate, plus selling products or services I am able to create without relying on China to get supplies for. Wife can make our clothes and bedding(already does to some degree), not sure if we want to bother making cloth ourselves.
We just want to unplug to the extent feasible without reducing ourselves to the point of laboring 24/7, just to eat and stay sheltered and clothed. Modern society simply irritates us with its incessant commercialism, materialistic lifestyle, and general rudeness. I guess if we get to where we want to be, we will be prepped for whatever we face that is survivable. And since I teach others various pieces of what I know on a regular basis, I suppose I am helping educate preppers in some cases. Never really think too much about prepping for some societal armageddon, but figure I can make it even in that condition, as long as Mircea's merry band of mutant zombie bikers stays in Indiana to burn, rape and pillage...
Oh you just hold yer hosses mista'! I might just be one o' them mutant zombie bikers! According to the PC I am
SEE?
That lid belongs to the guy in the black leather
I am not that fat i have on a back brace under the shirt. other wise i am not very pretty. LOL
The green bike is mine... everyone klnow the green bikes are fastest
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