JWR:
Kevin’s article on budget prepping touched me to the core. We all began the journey, at the begriming, with all the problems/challenges of those young or older and the common denominator of the demands of family/job/time/location and the most important limiting factor: fiscal resources.
Please bear with me while I lay the groundwork for this subject, throughout my prepping learning curve of about 55 years which started when I was about five years old, began with my parents trying to spoon feed me information as a young child, with their own prepping experience, which they never thought of themselves as being in any sense “preppers”, they viewed it as being survivors during a terrible crisis called the “Depression era of the 1930s”. They were late teens city dwellers in Chicago and because of lack work, food, and hope. They were forced to move to the country where caring relatives with a farm provided them with shelter, food, and farm work in order to earn some survival money. Realize–because real history is not taught in our learning institutions–that the Great Depression lasted almost a decade and it was not an enjoyable picnic that records about the upper class try and portray. My parents existed on canned rabbits, racoon, and deer in mason jars for meat, canned everything else you could only dream of for side dishes. By the way, racoon meat is very lean and tasty when the stink fat on the surface of the carcass is totally removed. Beef and pork were raised for income and regenerating the herd, few farmers/ranches had a lot left for their own families it was a luxury for most. In addition my farther, shoveled coal by hand from the barges, on the Illinois river at 50 cents a ton which was considered a fortune during the Depression and he hunted at night for raccoon or whatever could be located.
My learning about their experiences was thru teaching how to act as a human being, stories about their trials, training me “how to” by doing it with them, from Dad I learned hunting, and everything that goes with it, including how to be a man, from my mother I learned that sewing, preparing and caning food, washing clothes, and cleaning where not just for a female, we know call that cross training. The spoken words from them, gave me fond memories of their story of life, one of mom’s sayings was “Eat for the hunger that is coming.” I used to laugh about that, but guess what, I no longer laugh.
Kevin’s story is the paradox we all face to some degree, most people have the awareness and instinct but how to take the actions to plan and execute those ideas for not only yourself, but even a greater hurtle to bring that level of understanding and commitment to your partner and family/relatives to join you in that commitment
“be prepared”. We all dream about having unlimited funds in order to complete a 20-person self-contained hidden underground shelter connected to a 10,000 square foot casa, with provisions for 10 years and of course its on a secluded on 100 acre hidden retreat 50 miles outside the nearest town in the great northwest. I would estimated that less than 1/2 of 1% of those who prep have anything even close to that.
Our reality, was recognized I believe by Teddy Roosevelt saying “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” That is our yardstick, any fallback plan, or bugout to a retreat should be a part of the equation, the more we plan leads to more potential action, that leads to having versus not having. Remember lead by example, I don’t want to preach, pardon and forgive me if it comes across that way. My intent is to thank Kevin for a very pleasant, eye-opening article which states in very honest terms, his situation. A lot of us face the same. We have time, we have the means to varying degree. So if you can only afford a can of food, or a box of candles, or an inexpensive firearm with ammo then take the action. Do we join a group? Lets be up front: It takes a lot of time and energy to [form or] become part of a “group” so we are faced with protecting our own families first.
Happy Trails, – John in Arizona