Preppers

[ursulas_alcove]

Yes, I watch their videos. This war has caused them to reach a fevered pitch. I think that seeing the total blackout in Cuba triggered something in the psyche. I'm an old lady. I have had a tad more experience than a housewife with little kids or an over-educated white male urban prepper with a decent income. Why do I watch? I want to learn about alternatives. Personally, I think the innovation coming from people with no income is preferable. They've learned to invent solutions from things around them. However, that isn't the reason for my rant today.

You can "prep" all you want to but unless you use those tools regularly already, you don't know what could go wrong. Many people start gardening and even spend a ton of money on infrastructure. You can't expect to have all the answers your very first year at it. You may not know that leaving bare ground invites ground hornets. All of a sudden, you cannot even harvest your carrots. Or that the cute little squirrels and rabbits will eat all of your plants. Farming is a learning experience. It's like that for other things as well.

Until you have lived through a week long blackout in the middle of winter, you have no idea what all the pit falls are. The pile of logs were frozen to the ground from the ice storm preceding the snow. How in the world do I do laundry? I have diapers and bedding to wash. Hurricane Helene taught many that paper plates are a godsend so you don't have to do dishes because there is no clean water. Can you even flush the toilet? How long before other peoples' sewage backs up into your basement? There is an awful lot to unpack. Some of the channels out there are better than others. Some people actually have experience. It's not just about gardening or stocking your pantry.

I think the best one I heard came from some x military guy. Step One in an emergency: Do I stay or do I go? It's important to prep for both. Randomly, we found ourselves in DC with some time to kill and visited a museum, something to do with buildings. As part of their traveling exhibits, artists had built little houses out of canned goods. There were workshops on how to make a bug-out bag. Stuff like that. It was interesting. It got me thinking. We live near a nuclear power plant. If something were to happen here, what is the recommended evacuation? I've actually seen loudspeakers in farm fields near here as early warning sirens. I googled it. The people who live in that town directly by the power plant are to evacuate to our county fairgrounds, about 5 miles from here. That's it. That's the whole plan. That power plant is 50 miles from here. Is that far enough? They are going to say, "That depends". And it does. Nuclear plants are not all the same. Each company that built them may use a different process. The type of accident may require venting (atmospheric) or it may release into the river. We're back to "do we stay or do we go?" They've since decommissioned one of the two stacks. Someone else told me the second stack is a normal coal processing plant. I don't know.

Every area in the US has some form of disaster that could happen to it. Drought fueled fires, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, the list goes on. Where does that leave me? I'm thinking about a bicycle driven washing rig that someone posted on Instagram. Do I have a long gear chain? No but the premise was fascinating. But squarely on my mind is clean water. Yes, I have rain barrels but during El Nino, really every summer lately, the sky stops producing water after May. It's raining now, but Tuesday will go down to 24 degrees. I can't collect it without wrecking the container or the valve. Ice expands and really trashes plastic containers. So, yes. Water is still my number one concern. Do I have experience setting up an outdoor portable shower? Only in theory. There's a lot that needs done. I just hope I never have to use it. I think step one is repairing my gutters. They are barely attached anymore on the garage.

I'm up for some learning. How about you?

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Preppers <<

In my observation, that word overly narrows the concept, practice, and personnel of "be prepared." Sometimes on purpose.

This is a serious problem because being prepared for unexpected challenges is a vital survival skill for individuals and groups. Scouting teaches "be prepared" and is probably the most useful reason for participating. Towns and states often have advice pages regarding their locally credible threats (e.g. blizzards, earthquakes) like "store supplies A, B, C sufficient for timespan X." Some religions and other social organizations have a timespan (3 months, 1 year, etc.) that people are supposed to stock for.

It used to be universal that if people had the resources to stock tools and supplies, they did so. For millions of years -- caching is one thing that let Homo survive and spread. Now suddenly it's considered weird? 0_o

>> This war has caused them to reach a fevered pitch. <<

For a subset of prepared people, but also a subset of gun owners, a subset of veterans, a subset of people who obtain food from wildlands ... there's a Venn group of people who are hyperalert to organized violence, but I haven't really seen them described as such.

>> I want to learn about alternatives. Personally, I think the innovation coming from people with no income is preferable. They've learned to invent solutions from things around them. <<

Alternatives are good. I agree, low-income people often do the best at this -- they're called poorskills for a reason. I like homesteading resources, which tend to be frugal. I saw an add for a homesteading event with a $100 ticket and I thought, "Who the hell is their target market?" Because all the homestead materials I see are for people making the most with what they have. The Small Farm and Homestead Show that we stumbled across at the Otto Center was free and about 2/3 Amish folks, who know how to stretch a penny until it squeaks. That was awesome.

>> You can "prep" all you want to but unless you use those tools regularly already, you don't know what could go wrong. Many people start gardening and even spend a ton of money on infrastructure. <<

Nailed it!

The best garden preparation for disaster is to grow a garden, choose foods that store well and have high nutrition, use other edibles in landscaping, and as much as possible prefer landrace or other open-pollinated cultivars. Most commercial seed vaults are useless because they rely on commercial hybrids, include a lot of popular but low-calorie non-storage seeds like lettuce, and skimp on high-calorie long-storage seeds like dry beans. But for a gardener with deep pockets, there is a landrace seed set. It's cheaper to develop your own collection, but that does take more time.

Another source I like is the backwoods and primitive survival skills stuff. This is another area dominated by frugal folks who like their own company, prefer independence, and want to be left the fuck alone. They emphasize "You must practice these skills to become good at them, so they will work for you when you need them most." A deft firestarter can make a live coal in 5-10 minutes; most people can't do it at all even with good tools.

I like watching videos of people building everything from survival shelters to rather nice cabins in the woods. I am most impressed by those who use the least possible manufactured materials, like pegging wood together instead of nailing it. It's relaxing to watch, but also, I learn a lot of clever ideas that might someday prove useful -- and poor choices to avoid. There's an appalling tendency to build a few feet from a stream. Obviously that's going to flood when it rains. 0_o

>>Or that the cute little squirrels and rabbits will eat all of your plants.<<

But they're made of tasty meat. :D

>>Until you have lived through a week long blackout in the middle of winter, you have no idea what all the pit falls are.<<

Been there, done that, and yes it was an ice storm.

>> I think the best one I heard came from some x military guy. Step One in an emergency: Do I stay or do I go? It's important to prep for both. <<

Crucial step. There are resources for bugging out, but also bugging in if the shit hits the fan while you are far from your cache.

>>The people who live in that town directly by the power plant are to evacuate to our county fairgrounds, about 5 miles from here. That's it. That's the whole plan. <<

Oh, it gets worse. Most of the West Coast has no viable evacuation plans in case of tsunami, and what plans they do have are often deathtraps, like gathering students on a school roof that is below the inundation level. >_< I went along with school fire drills, but my secret plan was "If I smell smoke, I'll throw a desk out the window and exit the building that way." No way would I risk traversing a burning building with a crowd of panicky human larvae when I had access to an exterior aperture.

>>Every area in the US has some form of disaster that could happen to it. Drought fueled fires, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, the list goes on.<<

Exactly. Being prepared isn't necessarily about war. It's about weather, natural disasters, shipping disruptions -- all the myriad things that can go wrong. Something always goes wrong eventually. People who are prepared experience less hardship than those who are not.

>>I'm thinking about a bicycle driven washing rig that someone posted on Instagram.<<

I've seen those. There are also hand washing machines, which are less efficient but need less equipment.

>>Do I have experience setting up an outdoor portable shower?<<

I've done it with the bag version and with a punched bucket. But I wouldn't bother with either. Washing may be done far more efficiently with a helmet of soapy water or baking soda.

>>I think step one is repairing my gutters. They are barely attached anymore on the garage.<<

Good idea.

>> I'm up for some learning. How about you? <<

This year I'm experimenting with different propagation methods. Results have been mixed but interesting.

Re: Thoughts

[ursulas_alcove]

Excellent points!