I have posted this guy before here. He is a pastor of some sort who works for a relief organization, and he also has a bible study YouTube channel which I have yet to visit. He usually posts news of the days and reported shortages, but this was his message today. If you have the courage and the heart, I would suggest perhaps the movie In the Presence of Mine Enemies. It is available on Amazon Prime now if you wish to see it. It personalizes the plight of the Jews in Warsaw in WWII. Not a perfect film, but they seldom are.
I just bought an idiot fire extinguisher for my middle daughter. It is only for a one time, small fire at the start, but it is simple and you don't need a class to learn how to use it. You pull the guard off and shoot it like an aerosol. Got one for me too. Then there is the old fable of the grasshopper and the ant.
I started prepping in the eighties. People had started calling "The sky is falling!" even back then. My husband got laid off and I was a stay at home mom. We were fine. We've had power outages and blizzards... During the pandemic when we were not supposed to go anywhere, we were fine. A nuclear war with us getting hit might do us in. But, otherwise, we should be fine.
Yeah, we have been "prepping" for a long time too. When the Federal government shut down in the 90s, it was no sweat for us. When we had the 2018 earthquake, we were fine. When Covid hit and we couldn't go to the store for a while, we had what we needed. Prepping isn't just for the end of the world as we know it, but it helps with life's little obstacles, just like generators, fire extinguishers and insurance on the house when we own it and don't have the requirement. We even have a couple water pumps in case we need to fight wildfires...or water the garden.
Some other ideas. I just found this guy, and he seems sound. I try to watch a couple prepping channels. This is a new one for me:
I will keep putting in a garden but this year I want to plant a large thicket of wild plum seedlings and a lot of things marauding people (and government agencies) would not see as food, like my burdock, cattails, nettle, heals all, day lillies etc. I have so many weeds I want to pay attention to more than normal and put up my medicinals. I have turned into a bit of a hoarder. I think I have FIVE potato forks. I like 'the Macs' for prepper info. Very down to earth There are a few people who give ideas to city folks that might be appreciated. We had the furnace die one New Years Day, 20 below and then some. I was not as ready as I would have liked. There were no furnaces to be had in town so a friend drove to Milwaukee to get me one and put it in (he was a plumber ; ) But each emergency teaches me something for which I am appreciative. I am glad there are folks around here who are better shots than I am. And I am glad I have some trade-able skills.
As seniors, I think we need to ask ourselves whether something is reasonable or realistic when we consider plans for prepping. So many of the discussions about prepping would be unrealistic for most of us, either because the cost is prohibitive or because we're just too darned old for some of that stuff. Given my age and health, I am not going to grab a go-bag and go live out in the woods for any extended period of time. For one thing, I don't have a thyroid, and I haven't been able to save up more than a couple of months' worth of Levothyroxine because they won't give me more than a month's worth at a time. I only have a couple of months on hand because of dosage changes. Given that my wife takes more medication than I do, living off the land in the Maine woods is pretty much out of the question. For another thing, in a situation where people can no longer buy food in the grocery stores, I wouldn't be the only person trying to find game out in the woods. It won't be long at all before the woods will be devoid of edible game. Even without taking more with me than a few tools and some wool blankets (which are heavy, by the way), I am confident that I could build a place to live from what is available in the Maine woods to get me through a Maine winter without freezing to death, but it wouldn't be comfortable, and eating is another matter, altogether. For that matter, I have a hundred acres of land in the woods with a cabin on it, but it's only a couple of miles off of the road, and an ATV/snowmobile trail goes through it, so it's not like I'm the only person who knows it's there. I am also not likely to survive very long trying to defend my home and my stuff from whoever might want to take it, given that the biggest threat to prepping provisions is likely to be a police department under the authority of whatever they might want to call a local, state, or regional government. I'd probably die trying before I gave in to the bastards, but the chances of success are low. If you have a generator and enough fuel to keep the lights on in your house while everyone else's is out, and if you have food, water, and everything else that you need to provide for you and your family, those who don't are going to want it. There will probably be an ordinance passed against hoarding, and you'll be required to share what you've got with the larger majority of those who didn't bother preparing. So, although I have a hundred acres of land and a cabin in the woods, I'll probably stay where I am. I try to keep a supply of water and enough food with long expiration dates to last the two of us for a month or two if we're careful, and, while I have some stuff with 7-25-year expiration dates, mostly I stock food that we don't mind eating before the expiration dates come and go. To me, it makes more sense to buy more of what we need of things that we're likely to eat anyhow so that we have a supply. Water is a concern because it doesn't store well in plastic. I'm not in or near a big city, and we do have a lake a few blocks from here, so that could help. We could do well for a couple of months, and survive longer than that if we were careful, and didn't let anyone know that we were here. But I know my wife, and she's going to want to share with people she thinks she can trust, and they'll have their own list of people they want to share that information with, so I wouldn't expect it to last more than a month or two, if that.
I had a furnace go out when we were out of state. Fortunately our house sitter was raised on a "farm" near us. He simply went to the wood pile and got thee woodstove going to heat the house and called us. I tried to negotiate a furnace deal long distance and found I could not. When I got home, the first guy I contacted came out, gave me a spiel, then found he didn't have a furnace. The second guy was better and only had the basic furnace type but got it in and going in two days. We were on wood heat until then, but at least we had heat. Your idea of having a hidden garden is a good one. I have a little of that, but not like you.
We have to be a bit prepared, as we have so many potential disasters here. Perhaps you could put a well in at your cabin with a hand pump inside that could be moved to the well head when you needed it. If you are near a lake, perhaps a water filter would be a good idea, or at least some iodine purification tablets. Water will can in glass for decades though if you do home canning. Generators are good but they call attention to you as well if all your neighbors are dark. Almost any canned food will last for a decade or more without problems. For thyroxine, you can get this over the counter, but you would have trouble regulating levels. Better than nothing though. These guys JASE will allow you to buy a year's supply at a time, but it costs a bit.
That is interesting about the thyroid supplement. I hadn't thought of it. Cheaper than prescription if one can use it. I was thinking of getting emergency antibiotics from Jase. Pricey but might be needed. Long ago I bought a sand filter for an above ground swimming pool that I never used. good sand and charcoal would be a good start for purifying water from a catch system.
I often wonder about community in a downed situation. It would seem you guys would have more in that area than I. That is a resource. Nothing is for sure. I knew a guy who was going to set up a commune type situation, if needed, and then his mother died, there was a fight over the farm. It was sold and he left. My farm is not quite large enough for what he talked about but I could help others learn even if we just made it through a couple of years to start with. Community is what will be needed to start up a society again. If everyone became totally insane, not sure we would want to remain on the earth anyway. Right? I only know I've made it through several situations more comfortably because of preps. Most folks today would not even want to exist in hardships of a hundred years ago even if they knew how. I might enjoy the challenge for a while. I don't have enough nettle to make my own fiber for clothes yet but maybe mixed with wool... Maybe not. Depending on the Armageden situation, it is funny. I just heard that if your vehicle has a carburater, it would not be affected by an EMP
This is pretty much me. I need an antibiotic flush to keep my catheter cleared of sediment, and cannot squirrel any away (much to my own dismay) because it's only available in a compounded form, whose shelf life is pretty short. The "everyone will be killing the game" is something I've been saying to friends who think because I have deeded property, it's functionally a protected ranch. The locals would have wiped out the deer population before I could even get my shotgun loaded. All the rest about guarding your stuff is spot-on. Laws would be passed. Resources would be confiscated. Neighbors would rat on neighbors. The only way to survive a true Mad Max scenario is in a community of well-trusted people. But most of those would be younger than we are, and they would have families to protect. Loyalties (and ethics) have a pecking order.