This weeks preps – November 30, 2019
This week’s update will be a little different. I’ll be talking more about my thinking on preps instead of what I did over the past week. It’s not that I haven’t been prepping since Sept. 22, just that lately my preps haven’t fit into nice little weekly chunks. My 12 days away from home gave me some time to think and things to think about. I’ve also been doing a lot of reading. A couple of my friends have had serious health problems in the past month. I might have access to about an acre of land south of here, and hopefully we’re closing on a house (selling) in 2 days. I’m also changing the day of these to Saturday so I can properly observe the Sabbath. So with that…
This weeks’s preps
This week was pretty much spent on reading, research, and finalizing the closing on our house. Keeping my fingers crossed because if it really does close, the money opens up a lot of options.
My reading material was things I can do to make money if I quit my job next year. The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone and The Essential Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter and Willow Rosenthal. I know gardening isn’t exactly “back woods,” but it does fit into self sufficiency and it’s outdoor work. Supposedly you can gross around $58K per year on 1/10 acre if you work your but off and have a good marketing plan. Right now in my life any outdoor job seems better than my current job (information technology).
Besides reading about gardening, I found and sorted all my seeds. I wish I would’ve thought more about what I was buying. Looking at some of them and it’s like “WTH was i thinking?” They’ll all get used next year though. One thing I’d like to try is micro greens. Supposedly they’re popular with trendy restaurants . They’re also supposedly really healthy. I’m interested because they have a very short growing cycle (2 weeks), don’t take up much space, and I can grow them inside under lights. That means I can start messing with them soon instead of waiting for next summer. Amazon has a really good deal on a 1200W LED panel right now, so… maybe. After looking at my seed supply, I don’t want to be making any more impulse buys. But I’ll probably get one to experiment with.
Rethinking my approach to prepping
Most of my prepper friends are gear junkies. You know, two is one and one is none and all that stuff. Gotta have a tool or gadget to handle anything that might happen. And, I kind of get their point… if you need a tool you need a tool.
I also know a couple of survivalists. They’re minimalists, to the point that they like to make fun of preppers for having too much stuff. Instead of two is one and all that, it’s the more you know the less you need. Heck, if you know enough, all you need is a knife and a loin cloth and you can survive being dropped into the high Sierras in the middle of winter. Right??? They have a point too. All the gear in the world won’t save you if you don’t know how to use it.
Preppers and survivalists both have some good points, but they also miss a few things. Two that jump out at me are sustainability and community. That 1 year food supply in my basement won’t do me any good if I have to bug out. All the trapping skill in the world isn’t going to feed me if there’s no game to be had.
Community, sustainability, and experience-based prepping
John Mosby writes a lot about community on the Mountain Guerrilla blog. He also pokes a lot of holes in mainstream prepper thinking. I agree with a lot of what he has to say. I’m going to start focusing less on gear and “survival skills and more on practical skills and community building. That community thing will be hard because my social skills suck, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Part of that will be working with what I have instead of working to get what’s perfect (or at least better). I was planning on moving north (better political climate), but I might have access to a 1 acre lot to the south. The political climate sucks, but I can have a big garden and raise meat animals. That’s a lot of practical experience to be had, plus I have friends in the area so that helps with the community building.
I guess that’s enough rambling for today, so until next time…
Peace out,
porcupine