Almost all of the food we grow we put up if we can’t eat it fresh. We buy staples in 50lb bags and I have a giant stockpile of wheat that I inherited. We only grow open pollinated varieties and save seed for the following year. We have emergency water rations and first aid kits. We’re planning on getting a generator and looking into either a small windmill or some solar (though most solar companies laugh at us because we already use so little power).
We don’t do this because we think the world as we know it is going to end. It might end, who knows (hint: no one knows) but it isn’t why we keep food and water on hand. Peak oil, in my opinion, has already happened without so much as a squeak. As humans, we’re pretty good at adapting so we’ll figure it out. We can survive without cheap oil anyways, after all, we lived without it for thousands of years. Nuclear holocaust or super volcano? Honestly, I don’t know if I would want to survive either of those. A plague? You really don’t have any control over whether you survive or not even if you take all the necessary precautions. There are hundreds of scenarios of what could happen, but why worry about it when the chances of any of these happening is pretty small.
There are bigger things to worry about that you should be prepared for. Job loss in this economy is a real worry and much more likely than a nuclear holocaust. Natural disasters like an earthquake here, or a hurricane in the southeast are also real concerns. Blizzards, tornadoes, volcanoes, flooding, these are all real, common disasters that could happen any time. And for those, everyone should be prepared.
Yeah, I love this point. Zombie’s aren’t real, pink slips are. Having 3 or 12 or 24 months of food squirreled away if the main breadwinner gets laid off or a family goes from 2 to 1 incomes makes dealing with everything else less insane.
“Zombies aren’t real, pink slips are”
What a great line!
Agreed. Not sure when we totally started to expect food to ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE especially since it hasn’t been like that for most of the time human have been on this planet. I’ve heard that most markets have only 3 days worth of food on hand…
My friends and co-workers laugh at me, “preparing for the apocalypse”…but they just don’t get it. I am very poor….well below the poverty line. But I eat very very well. Because I buy on sale, grow a lot of my own, can, dry, cure and bake. So, I might be wearing 10 year old jeans, but I’m eating rib steak with Sauce Bernaise. Economics… w
ho doesn’t want to work towards making a better personal future?
We are currently living out of 50 lb sacks and what we can grow in the garden. It is great in July and August!
My husband recently got his pink-slip. We knew it was coming so he avoided slipping into zombie-ism (we don’t have to eat others to eat). Fifty pound sacks are expensive when you buy 20 of them. They are reasonable when you only have to replace one at a time.
Deb of the Toy Box Suburban Farm
I had to share this on facebook. I am just starting my micro urban homestead. But my friends can’t understand why I’d go through all the work. I love the idea of being, at least somewhat, self-sufficient and it is as close to prepping as I get without a xanax.