Preppers and Homesteaders

[SusanNorton]

Are any of you preppers?

prep·per
ˈprepər/
noun
North American
noun: prepper; plural noun: preppers
a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.

I love to watch YouTube videos put up by preppers and homesteaders. Some of them are just regular people, learning how to make soap and can veggies to put up in a SHTF situation (yeah, I'm learning the lingo). Some have gone completely off the grid and live in the woods, or in self-built log cabins.

Here's one of my current favorites:

Then there's this woman. Not sure why she dresses the way she does, but I think it's for religious reasons:

 

[SusanNorton]

Here's another video, making candles.

 

[Lepplady]

Nope. Not a prepper, though I probably should be, the way the weather behaves down here.

 

[HollyGolightly]

I'm not interested in doomsday prepping - I really don't want to live through any kind of apocalypse. I think it would be horrible - have you seen The Road? I'd be Charlize. But I would love to homestead. I've had some fun making my own laundry detergent and beauty products. I like to grow vegetables. I'm not sure I'd be able to raise pigs to make my own bacon though. I think I'd just really enjoy a simpler life.

 

[Lepplady]

I'm not interested in doomsday prepping - I really don't want to live through any kind of apocalypse. I think it would be horrible - have you seen The Road? I'd be Charlize. But I would love to homestead. I've had some fun making my own laundry detergent and beauty products. I like to grow vegetables. I'm not sure I'd be able to raise pigs to make my own bacon though. I think I'd just really enjoy a simpler life.

Oh, no. I'd definitely have to have a deal with somebody else to do the butchering. In exchange for some of the meat, maybe. I couldn't do it myself.

 

[Grandpa]

There was a guy in the neighborhood when I was growing up, circa 1965, who had dug a fallout shelter in the back yard for when WWIII with the Russkies would start up. When he was out, we kids climbed down in it now and then. It would be a miserable place to stay for more than an hour or two.

Ain't nothing new here. Just the attitude and amplitude.

 

[Dana Jean]

Loved those vids. I have always wanted to make my own soap but for some reason, I am just really scared of working with lye. I'm notorious for being sloppy while creating and I can't seem to keep a level head in regards to my body in relationship to my workspace. I have hurt myself very badly because I have no spatial awareness of me in my work area.

I have a pretty healthy garden. I did can my own veggies, fruits, jams and jellies and I know how to do it. I would love to have goats and chickens. But I definitely couldn't butcher. Nope. I quilt. I sew. I am very handy with tools. I can follow instructions well and I have confidence in my ability to create what I need. Where I fall short is in the strength department. If something requires a lot of strength, I struggle.

 

[Dana Jean]

Here's another video, making candles.

This cracks me up. She starts a huge generator to fire up the glue gun! She could have taken a stick, lit it with a match and dripped glue into the bottom of the jar.

That soap lady was driving me nuts because she was patting the soap with her fingers in the mold, or using a spoon. Dopey. All she had to do was grab the sides of those molds and jiggle them around, they would level out on their own that way and would have given a much smoother finish to the soap.

 

[Lily Sawyer]

I was a prepper when I lived in Los Angeles. After experiencing an earthquake that scared the snot out of me, I made sure I had

a robe on the back of the door, right next to the escape route to the patio
some kind of footwear ready to go
a flashlight with working batteries in it at all times
candles and matches or a lighter
bottled water
a $20 bill in case ATM machines crapped out
3 or 4 cans of assorted tinned goods that didn't need heating or refrigeration (sardines, fruit)
some kind of cat food onhand for Thinks-He's-Simba
a homemade first aid kit that included a knife, can opener, rubbing alcohol, Band-Aids, gauze, cotton balls, duct tape, Neosporin, and aspirin

I don't do that now that I'm east of the Mississippi, except for candles, matches, batteries, and bottled water. I should. Tornadoes are just as awful as earthquakes.

 

[blunthead]

I'm not a prepper yet.

 

[Grandpa]

I have a story. Let me tell you about my 90-some-year-old aunt.

She's not a "prepper." She is a child of the Depression and sharecropping. She didn't have electricity. She had gas lamps. She didn't have indoor plumbing. She had an outhouse and a pump from a well. She didn't have gas lines. She had a potbellied stove. She didn't have internal combustion. She took the horse-drawn cart to town every weekend, and the plow was pulled by a mule.

She now has email. I sometimes wonder if we appreciate how much the world has changed in one lifetime.

Anyway, she has a garden - we'd call it a small farm. I have no doubt whatsoever that she could raise chicken and pigs and slaughter them, could take water out of a well or a creek, could collect her own food, make her own soap, whatever. The last time we visited her and questioned her earnestly about her background, she brought out a hand-turned butter churn. Yeah, she's ready without knowing it. If the Apocalypse happened tomorrow, this 90-some-year-old-lady would outlast us all.

 

[Dana Jean]

I have a story. Let me tell you about my 90-some-year-old aunt.

She's not a "prepper." She is a child of the Depression and sharecropping. She didn't have electricity. She had gas lamps. She didn't have indoor plumbing. She had an outhouse and a pump from a well. She didn't have gas lines. She had a potbellied stove. She didn't have internal combustion. She took the horse-drawn cart to town every weekend, and the plow was pulled by a mule.

She now has email. I sometimes wonder if we appreciate how much the world has changed in one lifetime.

Anyway, she has a garden - we'd call it a small farm. I have no doubt whatsoever that she could raise chicken and pigs and slaughter them, could take water out of a well or a creek, could collect her own food, make her own soap, whatever. The last time we visited her and questioned her earnestly about her background, she brought out a hand-turned butter churn. Yeah, she's ready without knowing it. If the Apocalypse happened tomorrow, this 90-some-year-old-lady would outlast us all.

I would LOVE to have an old butter churn. I have made my own butter and it's really good.

 

[Grandpa]

I would LOVE to have an old butter churn. I have made my own butter and it's really good.

You know the old concept of the big conical thing with somone pumping up and down? Yeah, my dad remembered that. But this was different. This as a jar with paddles inside and a hand crank on the top. Pretty cool, really.

 

[Dana Jean]

Homemade butter

 

[Dana Jean]

Okay, so it looks a little obscene.

 

[Dana Jean]

You know the old concept of the big conical thing with somone pumping up and down? Yeah, my dad remembered that. But this was different. This as a jar with paddles inside and a hand crank on the top. Pretty cool, really.

I've seen those too! In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I think my mom had one of those. I wonder where that went.

 

[Spideyman]

You know the old concept of the big conical thing with somone pumping up and down? Yeah, my dad remembered that. But this was different. This as a jar with paddles inside and a hand crank on the top. Pretty cool, really.

 

[Spideyman]

Living on the west coast of Fl and dealing with tropical weather for 6 months out of the year, am a prepper as far as having supplies in place.They used to tell us 3 day supply/ of late its a min. of a week, two are better.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...WHAT?..."prepper", not "pepper"?.....

 

[GNTLGNT]

....only plan I have, is to grab the beer outta the fridge-crawl through the upstairs window onto the porch roof with my carbine, and wait for the zombies to come...