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Keeping in Touch:  Are you a prepper?  |
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gspringman
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Gail
Bonanza
Oregon
USA
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 Posted - Feb 11 2012 : 6:23:14 PM
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I have never been one who prepared for emergencies and such, but with the way things are looking in our country, so many folks are out of work, the changes in the weather and in some places crime rates increasing, that we are choosing to be dilagent about preparing for tough times ahead. I have started to add a few more staples to the grocery list so that we will be somewhat ahead of the game in case of a disaster and we are unable to get into town. I hope to have a greenhouse up this Spring to have a longer growing season. I am learning to dehydrate produce for longer storage life. Reading up on ways to be able to survive if circumstances arise. I am aware of the doomsday predictions, pray that's all it is, and choose to believe that what we are doing is a sensible thing. Just being prepared.
Are you prepared?
Gail
Farmgirl #486
http://grammasladybug.blogspot.com/
http://klamathfallscharmingchicks.blogspot.com/ |
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osbornefarms
True Blue Farmgirl
94 Posts
Leslea
tn
USA
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Posted - Feb 11 2012 : 8:32:53 PM
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Me and my husband started a few years back buying extra food like rice ,beans, caned meat . We do can a lot . And it came in handy when my husband got laid off. And when the weather got bad we didn't stress about going to the store we knew we had food put up.
Powder milk is a good thing and if you get corn bread mix make sure to get the one that says water only. |
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Fiddlehead Farm
True Blue Farmgirl
4420 Posts
Diane
Janesville
Wisconsin
USA
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gspringman
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Gail
Bonanza
Oregon
USA
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rksmith
True Blue Farmgirl
659 Posts
Rachel
Pembroke
GA
USA
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Posted - Feb 12 2012 : 4:19:07 PM
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We watched Doomsday Preppers last week it was quite interesting! Got some ideas to use ourselves.
Rachel
Farmgirl Sister #2753
True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realised-- His Holiness the Dali Lama
http://madame1313.wordpress.com/ |
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oregonatural
True Blue Farmgirl
152 Posts
Susan
Sprague River
OR
USA
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Posted - Feb 26 2012 : 12:06:22 PM
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Yup! I'm not sure I'd call myself a prepper, but yes, we're prepared for the siege. We're off-grid (in Sprague River!) and I think it's very important for everyone to have the means to cook food and provide for their families in the event of emergency. Water, light, food and a way to cook it. At the very least everyone needs that!
My off-grid homestead blog: http://oregonnatural.blogspot.com/
ETSY Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OregonNatural
Blessings to you from my mountain girl heart! |
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sonshine4u
True Blue Farmgirl
938 Posts
April
MN
USA
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Posted - Feb 27 2012 : 6:21:07 PM
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I just saw the Doomsday Preppers show on National Geographic. Some of it is crazy, some of it is practical. It's really interesting. We've been chatting about being prepared for several years. I feel we are building our skill sets and need to continue down this path. It feels good to not be totally ignorant of basic skills.
Playing in the Sonshine
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rksmith
True Blue Farmgirl
659 Posts
Rachel
Pembroke
GA
USA
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Posted - Feb 28 2012 : 5:32:28 PM
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I think that learning basic life skills would be more important than storing things...although having a good back up of food, water and other necessary supplies is a good idea. BUT if you know how to get food, make a shelter, etc you could get by without it. I was talking with my son the other day about the things that we do in our house that none of his friends or his dad's side of the family know how to do and he was amazed, lol.
Rachel
Farmgirl Sister #2753
True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realised-- His Holiness the Dali Lama
http://madame1313.wordpress.com/ |
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DebbiE
Farmgirl at Heart
8 Posts
Debra
Kennebunk
Maine
USA
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Posted - Mar 01 2012 : 2:29:17 PM
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It's always good to have some emergency provisions on hand. Not sure I am a prepper, but like the idea of being able to have things around to take care of us if times get hard. I come from a long line of farm girls and have seen home canning and "living off the land" all my life. As an old Girl Scout, I try to always Be Prepared.
DebbiE
Maine Farmgirl, weaving a life. |
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FARMALLChick
True Blue Farmgirl
718 Posts
Lora
Alexandria
IN
USA
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Posted - Mar 08 2012 : 1:42:22 PM
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We had a large cache of canned goods, as well as frozen and dried foods. All that was lost in the fire so we have to start over.
We talked it over and we are going to NOT store everything in the house again. I am going to get some metal trash cans that I can lock the lid on (keep critters out) and put one in each barn, the garage and garden shed. Each will be filled with emergency supplies including garden seeds. I don't want to go overboard, but I do want to be prepared. 2 years ago we went with out running water for 6 days due to subzero temps and a frozen water line. It was interesting to say the least!
Lora
If it ain't red, leave it in the shed.
www.CountryFriedAcres.etsy.com
www.farmallchick.blogspot.com
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rksmith
True Blue Farmgirl
659 Posts
Rachel
Pembroke
GA
USA
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Posted - Mar 08 2012 : 3:59:26 PM
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One of the pointers we got from the show was about storing supplies in different locations in case something did happen to one location. Definitely a good idea. You could also bury some of your stores in the ground, I was reading up on DIY root cellars the other day and one of the plans was to use trash cans buried and then covered. I am thinking about putting some out back in the more shady areas of our yard.
Do any of you preserve eggs? I was also reading up on that and am going to start putting some up since our girls give us more than we can use at a time. I have never met anyone who has preserved them before though. What I read it that you cover them with lard (or salted butter or some other oil) and pack them in salt. I've got lots of awesome lard, got some salt today and I have a large tote with a lid to put them in, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully when it gets too hot and too cold for them to lay I won't have to buy eggs this year!!!
Rachel
Farmgirl Sister #2753
True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realised-- His Holiness the Dali Lama
http://madame1313.wordpress.com/ |
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rough start farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
2154 Posts
marianne
medical lake
WA
USA
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Posted - Mar 24 2012 : 02:02:35 AM
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That show was a bit alarming. Good ideas, but I have to take them with a grain of salt. No offense to those who are working so hard to safekeep their families.
Marianne |
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rksmith
True Blue Farmgirl
659 Posts
Rachel
Pembroke
GA
USA
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Posted - Mar 24 2012 : 05:08:50 AM
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I think like any tv show its really all about the ratings, so of course they are going to show the most "out there" stuff they can find and play it up. Some of the people and situations they have had on there just make me shake my head and crack up. But at the same time, we have gotten some useful tips on storage, etc. The few people I know who like to be prepared are not *that* die hard about it and have not spent tens of thousands of dollars on it--I know we don't. But growing up we always canned and had stuff available if we needed it; the mantra from my dad was always "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it" and that has definitely stuck. I do like knowing that if I"m sick (since I'm the one bringing in an income) and have to miss work for a few days or a week (without pay), we have food and our animals have food. We prepare for more likely situations like that than doomsday, but I'm sure we could get through that too, lol.
Rachel
Farmgirl Sister #2753
True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realised-- His Holiness the Dali Lama
http://madame1313.wordpress.com/ |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
3777 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
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Posted - Mar 24 2012 : 08:53:44 AM
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My family and I have been discussing this all week. We only recently found the "Doomsday Preppers" and "Doomsday Bunkers" programs and have been watching them, partly with great interest, and partly with great shock. I mean, we do prepare a little bit. Prices are getting higher, so I buy when I see a good deal, or try to stock up on things that I know we use a lot of. I also buy water, batteries and other things in case of emergency - we have seen a lot more incidents of weather events interrupting power, and we had a huge tornado pass through only a few miles from here last year, so it does make you think about what you'll need to see you through. I've learned some valuable information from these shows, too, to be sure! Lots of food for thought! But these people on these programs - oh my word! What kind of world are they preparing to live in?
You mean to tell me that if people in their neighborhood are starving and come to them for help, they would actually be able to sleep with themselves knowing they have turned them away - or worse, like that guy will do, "fry" anyone who tries to get into his bunker??? What is that going to do to his kid's psyche? How will he live with himself after that? How great that will be to climb out of their hole and find all these charred human remains tumbling down their stairwell. Yeah. Good times.
And what about those people who are planning the nuclear silo communities? Let's say they're at home, hosting a family gathering. Suddenly the news breaks that we're under attack or invasion. Are they going to politely excuse themselves, grab their kids, their emergency getaway bags and leave their family and friends behind to suffer and/or die? REALLY? Poor Granny! What kind of people are they?
And what about that survivalist prepper guy up in Maine! Really? You like to sneak up on your 7 year old daughter by sticking a bb gun to her head while she's playing and see if she can bring you down? Good Lord, man! Where in the world is Youth Services?! These people seem to me to be scaring their kids and taking away their hope of a bright future rather than instilling strength and wisdom and a sense of hope in them. Prepare them and give them life skills - absolutely! But I think his self-defense preparation goes a little bit too far, I'm sorry.
And REALLY? Grandpa and Grandma are stockpiling a weapons vault that shames most military museums right there in the heart of their barn? Didn't they take down David Koresh and his community of followers for something like this? Where's the Christianity in blowing off someone's head, I ask you?! I realize these people are the extremists out there, and I do think preparing to take care of yourself and your loved ones is important, but when do these people pose more of a threat to society than protection to themselves?
And as I was watching that one guy who instructs teens for Doomsday preparedness, my jaw just dropped. He really concerns me - does he not remember Columbine? Kids are kids - not adults! Remember Hitler's Youth, buddy? Where are you going with this, really? What is the limit to all of this?
And when you hear these people's thoughts about how society will be - how people will be starving and become like animals and eating each other - one guy actually used the term "Zombies"... Oh my word! All I can say is, if that's the kind of world that Doomsday survivors face, "Take me home, Lord. Take me home!" Heaven will be way better than that!
I say prepare... yes, prepare so you can save money, set aside a little something for a rainy day, and even better set aside so that when a cyclone hits, you have a place to weather the storm and, if you're lucky enough to survive, you have enough supplies to see you through. Storm shelters are one thing; but dang it, if you're thinking that you've got a nuclear plant in your back yard and that in the event of a nuclear melt down you're going to head to the woods and live in a bunker for a year, if not more, and that your family won't go so stir crazy that you won't kill each other... Well, then, I ask to you consider: what are you really digging here? A fancy schmancey tomb?
Uhhhhh... People worry me. I'm not so much concerned about the end of the world as I am about the kooky people who currently live in our existing world.
Okay... I'm off my high horse again, and walking like a cowboy. Sorry. Thanks for putting up with my rant. I just had to get that off my chest.
Oh - and putting all of that aside: Rachel... The "gourmet prepper" said that you rub fresh eggs with mineral oil and they will last 8 months or so. I thought that was pretty cool, to be honest. :) I wonder just how well that works and how safe the eggs are, though - does anyone know?
Hugs and happiness to all -
Nini
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(") (")*
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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Edited by - Ninibini on Mar 24 2012 08:58:21 AM |
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rksmith
True Blue Farmgirl
659 Posts
Rachel
Pembroke
GA
USA
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Posted - Mar 24 2012 : 12:07:54 PM
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I have put up a few dozen eggs but I used coconut oil and salt (cause that's what I had). The plan is to let them sit a few months and crack some open to see if they're still good. But that idea I did get from her, then I researched it and found a couple of other ways to do it, such as using coconut oil, lard, real salted butter, etc.
I think most of the people on the show are way more extreme, but to each his/her own I suppose. The bunkers show is pretty nifty to watch too. With the economy being in such bad shape I wonder where these people are getting the cash to buy these things cause they are not cheap!!!! It does spark some interesting conversation with DH though.
Rachel
Farmgirl Sister #2753
True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realised-- His Holiness the Dali Lama
http://madame1313.wordpress.com/ |
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Fiddlehead Farm
True Blue Farmgirl
4420 Posts
Diane
Janesville
Wisconsin
USA
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Posted - Mar 25 2012 : 06:01:25 AM
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Nini,
I totally agree with you. I just have to try and stay hopeful, eventhough I am married to a prepper. I have just been learning homesteading skills to be more self sufficient.
Those doomsday shows really exploit the people on them all for ratings. If you were really a Doomsday Prepper, the last thing you would do is go on a show like that and tell everyone where your stash is!
http://studiodiphotosite.shutterfly.com/
farmgirl sister #922
I am trying to be the person my dogs think I am.
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White |
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Keeping in Touch: Are you a prepper? |
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Are you a prepper?
