PREPPERS

            Customarily on Saturday nights, I tune in my local Public Television station and catch a Britcom or two.  I know – wild and crazy!  My favorite is AS TIME GOES BY with Judi Dench and  Jeoffery Palmer which ran from 1992 to 2005..  A few years ago I was gifted with the entire series on CD but I still tune it in on the television out of force of habit.  My station was running a beg-a-thon and I was about to flip to something else when they returned to a show in progress that they had recently acquired for their new season.  The show was called GOOD NEIGHBORS and it was about a family of Preppers.  Preppers in the UK?

            Preppers are supposed to live in undisclosed locations primarily in the South and Northwest sections of the US.  They have beards – well the men do – and their wives wear skimpy outfits and carry illegal assault weapons.  Their children are home schooled up to second grade and then spend their days guarding the homestead and taking care of the family’s sheep and goats and whatever else happens to be their meat of choice,  Of course, hunting season  lasts 365 days a year just like road kill season. 

            This program featured a man who on his 40^th. Birthday quits his job, wishing to live off the power grid and be self-sustaining, and his family raising their own meat and vegetables and creating their own electricity.  Much to the horror of their neighbors, they live their new survival lifestyle right smack in the middle of the suburbs.  After some digging, I found out that this show originally ran in the UK from 1975 to 1978.  Up to date programming at its best!

            Whereas this show made light of various “survival” situations, it did present the concept.of not waiting for disaster to strike but to rather plan for such situations if they materialize.  Sounds like nothing more than common sense to me.  We teach our children to put aside a portion of their allowance, saving it for a rainy day.  What is so funny about buying some extra canned goods when we go to the grocery store to put aside or keeping extra batteries for our flash lights?  For some of us, a charcoal grill or a couple of canisters of propane for a portable cook stove is just a must for when the power goes out, along with alternative lighting sources.  This is life and we all know shit happens.

            Do some preppers go over the top with their underground bunkers and years worth of food and supplies?  Maybe, but who can say.  Some do it because they fear the government, some because they know that in this world anything that can go wrong eventually will.  These people are into long term survival.

            All I know is that I don’t think most of us want to be the ones outside, looking in when something goes wrong.  The outsiders are the ones who tell their kids to save for tomorrow and then they learn the hard way that they have never planned ahead and haven’t enough food or water in the house to last more than a day, much less toilet paper and, their electricity has just run out!  They won’t be able to call out for a pizza and their debit cards will be useless.  These people will be living in their cave, surrounded by their “stuff” that doesn’t work and will be either cold and hungry or very hot and hungry depending on the season.  Their tropical fish, floating on their backs by now are starting to look good and the dog…

            Preppers I have known over the years both in this country and elsewhere are not to be laughed at.  They think about what could happen and prepare for it in case it does.  That sounds smart to me!  Using tried and true techniques of food processing used for generations and some more modern methods now at their disposal, they are showing us that good, healthy food does not necessarily come from the local grocery store.  By the time “fresh” food hits the shelves, how much of its mineral and vitamin content has been diminished compared to food freshly picked or processed without the addition of chemicals?  Consider how many times a year we hear about meat being recalled or tainted produce.  There is a lot of truth to the phrase, “what you see is what you get.” 

            Most of the preppers I know are more than willing to share their knowledge of reliable sources for everything from garden seeds to packaged survival foods to books and manuals on a wide array of subjects.  While a lot of us only think in terms of buying, preppers may also think in terms of making.  What if you had to make your own soap or set up a chicken coop or determine what backyard weeds are edible?  If you killed a deer for food would you know how to butcher it?  People used to know how to do many of these things.  If someone gets injured do you have the basic first aid skills necessary if no other help is available? 

            Thank you preppers, here and abroad, for doing what you think is right to keep you and your family safe in any situation.  Thank you for thinking outside the box when considering all of the “what if” situations that could be facing us and coming up with solutions to the myriad of problems associated.  Thanks for reminding us that we did enter into this world equipped with brains.

            Remember, “It always pays to plan ahead.”  I think I’ve heard that slogan before.

Sharon

Comments

[Steve Theron]

Hi, we live in South Africa under an inept communist government, and "prepping" has become a necessity. Within the next few months we will be able to go "off grid" completely, using solar panels and deep charge batteries. As we live on 6 hectares, we are also starting what you Americans call a "truck garden" to supply us with potatoes, tomatoes,lettuce, carrots etc and are looking to aqueponics, that combine fish and vegatable farming.