Survivalism is a Skill

Hello All,

I don't usually post about this sort of thing because I know that public opinion is so widely varied but I was reading my daily dose of news on the web this morning and "the people" got me going. There seems to be an outcry of the end of the world from the general public lately. There is a rise in homesteading and survivalists, media, tv shows, magazines, hey even the History Channel is doing documentaries on the end of the world now. Don't get me wrong I believe that something is coming, it's not hard to look around lately and know that something is going to have to change because we can't possibly follow the path we're on as a society much longer than we already have, but the end of the world? Probably not.

Death, destruction, poverty, famine, disease, hardships, yes I can see all of these happening. That's one of the reasons my husband and I made the life change and started to homestead and are survivalists. There is a generation of people out there who have no idea how to take care of themselves. We can read seven languages, and write beautiful literature. We can play musical instruments and collect die hard fans. We can litigate, and do complicated mathematics, and all sorts of other very knowledgeable things. But when it comes down to it what percentage of the general public can cook there own food?

I'm being serious, I would love for them to do a survey on that for once, and I'm not talking about prepackaged boxed or frozen food but an actual meal made with real ingredients. We've been taught all kinds of wonderful things in school except how to meet our very basic needs by ourselves. There is no more home ec or sewing in schools today so there's a generation of people who need the help of the grocery store, Walmart, the drug store..ect, ect. It's a sad state of affairs when two generations ago people bought food from a local source, milk was delivered to your door fresh each day along with eggs. Bread was made at home and the dry goods were purchased from a general store instead of a huge chain store. Clothes were sewn at home and sweaters knitted. Toys and furniture were made of wood, and walking was an acceptable practice.

So back to the news story that started this line of thought. People around the world are "stocking up" for the end of days. One woman has been buying things at the store for the past year every time they go on sale. She has 200 bottles of Mr. Clean in her pantry already. Are you kidding? How is this sustainable living? If you truly believe the end of civilization as we know it is coming then wouldn't it be smarter to know how household cleaner is made and to grow the things to make it with. Wouldn't that be preparing for the long term? Incidentally for those of you out there hording Windex and Mr. Clean the best household cleaner is and always will be vinegar, and can be made from apples, so it would be smarter even in the city to grow an apple tree for your cleaners. It doubles as food as well and is much cheaper and more sustainable than buyying out your local Walmart.

There are countless examples of this kind of thinking I can site but I'll limit myself to just one more. Water filtration Systems. There are hundreds if not thousands of people out there who are so happy with the fact that if the end of the world were to come they have a Water Filtration System. Of course most of them have to have filters so these people have hoarded and stocked up on these as well, instead of thinking that maybe a clay filtration system might be the better answer because it needs only to be cleaned instead of replaced. In my opinion Big Berkey's are the best, but you still need to be able to get at the water to filter it. There seems to be a huge misconception out there that because you have a private well you have water in times of trouble. Well contrary to popular belief most wells are pumped electrically and in times of trouble the electric grid is the first thing to go, isn't it? It would behove everyone who is stocking up on ridiculous amounts of goods and hugging your Brita filters every night to buy a hand pump for your well and install it, and maybe brush up on the finer points of solar and wind power technology and how to build it.

I don't mean to be mean or sarcastic, I think the people out there who are talking to the media are genuine in what they are tyring to do, I just think that they are misguided in their attempts to be self sufficient, do to the lack of information out there readily available to them. Once again do not get me wrong I am with you in believing that there is hard times on the horizon and that everyone should be prepared, but we should be prepared in an intelligent, sustainable manner. I believe everyone should have enough food in their house to feed their family at least a year, and everyone should have a supply of vegetable seeds at least two years ahead... I know it's not possible for everyone to garden due to location but spending $20 and having them in the house just in case wouldn't hurt, even if you never get the chance to use them... just a thought.

So anyways, That's the extent of my rant today. If anyone would like to speak to me privately about living a sustainable lifestyle my e-mail is snowboundfarms@gmail.com. I'd be glad to give anyone information who wants it, like I said there's a great gap of information out there. I hope no one is offended by this post, and that I still have followers come tomorrow. I'm off to go can fiddleheads. Enjoy the rest of the day!

God Bless.