I have just viewed a video called “Extreme Prepping” on my local blog and have to vent. Now, just so everyone knows here, I have become a “prepper” in the last year. I grew my first garden at age 57 last summer, and am still eating stuff out of it here in late January. I think that’s cool. My folks are a product of the depression, and Mom canned and froze stuff out of the garden and we ate cool fresh stuff year
round. I mean, I did my time helping can stuff, and helping with the garden, and it was a chore, but not a big one. It was nice knowing I didn’t need to go to the fridge for a snack, the apple and cherry trees along with a shaft of rhubarb, a green bean or two and such were always available in the back yard and tasted better than anything in the fridge.
I’ve even encouraged my neighbors to do the same, and some have increased their supply through the grocery store and not gardening. Having a full pantry will keep them out of mine if the SHTF.
Now I’ve actually canned some pickles and tomatoes for the winter, too. Have winter squash stored, and some frozen green peppers. Cool. I’ve got maybe a month or two of food saved up between me and canned and dry pantry goods. I’m saving up for a generator and want to keep maybe 10-15 gallons of gas (Damn gasohol turns to crap in 2 months anyway) but I still have to look at the experts here.
This video, however, shows some things I judge as over the top, and I’d like to offer my two cents worth.
For an introductory overview, I’d like to illustrate this in the common criminal venue. Imagine, for instance, that you are a law abiding, no criminal past member of our society. Say. For instance, you decide to kill your next door neighbor and go ahead with the deed. He was a butthead anyway. Now you need to run. Run hard, run fast. They have evidence and you are now a wanted fugitive. You are in hiding. No contact with family, friends, neighbors, no one. Change your name and maybe change
countries. You can never go home again if you want to stay “free”. WHAT is free? Not this. This is jail.
You are in a room not able to get out and see the world, as the world is looking for you. You stay in a “cave” hiding from everyone. And by doing this, where have you put yourself? IN JAIL!!!! You have no outside contact. You can’t go into town, they may recognize you from the wanted poster. Live In a cave or something. You are not able to go anywhere in public, show our face, express your opinion, speak openly, and participate in society.
Okay, let’s take this to the appropriate video. The biggest line I’d like to connect everybody with is late in the video when 3rd Mom walks into scene with daughter in the background in the underground gun range saying that she wants her kids to be able to do the “normal things kids do” when she’s in the background shooting at the targets. That’s just fine, until one sees it from the kid’s point of view!
Let’s just imagine being that kid… “I am self sufficient because my parents are. We can survive through anything because we are prepared. Problem is, this life sucks. We are supposed to live in a situation that protects us in case of the big disaster, but in reality, the big disaster is already here. Today, I have to be homeschooled or even if not, I can’t have an after school job to make money to go out with. I have to be home to harvest and dry the the silly green crap that grows in the pool Dad uses to grow fish we have to eat for lunch and dinner every freakin’ night.. Sucks. And, I’ll never get to swim in a pool, cause Dad’s turned it into a fish pond that has green crap floating on top that I have to scrape off and eat every night
for supper!. Fish and seaweed again.
Here we are and I can’t even get a job after school because there’s no time. I have to rotate a bunch of buckets, cans, and sacks of this enormous food stock that fills up 2 rooms of our house that is crap I don’t even like! Where’s the fresh crap? We have to store that and eat it when it’s old and ready to rot!
Harvest some green sh!t from the pool and net a few Tilapia from what used to be a pool and eat this crap for dinner again. That’s what we had last night, and the night before, and the night before that….
Oh, and vacation? Whoo hoo! Dad makes us go every year to this place that he’s buried a ten foot diameter piece of pipe in the ground and somehow made it into a 50 foot long motel room to try to live in. Good Lord! Mobile homes from the fifties were bigger. My brother and I have to haul buckets of water all day from this damn hand crank well pump and eat food that’s 3 years old out in the middle of nowhere.
Nice vacation. There’s never any bowling, movies, hanging out at Mickey D’s, or going to a freakin’ mall. Can I at least order pizza tonight? Noooo… Dad said he’ll just make tilapia pizza with sourdough crust instead. We wouldn’t want the pool to get overpopulated; it might throw off the Ph!
Hey, I’m all for stocking up for an emergency, but until the emergency happens, I’m going out and enjoying life with friends and neighbors, work at a job I can enjoy, and go new places on every vacation.
I know, sounds irresponsible and just plain crazy, but that’s just me…
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
27 comments:
Extreme Prepping is just that Extreme. I'm with you I am a prepper but I live a very normal life. For me it works, but I like watching and learning all I can.
Dear friend,
If things get bad like you have said , people will be grateful for anything. Kids are much stronger than adults when change is presented to them.
Most people will love your food and vacation.
If you have spent days or weeks in a bunker with ammo flying around then you know what I"m talking about.
Obama has indoctrinated our young people to the extent that they don't believe anything.
How do you like the change so far?
Just a matter of time and a short time at that.
I think you all are nuts.
To 10:06
At the very least you can do is stock up on some can goods. Canned meats have protien and canned veggies are real good. I like them , you will be one of the ones that will beg for everything.
I will be one of the ones to tell you "sorry about that", while I'm drinking a mixed drink.
Also , you won't need toilet paper , cause you won't be eating.
Nothing to come out , if nothing goes in.
If things head south, there's no doubt it will be tough times.
And some folk will not have the will or desire to go through it.. they will eventually choose to succumb, I guess.
I'll store up and prep the best I can, but I'm guessing we will probably end up sharing what we have rather than shooting anybody over it.
And if we end up dying because of that, well..
I know where I'm going, and I won't need a bunker there.. :-)
10:56 said, "canned veggies are real good."
Ugh! Never met a vegetable that was worth eating except tomatoes and they are really a fruit. You probably eat broccoli, too. You can have all the carrots, spinach and turnips and leave the meat for me.
The letter to the editor makes some good points. I think the video was made to solicit a variety of responses. But there is much to learn. There are varying degrees of prepping. I go through life everyday much like every other human being. My family and I do have gas masks. We have livestock...not a herd but a few. They will serve to feed us and/or barter for other things we may need. Our kids went to public schools and now attend a local university and no one knows they are from a prepper family. There are some who isolate themselves...and that's OK. It's their thing - not mine. I don't think they are crazy or not crazy. I think they are doing what they think they must. I will do the same. There is no real right or wrong way to do this as long as it is effective and it works for your family. Don't judge them. They may be able to teach you something. And in much the same way, you may be able to teach them. But it's whatever.
I will stock up on ammo , that's all I need to acquire what I will need.
We all have a responsibility to prepare for ourselves. The way you prepare will directly affect your chances of surviving a disaster. No way around that. In short you'll get out of it whatever you put into it. A half hearted effort will produce poor results. Will you put forth a half hearted effort to save the lives of your family members?
we all better get back to the way people used to do things 100 years ago. people were much more self sufficient then. bad times ahead for those who aren't. think what you want.
I remember last year the day the hurricane was coming this young girl was in Target looking for a flash light when she saw they were all sold out she got mad at one of the workers and could not belive they were all gone.To think this person didn't even have a flashlight'Im sure no water or any thing else that she might need to help her for a couple of days if there was no power.I bet she just thought the goverment will take care of me. Now this is what prepping is all about to look out for you & your family and friends Don't count on the goverment to do the things you should do yourself.
8:08 they'll be worth eating if they are all you have. Vegetables are much safer to can if you are a beginner. We have shelf after shelf full of them. We are eating now what we canned this past fall. And we have enough to last us through mid summer. This was a test run. Worked out real well. We'll start earlier this year and change up how much of what we'll grow. Glad we started prepping when we did.
We're going to get our fruit and vegetables from the local farmers market. We don't have room to grow our own so we'll get them while they are in season. We will can them, date them, and eat them during the winter of during a disaster. I wish we had room to grow our own because we recognize that if a disaster lasts for ore than a year we wont be able to get the vegetables from the stores or farmers market and that would be bad. If we could grow enough to feed ourselves that would be ideal.
I don't know what this guys is being so critical about. If something bad does happen, those people will be surviving better than almost anyone else without limitation. His kids will know how to survive too. I think the lessons they are learning are most valuable. Anyone who thinks it's too extreme for them, then they can prepare on a smaller scale with less intensity. But don't come looking for food when you run out.
@ 11:45 a.m. you are the reason people ban together in disciplined, trained, and well armed groups. To defend against looters. That's exactly what you would be. A looter. And if you come by our stronghold you would be treated as a looter - and we don't have a stockade. Get the picture?
11:45 you must be young.When you become a man you will learn
To 4:50&5:05
Hunger can drive people to do strange things that they wouldn't normally do. If I had to feed my family or myself and the only recource was to take food , then so be it. You would never know , silence is golden.Reconn all the way!
It's called survival of the fittest!
If the SHTF there won't be any jails!
There won't be guards to watch the prisoners , there won't be any effective police force . There will be me.
Some of this talk is scarey , as it should be. It should help you in being prepared. There are many different kinds of people out there. Some will help , some will help them selves to your stuff, get it?
Do you people listen to yourselves? You TALK about going to extreme lengths to survive maybe, possibly, could be, etc., of what our government MIGHT do.
If the SHTF like so many of you are trembling about, take the threat out. Sitting around eating beans cooked on Sterno is no way to live.
You're so squeamish about the ENEMY being shot in the head but you have no problem killing your neighbor because he might be hungry?
Everyone one of you is a joke. You might as well watch Rambo and Missing in action after you watch video's on how to can veggies and learn to live in a bunker.
I would rather die fighting than let them SOB's have the fun of laughing at me.
You like meat? Eat the enemy. Bunch of posers.
6:23 are you a prepper and take pride in taking care of you and your faimly or do you depend on the goverment to do that for you? Now you same I'm a poser I say I'm a man that provides for my family
6:23 you talk like an idiot. Any civil war will not be over in a week. You have to be prepared for your family to eat. Regardless of what else is taking place. Besides, I thought we were talking about prepping. Not civil war.
9:11 what civil war is 6:23 talking about, all I see he said was he is prepping for his family and takes pride in it.
6:23......go for it! Go fight. Right now. Start your own one man war tough guy. Don't talk about it, DO IT!
lol you guys are clowns.
I am being too mean. I never said it was a bad thing. It's always a good idea to be prepared...for anything.
I felt you guys were getting a little carried away and wanted to keep it real and put in some harsh reality.
Keep doing what you're doing, no skin off my nose. Little advice, don't broadcast it too much. People will remember and will come for what you got IF times get that bad.
A little more brain power and a lot less testosterone.
We're all going to be in this together, whatever 'this' might be.
You're gonna have to help each other too, and not shoot everyone who walks down your street.
I think 11:02 AM is the most sensible comment yet. But like he says, we don't know what we would do until we have to do it.
With that said, goodbye and good luck. And pray that this prepping is just a fun exercise and not really needed.
Peace.
As we comment about this issue , most don't realize that the America we have know has changed. We are now past the point of no return. Don't want to put fear into you , but it is the truth. We are going down hill at a very fast rate.
When this country collapes, and it will , the world will be in chaos , after all, we support most of the countries in the world.
We cannot please everyone , our system of checks and balances was the first to go , when that happened , we were doomed.
I could give you many reasons , but most wouldn't understand.
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