We Were All Preppers

When I saw the above photograph and the quote that came with it, I knew that I had to write about this.

I have followed the prepping ideology for many years and I often see how commercialized the movement has become. podcasts, videos, blogs, and books all seem to try to scare us into believing that SHTF could happen at any moment and that we need to hurry and purchase what they have to sell before it is too late.

People who really can’t afford what is being sold purchase buckets of freeze-dried foods that were prepared at a high price. They are told to purchase nonperishable foods and store them in mylar bags even though these same people don’t have a month’s worth of food in their pantry. They buy all kinds of survival equipment and medical equipment that they don’t know how to use.

A hundred years ago, we were all preppers. We didn’t purchase a bunch of food buckets and we didn’t go to the grocery store. Instead, most people raised their own food. They knew that they could grow most of their food in less than two acres. If they had a farm, the rest of the farm paid for everything else they needed to survive.

A hundred years ago, they didn’t just grow their own food, they produced a lot of other things as well. they cut down trees to build and then heat their homes. They took some of that wood and built furniture to use themselves or to sell or trade for other things. Blacksmiths built the parts to repair the simple cars of their day as well as shoe the horses that the cars would soon replace.

A hundred years ago, neighbors worked together. When they worked together, they made it a party. They had husking and quilting bees. They had house and barn raisings. If a neighbor was sick or someone died, everyone was there to help the family deal with it.

What We’re Doing

Rather than just looking wistfully back at the past, we are taking what we liked about the past and emulating that. Here is a sample of what we are doing.

Gardening-We’re growing a garden where we can grow most of our own calories and nutrients. We’re not just growing vegetables, but we are growing herbs as well for culinary and medicinal purposes.

Growing an Orchard-About three years ago, I planted five fruit trees. Last year I was able to harvest one apple off one tree, but I know that I will soon have many more apples as well as pears and peaches.

Foraging have been foraging a lot of foods that I don’t grow. I either forage from the wild or forage in the form of gleaning (picking what the owner allowed us to pick after they had what they wanted).

Hunting and Fishing-Where we live we have lots of opportunities for getting meat from the wild.

Raising Chickens We raise chickens for eggs. We have plans to get other animals soon, but right now we just have the chickens. We have raised our chickens from eggs in an incubator. We’ve also raised chicks that we bought from the store.

Butchering We’ve butchered chickens. We don’t usually butcher our chickens though. We’d rather get them from the grocery store since it’s still available from that source.

Freezing We have a small freezer and store some food there. This allows us to purchase food less often.

Canning I can a lot of our food. I probably have enough home-canned goods to last us for a year.

Heating with Wood We heat with wood. We used to have an outdoor woodstove but we decided that the outdoor woodstove used too much wood and required electricity to run. We have an indoor woodstove now, and we have not only reduced the amount of wood we’re using (by 66%!) we also reduced our electric bill by 25% as well!

Utilizing Skills I Have Learned I learned numerous skills that can be used if life becomes more difficult to live.

I know how to handle a weapon.

I spent numerous years working in healthcare including being trained as an 8404 Navy Corpsman, an EMT, and an LPN. In addition, I have learned some information about medical herbs and I have delivered one of my own children at home.

I can cook, bake, and sew.

There are probably a lot of other skills that I haven’t mentioned.

Learning New Skills I am always learning new skills. I read to learn about new skills. I also watch videos to learn other new skills. I sometimes go to events where skills are demonstrated.

Books By Cygnet Brown

I’ve written books to help others learn some of those skills that I have learned. Feel free to check them out!

If you’re interested in putting in a vegetable garden this year, I have written several books that can help you get started. All are available on Amazon.

Simply Vegetable Gardening

The Survival Garden

The Four Seasons Vegetable Garden

Help From Kelp

Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard