The prepper's mind

[auntieannie]

During my time volunteering for an environmental charity,I met a few preppers, and I met someone who often enough taught them about foraging.

Now, I think those preppers were thinking about a world where the infrastructure was down and they imagined themselves a bit like Robin Hood and his merry men, living in Sherwood forest and finding prey to eat and complement with mushrooms. They maybe also thought knowing a bit of first aid would be useful. They spent weekends in the woods, in their army surplus camo and tents. They were interested in the environmental movement for finding easy sources of power for their toys, and to learn to preserve fresh foods.


I don't think they ever thought of constant freezing night, where you'd need equipped caves (natural or man-made)to grow food in, where there was no sunlight. it never crossed their minds that the safest bet could be to hunker down. They were (mostly)men of action.

Now... wondering if Sophie's new heating system might be useful in such conditions? does it work when temperatures are sub zero?

I'm asurvivor, I want to survive some more. time to prep?

[tzarine]

absolutely
a lot of prepping is simply being practical
grew up in earthquake territory

so many nyers panic when there is a storm
rushing stores. not having more than a day's food @ home, living on takeout

learned that during sandy, having candles, tinned food to eat

check out
https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/toani0/new_preppers_resource_guide_answers_to_common/

[slowcoach]

We are by nature survivalists, like preppers but older.

Shelter & Water, then everything else.

Few ever seemed to want to go on holiday with us and none did.

---

ETA: Have you ever planned holiday dates around the phases of the Moon?

[Voy]

Here the preppers are fierce -- aside from lots of canned foods etc, they are ARMED - and have lots of ammo to go with. Scary folks

[auntieannie]

I need water. otherwise I've got tinned and dried food and books and lots of yarn to knit and lots of practical things to keep warm and keep cool and candles and tealights.

[rikita]

don't know about prepping for whatever, but from childhood i found it interesting to think about whether i could survive on a desert island or in the middle of the forest or wherever, and how i'd try to do so - mainly because i liked making up stories, i guess ... i must admit that recently i started spending attention to having a bigger supply of tinned food at home than i used to ... might have been caused by needing others to shop for me when i was quarantined, i suppose (i'd still ask,because fresh food is nicer, of course, but what if my relatives get sick the same time as me) ... if water was turned off, i'd have enough to drink for two or three days (no washing), then i'd have a problem. i read somewhere once about people in mariupol drinking water from their radiators.

[tzarine]

i was a scout so learned much about being outdoors
it was never called prepping, just nature skills
using the north star
building a fire
keeping warm
cooking outdoors

really fun

[Netsuke]

“The prepper’s mind”

I read this as “The Preggers mind” and I thought who’s pregnant?

To make matters worse, I misread “met someone who often enough taught them about foraging” as “met someone who often enough taught them about frogging.”

I tell ya if I misread something else I could be forgiven for thinking I’m quietly going around the twist!

[auntieannie]

I was a scout as well, Tzarine!

I have been reminded of that flower pot heater experiment that I conducted when I lived in the UK. It did work really well to raise the temperature of the room by a couple degrees. but one needs to insulate the bottom of it, and keep it away from pets and little humans' reach.

[tzarine]

annie
kids should learn all those basic scout skills

i quit bc i felt exploited selling all the cookies
all i got was a stupid patch

[Scrubb]

Where I live, it would be pretty much impossible to survive very long in winter without having both a generator and a large store of fuel. Or, I guess, just a very large store of wood for fires. It is just too cold for several consecutive months each year. We have a couple day's worth of firewood, but that's it.

I took a winter survival course, and what I learned in that day is that you need to spend all day preparing to survive one night. I guess if you had more people and were working together to gather wood you might be able to get enough for a few days at a time, but after a short time you'd need to go a lot further away to find it.

[lumi]

Netsie, I too initially thought the post was called Preggers Mind and looked quickly to see who was pregnant! 😂

[slowcoach]

I joined the Cub Scouts when I was old enough and put up with their bizarre rituals, nationalistic ballcrup and mumbo-jumbo for about 6 months only to be told that I would be too young to partake in the upcoming camp.

Disgusted by their damn nerve, I quit there and then and that was that.

I guess I was 7 going on 8 years old.

FWIW, today the tap water returned to its semblance of the primordial soup. Desperate state of affairs leaving us with a mere 4 to 6 weeks of bottled drinking water.

[sophie]

Having lived rurally for many years, preparing for living without power etc comes easily. I also used to take students out into the wilds for a few days where I would have to be prepared for anything. These days I need to turn that line of thought off as life is easy. I no longer have to stockpile anything. Okay, maybe toilet paper 🤣

[auntieannie]

lol, sophie.

I had lots of kitchen gadgets that didn't require power. Have a little less now.

hmmm... in the UK, at least the hob was gas. here it is all electric. and heating is gas.

Funnily enough, we spoke of heat pump, but not really feasible at this time.

I know there are modern versions of the hay box and that may be useful? (back to thinking about cooking)

[tzarine]

after covid we have
powdered milk
evaporated milk
sweet condensed milk
tins of black beans, cannellini
retort bags of assorted indian foods
instant ramen

[tzarine]

on the fridge is the emergency meeting place magnet

a few months ago, the city had a psa bout nuclear attacks & where to go to be safe. that was odd

[tzarine]

when idalia hit
lots of people were scrambling @ stores

same w la w the lines

people just dont get it
sometimes you just need enough to ride out the weekend

now w sandy a week w/o electricity got old quick

[shrjeff]

“Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration.
"I was absolutely wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief that I had ever experienced.
"I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting so starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.
"This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable."
-- William Shatner, actor

[auntieannie]

yep. we really need to cherish our home planet. I believe that.

[tzarine]

humans have certainly been abusing earth for a long time

[kuskiwi]

Between being relatively isolated farmer's in my early life, and living in an earthquake area I'm well stocked as long as the house still stands, and my earthquake kit and first aid kit gets checked regularly.
Peppers are fine but if everyone does the same it's going to be the survival of the fittest and the ruthless.
About 6 month's prior to lockdown I read a fascinating book based on this scenario. Can't remember who by etc but the main character's were English village small holders who did well until invaded by hoards of city dwellers who pulled out crops to eat but didn't know how to cook, fouled the water supply and killed milking animals for meat but didn't know how to preserve or share.
The villagers finally made the bully head of things and it settled down.

Our population is too large now for us all to survive without our farmed food.

[tzarine]

kus
that is certainly the plot for a dystopian flick

growing up in cali, we always had our earthquake kit, too

[slowcoach]

Here a well stocked pantry is the way things are.

It is not uncommon to have 3-5 month supply of some stores. Not forgetting pet feed (dogs, sheep).

Supermercado Days are few and far apart and their is always the risk that a visit might have to be delayed or even cancelled. E.G. during the Covid restrictions towns and districts were quarantined.

[tzarine]

was home for the storms
had food
luckily our electricity was on

[tzarine]

winds have caused blackouts
luckily not for us
keep candles around for this