Hello everybody. I'm new to this forum but have been wanting to do some serious prepping for some time. I am a wilderness enthusiast and fishing guide, so I possess a basic level of skills, I have also recently moved to a parcel of land, capable of producing food and fire wood, but I'm not ready for a disaster by any means. I was hoping that some people on this forum could help me with my biggest dilemma, or at least share some words of wisdom on the topic.
My biggest dilemma is where to spend my energy. My question to you all is, how do you spend your preparedness energy between physical preparations (food stocks, medical supplies, tools, etc.) and mental preparations (foraging and hunting knowledge, shelter building skills, etc.)
I guess another way to think about the question is do you plan on weathering the storm at home? or do you think heading off into the wilderness with the right tools, and a knowledge of the absolute basics is the answer.
My personal perspective is that I'm most concerned about a large scale event where fleeing hostile neighbours could be the biggest issue. How about you?
Hello, and welcome.
I spend most of my energy on research. I believe that it is best to know what to do in a bad situation and without that knowledge, one would be lost and in shock. Of course, we stock up on things but that takes very little of my time and energy.
If something happened, I would likely be at home when it did, so I would likely choose to remain in the safety of my home. I am not a big fan of trucking out into the wild without any idea of where to go, or when to come back. That being said, I have done my homework on water purification, bushcraft, and wilderness survival because you never know.
My biggest concern? A big winter storm, honestly I go with the past repeating itself and the most likely of possiblilities. If there was something like you describe, I suppose I might hope that I heeded the signs early and got out of town in time.
If your home library contains more volumes about survival-related topics than your local public library, you might be a prepper.
I guess it depends on what turns your crank. If you invest your time in those aspects of prepping that appeal to you it becomes more like a hobby. You enjoy doing it and you will be quite productive. Everyone is different, having individual needs and therefore individual plans. Consequently my advice is start with the things that you like to do. The rest will follow.
yes, I'm getting the sense that prepping can be a very personal thing. I read a book a while back about what people do in disaster situations... the author described a set of stages most people go through including denial. The sooner you can get through the denial stage, the better.
Assess your risks and allocate resources accordingly.
There's a small chance you'll have to leave your home in an emergency. I have a small kit in the car with a few days of supplies and enough fuel stored to fill the tank(your basic Canadian winter kit). One full tank will get me 900km away(VW diesel), or maybe 800 km with a full trailer.
There's a higher chance the grid will go down, over the last few years I've bought quite a few solar powered spotlights(remote panel to charge) and they illuminate the exterior of my home at night - saves money today, independent of the grid.
Small generator to run the freezer for a few hours every couple of days. Small woodstove in the basement. Good sized inverter that hooks to my car to run 115v stuff if needed.
That there will be a global financial collapse (without SHTF) is an almost certainty along with staggering inflation. Everything will cost much more.
You will have to eat 2 or 3 times every day. Possibly without a job.
I spend most of my energy around food production. Learning how to produce much of your own food is a long term prospect. I'm learning to grow or collect edibles, learning to store what I produce, buying what I cannot produce.
Those who think they'll just walk out into the woods and the game will just show up to be shot will be surprised (and hungry). Much learning required there too.
Game is abundant now because almost nobody hunts. I read during the depression deer were almost hunted to extinction in the US.
Today I'll be putting some sauerkraut into jars and if there's time do some more work on a rocket stove.
I like what ICRCC said, its how i got into it, im always in the woods doing something so theres always got to be food and supplies at the camp, A while ago i stayed for a week to see how much supplies i would use in that time period (sparingly of course). Its amazing how much you will realize that theres lots of voids to be filled by everyday things that most common people take for granted. Id say start with a list of all the things you use (everything) on a daily bases on your land, just by having extra will go along way.
Thanks for the replies and I'm getting to slowly appreciate the sheer number of different personal preparedness techniques there could be. There would definitely be as much natural variability in preparedness techniques, as there is variability in the earth's landscape and human culture. Food and shelter will be my basic building blocks for survival in most situations I'm guessing, and I do find myself fascinated by how humans approach these two things.
What I find especially mind blowing is how the incredibly large gap between rich and poor that is evident on our planet, serves to provide limitless examples of humans surviving and thriving at every income level and resource level.
My biggest concern about preparedness is how my body and mind will react to a sudden change in quality of life. I hope to spend the next year preparing food and shelter related items, but once I feel that I have covered my bases in those regards, I would like to focus my attention more on mental conditioning... as in, exercising my body and mind in a way that helps it deal with deprivation situations while experiencing minimal shock symptoms. In other words, not freaking the heck out when something you didn't prepare for becomes a major issue of survival during a large event.