Hope I'm posting this in the right forum.

Does anyone here do anything to prepare for disaster of some kind, weather, political, social? Local or larger? We do. We're not really preppers in the largers sense of the word, but we believe in being prepared if there is some kind of disaster that would render the people from being able to buy food, travel, etc.....you get the point. No, we don't have a bunker. We're not doomsday fanatics. ( The Mayan calander doesn't bother me at all ) But out here on the perimeter ( not completely off the grid ) we are stocking
up on food and other essentials for life sustanance......just in case. We're growing our own food, learning to preserve, securing water resources, farming chickens ( for eggs, not for butchering.....yet....) and now we are preparing to raise dairy goats.

Anyone else? Or am I the only prepping geek here?

I see your point, but honestly think if there were a disaster of any magnitude, you best be stocking up on guns to protect your food. People as we know them, will become animals and zombies in the sense of mindless killing for a piece of bread. Our country has not known suffering of any size since the Great Depression and that will look like Disneyland if war comes here and people will be like sheep led to a slaughter. All we care about is stuff and not about each other....not saying you of course, but look around...no one gives a shit about much more than ordering the new I phone before midnight so you can have it first/ the mentality of this shines through to everything. The thought process for human compassion is gone for the most part, if it were even there to begin with. I have not really figured out what life should be, but it isn't this bullshit. I think it is great you are pro-active and you are in an area and have the space to do it, so very very cool. I don't want to be pessimistic, but have just seen too much greed and ambivalence which makes it hard to give a shit some days. The Great Depression is just a picture in a book, and almost a caricature of what it should represent. Guess I am on a rant ; )

My dad told me that if we are going to homestead and stockpile we best be prepared to defend what we have. We have two guns, haha!! We will have more before we are done. I can't imagine being in downtown Wichita if anything ever does happen. I'd much rather be out here where we would stand half a chance. You can't even access our roads from the highway. I like that. It's dirt roads all the way once you leave 54. I figure at worse, being out here will at least give us a head start when shit hits the fan. I wanna build a big treehouse. Who would look up there, haha?

Ohhh. Nice topic!

I'm not prepping....but I should be.

I believe there is something just over the horizon. While I play the role of discussing politics and its effects, deep down inside there are things that disturb me.

I started playing a game after watching the movie "2012". The movie wasn't that great but it got me thinking. The game goes like this. ..

You imagine there is a catastrophic event coming. One that the world is helpless against. You then imagine that all the major governments who are trusted allies know about it.

Now you imagine what would these governments do to ensure the survival of mankind. From there you look to the real world and search for signs that may point towards this happening.

The world's economy would tank as massive secret spending drains the banks.

The need to control the world's oil for stock piling. War in Iraq. The continued efforts to surround Saudi Arabia with countries the west control.

The mystery surrounding the missing gold being held at Fort Knox.

Food prices rising faster than ever. Caused by stock piling a increasingly greater amount of food stuffs and crops by the government. The advent of GMOs. A way to grow crops faster.

The American government and Monsanto have worked together to control our farmlands. They basically turn the farms into test beds for agricultural engineering. Something that will be needed after an event or while still sheltered.

Did you know that America's cave systems wind throughout the entire country? The east coast is connected as far west as NM. Starting in 2009 the government started shutting the cave systems down. Sometimes they'd claim safety....other times they blamed bats.

I could go on and on. And truthfully it's far too easy to make something out of nothing.

If I could only have two things when the world falls apart it would be water and guns.

Noah was a prepper.

Get a boat.

If anything Walking Dead (tm) has taught us.
Shooting a gun only lets them know where you are.

What exactly are 'preppers' defending though?

A standard of living? Or, staying alive?

If they want to stay alive. Just leave. There are still people on this planet now that have no idea about a world colapse.

Lets just face it.

Preppers are greedy and want to maintain a 'standard' or worse, want to control.
If things do go tits up. Which I doubt. After the initial shock, yes there will be looting killing etc.

Things will settle down once people realise they need each other to survive.

Except for the preppers.

It may sound a bit hippy (fucking hippies). But if the world colapsed. Nothing would change.

There would still be people with, denying those without.

Just at a more local level.

Concrete asks, "What exactly are 'preppers' defending though?

A standard of living? Or, staying alive?"

I don't have any desire to survive nuclear war. Who in the hell wants to crawl out of a bunker only to be faced with that aftermath? No way. My goal is to make the best of hard times when our current way of life as we know it goes to hell for whatever reason. JFL's post pretty much summed up my concerns. I'm a single mom to a ten year old autistic child. I live on a few acres of land off the main track. I'm not a prepper like you've read about or seen on some TV shows. I'm out here trying to learn self sufficiency because to be quite honest, I think we are headed for some really hard times in the not so distant future. I don't think that's such a crazy idea.

JFL - you got it right. Water and guns. We have a well. We have guns. I'm set.

concrete wrote:

Noah was a prepper.

Get a boat.

If anything Walking Dead (tm) has taught us.
Shooting a gun only lets them know where you are.

What exactly are 'preppers' defending though?

A standard of living? Or, staying alive?

If they want to stay alive. Just leave. There are still people on this planet now that have no idea about a world colapse.

Lets just face it.

Preppers are greedy and want to maintain a 'standard' or worse, want to control.
If things do go tits up. Which I doubt. After the initial shock, yes there will be looting killing etc.

Things will settle down once people realise they need each other to survive.

Except for the preppers.

It may sound a bit hippy (fucking hippies). But if the world colapsed. Nothing would change.

There would still be people with, denying those without.

Just at a more local level.

Fine. I'm more than willing to sit back with a gun and let the hippies plant gardens and shit. I may even keep a few for myself. Have'em look after my weed crop. Hell......I might even control a whole town full of hippies with nothing more than a small handgun with one live round. Never met a hippie that didn't think one pistol and one bullet was enough to destroy mankind. Imagine if I had a shotgun.....I'd be like a walking talking nuclear arsenal ready to lay waste to Gaia. In case you're wondering where I'm going with this.......I have no clue. I started typing, dazed off....came back and I'm just as confused as you are.

So I guess......YAY GUNS!?!

'Fine. I'm more than willing to sit back with a gun and let the hippies plant gardens and shit. I may even keep a few for myself.'

Zing.

What's wrong with planting gardens?

I can see I might have opened a can of yucky assed worms here. Concrete, you said " Preppers are greedy and want to maintain a 'standard' or worse, want to control." There must be two kinds of preppers because I see absolutely no greed in the wish to grow your own food and live off the beaten track. What kind of preppers are you talking about, anyway? The ones with bunkers and booby traps?

My wish....or my goal, is to be far enough away from the city when the larger part of the population loses their minds and starts home invading to take what you have because they can't get it any other way. ( That's already the case on a small scale, right? )

Aja, what you said about humanity only caring about being in line days in advance to get the latest fucking smart phone ( for stupid people no doubt ) is so spot on. This is what I'm wanting to avoid. This is what I'm trying to shield my daughter from. People have become mindless, greedy, dumbassed motherfuckers, all for what? Something that won't help them one damned bit in the bitter, ugly end. I'd rather see the end of the world from my farm deck than looking down the barrel of some crazed crackhead and his buddies. And that's exactly how it would be if we had stayed in the city. I'm convinced of that.

Nothing wrong with a garden. Wish I had one. My doomsday plans are to take over the first drug store I come across. From that position I can barter my goods which will be in demand. I can trade for seeds water,plants, ammunition.....sex......a little more sex.......then when the painkillers and viagra are gone I'll head out to some remote area.

I know I can do it. That shit totally works in the movies.

Agreed to both of you. Some crazy shit is on the edge out there; you can feel it. Drug store is a great idea. It kinda feels like a Stephen King movie is heading right for you and shit is about to get real. Rikki, plant your gardens and live it free form style. I miss those days and wonder where I am headed. Never heard the word "preppers" although, I can gather the inclinations of where that is going. There are those off the grid completely whom like a supremacy group have an affinity and will just delude each other that anything can be done, or they are the elite group who can survive. I just sit back and watch everything unraveling where ever I turn and do not like to think of it much. It is easier to get lost in The walking dead or Breaking Bad, those both resemble more life than what I see now....oh maybe the show Damages..also. lol

Rikki.

I will make an assumption here. But, I'm guessing your great grand parents did similar to mine. Lived off the land.
Farmed, hunted etc. There is nothing wrong with this.

Preppers. They are different. As I said. They want to maintain what they have. They are unable to adapt.

They 'prepare' for the worst. How can you prepare for the unknown?

A long time ago. People used to pay tythes, thinking they could get into heaven quicker.

Now. They buy water proof bibles, freeze dried food, water filtration systems, guns etc. To keep alive for something that wont happen.
True, they would be sorted during a natural disaster. But that is all.

If the world went tits up. It's the ones that adapt quickest that will survive. Just ask the cockroaches and rats.

I'm losing my train of thought here now. So, enjoy your garden. Learn how to store what you grow.

If the world does go fucking crazy.

I'll be the one with a can opener.

LOVE JFL's idea!! I just hope he gets there before all the other opiate fiends do. Get a BIG gun, brother. You're going to need it.

I shouldn't have used the word prepper. It leaves a nasty taste in my mouth - and on my fingertips.

I always told my son that as I reached my golden years I'd be the crazy radish lady on two acres in a silver airstream bus. I wasn't too far off.

Concrete - I like your style.

Aja - We have the same world view. ( of course ) I just think you're better at articulating what we see. If the shit hits the fan and you decide you want to ride it out cowgirl style I'll send a car for you. Or more likely a truck with no spare.