Years ago the Boy Scout motto, BE PREPARED was held up as something to admire, and an attitude to embrace. In the ’50s and ’60s people built nuclear shelters in their backyards. This would seem extreme. And maybe, in hindsight it was. However, given the world we live in now, with disasters, man-made and natural abounding, it seems that some preparation is a good idea.
Tammy writes for us this month about a question she gets asked. Remember she is developing a sustainable environmentally friendly lifestyle for herself and her children. Bravely moving through the months since Jayes’s unexpected death, fulfilling the dreams they shared and finding in herself new strengths.
‘Are you preppers? Is a question I get asked frequently. The answer is yes, it is a by-product of living sustainably. Preppers and survivalist are people who are readily prepared for anything large or small that life may throw at us. There are a variety of reasons that people begin to do this or end up on this path. For us it began with the dream of becoming sustainable.
What made me realize that we are preppers as well? Going out and cutting, hauling and stacking wood in preparation for Hurricane Sandy as she became this hybrid storm. Our little homestead was right in the middle of it, it could have either been an early, bad winter storm or we could have had rain, winds and flooding. The sheer size and unpredictability of this storm is what made it dangerous to so many.
So as we prepared for come what may, I realized that, living semi-rurally on a homestead means you have to be prepared for everything. Are we close enough to go to the store, most definitely, but what happens when there is a run on everything or roads are closed due to weather? We are would be stuck. So I took inventory of everything and realized we had nothing to worry about. We keep plenty of water on hand, there is a clean creek across the street if we really needed to use it. We had plenty of fire wood and moved about a week’s worth into the garage so it would stay dry. Plenty of canned/dried goods on hand. Even a couple of really good coolers that would actually keep frozen food frozen for a couple of days.
By cutting down on waste, shopping locally, finding a home that can be run efficiently without power if necessary, we were ready. Thankfully the most we suffered were some cold, wet days, a few wind gusts and some pretty snow flurries. We were even ready for the rest of the family to come down the hill and join us if need be.
While we are thankful to have been spared the devastation suffered by our friends and family to the north of us our hearts, prayers and positive energy goes out to everyone who was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.
Light, Love and Peace!
Next month Tammy will be sharing her thoughts on what Christmas is for her. Now and then.
