I really like public utilities. They make life much easier. But we put ourselves in great peril if we depend on them unnecessarily or without thought to a back up should something go wrong. But I'm preaching to the choir here. You KNOW that it's wise to have alternatives.
Michael Bunker said in a podcast once that he doesn't really take someone's words seriously, but rather the persons actions. Now I've paraphrased that, but that sums it up. We can SAY we're all for prepping, but unless we're actually doing something to work toward being prepared, we're obviously not getting the job done.
Let me be the first to say that we'll never be 100% prepared. Nope. I just don't think it can be done. At the same time, I don't want to be presumptuous and arrogant, assuming I don't have to do anything. So my challenge to you (and myself) is to act sensibly, not panic, and make it a lifestyle to do something regularly to be prepared. Do something to make your family more sustainable, gather something to be prepared for an emergency, or put something away in your food storage. One thing a week.
I'd love to come up with some acronym to help remember these three ares; something like...
SL.ES.FS
(sustainable living . emergency supplies . food storage)
By the way, it's probably pretty obvious, but my favorite area of prepping is in the area of sustainable living. Originally we were so far from being sustainable that the gap was huge with so much to do. So most of our dollars right now have gone toward getting ourselves in a situation of being more sustainable. On the other hand, having emergency supplies and food storage would help sustain us immediately in a crisis. I need to work on these two areas.
Living so far away from town, food storage has been a part of our lives for a while and I often don't think of our purchases as true "food storage" since it's normal to stay stocked up. Especially in winter. This is a good thing, but I need to remember to take inventory regularly. Thinking of camping gets me going on the emergency supplies. Ideally, I should be balanced in all three areas, but it just isn't always the case.
• This week, I planted some fall vegetables, got the low tunnels up, and covered them with a protective bird barrier. I have Agribon and plastic to cover them as the temperatures drop lower winter approaches.
• I purchased some previously used corral panels in order to bring home 3 Kinder goats to raise for milk production. I just need to get the hog panels over the corral panels. And a shelter. At least it's forward progress!
Join the Challenge
To join the Preparedness Challenge, just write a post on something you did this week to prepare and then link up below or leave a comment. Even one thing a week adds up and it will encourage you to do even more! And by participating in the challenge, it will get you thinking about prepping on a regular basis.
Please only post on preparedness topics. And be sure to take the Preparedness Challenge picture and add it to your blog so others know you're participating and hopefully they'll join up, too!
Please be respectful of our topic and only add a post that is preparedness related in order to retain the integrity of the link up event. THANK YOU!!
