How do you feel about prepping/ survivalist culture?

On the other hand, that others are not drawn to the simple kind of life is why we have salt, shovels, hoes, axes, carts, nails, screws, rocket stove barrels, boards, windows, and so on that are easily available to us.  On the other hand, many rely on that world to varying degrees. Some even when they don't realize they do.

My take is, there is plenty of room for both worlds and everything in between.  Many wouldn't give a thought to raising their own food, be it tomatoes or chickens, until they taste the difference between the tomatoes or chickens you buy at Costco or Safeway and ones that are homegrown.

In the end, there, certainly, is plenty of room for improvement in both, with the need for improvement weighing heavier on the "normal" part of the world.

It seems to me that a lot of prepping (not all, but a lot of it) is just an alternative form of consumerism. "But this food now, before food runs out. Pay your utility bills ahead (by buying propane or solar panels) so you don't have to worry about shortages." And, yes, they have a point. It is far better to have a full gas tank before you need to evacuate from a flood or wildfire. It's better to have food stored than to try to buy it during a panic. But I have been listening to survival videos like this one:



I agree with her weather predictions. My area experienced a very mild winter this year. That was followed by a very mild summer. I expect a cold and stormy winter. But her recommendations are to just pay your bills early by buying propane or gas. Okay, how about building a rocket mass heater? Pull the plug on heating bills entirely. How about building a chicken coop? I think the Permies approach to preparedness is better.

Jeremy VanGelder wrote:It seems to me that a lot of prepping (not all, but a lot of it) is just an alternative form of consumerism. "But this food now, before food runs out. Pay your utility bills ahead (by buying propane or solar panels) so you don't have to worry about shortages."

... I think the Permies approach to preparedness is better.

The lady in the video does work herself into a bit of a lather. Though in current circumstances it's true that the rising cost of transportation (diesel) will cause an upward trend in prices of everything in the store. Shortages in food and fuel are unlikely, unlike on other continents. But if you have the means it's canny to lay in some extra stock at current prices.

I live in the system to a large degree, but I know the "grid" goes wonky sometimes. So like you I value having a more resilient, old-timey system in place that is not completely dependent on supply chains. This approach turns a fear-driven panic situation into an annoying but tolerable pain in the posterior. My 2c.

We will be warm, if we get enough firewood cut and moved to the house, and can cook & melt water on top of the woodstove. But, longer term water supplies, if there's no power? Nope. We need to (at the very least) find a way to power the well. We only have a fraction of the livestock we had two years ago, but they still need water, and so do we. That's honestly my biggest concern, at the moment - that and getting more hens. I like her pickle barrel idea. I can run with that one...

I do believe some folks can go overboard by stocking up 25 years of food.

And it is good to have a bug out bag in case a natural disaster hits and folks must leave their homes.

In my area forest fires are an ever-present concern. having a bug out bag/snatch pack during the season makes sense. Having the food security part of prepping I think is something that every permaculturist is already doing. Resilience is prepping.