Note: This is an delayed yet improved version of an earlier article in the Greek language. We are happy that our late-served English speaking readers are getting a better version of the article! Enjoy!
In the following few
paragraphs we will approach something that has been troubling us for quite a
while. How can one keep Preparedness a small part of his daily routine -and
life for that matter. In other words how can a Prepper devote a little of his
time only?
It came as a surprise to
us seeing preppers -in the pilot episode of Doomsday Preppers- admitting that
their whole life after work is devoted in prepping.
Two years later we are
involved in prepping even more than then, but we still think that a huge consumption of
personal and family time is abnormal. Life is many good things more than
preparing for safety and comfort in troubled times.
Yet it is true -and a
concern for us- that prepping indeed demands a LOT of time, especially since -and maybe because- prepping is a practical and empirical action. It is not
organized and taught as a system but it is (re) discovered through the
experience and suggestions of other fellow Preppers. In our eyes this makes it all
the more time consuming.
A devoted Prepper must -in
just the short span of a few years- acquire skills, practice them and manage to
bridge the distance –or gap for some- between the modern life and the more
self-sufficient life style of our grandparents and their small communities.
They were born in a more
self-reliant society and had their whole life to acquire, hone and transfer
skills and methods to the next generation.
On top of these, a modern
prepper must also deal with the necessities and unique demands of modern
life, especially on novel objects that were unheard of half a generation before.
It is not only not the gardening,
husbandry, food preservation and herbal medicine he must learn from scratch,
rediscovering traditional skills and forgotten knowledge.
He also has to acquire
foreign language skills (if he does not reside in the US), computer and basic
internet skills, and delve into communication systems other than the landline
and mobile phone. And get a graps of the current complex economic and political situation.
And further on, grasp the
basics of sciences and mechanics. To name just two, the prepper has to educate himself
on setting an alternate/emergency power system and basic engine and vehicle maintenance.
In an age where most Men do not care to learn how to change a tire, relying on phoned-in
help to drag them out of what should be considered just an inconvenience.
All these demand lots of time
to be used (not spent), especially if
one wants to be “ready” in 2 or 3 years since he feels the breath of modern (everyday)
dangers on his neck. Crime, Recession, Unemployment, Health Bills, and Mounting
Dept to name a few.
But too much time devoted
into any endeavor soon results in attrition taken.
Thus we should quest a
new approach to Preparedness.
But we admit we have not found
anything definite yet.
At the moment we are
still striving for a balance between gear and provisions, and skill
development. Among them maintaining and expanding our First Aid knowledge, setting
up back up power systems -stay tuned for an entertaining new article on this-, expanding
on our contingency plans and finally cooking with preps. We seem to have good
luck and a breakthrough on the discussed herein issue with the latter.
It is our bread making.
We have chosen not to
make our daily bread. It demands time, a lot of power used, making it uneconomical to make small, frequent
batches. Also going through our stores frequently requires even for more time
spent on the resupplying process.
Which is what this
article is all about.
So we have now chosen to bake
occasionally.
It helps that after some fails
we are now able to produce something reliably chewable . Thus the rare baking occasions
are for rotating our flour stores, honing our technique and trying new recipes.
We can offer one more example,
Soap Making. This thing has gotten a cult status for the local prepping and
survival crowd. The sort of a fraternity initiation process.
It is charming and to a
certain extend a fulfilling accomplishment, but we feel it does not warrant the
effort, failures and initial setup cost.
Being objective about it,
soap shortages mean that we have ended up with a post-apocalyptic, end-of-technology
like scenario that has become Suddenly real.
It pays more –especially in
our real daily life- to devote the same amount of time and effort –please remember,
this is all what this is about- on gardening.. potatoes. The product is a food,
stores well, and is equally tradable.
Yet if you feel MadMax
will happen anytime now, go ahead with setting up a fallout shelter first. It is
more pressing. You can try soap making latter.
Back on track, it is
ironic that conceiving a revised Preparedness method to save time requires some
time in itself.
Time to rethink and
reform our priorities. Time to study and reevaluate the objectives and necessities
of prepping not only on the amount time spent perspective, but on how this time
devoted is distributed within the day, week and year.
And calculating the free time,
labour and monetary cost of the various preparedness objectives.
For the purpose of
achieving the perfect equilibrium between them.
We hope we will be moving
forward with this in the short future. Till then we will leave you with some food
for thought. A parting shot by Jack Spirco of the Survival Podcast.
“You may
Prepare for Disaster, but do you Prepare for Life?”
_-_The_Gleaners_-_WGA15691+-+Copy.jpg)