How to start prepping?

[Wifezilla]

Jake, just a few thoughts in dealing with a spouse who thinks you are nuts...

1) You should prep REGARDLESS if you think TS is going to HTF or not. There are plenty of every day minor disasters that a food stash and some emergency supplies are needed for. In my area, flash floods, tornados and blizzards are all very real issues.

For floods, you need to be prepared to evacuate. The is why you prep a "bugout bag" with food, extra clothing, etc...

For tornados you need to know where to go to ride it out (BASEMENT!!!) and be prepared to function after a tornado. Assume no utilities for a week or two.

For blizzards, you aren't going anywhere for about 3-4 days. You should have plenty of food on hand, alternative heat sources, warm clothing, etc... Not only for your immediate family, but what if a neighbor or friend gets trapped with you? This happened to us. A friend of ours could not get home. Hubby and him barely made it to our house before all the roads become impassible. We ended up with an unexpected house guest for 3 days.

If you focus on starting with the more mundane disasters and prepping for those, the wife is less likely to look at you like you just grew an extra eyeball in the middle of your forehead. The fact that you think we are in for a bought of hyperinflation and civil unrest is something you can keep to yourself

2) Since you are out of work right now, present any gardening activities and animal husbandry projects as a way to contribute to the family while you are waiting for a new job. Keep filling out those resumes, but garden to help stretch the family's food dollars and give you a way to contribute. Instead of saying "We need to garden or we are going to end up starving when TSHTF!!!!" (even if it's true), just point out the increasing costs of fresh produce and how gardening will help the budget AND increase the family's health.

3) Want a little more emotional support on the mini-farming front? Rent and watch FOOD, INC with the wife. I bet she will help you build meat rabbit hutches (or at least not nix the idea) in no time

 

[hoosier]

i do have a garden, but it didn't do so well last year, (first time i ever saw a 3 inch diamater watermelon!) will be trying again this year.....

We all have bad years. Last year was bad here as we had a terrible drought.
I live in a rural area now, but I used to live in Indianapolis. While there, we grew a large garden and canned veg. We also raised rabbits for meat.

 

[Jakejekel]

i'm gonna start looking into the rabbits for meat thing.... will be hard to explain to my son though.....

 

[Farmfresh]

Just tell it like it is. These are animals to provide us with meat. TALK about where ALL of your food comes from. Kids will accept it far better than you think.

 

[Marianne]

First thing - Welcome!

I pretty much echo what most people have said here, but you don't have to raise rabbits, etc. if you adopt a more vegetarian lifestyle. I'm not talking fresh greens, I'm talking about meals using beans, lentils, that kind of stuff. Even that can start with baby steps, just one meal a week having no meat. There are tons of wonderful vegetarian recipes on the internet. Also, make your own ___ recipes. There are great recipes or substitutions for virtually everything you buy at the store. Start trying them, print off what your family likes, put it in a binder. When you find information that's important, print it off, assuming that you won't have elec to crank on the computer.

I might also bring up container gardening - lots of stuff can be grown in pots. Square foot gardening, compact gardening...that will suppliment your diet.
If space is an issue, I'd go with dehydrating. Then you could store a lot in boxes under your bed unless junior gets curious. Also, check Asian markets and Indian markets for bulk rice and spices, lentils, chickpeas, etc, really cheap. Pop stuff in the freezer for a few days to kill any potential little critters. You can get food grade buckets with decent seals from the bakery section of your local store. They get their frosting in 5 gallon buckets. Label and rotate your food.
Passive solar stuff for some heat. Something to disinfect water. A lot of knowledge here on the forum and other places.. You don't have to do it all in the next week, but having a basic understanding will help.

And the gasoline? My feeling is that if we have a SHTF scenario, you'll have the gas in your vehicle and that will be it. You probably won't be able to get any more 300 miles down the road. So hunker down and live next to Mr. Sunshine when he shows up. Or wait for the dust to settle and proceed to Plan B.

Baby steps.. by making changes gradually, your wife will probably tolerate it better. Especially when you can show her how much $$ you're saving plus eating better, too!

 

[Jakejekel]

i have already gotten my wife into it a little bit, mostly just to shut me up i think..... but we are now starting to slowly stock up on things like rice and beans..... so long as we have some time to get things together b4 tshtf, we should be ok.....

 

[hwillm1977]

I really like the book 'The Four Season Harvest' by Eliot coleman... he's in Maine and harvests fresh veggies from his garden all year round (without a heated greenhouse, just cold frames and plastic tunnels)

Keep trying, last year was only my third year gardening and it was leaps and bounds better than previous years. Start canning and stocking up your own veggies. Check ebay for cheap seeds... I bought 57 seed varieties last year from one seller for $20 including shipping. Much easier to experiment with a variety when the seed packet only cost you a few cents.

Hubby and I had a baby last fall and I fully intend to grow everything she eats for the first year...

We have raised beds for our garden and it made a big difference in the yields... our yard soil sucks, but the beds full of compost and manure and peat did excellent.

 

[AnnaRaven]

ok, first off, HI! i'm new here.
now, i have a question for you guys that i have been trying to figure out for a couple of months now..... how do i begin prepping for S.H.T.F.?
i live in rhode island, (i know, rhode island? which ocean is that? it's not, it's a state.) so i live in an area with a lot of city, with my 4 year old, special needs son and my wife who thinks i'm nuts. i have no job (am looking..... for forever now it seems) and i want to find a way to at least begin preperations for a possable teotwawki situation..... anyone have any advice?

I'm at a conference today and catching up onmy iPad so haven't read all the posts. Sorry.

Just wanted to mention a really good book for beginners that I'm currently reading: the ultimate suburban survivalist guide [\i] by Sean Brodrick.

It has sections on how to start, including the least you should do, for each section. I've been really impressed so far.

 

[AnnaRaven]

Ok, I had a chance to read through everything. The one thing no nor has mentioned yet is WATER.

You can live 3 minutes without air
3 days without water
3 weeks without food

You need to store water. If the power goes out for whatever reason, the electric water pumping system goes out with it. You need a minimum 1 (2 is better) gallon of water per person per day plus water for pets and livestock. Have paper plates and stuff so you don't need to waste any of e water for washing up. You should at minimum have enuf water for 3 days for everyone, in case it's a short-lived situation. If it's you and your wife and son that's bare minimum of 9 gallons plus whatever you need for your animals. Two 5 gallon jugs of clean water is good to have. A water filter that can purify water if you can get a source of unsure water is a good backup, in addition to the stored water. If you have 3 jugs, you can use one for coffee or tea, and then just refill and rotate it, so you always have fresh water available.

 

[Wifezilla]

i have already gotten my wife into it a little bit, mostly just to shut me up i think

How do you think I got ducks? I only had to talk about them for about a year....

You need to store water. If the power goes out for whatever reason, the electric water pumping system goes out with it. You need a minimum 1 (2 is better) gallon of water per person per day plus water for pets and livestock.

Another great point.

For me, I use 2 liter bottles for thermal mass in the garden. It is kind of a red neck wall-o-water thing. So I have lots of 2 liter bottles filled with fresh water. We also keep two 5 gallon carboys filled with fresh filtered water on hand.

For the animals, I have a pond and a stock tank the ducks use as a swimming hole. That's at least 1200 gallons of critter quality water on hand