February 24, 2024
Day 876 of the Adventure
As I've been identifying the different preparedness scenarios I personally see on the horizon, I've pretty much determined, to myself anyway, that covering these four areas of concern will help me guard against roughly 80 percent of what I should be prepared for. Building a plan on how to go from Point A to Point B regarding the creation of a prepared lifestyle is not a complicated one necessarily.
If using the four areas of food, energy, water and security, simply begin looking at each one from a likely disruption scenario. Disruption can include availability as well as cost impact. Yes, the cost of things can be as disruptive as the availability. After all, if you can only afford a specific amount of groceries in your cart, the rest of it has become unavailable. Viewing the food, energy, water and security categories, as areas to improve your self-sufficiency or preparedness in, take them as individual components of your over-all preparation plans.
Food - Perhaps the easiest solution is to plan for a garden and food preservation plan. Start small if need be and grow it year after year. If you reside in an area where small livestock is allowed, look into that with poultry or rabbits. One method we used over the years is buying items in bulk at reduced costs. Eventually, the self-sufficiency and preparedness begins to take place. It's something you figure out along the way as you do it.
Energy - Most energy independent solutions are not more economical than the grid. With that said, measures to improve the "economics" of life help get things started. Removing energy wasting issues is an easy place to start and there are hundreds of small ways that can be accomplished. Second to that could be a back-up plan for electrical power and/or emergency heat. Obviously, depending on where you live and whether you are renting a home vs owning one, your options may be limited. To me, a back up generator large enough to run the bulk of your household would be the quick solution. There are safety issues with using one of which you would want to educate yourself on before hand. We had also thought far enough in advance of our "5 days without power and heat" experience to have installed an LP heat back-up system that kept our house at least moderately warm during the outage. Some of these lower cost measures can provide for temporary disruptions and emergencies. Going beyond that to energy independence will be a bigger and costlier decision. One that may never fully pay for itself but may be the energy firewall you desire and choose to make a commitment to.
Water - Water is something that essentially comes down to two issues. Is it available and is it potable. (drinkable) Insuring for drinking and cooking water can be addressed with a filtration system. I won't even get into the comparisons of that. However, a filtration system that relies upon electricity to operate is going to also need a stable source of power or will not do you any good. A gravity flow or low pressure flow system or product would likely be better as an emergency or long term system. Also an adequate supply of the appropriate filters is advised. Losing water supply altogether would be a bigger issue. Probably not a "more likely" event, but definitely a more concerning one. It that case, bulk water storage may be an answer as long as it also included an appropriate filtration system for water that has been stored long enough to have developed any micro organism issues. Others would include rainwater recovery, wells, streams, springs and the like. Again, filtration before use is essential.
Security - I hate getting too deeply int security because that subject stretches into self defense and potential weapons ownership and use. My advice is to make the appropriate and responsible plans and actions to bring yourself to a responsible level of safety and security.
Self-sufficiency and preparedness may indeed be one and the same at least to a point. I believe preparedness begins with self-sufficiency and self-sufficiency begins with a decision. The extent of it's limits are very individual. Each of us must measure what we are comfortable with whether that means zero preparedness, apocalyptic preparedness or somewhere in between.
Carry On
Adventure Quote: “there's no harm in hoping for the best as long as you're prepared for the worst.”
― Base Camp Coffee of the Day: Lost on the Lake (Colombia/Sumatra blend)
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