To-may-toes, To-mah-tohs, TEOTWAWKI, Life’s Curveballs

TEOTWAWKI??? I call it  preparing for lifes curveballs

When I was a child living in Oakland, California, my daddy was a truck driver.  The Longshoremen went on strike in the mid 70’s.  Since my Daddy hauled off the docks he could not get loads.  He could not cross the picket lines as they could and would become violent at that time.  He could not get unemployment because he had a job and could not get strike pay because he was not the one on strike.  Times were tough.  My mother made many pots of “dog bone soup”.  The bones were gotten from Safeway for free in the guise of dog bones (hence the name of the soup) and the produce was picked up behind Safeway and Lucky’s by the dumpster.  For 18 long months I lived on soup at home and the soup and sandwiches I was served for lunch at school.  I remember going to the “underground railroad” pantry and was beside myself over a can of tuna.  Since that time I have always been a bit of a “food hoarder”.  I have always been, since I got a house of my own, and I’ve done my best to keep at least 3 months worth of food in the pantry.  This has been most helpful during tight times.

Since I was a child I have been able to make my own bread, can my own food and make my own jelly.  A large garden has always been a must.  Similar to survivors of the Great Depression, when you do without and go hungry, as a child it makes a huge impact on you for the rest of your life.  So basically I was a “prepper” before the recent movement.  You do not have to be preparing for Doomsday.  You can very much just prepare for unexpected curveballs life throws at you.  I have had several such curveballs thrown at me.

In 2010 I was hurt in an accident that turned my world upside down.  We survived out of that pantry for 4 months without being able to buy any groceries at all save some milk and butter.  That was the turning point for me.  I went from having a RN’s income and doing consulting on the side to living on $884 a month for a family of 5.  When I finally got food stamps I stretched it and began filling my pantry again, when I finally got child support from my ex that just gave me a little more to add to my preps.  After 18 months I have managed to save back up about a year of food for my family and 6 months if I include my oldest daughter and her family.

I add a little bit every day that I can.  I can all of my leftovers that can be put into a jar.  I have chickens and I oil and save all of their eggs so that when they quit laying in the hot summer months I will still have eggs.  I am raising 2 baby goats right now so that in a few months the doe will be old enough to breed and give our family milk, cheese, butter and meat. Animal pens are made from re-purposed pallets.  My garden is 65×95 and should provide us enough produce to can and eat for all 9 of us for a year.  My goal is to be as self sufficient on my 5 acres of farm land as possible.

I make soup 5 gallons at a time and can what we are not eating right that day.  Any leftover roast or gravy goes into jars the next day.  I have learned how to make granola cereal for the kids, seasoning salts, bath salt, homemade laundry soap, homemade hot pockets, mayonnaise, cultured buttermilk, etc.  The kids have gotten used to only having home-made convenience foods in the freezer.  They are learning how to bottle feed baby goats and helping in the garden.  They try to complain about working in the garden and I remind them that they do like to do that thing called “eat”.

Every soda bottle, jar or bottle of any kind is saved to be repurposed and re-used (I recently filled a parmesan cheese container with home made hickory salt).  Instead of buying a sprouting jar I used some old window screen and screwed a wide mouth lid onto a canning jar over it.  Now I have a perfectly functioning sprouting jar for free.

The Dollar Tree is my favorite store for preps.  I can buy shampoo and soap cheaply there.  Newspaper is saved to make fire logs in case of emergency.  I have 2 grills one for gas and one that has been retrofitted to burn charcoal.  Paper shreds are saved to be turned into briquettes.  I peruse Craig’s list for freebies and recently got a bunch of bricks which I turned into an asparagus bed.  Broken pavers were used to make a nice patio at the back door.  Scrap pallets and plywood made me a nice back porch.  I take every bit of produce that anyone wants to give away to either can or dry.  I recently dried 10 lbs of “throw away” tomatoes.  I went to the store yesterday and walked out with about $225 worth of food for $70 because it was all marked down.  Velveeta that is normally $4.29 was marked .99 because it was past it’s “best by” date.  Now we all know that Velveeta is one of the processed foods that will still be around when future generations are performing archaeological digs on our things…..  I have had it in my fridge for many months (close to as year) past the date and it was still fine.

Weapons:  My 11 and 13 year old have their own 22’s and they are learning to shoot.  My 11 year old totally understands about hunting and protecting our food.  She is looking forward to getting to take my 30-30 and go deer hunting.  My 13 year old step-daughter is still having a little trouble with the whole idea of shooting an animal for food or eating anything other than what comes from a store. She thinks meat can only be “made” at the grocery store. She lives with her mother and they are the kind that stops at the store everyday for something to microwave.  Those are the kind of people that are going to be in big trouble some day.  Old 3 pound coffee cans are good storage for ammo as it keeps it dry.  My husband and I both have the same kind and caliber of sidearm (1911A1’s) so that parts and ammo is interchangeable. Extra parts are on hand.  Reloading equipment are in the future plans. They are easy to work on and parts are readily available.  SKS are nice multi-purpose rifles and can now be purchased with a C and R license at wholesale prices.  I owned a gunsmith shop in the early 90’s and can do my own work. This means I can buy cheap guns that are in poor condition and then bring them back to life.  When I purchased the matching 22’s for the girls they were rusty and in poor condition.  Now the guns look like new and function perfectly (one has orange furniture and the other pink).

So in summary:

Prepping is a way of life.  It is something you do and think about on a daily basis. It is nothing new.  Our forefathers were “Preppers” but did not call themselves that.  Meat was canned and stored in the winter and produce in the summer.  There was always a years worth of food.  A trip to the mercantile was a big deal so they made do with what they had.

Instead of calling myself a “Prepper” I just like to think of myself as very old fashioned.  My grandmother always told me I had been born in the wrong century.  I live in the way that my great-great grandparents did.  I harvest herbs for medicine along the dirt roads.  Wild plums and blackberries get harvested and turned into jam.  I know what grows in my front yard and what of that is edible.  I know that the animals I am raising will provide my family with food that is self sustaining and will not run out.  Planting fruit trees, bushes and vines will also provide food for many years.  My chickens will provide us eggs and meat and also will provide new generations.

It is a simpler life–one without the rat race.  This rat chose to leave the maze!  It has been fulfilling spiritually, you have a sense of freedom from corporate control, it provides for quality family time (even if the teenagers do not think so), It provides for a sense of security no matter what life sends your way.  Being prepared has saved my butt more times than I can count in my life.  It can save yours too!!!!!

C.C. AR

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