Another question answered: Prepper???

Two  of the questions I was sent, "I see you do a lot of food preservation.  Is your family a bunch of preppers?"  "Why not just buy your food like everyone else does.?"

No, not in the traditional sense of the word.  We prepare, but don't considers ourselves to be preppers.  We prepare for several reasons.

#1.  I don't believe in waste.  So, if I have an over abundance of food now, yes, I can, freeze, and dehydrate it for later use.  Why pay for food later, when I grew it this summer and had plenty??

#2.  Foods we process here at home, regardless of if it is meat (yes, we have done our own cow butchering--didn't like it, but did it) or produce, has no chemicals or added salts.

#3. It taste better to make your own food, and provides a great sense of accomplishment to make something yourself instead of buying it.

#4 WINTER...We live in an area of row crops.  If you are a farmer, you know what happens in row crop country when the snow flies.  If you are a city person, and don't...well, it gets nasty.  We can have a 6 inch snow with wind, and get snowed in.  Why? Because in row crop land there are no buildings, fences, trees to act as a wind break.  So, the nice pretty 6 inch snow ends up being a 4 foot drift across our gravel road.  (I have slowly tried to stop the drifting along the driveway by planting lilac bushes, yuccas and other vegetation to slow down the blowing snow, but it does no good when our road is drifted shut as well).  Needless to say, when the drifts hit...you can't exactly run to the grocery store or feed store.  Often, when the weather is bad, we also loose power.

#5.  Money. We may have the means today, but who knows if we will have the means tomorrow.  For the most part, I am a stay at home mom.  Growing our own food, and doing some of our sewing is a way for me to keep the budget under control.  I consider it part of my job as a stay at home mom to ensure there is always food in the house.

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So, by having our freezers and pantries stocked, extra feed and hay on hand, and water storage, we can survive.  We also have a good stock of board games and books to combat boredom when the satellite TV or Internet go out.
We can cook over the fireplace, over an antique propane kitchen stove, still in place in the kitchen (only needs a propane bottle connected to it) , smoker or grill, or in our RV.

So, we make sure we have heat, water and food available at all times.  I call that being prepared, not being a prepper.  I guess I think of a prepper as they guys with the under ground bunkers and gas masks.

Since we both collect antiques, we don't require electric at all times--if it goes out, we just do it by hand.  It also is a good idea to keep on hand (at least in our rural area) some extra fuel, batteries, and a few solar powered devices, such as lights, phone chargers, and fencers.

Even the Bible states we are to prepare....

 Genesis 6:21 (NIV)
“You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
Proverbs 6:6 –11 (NLT)
“6:6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! 6:7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, 6:8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. 6:9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? 6:10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—6:11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.”

 1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV)
“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Proverbs 27:12
“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”