prepping Archives

What Does It Mean To Live a Prepper Lifestyle

December 21, 2019 Rural Prepper 0

Rather than posting about living a prepper lifestyle, I want to ask what the members of this community define a prepper lifestyle as?

I am sitting here at home watching “Light of My Life” on Amazon Prime when the thought came across wondering how many “preppers” life a prepper lifestyle. The problem is, a “prepper lifestyle” will vary depending on who you ask.

We could use the old cliche “Prep for the worst and hope for the best.” Then again, we could spend tens of thousands of dollars on underground bombs shelters only to have them sit for decades unused. After all, how many people put in bomb shelters during the cold war that were never used.

Preppers live any everyday life just like everyone else. We go to work, pay bills, spend time with our family… etc. So what makes us any different than anyone else? […]

How To Spot Fake Prepping Websites

June 22, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

In a previous article we talked about how fake prepping websites are diminishing the prepping community. So let’s take a few minutes and talk about how to spot a fake prepping website.

First, let’s define what makes a prepping website fake. The vast majority of the articles will be along the lines of:

5 best of
Stockpile these items now
5 foods that last forever

For example, the website may have articles along the lines of “5 best emergency radios.” All the author does is go to Amazon, look through the selection of radios, pick out the top rated, write an article and include links to the radios. When someone clicks a link to Amazon and purchases an item the website gets a commission.

Some of the readers may ask, “What’s wrong with that?”

Chances are the author has zero hands on experience with the items listed in the article. In other words, the sole purpose of the article is to make a sale. The only information the article provides is taken from Amazon reviews, which anyone can read.

No Unique Pictures

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Fake Prepping Websites Diminishing The Community

June 17, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

Was scrolling through my Facebook feed when an ad came up for a prepping facebook page. The ad was something along the lines of “Best prepping website on the Internet.”

We all know SurvivalistBoards and my blog survivalboards.com are the best prepping / survivalist sites on the internet. Besides that, I thought, sure, I will check it out, why not.

So went to the Facebook page for the site, clicked a link and looked through several of their articles. Every article I saw was maybe 200 words, and then a link to another site.

I visited the other site, and guess what, it was the same short articles with no original content. Articles were along the lines of “Stockpile these 10 items now”…. the typical click bait article titles.

There was no way to comment on the articles. If there had been a way to leave a comment, I would have called them out for being nothing but a spam site. […]

Kevin Felts blogger and political commentator

What Is a Prepsteader?

March 8, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

What is a prepsteader? It is someone who combines prepping and homesteading. However, the complete answer is a little more complicated.

To see the whole picture we need to go back to at least the 1970s, or maybe the early 1980s. What we consider prepping today was everyday life during the cold war.

During the Cold War, people lived under the constant threat of nuclear war. Because of that people kept a stockpile of food and other supplies. After all, you never knew when the bombs were going to fall.

When the Berlin Wall came down after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States entered into a short lived period of peace. For the first time since the end of World War II we were at a true peace.

The came along Waco, Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma City Bombing. When it came out that Timothy Mcveigh was part of a survivalist group, the name survivalist became taboo almost overnight.

Survivalism In The 1990s

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Disappointed In YouTube Video Views

March 5, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

Guys and gals, what gives in the number of views my YouTube videos are getting? Why do I have 38,878 subscribers (as of March 2018) but my videos only get a few hundred views? Why would someone subscribe to my YouTube channel if they are not going to watch my videos?

I suspect some of the subscribers may have been spam bots, but surely not all of them?

Out of all of the prepping channels on YouTube, mine covers the widest variety of topics, but no firearms. When I joined the google adsense program over a decade ago the writing was on the wall. Google YouTube would not tolerate hunting or gun videos.

Sometime around 2007 or 2008 I posted a video on how to skin a squirrel. The video was flagged as animal cruelty and my account received a warning. From that time forward I never posted another hunting video. Even when people posted request on skinning videos, I avoided the topic. […]

Why Won’t Your Garden Plants Produce?

February 22, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

You planted a garden, but it did not produce. The plants may have grown nice and large, but they did not produce anything. What could be wrong?

The simple answer is – Plants need certain certain types of fertilizer depending on what they produce. Using the wrong fertilizer may cause the plant to grow large, but may not produce.

What brought this topic up? I posted a video talking about how to pick out seed potatoes. Ethical Preparedness asked a question about growing potatoes..

If the reader does not subscribe to Ethical Preparedness YouTube channel, get over there and subscribe. He makes some excellent videos.

People prepping for a long term collapse, or just a backyard gardener should understand how certain nutrients affect the garden.

Everything written here is from memory.

Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash

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Most Difficult Months After SHTF / TEOTWAWKI

February 13, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

Here on the farm, every year there are a couple of months that are more difficult than others. The good thing, those difficult months are a learning experience. Part of those experiences are observations on how things change with the seasons. Then, how do would someone take that knowledge and apply it to prepping?

Let’s cut to the chase, January and February will be the worst months after SHTF / TEOTWAWKI.

For the sake of discussion let’s say some type of event happened. This could be a new viral plague, nuclear war, meteor strike… etc. Something happened to strip society as we know it to its very core.

At first people were somewhat ok. Rural farmers should have enough diesel in their trucks and tractors to work up garden plots. Things will be rough, the cities will be starved out, but people will make it. However, things will change when winter arrives.

The second winter after a collapse will probably be the worst.

Respiratory Diseases

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Stockpiling Mountain House Freeze Dried Pouches

February 11, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

A question to the reader, “Are you stockpiling Mountain House freeze dried pouches?” Let’s be honest, there are a number of reasons that can be debated for and against stockpiling Mountain House freeze dried pouches.

One of my main issues with the pouches is the sodium content. When I eat a meal, a few minutes later I can feel the sodium hitting my system. Sometimes the sodium is so bad I feel sick all over.

Some people may say Mountain House freeze dried pouches are too expensive, and they are. There is no denying the freeze dried pouches cost a pretty penny.

Let’s talk about sodium content first. A couple of pouches were picked from my personal stockpile so we could look at the sodium content.

Sodium Content

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New Country Lifestyle Forum

February 3, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

Has everyone signed up on my new forum – Country Lifestyle Network?

Awhile back I wanted to shift gears with my prepping plans. Since moving to the farm I have not dedicated the time and effort I should have into various projects, such as an orchard, and fencing in a few acres for livestock.

The goal is to build a semi-self sustainable farm. It would be rather difficult to build a fully semi-self sustainable farm based on renewable energy. However, I can travel down that road and see where it goes.

While I am going down that path, why not start a community and share my experiences? That is the purpose of Country Life Network. I want to build a community where people who live in the country can share their knowledge and experience.

The new forum is NOT a prepping survivalist forum.

There will be nothing prepping related in Country Life. That is unless you call growing your own food prepping.

Country Life Kick Off

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The Meme Has Ruined Prepping

January 30, 2018 Rural Prepper 0

Sites like Facebook and Pinterest changed the face of survivalism. Over the past few years there has been a gradual shift from real prepping, to reading memes. Looking at a meme and pictures satisfies our desire for instant gratification.

There was once a time when people were truly interested in prepping. Survivalist joined forums, read blogs, made YouTube videos… etc.

Today, people are happy to just look at memes and invest as little time as possible in prepping.

For example:

Post a meme on Facebook, and it may get thousands of likes and hundreds of shares.

Post a link to an article, and it gets nothing. After all, an article would require people to do this thing called “read”, and this other thing called “thinking.” Who has time to read or think when the meme can explain everything?

Why should we read about gardening, when all we have to do is look at memes?

Why should we read about raising chickens, when all we have to do is look at memes?

Real Life Prepping

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Prepping Is a Marathon

November 26, 2017 Rural Prepper 0

I was going to make a reply to this thread – is the forum serious? but decided to make a thread. In that thread the opening post talks about people prepping for stuff that may never happen.

My thought out answer: “Prepping is like a marathon.” Once you prep for hurricanes, civil unrest.. and other viable options, what else do you prep for? Like in the movie Forest Gump when Jenny yells and Forest, “run forest, run.” Well, you prep and keep on prepping.

Prepping could easily become a never ending process.

Someone may not start off prepping for a collapse, but that may be where they end up.

Someone may not plan on running a marathon, but if they train long enough they may be ready for one. […]

So Called Preppers Are Going To Starve

February 28, 2017 Rural Prepper 0

If there is ever a real SHTF / TEOTWAWKI event, a large number of so called preppers are going to starve. Proof to back up that statement? Just look at the popular prepping related videos on youtube, or look at what forum sections get the most traffic.

The most popular types of videos on youtube are gun and tactical gear. It is not gardening, it is not chickens or other livestock, farming, homesteading, or prepsteading. The most popular types of videos are running and gunning videos.

You can not eat bullets, plate carriers, chest rigs, knives, or anything else that fuels the fantasy of a tacti-cool SHTF event.

During outbreaks of the plague in the middle ages, starvation killed a great number of people. Preppers may think they will leave the city and raid rural farms. Once again, history teaches us there is a good chance those people will die on the side of the road just outside the city. People will either starve before they reach rural areas, of they will die of disease.

Reality

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Survivalist: What Is Your Prepping Goal

January 9, 2017 Rural Prepper 0

Survivalist, what is your prepping goal? Preppers can not be classified into several different categories. We have different groups who subscribe to different prepping plans. These go way beyond what organizations like FEMA and the Red Cross suggest.

We all know the government will not be able to help everyone. There are also situations that may result in the collapse of the federal and state governments, such as nuclear war or some kind of new disease.

For example, my personal prepping goal is presteading. Which is a combination of prepping an homesteading. The long term goal is to develop a homestead based off lessons learned from the middle ages, and combine those with modern homesteading.

People Who Stockpile May Say

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Random Thoughts January 14 2016

January 14, 2016 Rural Prepper 1

Time for some random thoughts on life from a bored survivalist.

Lets start with happiness. What is happiness? Happiness is defined as a “mental or emotional state of well-being.” Whos responsibility is it for you to be happy? Is it your spouses responsibility for you to be happy? Is it your employers responsibility for you to be happy?

Your happiness is your responsibility.

Outside stimuli can affect your happiness. However, the key to happiness is controlling your thoughts; change your thoughts and you change your reality.

The most important issue with being happy is thinking happy thoughts. So what if bad things happen. We do not have to dwell on those bad memories. Life is full of bad things. We lose a job, lose a loved one, get our feelings hurt,,, but that is life. […]

Economic Indicators for Preppers

May 25, 2015 Rural Prepper 0

What are your economic indicators? In other words, how do you determine if the general public is worried about uncertain times?

Besides all the information the government publishes, I use three indicators.

The local feed and fertilizer / farm supply store

On Friday, May 22nd I was at Circle three feed in Jasper Texas to buy some chicks and chicken feed. While I was there I took a few minutes to talk to the nice lady behind the counter.

Usually, the chicks are sold between February, March and April.

This year, the farm supply store was not able to get chicks until April. The nice lady told me the store was not able to get chicks because the suppliers were sold out. In 15+ years, this is the first time the store had not been able to get chicks in February. […]

Tractor with auger working on chicken goat yard

Farm Update October 19 2014

October 19, 2014 Rural Prepper 0

Things are moving along nicely, but there is always some kind of setback.

When my wife and I moved to the farm I seriously underestimated the time and effort needed to get things up and running. When we moved here in August of 2013 my main goal was to get the small chicken yard built, get the septic system put down, get the water working, then get ready for winter. Winter of 2013 – 2014 here in southeast Texas was rather harsh, by our standards anyway.

Spring 2014 started out with around 18 – 20 new chicks. Things were looking up, then then it went to hell. My wife and I moved to the farm with 13 hens. We lost all of the new chicks to various predators. When the new chickens were moved to the new chicken yard, a couple of Rhode Island Reds kept jumping the fence. My dogs ended up killing those two Rhode Island Reds.

The good news, things are on the upswing.

Chicken House / Chicken Yard

Remember the videos and articles about building a new chicken house and chicken yard? We are almost finished with the yard. I have a 10 foot gate temporary attached to close the chicken yard entrance with a section of cattle panel and some 2x4s. A section of field fence still needs a top strand of barbless wire ran. […]

Random Thoughts on Prepping For SHTF

March 26, 2014 Rural Prepper 0

One of the big questions in the prepping / survivalist community is when did you start prepping? My great grandparents lived on a small farm, my dad was raised on this same small farm, my […]

December 2013 Farm Update And Projects

December 8, 2013 Rural Prepper 0

After looking through my youtube video I realized I have not uploaded a video in a couple of months. The last video I uploaded was on September 15, 2013, which makes 3 months. In all honesty I had not realized it had been so long.

So what has been going on?

Added some lean-tos on the shed to park the tiller and lawnmower under.

Got a deer feeder setup about 100 years behind the house.

Added some pvc pipe to the deer feeder legs to prevent coons from climbing the legs. Raccoons have been climbing the legs and turning the spinner, which dumps a lot of corn on the ground. the corn is not for coons, it is for deer and hogs.

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Prepping Plans For Late 2013 and Early 2014

November 19, 2013 Rural Prepper 0

Part of my SHTF prepping plans include looking several months ahead. Rather than waiting until spring of 2014 to make plans, I like to think about what I should do 4 and 5 months ahead of time.

I see no reason to wait until you are at the farm supply store to think about what crops you want to plant. Lets go ahead and think/talk about what you want to buy, what crops you want to plant, how you are going to store those crops several months ahead of time.

Planning ahead allows me to work out the fine details, such as type of fertilizer I want to buy, what kind of AR-15 magazines I want to get, what kind of new AR-15 I want to get,,, and so on.

As the end of 2013 draws close I would like to take a few minutes to talk about my prepping plans for the next 4 months or so.

Firearms, Parts and AR-15 Magazines

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Storm In The Distance

September 4, 2013 Rural Prepper 0

As I sit here in my office I can hear rolling thunder in the distance. The dark clouds are not too far away, hopefully bringing much needed rain to the area. Southeast Texas, where I live has been in a drought for several months.

There is another storm brewing in the distance. This storm is over ideology and resources.

Ask yourself, why has the United States only gone into conflicts that involved oil producing nations? It is not that we are lacking resources, the conflicts are to seize control of those resources.

The thunder I hear in the distance are the drums of war. […]