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What Does It Mean To Live a Prepper Lifestyle

Disaster Preparedness, Random Ramblings
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Hiking in Southeast Texas

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

Disaster Preparedness, Random Ramblings
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Bass fishing on the Angelina River

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

Fake Prepping Websites Diminishing The Community

Disaster Preparedness, Random Ramblings
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Kevin Felts at the Angelina River

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.

What Is a Prepsteader?

Disaster Preparedness, Homesteading, Random Ramblings, Videos
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Kevin Felts blogger and political commentator

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

Disappointed In YouTube Video Views

Disaster Preparedness, Random Ramblings, Videos
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Bushel of potatoes

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?

Homesteading, Videos
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Bushel of potatoes

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

Most Difficult Months After SHTF / TEOTWAWKI

Disaster Preparedness, Urban Survival
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Chickens in snow

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

Stockpiling Mountain House Freeze Dried Pouches

Disaster Preparedness, Hiking and Camping, Survival Gear, Videos
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Mountain House freeze dried pouches

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

New Country Lifestyle Forum

Homesteading, Random Ramblings
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Bushel of potatoes

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

The Meme Has Ruined Prepping

Disaster Preparedness, Homesteading, Random Ramblings
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Kevin Felts political commentator

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

Prepping Is a Marathon

Disaster Preparedness
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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.

Paladin Press Closing Its Doors An Icon Fades Away

Books, Random Ramblings
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Kevin Felts, blogger and political commentator

Some of the people reading this post may not even know who Paladin Press is, much less care they are going out of business. This is truly a sad time, as independent publishers like Paladin Press kept information flowing into the survivalist community during the dark ages of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Let’s go back to the 1980s and 1990s.

After the end of the Cold War things were good. The Soviet Union had been defeated without ever firing a round, the economy was going good, and overall, life was grand. Being a survivalist was ok.

Then along came Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City incident. When it came out Timothy had been a member of a survivalist group, all of a sudden “survivalist” was a bad name. Main stream publications dropped certain advertisers who sold to the survivalist community.

So Called Preppers Are Going To Starve

Disaster Preparedness, Homesteading, Videos
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SHTF Survival Garden

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

Survivalist: What Is Your Prepping Goal

Disaster Preparedness, Homesteading, Videos
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camping on the angelina river

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

Random Thoughts January 14 2016

Random Ramblings
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Kevin Felts political commentator

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.

Kevin Felts © 2008 - 2018