Preppers and recent media interest on Prepping

Prepping has seen a large spike in interest lately with several shows on cable TV networks currently on the air. From our own Phil Burns on “Meet the Preppers” to Doomsday Bunkers to Doomsday Preppers, interest in people preparing for hard times is at what seems like an all time high. Our recent post on Prepper coverage on NBCs Today Show is just one example.

The reason behind this increase is debatable with some contributing it to the hype surrounding the 2012 Mayan apocalypse myth. Others see a fundamental flaw in the monetary system which could cause widespread supply problems. Any one of these things could potentially happen, but for the most part, we merry band of preppers are just preparing for the unknown.

Regardless of how much the media attempts to marginalize or sensationalize what it means to be a Prepper, it really comes down to one thing. Whether it is a sudden lay off, a tornado, famine or the zombie apocalypse we know that being prepared for the worst will help us survive and thrive in tough times and we want to help others prepare too. UtahPreppers author Jayce says it well in this TheSpectrum article on prepping with:

“People need to know what they are preparing for and they want to help others when they figure it out,” Hall said. “People naturally want to share what they learn and we end up helping each other.”

What do you think about the recent spike in prepper interest?

New Design

I’d like to give a huge thanks to author Wade (anavidesign.com) who has given his time to help provide us with a new site design!  For those reading this from Facebook, RSS, or other means, please head on over to the site and check out the kicking new design.  And if you need work for your site, well check him out, since I’m sure he wants to buy some more preps :)

And for those drooling over that new amazing logo in the corner, we’ll have some links soon to get it on various items.  I know I’ve already put it on a bumper sticker on my truck, as well as a t-shirt; and it looks great.

New Author: Royal

royal-author-picHi, my name is Royal, and I’m a Prepper. I’ve now been officially branded and there’s no turning back :-)

I live in Sanpete County on an acre of land with my chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, a large garden, the most beautiful woman in the world and 3 awesome children. I was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California and somehow ended up in Sanpete County where the population of the entire County is about one-tenth the size of the city I grew up in, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the change. Ok, so maybe I do miss the beach, the warm weather and planting a garden almost year round, but if I had all that here, I’d also have 300,000 neighbors, no land, an outrageous mortgage and no animals.

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New Author: Angela

Hi all!  I’m Angela from Adventures in Self Reliance.  I’m so excited, honored, and admittedly a bit nervous to have been given the opportunity to be an author for Utah Preppers.  A little about me–I live in fabulous Emery County with my sweet husband and three children, a dog, a cat, a horse, some fish, and some chicks.  I am a preparedness junkie and love camping, hiking, archery, fishing, shooting stuff, sewing, chocolate, and historical reenactments among other things ;-)

I love a good adventure and learning new things.  As far as prepping is concerned, we’ve been actively at it for a few years, so have had time to make lots of mistakes and learn from them!  I believe in having supplies on hand and knowing how to use what I have, so it seems there is always something to learn, try, or work on where our preps are concerned.

I’m excited to start posting here, and hope to be able to encourage and help others in their preparations and ability to be self reliant.  I’ve found the more I share, the more I learn, so hopefully we can all help each other out!  In the meantime, you can visit a few of my favorite posts from my blog to kind of get a feel for what I’m about:

Why I do this Crazy Stuff
Sprouted Wheat Experiment
Deer or Elk Jerky

Looking forward to learning and sharing with you all!

Some First-Aid Kit Examples

firstaidkitsFirst-Aid Kits are kind of a funny prepper item – there are SO many that you can just go buy that it doesn’t seem like a big deal.  Yet, countless people I know barely have a box of band-aids in their home.  Those who do go purchase a pre-made First-Aid Kit don’t typically pay much attention to it – it’s crossed of their ‘list’.  But day to day use of the only medical supplies in the house means that after a year or so the First-Aid Kit is severely depleted and nobody notices until there’s a need for it.

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New Author: Connor

Hi everybody, I’m Connor. I’ve been participating in the comments here for a while, and was finally convinced to dedicate some more time to this blog during last night’s meetup.  I’m a big fan of all things preparedness, and while I’m not the stereotypical rugged outdoor type, I try to dabble in enough things to diversify my talents and be adequately prepared for any potential TEOTWAWKI scenario.

I’m a web developer by day, news junkie and political economist by night (and those valuable lunch breaks!), and fill in the cracks with all sorts of other fun things.

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American Preppers Networks

The idea of regional/state preparedness networks seems to be catching fire.  Just like what has happened with a couple friends and I, people are looking out to how they can begin to share the information they have about preparedness of all forms to their neighbors.  The early networks such as Texas and us here in Utah started as simply a couple bloggers looking to network together a little more.  Now in our amateur attempts to help ourselves and our friends, we seem to have started something, as we began to see other states such as Kentucky, Idaho, and Colorado start their own groups.   As it should be, each is independant, representing local bloggers trying to share their experiences in life with the local flavor.usa

Well, several people have been wondering how they could possibly start a group for their own state.  Some even stooping to asking us (talk about a rewarding feeling, as if this is successful :) ) how to get a group started.  I’m glad to say that somebody has stepped up to make this process even easier.  Check out American Preppers Network, which is an umbrella blog.  He’s also created blogspot blogs for each of the 50 states, and will hand them out to anybody who’s willing to step up and lead the charge.  Interested in seeing something for your state, step up and help out, it’s never been easier.

Of course, if you have the technical aptitude, feel free to use other means.  This site here just happens to have a bunch of geeks running things, so we run our own software, on our own server.  But as all things preparedness related, use your own strengths. :)

Continue reading “American Preppers Networks”

New Author: Wade

Hello, I’m Wade. I am an avid outdoorsman. I respect and honor nature. I like to keep things simple. I take great pride in the size of my annual REI dividend. I love gardening, cooking, backpacking, mountain biking, road cycling, snowshoeing, and photography. I enjoy working with my hands, being self-sufficient, and solving problems. I am a graphic artist, interaction designer, and software engineer.

I grew up in Utah and currently reside in Lehi with my gorgeous wife and children. I am a member of the North Temple Group where I work as an interaction designer and user advocate for web applications. I also started and administer the Utah PHP Users Group, the Utah Graphic Artists Forum, and the Utah Apple Users Group.

I’ve always considered myself to be fairly prepared. But as of a few months ago, I don’t any more. I have a lot of work to get done. The change in opinion comes from a change in perspective. I spent a week over the holidays filling 340 ten pound cans in my garage. I had a lot of time to think. I thought about how few people are prepared—whether by choice, ignorance, or because they are unable. I enjoyed the good feeling inside (that came with knowing I had another twelve months of food tucked away) for a bit but then started asking myself a lot of questions.

I realized that I was not prepared. Generally, when people talk about being prepared, they talk about having the necessary supplies to sustain their current lifestyle through a temporary emergency (whether that be a natural disaster or simply a personal financial hiccup). There is a difference between having supplies and being prepared though. Having supplies is important, but being prepared is more important. We might have stored wheat but do we know how to cook it? What am I going to do once my storage runs out? Do I know how to hunt? If I am able to kill an animal, how am I going to store it? If I run out of water, do I know how to dig a well? Once my propane runs out how am I going to cook? Where am I going to go to the bathroom? How am I going to heat my house? Can I grow a garden? Am I prepared to protect my family?

I believe the greatest weakness of our current society is that people have very few skills. We purchase everything we need and rely on technology to sustain us. If Walmart was gone tomorrow, what would people do? Even if we choose to not live a self-reliant lifestyle, I believe it foolish to not have the skills to provide for ourselves and families if we needed to. I have a to-do list that I am putting together of things that I need to learn. I need to learn how to store food short term without refrigeration. I need to build a root cellar. I need to learn how to hunt. I’d like to buy a wood burning stove. I need a solution for waste disposal. How do you milk a cow? How do you make candles? How do you make soap? People talk about a year’s supply of food all the time, but what about toilet paper?

I am excited to be included as an author with the others here and look forward to hearing about your adventures and preparedness efforts as well.

Blogger Highlight: Riverwalker

In an effort to help recognize some of the great preparedness bloggers out there, and help people find some of the other great resources on the web, I’d love to introduce folks to a blogger I’ve been reading for a while now. Riverwalker maintains a couple of blogs himself, the Stealth Survival, and Riverwalker’s Survival Gear.

Riverwalker has a great way of presenting very useful information in an appealing, direct manner.  He’s also been great at helping other preparedness bloggers get their start, and get connected to other folks.  Please take some time and read up on what he’s already published.  A lot of nice, simple, to the point posts that will go far in helping anyone be ready for any kind of emergency.

A few recent topics of interest from his blogs:

Welcome To Utah Preppers

Welcome to the blog for Preppers in Utah.  Just like the old Dr. Pepper theme : “I’m a prepper, he’s a prepper, wouldn’t you like to be a prepper too?”.

We’re a group of Utahns that share various interests in preparing for whatever the future may hold.  From TEOTWAWKI, to the common extended layoff.  We hope to share resources found among our members that will help everbody get ready for whatever the future may bring to each of us.

We’re off to a good start already with some helpful posts, hosted content, and links to other preparedness networks like us.

If you are interested in helping out from any way, from authoring original content, cross-posting from your own blog, or just commenting, let us know.  Join us and get your own @utahpreppers.com email address :)

Also, add our RSS feed to automatically receive content as it’s published.