Social Preppers

Interested in a little more discussion with the preppers here, and elsewhere?  In our association with the American Preppers Network, you now have several ways to interact with other people that like to talk preparedness.

Forum

For people interested in forum discussions, we have two available places to talk.  The APN forums will allow you communicate with the other utahpreppers, as well as other state prepper groups.  Also available is the new LDS Preppers, a similar concept but geared for the LDS readers.  By keeping with the rest of the groups, you can participate not only in the Utah discussions, but also any other regions, or specialty topics you wish.  It’s a great resource to communicate with other preppers, without having having to come out of your well-stocked mountain retreat (ok, a little humor there).  If you need to understand a little bit more about what a forum is, check out the wikipedia description.

Chat

If you like real time discussions, you can now join us in our chat rooms.  These chats are accessible to computer novice, as well as the geeks among us.  For the novice, you can easily go HERE and join the chat rooms in your browser (no software to install).  Just click the link, and you will be prompted for a nickname to use, then it’ll log you in and you will have a page to  There are several rooms available, the most important ones being the #preppers, and the #utahpreppers rooms.  Chat rooms are an ‘always-open’ type of room where you can go in and interact in real-time.  Just clicking that link will open a page with a small bar on the top that lists which rooms you can listen in (just click on one to see the activity in that room).  On the right hand side will be a list of people currently in the room, and at the bottom, you can type in a message, and just hit enter for everyone to get it.

For the Geeks, we’re all using the rizon IRC network, and you may use any IRC client (such as XChat, WeeChat, or others) to connect.

Living History to Learn Skills

(This is a cross post from my blog: Adventures in Self Reliance)

I read a post at Preparedness Pro recently about the importance of learning skills. Acquiring useful skills is actually something I’ve thought about a lot in case you couldn’t tell by all the crazy stuff I share with you that I’ve been doing. I believe that having a quiver full of skills and things you’ve actually tried is way better than having a library of books about self sufficiency. Now don’t get me wrong, your resource books are very important. It’s just that having experience with something, even if it didn’t go so well, gives you so much more to work with. Continue reading “Living History to Learn Skills”

Live Together, Die Alone

(Cross posted from my blog).


photo credit: micsx032

In 1624, the English poet John Donne wrote in one of his Meditations that “no man is an island.” His poem explains how our common humanity ties us together in one common thread, and that as individuals we cannot thrive in isolation. Christians have been taught likewise, their common identity as followers of Jesus binding them together into a body focused on one purpose. Whatever the commonality that brings us together, the simple fact is that our spiritual and physical survival depends on our willingness and ability to help one another along our shared path.

This principle is especially important in terms of preparedness. When a catastrophe comes our way, each family will quickly discover a need for things they didn’t think to keep in supply, and only through bartering and buying from others will they be able to obtain those things. Isolated individuals will be easy prey for roving gangs and other desperate groups. Lack of communication will increase frustration, loneliness, and ignorance. Only by becoming part of a trusted network beforehand will we be able to more easily deal with whatever disasters may strike.

Continue reading “Live Together, Die Alone”

Farmer’s Markets

Typical Farmer's Market Offerings
Typical Farmer's Market Offerings

Now that the weather has warmed up, I am revisiting a post I started back in the deep winter of January.

Farmer’s Markets are a great way to find locally produced fruits, vegetables, meats and other products. These markets are often the only way to find heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables that our forefathers took for granted. You will also generally find more variety if you are looking for Organic or hormone/pesticide free food.
Continue reading “Farmer’s Markets”

Shelf Reliance Recipe Contest

Do you have a favorite recipe for using your food storage?  Maybe a comfort food your family wouldn’t want to go without, or something that makes excellent use fo the basics?  Well here’s a good chance to show your stuff, and have a chance to win some *awesome* prizes.  Our friends at Shelf Reliance are having a recipe contest this month.

shelf_reliance_contest

There’s some seriously nice prizes too:

Entries can be emailed to [email protected].  For more information, such as the rules and details, go check out their page.

Also, go ahead and send along your favorite recipe to me, and we’ll post them up on the site here.  Of course, just watch out because I’ve got a few recipes up my sleeve, and I’m gunning for that #1 prize myself :)

Are You CERTified?

Too often I feel that we get into a “bug out” mentality that leads us to think we’ll be fending for ourselves in all circumstances, always looking out for number one.

I disagree. While there are a select few instances in which we must reduce our focus to our own life and our immediate family, I think that the majority of scenarios will involve neighbors (ideally and hopefully) working together to get through whatever has happened.

Enter CERT. Becoming CERT trained is an important part of your personal preparedness and a necessary tool in being of use to neighbors during a TEOTWAWKI scenario. Here’s a summary of the program:

Continue reading “Are You CERTified?”

Dinner Grouping

One of the most important factors in being able to build up a quality food storage program is to actually store the food that you will eat and find a way to rotate that stored food into your daily diet.  The problem many of us face is that while pizza is fast and convenient, and the pizza boxes stack really well, the food sure doesn’t last.  I also don’t think that if I ordered an extra meal from the local Chinese delivery place, that I could just throw it onto my food storage shelving and expect it to do any good.images1

Part of the problem is that most families, especially those of my admittedly younger age group, have grown so accustomed to having cheap, tasteful food at our fingertips that we have lost the skill of actually cooking for ourselves.  The family dinner at the table has become a thing of the past as have the requisite skills from planning meals ahead of time to storing for particular meal needs.  Fortunately, for the past couple of years my family has participated in a program with several of our neighbors that has helped combat this trend and created an excellent, yet unplanned opportunity for us all to build up our food storage supplies and skills.

How does it work?  Let’s look at the basics of our dinner group program.

Continue reading “Dinner Grouping”

Crossroads Co-op: December Deadline

Just a reminder to folks, that the December deadline for orders to the Crossroads co-op is Friday the 5th. What’s the co-op you might ask? Well, in their own words:

IT’S A SIMPLE IDEA, REALLY – provide quality, healthy food at a substantial savings through cooperative purchasing; and build a sense of community by bringing people together and promoting volunteer service.

The Community Food Co-op is for EVERYONE. Whether you are struggling to meet your basic food needs or are just looking for a way to share in community, you can be part of this simple exchange: giving and receiving.

groceriesSo the Co-op is just individuals, and community groups working together to buy the best quality food, directly, at the best price for the group. Costs are kept as low as possible by buying only a select set of items, at the best negotiated price point, then distributed via donated resources of the co-op members.

Continue reading “Crossroads Co-op: December Deadline”