thereluctantpreppers

I, like most of you, have had a lot of time to reflect on a few key issues in life these last few weeks. I’ve reflected on my life, my faith, my family and friends, and the things that really matter to me. There isn’t enough time in the day for me to tell you all that I have thought about, but I did want to share a few items.

When Beth and I first got married we made the decision to join the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. She had been raised in the SDA church and was not completely comfortable in my Methodist church. I enjoyed our years in the SDA church. I learned a lot about faith, people, and community. I also learned SDA church history – specifically, I learned about church co-founder Ellen White. She claimed to have visions from God and was a prolific writer. Smithsonian Magazine even named her one of the “100 Most Significant Americans of All Time”. Much of what she wrote about had to do with health, nutrition, and vegetarianism, but she also wrote on many theological topics. While we are no longer SDA, we still have a lot of family and friends that are.

The other day I was working with Beth on our rural property. We were building fencing for our new garden and for our goats. I commented how thankful I was that we no longer lived in suburbia when, out of the blue, something that Ellen White wrote popped into my head. In 1903 she wrote, “Get out of the cities as soon as possible and purchase a little piece of land where you can have a garden, where your children can watch the flowers growing and learn from them lessons of simplicity and purity”. She mentioned the importance of getting out of the cities at least 63 times in her writings. We did not move to a rural area for religious reasons. I am, nonetheless, thankful that we no longer live in suburbia. The country air and working in the dirt do wonders for a person’s body, mind, and soul.

The second thing I want to mention is preparedness. Were you prepared for the pandemic? Were you prepared to shelter in place for nine and a half weeks? Most people weren’t. Beth and I learned early in our marriage that stuff happens. We lived in Charleston when hurricane Hugo visited. We were woefully unprepared. Oh sure, we had batteries and flashlights, but that was about all. We decided to be better prepared for the next big thing. We waited for many years before it happened – Y2K. Neither of us honestly believed that there was going to be a world collapse, but we also thought we should be better prepared than we were for Hugo. We bought some large bags of rice, flour, and an assortment of canned goods. Thankfully, we never had to use them. The rats, however, could smell the flour or rice. They enjoyed it quite a bit. A few more years down the road of life saw us move to Lafayette, LA just a few months before Katrina hit. Thankfully, we made it through Katrina unscathed. When we moved to Tacoma, WA a few years later I was sure that Mt. Rainier was going to erupt. It didn’t, but we did have a small tsunami. Since moving back to Georgia and to our little farm, we have become much more self-sufficient. We have food, water, animals, a garden, medical supplies, and a few other things I would rather not mention.

Much of what we have done was borne out of the recommendations of my cousin, the late John Limehouse. John was a retired holistic vet from Los Angeles that moved to the wilds of Idaho. He was also a Mormon. He was a huge influence in my desire become more self-sufficient. Beth and I are not members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, but they are big believers in having enough food for you and your family for a year. Most of our canned foods – wheat, oats, potato flakes, powdered milk, etc. – came from the Home Storage Center in Tucker, GA, an LDS-run store for long-term food storage. We purchase from them because of the quality and the shelf life of their products

Why am I telling you these things? To offer a little bit of practical advice. Do not trust that the government – federal, state, or local – is going to be able to help you in a disaster or emergency. Governments should be the very last line of help when all other means have been depleted. The best place you can be is out in the country. If you have the financial means to do so, buy some land. Even if you never build a house it can still be a retreat and refuge. Finally, be prepared. Have enough food for at least 90 days. You may just have to supplement what you can buy at the store, or you may have to depend on it to live. Keep medical supplies, not just prescription medications. Take classes in first aid. Buy water. If you have a well, make sure you can access water if the power goes out. Store things that you and your family will use. Buy toilet paper – obviously. I would love to help you prepare if you need help. No charge, but I wouldn’t refuse toilet paper.

I wrote this article two years ago. North Korea was performing missile launches and Hawaii issued a ballistic missile alert. Fast forward to present day. North Korea launched two long range missiles this past Sunday (March 29). While the rest of the world is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea throws a temper tantrum and screams “PAY ATTENTION TO ME”. That’s why I thought it would be good to look at this again.

False Alarm

On Saturday, January 13, 2018 at approximately 8:05 AM an emergency alert went out to residents of Hawaii. The alert was not for a tsunami. It was not for a volcanic eruption. It was an alert for a ballistic missile threat. The threat alert, sent by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, stated “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” More detailed alerts were broadcast over TV stations telling individuals what to do if they were outside, in a car, or in a building. Now, I don’t know about you, but I am not used to receiving a ballistic missile threat at 8:05 in the morning…or at any time for that matter. I am sure that many Hawaiians and visitors alike were scared to death, thinking that they only had 12 to 15 minutes to live. Author and business owner Gary Ivey lives on Hawaii (the Big Island). His first thought was disbelief – “this can’t be right. This has to be a mistake’’. He said that one of the clues that convinced him that it was not really happening was that he did not hear the sirens. “They have sirens that were installed as tsunami warnings, but they’ve got a different sound for the bomb warning.” Thankfully, the alert was a false alarm that was accidentally sent by an EMA employee that had pushed the wrong button. A false alarm alert was sent out and broadcast at approximately 8:45 AM, 38 minutes after the initial alert.

The false alarm, while certainly frightening, has created anger and distrust of the civil defense system among some residents of Hawaii. For many of us, however, it has served as a wake-up call, and brought the realization that we do not have adequate plans for citizens in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States.

The Real Thing (Almost)

The last time Americans had to truly worry about a nuclear attack from a foreign government was in October of 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States had significant intelligence that the Soviet Union was moving ballistic missiles to newly constructed launch sites in Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a quarantine (legally different from a blockade) of Cuba. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and President Kennedy went through several days of intense negotiations, and on October 28 Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missiles and move them from Cuba. Nuclear war as averted.

Protecting the Citizens

In December of 1951, President Harry Truman created the Federal Civil Defense Administration. The main function of the FCDA was to protect Americans from Soviet nuclear attacks. In the event of a nuclear attack, their recommendations were to shelter, duck, and cover. Many adults who were children in the 1950s and 1960s will remember performing duck and cover drills in school. These drills required getting on the floor, ducking under your desk, and covering your head and any exposed skin. To make these drills less frightening to children, the FDCA created Bert the Turtle to help children learn the importance of duck and cover. Bert appeared in print and movies at a time when most Americans were very concerned with “atomic” war.

Bert also starred in a 1951 atomic film called Duck and Cover produced by the FDCA. Here is a link to that short film:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bert+the+turtle+movies&view=detail&mid=73940DE6C9B264ACC01273940DE6C9B264ACC012&FORM=VIRE
Another part of the plan to protect the American public was to utilize fallout shelters. These shelters, often in the basement of large public buildings, were designed to house and protect the public from the radiation dangers associated with an atomic blast. In the 1950s and into the 1960s, schools, colleges, and universities in the United States had some form of a fallout shelter – often in the lowest part of the building. Fallout shelters were often found on the lowest level of an underground parking garage. The shelters, designated as such by Civil Defense officials, were built strictly for survival – not comfort. The federal government did provide certain supplies, which mainly consisted of large barrels of water, crackers, and limited supplies for sanitation. These were short-term shelters designed to offer protection for 48 to 72 hours. Beginning in 1958, the FCDA (by that time it was known as just Civil Defense) began to advocate for family shelters built in backyards. They even published guidelines so homeowners would know how to build, and stock their new shelter.
By the late 1960s, the idea that an atomic war was right around the corner had substantially subsided. Public fallout shelters were abandoned, often with their supplies left behind. The desire for home fallout shelters likewise subsided. Many of those shelters were converted to storage areas, play rooms, wine Caves, or simply filled in.
For roughly the last 45 years the United States has enjoyed a time free from the worry of an atomic/nuclear war.
Until now…
(This is part one of a two-part article).

September 8, 2018

My wife and I had the opportunity to visit Philadelphia last week. Our eldest daughter gifted me with two tickets to see Jeff Lynne’s ELO, along with a nice Airbnb. On our sightseeing day, we decided to go see Valley Forge, the Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall. The latter moved me beyond expectation and was the inspiration for this epistle.

As I stood in the quiet of the room in the old Pennsylvania State House, I was suddenly struck by the gravity of what had occurred there. A firestorm of liberty and independence was fueled by a declaration. A new government based on the ideals of freedom and liberty was founded. The world was changed by both events.

The east room in what is now called Independence Hall is relatively small. Its symmetry adds some beauty to the space. It is a comfortable space with plenty of light streaming in from tall windows. It is also air conditioned, a luxury that the Continental Congress did not have. I stood off to one side, close to a window, and was moved almost to tears because of what had happened in this room in 1776 and 1787, for in this very room our Founding Fathers declared independence and codified the ideals of freedom and liberty into a new government. They produced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, a document that I believe is the most important secular document ever written. They put their lives, their reputations, the lives of their families, and everything they were and owned on the line for what they believed in. They gave us a gift that, once lost, can never be replaced, yet we are on the verge of losing that which so many have fought and died to preserve.

The 2018 midterm elections are not unlike other midterm elections in the United States. Two opposing candidates and their supporters go head to head with competing ideas and policies, often with disagreement and lively debate. Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, and Republican all participate in the preservation of our republic. There is, however, a new group that has entered this midterm cycle. They have been growing in popularity, primarily amongst younger voters, and are a clear threat to our democratic republic. They are the Socialists.

The socialists in the United States are predominately young. Their national organizational structure is under the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The DSA offered their full support for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and they are currently supporting candidates across the country including Stacey Abrams, candidate for Governor of Georgia, and Andrew Gillum, candidate for Governor of Florida. Many of these candidates do not claim to be socialists, but they follow the essential socialist beliefs. If they do adapt the socialist moniker, they call themselves democratic socialists (only to make it more appealing to voters in the United States). The essence of democratic socialism is this – full democracy (mob rule), and social (group) control of the means of production (businesses and the economy). In the simplest terms, full democracy is the process by which the majority makes all the rules while the minority has no voice. Our Constitution, in fact our very way of governing, was established to prevent the majority from terrorizing the minority. Democratic socialists also believe in leveling out economic disparity through a new tax code (redistribution of wealth, massive tax increases on those who produce), consumer control of businesses, no private profit, Medicare for all (single payer or nationalized healthcare), and “fairness”. David Green, former DSA National Political Member, said in 2007 that “Our goal as socialists is to abolish private ownership of the means of production”. There is, therefore, no discernable difference between socialism and democratic socialism. They both share the same goals.

The allure of socialism is attracting a lot of people and many of them are registered voters. In Georgia, progressive Democrat and DSA supported Stacey Abrams is in a dead heat with a conservative Republican. Her agenda includes economic reform to spread the wealth in Georgia to rural areas that have not benefitted as much from our booming economy (redistribution of wealth), “free” tuition for technical schools (has said that she is in favor of free college tuition for illegal immigrants), reversing the state tax cuts (this would have a negative impact on economic development and would be detrimental to the booming movie business in Georgia. Georgia tax revenues are up 9% in 2018), expanding Medicaid, restricting gun rights, supporting illegal immigration, ending cash bail (this could cause all kinds of problems), and other progressive platforms. Her donors include socialists, communists, and many on the progressive left. This is not meant just as a criticism of Stacey Abrams, but as an indictment of where we have allowed ourselves to be led. Far too many people in our country want something for nothing. Free education, student loan forgiveness, free healthcare for all, societal control of private entities – all part of the socialist agenda. People want guaranteed economic safety. Far too many have forgotten, or perhaps never learned, the ideals of freedom, liberty, and self-reliance. Many people would rather exchange economic freedom and the possibility of becoming something exceptional for the false hope of economic parity, majority rule, and control of the means of production. Unfortunately, many schools, parents, and grandparents have done a poor job of extoling the virtues and blessings of a free society over a socialist society that tries to be everything to everybody. We have failed in telling our children and grandchildren that socialism fails every time it has been tried because it eventually runs out of other people’s money, and no – we cannot do it better than the last failed socialist country.

As we move closer to the 2018 midterm elections, I urge you to seek out candidates who support our Constitution and our country be they Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, or Republican. I urge you to walk away from any candidate that is a socialist, has socialist leanings, or has accepted campaign donations from known socialists or communists. Our Constitution and socialism cannot coexist. Our founders knew exactly what they were doing when they gave us a Republic. It is up to us to keep it, and we need to fight tooth and nail to do so.

On Monday, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer said that if the President doesn’t act (on the 3D printing of guns) that Congress would be the ones to create a law, presumably to ban the guns.

Democrat Congressmen held a presser, a.k.a. scare meeting, to talk about the dangers of “ghost guns” and “undetectable firearms” that would be made possible by 3D printing. These Democrats continue to show their ignorance. Of course, it may also be willful manipulation.

A quick search of “undetectable firearms” came up with this: The Undetectable Firearms Act Of 1988. The legislation, which passed in 1988 without objection from the NRA, has been renewed several times – most recently in 2013 for a 10-year period. This overview is from Wikipedia:

“The general effect of this legislation is a ban on the manufacture, possession and transfer of firearms with less than 3.7 oz (105 g) of metal content. The bill also requires handguns to be in the traditional shape of a handgun. The Act excepts from its prohibitions the federal government and its agencies, and may offer a safe harbor for licensed manufactures testing to determine if their firearms meet the Act’s criteria.” Congress has been debating what to do about the 3D printing issue since 2014. My belief is that they do not understand the long-term ramifications of this new part of the digital age, that they are waiting for a landmark court decision, or both.

I personally do not like the thought of firing a high-pressure projectile through a plastic gun. I would not want to trust my life to a weapon that could break or melt upon firing. Our current law offers protection from undetectable firearms, but what do we do about the future? Most of the 3D guns that have been printed require a metal firing pin and many have metal barrels (metal makes them legal under our current law). In the not too distant future, however, that firing pin will be able to be printed from a thermodynamic plastic that is less prone to melting or breaking. Congress must be very careful with how they deal with this situation. They could go too far and ban all milling (3D printing is essentially a modern milling technique) of plastic or metal items, or they could not go far enough to create a law that can accommodate rapidly changing technology.

False Alarm

By Barry Smith

On Saturday, January 13, 2018 at approximately 8:05 AM an emergency alert went out to residents of Hawaii. The alert was not for a tsunami. It was not for a volcanic eruption. It was an alert for a ballistic missile threat. The threat alert, sent by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, stated “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” More detailed alerts were broadcast over TV stations telling individuals what to do if they were outside, in a car, or in a building.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I am not used to receiving a ballistic missile threat at 8:05 in the morning…or at any time for that matter. I am sure that many Hawaiians and visitors alike were scared to death, thinking that they only had 12 to 15 minutes to live. Author and business owner Gary Ivey lives on Hawaii (the Big Island). His first thought was disbelief – “this can’t be right. This has to be a mistake’’. He said that one of the clues that convinced him that it was not really happening was that he did not hear the sirens. “They have sirens that were installed as tsunami warnings, but they’ve got a different sound for the bomb warning.” Thankfully, the alert was a false alarm that was accidentally sent by an EMA employee that had pushed the wrong button. A false alarm alert was sent out and broadcast at approximately 8:45 AM, 38 minutes after the initial alert.

The false alarm, while certainly frightening, has created anger and distrust of the civil defense system among some residents of Hawaii. For many of us, however, it has served as a wake-up call, and brought the realization that we do not have adequate plans for citizens in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States.

The Real Thing (Almost)

The last time Americans had to truly worry about a nuclear attack from a foreign government was in October of 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States had significant intelligence that the Soviet Union was moving ballistic missiles to newly constructed launch sites in Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a quarantine (legally different from a blockade) of Cuba. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and President Kennedy went through several days of intense negotiations, and on October 28 Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missiles and move them from Cuba. Nuclear war as averted.

Protecting the Citizens

In December of 1951, President Harry Truman created the Federal Civil Defense Administration. The main function of the FCDA was to protect Americans from Soviet nuclear attacks. In the event of a nuclear attack, their recommendations were to shelter, duck, and cover. Many adults who were children in the 1950s and 1960s will remember performing duck and cover drills in school. These drills required getting on the floor, ducking under your desk, and covering your head and any exposed skin. To make these drills less frightening to children, the FDCA created Bert the Turtle to help children learn the importance of duck and cover. Bert appeared in print and movies at a time when most Americans were very concerned with “atomic” war.

Bert also starred in a 1951 atomic film called Duck and Cover produced by the FDCA. Here is a link to that short film:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bert+the+turtle+movies&view=detail&mid=73940DE6C9B264ACC01273940DE6C9B264ACC012&FORM=VIRE

Another part of the plan to protect the American public was to utilize fallout shelters. These shelters, often in the basement of large public buildings, were designed to house and protect the public from the radiation dangers associated with an atomic blast. In the 1950s and into the 1960s, schools, colleges, and universities in the United States had some form of a fallout shelter – often in the lowest part of the building. Fallout shelters were often found on the lowest level of an underground parking garage. The shelters, designated as such by Civil Defense officials, were built strictly for survival – not comfort. The federal government did provide certain supplies, which mainly consisted of large barrels of water, crackers, and limited supplies for sanitation. These were short-term shelters designed to offer protection for 48 to 72 hours. Beginning in 1958, the FCDA (by that time it was known as just Civil Defense) began to advocate for family shelters built in backyards. They even published guidelines so homeowners would know how to build, and stock their new shelter.

By the late 1960s, the idea that an atomic war was right around the corner had substantially subsided. Public fallout shelters were abandoned, often with their supplies left behind. The desire for home fallout shelters likewise subsided. Many of those shelters were converted to storage areas, play rooms, wine Caves, or simply filled in.
For roughly the last 45 the United States has enjoyed a time free from the worry of an atomic/nuclear war.

Until now…
(This is part one of a two-part article).

Thank you for visiting thereluctantpreppers.com. We hope you will enjoy perusing our site.

We have added a number of new pages to this site, and we will endeavor to update them with interesting articles as often as we can. Our journey to self-reliance is ongoing, and at times it has been expensive, but it can be duplicated. Self-reliance means different things to different people. We hope to share with you what it means to us.

A lot has happened since my last post! We were blessed with the birth of a healthy, but huge (10 pound) grandson. He is slightly older than 3 months and now weighs as much as my 1 year old great niece. I’m sure that he is destined to be a linebacker for Georgia Tech or Navy. He brings even more joy to our lives!

The other big thing is that we purchased approximately 3 acres of woods and pasture in North Georgia and have begun building a home on it. We are self-building so the process is a little slower, but we are making progress on a house for my daughter and her family. My wife and I will also build our own house on this property, but we will first build a tiny house  to live in for 6 months to a year. That tiny house will then become an office/guest house.

We have some big plans for our little piece of heaven and I will try to be diligent about posting as we go. Some of our plans include greenhouses to grow fruits, micro greens and vegetables, aquaponics for fish and more vegetables, a wedding “barn” for extra income, a little red schoolhouse for homeschooling and play (our granddaughter requested that), a number of small animals and a couple of workshop buildings for various interests. We also intend to build a couple of cisterns to collect rainwater (we also have a well) and have sources of alternative power. The point of this venture is to have a place to live that is out of the city that will allow us to be as self-reliant as possible. As I posted in my first blog, I am not a believer in the zombie apocalypse or impending nuclear disaster, but I do believe, as does my family, that growing our own food and having an additional income source is increasingly important.

We have named our property Carabe Farms (Carabe is a combination of some family names). If you would like to visit our website it is parked at http://www.carabefarms.com. You can also like us on Facebook.

Till we meet again…

My wife suggested that I post this as a blog, so here it is. This actually happened to me last week.

Many of you know that I like to keep my hair pretty short. It’s more out of necessity than it is a fashion statement. I look very much like a Chia Pet if it’s not cut about every three weeks. Thanks to my wonderful stylist, Kristi Hogan, my hair is as close to high and tight as possible. Anyway, after getting my hair cut last week I made a trek to Costco for some fuel. There was a young(er than me) lady trying to figure out the gas pump so I offered to help. After chatting a few minutes her van door opened and out stepped an adorable 11 or 12 year old girl. She whispered something to her mom and her mom asked me if her daughter could rub the back of my head. I said certainly (never being one that would ever turn down an opportunity to have my head rubbed). I bent over and she gently began to rub the back of my head, but only upward. After a short time she began to cry and ran, sobbing, back to the van. Her mom must have noticed my perplexed look because she explained to me that her dad had been a U.S. Marine and had been killed in Afghanistan. My hair reminded her of her dad. I kind of stood there for a moment, my heart having just been ripped out. I told the mom that I was sorry and I thanked her for his service and their enormous sacrifice. I asked if I could give her daughter a hug and was given permission. I opened the door and hugged this brave young lady. I told her that it must be very hard to lose your daddy and that he must be very proud of her. I also told her that her dad was a hero and would always be with her. Her mom and I hugged for a moment and we both went our separate ways.

Had I not gotten my haircut that day I might never have met that mom and her daughter. You never know whose life you might touch, or who might touch yours. The next time you see someone in uniform please go shake their hand and tell them thank you. If they are with their family make sure to thank the spouse and their kids as well. You might just be in the right place at the right time.

God save America!

Welcome!

My wife and I decided to start this blog as part of our foray into the world of self-reliance, also known as prepping. We are newbies to this arena and reluctantly started down the road to prepdom (I think I just coined a new word). We actually like the term self-reliance better than prepping, although prepping gets far more press and attention. At their core they are the same. Unfortunately, prepping is now associated with everything from nuclear catastrophe to zombie invasions-just go to any gun show and you’ll see what I mean.

I believe that self-reliance means that you have the ability to take care of yourself, your family and assorted guests before, during and after some type of event (we’ll go into that later). Prepping, at least to me, is being prepared for the during and after phases with little to no emphasis on the before. Whatever you want to call it, it follows the simple motto of the Boy Scouts-“always be prepared”.

Our blog will not be about zombie attacks or events that have an extremely low probability. These low probability events would include alien attacks, the end of the world (think about it, do you really want to be the last person on earth?), 2012 (hype and non-historical hysteria) or nuclear annihilation. Although, we may touch on these if we run out of other subjects. We want to be able to focus on high probability events such as power outages, floods, storms (hurricanes, tornadoes, ice, snow, etc.), earthquakes, pandemic and complete economic collapse.  We will look at how to prepare for, live through and prosper after one of these events and take a close look at subjects such as raising your own food, gardens and seeds, cooking, medical care, weapons and protection, precious metals, etc. We will also post videos of our trials, errors and successes with lessons on everything from seed selection, gun selection, medical kit preparation, hardening your home and car, alternate transportation and alternative energy.We want to educate, but we also want to entertain.

I have a love of history and politics, so from time to time we may venture down those paths. Fortunately, my wife will not let me ramble on and on about politics or history and I hope to only discuss them as they relate to self-reliance.

Thanks for reading our blog. We look forward to being with you on the road to self-reliance.

Hap