Left-Leaning Feminist, Democrat, Liberal Prepper

Okay so I admit it.  I'm a left leaning, Feminist, Democrat,science believing Liberal Prepper.  Ah,  I feel so out of the closet here. How could such a thing happen? Come TSHTF and TEOTWAWKI when the Zombies go after the Mormons, NRA's and Preppers to steal all the goodies. Hopefully my family and I will still be hanging around. Eating, reading, growing things and living to tell the tales to the next generation.

How did this happen? Well I guess it just evolved ( Darwins theory of prepper development, or survival of the Fittest).  But it really comes of family stories, big brothers and envy of reading my brothers "Boys Life", as a young girl and wishing there was a "Girls Life".  Also the things that have happened to my family.

I'm the youngest of nine. We were poor, didn't have any fancy things, but we did spend summers in Minnesota at my Grandparents farm. The women and grandpa kept a wonderful garden every year, I still remember grandpa's tomatoes! The women would have canning parties in the summer, and shared work was fun. And every Christmas we looked forward to the gift box from Minnesota with homemade dried beef ( think beef prosciutto) and Grandmas Divinity candy.

My mom would make strawberry jam every year as the first strawberries were out in the old Orange County farms in California where we lived. And we would have at least one cherry tomatoe plant and parsley growing year round in our yard. My mom knew all the secrets of getting stains out of laundry long before "shout" or any stain remover was thought of, salt and lemons and sunshine were her cleaning products.

My sister still cans loads of Apricot jam from one tree that we all fight for every Christmas. My brothers know how to can and smoke meat. And fish.

I've been accused of being a "Hippie", but protest because really I'm More Crunchy Granola type. (Hippie has more to do with wacky tobacco, than Granola. Being green and Natural.). I started canning years ago in the Amazon basin in Brazil, making Mango chutney. I moved there with my then Ecologist scientist husband. Living there was a life changing experience. We didn't have a lot of choice of things to buy to eat there, everything came 1500 miles up the Amazon on a boat or was flown in by plane. I learned a lot of making do, doing without, or what the locals did. It was a experience that I wouldn't change for anything, but know if we had the Internet then I would have learned to make cheese from Kelleens (sic)  instruction, or wax cheese to save for later. Or a better way to purify water.

Fast forward after the Amazon we lived in Colorado and learned to garden in great soil,then we moved to the desert where my husband learned the "Three Sisters" method to grow corn. And we raised chicken and my kids learned to watch for Rattle snakes while they played.

I have always enjoyed cooking, sewing, knitting, repurposing things and being less of a user of resources than necessary. But now I too am concerned about what could happen if things get worse. I grew up hearing the family stories about surviving blizzards in Minnesota, living through the 1918 Spanish flu, the dust bowl in Minnesota, the war years in California and rationing, and the lean years after when my mom survived on a 100 lb. Bag of potatoes left on her doorstep for 3 families to share. We have survived  thinking eleven members had been killed in the Big Thompson Flood n 1976, fortunately they weren't there, but we didn't know for days and had no Disaster Plan.

I'm a nurse in a hospital, and I know that will not be the place to go in a huge epidemic or Disaster.  I have lived thru major earthquakes and my parents were in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. I have lived in a country with Military dictatorship. And I was a single parent living paycheck to paycheck for years.

So in the last year I started pulling things together to prep. I read the blogs, don't sways agree with the politics, dislike the gun porn, but would like to learn more about having guns and how to protect myself and my family. I look about when I drive for safety, routes to get out of dodge, and keep a BOB in my car. I am learning Master Gardening thru a local course.when I go for walks I look for free sources of food in the neighborhood, like apple trees or cattails.  And I have been learning more canning and food preservation. I use coupons and have increased my food storage. I am learning how to Solar cook, but in Oregon Washington it's not to practical most of the year.

I am very selective about who I talk to and what I tell them about prepping, but am learning to read the signs of Preppers. I am trying to get my family on board, we are multi-talented and could do well if needed. Everyone has multiple talents that could be used, and all are well read. And yes we do have Republicans in the family, so things can get Hot when talking politics, but we do love each other.

I think if a person is going to Prep, we need to talk across our differences and find our common grounds and beliefs. We will need each other more than ever, and we all do love this wonderful country and want it to survive, even with our differences.

Besides I have coffee and chocolate hidden away!

Good luck everyone.

K.M. WA

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Comments

Good for you - welcome out of the "liberal prepper" closet! There are actually lots of us out there.

Well, you could have Congress pass a head tax on zombies.... I guess.....
Maybe not. Let me know how that works out for you.

Yep, there are many of us closet liberal preppers out here. We just quietly keep pluggin' along, staying quiet for the most part. Want to say thanks to many of you out there for all the wonderful ideas that help us all be prepared. Doesn't matter what's going on politically, the bottom line is that none of that matters in the end. We're just people first, and Americans are nororious for helping their fellow man/woman in time of need and crisis. Thanks again to all of you!

Hey, prepping is about being ready. That's not left- or right- leaning, that's smart. And I am probably as far across the aisle from you there as is comfortable for you, but hey...that's cool. :) I would suggest a couple of basic firearms classes to get a feel for what works for you.

Well nettles, would the head tax on Zombies be on their heads or the numbers of heads they devour? Like a food or booze tax?
John I have been thinking of doing that, my daughters want to learn to shoot also. I recently shot a shotgun for the first time and was surprised by how hard it was to do.
Thanks everyone.

Great post but I wish you would include HOW to save and grow food for those of us who just don't know what to do. Thanks.

Hi from another left of centre prepper , a bit of a hippy and a pagan lesbian too, here in Australia owning guns not very easy so I am checking out a slingshot bow instead :-), I eat meat and try and follow the Weston A Price way of eating (but I'm naughty). I am a Permaculture Designer, involved in my local LETS group (alternative currency trading system), we are currently setting up an alternative communication network for WTSHTF. I am fortunate to live in a lush rural area where food growing is very easy and gleaning is not difficult. I am not alone where I live with plenty of friends who are likeminded. Good luck with all your prepping.
Good on you

You sound suspiciously like all of my sisters-in-law (the left-leaning, feminist, liberal) except, that is, for the prepping part! Kudos to you for being open about who you are and prepared in life as well... that's the really important part.

I read your story the thing that leaped out at me was, where in Colorado did you encounter great soil? My 30 year experience gardening in several different locales there led me to think all Colo soils were 1. thin and rocky, or 2. clayey. All my gardens took years of soil prep before they produced up to my standards--but then I was raised in Eastern Kansas, where soil is deep, black and loamy.

Seriously, welcome to prepping. Not all of us are gun nuts--but most of us believe the 2nd Amendment was put there to prevent tyranny, as well as to enshrine our natural right of self-defense into our Constitution. We consider big government a clear and present danger to our individual lives, liberties and ability to pursue happiness.

I'm a pro-choice, Libertarian-leaning Republican myself, and it's comforting to know that even a left-leaning, liberal, feminist, science-believing Democrat like yourself can show good sense enough to prep--since most folks with those credentials are foolish enough to believe the government will take care of them when TSHTF.

Preppers are ants, so again, welcome to the realm of the ants. You get my vote.

Melinda , I would recommend getting a Ball book on food preservation, and start with trying some water bath canning. It's not hard. Start with jams or preserves very easy and instant gradification.
Also freezing is easy and a Food saver vacuum sealer is a good way to go.I roasted red peppers and froze in small amounts and pesto for pizza.
We have " Grocery Outlet" stores here and I have gotten some good things there cheaply. Like mini chocolate chips in a sealed plastic can! For .99 cents.
And just another thought I recommend reading a lot about history, people have figured out ways to do things well in the past when life was hard, and not justPrepping food etc., but mentally and spiritually surviving. It's not all about guns, knives etc., but learning to understand your oppressors. A story I read a long time ago was "a Town Like Alice", by Nevil Shute. It's based on the real experiences of women prisoners of the Japanese in WWII, great story, and a good romance.
Anyway thanks for the comments everyone, this is fun

I love it! Go you! I thought I was the only one!

From an Independent-Republican ultra conservative Geoscience GIS specialist and RN: Welcome to the club. I love seeing people from all walks of life involved in what only makes sense in uncertain times. Besides that, during the Great Depression as can be seen in propaganda posters and history books, the government had encouraged people to can food, grow victory gardens and be conservative about their use of things that had to be rationed. My favorite poster says "Of Course I can!" "I'm patriotic as can be--And ration points won't worry me!" Also I love your hippie reference. I dress like one and learned how to make home made cleaning supplies, lip balms, lotions and other items from them. They're great! Vote number 1 for you here.

Clearly you aren't the only liberal prepper! I am a liberal prepper myself, but I don't believe that means I must vote Democrat, since in my eyes all the parties and politicians are crooked, pathological, greedy freaks of nature these days. :)

I am totally pro gun too. I never understood how guns got to become so firmly associated with the right wing, especially since gun control originally was extremely racist and enacted as a restriction on black folks - Google "racist roots of gun control" if you want to read the fascinating history.

I have lately been outing myself on prepper forums too, and have been encouraged at the number of responses from other liberal folks. As someone said above, prepping is really all about smarts, not politics. Prep on!

Nice to meet a fellow liberal prepper. I am a gun nut though. It's all about keeping my options open. Keep learning and keep prepping!

I'm a moderate Independent who lives in hurricane country, where prepping is a way of life for many. My preps kept us fed and comfortable after Hurricane Ike. I'm not naive enough to think that everyone who survives a SHTF event is going to be just like me (I know people who do think all survivors will march lockstep). Seeking common ground before, during and after such a situation is very important.

Wow. I also thought that I was the only one.

I am so glad to find other liberal preppers! I was feeling quite alone.

I'm so glad I found this blog! I'm totally a Liberal Prepper! I didn't think there were very many. One thing that is tough for me is all the anti-gov. stuff on prepper sites. I just want non-partisan prepper info!!

In the interest of full disclosure you're posting a comment on one of the entries from a contest that we held early this year which is simply reflective of one of our reader's views. *grin* I just don't want you misled. However, having said that, I personally am not anti-government--I'm anti-inappropriate government which oversteps their bounds and threatens to continue to usurp UNalienable rights and freedoms. And by the way, I don't believe that Republicans and Democrats are different from each other. Same party, different faces. :-)

Milad, while we do sincerely welcome EVERYONE to join us here, I wanted to make sure that you weren't misled. The post that you're responding to is a post that was by one of our readers, and not by myself, the author of the site. As such, I've disclosed in the About Us section of this site that I do write with a foundation of Christian, non-denominational. Just letting you know so as not to have you feel snookered. I'd much rather you felt welcome. :-)

Nice to find this site. Liberal, lesbian, minority, agnostic-atheist. I have tried to network with a few people but got the distinct feeling my presence was not welcome.

With everyone so polarized to

With everyone so polarized to the left or the right it is hard for people to find a place sometimes. I am a well educated professional. I am a liberal. I am a little paranoid about my government (Democrat and Republican). I am a strong supporter of second amendment rights. I see them as sacred. I love guns. I am a serious prepper. I am a crunchy vegetarian who believes in living as green and as organically as possible. I am a patriot. I am a Buddhist. In the end I feel like I am always half way in a closet. Which is sad. I love people, I love community, I love pitching in whenever I can. But I feel like I never really fit in any where. So thank you for posting. It makes me feel a little less alone in the world :) . There are a lot of people who don't seem to believe that it is okay to be different. I say diversity makes us strong, it makes us better. But I refuse to hang out with anyone who is a closed mind extremist and I don't care if they are leaning to the left or the right. It makes them dangerous and their numbers are growing.

I'm a tree hugging, liberal,

I'm a tree hugging, liberal, feminist, bisexual, prepping woman. We're out there.

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