Having been born and raised in the Deep South (Montgomery, Al to be exact) and not from an independently wealthy family, it turns out I have been a prepper all of my life without realizing it.  I cannot remember a time in which my parents, grandparents or even great grandparents did not grow and preserve most all of their own food, save everything under the sun for “just in case”, seemingly always have a backup for the backup plan, and be able to weather any storm (natural or otherwise).  Apparently, I have inherited the gene in their DNA that keeps me of the mindset that I constantly need to be putting something in the ground, in a jar, in my freezer, in my pantry, under the bed, in every nook and cranny of every closet…….well, you get the idea.

Sometimes my husband would even say to me, “Honey, why do you need another _______?  Don’t we already have plenty of that?”  My response is always the same, “just in case of _______.”  The just in case reason has been different over the years, having a husband who works in the field of construction, most of the time the reason has been the slim income during the Winter months.  Working in construction, you can have four totally different income levels (depending on the time of the year).  Therefore, quite a bit of thought is required in order to not be reduced to ramen noodles in January. J  There have been many times in the barren months of Winter in which those numerous jars of yummy Butter Beans, Purple Hull Peas, super sweet Silver Queen Corn, mouth-watering made from scratch Bread and Butter Pickles, or the many flavors of jams and jellies for all of those morning breakfast pieces of toast or biscuits have been savored with every delicious bite.

Even more important are those basic everyday necessities we all take for granted, but sure wish we had when they are not so readily available such as; toilet paper, tooth paste, soap, laundry detergent, etc.  Another valuable lesson I have learned from living in the South is to always have a backup for the backup.  In general, we are accustom to Winters without a lot of snow, ice or extremely cold temperatures.  Therefore, when we do have some of the more difficult weather, it is not uncommon to endure widespread power outages for several days.  Items like cozy fireplaces, wood burning stoves, kerosene heaters, oil lamps, candles, generators, thermal underwear, flannel sheets, etc. are all items I appreciate and stock up on.  If those situations aren’t enough to think about, we are always subject to those little swirly wind storms also known as tornadoes.  That requires an entirely different school of thought and preparation.

This past March, I found a nifty, quirky little T.V. program called “Doomsday Preppers” on the National Geographic channel.  Instantly, I became fascinated!  I will admit, the first time I watched it was completely freaked out.  Probably, due to the fact that I watched the show at 1:00am during an insomnia filled night.   In hind-sight, that might not have been the best time of the day to debut the show.  However, I got over my initial state of panic and began some serious reflection and proactive thought to become even better prepared for whatever God may or may not put into my future.  I firmly believe that God does not give us anything that we cannot handle through Him.  However, in my opinion, that does not mean God intends for us to wander blindly throughout life expecting hardships to somehow be adverted or “just work themselves out”.  God gave us this wonderful organ called a “Brain”.  I’m pretty convinced it is meant to be used and not wasted (along with the rest of our body).  Having said that, I continued to watch the show and completely enjoyed the segment featuring Kellene.  That’s when I moved from reflection and thought to ACTION!  I propelled myself into lots of research and the realization that I have been a prepper without even knowing it.  I then figured if my husband and I were going to be seriously prepared for “whatever” comes our way, we had better get busy.  We’re off to a good start and I would not consider us complete beginners, however we do have several aspects we can improve on.

In May 2010, we not only survived an unexpected and massive flood, but we thrived.  However, when I reflect on that time, we were VERY fortunate to not have been as severely effected as others in our area.  I had the forethought of filling water vessels in case our city water supply stopped (which it did for 2 days), but now realize that if we had been without water for a greater length of time, we (and our animals) would have been in a pickle.  I am now in “Water Collection” mode!  Every time I go into town, I stop for water.  I have just purchased water bricks and am saving for a “Super Tank”.  I’m so Excited that I can hardly stand myself! *smile*   During that flood, my husband and I were forced to “go camping” in our own house.  We made the best of it, did not go hungry (or even without our normal meat & 3), and did not really suffer in anyway.  I want that same assuredness if we ever had to deal with a disaster again or for a longer period of time.

With my new found knowledge and awareness of even more items I don’t want us to be without; I feel we are well on our way to True Self-Reliance and Preparedness.  We have lots of skills we are honing, subjects we are mastering, and items (food and otherwise) we are procuring.  We are committed to preparedness and self-reliance for ourselves and our family.

(Thank you Kellene for sharing yourself and your experiences to the rest of us so that we can all become “Better Prepared” for whatever comes our way. )

K.A. TN

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