I’ve been sitting on some of the readers questions as I’ve continued to find myself over committed in my daily life. This summer has left me feeling a little behind the eight ball as far getting anything much done beyond the daily requirements. I appreciate the continued support of my readers in stopping by to check for updates and I do plan to have them more often, at least as often as possible!

   One of the questions that I received a few weeks ago was from some long time preppers with a serious question on their minds, I’ll post a quote of the question as it also has a bit of background information…

“ My Husband and I are preppers from a long time ago . Medical bills from an accident impelled us to get out of debt so we sold our old place and now have a new place.

How would you go about finding like minded folks to come and share living expenses while preparing for hard times?

We are hard working folks with many skills on an acre of land with a well. We plan to convert to off grid, raise 90% of our food (which we used to do). Its a rent based community in a rural area.

Our experience thus far…unrealistic expectations from people who have no work ethic, skills and want it all for free.

Still, we know that more hands at the wheel is better for survival.

Any advice for us older preppers would be appreciated.”

   Well, I spent these last several weeks going back and forth on what I wanted to say in response to this question… It really is a harder situation than what it appears at first glance.

   As preppers we struggle with the idea of OPSEC as well as issues with public ridicule and scrutiny. So where does that leave us when we have a legitimate need for some help? Usually at a loss! The question as it is presented doesn’t come as much of shock as I think we could all agree that the collective work ethic of many of countrymen, especially the younger ones, leaves something to be desired! There is a real sense of entitlement or “Something for nothing” ingrained in the citizens of our nation. To be fair this is probably the case in most of the developed nations. Regardless of how far this mentality reaches it’s a real issue here in America and doesn’t leave alot of choices when it come’s to finding hard working cooperative folks to throw in with for hard times…

   I’ll go ahead and share the things that I came up with and hope that if these don’t work for all of us, maybe they will get every one’s mind turning and a solution might turn up in an unexpected place for these particular preppers!

   If I were in this situation and help had to be sought to run a farm or retreat property, where would I look…? Personally I would start at church! I believe that this is often a great place to look for many of the solutions to life’s problems. While I realize that this suggestion isn’t going to apply to everyone, I still think it bares consideration. Even if you don’t attend church or maybe you don’t even believe in God, most would agree that the level of integrity is often higher amongst regular church attenders. WAIT! Don’t touch that tar bucket and please put those feathers down! We all either have experience with or have heard of people being bilked out of fortunes or in some other way mistreated by church parishioners or even church leaders… I agree a sad reality is that it is still our own responsibility to check out even those folks we may meet in an otherwise safe venue… Just like we have all seen those spectacular plane crashes on the news, the truth is for as many planes are in the air each day, out of each year – VERY FEW fall out of the sky! I propose that this is also the case with most church goers, Christian or otherwise, imperfect people but generally honest to deal with.

   I don’t suggest that anyone just march into church on Sunday morning with an announcement that they are preparing to survive the end of the world as we know it… A more subtle approach would probably be better! Many churches have “Small groups” or their particular variations on the theme. These groups often are composed of church members with similar interests. The church I go to has over a hundred of these groups with a wide range of interests covered. I even saw one group called “Mothers with Guns”, a group of ladies that get together at the shooting range for fellowship and to throw some lead down range. Other groups I’ve seen included disaster preparedness, it appeared that this group was more of the flood and or earthquake type of thing than hard core TEOTWAWKI. Then there are of course the food bank or food pantry’s that are often operated by many churches, these may turn up like minded individuals.

   Alright, so you don’t dare step inside a church… You might just rethink that but for the sake of argument I’ll respect your decision… How about a social club or organization? Elks, Eagles and any number of other organizations meet, even in the smallest of towns. Possibly a contact could be made with some member that is well respected but in need of the kind of assistance you have to offer in exchange for the work or help you require? Under most situations in the country lifestyle, the areas that an older prepper might find themselves lacking or seeking assistance with wouldn’t be an unusual request…

   Another option that I thought I would definitely explore if the time ever came for me to need assistance would be the Boy Scouts of America. While I have a daughter and she never got into the scouting activities I know that the organization is still very much alive and I would suspect going strong in the small towns. There are some scouting advancements that require acts of service, community or otherwise. It might be possible to arrange for a Eagle Scout contender to come and perform some services for you on your land. I have also heard of entire troops taking on projects for needy individuals. The idea of any of us falling into the category of “Needy” might not be exactly accurate but it might be worth a little investigating to see what could be arranged.

   I realize that the original question was looking for a longer term solution for the issue outlined but I’m kind of taking a more broad approach in hopes of getting more ideas in motion… It might be possible that a young person could be found that has a need of room and board while attending college in your area? If you were to couple your search for the right young person with their past participation in scouting or 4H, could not only help you locate the individual but also give you clues as to their work ethic.

   I’m sure that many readers have their own ideas of what might be the ideal place to search for qualified, hard working individuals but these are the places I came up with. I believe that any of these places are worthy of consideration but the one single place I would exhaust first would be family. It wouldn’t matter if it were close family members or extended. If the appropriate individuals could be found someplace on the family tree, it would be preferred – at least in my estimation! The old saying, “Blood is thicker than water”, has always proven itself to be true in my experience. Many people have very broken and damaged families with little common ground on which to build, if that’s you by all means continue your search in the other places we’ve talked about. Otherwise, I would spend a bit of time researching who might already have skills or even lack skills but have needs that would fit with the situation your facing. A hard working great nephew with no country skills might turn out to be a better fit than a locally raised ner’do well from town… Skills could be taught to a grandchild in exchange for their doing most of the heavy lifting that has gotten to be to much for you…

   When I was growing up my father had a saying that he lived by, it went something like this – “If every transaction isn’t a win/win than everybody loses”! While it won’t be easy and it might even take a few tries to find that satisfactory matchup, in the long run I believe there’s probably an answer for those among us that need additional hands to complete the chores around the homestead. I encourage others to chime in with additional ideas if they think of something but I do hope these initial ideas are helpful!

Please continue to send me your questions and I’ll do my best to answer them as quickly as possible!

Prepper