I’m going to start something new today… “Reader Questions” or more accurately, questions that you guys have emailed to me. Some of these I have answered directly back to the reader but many I have held as I plan to either answer them in a format like this or dedicate an entire post to that particular topic, whatever it might be! I’ve received a number of inquiries on similar subjects, so if you see something that seems to be your question, it may be but answered in a way as to cover multiple specific questioners.

 

   I would like to answer anything that you guys want to know so please keep the questions rolling. If anyone isn’t sure how to send me a question, it really is simple – just send an email to prepper@preppernation.com. I’m starting to get more emails but not to the extent that I’ll have an issue getting back to you in a timely fashion. I look forward to hearing from you!

 

Prepper

 

***UPDATE***     I am adding in a link to the solar video from yesterday, I had a message that when I took it down the person couldn’t find it on youtube… So here it is…   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_P9XDKQP34

 

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Question #1 -     “How do you keep your BOL secure when you’re not there regularly?”

 

   Well, this is a good question and I can only answer it with the truth as it is right now… Meaning, this is always a concern and I’m actually still concerned about it. Our particular location is in a lightly developed area, kind of a rural sub-division. Now I know what your thinking – “Thats not rural, it can’t be if you have a slew of neighbors running around”. Yes and No, we are rural by definition of the fact we are a good ways from any city or population center larger than a few thousand souls. It is very difficult to really get to what I myself imagine as rural. It sounds good to be way out in the middle of the sticks 20 miles from the nearest town but it isn’t practical by my estimation.

 

   The “Sub Division” as I referred to it is really a  large ranch that was purchased back in the 50’s or so and then got divided up into a minimum lot size of 5 acres. Many of the so called neighbors have at least 10 acres like we do, so the homes are fairly spread out, the majority of us can’t see a neighbor even if we wanted to, in any direction. As 10 acres is large to me, a guy coming from the city, it really isn’t that big when you consider the way sound travels. We can hear the neighbors from time to time if they’re using equipment, running a chainsaw or definitely when someones target shooting. This isn’t a big deal and as you’ll see has some advantages.

 

   So, back to the question… We have made friends with a couple of neighbors that live fairly close. These folks are there full time, so they know which cars and people belong in the area and which don’t! I guess you would say that this is our first line of defense, “Eyes on the ground”. Our driveway is almost directly across from one of these guys and even though the neighbor can’t see our place from his, he can see the entrance to our driveway. After someone were to start down our driveway they have to stop and remove the logging chain, which is padlocked into position. This would make noise and therefore tip the neighbor off that something wasn’t as it should be. From there they continue up the drive passing a clearly posted “NO TRESPASSING” sign, at this point it would be difficult to explain how you missed the chain and sign. Proceeding further they would see a vehicle parked in the driveway. This is left there for the specific reason of causing someone unfamiliar with me or my property to have second thoughts about us not being home. If this doesn’t change their minds and they come to the house, they will see the dog chain and food dishes on the porch, these are good sized, definitely not for a poodle!

 

   The reality is if someone wanted to burglarize the place they could as long as they were quiet. Unfortunately for them, unless they were looking for housewares, they wouldn’t get much. We don’t have anything worth over say a couple hundred bucks, stored in the house. Honestly, we have a lot of stuff around the property but nothing much that a tweeker could pawn for needle money… I know that no place is safe and I won’t knowingly put myself at risk. The truth is this place is deep in gun country and I am always amazed at the integrity of “Country” people.

 

   In addition to the above statements, I have yet to see one individual that looks like they might even qualify to be an extra on the gangland television show, much less an actual gang member/hoodlum? Stealing would be out of the ordinary, houses that get TP’d in town actually make the local paper…

 

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Question #2 -     “What else do we have planned for the BOL?”

 

   Another BOL question… Well, as I know you’ll understand it takes literally years to turn a place into a real homestead. I’ll try to think through the next few years of plans and describe what I think we’ll get done…

 

   High on my list is going to be finishing up the projects and upgrades to the mobile home. I actually have a couple other small projects that I’ve been working on that I haven’t posted about yet. Also, we would like to add covered porches to both the front and rear of the place. As I showed you in some photos a while back, we need to replace the roof. I have contemplated breaking OPSEC and seeing if you all want to come have a work party at Prepper’s place… Just kidding… We have lots of small individual repairs to do on the home itself but it just takes time and MONEY!

 

   Outside of the work on the mobile home itself… We are going to be adding more irrigation in the Spring time to allow for additional fruit trees to go in. We will try to add more trees and bushes to our permaculture crops each year. I have some raised bed gardens that I would like to see put together next Spring as well. We will use this same irrigation for the gardens as we couldn’t even attempt gardening otherwise.

 

   I have an area picked out to dig a pond, it will most likely be a shallow version but I want to try my hand at some aqua-culture and maybe fish farming in the future too. Fish seem a little less labor intensive than small stock but time will tell. This pond as well as the garden/orchard expansion I want to do all are pretty close to the house site. I guess I’m thinking we will make the improvements closest to the house first and make our way out from there.

 

   I showed you the new cargo container I just added last weekend and described how the future garage/barn would be situated. I plan to get this project underway in the next year too. Oh yeah, I plan to introduce bee keeping to the BOL as soon as possible and I have found a mentor that will help get me started off on the right foot. I’m starting to feel overwhelmed just thinking about all these projects… Might as well build some chicken coops too, so they’ll be ready when we make the move to the BOL. Add a greenhouse and solar power while you’re at it… Lets see, I guess thats all that comes to mind right of the top of my head…

 

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Question #3 -     “What am I personally prepping for?”

 

   Alright, this ought to be good… What aren’t I prepping for, do you see anything good coming on the horizon? OK, OK, I’ll get serious, even though I don’t see alot of bright spots in our near future, as a nation anyway.

 

   Seriously, I prep as a way to make myself and family more secure. I don’t prep for any one reason and don’t recommend you limit yourself to this type of thinking either. I prep for freedom, the only way I can see myself having freedom is by preparing today for what I’ll need tomorrow. For example, I know without a doubt that I will need to have a place to live that doesn’t have a mortgage on it if I ever want to be able to leave the city behind me. This prep alone has so many possibilities built into it… A place to live, a place to grow food, a place to produce my own energy, a secure location if the world blows up – literally or figuratively!

 

   I don’t want to look at my preps in a limited way, I do understand that you have to start somewhere but you need to see a destination on the horizon. This isn’t a real destination or stopping place but a level that you personally would like to reach. Your destination doesn’t have to be the same as mine, actually it probably shouldn’t be! You may not see the need for a BOL, maybe you are comfortable with the 72 hour kit FEMA suggests. Thats fine but do get off your butt and get it. I don’t want your goal to be my goal but you have that nagging feeling inside you for a reason, listen to it.

 

   So, for me and my family, prepping is growing into a lifestyle. I want to achieve the highest level of self sufficiency I can. This will allow us to be prepared for anything up to that point. Whether its just a storm, zombies or full on death squads, all of our preps will work together to help in any situation. We’ll keep layering until we have achieved the level we’re comfortable with.

 

   As Jack Spirko over at www.thesurvivalpodcast.com says, “helping you live the life you want whether times get tough or even if they don’t”. Lots of wisdom in this line of thinking, prep for a lifestyle that will make everyday life better! Anyway, thats how we approach prepping!

 

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   I had hoped to get through more than just these three but it looks like enough for one day. Please keep sending me your questions and if I can’t answer them myself, I’ll hunt down the answers and we’ll all get to learn something new! Until tomorrow!

 

Prepper