Food Self-Sufficiency: Reality Check

This book began as a prospective magazine article.  After submitting it I was told they liked the article but they sent it back to me and asked me to expand on it and to include sources for things like where to buy canning jars.  I had recently published a handful of books, mainly prepper fiction, and I got to thinking....why not expand the article into a booklet.  My "booklet" ended up being 68 pages, which seemed respectable enough to be published. 

I wrote this book because in the world of preppers and prepper forums and prepper magazines and prepper books, there was this mentality that a person could just go along in life and that if the "SHTF" there was an easy way out:  Just plant a garden and maybe get a few hens for eggs". 

Anyone who has started a garden from raw land knows there is a lot more involved than just turning the dirt over and poking some seeds in it.  But these dreamer-type preppers couldn't be convinced that there was much to it at all. After all, everyone used to have a garden, it can't be that complicated. 

Never mind that it takes months for those seeds to produce a harvest!  And never mind that if you get a BIG harvest you need a way to preserve it.  And if the "SHTF" you're going to want a BIG harvest!  So I'd ask "how are you going to preserve it?"  Most would say "I'd can it".  Then I'd ask how many jars they had.  Most would say "a few dozen", some said "none yet", and some didn't even have a canner.  They said it shouldn't be hard to borrow one.  But they might be surprised, and I know that if the SHTF they aren't likely to find anyone willing to give them jars.  Plus there's canning lids to think about!

Same with "get a few hens".  How are they going to feed them if the SHTF?  I know they're picturing these happy little hens free-ranging around their yard, happily going back to the coop to lay a pretty little egg, then back out for more foraging.  There's always table scraps that can be thrown to them, since chickens are good garbage disposals!  But!

What happens when winter comes and there's nothing to forage for?  Funny how most people never had an answer for that.  They just got vague.  And it's really important to know this stuff when planning to move to the country, or to put in a garden or get chickens or other animals.  My book isn't all about gloom and doom, it's real life information that should be a "must have" on everyone's homestead or prepper book shelf. 

I have to admit I didn't have a very good attitude when I started writing this book.  I was about at my limit with "fairy-tale preppers", and I had to tame it down a bit when it came time to edit the book.  I had hoped to reach people with some numbers based on reality so at least they knew what they were getting in to.  It's great when someone wants to become more self-sufficient, but blocking out reality is not going to do them any favors down the road.

The cover photo was taken in my garden.  That's a decorative windmill from Harbor Freight, and the pine trees outside our garden fence, at dusk.

 

To see the book on Amazon:

 

Food Self-Sufficiency: Reality Check

 

 



Poverty Prepping: How to Stock up for Tomorrow when you can't afford to eat Today

I wrote this book with a friend in mind.  Her husband had been out of work most of the previous two years and was currently traveling out of state for work.  We met, along with a couple of other ladies from our neighborhood, to talk about prepping and food storage, and to share ideas.  After a lovely few hours of chat and tea and cookies, I headed home.

During the night I was mulling it around in my head.  Being among the financially-challenged segment of society I knew what it was like to barely keep food on the table, let alone have some put back for 'later'.  She, like us, worked hard to grow a garden in our hostile climate of northwestern Montana, and also had a few laying hens like us.  Her husband hunted but that's a deer a year, maybe two or more some years, depending on whether we have "B" tags in a given year.

Like many people I tried to buy extra when things were on sale.  I figured the price per pound on things like bags of flour, sugar, and rice and bought what was cheapest per pound.  I used to think the 25-lb. bags were always cheaper, but that isn't so.  If I had a dollar or two left I bought cheap bottles of spices, like cinnamon or garlic powder, thinking that if nothing else, they might be valuable trade items.

At the same time I had my friend on my mind, one of my sons had moved to his own place in town and he didn't have much food on hand and didn't see any reason to.  After all, he lived in town now and worked at a grocery store, so he figured he could just buy what he needed as he went along.  The first time that practice became a 'hardship' for him was when it was his day off and he didn't want to have to leave his house and go get food!  The weather was crummy and he just wanted to stay in, but he didn't have anything, not even crackers, that he could much on!  Yes, I was a bit smug, I admit that!

Of course I used this as a spring board to preach to him the wisdom of keeping at least a few staples in the house.  The next time I visited him we went and got crackers and pop tarts and a few other things and filled a small plastic crate.  For a while I reminded him to rotate them out, but then life went on and got busy and I bet the food in that crate is a few years old now!  I'm sure the pop tarts are still fine....  Ha ha!

So anyway.... I woke up the next morning after thinking about her and thinking about my son, and I started writing the book that would become "Poverty Prepping".  I had tons of things I wanted to say but the difficult thing was organizing my thoughts and putting them into a book that would make sense.  I knew the ideas would seem simplistic to many people, but I also knew a lot of people who would appreciate it and "get it".  And I was right.

For months after the book was published I got emails every day from people thanking me for the book, and that it helped turn on the light for them, regarding how to get started.  Just getting started seemed to be a stumbling block for many people.  Despite all the criticism from people that it was full of "no brainer ideas" or that the foods I suggest a person store were all the wrong things (junk food if necessary, just to have something for a few days or a couple weeks, which wouldn't totally ruin someone's health.), the praise for the book far surpassed the negative comments.  The book sold more than 20,000 copies in the first 6 months. 

I started the poverty prepping blog ( Poverty Prepping Blog ) as a place to expand on the information and ideas in the book.  I wanted to provide a no-cost place where people could learn more about prepping when you don't have a lot of money to buy the fancy long-term food storage items, and where people could ask questions or leave comments.  Literally hundreds of people have written to me in the few years the book has been published, and sometimes it's been hard to answer everyone in a timely manner, but I've appreciated every email.  I've made a few new friends along the way too.

The cover photo was taken at a small country grocery store near our house.

 

To see the book on Amazon:

 

Poverty Prepping