“Prepping” is a cultural movement that is often represented as something practiced by a fringe group of paranoid individuals. This is unfair, perhaps, given that not so many decades ago being prepared was the normal way of life. Having food security was a top priority. My great-grandmother, who lived alone when I knew her, had a monstrous garden up the hill and shelves filled with canned food in the basement. She would pick blueberries a mile down the road and knew of a plot north of the north forty where potatoes grew best. She wasn’t afraid of anything, except maybe hunger, it was simply her way of life.
With the current pandemic at hand, I find myself drawn to the online prepper community more than ever. No one knows what Covid-19 will ultimately do in America, but presently I am thinking about how many pounds of beans, rice, and pasta I should have on hand. Walking through the grocery store’s barren aisles indicates that many people are sharing the same concern. My kids don’t eat beans or rice, so I probably don’t need as many as some people might recommend. Nevertheless, my thoughts lately are whether the Walmart or Hannaford bakeries have the better deal on used frosting buckets that could be used for food storage; do I need mylar bags and desiccant packets; will my food pantry be a working pantry, a barter and trade pantry, or a long term pantry (how many years, 10, 20, 25?!).
I believe this is a recent cultural interest partly because so much relevant knowledge has been lost. Our relationship to the past is damaged. And it’s not just knowing how to grow and preserve your own food that’s important, but having a well rounded skill set that can allow one to live comfortably without infrastructure, in the woods or in an off-grid scenario, intentionally or not.
My friend, Tim Smith, of Jack Mountain Bushcraft School once made a TV show called “The Ends of the World.” It compared the bushcraft mind and skill sets to the “Prepper” mind and skill sets. It was great. It highlighted the similarities and differences between the two schools of thought. Both begin and end in generally the same place, but go about it in different ways. Tim was the shining star in that show and the underground bunker containing twenty different firearms with twenty different kinds of ammunition was not. He showed up with his axe and could have fed them dinner while they were still digging trenches after dark. TV, yes. But I’ve spent months in the field with Tim so also, yes.
The programs we offer aim to repair what has been lost between earlier times and ours: using traditional skills that can allow someone to live comfortably without any infrastructure. Whether that takes place at home or on a remote wilderness expedition, we offer courses for those preparing for something and for those repairing something.
