Great Homes for Preparedness

    
  

       In the last few weeks I have had the pleasure, with family, to visit several homes of friends who have mindfully considered preparedness.  Without revealing exactly where they are, and who lives there, I do want to talk about what it takes to have a great home for preparedness.
               First of all, what motivates people to assemble a farm, a rural home,  a cabin, a river house, or even an underground home which considers preparedness ?     People who have homes which are mindfully organized for preparedness are very different from one another.  Some of them have always felt that they bear full responsibility for taking care of themselves and their families when natural disasters or when man-made difficulties occur.  It was part of their upbringing and part of the responsibilities of being a parent, or a husband, etc.   Others became concerned after 9-11 that they may need to take a more active role in providing food and security for their families.   Others have feared a complete societal breakdown and they plan for this. Some have religious convictions which compel them to keep food for the Biblical Tribulations, in their own homes.   Recently, people who fear a European and then a US economic breakdown caused by overspending by all of our governments have also been gathering food in preparing for an inflationary spiral.
            People who prepare are motivated by different things, different geography,  and each of us have differing family configurations, and often special needs, and so the type of preps we need be prepared differ from place to place a great deal.   My Colorado friends need to put a great deal more work into water availability issues than I do, and my Canadian friends need to do much less work in this regard, than do my husband and I, when we are home in Virginia.    A couple whose family is raised needs a different complement of foods, and amounts of stored food, than do I with lots of sons and a daughter here on the farm.  They might not need freeze dried food at all, or to allocate a special room for storage of such, whereas I do.   So, it's very important from the outset that we pay attention and are careful not to compete with one another while prepping.  We must only compete with ourselves in that we should compete with our own level of preparedness, a week or a month ago.  We should strive to be better informed, to have better plans than we did before, and to have supplies which better meet our needs.   Blindly layering supplies upon supplies that remain disorganized and that we cannot find, doesn't help us.
              In my travels this week I spent time in three different homes which could be described as being prepared.    Each home was quite different in terms of location, size, and what would be overall appraised value, but the commonalities were important here.  The important thing about each is that the inhabitants had taken the time to completely assess their needs and what types of weather, natural disasters or other issues could befall them there.  Each one of them had organized plans for these issues.    One of the homes I visited is probably best characterized as a farm of sorts.  What was most important was that the owners had been working on different aspects of this farm for thirty years.   They did not blindly throw money at perceived needs they thought they might have. They carefully considered where they should be, how much land they need, how much buffer.   They considered everything about their home, and gradually enacted their plans.  The result is a much more highly functioning home than most of us have.   What is most important in fashioning the prepared home is not how much money you have, or have access to.  What is most important is your commitment to creating the prepared home and your willingness to do research of all kinds.  You should be willing to spend some money when you can, but you should be equally as willing to fashion something you need yourself, or to seek one used.  If you have a friend who does something really well, perhaps he can aid you in something you need, and you can barter with him or with her for something you do, that is of use to them.   When it comes to preparedness, it doesn't really matter how much cash you have.   We are all vulnerable, and throwing money at something doesn't stand us in better stead. It simply leaves us without that money.
             I left the third of the homes I visited this week, with inspiration.   I have been feeling stuck in terms of preparedness, and worse, I have been feeling "all finished."     There are always organizational refinements, better planning, better landscaping, and better implementation.    Know that when you can't spend money, you can plan and you can read.  When you can't plan, you can train for something.  When you're moving, you can plan for better preparedness in a new home.    Stay positive, and continue planning.  It's the journey that's most important here, not simply the destination.