The Old Ways

 I have been a bit under the weather the last week or so.  Nothing serious.  It is "flu season," after all and this probably was just a mild case of the garden variety flu.  I expect that before long, the flu will suddenly become another horrible virus requiring several doses of whatever so called vaccine our government deems necessary, along with keeping folks indoors, wearing face diapers and all of the silly rules presented by those in power last time.

Unless we have learned anything at all from that debacle.

Since I haven't felt much like doing anything and because I have never been one to just sit and stare at the walls, I have been using the down time to work on my family tree.  While wading through my gene pool, it occured to me that if we pay attention, we have a lot to learn from those who have gone before.

My grandparents were Preppers.  They just didn't know it.

One of my grandfathers kept a roof over the heads of his family of six kids and food on the table during the Great Depression by finding and keeping a job that was necessary in his area.  He was for many years a depot agent for the railroad in the small northern Minnesota town where they lived.  In addition, his family kept a huge garden to help feed them.

My other grandparents raised a family of nine children on a small farm in the same area of Minnesota.  My Dad, the youngest kid, learned to love gardening while helping his mother raise food to feed their family.  They raised a litter of hogs every year, milked a few cows and raised chickens.  They were hunters who kept venison on the table along with the home raised pork and chicken.  Grandma canned as much food as possible, including the wild blueberries and raspberries that grew in that area.  

These activities were not anything special.  They were a way of life.

Unlike so many today, my ancestors didn't head for the Doctor's office or the Emergency Room of the hospital when they had a headache or a case of the sniffles.  When growing up, in my house an upset tummy was treated with Pepto Bismol and a bottle of 7-Up.  The common cold was dealt with using Vicks VapoRub.  And we all survived!

There is a blog that is chock full of all things preparedness.  I highly recommend it for references to so many aspects of preparing.   Jennifer has done much of the research so we don't have to.  Here is the link and her blog can be accessed using my sidebar.

Prep School Daily

Things aren't looking all that great these days.  I barely recognize the country I grew up in.  And it is more and more apparent that we as citizens are on our own.  Remembering how our ancestors lived and researching all aspects of being prepared for whatever cliff the elites decide to push us off is necessary for our survival.

As a friend of this blog is fond of saying:

"Larder full, powder dry and Bible open."