Why We Prepare

My son and his family visited me last week.  Always a joy!  During the conversation one of my adult granddaughters remarked that I was the most prepared person she knows.  And that got me to thinking about why this lifestyle is so important to me. 

Many moons ago when my 4 children were young, I found myself in a bad place.  Single Mom.  My job disappeared.  The bills continued.  We were living in a house that was on a plot of land where a garden could not be planted.  Hills and pine forest don't work well for planting seeds.

Before I could get our lives back under control, I ran out of food.  There is little more terrifying than to have hungry children and nothing to feed them.

I loaded my kids into the car.  We drove the few miles to my aunt and uncle's house.  It was late in the afternoon.  I knew that my aunt would insist we stay for supper.

The fact that my kids could eat outweighed the humiliation of not being able to take care of them myself.

Thankfully, things changed for the better right away.  Found another job.  Bought groceries.  Fed my family.

But then I did one more thing.  I moved.

Found an old farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere.  It was affordable.  It had a huge garden area.  It had a shed to house chickens.  There was an old car sitting on the property.  A friend spotted it and said he sure could use that rusted out car for parts.  Worked out a deal where he got the car and I got a milk cow.  Kids now had a source of milk and cream and butter.

You do what you have to do.  To this day, more years later than I care to count, I still feel like if one of my kids or grands or great-grands came to me hungry and I had nothing to feed them, I think it might break this old heart.

Those of us who are living this lifestyle, for that is exactly what preparedness is, have a story.  Most of us have gone through circumstances that brought us to this place.  Whatever the reason, the decision to prepare for bad times is one of the best deccisions we can make.