STILL ALIVE AND PREPPING!

In the two years since my last post here so many of you have been busy reading! It has been amazing to come back and find that so many of you, actually thousands of you, have stopped by and read the blog. I realize now, more than ever, how many of us are constantly searching out information on emergency preparedness for ourselves, our families and our friends. It is heartwarming to think maybe a few of our experiences and ideas posted here have hopefully helped some of you and your endeavors to "be prepared."

Even though the posts here fell away for a while, rest assured our "prepping" hasn't stopped. Hopefully, in 2015, life will slow down a little and I can get back to posting here more information about what we have learned and experienced in our continued work in keeping prepared, as well as update some of the information links. If you see information on the blog that you would like to share with others (as Mrs Quilty recently asked about), please be sure to properly reference this blog's name and the blog's web link.

Keep warm this winter everyone, and our family hope's all of you have a safe and happy holiday season!

Why You May Never Decide to Prepare for an Emergency

When I began blogging here, I knew before I began that even if people read my posts and heard how it easy it is to prepare by making a plan and taking action, most would never do it. It's a fact I understood long ago when I first starting seeing more and more FEMA commercials. I would strike up a conversation with family members or friends and ask them if they had made any emergency preparations and every single one answered, "No." I struggled with a way to try and convince them but knew that like everything else, once people get set in their ways it's hard to convince them otherwise.

Maybe you're the same way. Maybe you're reading this post and thinking to yourself why should I bother preparing? Nothing is ever going to happen to me. Or maybe for you it feels more like a tug-o-war, should I or shouldn't I? I understand why you would feel that way. I felt the same way years ago, that is until my husband was laid off, until a blizzard trapped us with little food and no heat, until our basement flooded, until we had to file bankruptcy to save our home. We have all thought that nothing is going to happen to us UNTIL it actually does.

But what if I told you that the reason you do not prepare for emergencies is because your mind, your brain, won't let you?  Did you know that your brain actually has a propensity for forgetting the negative and only remembering the positive? So even if you live a town prone to tornados or earthquakes, for example, and you know that your chances are good for having one, you may only remember the positive information that your neighborhood has never had one. Remembering only that fact, because that's all your brain decides to remember gives you a false sense of security that it could never happen to you even though it could.

So when you begin considering whether you should become a prepper, or at the very least make an emergency plan and a 72 hour kit, remember your brain will want to talk you out of it. Your brain doesn't want to think about the possibility that something bad could happen, so don't listen to it. Making yourself override your positive outlook just long enough to make preparations for an emergency might save your life, or help you get by until help does arrive.

Finally, when the government tells us to prepare, we really should listen and not push out the idea that a disaster may or may not happen. Why? Because the government warns us for a reason. Everyday emergency agencies all across the country are battling to keep funding for emergency preparedness and every day they lose a little more. The "Ready or Not" report stated in November that our nation is facing tough challenges to keep us ready. You see if we do not do more to help ourselves, we risk relying on services and help that will likely be nonexistent, even if our brains want us to think otherwise. Here are their "key findings," to read the entire report go here.

• Fifty-one cities—located in 40 states—are at-risk for elimination of Cities Readiness Initiative funds, which support the ability to rapidly distribute and administer vaccinations and medications during emergencies.
• All 10 state labs with “Level 1” chemical threat testing status are at-risk for losing top level capabilities, which could leave the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with the only public health lab in the country with full chemical testing capabilities.
• Twenty-four states are at-risk of losing expert epidemiology support, which has supplemented state and local gaps in the past.
• All academic preparedness research and training academic centers are at-risk for elimination.
• Potential cuts to the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) mean the ability for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to mount a comprehensive response to nuclear detonation, radiological attacks, chemical attacks and natural disasters is at-risk.
• Forty states and Washington, D.C. cut their state public health budgets—29 states cut their budgets for a second year in a row, 15 for three years in a row.
• Forty-one states had cuts in state and local preparedness support through the Public Health Emergency and Preparedness (PHEP) grants from FY 2010 to FY 2011.
• All 50 states and Washington, D.C. had cuts in the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) from FY 2010 to FY 2011.

Need more information? Read and listen to more on why we don't prepare at the following links:
Living In The Century of Disasters
Your Brain Won't Let You to Believe...
Why We Don't Prepare for Disaster

Sheltering at Home's Inaugural Blog Post

Today's the day, it's time to get blogging about our life as preppers and homesteaders. It's been in the works for a few months and now that the garden has been put to bed, the cover crop on the small bit of new tillage has been planted, and our winter stores of pickled relish and jams are now all put away we can finally get to blogging!

Our goal here is sharing. We're not experts, but we're experienced at what we'll share. We won't be selling anything or doing product recommendations, that's just not what we're about. (If you see ads on our blog, they are used to supplement our income solely to add to food storage and emergency supplies, and should not be considered an endorsement. We encourage everyone to research any company thoroughly before purchasing from them.) So Instead, we're hoping that by sharing our stories and preparations with other average American's like ourselves that we will help more  people realize that it is not that hard to be prepared for an unexpected circumstance if you just learn to incorporate "preparedness" or "prepping" into your daily life.

You might be surprised to know that the Red Cross says "only about 12% of Americans are reasonably prepared for a disaster." Maybe you are like how we were a few years ago. We were part of that majority of those families and individuals lacking in knowledge and preparation. We were probably a lot like you or someone you know, you think nothing bad could ever happen to you, that if you needed help maybe unemployment insurance, FEMA or the Red Cross will lend you a hand. Or maybe you lean toward what a Red Cross spokesman described as how many "think its too daunting, they don't know where to start or they do not have the time" to prepare for an emergency. Trust me, we've felt that way before, but after my husband lost his job a few years ago, after nearly losing our home, after 9/11 and Katrina, we quickly changed our minds. Just adding a few minutes a day in preparedness plans could help you and your family survive a disaster.

Our philosophy is that we do not prepare out of fear, we prepare out of our sense of duty. First and foremost is our duty to our family's livelihood and well being, then a duty to our neighbors who may need a helping hand. Disasters of any kind, whether it be a job loss, illness, blizzards, tornados, solar storms, or a terrorist attack, none of them will discriminate and all could have a devastating impact anywhere in the country. It will not matter if we're Democrats or Republicans, black or white, Buddhist or Christian, rich or poor, we will ALL be vulnerable. But we can lessen that impact by preparing and being self sustaining through food and water storage, making evacuation plans and emergency kits, learning to grow or make our own healthy food lessening our dependence on outside resources.

It might sound daunting, but believe me when I say it's not. What would be truly daunting, no the right word is devastating, seeing your children or loved ones go without water or food. So come along with us as we share with you what we're doing to keep our family safe in case of an unexpected emergency. We're all involved, me, my husband and our two sons. Stop by and visit again as you do more research, read other prepper and homesteading blogs like ours, watch videos, or read books. We hope you'll get digging and learning with us and share with us your ideas, recipes, gardening tips and emergency plans. We'll learn together from our own experiences and be stronger and fearless for doing it.

Finally, the Red Cross had a great campaign a few years ago, it said, "Do More Than Cross Your Fingers." That's just what we're doing. No finger crossing here, we're preparing, "prepping" our shelter at home.

P.S.
Thanks for stopping by! Come by and connect via Twitter @AtHomePrepper and soon on YouTube too!