‘Basic’ Skills Are Lacking in Young Generation
February 15, 2012, Submitted by: Lauren (Mrs. MSB)
Okay, I might as well tell you all right now…I need to vent. So here it is, straight from yesterday’s grocery store adventure. Ken and I decided to do our weekly grocery store run and we were both gathering items to help speed the process. At one point, I asked Ken to go and get a turkey breast cutlet for a soup I am going to make. I continued to look for other items.
When we were checked out and walking back to the truck, Ken told me about what he saw when he was at the meat counter looking for the turkey cutlet. He said there were several teenagers standing along side the meat counter. “You could tell one of them was sick” he said. And she was sneezing right over the meat counter, not once, but several times. And SURPRISE, SURPRISE, she wasn’t covering her nose or mouth! Ken said he just shook his head and walked away…no turkey cutlet after that! I looked at Ken and asked, “And why aren’t these kids covering their mouths when they sneeze?” At the same time, we both answered, “Because their parents aren’t teaching them to do it.”
About a week ago, in my post regarding Recession Creates Preppers, I touched upon the fact that very few, if any, of our younger generation would be able to bake from scratch. Why not? Because they are not taught by their parents. What happened with this generation? As one reader pointed out, the trades need to be taught. Not only the trades, but the staples of running a household too, cooking, sewing etc. How many young people have you seen at a dinner table with absolutely no table manners? There they are with both elbows on the table and chewing with their mouths open. It’s disgusting, but it is also VERY scary.
It’s very scary to me in a survival preparedness sense. First of all, the way these kids cough everywhere and anywhere without covering their mouths, we would very easily be in a lot of trouble with a new flu or pandemic situation. There seems to be no preventative health precautions taught to this generation.
Why aren’t manners being taught anymore? This too would help prevent a virus spread because I’ve seen plenty of these kids cough at the dinner table without covering their mouths. But they seem to have no concept of what they are doing wrong. Maybe it’s because they are too busy texting? No, they are not being taught by their parents. What happened?
It worries me because if and when the SHTF, there are so many that will just be so clueless. No common sense and no skills.
I guess what I’m trying to say is I just don’t know why the ‘basics’ aren’t being taught anymore. Do you have a grandchild that you can take under your wing?
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Estate Sales Are Great Prepping Venue
February 14, 2012, Submitted by: Lauren (Mrs. MSB)
Sampson, the mini-dachshund, lounging on Martha Washington
This morning as I was tidying up the bedroom, placing our Martha Washington bedspread neatly in its place, I realized how many quality items we’ve gathered over the years that cost us very little. Why? They were purchased at estate sales or garage sales.
For those of you that don’t know what a Martha Washington bedspread
The cost to us was $20.00! That is a GREAT price since a new one can go anywhere from $150 to $280 depending on the size you purchase. The one we bought was only $20 because we purchased it at an estate sale.
Generally speaking Ken and I both prefer estate sales over garage sales or flea markets. Usually at a garage sale, people are selling, well, their old junk. Once in a while you can find a bargain, but it’s generally the old stuff that’s falling apart. At flea markets, again, the bargains are not that popular. After all, at flea markets, the vendors are in it to make some money. It is a way of life for many of these people.
Estate sales are where you will find better items. An estate sale usually happens when the home owner has passed away and their family does not have the room to store the belongings. many of these family members have their own homes filled with their own things. So a sale of the items is a good way to dispose of the belongings and split the cash received among the remaining family. Another reason an estate sale may be happening is because the owner is moving to a much smaller place, an assisted living or a nursing home, and they need to get rid of most of their belongings.
Estate sales will usually have much nicer things for sale at very reasonable prices. And because most of the homeowners were elderly, your chances are pretty high of finding more older and antique items. Hmm, like a genuine Martha Washington bedspread! You will almost always benefit from buying an older item since it was probably made a LOT better than the most of the stuff that’s made today.
Not only will you be able to find quality items at a great price, but you can also walk away with a great prepping idea by something you saw at the sale. I find this to be a great way to expand your prepping supplies at reasonable prices…so have fun and explore!
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What Are You Preparing For?
February 8, 2012, Submitted by: Ken
Preppers / Survivalists have their own reasons for why they prepare, and / or what they are preparing for. For some it is very specific while for others maybe more general or for multiple reasons.
It may be helpful for those reading this who consider themselves to be preppers, to add a comment to this post indicating your own reason or reasons why.
Here are some of my reasons for being preparedness minded and considering myself a prepper…
The older that I have become, the more I have recognized the fragility of today’s modern world and the parts that make it work. I recognize how so many millions upon millions of people depend entirely on the many integrated systems to function in order to literally stay alive, even though they do not recognize it themselves. This fact alone is enough to scare me into prepping.
During the later years of my previous career I began witnessing the accelerated movement towards excessive greed, profits, and ‘cheap’. The keyword here is ‘excessive’. I’m all for capitalism, but in my opinion when greed becomes excessive to the point of hurting others while losing site of the bigger picture of business fitting in and sustaining a community or nation, it’s too much. I’ve witnessed first hand the Wall Street mentality and how it changes the corporation. I see the downward spiral that it is creating today.
I see the younger generations who are being brought up without any of the practical skill sets that most people my age or older learned (I’m in my early 50′s). This adds to the dependance on modern systems to keep these people alive.
My interest in natural disasters and such phenomenon has revealed many of the vulnerabilities that face us which our entirely out of our control. Although many of these are low in probability during our life time, they ‘could’ happen – some more likely than others. The ‘what if’ scenarios, like a 1859 Carrington event which generated a natural EMP, would literally send us back to the 1800′s without electricity, for example. Their are many more.
I see and understand the magnitude of the great world debt bubble that has been created, and I understand how the ‘compounding curve’ works. We’re entering a critical stage of this compound curve, a stage we cannot escape without great change. I know it is coming, I have no doubt. It’s physics…
I’ve also simply always had an inner self-reliant ‘gut’, mostly with a somewhat Libertarian viewpoint on things coupled with fiscal conservatism and a splash of liberalism here and there. I guess I’m a political ‘mutt’.
I feel it is mostly our responsibility as individuals to the best we can to ensure our own individual survival. I believe that if the majority of a society felt this way and were prepared in some way, that the likelihood of horrible consequences of disaster would be minimized greatly.
Well that’s the short explanation… What about you?
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Benefits of Milling Your Own Flour
February 7, 2012, Submitted by: Lauren (Mrs. MSB)
Often times I am asked why I mill my own flour. Well, there are several reasons why I mill my own flour. I can you that my very first reason that prompted me into action was that I got tired of paying anywhere from $4.00 – $5.00 for a loaf of bread at the grocery store. I also got tired of waiting for the 5 lb. bags of flour to go on sale. I wouldn’t purchase a 5 lb. bag of flour for over $3.00 a pound. I thought that was crazy! At a price of $53.48 for 50 lbs. of wheat berries, including shipping, you can mill your own fresh wheat flour for about 80 cents per loaf.
Another reason that made me research other alternatives was the health aspect of whole wheat. Eating wheat bread and various other whole wheat products is supposed to be so much healthier for you and your family. The actual whole wheat berries, if stored properly, will last for 8 to 10 years. The wheat berries will not begin to lose nutrients until you mill some to make flour. This is because during the milling process, the shells of the wheat berries become broken. This is the reason why you should use freshly milled flour within a few days. The longer you let the flour sit, the more nutrients you will lose.
Why not buy wheat flour at the grocery store? Very simply, milled flour should be used in a few days and keeping it refrigerated will help keep it from going rancid sooner. The main point is that the sooner you use the flour you mill, the more benefits you will obtain. When you buy whole grain flour from the store, you have no idea how long it’s been there. How long was it sitting it a warehouse? Was it refrigerated after being milled and packaged? Was it refrigerated during transit? Milling your own flour will remove any doubts about the freshness and nutritional benefits you and your family will be receiving. And it will save you money!
Country Living Hand Grain Mill
L’Equip 760200 NutriMill Grain Mill
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Trust Your Instinct, Your Internal Voice
December 27, 2011, Submitted by: Ken
You know that ‘voice’ in the back of your head? You should listen to it… In other words, you should trust your instinct, your internal knowledge, your feeling, your sense, your intuition. Humans know the power of a nagging suspicion. Believe your inner feelings when you get uncomfortable about a person or situation.
Recognizing, trusting, and acting upon your internal voice is a form of self-communication that will keep you ahead of the pack while making better and quicker decisions than the rest.
While some decisions are better made with a long analysis and thought process, there are many that are better made with quick thinking and reaction. A UCL (University College London) study found that you are more likely to perform well if you do not think too hard and instead trust your instincts. The research shows that in some cases, instinctive snap decisions are more reliable than decisions taken using higher-level cognitive processes.
A study in the Journal of Consumer Research concluded that people who deliberate about decisions make less accurate judgments than people who trust their instincts. In five separate studies, the researchers found that better judgments can often be made without deliberation.
As you gain more life experience, you build up a reservoir of subconscious subliminal instincts. When called upon, more often than not, your instincts will be right – or close to right.
A problem that many people have is that they do not listen to that voice. Some have issues with their confidence, and they allow their instincts to be clouded with doubt.
When it comes to survival preparedness, making the right decision is key. Your decision response time could make the difference between success and failure – being first or being last – getting out of a dangerous situation or being caught in the middle of it with everyone else.
Next time you have to step off into the unknown, tune into the voice of your intuition. It speaks to you from the purest place, knows the truth of who you are and can lead you to the answer that’s right for you.
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