The first Saturday in June there will be a special workshop here at the farm. It's about prepping, meaning emergency preparing. It's an entire day dedicated to getting you and your home, farm, family and community ready for when times get tough. And it's not what you think! Unfortunately, due to television series and stereotypes, using the word prepping instantly fills people's imaginations with civilian militia's, ammunition caches, and paranoia about Yellowstone blowing up. This isn't that kind of workshop. There will not be any conversations about AK-47 reloading options, UN plots, nor will any of us be wearing tin foil hats. This is a rational and important conversation about energy and the economy. It is about larger global issues and smaller, personal ones.
Prepping isn't about living in fear, it's about chasing fear away. By having a home that you know has enough food and water to last through an ice storm, a layoff at work, and a source of heat and comfort for your children. That is the kind of preparing perfectly sane people do. The kind of actions that help us sleep better at night.
Kathy and I will be talking about things like food and water storage, backyard sustainability, community building/skill sharing, canning from the garden, and small livestock. Basic elements of urban homesteading, but we will be talking about it with a focus on why growing your own food is more important than ever before. It's important because we live in a time where few people are ready for any sort of disruption in their lives or society. A small number have enough food in their house to be able to eat at home for a weekend, much less a week-long blizzard. Few people know how to shut off their house's gas and water lines in an earthquake or bad storm. Even fewer know their neighbors and feel comfortable calling them if they need help getting a downed tree out of their yard or when they lose their dog. That's what this workshop is about. It's about getting your home and family ready for small and larger problems and not having to be scared when they occur. Prepping for the Rest of Us will focus on what every home and farm should have stocked, skilled, and set aside for when the going gets tough. It's a lot easier dealing with a power outage like a scout who is ready to set up camp than a parent of scared, hungry kids who doesn't know where the flashlight is!
Kathy Harrison was on National Geographic's, Doomsday Preppers and has written a book on Emergency Preparedness called Just in Case. But if you saw the show, or know Kathy, you'll instantly see she wasn't like the other people featured. Kathy doesn't own a gun and she isn't living in fear. She's a happy grandmother. Kathy is a homesteader, beekeeper, pig and chicken farmer, gardener, community leader and and puts up an impressive 1,000 cans of homegrown food a year! She's into "old school" prepping, (aka the way people normally lived before everything we needed was at the gas station, grocery store, or wall mart). She knows her stuff. This will be a workshop of conversations and demonstrations. The best way I can think to describe it is "rational preparedness" - It's for folks who are aware that they might need some guidance getting started but already know they would rather have a stocked larder and a peaceful mind than fear or panic in trailing times. It may be the most important workshop you attend all year! Email me for details at jenna@itsafarwalk.com
Saturday June 1st 2013
Limited to 15 people
Fee: $100
10AM-4PM at the farm
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