“Do”, not “observe” – Prepping requires action

Strait up: In Salty’s humble opinion, a lot of preppers spend far too much time “observing” instead of actually prepping. The biggest keyword in prepping is DO. Hear me out, I’m not trying to be mean… but… “do”, not “observe”.

Prepping requires action

We all know people who consider themselves preppers, who can speak eloquently about their prepping philosophies and ideals, and who are absolute experts on each particular way our world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Want to know a secret? That’s not prepping.

That’s sitting around talking about prepping.

The rubber has never hit the road.

Prepping is about doing. To prep, we must “do”, not “observe.

A quick example of prepping “do”, not “observe”

Recently I published an article about how I’ve been learning how to start my own garden plants indoors from garden seeds.

I suspect that there were a whole lot of people out there rolling their eyes, thinking to themselves “yes, here’s a master prepper, using a seed kit from a big box store, a paint-by-numbers way to garden. Wow, I’m impressed… NOT!”

Sidebar:  I’ve just read Mike Myers’ book Canada (excellent!) and have been speaking and writing far too much like his character Wayne Campbell (… NOT!)

Here’s the truth. By learning how to start seeds inside my shelter during the winter, I’ve learned a skill that may some day save my life. Laugh away, but also stop and think… what critically important new skills did you set out to learn and were successful at this winter?

It’s all about the skill, not the stuff

People keep saying this over and over, probably because it’s true. The key to prepping isn’t the stuff you have (although that is important, certainly), but rather in what skills you have to use if the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF).

Again, using my silly little indoor greenhouse skills learned, I now have the skillset to grow a huge bountiful crop from seed to harvest. I have the seeds stored, more than I need for just myself. We have dirt, We have fertilizers both purchased and home grown. I have prepared raised bed planters (thanks to Spice’s hard work), and a rain-fed supplemental water system.

Stuff does no good if you don’t know how to use it

Here’s an example.

We have a large cistern that’s full of water, and we have a solar powered pump to access the water in the cistern to water the garden. But you know what? We’ve never used it.

This is something we need to address, and we need to do it here in this time of plenty, when our lives don’t depend on a successful experiment.

We need to add some “do”, not “observe” and get the water out of the cistern and onto the crops.

What’s the best way to do it? I don’t know. I’m personally thinking we should pump the water out of the cistern and into the water barrels that we already have set up, when they are empty. That way we can use our already existing slow drip watering system.

Will it work? I dunno. Will the pump have enough power to lift the water that far? Again, I don’t know.

What I do know is that now is the time to find out. OK, perhaps not right now when the barrels are full from yesterday’s rain, but… they will be empty again soon enough.

That cistern is our “water ace in the hole” but we need to be able to access it.

Prepping with a plan, but plans require action

Let’s take the cistern in my back yard a bit further in this analogy. Not only do I need to actually use the electrical water pump we have to draw water, I also need to pull the old (and no longer functional) hand pump out of the cement cistern top and repair it.

The reason I need to repair it may seem obvious, I need a way to pump water without any power.

The secondary reason that “I” need to learn how to repair it is not at all obvious, but critically important. I need to learn how to repair it because it may end up a critical prepping skill. Why? Because scattered around my town are about 50 more of these pumps, identical in operation, that need to be repaired… If I know how to do it, then I have a skill that I can barter/trade with somebody who needs their cistern pump working in a SHTF situation.

Skills are the best prep. Skills require “do”, not “observe”.

Don’t get lost in the details

How many times have you gone to a prepping oriented website and seen it filled with people sitting at their computer keyboards arguing with each other instead of actually prepping? If you are like me, it’s A LOT of times.

Arguing about which type of gun/knife/you name it is best.. that’s not prepping.

Arguing about politics is not prepping.

Arguing about religion is not prepping.

Arguing about ANYTHING is not prepping, it’s arguing.

Prepping is about doing. To prep, we must “do”, not “observe”.