We have been “preppers” ever since “Y2K”. Made very
elaborate preparations, even down to getting a new
woodstove. Have used it in winter ever since. Know how to
prepare the stuff we store, too. - Our water well is fixed
for manual use, too. I learned to eat dried beans growing
up; for just about every meal except school lunches with
those giant REALLY homemade rolls. FANG has a wood splitter,
easy compared to manual splitting. Takes gasoline; we did
store some gasoline in a tank back in Y2K. Our woodstove
uses small amount of wood. At first, FANG would ramp it up
until the whole house was hot as a firecracker. I finally
got him to tone it down; so a couple of sticks of wood
burn real slow and last all day. - I’m 70, so grew up with
rustic accommodations. . outdoor toilet, Sears & Roebuck
catalog for toilet paper. - We’re still somewhat spoiled.
Thanks for the post about the early years.
My grandma never had indoor plumbing on her small farm til the mid 1950’s.
Until the day she died the house was heated with just a real Ben Franklin in the living room and a wonderful wood burning kitchen stove in the big country kitchen. That room was the best place to be in the winter!
Both fires were banked at night and in the morning during winter the upstairs chamber pots would be skimming over with ice.
They grew or raised most of their food and bought very little other than staples at the grocers.
They raised cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and there was homemade butter, fresh milk and eggs and home baked biscuits and bread and jam everyday.
She and mom taught me how to can produce, meats, relishes, etc. while I was just a young kid and I still do it.
What we think of as prepping was the normal way people lived then.