Coulter Hollow Farm

The 5 Groups of Reactive People

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 23:50:04 +0000

If you are the type of person that is concerned with the clouds gathering on the horizon and you want to do something sensible about it but not go crazy (like that one relative we all have), then this is where you begin. You must understand what kind of person you are currently and perhaps change to what you want to be.

These days, there seems to be a lot of darkness in life: pandemic, war, sanctions, and now a word I am afraid is going to be more common soon – famine. All these words are clouds in the inevitable storm brewing. I have a lot of thoughts on these things, but it has occurred to me that the time for opining is ending. It’s time for action because quite frankly the time for action will quickly give way to the time of reaction and that is the worst place to be. Reacting to events that you have no control over is a part of life, but when those events threaten the safety and security of your life or family, then it becomes a dangerous place where you don’t want to be making life altering decisions on the fly.

There has been a growing feeling among much of America that we need to be more prepared for bad events. Personally, I think this came as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union. Once the boogie man was gone, we started looking for a new boogie man, whether real or made up. September 11^th, as well as the financial debacle of 2007-2009 showed us that there are very real threats out there and man-made systems have their limits. Our trust in any one person or thing should be limited because the letdown can be harder than you want to think.

To begin we need to define where most people are in life when it comes to reacting to events. People can be divided into roughly main 5 groups:

The Oblivious

Often referred to pejoratively as “the sheep” or “Sheeple”, these are the people that listen to mainstream news outlets and wait for them to be told how to behave. They tend to be more wrapped up in their lives, kids’ lives, work, and day to day life while not actively paying attention to events that can have massive impact on their lives. These people end up reacting at the last moment because they only view the short term. You can look to these individuals for the scarcity of bread, milk, eggs and toilet paper at the first hint of foul weather because they didn’t plan ahead.

The Concerned

Unlike the previous group, these people are paying attention to a deeper analysis of the news but still often wait to react until their media icons lead them to a conclusion for better or worse. They often view the first group with distain thinking they are better because they are more “informed”, but they react almost as late as the oblivious do. Sure, they went to the store a day before everyone else. Sure, they have a couple days’ worth of supplies; however, what separates these two groups is usually but a few hours of time with the same quantity of resources. They are no more prepared for the situation than the other.

The Prepper

Recent TV shows have really done this term injustice but not as much as the people who wear this title with exuberant pride. There is a segment of this group (often called “doomers”) that are always living for the next disaster – it’s their joy in life looking for the next event that will be “The End Of The World As We Know It”. They sensationalize everything, having thousands of pounds of beans, rise, and other supplies in their garage or basement or for the more affluent, their bunker. This isn’t totally a bad strategy, especially for individuals living in places prone to natural disasters, such as the southeast where hurricanes tear through neighborhoods with some frequency. They rely on their goods (“preps”) to get them through and assume they have enough beans, bullets, and band aids to ride out the storm. Unfortunately, these people tend to have a fictional view of how they “will” react in a disaster lasting more than a few days. A huge stockpile can be a false security blanket when the world goes sideways. So, if you are thinking about or encouraged to “stock up” please keep this in mind. To be honest, I often encourage people to stock up because it’s better to have some on hand than not when the store is closed, there are limited hours for shopping, or when you’re in the middle of a situation. Even a short power outage is much more bearable with some basic supplies. Just don’t be a doomer.

The Survivalist

Like the prepper, these folks often have some cool gear and gadgets but their reaction to a disaster is typically “bugging out” to the woods or wilderness. Whether they have a camp site or a family member living in the country, this group tends to believe in getting as far away from civilization as possible when things go bad. They place a lot of value in skills: bushcraft, survival skills, primitive living. Skills is to the survivalist as what a doomsday bunker is to the prepper. Their skills are their security blanket. Now that’s not all bad because a bunker of beans is only good until you run out, then what? So having the skills to make do when hard times come is wise and valuable but if your plan is simply to run for the hills well, hopefully you don’t have kids. Tell the average 15-year-old girl that she’s going to a cabin for months and months with little to no contact with others and see where that gets you. Not to mention the outhouse and only running water comes from the creek down the hill. Most of them would rather die, literally. No, I’m serious, just ask them.

The Self-Reliant

This group goes by many names: off-griders, homesteaders, self-sufficient, minimalist. They come in various names and take on different characteristics depending on where they are in the country, but the meaning is basically the same. They have the skills and resources to live as independently as possible from manmade systems. For some it’s disconnecting from the grid, whether that be the electric grid or metaphoric for the bigger logistical chain, while for others it’s their desire of “going their own way” as the primary motivation. They want to raise animals, grow their own food, or just practice a more minimal lifestyle. Unfortunately for some, they get the idea that they will be able to do it all and will quickly find out that they can’t. Do you realize how much work it takes? Or how much food one person, let alone a family, needs to survive? This group can never be fully self-reliant and it’s in their best interest to work closely with others to achieve this.

I would consider myself a homesteader and I may be biased but as you will see in further blogs, the less reliant you are on a system the less you will have to worry when that system goes down. So, I encourage everyone to reexamine themselves and where they fall within these 5 groups and ask yourself which group you want to be a part of. Do you want to be scrambling and lacking when a disaster happens? Or do you want to be the self-reliant/prepared individual that can help others? The choice is yours, but you need to make the decision soon.

More to come…

Real World Work Requirements for Growing Your Own Food

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 01:18:08 +0000

This is an intro to the blog post. We will be discussing a lot of different things in this post. Read to the bottom to find out more.

1. First section of Blog