Fledgling Prepper Who Needs Guidance

That's the ONE area I am 100% confident in and prepared for. I'm a Texan. Raised with it. LOL But everything else I'm learning Thank you for the recommendations! I'll check it out.

 

Welcome Texan. I know from experience exactly where you are in terms of starting prepping. I won't rehash what has been said here but I know that folks without large acreage and homes in the woods have to prep differently. Being urban offers many specific challenges that country folk overlook. Livestock, extra outdoor secure storage, large garden space, and stealth are just a few of the things that are hard to come by in city or urban areas. You sound as if you are on the right path with a storage room and raised beds. Don't forget to add water to the stockroom as well! My rule of thumb for canned food stored in climate controlled areas is to double the exp. date and it has always been fine with the exception of anything with tomato in it.
This is a great place to get questions answered due to the sizeable brain trust that has gathered here.

 

Hi Texan, The one major thing that I teach/preach is this; knowledge and skills trumps gear and supplies every time. The best rifle in the world won't make you a better shot. That guy with the most spam and beans will still be dead if he doesn't know how to purify water. Dysentery and infection will do you in if you don't know 1st aid. I'm certain once you start accumulating skills and gain more knowledge, you will know what you need and will be able to prioritize your purchases. Just remember that knowledge weighs nothing, and it can never be taken away from you.

 

Howdy! I'm in DFW. What region are you in? It can make a huge difference in gardening.

For example, the Northeast side of DFW gets several more inches than the Southwestern end annually.

In DFW, you can generally grow tomatoes, peppers, okra, radishes, carrots, turnips, yellow squash, and field peas with little difficulty. I'm a gardener challenged with a little difficulty. Spinach, Swiss chard, and some (now feral) domesticated greens like lamb's quarter, chickweed, or cleavers are downright hard to get rid of they grow so strongly.

If the SHTF before you are ready, eat hackberries. As the most prevalent bird-shit planted tree in Texas, they are everywhere. Taste is close to peanut butter, keeps amazingly, and I even made a fairly not-real-bad beer with it on a small scale once.

Check ForagingTexas.com Great website with knowledgeable info put together by an excellent man.

There's a ton if information here from both knowledgeable experts and Olympic grade book finders. This should keep you busy until around March of 2097.

 

You have already identified one issue right off, store food that you already eat and like. I will be publishing a video of the presentation that Heather Swartz of Swartz Food gave us at an event last month in Indiana discussing this subject in depth. I will post a link when its done.

The most important thing to do at the start is to do a threat assessment. Sit down with a pad and pen and make a list of threats from the most likely to the worst case situation. Once you have this list you have a guide to starting your preps.

Read books on preparing your home, I suggest Creek Stewart's "The Disaster Ready Home" and too keep asking questions on forums.

The water issue can be solved with a good filter and some where to store it. I am also presently testing an Ozone device that is very good at purifying water. You should consider both a filter and either an Ozone or a UV device. As a last resort, you can always boil it.

My last piece of advice is the hardest. Develop a circle of like minded friends and start working together. I know how hard this can be. I am a board member of Live Free USA, a national prepper organization and I would be glad to help with this if you would like.

You have already made a good start, just keep up the good work.

 

@RicHubbard beat me to it. Local Networking is probably the most important thing I've learned. Your immediate concern is with gardening, so visit the farmers market and hang out with the local growers. You'll start to notice little things about folks as you make friends. Lots of folks that don't consider themselves preppers have valuable skills that you can utilize and learn from. Campers, Ham radio operators, welders, artists, carpenters, plumbers. They all have skills that would take you a lot of time and money to master. It's much easier to just be friends with all of them and know who to call when you need their expertise. You might find something that they need that's your area of expertise. You can't raise children without serious management skills.

You can do this.

 

The Farmers Market is a great idea, thanks for that.

 

"Check ForagingTexas.com Great website with knowledgeable info put together by an excellent man." for the win. Good book to have on hand.

 

I know Mark and have taken courses with him.

 

Welcome from the free state of Florida. All I can say is this site has more info than all others that I have tried combined. You have to do a little searching but after a bit you get the lay of the land. Again, Welcome.