“Are you a prepper?” – practicing new words

Share / Follow

Something I realized this week, and thought I’d share with you. My husband Tim and I have been working towards creating a cooperative living community based on faith and sustainability: “Lightening our load and lifting each other up.”

Tim asked me yesterday afternoon if I have a mental list of people locally that may be fitting this bill. I was rather hemming and hawing and had to talk it through. As I told him, there are many people here that seem to come for a reason similar but there is a difference… please let me illustrate.

Yesterday at our community lunch, I struck up a conversation with some new folks. They had moved last year from Kansas, because it was getting to hot and dry. They bought some property north from Moyie Springs and are loving it. I shared with her that we will be looking for property soon and about our idea. She asked me “Are you Preppers?” I told her, no. And for the first time I was able to formulate a clear and direct answer.

Background. For the most part people understand the idea that it is hard to make ends meet on your own. Or that it is tiring to do everything, from work to taking care of the kids, to mowing the lawn, to paying the bills, to cooking, cleaning and dishes (I get tired just writing out this list, ha!) Preppers, or survivalists, seem to operate from “everything is going to hell in a hand-basket and I want to survive and protect myself with a gun”… my loose interpretation.

I understand their motivation, it seems obvious to me that the systems we have in place are not working for the over-population we have now. However, I come from a different charge: we are placed on this earth to tend it, to take care of it, to be stewards of this earth and all creatures and things on it. I want to do the best I can to live that way.

So, no, I do not come from a mindset of lack, or fear, or from context of the End Of The World. I come from a mindset of responsibility. I am responsible for all my actions, from what I choose to do with my free time to the words that come out of my mouth to the food I put in my body…

Now, there are ALL KINDS of communities that we already operate in, from HOA to volleyball to 4H to church, etc etc.
I am NOT talking about a commune – I do not wish to share my husband or underwear :p . Rather, I am looking for people who wish to live simpler (who don’t HAVE-TO-HAVE the latest big screen or gadget), who wish to live in a faith covenanted community (keep forgiving, accepting, surrendering and loving), who wish to live sustain-ably, by re-using materials, generating our own energy, growing/raising the majority of our own food, bartering and exchanging for what we need, etc. etc.

Thank you for being my audience… where I can try my new words. Feel free to shoot me questions and comments.

Share / Follow