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Discussion: Homesteaders vs. Preppers

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timberrattler	Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 13 2012, 5:42 PM EST A homesteader in my eyes is someone who has moved to a rural area and started raising thier own livestock, fruits and veggetables. Homesteading is an everyday practice of trial and error with the hopes of self-suffiectly. They are often working towards a life off the grid. A prepper in my opinion is most likely not someone who lives in a rural area but someone who lives in an urban or suburban enviroment. Their survival depends on the preps they've made ahead of time. The best plans rely on leaving urban areas to a bug out location on property they own themselves. Most preps revolve around stockpiling and firearms. Your definition of one or the other might be different than mine but I believe that a homesteader is much better prepared than a prepper to survive. Tell me how I'm wrong in that assesment. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you? Keyword tags: homsteaders preppers
LWJ2009	1. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 13 2012, 6:01 PM EST "A homesteader in my eyes is someone who has moved to a rural area and started raising thier own livestock, fruits and veggetables. Homesteading is an everyday practice of trial and error with the hopes of self-suffiectly. They are often working towards a life off the grid. A prepper in my opinion is most likely not someone who lives in a rural area but someone who lives in an urban or suburban enviroment. Their survival depends on the preps they've made ahead of time. The best plans rely on leaving urban areas to a bug out location on property they own themselves. Most preps revolve around stockpiling and firearms. Your definition of one or the other might be different than mine but I believe that a homesteader is much better prepared than a prepper to survive. Tell me how I'm wrong in that assesment." A homesteader however might be tied to a certain location, and try to stay there come hell or high water. That can be a blessing or a death sentance. A prepper has plans and can adjust to the situation accordingly. Be it bugging in or out. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Zee-Man	2. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 13 2012, 6:58 PM EST I think I will agree with you for the most part TR. I do not think raising livestock is a necessary part of homesteading. I also think that homesteading is quite doable in suburbia. The essential ingredient of homesteading is the intent to produce your own supplies. One might need to buy apples to make applesauce, buy wheat to grind for flour, and so on. I was raised on a 3/4 acre plot of land. We always had about 1/4 of that as a garden. We did raise rabbits for a time, and we had a fair sized flock of chickens for a time as well. At the time it was still considered rural, but by today's standards it was and is suburb. We did an awful lot of canning, but we would buy produce to either provide what we did not grow or augment the amount of what we did grow. An aspect of homesteading that I feel is uniquely different from prepping is home industry. Things like making soap, spinning fibers and subsequently weaving them and even wearing them, forging one's own tools, and many other tasks are marks of hard core homesteading. While living off the grid is a typical homesteading goal, I do not find solar panels or windmills to be marks of homesteading, even though a homesteader might have them. . Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Oakspar77777	3. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 13 2012, 9:13 PM EST I'm not sure you can draw such a clear line. Now, some homeseaders are not preppers at all - just "back to the Earth" hippies (who still need the store and never really think they will get compleatly off grid). Many preppers never plan to homestead, but prep for short term problems and just plan to go Road Warrior if it comes to that. I, personally, would consider myself a bit of both. You guys know I do some small scale farming as a hobby, but I also prep deeply (it is easier to buy and stock rice/flour/sugar than it is to grow it). I never plan to, as Zee mentioned, make our own clothes - we could live for years with what we have and could sew new ones from existing and scavanged fabric for generations. Still, LWJ2009 is right, I've invested a lot into my place in preps that would be hard to move and to convert it into productive land. Those things take years to do (establishing trees, creating deep soil, etc). I would be far more likely to hold on too long that someone who only needs an invisibile closet for their preps and then can bail out and come back later as if needed. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
LJ126	4. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 13 2012, 9:26 PM EST \| Post edited: Dec 14 2012, 6:27 AM EST I can make a strong case in support of urban prepping, but I'm on my phone at work so it will have to wait until tomorrow morning. I generally agree though, a homesteading lifestyle is at an advantage, provided that their planning stays FLEXIBLE. EDIT: Read my post below. I didn't forget to reply. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
timberrattler	5. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 13 2012, 9:49 PM EST I consider myself more of a homesteader than a prepper. If any of you have been watching this season of Doomsday Preppers with their scoring system, what causes most of these people's scores to be low? The lack of sustanable food and water. They don't garden, they don't keep any form of livestock and they don't have a good source of potable water. People seem to take clean drinking water for granted. You can store 100 years worth of food but if you only have 10 weeks worth of water what have you gained? I only stock up on food we'll actually eat within 10 months replacing what we've eaten with new. If I'm a homesteader I'm a pis$ poor one. I have water pegged and that's worth a fortune right there. I haven't raised chickens or rabbits for years, I still lack the fruit and nut trees I've been putting off for far too long. My seed bank needs to be deeper and I need to add more variety. The more colorful your fruits and veggies the more variety you'll have in vitamins and minerals. On the prepping end of things I need to concentrate on things like salt and sugar. I guess a crossbreed between a prepper and homesteader would be optimal. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
11ACRBlackhorse	6. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 14 2012, 12:05 AM EST It depends on the type of homesteader and prepper Some homesteaders are lucky to have more than one gun and a box of ammunition for it. You have some preppers the same way. Then you have preppers with livestock and a garden. You also have homesteaders that are armed well. Now I just might give the average prepper a edge over the average homesteader. Most preppers at least practice shooting. They can always turn raider and take a weak homesteader's place, then become a new homesteader. Most homesteaders don't have to firepower to try such a act. Now I'm more a prepper that lives on a homestead. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
LJ126	7. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 14 2012, 6:26 AM EST \| Post edited: Dec 14 2012, 6:29 AM EST In a truly horrible, long-term situation, I think that homesteaders are at a huge advantage to urban preppers. Let's face it, without a means of securing long-term food resources (water is pretty easy in any temperate area using stills and other collection techniques) you're toast. As Timber's pointed out, and from my own experience, it's quite hard to grow food when you're limited to an urban plot. However, most disaster are localized, weather-related incidents where loss of service is regional. Think blizzards, hurricanes, major tornadoes, earthquakes, flooding, etc. City dwellers are at an advantage here, simply as a matter of priority. They're going to receive attention and restoration before a small town will. And for family emergencies and very localized tragedies (like active shooter situations, slips/falls, or building fires) there are more service providers with faster response times. Not to mention, there are a lot of survival-minded folks living in cities, and networking is easy. However, city dwellers have more disasters for which they should prepare. It's unlikely that Smalltown, USA is going to be the site of a terrorist attack (due to aircraft hijacking, NBC or conventional weapons, etc.) unless it provides some major infrastructure-supporting target like a power plant. Obviously, crime rates are higher in cities, therefore personal defense is generally a more serious concern. And we haven't even touched on viral, fungal, or bacterial pandemic, or civil unrest issues. Logistically speaking, if a rural resident were only to prepare like an urban prepper, and completely ignore homesteading practices, because they are at lower risk for civil unrest, pandemic, and terrorism, they're at a huge advantage. If they practice any level of homesteading (hunting, raising livestock, gardening/farming) they're even further ahead of the game. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
timberrattler	8. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 14 2012, 6:51 AM EST Everyone is different so sterotyping probably wasn't fair. You cant compare people the way you can things. However I believe in general that there is definately a difference in mindsets. When I watched the last episode of DDP there was a dude who's main plan for feeding his rather large family was eating earthworms, pond scum and mice but he had one hell of a collection of firearms. I believe anyone who's main goal is to stockpile ammo and firearms is a person to be warry of. Without the means or knowhow to get themselves food and water that person is basically a raider without knowing it. When the fact that they cannot feed their family soaks in, they become a scavenger and eventually a raider in my eyes. A desperate person is dangerous, a desperate person with a deep gun cabinet even more so. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
NotAlice	9. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 14 2012, 8:00 AM EST TR: Being prepared covers a lot of ground. Take me for example: I have a small assemblage of firearms and ammo. Yet I don't think I am undergunned except in complete collapse. I rate total collapse as an exceedingly low probability event, so I am comfortable with my preparations. Aware of my limitations, but okay with them. Water is an issue, despite living in the land of 10,000 lakes. For better than 90% of the potential events, city water will run. However, for those few events that stop it; I have only short term solutions. A long term water loss may require me to relocate. But, HAVING short term preps will mean that I am likely to be more flexible during the long term problem. I have an electric/manual grain mill, tho I can't grow much grain; I sure can process it. The short term prep allows flexibility for the long term crisis that I rate less likely and have difficulty ($!) preparing for. My priority is to cover the short term crises, since they occur frequently. But cover them so they will assist me during any (less frequent) longer term issues. Hmm, looks like I FINALLY articulated my survival mindset! Call the newspapers! LOL Post reply Do you find this valuable?
FrankLeeDeRainged	10. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 14 2012, 8:31 AM EST I would be considered a homesteader but I'm taking exception to the 'Vs Prepper' the two states are not mutually exclusive and 'can' merge so seamlessly the distinctions are nearly meaningless. _ Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Frag-12	11. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 14 2012, 9:07 AM EST \| Post edited: Dec 14 2012, 9:08 AM EST So should we call one who Homesteads and Preps, a "Homesteading Preppy or perhaps a TEOTWAWKI Operator"? ... ;-) Practical Preppers or the men who grade the Doomsday Preppers are more like Homesteaders than Preppers if we follow this thread's logic. Post reply 0 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
RainofMails	12. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 14 2012, 2:48 PM EST "When the fact that they cannot feed their family soaks in, they become a scavenger and eventually a raider in my eyes. A desperate person is dangerous, a desperate person with a deep gun cabinet even more so." As long as you have neighbors you have meat... Post reply Do you find this valuable?
LJ126	13. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 15 2012, 1:19 AM EST " When I watched the last episode of DDP there was a dude who's main plan for feeding his rather large family was eating earthworms, pond scum and mice but he had one hell of a collection of firearms. I believe anyone who's main goal is to stockpile ammo and firearms is a person to be warry of. Without the means or knowhow to get themselves food and water that person is basically a raider without knowing it. When the fact that they cannot feed their family soaks in, they become a scavenger and eventually a raider in my eyes. A desperate person is dangerous, a desperate person with a deep gun cabinet even more so." Agreed. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
NotAlice	14. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 15 2012, 9:17 AM EST "As long as you have neighbors you have meat..." As long as they have you for neighbors, THEY have meat. Works both ways. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Frag-12	15. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 15 2012, 10:22 AM EST \| Post edited: Dec 15 2012, 10:23 AM EST Ok, on a more serious note since someone disliked my humor. Homesteading is self-sufficiency but does not necessarily mean that person is prepared for a disaster or a TEOTWAWKI event. I will say they are more prepared than most city dwellers. But what happens if that person loses their homestead due to a disaster or it is forcefully taken by a stronger force? Not every homesteader is a hunter and/or wild food expert. Although the word of survivalist has a bad connotation because it has been applied to civilian militia members and skin heads, the lifestyle of a true survivalist is one who can adapt to any situation within reason and survive. A survivalist can be a prepper, a homesteader, a wilderness survivalist, a raider, and all of the above. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
NotAlice	16. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 15 2012, 11:48 AM EST Good point! I have always favored "survivalist" as a description of what I do. I have found that words can be reclaimed by a sane representative of same. For example: "Witch" had a pretty bad rep in Pagan circles a few years back. Everyone was "Wiccan" or 'insert Trad name here"; witches were considered dark and sinister. By definition. Well, some of us looked behind the definition and saw the reality of the Witch. So we started using the name in connection with what we did. As we were solid, upright Pagans, people listened to us. Today. "Witch" is again a proud badge of honor. At least, locally. But we are being heard, nationally, and internationally as well. Control the words and you control the conversation. Survivalists can do the same. Preppers can do the same. All you need do is speak up when someone puts the "prepper' or "survivalist" down. No need to blow your cover, just say, "That's not what I heard, what I heard sounds pretty practical." Then move on. People will ask questions about what you "heard". You can take it from there. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
White76Knight	17. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 15 2012, 12:56 PM EST "I would be considered a homesteader but I'm taking exception to the 'Vs Prepper' the two states are not mutually exclusive and 'can' merge so seamlessly the distinctions are nearly meaningless. _" I agree. The two states do have differences, certainly, but they have more similarities than differences. I think of it as more of a sliding scale. On the one end, you have the homesteader who is very self sufficient but lacks flexibility and the ability to deal with a long term disasters. On the other end, you have the hardcore urban or suburban prepper who knows what to do in any disaster, but lacks a realistic means to provide for themselves and their families long term if need be. I think the best place to be is right in the middle, or better yet, simultaneously at both ends of the scale if that makes any sense. You want the long term self sufficiency, but you want to temper it with flexibility and the knowledge and equipment to see you through in the event that your self sufficiency is by some means taken from you. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
NotAlice	18. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 22 2012, 8:52 PM EST WK: Hmm, I think I would plot it on a X,Y axis. X axis is Short-term to Long-Term while the Y axis would be, say, Highly Mobile to Developed Location. That way you can plot over an area. Like those stupid personality tests whose name I have nearly forgotten. Oh, yeah, Meyers-Briggs. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
White76Knight	19. RE: Homesteaders vs. Preppers Dec 22 2012, 9:11 PM EST "WK: Hmm, I think I would plot it on a X,Y axis. X axis is Short-term to Long-Term while the Y axis would be, say, Highly Mobile to Developed Location. That way you can plot over an area. Like those stupid personality tests whose name I have nearly forgotten. Oh, yeah, Meyers-Briggs. " LOL - Sounds like you've put way too much thought into this. You analyze statistics for a living, don't you? Post reply Do you find this valuable?

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