Winner - 2020 Hope for Survival 1st Anniversary Article Category - Preparedness Planning, Management, and Life Style Implementation
This is a young preparer who never says "no" or quits. When we crossed paths a few years ago, I knew it was not a chance encounter. Some people come and go and some are worth stopping and investing time in them because they are gifted. She is full of energy with a desire to learn and consume everything placed before her. Watching a person grow in their preparedness levels is great to see. Watching a preparer grow in to a leader is even better. Congrats to this young go-getter who takes charge and makes it happen. Keep charging my friend.
How Hope for Survival has Impacted me and my family By Mountain Momma
I am a married, mother of 2 young children, and work full time. I am the primary prepper in my household and have been prepping steadily for 3 years (the seed of prepping was planted November of 2012, but I wasn’t consistent and was doing it without structure or direction). My husband isn’t so much the prepper, but he doesn’t disagree with what I am doing. He’s like a redneck MacGyver and contributes in a complementary way. My father also preps. He can build anything and fix anything. Together, we are a pretty good team. I think we balance each other out pretty well.
A lot of our preparedness and focus has been because of Hope for Survival. It all started with the Family Communications class at Heritage Life Skill Butch was teaching a couple years ago. Honestly, it was a turing point in my life. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the impact on my life has been profound. I came out of his class thinking, this is it. These are the next steps. This is what I was missing and what I needed to progress in my level of preparedness. I put together a Family Communication Plan called “The Family Circus” and sent it to Butch to review. He was kind enough to help guide my through it and provided great suggestions for improvement. After that, he would check in on me periodically and I would share my prepping strides.
I saw Butch at the next HLS. My father and I took a couple more of his classes and read the book Hope For Survival. I took the Prepping 101 and Risk Analysis courses. It seemed like another just-in-time training with where I was in my prepping journey. It challenged me to take an in-depth analysis of our deficiencies. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and lost in the world of prepping. The Patriot Express News Letter (PENL) has a way of keeping you grounded. I prioritized and set goals for the year (I am a check list kind of person). One of our deficiencies was (and still is) food. I picked up a food calculator from one of the HFS articles. It helped me fine tune how to achieve my food storage goal.
I read the PENL religiously. The PENL articles complement my goals and keep me motivated. One way they have helped me the most is by informing me of what was going on in the world allowing me to continuously check and adjust. Staying informed is on of my weakest areas - I am so great full for this. You have to know what’s going on in order to prepare for it. Knowledge is so important, but very time consuming to stay on top.
The classes, blogs, and book all encourage growth. A couple areas I am working on now are OpSec and Security. Because of HFS/PENL, I am more aware and able to practice better OpSec. It’s not natural to me ...yet. Security is another biggie on the list. We are ready to dive in by performing a detailed security in depth analysis, determine a plan to correct the areas for improvement, and start implementing them. The groundwork on the need and how is there....I hate we didn’t address this one sooner with Rona knocking on everyone’s door.
In the past few years we have been inspired to grow and have learned:
- How to grow a garden
- How to can (pickle, jams, meat, veggies, fruit)
- How to raise chickens
- How to raise goats
- How to grow and process chickens for food
- How to caretake an orchard
- Obtained a general ham operators license
- Filled our pantry
- Increased long term food storage
- Acquired multiple ways to store and treat water
- Created caches of items necessary to survive if we were to be displaced from our home
- Developed a communication plan
- Created an emergency binder
-Learning edible and medicinal plants
- How to make lye soap
- How to make bread
- How to make butter
- Created multiple bags - BOBs for the family, GHBs for different locations, all vehicles have vehicle kits,
- Created multiple first aid kits and placed them in cars, 4 wheelers, EDC bags
- Moved to a remote location
- Taken multiple wilderness first aid and first aid classes (even got my husband and daughter involved)
- Signed my daughter up for karate (I wanted her to take Krav Maga, but I will take what I can get)
- Turn our truck into a bug out vehicle
- Became CERT Certified
- Became more proficient in shooting
I am grateful for the constant positive reinforcement provided by Bravo Echo in all of the communications. It keeps me motivated and moving forward even in the busiest and trying of times. Thank you Butch for being a true leader. I am excited to tell you the things we are doing to improve because of your efforts to influence us to prepare. We wouldn’t be where we are right now if it weren’t for your inspiration.
Mountain Momma
Blessings,
Bravo Echo Out
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