Anyone else here into being self sufficient?
I started looking into this back in the early '90's when I was working in IT as a Business Systems Analyst. I noticed how truly fragile all of the systems that I looked at were. There were single points of failure everywhere in even the best designed and managed systems. That got me looking into non-IT related systems, where I found the same issue was prevalent as well. There were no robust, survivable systems out there!
I lived on top of a hill at the time in Portland's West Hills among the more well to do upper middle class citizenry. We had a snow storm that blew through and basically made travel a little inconvenient for about three days. As the storm approached, the news blared doom and gloom with warnings of travel difficulties and danger. My neighbors just freaked out. The wife and I were good to go, having everything necessary to go for several weeks already stocked on the shelves in the garage. When the storm blew in, we decided to go for a little drive to check things out. Stopped by an elderly neighbors house to see how she was doing and she was good to go. Decided to pop into the local grocery store to check that out. Wow! Respectable ladies from the neighborhood fighting over the last gallon of 2% milk, and all of that. It was for the children, you know. It was an eye opener to be sure. It took the grocery store two days or so to get a truck up the hill to restock the shelves. The neighbors were just absolutely freaked out the whole time. The common theme was "Somebody should do something!". "What about the babies?!!!"
Made the decision right then and there that I was NOT going to be a member of the lowing herd any longer. Thought back on all of the things that my Dad and granddads tried to tell me and show me as I was growing up, and realized that the family had a tradition of self sufficiency going back years and generations. All I needed to do was tap into that tradition and move forward. The granddads had been gone for a decade or more, but there was Mom and Dad and all of their wisdom and knowledge. It was then, listening to the stories around the dinner table, that I realized just how cagey and wise my family elders were. I started paying attention and making mental notes. And asking some very pointed questions!
Anyone else been there and done that?
I started looking into this back in the early '90's when I was working in IT as a Business Systems Analyst. I noticed how truly fragile all of the systems that I looked at were. There were single points of failure everywhere in even the best designed and managed systems. That got me looking into non-IT related systems, where I found the same issue was prevalent as well. There were no robust, survivable systems out there!
I lived on top of a hill at the time in Portland's West Hills among the more well to do upper middle class citizenry. We had a snow storm that blew through and basically made travel a little inconvenient for about three days. As the storm approached, the news blared doom and gloom with warnings of travel difficulties and danger. My neighbors just freaked out. The wife and I were good to go, having everything necessary to go for several weeks already stocked on the shelves in the garage. When the storm blew in, we decided to go for a little drive to check things out. Stopped by an elderly neighbors house to see how she was doing and she was good to go. Decided to pop into the local grocery store to check that out. Wow! Respectable ladies from the neighborhood fighting over the last gallon of 2% milk, and all of that. It was for the children, you know. It was an eye opener to be sure. It took the grocery store two days or so to get a truck up the hill to restock the shelves. The neighbors were just absolutely freaked out the whole time. The common theme was "Somebody should do something!". "What about the babies?!!!"
Made the decision right then and there that I was NOT going to be a member of the lowing herd any longer. Thought back on all of the things that my Dad and granddads tried to tell me and show me as I was growing up, and realized that the family had a tradition of self sufficiency going back years and generations. All I needed to do was tap into that tradition and move forward. The granddads had been gone for a decade or more, but there was Mom and Dad and all of their wisdom and knowledge. It was then, listening to the stories around the dinner table, that I realized just how cagey and wise my family elders were. I started paying attention and making mental notes. And asking some very pointed questions!
Anyone else been there and done that?
