What If Help Isn't Coming?
Before I moved out to the bush (as we up here call it), in many ways I had a “country attitude”. Often, I did my laundry by hand, even though my friends couldn’t understand why. I walked, even when I didn’t need to. Buses were plentiful and friends would often offer a ride. But I chose to walk. Even the winter I abandoned the warm, stuck bus to walk home over 3 miles away. I would explain these choices by saying I wanted control over what I could in my life. I couldn’t control when I worked, or much of the world around me, so I controlled what I could.
I still feel the same way.
As I write, there is a table full of vegetables & spices quietly growing behind me, full of nutrients that the grocery store produce just doesn’t have anymore.
There is a butane stove, complete with bottles of fuel, out in the shed.
I like to have back-ups. The trick is to assess, plan and utilize.
Assess what we have for cooking, food production, hygiene, water, heating, entertainment; whatever we’d need to survive being stuck inside for a week or more. Up here, that could mean a big snowstorm or a road being flooded out, or even washed out completely. Believe me, it’s happened! I recommend that you assess your own areas for the most likely emergency that might keep you stuck at home. The more prepared you are, the less impact the situation will have on your life.
Water, Water Everywhere…
There’s a part of my town’s history that applies here. Many years ago, the main road washed out in the spring break-up. It just so happened that a few women were expecting and wouldn’t you know it, a couple of them went into labour. According to the local story, those that went into labour had to be air-lifted to town, where the hospitals and doctors were. While this is a bit of an extreme example, it does underline the need to be prepared. Childbirth is a unique situation, and different for everyone, but think about your family or your situation for a moment. How would you fare if you could not get to a grocery store or a bank for a week? What about two weeks? Three?
I like to play a little game with myself, “what if”.
What would we do if the well ran dry for a month? (Which has happened)
I need to come up with a better water plan. We don’t have gutters or very many rain barrels, so as I see it, that’s where I need to improve. Get gutters installed, buy them, learn how to install them, and plan on taking them down every autumn before the snow flies. Every square foot of roof space collects .6 gallons of water in a 1-inch rainfall. So a three-bedroom home has the potential of redirecting quite a lot of water! So I think rainwater collection is pretty important. This then involves making sure we have rain barrels. So far, we only have two good ones, so clearly one of my priorities is to get a couple more large ones. I think having a couple of backups when it comes to water is prudent.
So, I’ve assessed what we have for water, seen a need, and am now working on a plan to improve our water situation. (Update, I have modified our water collection plan, and while I can’t tell you how much water I now collect from the roof, I can say that I collect far more than I used to!)
Feed Your Belly, Then Your Brain
So what if we can’t get to a grocery store for over a month?
Again, not unheard of up here.
So, we’ve assessed what we eat that can be grown, and we have a plan to grow what we can, and how to best preserve what we grow.
Wild fish is not my first choice when I’m hungry, but I know it’s not terrible either. No one in our large family is a vegetarian, we all enjoy meat. Local fish is easy to obtain and can be pressure canned for preservation. For us, this makes sense.
Everyone’s situation is different. Our needs may all be slightly different. But I am a firm believer in the simple fact that no matter where we live, country or the city, no matter what country you call home, we all need to make sure that if our “normal” lives are disrupted that we try to minimize the upset to our families. People that are prepared, come through a crisis better than those who wait for someone else to do something.
Play “what if” with yourself. Imagine there is no one coming to help you for at least a week. Assess what you have, and brainstorm how you can improve upon that. Make lists if you need to, write it all out. But keep a level head during it all. Panic and fear never helped anyone who wasn’t a cave-dwelling two-legged.
Be realistic, but honest.
Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
Do you have a plan already? Feel free to share it in the comments!