Farming isn’t something that is easily picked up and takes years of practice. Which means that the ones who realize your point end up actually just becoming homesteaders and aren’t really labeled as preppers. Off-grid living does have a fair bit of popularity as well. Homesteading is really difficult, and many fail. It isn’t something that you can drop a few thousand in as a hobby and act like you’ve got it figured out. Homesteading means actually moving and living your ideals. So imo a lot of what you describe is that prepping can be treated like a hobby, something you obsess over and throw some money at to feel more protected. Homesteading requires reworking your entire lifestyle and can’t really be done as a hobby. The ones who have made that lifestyle change aren’t described as preppers, they aren’t waiting for an event to suddenly change their lifestyle where they have to adapt. They have already forcefully changed their reality so they could make the changes on their own terms and timeline.
I agree with you, hoarding might help you in the aftermath of a storm, but isn’t going to do much in an actual collapse. Even farmers would be in danger of starving if fuel became unavailable. Subsistence farming and modern mechanized farming are very different.
Having had my fair share of first-hand experience as a child/adolescent with various communes of different stripes, I’m aware of the “back to the land” movement that many hippies went through - and then of course, nearly all of them abandoned. There are very few of those left in America. For good reason.
Farming is fucking hard work. When I see preppers idly talking about “living off the land”, I just chuckle. I’ve heard that shit since college, but I’ve seen it as a kid, and…well, these arm-chair asshats are not going to be able to cut that lifestyle any better than a lot of rich-kid hippies were back in the 60s and 70s…
Like you said - someone cannot just do that kind of thing as a hobbyist or via spending a bit of money here and there. Having a cache of things for an emergency and/or bug-out bags for fleeing wild fires is one thing, doing subsistence farming for a lifestyle - very different things. People trying to make a real go at homesteading - hey, more power to them if that’s what moves them.
Also, I grew up among Amish/Mennonites. Mennonite practices vary wildly, but most don’t forgo modern conveniences. But even in the case of the Amish…there is a fair amount of “cheating”, shall we say… 😉 They might do better than a lot of people under a system collapse, but I still think even for them it might be an adjustment. No more “borrowing” an English neighbor’s tractor under cover of night, or buying a refrigerator or freezer as a “gift” for an English neighbor.
Farming isn’t something that is easily picked up and takes years of practice. Which means that the ones who realize your point end up actually just becoming homesteaders and aren’t really labeled as preppers. Off-grid living does have a fair bit of popularity as well. Homesteading is really difficult, and many fail. It isn’t something that you can drop a few thousand in as a hobby and act like you’ve got it figured out. Homesteading means actually moving and living your ideals. So imo a lot of what you describe is that prepping can be treated like a hobby, something you obsess over and throw some money at to feel more protected. Homesteading requires reworking your entire lifestyle and can’t really be done as a hobby. The ones who have made that lifestyle change aren’t described as preppers, they aren’t waiting for an event to suddenly change their lifestyle where they have to adapt. They have already forcefully changed their reality so they could make the changes on their own terms and timeline.
I agree with you, hoarding might help you in the aftermath of a storm, but isn’t going to do much in an actual collapse. Even farmers would be in danger of starving if fuel became unavailable. Subsistence farming and modern mechanized farming are very different.
The ultimate preppers are just called Amish.
Having had my fair share of first-hand experience as a child/adolescent with various communes of different stripes, I’m aware of the “back to the land” movement that many hippies went through - and then of course, nearly all of them abandoned. There are very few of those left in America. For good reason.
Farming is fucking hard work. When I see preppers idly talking about “living off the land”, I just chuckle. I’ve heard that shit since college, but I’ve seen it as a kid, and…well, these arm-chair asshats are not going to be able to cut that lifestyle any better than a lot of rich-kid hippies were back in the 60s and 70s…
Like you said - someone cannot just do that kind of thing as a hobbyist or via spending a bit of money here and there. Having a cache of things for an emergency and/or bug-out bags for fleeing wild fires is one thing, doing subsistence farming for a lifestyle - very different things. People trying to make a real go at homesteading - hey, more power to them if that’s what moves them.
Also, I grew up among Amish/Mennonites. Mennonite practices vary wildly, but most don’t forgo modern conveniences. But even in the case of the Amish…there is a fair amount of “cheating”, shall we say… 😉 They might do better than a lot of people under a system collapse, but I still think even for them it might be an adjustment. No more “borrowing” an English neighbor’s tractor under cover of night, or buying a refrigerator or freezer as a “gift” for an English neighbor.