EDITED for language by moderator

I hope you aren’t judging HerbalPagan by her name, she is a very down to earth and smart lady. I read the articles on those other sites, I don’t see what is so chilling about property rights, not wanting Big Brother to have any more control over us, and survivalist stuff… perhaps since you have lived in a small, close knit community you haven’t experienced those types of problems, or perhaps you have only heard about the extremist who have given survivalists and preppers a bad name. I certainly hope that no one (the government included) ever turns a suspicious eye towards your community, being more independent is not looked upon kindly by the powers that be. I’m hoping and praying that none of us have to deal with TEOTWAWKI situations, but there is nothing wrong with praying for the best and preparing for the worst.

Thanks for your insight on your canning experience, it’s not so common any more, becoming a lost art, it’s something that needs to passed down to the next generation. :)

When I started to can, I bought a big black canning kettle at a thrift store for almost nothing. My husband did buy one of those little metal jar holders to go into it. I bought one little package of around 8 jars and one of lids, and I scrounged up another half dozen jars from leftover gifts that neighbors had given us. I borrowed a jar-picker-upper from a neighbor, because nobody is using their tools every day. That was enough to get started. Gradually I’ve accumulated more. You don’t need any more pots or strainers or spoons than you already have. Jars last nearly forever, and it’s my experience that when they break, they break… it’s not like old jars get chips off their rims very often. Thrift stores in rural areas are crammed with them.

And no one opens a new jar of home-canned stuff every day of the year… that doesn’t even make sense. At least three seasons of the year, you can eat something straight from the garden. The canned stuff puts the sparkle of summer flavor into dark winter seasons, when opening a quart of peaches or a pint of salsa provides a welcome touch of luxury.

Furthermore, the website where “herbalpagan”s article originally appeared is pretty chilling to me personally: American Preppers’ Network. Lots of survivalist, property rights, “government is trying to control us” chatter. My personal experience, living in a remote community without doctors or police or stores, is that when there’s a crisis, (and we’ve experienced quite a few over the decades; it’s not just theory for us) what we have is one another. We share our time and our resources with one another, our work and our tools and sometimes even our homes. We are unarmed and we believe in and work for global peace. I seriously hope that the effort to live resiliently and sustainably is not going to become flavored with right-wing fearmongering.

Wretha