Tell me what country this sounds like:
After a lack of response from the defunded police, protesters riot and smash small shops, hitting grocery stores and malls. Rioters stopped trucks on highways, stole their cargo. Grocery stores emptied fast as word of shortages spread. Bread is selling at four to five times its normal price, if you can find it, and there are lines at the few gas stations that still have fuel.
All this is taking place in South Africa, but if you thought it sounded like the U.S., no one could fault you. The parallels to last years “mostly peaceful” protests are eerily similar. They are far worse in South Africa than they were in Portland. Rioting covered a much larger area and left dozens dead.
This is the type of protest that can change regimes. ZeroHedge reports that South Africa is on the verge of civil war and says “What happens next in a country that is collapsing remains unknown.” We may not know, but we can safely say it won’t be good.
Fragile vs Resilient Societies
It is not a stretch to look at the situation in South Africa and think, “there but for the grace of God goes the U.S.” While South Africa is clearly more fragile than the United States, our resilience is being undermined daily. Our supply chains are being stretched. Many restaurants and small businesses are not reopening. Our values are deteriorating, and our children are being taught lies and revisionist versions of history.
Sadly, the country is growing more and more fragile as taxation and government spending rises. There is more divisiveness across the country and less cooperation and bipartisanship in Congress. Deficits are rising and socialists work to undermine the fabric of our society. How many years will it be before we become fragile enough to fail?
Don’t think it could not happen here. Last year it almost did.
Build Your Personal Resilience
When your country is no longer resilient, it behooves you to increase your personal and family resilience. That means being prepared for the worst and not letting it stop you. It means having the ability to withstand disruptions, to ignore the food lines, and to be one of those people who is out protecting their neighborhood rather than cowering in the basement with a baseball bat because you never bought a gun.
Prepping is not a one and done. It’s a continuous process. For example, earlier this week, my wife went to a medical appointment with a specialist in a city about 90 minutes away. On her way home, she stopped at Sam’s Club and did some shopping. She bought twelve cans of chicken, which is one of our favorite food preps, and nine pounds of bacon to restock the freezer. (I like to think I trained her well.) She also replenished several consumables, including olive oil, nuts, and paper towels.
She shops this way because preparedness is ongoing and you should rotate and replenish your foods. We rotate our cans of chicken by making chicken salad. On our last “eat like a prepper” night, which we try to have weekly, I had Hormel beef stew over rice. Yes, it’s a weird combination and the stew would have been better over noodles, but we have more rice than noodles in our stash. (For the record, I prefer the Dinty Moore beef stew, but the Hormel can was older.) It made two large servings, each a full meal.
For us, Resilience Means Roosters
I can’t tell you how many people have said to us, “Why did you buy roosters? You know you don’t need them to get eggs.”
Yes, we know that. I feel like asking them, “Why don’t you have roosters. You know you can’t raise your own baby chicks without them.”
They are thinking short term. I am thinking long term and raising chickens to help feed us, and potentially some neighbors, if it all goes to hell in a handbasket. I want to have fertile eggs if I can no longer get chicks sent to me in the mail. A rooster is necessary to have chicks, and these chicks which will help turn garden bugs and extra greens into protein and fat. The males will become meat and the females will become egg machines until they eventually go into the stew pot.
People also ask why we bought five roosters. “Don’t you know they will fight each other?”
Yes, we know that, but I bought them because they grow larger than the females, and we plan to eat three or four of them before they are old enough to fight with each other.
Why will we at them? Because I don’t want the first time I butcher a chicken to be in the middle of a national emergency. I want to practice my chicken butchering skills while I can watch a few YouTube videos to brush up and where I can call a friend and ask for advice. (I’m convinced that most people who raise chickens don’t eat them. Or maybe I should say most city people with backyard coops.)
Our Video of the Day is on minimalist chicken buttering with no fancy tools.
