Conspiracy Theorist

Hubby told me to look sexy...in front of the kids....so this is my awkward result! haha

So, here's a confession that sometimes I'm a little bit embarrassed about.....because the hubs makes fun of me for it.  Have you ever heard of that show called "DoomsdayPreppers"?  My hubby teases me that I should go on it.  I've never actually watched it, but am extremely interested in those kinds of things....you know.....preparing for the end of the world kind of stuff. 

It all started back in September of 2008.  I started waking up in the middle of the night with a HUGE amount of anxiety about food storage and I would stay awake for hours stressing over it.  The church that I belong to is a big advocate on food storage and preparing for emergency situations.  I never put too much stock in it though.  But after waking up night after night with anxiety about not being prepared, I knew I had to do something about it.  Since then I've done a LOT of research on food storage.  Then, my interest grew into gardening, canning, and ALL SORTS of things.  Last year, I even went as far as learning how to butcher my own meat.....2 baby cows.  I am a city girl.  I was raised in the city, and all of these interests are completely new to me.  I still consider myself very new.  I still don't have a lot of hands on experience.  But I read about it all the time.  My dream would be to live off grid.  I love reading blogs about people who do.  It is so amazing to me.  I would love to have the peace of mind knowing I can provide for my family without any help from the outside world.  At the same time, I see how hard that life is...living off grid.  And I am NOT ready to give up all the luxuries that I've come to love, like having a hot shower every day, or having power (lights, internet, microwave, heating, air conditioning).  I know I can generate power myself.....but you need to be RICH to afford it.  Solar panels to power a good sized house are VERY expensive.  So for now, I just dream about it, and learn about it.  Part of this planning is learning how to use a firearm (see above, our baby glock).  Call me crazy, but I don't only want to know how to hunt meat if I needed to, but I want to be able to protect myself if the need presented itself, against humans.  My biggest fear is that our Country has some kind of disaster happen (like war, or famine because we don't receive any rain....you know....crazy stuff) and that I may have to protect our food or family from others.  Don't get me wrong, if I saw someone suffering from starvation, I would like to think that I would share what little I had.  I know God would want that.  To love others like our own family.  I just want the peace of mind, in case I ever needed to protect myself or my children.  The guns I would like to own are: AR-15 and a rifle.  I shot an AR-15 for the first time just a couple of weeks ago.  AMAZING, but HEAVY. It's so easy to be accurate with it.  Not only am I learning, but shooting guns is just plain fun. 

I'm not extreme like the preppers you see on TV.  I hardly have any food storage, but I do know a lot about it.  Also, my gardening skills are SLOWLY improving.  This is the 4th year I've grown a garden:

 

I still have sooooo much to learn though.  Realistically, I probably won't ever live off grid, but hopefully part of my dream can come true.  I hope to live in a home where I have at least a 1/2 acre to grow a LARGE garden, and a few fruit trees.  My goal is to have my garden provide all the fruits and vegetables that we can consume each year, so that I never have to buy at the grocery store.  OH and did I mention chickens?  I would love to have fresh eggs/meat as well.  I even went as far as to cook up some goat meat to consider raising goats for their meat....but it's a no go.  Disgusting....in my opinion.  I probably cooked it wrong.
Back to the fruits/vegetables... I also worry about all the pesticides and chemicals that are on our vegetables/fruits that we purchase in the supermarket.  What is it doing to our bodies?  I really wonder about that.  Not only do I wonder about fruits and vegetables...but also the meat, and dairy in the grocery stores and even the processed foods that have all those preservatives.  I could go on and on.  I've read countless articles and I can't be sure one way or the other, but I definitely wouldn't be surprised if the foods we are consuming are causing disease or illness.  Hmmmm, is that crazy as well???  My hubby might think so.  He likes to call me a conspiracy theorist.  I have to admit, there may be some truth to it, but mostly I like to think of myself as cautious and open-minded.  You just never know what could happen.  I just want to be prepared.
What do you think about being prepared for a disaster?  Do any of you out there wonder/worry about the food we are consuming with all of their pesticides and chemicals?

XO,
Amber