We have become an awkward bunch. Not just preppers but people in general. In our struggle to build relationships with our neighbors we tend to present a fake identity in order not to scare people off or trip alarms in their head!
Thanks to cellphones, social media, and lockdown we have barreled headlong into a loneliness epidemic that everyone is now aware of. Strange creatures are now emerging from their homes, with darting eyes and unkempt hair, attempting to make a connection.
You must nurture this opportunity and build a community right where you live. However, there is one question you should never ask your neighbors. At least not until you really get to know them and have divulged some information about yourself, too.
That Question Is: ARE YOU A PREPPER?
Now, you might feel you have every justification to ask people this question because you are a prepper, too. Chances are your neighbor does not know that and you are going to create an atmosphere of distrust and concern.
Why would someone ask you a question like that? How would you feel if your neighbor just up and asked if you were a prepper?
In my experience it is best to let that flower unfurl in its own time.
The great news is that the current conditions in our world seem to be pushing more and more people towards being better prepared. We all know it’s up to us to weather cultural, governmental, and environmental disaster.
⇒ The First States That Will Go Down in a Crisis. Do You Live in the Red Zone?
It’s incredible to stop and realize that we have dealt with all three of those kinds of threats. In my opinion, they aren’t going anywhere either.
Better Questions to Ask Your Neighbors
Not everyone is going to be a supreme prepping ally. However, it is better to have good relations with your neighbors than to be oblivious to one another. It’s much easier to go from oblivious to combative in a SHTF scenario than it is to go from friends to enemies.
It’s up to you to make those connections and build those relationships. Now is not the time to wait for people to make the first move.
So, here are some great questions or conversation starters to ask neighbors.
How do you like the neighborhood?
If you are looking to get a feel for what is important to a neighbor who lives near you this is a great question. You can often discern a lot about them based on what they like or dislike about where they live.
You can also get a read on how long someone plans on being your neighbor. If you hear them talking about things like a “starter home” or “flipping” then you know this person is not going to be a part of the community for a long time. Or at least they don’t plan to.
Do you want some eggs?
No one says no to this one.
It also opens the door to chickens, gardens, and other food production topics.
You will quickly get an understanding of whether a neighbor wants some chickens of their own or if they are averse to the idea of self-sufficiency.
It’s not that you should pass judgement either way, but it helps you better understand them. I have met more neighbors in the past year that either want or have chickens than in the previous 10 years! That’s a HUGE change.
Also, did you know that if you feed your chickens this plant, they will lay twice as many eggs? It’s an interesting tip to share with your neighbors, especially if they’re interested in boosting their egg production.
Plans for the weekend?
What do your neighbors do for fun? Is there common ground there? One of my closest prepping neighbors is fun to hang out with because we share some interests and because they are on the prepper’s path.
The answer to this can also open up the door for friendship. If you guys are both attending the same festival or event over the weekend you can meet up and start to really strengthen that bond.
Your Neighbors are your Greatest Preparedness Asset
Of all the preps you can have, people are an unmatched force multiplier.
No substitute exists for the benefits, varied skills, and camaraderie of having a group of survivors working through a serious disaster, emergency, or even a collapse.
There is power in numbers, of course.
You may need to project that power from time to time to keep bad guys from entering your neighborhood and overwhelming you.
I always tell my listeners over at PBN that you should cultivate relationships at home rather than travel to build some sort of survival community or MAG that will come together in tough times. I have seen the survival community and MAG idea fail too many times.
Related: How to Start a Prepper Group in Your Community
The best answer is to live with your MAG. That’s what a neighborhood, village, township has always been.
You could spend countless hours online trying to find/build a survival group with the right medical doctor, spec ops guys, wilderness expert etc. only to find you have some of those pieces a couple blocks from your own home.
My neighborhood is not a place rich people live but I found a chopper medic and a doctor in my own community. Get out there and make some connections! You never know who is living just around the corner.
Conclusion
We have undoubtedly entered an age of authenticity. We have been lied to enough, we are being lied to right now, and the gameplan of the leadership all over the world is, ‘keep lying.’ The mainstream media have sunk their own ship by lying incessantly.
In our personal interactions it’s clear we want someone who is real. This means you should be a person who says what they mean, isn’t afraid to apologize, and, most importantly, can get along with people they don’t agree with.
You will walk a lonely road searching for people who agree with you on everything. That also gets boring and predictable.
It’s worth the effort. Stopping on a walk and talking to neighbors, visiting them at home, having your kids play together, it makes for a very rewarding life!
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This may be a dumb question, but what is a MAG?
Mutual Assistance Group
(Had to look to look that one up.)
It is my opinion that a mag is reading material, Or a lil metal like cannister that you fill w/bullets for a weapon! & there are other mag’s ! So you might be a lil more precise!!!
MAG = MAKE AMERICA GREAT
Mutual
Assistance
Group
Now day’s it’s more toxic to ask your neighbor what political party…or…what God they believe in …ect….main thing , take care of yourself as much as you can ….and have a certain level of respect for your neighbor. You can learn to talk about prepping without scaring the pants of them . Like ….asking….do you know much about gardening? And go from there .Baby steps….prepping has a good side too .
Well for me the facts maam just the facts, if anyone asks me if i am a prepper i say damn tootin ain’t you!!
No, you don’t tell less in the time of lean they come to take what you have, even your life if need be. It is best to keep your pantry to yourself.
The worst ones will be your siblings. The ones who Noahed you. Noah was a loon for 120 years until, it started to rain.
Knock knock Noah? Old buddy? I was just funnin. Let me in!
Your siblings will do that.
Or you he might say hey Noah buddy i was just passing thru % thought i should stop in & chk on you is u b doin awright???
Noah was the last pure blood line and living righteously
Seems inconsistent AFTER Noah that some of his descendants split off and had other gods again. Why didn’t God find yet another family like Noah’s!? All you have to do is spout off your days of the week. I mean, in the old country, only a mere 1500 years ago my own ancestors worshiped Woden (Wednesday), Thor (Thursday), and Freda (Friday). Need I go on? I’ve always been curious about this. Along with Easter (eggs & bunnies) being a fertility festival…
I have the sane question… What is a MAG. ? 🤔
That picture with the man holding a leaf rake in this article is what your neighbor will look like if they only get their news from CNN . And you say…. Trump…?….. Exactly what lies ?…..But you want to be sure you know what your talking about before you engage with a brain washed dem….They can be saved….It’s really not their fault.
I’d never ask my neighbors that. They would then try to use me. I live in a hood. My strategy to not be rob is to look as poor as they are. I would use that strategy in a teotwawki sit too. All the people with fancy cars in their driveways have been broken into. My rusty beat up paint peeling vehicles never get bothered. I leave my house looking plain and fitting the hood, rather than make it look all nice. My garden looks like weeds, but is doing great. They think I am a poor dumb fool like they are.
I don’t reveal anything about my life to people I don’t know and to people I barely know. Experience has taught me to be extremely cautious when speaking to people I know. You can know someone your entire life and you still don’t really know them.
Sometime even if you think you know them well and even love you, you can find their knife in your back if it means their survival!!
My brother safely returned from a combat zone. One day he walked up to me and firmly said, “Never trust anyone!”
I have been selling my book Gourmet Weeds around the area. It’s about cooking with foraged foods. It gets people’s attention and shows them what they will have to do if they don’t become preppers.
I find the whole thing somewhat laughable. They call it prepping. Which is true. And look down on those of us that take preparations as a bunch of crazies. But I was raised by parents that lived through the Depression. They knew to always be prepared for the worst. Make it work. Make it last. Be prepared. And have food on hand at all times. If folks saw the food in our basement during the 70’s and 80’s when it seems life changed, they would ask “are you Mormons? No. Just someone that would not starve in a bad time. It’s not Prepping. It’s real life. And it’s how we got this far anyway. Planning ahead.
Bullseye! My mother survived WW2 in Berlin, Germany. We learned to survive any situation we lived through. She taught
us with her positive expressions – we have enough food til pay day, we don’t have to open stored food, deer season is almost here, your father always brings home deer meat, be greatful for everything and remember to pray always!
Yes Jimmy
You got that right.
Did you know that the rich do not buy brand new cars,
I moved in to a small village and they thought i was rich,
You bet ,
They were steeling me in every way they could,
I live in monkey Monroe county, Wisconsin,
Amish and hillbilly country, This village is so old ,
You can hear the bar room door squeak ,
And for a lot of them,
They never leave the county,
After all there steeling from me,
I refuse to do any business here, .
The people next door are ok, They moved here just before I did,
We both feel the same way a bout this village,
Did you ever hear of a village where you have to buy your garbage bags from the village.
The guy a cross the street said the village is broke,
They don’t even grind down the stump after they cut a tree down on a village block.
They wait for it to decay , No matter how big it is,
But there trying to be tuff on any thing you do with your property.
There going to issue fines,.
You would thing I live in the hood.
No other place is being touch but my place.
Filed a police report,.
A lot of good that did,
And no one flies a Trump flag but me,
I drove all over this village.
Not many flowers ether, planted,
So I put a bunch in this year.
As I was planting them.
Had 25 cars pass by on this block,
I was starting to think.
Is this the the inbound of a sub division in Chicago.
Or did they think I was from some other plant, .
Small town live.
.
so you live near Fort McCoy off hwy 21 nice
I have belonged to a prepping blog for almost 9 years now. The current blog actually moved from another en masse when the previous owner went way too commercial and started censoring topics he didn’t like. The group we have now (and we do gladly accept new members) is very diverse in skills, knowledge, and location of residence in the country. We have ranchers, an ex-veterinarian, goat farmers, a midwife, several retired military, a retired deputy police chief, firearms instructors, self-taught gunsmiths, an ex-paramedic, a university professor, HAM radio operators, big time canners, and more. Most of us are long time preppers and we still manage to come up with stuff to help one another. We know where (in general terms) where we live, about our families, share stories about our kids and grand kids. Some of those skills are wrapped up in one person. Its a fun blog to be on. No commercial activities allowed, but good tips on bargains are always welcome. I always look forward to the weekly main post that the owner puts out (with the help of general questions sent in by members) and the rest of us build on it from there. Most of us are unashamed conservative Americans. The upshot of this is you don’t necessarily have to have a local prepping group to learn from, to teach, or to have a friendly social chat about life.
Sounds like a good blog. Care to share the name?
This best thing to do is go about your life and not say anything. the only thing one needs to share is about Jesus.
I try to say very little or most times nothing. You’ll be the first person that people will come to if shtf because they know you’ll have what they need.
Bullseye! My mother survived WW2 in Berlin, Germany. We learned to survive any situation we lived through. She taught
us with her positive expressions – we have enough food til pay day, we don’t have to open stored food, deer season is almost here, your father always brings home deer meat, be greatful for everything and remember to pray always!