About The Penned Prepper

My name is Scott Bascom, and I am a prepper.

What is more than that, I am a geek, I am a father, and I am a believer that if there is something that you can do to make your life worse, you can do something to make it better.

The Problem

Right now I see a lot of the prepper community convinced that there is a very real chance of them sitting on a mountaintop, shooting zombies, and living on their own for the rest of their life. I do not see that being a viable option for very long. (Aside from the zombies, I think that you will end up being bored to death, no matter how many books you packed. But I digress.)

Right now I see a lot of people that assume you need to have a spare million or two in your back pocket in order to buy toys or land or something to live on.

I even see a lot of forums where if you are not living your life as if under threat from imminent invasion at all times, you are not doing it good enough. Or people who respond to questions on how to do
what advanced preppers see as basic things with “just google it”, which is supremely useless advice when the three of the links on the first page of google are to that exact conversation on that forum, and the rest
of the links on the first two pages are people asking the same question.

What We Do For You

One of the goals of this blog is to help people who were never taught foundational knowledge by parents and/or relatives.

People are not being handed this critical knowledge for a myriad of reasons. Perhaps because their parents do not know, or maybe because there is just a generation gap that did not get bridged very well.

I see a lot of that scaring off people who would otherwise be involved in the emergency preparedness community. Especially when someone who is trying to learn is met with hostility merely because they don’t know something.

All this is not to say that every prepper is like that- there are a great many wonderful people involved who are very kind, and friendly to newbies and who spend a lot of time going out of their way to explain things to them. There are even people who are willing to go out of their way and make a youtube video because someone asked a question about something that they have no idea about, impacting the prepper community as a whole just to help out the new guy.

But I think that there are a lot of things that just get left out- because they are not flashy, or because they are not impressive. I looked at this, and wondered who was going to do something about it, because someone definitely should.

Since I am someone, I decided I should do something about it.

What You Gain From The Penned Prepper

My goal with this blog is threefold:

1. To give foundational knowledge of what realistically to expect in the case of a natural disaster or emergency. I once had a friend freak out- his words- because his hot water was shut off after a small flood. He had no idea that that was possible, or why his utilities would be affected in case of emergency. He now is better prepared, but to start out he was not.
2. To give some basic and foundational knowledge about what to do in case of an emergency. A lot of foundational knowledge is so basic that it gets left out. Ex: where do I get an oil filter wrench, or for that matter oil, if I need to change the oil in my car, and nothing is left open after the latest emergency? (Auto parts stores, by the way, will often have them in stock).
3. To help build a community of people who will help each other rise up in the case of natural disaster or emergency. I cannot know it all (as much as I wish), and nor can anyone else. You may not have a spare can opener, but your neighbor does, and when things go downhill knowing that could save someone’s life. With barter and trade, what you gain from the exchange could mean that the life you save is yours.

Since I live in the US, this blog is written primarily to US readers, with imperial measurements and goods and services available in the US being the default. I will try to make it accessible to everyone, but I may be unfamiliar with the laws and resources available in your area.

If you do not know something, feel free to chip in and ask. There is still a lot for you to contribute and you never know who you might help.

If English is not your first language, no worries- we can figure something out, and still may try to help.