The rainy days may be coming: Why self-reliance matters more than ever

Our grandparents didn't call it prepping. They called it living. And maybe it's time we remembered why.

I've been sitting on this one for a while, and quite frankly, I've been dreading writing it. Not because I don't have plenty to say (believe me, I do!), but because I genuinely hate that I even feel the need to bring it up.

There is so much uncertainty in the world right now. Between the economy, what's happening overseas, the constant stream of conflicting information, and the fact that half the time it's difficult to figure out what's actually true anymore, I think we'd be doing ourselves a disservice by not paying attention.

Now, before anyone starts picturing us wearing tinfoil hats and digging bunkers in the backyard, let me make something clear. This isn't about fear. It's about common sense, self-preservation, and taking care of the people we love. And honestly, it's about getting back to something our grandparents understood a whole lot better than most of us do today.

Our Grandparents had it figured out

Think about our grandparents and great-grandparents for a minute. They grew gardens, canned vegetables, preserved meat, saved seeds, dried herbs, and kept their pantries stocked. They knew how to stretch a meal, fix something instead of throwing it away, and make use of just about everything they had. Waste wasn't something they took lightly, and neither was the idea of depending entirely on someone else to feed their families.

They weren't doing all of that because they were expecting the world to end next Tuesday. They did it because that's simply how life worked. You grew what you could, preserved what you didn't eat, and put something away for a rainy day. If the garden produced more tomatoes than you knew what to do with, you canned them. If you had extra beans, you dried them. If something broke, you figured out how to fix it before you even considered buying another one.

They didn't call it prepping. They called it living.

Somewhere along the way, we traded a whole lot of that knowledge for convenience. And don't get me wrong, I enjoy modern conveniences just as much as the next person. I'm certainly not volunteering to give up my washing machine! But we've become so accustomed to having everything available at the push of a button that many people wouldn't know where to begin if those conveniences suddenly weren't available.

And that, my friends, is what concerns me.

We've become awfully dependent on things we can't control

Think about how much of our daily lives depends on systems that most of us have absolutely no control over. Grocery stores need functioning supply chains. Our refrigerators and freezers need electricity. Our banking systems rely on technology. Even something as simple as getting water from the kitchen faucet can depend on electricity, especially for those of us with private wells.

Here on our homestead, we've spent years learning just how important it is to have alternatives. We have our gardens, our animals, our food preservation equipment, and even a manual hand pump for our well. Does that mean we're completely self-sufficient? Good grief, no! We're still learning, improving, and figuring things out just like everyone else.

But every little bit of independence we build means one less thing we're completely dependent on someone else to provide.

Living in Florida has certainly taught us a thing or two about how quickly life can change when a storm rolls through. One day everything is perfectly normal, and the next you're wondering how long the electricity will be out and whether the food in your freezer is going to make it. That's not some far-fetched scenario. That's just part of living where we live.

And while hurricanes are something we can usually see coming, not every disruption gives us several days to prepare.

That rainy day might be closer than we'd like

Our grandparents always talked about saving for a rainy day. They didn't necessarily know when that rainy day would arrive, but they understood that sooner or later, life had a way of throwing something unexpected at you. And I have to tell you, with everything going on in the world, I can't shake the feeling that we may want to start taking that advice a little more seriously.

Do I know something terrible is going to happen? Of course not. Nobody does, regardless of what some people on the internet would like you to believe. But I also don't think we need to wait for something terrible to happen before we start making smarter decisions about how we live.

I'd much rather prepare for a rainy day that never comes than find myself standing in the middle of a downpour wishing I'd bought an umbrella.

And here's the thing. Even if nothing happens, even if the economy settles down, the world calms down, and everything continues humming along just fine, what exactly have we lost by becoming a little more self-reliant? Absolutely nothing.

You don't need 20 acres and a barn full of Chickens

One thing I really want people to understand is that you do NOT need to live on a homestead to start doing these things. You don't need acreage, livestock, expensive equipment, or a giant garden. You don't even need a backyard!

If you've got a sunny porch, you can grow something. Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, lettuce, whatever works for your space and growing conditions. A few buckets or containers can teach you an incredible amount about growing food. And believe me, gardening has a funny way of humbling you no matter how long you've been doing it. Just when you think you've figured everything out, Mother Nature comes along and reminds you who's actually in charge.

If you have room for a larger garden, fantastic! Start learning what grows well in your area and during which seasons. Here in Florida, we have the advantage of being able to grow food through much of the year, although our summers certainly come with their own special challenges. Between the heat, humidity, bugs, and whatever else decides to help itself to the garden, there's never a dull moment.

And once you start growing food, learn how to preserve it. Canning, dehydrating, freeze-drying, freezing, and fermenting are all wonderful skills to have. You don't need to buy every gadget on the market to get started, either. Pick one method, learn how to do it safely, and go from there. If you're interested in canning, make sure you're using tested recipes and proper processing methods. Grandma may have done some things a certain way for 50 years, but food safety is one area where we absolutely want to take advantage of what modern science has taught us.

Even if you don't grow a single vegetable yourself, you can still preserve food! Buy produce when it's in season or on sale, visit local farms, or take advantage of bulk purchases when your budget allows. There's something incredibly satisfying about opening a jar of food you put away yourself, especially when grocery prices make you want to leave your cart in the middle of the aisle and go home...

Your pantry is more important than you think

Let's talk about something that doesn't require a garden, a pressure canner, or any special equipment. Your pantry.

I'm not suggesting everyone rush out and buy six months' worth of groceries tomorrow. For most families, that's neither practical nor financially realistic. But adding a few extra items to your grocery cart each week? That's something many households can work toward.

An extra bag of rice here, a couple of cans of vegetables there, some dried beans, pasta, flour, or whatever your family actually eats. Before you know it, you've built yourself a little breathing room. And that's really what we're after... Breathing room!

If you lose your job, have an unexpected expense, get sick, or experience a prolonged power outage, having food already tucked away can take an enormous amount of pressure off your household. Just make sure you're rotating what you store and keeping foods under appropriate conditions. A pantry full of things nobody likes or that expire before you use them isn't doing anyone much good.

We also need to think beyond food. Water, basic medical supplies, flashlights, batteries, ways to cook without electricity, and a plan for keeping essential equipment running are all worth considering. If your household depends on an electric well pump, for example, figuring out how you'll access water during an outage is something you really don't want to leave until the lights go out. Preparedness doesn't have to be complicated. It just needs to be intentional.

We're losing skills we really can't afford to forget

This is probably the part that bothers me the most... Think about how much knowledge our grandparents had that we rarely use anymore. They knew how to grow food, preserve a harvest, repair things, cook from scratch, and make something out of practically nothing. They understood the value of resources because they knew what it was like not to have them.

And now? We live in a world where it's often easier to throw something away and order a replacement than to figure out how to fix it. I'm not saying everyone needs to learn how to rebuild an engine or sew their own clothes. But wouldn't it be wonderful if more people knew how to grow a tomato, bake a loaf of bread, preserve a batch of green beans, or prepare a meal without opening a box?

And for goodness sake, teach your children and grandchildren these things!

Let them get their hands dirty in the garden. Show them how seeds turn into food. Let them help in the kitchen. Teach them where their food comes from and why it's important not to waste it. Give them skills they'll carry with them long after we're gone. We spend so much time making sure the next generation knows how to use technology, but are we making sure they know how to take care of themselves without it?

That's something worth thinking about.

Self-Reliance doesn't mean doing everything alone

Here's another thing I think people sometimes misunderstand about homesteading and preparedness. Being self-reliant doesn't mean you have to do absolutely everything yourself.

Our grandparents understood the value of community. Neighbors helped neighbors, families shared what they had, and people traded knowledge and skills. Someone might have been wonderful at gardening while someone else knew how to repair equipment or preserve meat. Everybody brought something to the table.

That's the kind of community I love seeing, and it's one of the reasons we enjoy sharing our homesteading journey. We're not experts at everything. Far from it! We've made mistakes, learned some lessons the hard way, and had plenty of moments where we stood there scratching our heads wondering what on earth we'd gotten ourselves into.

But that's part of the process. You learn, you improve, and hopefully you help someone else avoid making the same mistakes.

The more knowledge we share, the stronger our communities become. And in uncertain times, having good people around you who are willing to help each other is worth more than just about anything you can stock on a pantry shelf.

This also isn't about living in fear

I really want to stress this because I know conversations about preparedness can sometimes take a turn toward panic and worst-case scenarios.

That's not what I'm advocating.

I don't believe we should spend our days glued to the news, worrying about every headline, or assuming every rumor on social media is the truth. Quite the opposite. I think it's more important than ever to stay informed, question what we're being told, verify information, and use a little common sense. There's a difference between being aware of what's happening in the world and allowing fear to control your life.

Preparedness should give you peace of mind, not rob you of it.

We cannot control what happens in Washington, what decisions are made overseas, what the economy does next, or whether the systems we depend on will always function perfectly. But we CAN control how much we learn, how much we grow, what we preserve, and how prepared our own households become. And personally, I'd much rather spend my afternoon planting something useful than sitting around worrying about things I can't change. At least at the end of the day, I might have some tomatoes to show for it!

What if we're wrong?

I genuinely hope we are. I hope all the uncertainty we're seeing today settles down. I hope the economy improves, the world becomes a little less chaotic, and the systems we depend on continue working just fine. I would absolutely LOVE to look back a few years from now and say, "Well, we sure worried about a whole lot of nothing!"

But if that happens, we'll still have gardens producing food, pantries stocked with things we've preserved, useful skills we've learned, and a little more independence than we had before. We'll have taught our families valuable lessons, become more resourceful, and hopefully saved some money along the way. So tell me, where exactly is the downside?

If preparing for the worst leaves us better equipped to enjoy the best, I'd call that a pretty good investment of our time.

A little advice from our Homestead to yours

If there's one thing I'd like people to take away from this, it's that you don't have to change your entire life overnight. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars or become completely self-sufficient by next Tuesday. Just start somewhere.

Plant a few seeds. Learn to can a batch of vegetables. Buy an extra bag of rice. Start saving seeds from your garden. Learn how to make something you normally buy. Figure out how your household would manage without electricity for a few days. Teach your kids something their grandparents knew how to do. And most importantly, don't wait until you're in the middle of an emergency to start thinking about these things.

Our grandparents didn't preserve food because they knew exactly when hard times were coming. They did it because they understood that life was unpredictable and that taking care of your family meant thinking ahead. Somewhere along the way, we seem to have forgotten that lesson.

I don't know what the future holds. Nobody does. And I'm certainly not going to pretend I have some crystal ball telling me what's around the corner. But I do know this...

I'd rather have a pantry full of food, a garden growing, and the skills to take care of my family than find myself wishing I'd started sooner.

Our grandparents always told us to put something away for a rainy day and folks, while I sincerely hope I'm wrong, I can't shake the feeling that we might want to get those umbrellas ready a little sooner than we'd like. Until then, we'll keep planting, preserving, learning, and doing what we can right here on our little piece of the world.

Because at the end of the day, that's what "On Our Own" Homestead has always been about. Learning to do more for ourselves, sharing what we learn along the way, and building a life that's a little less dependent on everything going perfectly.

You don't have to live in fear of tomorrow to start preparing for it today.

From our homestead to yours, keep growing, keep learning, and keep looking out for one another.

Mel & Chris

PS: We'd Love to Hear From You!

Are you doing anything differently these days to make your household more self-reliant? Maybe you're expanding your garden, learning to can, stocking your pantry, or picking up a skill your grandparents used to practice. Share it in the comments! We love hearing what others are doing, and you never know when your experience might inspire someone else to get started plus we can always learn another thing or two, afterall, we can't think of everything!