Would You Consider Joining A Prepper Inspired Community?

[Arzosah]

I wish I'd got online a few days earlier, so I'd have been able to take part in this discussion.

"In Muggleton village"

Yeah I wish you had too Arzosah! I think use of Muggleton as an example is simply brilliant!

Thanks

Also, without having done research myself, there might be an objection to those not born there, as I think there is much in the way of close community spirit within those born there, but outsiders, not so much welcome I don’t think...as with any place...it’d be difficult to fit in I’d guess, plus others may follow your lead and head there...disrupting the status quo.

I can confirm that the rural scottish villages can be very against outsiders moving in and can be very mean and sometimes racist to anyone they don't deem "scottish". However adapting your accent helps to fit in - in the bigger villages/towns AND if we sacrifice some of the single members of the community to marry into the nearby scottish population...then eventually it should all work out. Either that or when all the new prepper babies are born and grow up then the animosity will be less.

As an English person, I wouldn't be moving to Scotland to face a difficult future - I'd stay in England, somewhere. Not that its about the Scots - but "outsiders" are always the first scapegoats, in every society, and I wouldn't intentionally make myself into more of an outsider than I already am. It might actually apply between English regions too, come to that (I love the whole "sacrificing the singles" thing .

[Raven]

It’s not quite a virgin sacrifice but perhaps a similar vein.

Shall we start by asking for volunteers?

[Arzosah]

What do you envision your near future needs to be and how far ahead do you want to plan for?

It's a good question and one that to me questions the whole reason for prepping.
I don't mean the idea of keeping a couple of hundred tins of beans in the house which is the sort of thing most of us do to give us an edge in a fairly temporary event.. That to me is personal prepping and isn't anything to be ashamed of but if we are talking about a community then we should be looking at preps that keep the whole community going generation after generation. I always think prepping should be about keeping the species going. To just keep oneself and family alive for the next 20 years is admirable and good for those involved but there's nothing after they've died then i feel ultimately it has failed.
As to the question of where i like your suggestions. The south is looking to feel the effects of climate change and sea level rise so perhaps not the best choice . Wales , Cumbria , west coast of Scotland maybe. Relatively closeish to services one might need to access but far enough away from large towns or cities although on such a small island there isn't really anywhere that's beyond a days drive away.

Some great points here. One really important thing I'd push for, given the "keeping the community going generation after generation:
- landscaping on the public areas, it should be as useful as possible, forage for humans (including wood for kindling and other uses), food and shelter for wildlife. Not planting an ornamental cherry when you can have a real cherry tree, basic stuff like that. Deepening the resilience and the complexity of the environment: safeguarding insect life, for us and for them, nesting sites for birds, encouraging species back into the area.
- "soft" landscaping to lessen the impact of flash floods - no one knows where they might strike, best to have help built in. Using water as wisely as possible - whether its in the house or the garden or public amenities.

Rambling a bit but I think working on maintaining and then healing the local environment will be crucial to long term survival.


ETA - just seen Raven's post

[Son Of Andrew]

[/quote]
As an English person, I wouldn't be moving to Scotland to face a difficult future - I'd stay in England, somewhere. Not that its about the Scots - but "outsiders" are always the first scapegoats, in every society
[/quote]

Although I mostly agree with your comment, and you're not wrong, I think if you get to know and help your neighbours (which anyone from a rural area knows, is normal anyway), if you respect the people and the culture, throw the odd party and invite them all (to try your amazing home-brewed scumpy or ale, hopefully), and you add to the community, then you'll be accepted in time.

Don't integrate, stay in hiding, drive around in a brand new 4x4, then put up a huge fence around your property and spend all your money at the local shops buying up all the wholefoods and toilet paper, then yeah, you're probably in for some (rightful) flack.

The likelihood of persecution definitely goes up though, the greater the cultural differences between those parties involved.

Scotland, not so much, but maybe I'm just biased. I'd be considered English from my accent, but my paternal ancestry is Scots and my mother's Irish, just a few generations ago.

M.

[Raven]

Scotland, not so much, but maybe I'm just biased. I'd be considered English from my accent, but my paternal ancestry is Scots and my mother's Irish, just a few generations ago.

I agree with what you said before about fitting in in general. HOWEVER some of those villages can be...awkward, I'm thinking of one in particular that had a bad rep for not accepting anyone that hadn't grown up there. They were a gorgeous coastal village their young can't afford the houses yet they wanted top dollar for it...a conundrum what they expected to happen really...

See!!! That was the word I was looking for! (he word being integrate - LOL) We volunteer a few of the singles to marry the locals and help us integrate into the local population (or scenery depending on how remote)!!!!!

Have none of you seen the film: seven brides for seven brothers? (I should probably just add that I am NOT advocating stealing women to make into brides! )
(Lone I now picture you as Adam from that film! )

[Arwen Thebard]

"if we sacrifice some of the single members of the community to marry into the nearby Scottish population..."

Aye, there are some bonny wee lassies just waiting for you....

[grenfell]

What do you envision your near future needs to be and how far ahead do you want to plan for?

It's a good question and one that to me questions the whole reason for prepping.

To just keep oneself and family alive for the next 20 years is admirable and good for those involved but there's nothing after they've died then i feel ultimately it has failed.

You are very deep and I like that you are prepared to says those things!

I think there are different ways of prepping and different types of preppers. For some its a part of who they are, or just a way of life, others just a stopgap for regular/likely/short-term events to be prepared for.
[/quote]

Perhaps not exactly deep , although having been called other things i'll take that one thanks. To me it just seems more like common sense. As a species we are like every other species in that we pass on our genes , we have young , children. It's a basic preparation for continued survival rather than doing nothing until we are 80 and then thinking "what do we do now?" A community , any community whether it's a prepper one or the BAU community we live in now has nursing , schools and the like aimed at nuturing the next generation. But i have to be clear that i'm not trying to push this community as some sort of free love , Aldous Huxley Brave new world ( although to be fair in that only the alpha females could have kids) . I also believe that one of mankinds biggest mistake has been to allow our population to grow to the levels that it has. . Again it's all about balance.

[diamond lil]

I think if half the population of the Highlands decided to move en masse to some of the wee villages in the SE of England then you'd see things differently. Scotland is not a playground for English preppers, I'm not being rude, just blunt and honest. Try the Yorkshire moors instead - I've been there once and it looked like home to me. Much the same terrain only flatter.
The Highlands have an Arctic climate in winter and roads are very few and difficult. The west coast is mild but WET and midgy. My Border hills have a better climate but very few centres of population, miles and miles of nothing. As in - nothing. No houses, no land available for building any.

[Raven]

Arwen that is hilarious! I'll take the top bride LOL

To me it just seems more like common sense. As a species we are like every other species in that we pass on our genes , we have young , children. It's a basic preparation for continued survival rather than doing nothing until we are 80 and then thinking "what do we do now?" A community , any community whether it's a prepper one or the BAU community we live in now has nursing , schools and the like aimed at nuturing the next generation. But i have to be clear that i'm not trying to push this community as some sort of free love , Aldous Huxley Brave new world ( although to be fair in that only the alpha females could have kids) . I also believe that one of mankinds biggest mistake has been to allow our population to grow to the levels that it has. . Again it's all about balance.

I think prepping is simply a way of life. My grandparents did it and If I told them they were preppers they'd have laughed their heads off. We just have a cool new term, a scenario to drill for and these help us connect with other common sens folk of the same inclination.

I definitely agree about the balance comment.

As for the Scottish comment...in fact...I feel soo strongly on this matter (Scotland) I'm going to stop because it gets into politics and stuff that are all inter-related. Grr...must...resist...the temptation!

I wouldn't worry about any en masse movements diamond lil as nearly everyone has said that they don't want their own village just to know folk are close enough should cars be broke which knowing the average size of the rural villages maybe around 4-6 prepper families to a village would be the limit and then a network of super rural preppers linking up the villages? This is all theoretical discussions at this stage...I wouldn't worry

[diamond lil]

England does not subsidise Scotland. And since that's politics let's stop it here.