When to keep it secret, and when to make it public.

On my last post, I went on kind of a long winded rant. A point came up I wanted to give a little time to. Keeping things secret vs. making it public. For the most part, my rule of thumb is let skills be public, and preps be private. There are caveats to this thought though.

If I am studying wild edibles, and want to show some of my “group,” by all means. However, I do not want to necessarily take some friends I do not trust enough to be in my “group” to the range to fire all my weapons, or show them my food stores.

Truth be told, my food stores are for my family. Unless it is becoming part of a community pool where everyone has there fair share, it is what it is. I have been reading One Second Later. Something I enjoy in the book is the food rationing. I guess I know why it was Congress suggest all read. Anyway, the idea is, you may eat from your food stores, but are not allowed a food voucher from the community. The flip side is share your food, and can get a community voucher meal. I don’t personally trust my neighbors, nor even like them, so I would not share.

The truth is, you have to figure out what you don’t want the wrong people knowing about you. People know I do ham radio. I am fine with that. People do not know I have several months of food stock piled. People know I garden, have chickens and solar power. People do not know I have my guns and ammo, nor that my wife and I are well trained in their use. It is obvious I have water barrels, but the locals do not know I have plans and the ability to purify that water.

I am strange enough for my neighbors to leave me alone, but sane enough to not pique unwanted interest. It is entirely up to you what you make private and public. I move my food stores into the house from the car when there is no one around. This is to not get that base knowledge out there. I cannot confirm 100% that no one will spot this, but at least they are far enough away to not know exactly what I am doing.

I suggest you figure out what you want others to know, and what you do not. Conceal your work, especially if you have annoying nosey neighbors that are to close for comfort. I live on a .11 acre lot, and have neighbors that are far closer than I wish. I have to deal with that, especially since I got new neighbors in December that are less than ideal. You gotta do what you gotta do, but be discrete, and be safe. Your preps go so far, and security is the one thing you got.