Are You Ready?
Are You Actually Ready, Or Just Pretending?
I’d like to interrupt this food storage series for a PSA (Public Service Announcement)..
It’s become painfully clear that many homesteaders have no idea how their basic systems work when something goes wrong. That ignorance isn’t cute or quirky. It’s dangerous.
I forget this sometimes because I built my own home. I soldered the copper pipe, did the easy electrical, and had a professional do the main box, breakers, long runs, and then check my work. I’ve done minor vehicle repairs and learned to fix many things from professionals and from “YouTube University.”
But many beginning—and even established—homesteaders haven’t done any of the projects on their own land. They’ve paid for systems they don’t understand and can’t maintain. In an emergency, that is a recipe for failure, not resilience.
My goal in this newsletter is to shake you awake—inspire you, yes, but also warn you. If you don’t understand your own systems, you are severely limiting your chances of surviving, much less thriving, in a minor or major crisis.
We cannot do everything ourselves. But we can:
Watch professionals while they work and ask questions.
Ask them to explain the system and basic troubleshooting in plain language we can write down.
Take classes, apprentice for a day, or trade labor with skilled neighbors.
If you are homesteading, you are on a journey to own as much of your life as possible. That means gaining knowledge every single day.
So let me be blunt:
If you do not know how your solar, backup power, water, and heat actually work, why do you have them?
In a real emergency, you will not be able to call customer support.
The hard questions
Ask yourself, right now:
If a pipe breaks, do you know where the shutoff valve is for that line? Does it even have one?
Do you know where your main water shutoff is?
Do you know how long your freezer and refrigerator will keep food safe if the power goes out and you keep the doors closed (roughly 4 hours for a fridge, 24–48 hours for a full freezer, less if half full)
Do you understand what’s myth and what’s reality when it comes to emergencies?
Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room.
You have a bug‑out bag you’ve never walked a mile with. You have trees for firewood but don’t know if your chainsaw runs or where it is, and you don’t own safety chaps. The only thing you’ve been “shoveling” is snacks into your mouth.
All of this sets you up to fail when it matters most.
If this lifestyle were easy, everyone would do it.
“Knowledge is NOT power. Knowledge is only potential power. Action is power.”
– Tony Robbins
Start where you are, but don’t stay there
Whatever physical condition you’re in, you can improve from there.
My own healing has been slower than I’d like. When I see any improvement, I set a new goal. For me, being able to walk around my homestead without a walking stick is a huge victory. For someone else, that might seem trivial. They may be working on carrying a 45‑pound pack uphill faster. Another person is working on standing with leg braces and a walker. Someone else is working on pushing their wheelchair up a ramp independently.
We are all at different points on this path, but the demand is the same: move forward. Learn. Prepare. Take ownership.
You must understand your systems
I am sounding an alarm.
You must understand how things work in your home, barn, and on your homestead. I’m not saying you have to be able to rebuild everything. I am saying you have to know enough to shut things down safely, protect your family, and make rational decisions under stress.
“Ignorance is bliss” is a bold face lie.
When the power dies
The power goes out, and you have no idea how long it will last.
Every time you open the refrigerator, you let in warm air and cut down how long the food stays safe.
The bottom of the refrigerator is usually the coldest zone.
A full freezer holds safe temperatures far longer than a half‑full one, especially if you keep the door closed and the room is cool.
Have you thought about:
How old is your freezer and whether its seals are still tight?
Where is it (cool basement vs. hot garage)?
These details matter when the power is out for days, not hours.
Municipal water and sewage
If you’re on municipal water and sewer, you must find out how resilient your system is.
Wastewater plants and water utilities are vulnerable to power outages and storms; when backup power is limited or fails, they can spill untreated sewage – through lost pressure - and risk contamination of drinking water.
I have mostly lived with a well and septic and didn’t realize how fast municipal systems can fail. Friends in Anchorage watched raw sewage back up into their lower floor through a garage drain and bathroom fixtures due to a broken main pipe at the street. The whole block was affected. It was a nightmare.
If you’re on city services:
Ask how long they can run on backup power.
If your home is lower than surrounding areas or downhill from industrial sites, learn how to plug drains and fixtures on the lowest level before something happens.
Floods: invisible, deadly risks
Do you live in a flood‑prone area?
People rush downstairs to save valuables, not realizing the water has reached the electrical outlets. They step into the water, become part of the circuit, and can’t move because of electrically induced muscle spasms. They drown—or someone else runs down to save them and now there are two victims.
Flood water isn’t just “dirty.” It carries animal and human waste, chemicals, trash, fuel, bits of metal and glass, and residues from medications and industrial sites.
If you’ve been in flood water, no matter how shallow:
Wash your entire body as soon as you safely can.
If you find any skin break, clean it thoroughly and use antibiotic ointment. Don’t wait until morning.
Light, sleep, and sanity in an emergency
During a crisis, a generator and bright lights feel comforting—but they can work against you.
Constant artificial light at night disrupts your circadian rhythm, which affects sleep, immune function, mood, and your ability to think clearly.
Use light deliberately: a small nightlight in another room, or low, indirect light after dark.
Adults can take shifts so that everyone gets solid blocks of sleep.
Where people are sleeping, keep it as dark and quiet as possible.
Protect children’s regular sleep schedule as much as you can; a predictable rhythm reduces their fear and emotional overload.
Water: the illusion of “I’ll just melt snow”
Water is one of the biggest blind spots.
You may think, “If it’s winter, I’ll just melt snow.” As a 30+‑year Alaskan, let me tell you: that is not a simple solution. Snow has different moisture levels. Heavy, wet snow yields far more water than dry, fluffy snow. Dry snow requires huge volumes and a lot of time and fuel to produce even a few cups.
If you have family and livestock, you will be busy for hours just trying to melt enough. And that assumes you have fuel, a safe setup, and all the fittings you need.
Ask yourself:
Do you have the hoses, adapters, and connectors you need to hook your water filter to actual containers or a faucet?
Do you know how your municipal water plant behaves in an outage and whether contamination risks increase? Many systems have limited backup; loss of pressure and pump failures can draw contaminants into the treated water lines.
One practical step:
Go to your electric panel and turn off the breaker for your water heater.
Close the intake and outlet valves on the top of the water heater.
Now the tank is isolated from the main line and power. That stored water becomes an emergency reserve.
Lists and drills save lives
Talking about making a list is not enough. Writing the list and practicing it can save lives.
Hold a planning session with everyone who is regularly in your home:
Children
Elders
Physically challenged family members
Babysitters, caretakers, cleaning services
If your cleaners or caregivers come when you’re not home, they need their own simple, written emergency list and a short briefing from you. They don’t need the deep family strategy session, but they do need clarity about what to do, where things are, and what you expect of them.
For caregivers and babysitters:
Walk them through the steps in person.
Rewrite anything on their list that confuses them.
Remember: in an emergency, adrenaline makes it harder to think. Simple, clear instructions matter.
Children feel less afraid when they know what’s happening and what’s expected of them. Give them age ‑ and temperament ‑ appropriate tasks. This doesn’t have to be heavy or scary; it can be framed as a family planning meeting, so everyone knows what to do “if X happens.”
You might learn surprising things:
The child you thought would relax with Legos actually wants coloring supplies.
Their comfort foods might be different from what you assumed.
Your spouse is afraid of the generator.
Your spouse is not physically strong enough to close mains.
Those details matter at 2 a.m. in a storm.
Practice: a “camp out at home”
Announce a “home camp‑out” for next weekend: two days with the power intentionally turned off.
If your children melt down at the idea of no electronics, that’s a warning sign you need to address now, not in the middle of a real crisis. You will need alternative activities they genuinely enjoy.
Think about:
Medications and medical equipment. How long can they function without power? One week? Two?
Do you have spare parts for each critical device? Do you know which parts usually fail?
Could an oxygen concentrator or generator be safer than relying entirely on oxygen tanks?
If your climate has extreme seasonal swings, run this drill twice: once in summer and once in winter. Make a checklist:
What you want to test
Where each piece of equipment is
What order you’ll check things in
In a city apartment, filling every tub, sink, and 5‑gallon bucket will be near the top of the list. On my homestead in winter, connecting the generator to livestock water heaters and starting the woodstove are first priorities.
You will discover things you never would have thought about. My well uses a 220‑volt pump. My generator could technically run it, but the startup surge required a larger unit than I had planned for. Oopps!
Also consider how people get home or meet up if they’re away:
Work, school, regular activities, what’s the plan if power and cell service go down?
Some schools will not release children even to parents during certain emergencies. Learn your school’s policies now, in writing if possible.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Build a real emergency inventory
Your written plan should include:
Locations of all main shutoffs (water, gas, power), with the needed tool hanging right there.
Where flashlights, headlamps, and work lights are stored, and how you’ll charge them—including cords, power banks, and spare batteries.
At least three different style manual can openers.
Where your alternative heating and cooling options are, and what spare parts they need. A snowblower without extra shear pins is just heavy scrap.
Food:
Shelf‑stable items that require no cooking: peanut butter, canned meats, fish, and crackers can go a long way.
Only stock what your family will actually eat.
If you’ve bought buckets of “survival food,” open one now. Learn how long it really takes to prepare, how it tastes, how big the portions are, and whether it agrees with your digestion. The middle of an emergency is not the time to discover that the food is nearly inedible.
Now—while you can simply flip a breaker or turn the main back on—is the time to learn where the failures are.
Backups for your backups
One is none, two might do, three is key, four is more, and five to thrive.
Luetta
I want backups for my backups.
Test everything you are counting on. I had a Buddy Heater as part of my backup plan. In a real winter emergency, it wouldn’t light. I had to go to Plan C. Later, I learned (thank you again, YouTube University) that a tiny propane tube was clogged and needed cleaning. If I had tested it at the beginning of winter, I would have known in time to fix it.
Search for videos that match the exact equipment you own. Learn the common failure points and basic maintenance.
This is your wake‑up call
I cannot overstate how serious this is.
Do not file this away for “someday.” Put a family brainstorming meeting on your calendar. During that meeting, schedule your “camping at home” weekend. Yes, it will be inconvenient. Yes, it will take time and energy. It will also show you where you are truly prepared—and where you are dangerously exposed.
There are two handouts attached to this newsletter.
Paid subscribers will find additional resources and checklists in their version of this post.
I want and value your feedback. Tell me:
What topics you want more depth on.
Whether the level of detail in these newsletters helps you, or if you’d like more step‑by‑step in certain areas.
If you’re wondering about something, you are almost certainly not the only one. I am here to serve this community and to help you move from wishful thinking to real preparedness.
Until next time, may your hearth be bright and your soil rich—keep tending your dreams and growing in grace,
Luetta
I read the introvat the top and immediately subscribed. Disabled and elder folk need self-sufficiency and inter-dependent skill building.
Very well said though I would go further. We are writing on related topics. My aim with the substack Ive just started - TheAutomatedHomestead is to get people to look at technology they use or wish to use around the place and actually understand how and why it works. Pros and cons. A little less from an emergency preparedness point of view (though I totally agree with that - I live in Australia - hello bushfires!) but more from a basic understanding of fundamentals.
If you actually understand the gear you have. Really understand. Then its use in novel and unexpected situations should be straightforward.