About Magpie

I've known about the importance of stocking food and supplies my whole life. I grew up going camping often, and I spent some of my best days scavenging around in the woods by the Embarrass River behind one of my childhood homes. I build forts, found trees and bushes I could eat off of, and I wasn't scared to just go suck up some of the river water if I got thirsty. I knew way before my teen years that my dream setting would be in the middle of no where.. building my own home, having gardens and animals, being able to cook outside, and I wanted to do as much as I could with my own two hands because I never wanted to feel like I had to depend on anyone. I day dreamed about it all the time. Back then I even thought I was practicing for this future life I would once live. Like everyone else though, as I started getting older I didn't pay attention to the same things I did before, and I kind of fell out of touch with the things I was once so familiar with and interested in.

I can't remember what triggered it, but a few years ago I started thinking back on these things. I started remembering the days I spent in the woods and how much I loved fishing and camping. I started thinking about the land I used to want to grow food and animals on. I started remembering it all. All those memories made me start thinking about how now, as an adult, I could really start looking into those old dreams and perhaps.. with a little planning, work, and prayer.. I could very well make those dreams come true. So I decided to look it all up. I looked up preppers, survivalists, how to be self sufficient, and information on every survival skill I could think of. There were infinite results to every search I did and it all got very overwhelming, very quick. I think my mind could only absorb so much information at a time before it felt like I needed everything to be dumbed down just so I could understand it.

After nearly giving up because there seemed to be too much information for me to sort through, I decided to just start on my own. No guidance from the internet or books, no videos or mini-classes, nothing. I started stocking back a little bit of food and water, and teaching myself some skills that I felt would come in handy. I still have what seems to be an endless to-learn list, followed by an equally lengthy to-do list, but I'm well on my way. I've wondered lately though, if I felt so discouraged when I started out on this trek to prepping my home, learning ways to be self sufficient, and trying to pluck out the most important skills.. how many other people are going through that same thing right now? A little preparation and knowledge will go a long way in events like unemployment, government collapse, natural or man-made disasters, pandemic threats, or possibly even a forever talked about zombie apocalypse.. and in times like these, there isn't room for confusion, especially not as much as I went through.

Instead of just passing on to the next thought in my head, I decided to start writing. Not only will writing about things help inform others, but it will help me to understand things better through the studies or practices I do in order to provide the posts. I want to write about the basics of prepping, survival, and self sufficiency, starting from the bottom and working my way up. I turned the small feeling of wanting to provide those who are just starting out with simple, down to the point information, into one of my goals. Now I strive to provide readers with accurate articles, tutorials, and ideas without all the bells and whistles.. each post you find on this blog will be simply worded content that's easy to understand, and without error to the best of my knowledge.

I understand that everyone's needs for specific information comes at different times, so I encourage questions and topic suggestions. Anything that will assist readers in gathering the information they need. If you would like to contact me somewhere besides in the comments below, or under any of the other posts, please go to the 'Contact Magpie' page for more options. Please take a minute to subscribe so you will be notified of future posts, and take just a second to share this blog with others who may find it useful.

I look forward to hearing from you.