Me Right Now, Future Projects, and 2022 Initial Roadmap of What to Expect from Me.

Hi Family,

I wanted to write something about what we have going on with the channel currently and where I would like to go from here.

I have spend a lot of time doing building content because at this point it is the main prepping thing I am working on. I am building out my basement "doomsday" workshop, really for everyday not just doomsday.

You see I am a very lets say eccentric person. I am nondivergent. That is the only label I really like to describe how my brain works. Another way to look at is is most people run a Windows Mental Operating System while some people run a Mac/Apple Operating System.

Both work well but they are also very different in how they work. I mean if we wanted to use the labels that I don't care for(because they fail to really capture the truth of things) would be "on the spectrum", Mildly so I would say. I find it to truly be a difference in how we think, not so much a "disability" for myself and many, I fully accept that for a lot of people it is debilitating but then that is why they call it a spectrum, there is no box to fit in. A few other labels that may be applied would be ADHD, Bipolar Mania, (VERY MILD), and Asperger's.

Again there is just so much overlap between these and other conditions such as OCD I am of the believe that they are all pretty much the same thing. Kind of very real and also completely made up just so we can label something perfectly natural to the human experience. Many experts believe that people like myself and others who are "neurodivergant" are not a case where something goes wrong in the natural human mind but rather a clever solution to stagnancy in populations. I personally believe in evolution albeit with the caveat that it may all be intelligently designed by our creator/lord/aliens? I do not know. I don't think I can know for sure. One thing I do know is that I can watch evolution happen with my own eyes. I could culture bacteria and then expose it to antibiotic's, unnaturally selecting the most resistant ones to then survive and repopulate as a slightly different creature with different abilities.

I can breed animals to change them overtime too, plants as well!

Heck! Did you know most food crops we eat are actually the same damn plant so far bred and domesticated, or evolved by man into hundreds of different varieties of the same plant which evolved naturally. Cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts. Tomatoes, Potato's. Heck Corn used to resemble wheat(could we turn wheat into something like corn? Wheat Corn?)

The point is if humans can artificial cause an evolution, through these an other methods, nature certainly can and does. It doesn't matter if you believe in gods hand in setting that up or mere nature(and nature may be god) -The fact is you can see it happen with your own eyes. Natural selection is real.

The reason I wanted to make that point is that I and many experts believe that having a certain percentage of the human population be born with neurodivergence's is a natural solution to prevent populations from becoming stagnant in terms of new ideas. Some even believe that this actually started to be a thing fairly recently within the last 10-25 thousand years, keeping in mind that modern humans have existed for over 100 thousand years. Perhaps as the theory holds humans developed this trait that led them into the technological boom we have experienced over the last 10-25 thousand years. Overtime, some of the "different" people did things differently than how they always have been done, and finally progress started, and never stopped. We can see this with the great thinkers of today. Tesla, Einstein, Elon Musk, just to name a few, all were pretty dang neurodivergant. The people who change the world are the "weird ones". 100% of the time.

I have no delusions of being as impactful to humankind as those people have been but yet I think we share in this mental trait. We think different. That is not just okay, it is a good thing. I will also add that more people fall into this than you may think. It is not a small percentage and there is a decent change you may have some of these traits too and don't embrace them, you feel shame for them because our society wants everyone to fit neatly in a little box, follow the rules and not be different at all. A big part of what I do is try to make you love yourself for who you are and to see the incredible gift you and I have been given.

So I made that last big point because I think that is a HUGE part of what my content is. It is me, my personality and thoughts. I am unique and I do love myself and have pride in who I am. I have been lucky enough to be given a voice to express that to a lot of people. That is a big responsibility. I do struggle a lot both online and personally with being misunderstood or misinterpreted. People put assumptions onto my words and actions based on their experience with not neurodivergant people. Quite simple really, sometimes I mess up and don't express myself correctly while thinking I am being clear, because my brain works differently I do not always understand fully how someone else might misinterpret my intentions if that makes sense.... Yet equally true on many occasions I am just speaking in terms so far off the level most people are on that they have no comprehension of what I am actually talking about, maybe it is very abstract who knows but so they again make incorrect assumptions instead of asking for clarification from me. You know this section of this post might turn out to be one of those examples actually...haha.

Okay so That is a lot about me personally, but I want you to walk away with all of that applied to my prepping is one of the pillars of what my content is. My personality and thought process, creativity, comedy, art, theories will always be one of the main points of what I bring you. Honestly the way I see it the way I have applied those things to my prepping passion is one of the reasons I have seen success in this.

There have always been dozens of traditional survivalist/veteran/operator prepping content creators. No offence to anyone who falls under that...they give a ton of GREAT prepping tips and skills, in absolutely no way should anyone devalue or disregard that type of information/content in terms of prepping. That being said, there is plenty of that stuff other there. The world doesn't need me focused on just that operator stuff. The truth is combat should be AVOIDED whenever possible. This is very rarely if ever expressed on many of these types of prepping channels. That isn't prepping for surviving a disaster as a civilian, that is prepping for war. They are not the same thing. Most people are not willing or capable to become effective soldiers. They are a rare breed. You know this. Heck a ton of people are so far away from that mindset that they don't get into prepping at all, it is too intimidating, and honestly not so so useful for many. It is great to learn that stuff but it is not enough to fill the needs of the community I am trying to reach and help get prepared for disaster, the average person, not the operator.

Yet, for too long that has been all there is. That type of content first, is not enough in my opinion. I do give you tons of what I do know in that regard sure but I do not think the point of my content is or ever will be to give you more of the same that you get elsewhere. Nor should it be that way.

I try to come at all of this in my own way, share my thoughts, ideas, theory, ask questions to both learn myself and help get you thinking. Pre-thought is so so important for this stuff. You might not have time to think during a disaster, especially not think very effectively so doing the types of thought exercises I give you darn near daily is key the way I see things.

I also understand that most people do not live on a compound/ranch in the middle of nowhere. A lot of the prepping advice given by established homesteaders is great, heck most of it is. There is a ton of crossover between the prepper and homestead niches. Yet I think again, the really in-depth established content like that is being made by a ton of other great creators. So with this stuff too I take a different approach. I take the approach of where I actually am with it. My preps are, either the world ends or not, going to support my homestead/independent living in the future. Both in terms of the things I have been getting and the skills I have been learning.

Speaking of learning, they say the best way to learn is to teach. I believe in that so ESPECIALLY when I am trying to learn something(which is constantly) Then I intend to share that with you so both I can learn it better by teaching and you may learn something too! That something may help save both of our lives.

I think we have established a theme, my content is always going to be a different approach to the things we cover than what you can get elsewhere. This will create differences of opinion on some things. My thought is you should do what everyone is going to do anyways. Make your own mind up about this stuff, listen to different perspectives as a raw material for your own thoughts/plans/skills not so much a "finished product". That is some of the best advise I can give you and it applies to pretty much all things. Some people say "be careful who you listen to" I say no. not that. People need to listen more, talk less. Listening to diverse viewpoints is important, not something to be avoided. Perhaps the better thing to say is "be careful what you believe, keep an open mind yet still trust but verify information" HEY by the way apply that to the people telling you to be careful who you listen too as well. No one is perfect and if that is what you are looking for you are in for a bad time, if you think you have found that in someone then you are in for an even worst time because you actually haven't.

ANYWAYS,

Boy, I really should have split that up into a few different posts we still need to talk about the details of the content I am doing right now and plan to do.

So Last year we spent a lot of time in my bunker, which by the way is a noun, maybe an adjective to, but mainly it is a name. Yes, I made/am making my bunker. Firstly a lot of people are really ignorant to what that term means.

Wikipedia says a Bunker is defined as

"A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs or other attacks. Bunkers are mostly underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground."

My Bunker fits that bill. Sorry to tell you for the ignorant people who first of all do not even know most of the real details about it because I do not share them. Another thing to keep in mind a bunker, or survival shelter does not need to be a military grade nuclear silo. It doesn't matter how fortified a bunker is, the best bunkers in the world have air-vents. Not to mention the people who by those are kind of not being smart just because they were on friggen zillow, everyone knows where they are and all the details. It does not have as much stealth.

I try to keep my details that I share as minimal as possible yet I fully understand I have been a moderate security sacrifice in order to show people what they could also do.

The fact is more people can build what I have build or similar than those who can spend hundreds of thousands to millions of something more fortified than mine. I aim to show people they can do more than they think they can with very little.

So my bunker content is not going away however for right this moment we are working on my workshop so that;

A. we can declutter my bunker by storing a ton of stuff in the workshop instead.

B. We can upgrade the bunker using the setup I am building in the workshop

C. we will continue to add functionality to the workshop area, eventually fortifying and hiding it. Perhaps it will be more likely to be found than the bunker but I would rather do what I can to hide/secure it. I also think that will be a fun and highly educational project for the channel. People want to know how to build hidden rooms out for cheapish.

D. I need to do dozens of prepping based projects all over my house and property but I need my workshop up and running to facilitate that content later in the year and going forward forever.

There are more reasons that we do not need to go into but I wanted to touch on this other one. I really do want to help the prepper on a tight budget when possible, but also the ones that aren't. so on my site and within my content I do talk about things that require an investment. (This also helps me pay my bills so I can support making this content.)

However a big thing I have done and want to do a lot more of is to turn trash into treasure. There is a lot of reasons for this not the least of which being a lot of people don't have enough money to buy a ton of prepping stuff but perhaps I can help them turn trash into something useful. Plus I just love the Vibe, aesthetic, and idea of upcycling and giving new life to things. It is kind of an artform for me?

Another way to look at that is that for prepping you NEED to know how to make do with what you have, you need to make your investments wisely. Would you rather by one piece of kit or use that same money to buy a tool that will let you make a ton of stuff including something that would work in place of the store bought kit?

Only way to learn what tools would be helpful in that is to either try or watch me try to make something useful from junk/trash.

I also think it is a good post SHTF scavenging skill.

So expect ongoing building the workshop content.

Right now we are working on storage, building out the basic set up, getting all the tools and materials moved into there, stored and organized. This will take a bit.

We also want to add a bunch of insulation for sounds, temp, thermal imaging and emp, of course bullets too if possible.

I am thinking about installing a woodstove that could provide off-grid heat to not only the workshop itself but our bedroom above.

I will either be installing my stove in the workshop or in my privative kitchen I am planning on building this year, likely both eventually!

There is also an equal size space next to the workshop I plan on including as a hidden prepping area, probably a more luxury but less secure living area than the actual bunker. I want to be able to accommodate potential family members that need disaster shelter and having an extra living space will be the solution to that but Lauren and I may also make heavy use of the space. It is good to have redundancy in all things prepping. So we will be building this living space in the coming months. The living quarters will also contain a large amount of storage for my prepping supplies especially some of the bulkier items from the bunker, we do not need to store as much toilet paper in there as we do if we can store and hide it elsewhere. Looters wont be in my home or on my property constantly or even often after a certain point so it should be safe to move between the bunker and this new area, depending on a lot of factors.

All of that having many benefits but making more room in the bunker is key because I plan to add a lot of upgrades to that soon.

Also The Hobo camp/outdoor skill training area on my back acre is just paused right now, I need to get my workshop sorted for the moment because not having that done is holding up 10 other things that need doing. The outdoor camp will a big part of this years content but just not for the next few weeks or month or so more than likely.

Another project we are going to look at doing this year is my shed, it is very large and I would like to get that set up as a metal fab shop inside with a basic blacksmith set up right outside. That might be longer term because I can't really afford the set up for that right now but working on the shed will be part of this years content. I would like to get into that by spring but we will see. I intend to do some upgrades to the shed prior to doing any of the longer term stuff. I like the idea of making into a functional tiny home, even if it quite basic. A composting toilet eventually, rainwater supported running water, a bit of renewable power, wood stove, the basics. I will probably build a small loft area for the sleeping/lounge area and have the downstairs tiny home stuff out of the way so it can also be a shop space too. Multiple purpose. I would like to have a greenhouse attached to this on one side and a blacksmith on another. I may add a third side with a covered garage area just a simple roof and some walls.

The below picture went on my instagram today, here is the caption

"I took a weeklong fabrication class a few years ago. Loved it. I wish I had the $$$ to invest in a fab set up. Honestly I would prefer to have the whole Mig setup but I could make do with a basic machine. Honestly acquiring the raw material even as scrap would be quite expensive or at the very least time consuming. Long term once it is in the cards I would like to turn my shed into a fabrication workshop. We are currently building the Basement Doomsday workshop but that is more general purpose/woodshop than metal fab. It would be amazing to have two separate areas for the different type of work, it would be amazing to have the fab stuff at all. One day. I would also like to add a blacksmith area, covered but outside adjacent to the shed. I want to start by building a simple forge and all that fun stuff then start breaking down popcans into ingots to then form into something better. I think it would be amazing to build some sort of roller to turn the alum into some kind of sheet metal! One day fam, one day, many projects for that and of course we will need the $$$. Good to dream."

So This Has been a really long post! I wonder how many of you made it this far! I think still this is an important post! Last thing I will say if this year I am going to continue to lean into being myself, sharing my art and my ideas, my creativity. I am going to keep writing, I want to publish several books this year. Develop and bring a ton of projects to market, continue building out the prepzone.org and building a place for a community within. I am going to quit working for the man and start to be free and independent this year(maybe very soon to be honest thanks to your incredible support of what I do, thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. )

I wouldn't say you will be seeing very much less of the types of content you follow me for, all I want to say is you are about to get so so much more from me because I am going to dedicate this to being my full time job. I wanted to let you know that you can expect more stuff, new and exciting stuff, but also directly what SOME of that will be. I left out a ton of surprises for ya. Also I know for a fact I am going to think of hundreds of new and unrelated things to work on this year. This is going to be a radical year of change and growth for me and I hope that if you come along for the journey the same can be true of you. It is also going to be the year of doing the WORK. We going places baby. I am motivated. Lets go get it.

Stay safe family,

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Luke, The Prep Papi