The US has been down graded by Standard and Poor’s from a Triple AAA Country to a Double AA+. It’s a sign the time has come to start preparing for drastic changes in how we live our lives and especially in how we approach FOOD. It’s time to become Food Independent. Food Independence is a part of what “Preppers” are all about. If you’re hearing that term for the first time, welcome to the fast growing community that identifies itself with that catchy label. So what’s a “Prepper” and how many of them are there? This segment of the US population is growing so fast that it’s hard to keep up with their numbers. Last count, there were over 4 million people self-identifying as “Preppers”.

Here’s one definition of what a “Prepper” is: An individual or group that prepares or makes preparations in advance of, or prior to, any change in normal circumstances or lifestyle without significant reliance on other persons (i.e., being self-reliant), or without substantial assistance from outside resources (govt., etc.) in order to minimize the effects of that change on their current lifestyle. Definition by Riverwalker

If you do some exploring in this realm, you’ll discover it’s a return to our Agrarian American roots, a step back into the past. Preppers are about doing things our grandmothers, grandfathers and great grandparents were doing in the fifties: gardening, canning, raising chickens and goats. Others are going high tech with wind turbines and solar cells. It’s sometimes referred to as “survival lite”; and it’s a real mixed bag; but they all have one thing in common--a sense that things are going to change drastically in the US, and they need to get self sufficient fast.

There are so many blogs, facebook pages and websites geared to this lively community, that they can’t all be listed in one place, so I won’t try. Here are a few of the best sites: The Survival Mom, In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog, The Surburban Prepper, Back Door Survival, Activist Post, The Survival Blog, Stealth, Survival Blog and Urban Survival.

Supreme among them is the American Preppers Network. This network also has chapters in almost every state , which you can join separately.

Needless to say, here at Aquaponics USA, we consider ourselves to be “Preppers”. We’d been operating this business for over a year when we discovered there was even such a thing as a “Prepper”; and we simultaneously realized we were among them. Since then we’ve gotten active on the American Preppers Network Forum and  plan to continue with those posts. Here’s a handy widget that allows you to read everything we post on that informative forum without having to go find it. Just type Aquaponics USA into this Search Engine.

  Are you Prepared? Are you Ready to become a PREPPER! Here’s a great place to start.

Our new Growroom was built here. See this system producing food on Greenhouse Page.