An Interview with Kelli Otting, Author of Apocalypse and the Liberty Dying Series

Given your background, knowledge and experience, what do you feel are the three most important survival or prepping skills?

1. Reloading and gunsmithing are two related skills that will be as good as gold in a SHTF scenario for yourself and for potential trading or bartering.

2. Being physically fit is the difference between life or death when the SHTF. Being an armchair prepper with a credit card and a pile of unused gear is going to be great for the guy who finds it after that armchair prepper can’t survive the physical requirements of a post electrical event.

If you can’t use the gear you’ve already bought, don’t buy anything else until you’ve used everything ten times. Know how to use it in the dark, in the cold, when it’s raining or snowing,… Get physically fit and learn skills like gardening, animal husbandry, meat curing, canning, dehydrating with solar, and many many more.

3. Sock-maker and shoemaker. Pure and simple two of the most overlooked skills. Shoes and socks can be the difference between freezing feet or dry warm feet. Not only cold but rocky terrain can be brutal on the feet.

What would you purchase if you only had $500 to spend on preparedness supplies?

Personally, I would invest in heritage seeds, chickens, goats, and sheep.

Growing, harvesting and storing food is the only sustainable way to make it in a long term situation. MRE’s and freeze dried food will run out. It’s good to have a year or more supply in case you have a bad harvest but ultimately to survive long term, you’ll need a sustainable supply of fresh food.

Find a community and begin a sustainable homestead with other likeminded individuals. Goats for milk and food, sheep for wool and food, chickens for eggs and food, garden for food and seeds for next year’s garden. This can be accomplished on a small parcel of land. If you have more land, then cows might be an option and of course horses. I think the essential are the small animals and larger ones are the so-called, icing on the cake.

Do you feel totally prepared and if not, what prep area concerns you the most?

Personally, I need to practice with my firearms more. I enjoy shooting but it’s become significantly more expensive over the past six years.

I’ve taken the steps to get out of Illinois to relocate in Arkansas. We sold our business and if our house doesn’t sell, we’ll rent it. We are not putting our plan on hold waiting – for anything – a moment longer.

When we’re through with this reallocation of our wealth, we’ll have the deed to our modest farm. The banks won’t own our property. It was one of the highest priority items on our list to ensure our land was ours… well, as long as we can continue to pay the tax. It left us in the most secure position we could manage. To what extent does your family participate in your personal preparedness efforts?

My son is a Lieutenant in the Army and he’s headed overseas. His wife isn’t involved at all but I’ve made sure that my granddaughter and daughter-in-law drive to my homestead when I tell them to. Other family members have been invited but I don’t think a single one has done anything for themselves. We love them enough to help them in the event of an event.

We have a strict policy that uninvited guests will only be warned one time. It’s just the way it has to be and I think anyone else who takes prepping seriously understands this statement.

Do you have anything else, such as an announcement, message, personal experience, that you would like to share with the readers on Backdoor Survival?

Get out there and do it. Take the scary plunge and make the move to sustainable existence. It doesn’t have to be rough. Learn the skills and practice, help a farmer, learn remedies that don’t rely on chemicals.

If the current state of world affairs doesn’t move you into action perhaps feeding your children and grandchildren food without GMO’s and other chemicals might. The food available in the grocery stores are mostly PRODUCTS not real food. Learn what you’re eating. And what your children are eating – and improve their health and your health by getting the chemicals out of your family’s food supply. A side effect of this is that you’re on the road to sustainable living and long term food security in the event a SHF scenario comes to pass.