Introduction
If necessity is the ‘Mother of Invention’, then a power outage has to be the ‘Father of On-The-Job-Training’.
When we first moved to the farm, How to Cook a Possum wasn’t even in our thoughts. The Country Boy and I were both still working in the city, over an hour’s drive each way. The commute was tough and tiresome, and we often arrived home after dark.
One late fall evening, I pulled up at the gate to find the house without power. No lights, no nothing. Now, in the city, ‘dark’ is never truly black. Instead, it means gray shadows cast by headlights, soft glows from nearby businesses and streetlamps. But out here, it means what it says: Dark. Pitch Black. Total blackout. And thanks to the threat of rain, there wasn’t even a sliver of moon or a single twinkling star to light my path. The only thing overhead was clouds so thick and dark they had no distinguishing shape.
Being new to living in the country, I have to admit it was scary. But before I could open the gate, my neighbor stepped outside to let me know we had a power outage. Guided by my headlights, he followed me up the drive. Then he used his flashlight to walk me to the back door. He then waited until I got inside to retrieve my own. From there, I just prayed the two small lanterns we had were equipped with working batteries, and that I could find enough candles to make it through. At that point, we didn’t have a generator or had even thought about the necessity of having one.
Over the course of the next few power-less days, I was made aware of just how dependent we were on electricity, technology, and conveniences. By the time the power was restored four days later, I knew I needed to make some changes.
And those changes began with learning as many of the skills that our grandparents and ancestors had that, with the onset of electricity and technology, have since gone by the wayside.
Not only have those skills been beneficial during power outages, but they have also moved me forward in my goal to live a Simple Life. Many of these skills require focus and a better understanding of the task at hand. Rather than having something done for me instantly, I’m required to slow down. And in the slower process, I discover that I have a deeper enjoyment of what I am doing.
But it isn’t just power outages that put us in a position to need these skills. In recent history, we have been plagued with weather-related catastrophes, depressions, recessions, pandemics, job losses, rising prices, and food shortages. Learning as many of these skills as possible can only help us in a time of crisis and may end up helping us survive the challenging times.
How to Cook a Possum is designed to introduce you to many of these older skills. Although I do offer ‘how to’ on several of them, many of the skills are more of an overview. This is because these skills, such as canning, would need an entire book to cover all the information and directions needed to learn them. And there are also practical applications as well, such as recipes, DIY instructions, and more.
What this book is not is a deep level Survival Training course. There are no instructions or checklists on how to dig a bunker or pack an emergency to go bag (although it’s a good thing to have handy).
Rather, How to Cook a Possum is a book introducing you to the more frugal aspects of living a simple life. It shares ways to help you step away from a life of sheer dependency on outside sources, and more independence through your own knowledge, skills, and abilities. And although you may not have to live from scratch like those who did survive the depression, it can give you the satisfaction of knowing you could if times get tough.
It didn’t take living here very long to learn that if a bird sneezes while perched on a power line, we were going to have an outage. But I no longer worry about them. I can stay warm in the winter, cool(ish) in the summer, feed my family, and keep doing what needs to be done, whether we have electricity or not, and whether or not the generator is working.
Enjoyed the excerpt? There’s more of the story waiting.