I think most people could honestly say they’re not prepared for the ultimate, you know, kicking us back into a “third world country” type thing. Look, I really believe you need to learn skills along with having food and things. If we got really kicked back in into being a third world country, or really kick back on our heels, you’re gonna need more than just what’s in your pantry.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction to Jerry Kassner
5:46 Why Aren’t My Family & Friends Preparing?
10:09 First Step to Prepping
13:56 Importance of Backups
17:33 Sustaining Your Current Standard of Living
21:34 It Takes a Community
28:43 Filling in the Gaps
35:58 Threats of War
40:29 Not All Doom & Gloom
43:17 Outro
Follow Jerry Kassner ⬇️
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwrNtgrGScq83XisQhauKRw
TRANSCRIPT FROM VIDEO:
Lynette Zang:
You know, a lot of people have known me as my work as Chief Market Analyst at ITM Trading. But what you may or may not know is that that is the whole reason why I started my urban farm and all the preparations that go with it. And we all wanna make sure that you also are fully prepared. I’d like to welcome you here today at Beyond Gold and Silver. Today’s very special guest is Jerry Kassner and he has a YouTube channel called the House of Prep and he states if ever there was a time to be prepared, it is now. And you got know, I could not agree with him more. He also says that sometimes life throws curve balls. And when it does, we not only wanna have the ability to take care of ourselves, but also provide for our loved ones around us. And personally I’d say, a complete social, economic and financial system reset is probably the biggest curve role of all his channel discusses topics on being prepared in multiple areas. That’s what we’re gonna talk about today. And I am so happy to have him here today. Jerry, thank you so much for coming.
Jerry Kassner:
Hey, Lynette so glad to be here. Thank you.
Lynette Zang:
Well, you know, I always likes to start out with, what motivates you, why do you do, why do you do the YouTube channel? Why are you prepping? I mean, really what motivates you?
Jerry Kassner:
A little over a year ago, I started a channel on YouTube. Actually what motivated me to do it was my youngest daughter always telling me, dad, you need to have a YouTube channel <laugh> and just in general, you know, about anything. But what really started got me thinking about it is, well, you know, it is time to prep. I mean before a year ago. Yeah. But more than ever. And I was like, well, if I’m going to do a YouTube channel, it’s going to be about prepping. What kind of motivated me to become a prepper of what they call is years ago, living in Florida hurricane season. Oh yeah. And you can hear all the news. You can hear all the stories. I listening to other people when they jump in comments and talk about, you know, what got me and to being better prepared but being in the storms, not just the storms of life, but the real storms that came through and how it can devastate the area. It could, it could make it harder to get your money out of the bank. It could take your electricity out, it could make your water un-drinkable, and just trying to have all your ducks in a row for anything that comes in life. And that was pretty much my main motivation.
Lynette Zang:
That’s that’s really good motivation. That’s actually what motivated me too. Although my work as an economist and knowing that this is the end of this currency’s life cycle is really what motivated me to get prepared in, in more than gold and silver, because we need to have them, you know, I don’t know if you’re aware, but my mantra is Food, Water, Energy, Security, Barterability, Wealth Preservation, Community, and Shelter. And do you have a specific mantra that you use?
Jerry Kassner:
I’m a big promoter of food I like to eat. <Laugh> right. Yeah. <laugh> just be prepared, but I don’t, I always say no fear. I think a lot of people or reactors in life, like you’re talking about financial and, and sure up your finances and things. I think so many times people get caught blindsided and they find themselves reacting instead of being proactive. So I think my mantra would be, be proactive if that was, if I were to pick one,
Lynette Zang:
I think that’s good. And also, I, I like the no fear. I mean, I’ve been personally aside from the Gold and Silver, but as far as the Food, Water, Energy and Security, Community and Shelter, I’ve really been doing that for since 2010. That’s when I bought this property and started putting in gardens and things like that. So we have a lot of things that are going on. And one of the, you know, I get this all the time, a little different than you got it, but you recently did a video on why aren’t my family and friends on board with my prepping. Now, the question that I get all the time. And it’s very similar and that’s why I want kind of put the two of them together and talk about it is how can I convince my friends and family to get prepared to prep. So have you and your travels in talking to people, have you figured out how to help people <affirmative> show others the way?
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah, it’s a big topic. I receive emails all the time through this past year. Once people started learning who I was and sincerely asking, you know, Hey, I really would like my spouse to be on board and I’m having a really hard time or another close family member. And they’re not quite sure what to do. And it’s, it’s something that’s a real fear. It’s a real problem that people face is trying to coexist with family members that don’t believe the same way. Right. and I always jokingly say you can talk about anything in life except for religion and politics. And then I threw in and prepping because some family members just don’t get it.
Lynette Zang:
Isn’t it amazing how upset people will get about, I mean, what you’re seeing, all of this comes out of my garden, you know?
Jerry Kassner:
Oh, wow. Yeah,
Lynette Zang:
Yeah. Oh, booty hooty, rooty, manooty, how is that a bad thing? <Laugh>
Jerry Kassner:
Right. It’s not, and that’s what, it’s the hardest thing I try to tell people is like first be patient, because so many times you desperately want people to believe like you, especially when you see the writing on the wall, I enjoy your passion when I watch your videos and it’s a passion and you want to share that passion with people. And sometimes you just can’t understand why are people not waking up to that? And that’s the first step is be patient and just, okay. You just have to understand everybody’s wired differently in life. We all, don’t like vanilla ice cream. Some of us are chocolate ice cream eaters. <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Good point.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. Yeah. And just be patient and just understand everyone kind of has to come to their own conclusion about things sometimes. Look at this last couple years. And like you mentioned today, I mean, we’re, we’re facing so many new obstacles of life and new curve balls. And you would think that most people by now would wake up and…
Lynette Zang:
You’d think!
Jerry Kassner:
Do something at the bare minimum you would think. Right. But they still don’t or they do for a season. And once things kind of seem like they’re better go right back to the old ways and being prepared is on the wayside again. So, but allowing people to kind of face some of these things and sharing like we do on YouTube sharing experiences and getting other people to jump the comments. I know here on your new channel you’re gonna want people jump in the comments and share, and I encourage viewers right now, jump in the comments, start sharing how you were able to coexist with maybe some family or friends that weren’t quite on board.
Lynette Zang:
So that’s, that’s great advice. And, you know, and it is so amazing because usually when, once we see something, we, we can’t unsee it mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so we think everybody else sees the same things, but you’re right. That’s not really true. I mean, you know, I I’ve been kind of used to, I’ve been used to that for a long, long time.
Jerry Kassner:
Okay. <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
And it, it’s kind of like, you know, I feel like a duck that the water just rolls off my back. It really doesn’t bother me if somebody else can’t see what I see, because I know how deeply I, you know, go into my work, but it is patience cause I have had people say, well, the, I don’t get it by now. It’s just too bad for them. No. I mean, honestly if somebody knocks on my door and they’re hungry, I I’m gonna feed them. I’m, you know, it’s just, it’s the nature of the beast. And so how many people are you preparing for? And what can you say? What do you think is like the first thing that people should really kind of focus on to get prepared? What is that for you?
Jerry Kassner:
Well let me start by saying this. I don’t have a homestead. I don’t have cows and chickens and all that. I enjoyed hearing your story about your garden and how it’s your neighborhood knows that if you need something, help yourself. Yeah. I think that shows great Community. I think that getting your Community and your neighbors in the sense that we’re all in this together.
Lynette Zang:
yes.
New Speaker:
Does wonders, especially in a really bad situation. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> where things become scarce and everybody can come to together as a community to work together. Me personally, I prep right now for three, my oldest daughter had just got proposed too. So she will be getting married later this year.
Lynette Zang:
Congratulations. Now you maybe have to prep for four or five
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh> four or five or?
Lynette Zang:
Six.
Jerry Kassner:
But the immediate’s right now is for three right here at my house right here. Not a homestead, but there’s millions and millions of people out there that don’t have a homestead, so.
Lynette Zang:
Correct, yes.
Jerry Kassner:
I’ve tried to encourage people, look you garden, so that’s obviously a big plus. But I encourage people if you’ve never gardened before, do something get used to trying because. I never, until this past year I just kind of played around with it, but I never really gave it a good effort. Actually planting seeds in your house, and growing them and sprout, just practicing, learning to do it. And then after the last freeze planting them outside how do you know what your area I live here in Tennessee. So a little different than Florida weather, right? So you have to kind of practice your area and even if it’s five gallon bucket, I used some five gallon buckets planted some seeds in or the little sprouts in there learned your insects of the area. Cucumber beetles. Oh, they’re the worst nightmare., You
Lynette Zang:
We hate them.
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Oh, I know
Jerry Kassner:
I was, I would get up every day and I’d be out there. My wife’s like, what are you doing? I said, I’m hunting Cucu beetles. And I’m poking them.
Lynette Zang:
It’s a new hobby.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. It was my new hobby. It was insane. But I was obsessed with these cucumber beetles <laugh> but those were things you learn. And as you fight diseases and things but start with the doubling up everything in your pantry. If you’re used to just having barely a week’s worth of supplies, go through and make a list of all the, the main things that you use on a weekly basis for you and your family. and double it, get, get a backup to everything backups in your fridge, backups and your freezer. And that’s the first step. And it’ll be amazing once you start getting backups to things and you can just kind of branch out from there, but that gets your ball up and running. That gets you going.
Lynette Zang:
That’s a good idea. But you said that you are not a homesteader, so you’re just now experimenting with gardens and a lot of people aren’t and you know, part of what I like to do is explore the different options because I don’t know, maybe you live in a high rise and that’s not even possible for you. Right. So that’s a good reason for, you know, number one to have you on because you aren’t a gardener and you know, what other things besides the food can you prepare for without homesteading?
Jerry Kassner:
Yep. And having we talk about backups to things, water, water filtration having it, you can afford it, a generator power can go out and it does go out right. And for many people across, not just our nation, but our world. If you lose power, having some backup LED solar type powered things branching out even say you’re at work and things are really getting bad and you can’t make it home. Maybe there’s traffic, maybe things have gotten really bad, always kind of having to prepare like a, I call it a get home bag. <Laugh> something that you can have some, some items with you like a knife or, you know, have some extra beef jerk and some water things that you can keep in your vehicle if you have to go hiking. Yeah. Or especially if you live in the winter in, in the snow. And you’ve seen that on the news people stranded in their cars extra blankets, extra gloves, extra hats the hand warmers and those little packs that you can break open and putting your gloves. And but thinking outside the box just beyond food just so many little obstacles in life that if we don’t take those blinders off so many times we can just, we can be blindsided and right. And get hit. Yeah.
Lynette Zang:
Well, it’s interesting because you said that you really got serious about it like three years ago. So what year did you really get serious about it? And why about your prepping?
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. When I started seeing you mentioned the currency and our, our nation’s money and our money system. And I’m not gonna claim to know nearly as much as you do <laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Well, I’ve been doing this my whole life and I’m a lot older than you.
Jerry Kassner:
You’ve been doing it foe a long time.
Lynette Zang:
So there you go!
Jerry Kassner:
So I’m watching your videos and I’m learning a lot.
Lynette Zang:
Thank you. Good.
Jerry Kassner:
And I’m enjoying them and, but the writing’s always kind of been on the wall. It’s always kind of been there. You cans see it. We watch our inflation. We just watch how fragile our system is and knowing that so many different things in life, even our delivery system in our nation, just, just so many things that are so fragile and I call it the multitiered issues in life. Usually when one bad thing happens, it’s bad enough by itself. Soon I call ’em stackable events. That’s what I was thinking. Soon as you start getting two or three different events going on all at the same time, it can really start crashing everything in a hurry. Right. look over at Russia, <laugh> look how fast thing went down for them. Don’t be naive everyone to think that that can’t happen here, right. Or anywhere it
Lynette Zang:
and even the impact of what’s happening on, you know, there.
Jerry Kassner:
Absolutely.
Lynette Zang:
Yeah. That, you know, we are all incestuous interconnected, whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not. So, you know, and over the last two plus years, we’ve seen the breakage of the supply chains.
Jerry Kassner:
Yes mm-hmm <affirmative>
Lynette Zang:
Right. And, and that doesn’t look like that’s getting fixed anytime soon. And mm-hmm, <affirmative> with the war in Russia. It’s probably you gonna get worse. So what are the other areas that you focus on? Cause you’re really mostly about what sustaining your current standard of living as much as possible, be prepared
Jerry Kassner:
As much as possible. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> yeah. Having cash on hand again, as long as it has value, <laugh> having cash on hand, things like that.
Lynette Zang:
It’s your first line of defense.
Jerry Kassner:
First line of defense,.
Lynette Zang:
Right? Because that’s the one that’s recognized, you know, it’s interesting. And I wanna come back to that, but what I’m seeing is that the war this time, last time, I mean, this does look like World War III. To me, the last time was World War III and we have a lot more weapons to utilize. And one of ’em is cyber warfare and EMP’s where you just take down the whole grid. So let’s say that the grid goes down, what are you gonna do? What do you suggest other people do? And how prepared are you for that?
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. I’m not where I want to be on those.
Lynette Zang:
Nobody is.
Jerry Kassner:
Major, major issues. Yeah. I think most people could honestly say they’re not prepared for the ultimate, you know, kicking us back into a third world country type thing. Look, I, I really believe you need to learn skills along with having food and things. If we got really kicked back in into being a third world country, or really kick back on our heels, you’re gonna need more than just what’s in your pantry. Learning to garden is a skill. If you look, if you’ve never hunted before, if you’ve never fished, you know, go fishing, look, pick up some extra skills. Firemaking, you have to cook. If you don’t have a stove and you’ve run out of propane mm-hmm <affirmative> and all these your grills no longer. And you’ve, you’ve used up all your charcoal. Have you ever chopped down a tree before? Have you ever stacked wood and allowed it to cure and have you ever practiced those things? I like to do it. My neighbors sometimes think I’m crazy. <Laugh>, I’m out in my back yard and I’m getting some stuff and I’m putting a fire together and trying to, you know, use a fair rod and just practicing different skills. What about even self defense? And I won’t use keywords and things, but but having self defense items and thinking outside the box, that if things really got bad, I mean, you you’ve seen these last couple years when people start panicking and you see the craziness of the human nature.
Lynette Zang:
Yeah.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. And they get nuts and against authorities that have, that are brandishing self-defense tools. And could you imagine the stores and people making runs on stores and we haven’t even really scratched the surface on what a really bad event is. Could you imagine that escalated how the human nature would kick into a whole different gear? So lots of skills, learning skills, practicing, if you do have self defense inside of practicing those things. But, but not just owning things actually use them practice them.
Lynette Zang:
So well, those skill sets are actually even barterable.
Jerry Kassner:
Barterable, yeah! That’s true.
Lynette Zang:
Right. You know, if we lose, you know, the grid, if the grid goes down, we are gonna get very local very quickly for a while’s true until the grid goes back up. And you know, it’s, it’s interesting because you said the same thing, Arpad, who actually lived through hyperinflation in Romania, and he was saying skills. It’s so important that this is how we come together in community, cause one person cannot do it all.
Jerry Kassner:
No. Yeah.
Lynette Zang:
I mean. You know, we really can’t. So it, it takes a village, it takes a Community. Have you seen any opportunities cause I’m in Arizona? So I know where some of my opportunities are for community gardens, for meetup groups, for the, you know, in addition to what I do in the neighborhood in Tennessee, cause I think it, it’s important to look at the different parts of the country and the different tools and the different things that people have. What do you see there as far as the ability to build that Community? Especially if you, if you’re not a gardener, you know, community gardens are like a great place to wish I had done that actually. These are my gazillion dollar tomatoes
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh> oh wow. Why do you call ’em that?
Lynette Zang:
Because I didn’t have any idea what I was doing when I started this.
Jerry Kassner:
Oh, that’s funny. Yeah.
Lynette Zang:
Yeah. So I mean it, trial and error, trial and error, trial and error. And now frankly, I have people that know what they’re doing, but you know, I learned a lot just by having no fear. Right? What’s the worst thing that happens? You kill a plant, that’s the worst thing that happens. And as long as you have seeds, right.
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
As long as you have seeds, you can do another plant. But that’s why I say my gazillion dollar to tomatoes, you know, this, gorgeous, yummy cabbage, you know, and nutritionally, it’s so much better for you when you grow it, but I kind of digress. So..
Jerry Kassner:
Did you enjoy doing that though in your garden?
Lynette Zang:
I did. Yeah I do. Yes. I love being outside and I’ll tell you the thing that I love most out this particular property is I’ve never lived on a property the way that I, I live on this property because it’s all gardens
Jerry Kassner:
Oh.
Lynette Zang:
It’s all gardens, you know, it’s either, it’s either flowers or it’s food, but you know, so yes I do. I get a lot of joy out of being outside, but there’s life everywhere. That’s what I like the best is, is how much life, but oh, in Tennessee, I mean, here we have meetup groups and we do have community gardens. I’m sure you have that same thing there.Right?
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. I have a group of friends, people that I work with and we have these conversations from time of the time. How could you not <laugh> with everything going on in the world? But we do, we we’ve talked about scenarios like, Hey, where would be a, a meet up point if we all needed to come together someplace that’s secure someplace where we could plant crops and do things and, and there’s nothing wrong with having those conversations. We talked earlier about. Sometimes people look at you crazy. But these are reality. This is reality. It’s, it’s, it’s real conversations that you have. Again, it’s about being proactive. So you don’t have to act, be reactive and living in fear. I’m I’m not fearful. And so many of us right now with the things going on in this world, I’m not, we’re not fearful because we’ve kind of had that mindset of being prepared. We’ve talked about scenarios. And yet, like you talked about a think, a lot of people call them a group, like a group that comes together and you like, you talk about skills. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> you may have a couple people that are extremely skillful. They’re green thumbs. They can grow, they could grow anything. It was like my grandmother, did she just grow any vegetable, any flour? And it would thrive and flourish. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and I’m lucky to keep a plan alive, you know.
Lynette Zang:
It’s just practice.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. Just practice. Yeah.
Lynette Zang:
It’s just practice. That’s what you made that point earlier. It’s true. It’s just practice.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. And then having people with maybe medical skills, I mean, how important is that? I mean, somebody gets an infection and you can’t go go to the doctor and things are down right now. Having somebody that’s got some decent medical skills mechanics all kinds of different, you know, people that might even been ex-military that might be for defense and things. A lot of knowledge you can glean from all these people and you know, why wait till, then you do it. Now, everyone go ahead to start gleaning information and kind of getting to know people, you know, you just kinda give ’em that, that look say, Hey, you know the nod and the wink and this. Oh yeah. I know pepper. Yep. <Laugh> yeah.
Lynette Zang:
Well, you know, we’re talking about having a plan, right? You were talking about having that meet up plan, having that group people with a variety of skills, so you can really be there to support each other. Do you, how important do you think it is to have like a written plan? So that it’s really clear if, if your daughter is, you know, in school or here and you’re here and everybody’s someplace else, but they know where to go. How important is` a plan?
Jerry Kassner:
That’s a great idea. Oh, I think that’s, that’s a tremendous idea. I haven’t thought about actually making a written plan cause how many times when something happens in life and people they’re in shock. Right? Right. Yeah. Okay. Wait, dad gave me this folder. Okay. Oh, this is it. That’s right. I remember now, you know, or, or whoever. Yeah. In any scenario I think having a written plan would be a great idea. That’s a great, I never even thought about actually making it into like a manual, like something
Lynette Zang:
That’s like real and yeah. You know, and that’s why we’re having these conversations because everybody’s at a different level of preparedness. Some people are just starting, they have nothing done yet, which I hope isn’t anybody that’s watching. <Affirmative> because of where we are in this trend cycle. Right. Other people do have all of that done. And I gotta tell you, you know, when you said that you don’t feel like you’re ready yet, I’m probably more ready than most anybody else that I know. And I don’t feel ready yet.
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh> yeah.
Lynette Zang:
You know, I’m serious about, I’m serious about that. So when you are executing your preparedness, see, I go by my mantra. Right? And I would step back and I still do this cause I’m not done yet. And I would say, okay, where do I feel the most vulnerable? And then I would do something in that area until I didn’t feel vulnerable there. And then I would step back and say, okay, now where do I feel the most vulnerable? So for me initially, it was, I felt financially vulnerable. So I built my Gold and Silver portfolio and that’s an ongoing thing. But then I went into the rest of the mantra, the Food, the Water, the Security, all of that. So is, do you have a method to determine what you work on next?
Jerry Kassner:
I kind of call it, filling in the holes, fill it in the gap and I sometimes sit back and I’ll talk with my wife and I’ll say, you know, what is your thought? You know, I open it up for a family discussion. Do you have any concerns?
Lynette Zang:
Yeah, that’s important.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. Sometimes there’s something on their mind that maybe it hasn’t really come out. It hasn’t surfaced itself, especially when there’s new events going on in life. And I, I bring up things. I wanna use a quick example being in the north a little bit here, we get some cold winters. This past winter here, literally just about a month and a half ago, we had a really, really couple hard freeze for a couple days. And somehow our garage door got left, open and there’s pipes on the, in the garage that ended up freezing. Oh. And, and I wasn’t sure I’ve never had that happen since living here in Tennessee. I’ve never had a frozen pipe cause we’ve never had the garage door open in the winter. But over night and it did, it froze and the immediate loss of water.
Lynette Zang:
Oh yeah.
Jerry Kassner:
Didn’t really see that coming. Wasn’t thinking, okay, that’s gonna happen. That, that I wasn’t prepared for that immediate loss enough for drinking water and things, but all the other things you use water for I didn’t have it necessarily. I had some put aside, but I realized, you know what, that’s a hole <laugh> Yeah. I didn’t, I didn’t have enough. Yeah. Like water for flushing, the toilet water for brush it in your teeth, water for washing your face water for doing some cooking water for this cleaning and you before, you know it, you realize we use a lot of water. Yes. Not just for drinking we use a lot of water <laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Yes.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. So that was a whole, so I’ve been working on that. <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Good. And I think a lot of people can relate to that. Yeah. You know, because it just doesn’t, everything is going along fine. You’re you’re covered. And then all of a sudden something pops up that happened for me in March of 2020, I’m walking around my gardens when people couldn’t get stuff at the stores and I’m going, thank God I did this. This is great. Thank I did this. But then there were riots near my house and also near my children’s house. And I slept in my bed with a gun and I thought there’s my hole. So it took a while and I’m very grateful because I consider March of 2020, a big warning. And I hope other people take that as a big warning. And it’s not really over yet, but you know, I went out and I was lucky enough to find a great bug out house that is truly off the beaten path
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh> oh nice!
Lynette Zang:
Right. And it is, and it is completely off grid. So that was my whole cause I’d done, you know, so much with everything else. And now I’ve seen another security hole that I’m working on getting filled. So you’re right. It’s like, you don’t really think about it and then something will happen and you’ll go, there’s my hole.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. And I have some, I don’t know what kind, I have different subscribers to my channel and we have a lot of fun.
Lynette Zang:
Yes you do. It’s a great channel. Everybody. The links are below and also on the blog. So go and view it.
Jerry Kassner:
Oh, okay. Cool.
Lynette Zang:
Oh yeah!
Jerry Kassner:
Some of my subscribers would be like, all right, here’s what you do. <Laugh> I’m thinking, oh wow, here we go. They say you just one day, you’re in the house. Everybody’s there. You just go and you just go to the main breaker and just shut off all the power. There you go. See how everybody reacts and just tell everybody, Hey, we have no power. And you can say for the day and just give anybody that opportunity. Were you prepared for that? Just like the water thing, just shut off the whole water to your house and let everybody react to it and see, did we prepare for it? Those were just some ideas gives your family a trial run. You know.
Lynette Zang:
I think that goes back to that first question we were talking about is how do you get people to see what you see?
Jerry Kassner:
Oh there you go!
Lynette Zang:
Is a fabulous, fabulous idea.
Jerry Kassner:
There you go. So <laugh>
Lynette Zang:
You know, I mean, we’re, we’re laughing and we’re, we’re smiling about it, but I mean, yeah, I’m dead serious. So did you do that to your family?
Jerry Kassner:
Well, I didn’t have to do the water. Cause mother nature took care of that. <Laugh> I have not done the power yet. So I’m picking and choosing cause you have to be kind of careful too cause you gotta stay married, you know? <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Well you, I have a bit married in let’s see. 37 years.
Jerry Kassner:
Okay. So you don’t have to worry about that. So I don’t worry about that. Yeah. <laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Plus with my family, to be perfectly honest with you, they used to think I was eccentric and I love that. Yes I am. I will admit it. I’m happy to. Because when people think you’re eccentric, you can get away with a lot of things.
Jerry Kassner:
Okay. Yeah. <Laugh> right.
Lynette Zang:
That you would not otherwise be able to get away. I’ll take it. I’ll take it. That’s fine with.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
But I think that’s a great idea. Let people experience what is to actually have the electricity cut off to actually have the water cut off. I know my daughter Megan, a lot of people will know Megan, cause she’s worked for me for a long time. But she used to live in Miami. She went to school in Miami. She lived in Miami and went and that hurricane came through they were without utilities for like three weeks.
Jerry Kassner:
That’s right.
Lynette Zang:
And it would’ve been longer except that her father works for Florida power and light. He’s retired now, but he worked for Florida power and light and so he knew that when a branch came down and created a fire, then that area would then become a top priority. And that’s what happened. So they got it on, but they were still without water and electricity for like three weeks.
Jerry Kassner:
Wow. I would be going outside and lighting my branches on fire. <Laugh> she might have done that.
Lynette Zang:
I can’t say that she did that. I don’t think she did, but.
Jerry Kassner:
Shh keep it on the down low <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
It was really a long time ago anyway. So I think she’s okay by now.
Jerry Kassner:
Okay. We’re okay. Yeah. We’re
Lynette Zang:
She would never do such a thing.
Jerry Kassner:
No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, of course
Lynette Zang:
Not. But you know, what we are looking at are the different ways of war and one way is definitely to down the power grid and people don’t. So even if war doesn’t come to our shores or they’re all different kinds of wars too, that we are really battling. But even if they don’t hopefully, you know, drop bombs, this is a different, this is a different era and they could do a lot more damage financially. Like we saw in Canada where they just cut, they didn’t like what the protestors were saying. So boom. They just cut off their access to any money, any funding. So that means that they couldn’t go out and buy groceries for their family or even pay their bills. I know that they have eased up on those rules now and released or had begun to release some of those accounts, but the fact that it happened and it happened that quickly and that thoroughly should be eye opening for everybody.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. I mean that, no, I agree.
Lynette Zang:
Not supposed to happen.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah, no. I just to see how the government can step in and change the rules of the game and that should, it got my attention too. And I don’t own a lot of things in life. Like I’m still trying to get a generator and there’s some larger purchase items I’m getting, but it started making me, especially watching your channel some more. There’s other things I need to consider and think about you talk about shoring up the gaps and filling in the holes of gold and silver. And I’ve watched a lot of other prepper channels that do videos on gold and silver and things and it still to make me think that yeah, I think that’s something that’s becoming more valuable now than ever. Than ever before. Yeah. is having something to protect your wealth, to protect your savings, to have another iron in the fire per se. Well, to give you another tool.
Lynette Zang:
And it is the thing is, is that gold and silver are universal tools of barter. So having those skills cause anything physical is Barterable any, any skillset that you have, that’s why that’s so important is also Barterable. But you’re always then operating under the assumption that what you have is what this other person that has, what you want wants what you have as well. And that’s not always the case. So it can, it can be the case, certainly, especially inside of a community. But that’s really why having that as well. And guess what? This is honey, from my bees, this is barterable <affirmative> right? The eggs, the cabbage, the carrots, you know, these are all physical things. The glass, these are all things that we can use when we can’t use the, you know, Fiat money when that goes away or nobody will accept them. I mean, down in Venezuela, they’re actually, they’re using gold flakes and gold and you know, their families, unfortunately heirloom jewelry and things like that to help serve get through because they cause the currency is worthless. I mean it is absolutely worthless.
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah. So you have your own bee hives.
Lynette Zang:
Yes. We now have three. We have three.
Jerry Kassner:
That’s another inside joke with some of my viewers. I, I always said one day I wanna become a bee herder. <Laugh> call it. It is joke, you know, being a bee herder. So you’re a bee herder. Yeah. <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Well, Laura’s the bee herder and Lindsay’s the bee herder.
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh> I think it’s incredible.
Lynette Zang:
It is. And it’s something that I wanted for a really long time. And so I’m really fortunate to have somebody on, you know, on my staff that knows how to grow these tomatoes. They don’t cost me a million dollars anymore, but cumulatively
Jerry Kassner:
Uhhuh, right.
Lynette Zang:
The chickens. So the eggs and these beautiful flowers, cause it’s food for the soul and food for the tummy.
Jerry Kassner:
Oh yeah. Food for the soul. That’s a great topic. Just the comforts things that you’re already going through a hard time, if a curve ball comes, you’re already going through a very emotional, a stressful time, having those items and things around you, I call it a comfort, those comfort foods, those comfort, another joke is a double stuffed Oreo cookies. You know, people are like, that’s not a prepping item. That’s you know, and I, if people jump that, you know, and I joke about that, but having, yeah,
Lynette Zang:
That a joke. No good <laugh>
Jerry Kassner:
Yeah, but you know what I’m saying? I’m
Lynette Zang:
Sorry. I know I’m bad.
Jerry Kassner:
I have an addiction. Okay. So I admit you <laugh>, but, but having something, whether it’s honey or flowers or double stuffed Oreos, but something put up that you can rely on when you’re going through a struggle at a hard time, it gives you a little bit of that comfort, a little bit of that. Something that you enjoy that maybe your taste buds or your body enjoys and to help you emotionally and mentally kind of get through a little bit easier, know it’s right. It sounds simple, but when you go through stuff, it’s nice having some go to so.
Lynette Zang:
<Laugh> oh, I, you know, I agree because something that definitely we’ve been experiencing over the last couple of years is the mental issues and a lot of people, I mean, it’s, it’s just so incredibly sad that have committed suicide or mm-hmm, you know, really, you know, sort of spiraled down into drugs and alcohol and you’re right. I mean, having this makes me happy. It makes me feel good. Eating good food. I’m really kind of, I pay attention to my food a lot. <Laugh> I’ll say that.
Jerry Kassner:
Okay. That’s good.
Lynette Zang:
All right. But, but the reason why I do is mm-hmm <affirmative> number one, when you, when you don’t eat good healthy food, it impact asks your ability to think clearly this is part of the plan. I mean, it really does. So I’m not saying anything about, you know, I mean, I have made comments about McDonald’s or Oreos or things like that. I mean yeah. Much better to make your own cookies out of really good whole grains and you know, so you can have all that sweetness and wonderful
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Yep. And also stimulate your brain at the same time, because I’m thinking that we really need to have all of our mental capabilities to really weather this storm and to see things that we need to see. Sorry about that.
Jerry Kassner:
<Laugh> yeah. <Laugh> yeah. Trust me. My doctor reminds me whenever I go, Hey, make sure you’re focused on the good stuff too. I’m like, aye-aye, you know, <laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Absolutely!
Lynette Zang:
This time has just flown by, but a couple of things, number one. What message would you like to leave people with? And number two, how about a little bit of self promotion?
Jerry Kassner:
Okay. Look, I am new watching Lynette and for all the viewers that are here, I’m enjoying getting to know her through her videos and all the knowledge that she has to share. She obviously is a prepper and has a lot of different skills and things that she’s developing and she’s sharing those things. So please hit the subscribe button for her, jump in the comments and let her, you know, encourage her and maybe share some of your success stories on how you’re doing with the preparing become a family here. If this is the new channel that you’re talking about, right? This is new.
Lynette Zang:
Exactly.
Jerry Kassner:
Start. So use this as an opportunity to use it as a springboard, as a communicating, as a network where you all can share ideas you can encourage each other. We talk about people that maybe don’t get us well. We get each other. Exactly. So everybody here use for support. Sometimes that’s a network you can go to jump in the comments and watch the videos and feel I’m not alone. As far of promoting myself look, I’m just an average Joe Guy. You know, I work full-time job. I like to prep. I like to be prepared. I live in a neighborhood. I don’t have tons of land. I don’t have all those things, but I really seriously believe in preparedness. I like to promote that and encourage people in a non-fear manner. There’s enough fear. You got, you can flip on the news and you can get all the fear you want, if that’s your thing, all the drama. But to have a place even on my channel House of Prep to come and, and it’s a family, that’s what most of my subscribers would call it. It’s like a family gathering where we can all joke around. We do, we, we can have some fun I’ll do a live stream from time to time. And sometimes we’re just joking around having some fun, but we always encourage, especially for new preppers, cause believe it or not, people are still brand new every week finally saying, Hey, I want to do this, but they feel intimidated. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> they feel, I, I don’t want to ask these basic questions cuz all these people are gonna bully me and you know, through social media, we don’t allow that. And I know you won’t either of that. These are safe Haven. These are whether you’re on this channel, whether you’re watching my channel places that you can go, you can ask questions and of vast amounts of people. I love listening to my subscribers. I learn so much from them and it’s enjoyable. It’s it’s therapeutic. I enjoy helping people and practicing things. It’s a hobby prepping to me is more than just prepping. It’s a hobby. It’s something you can enjoy doing. It doesn’t have to be hard. It doesn’t have to be work. Yeah. Just do a little bit at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself, but do something and don’t you need to be doing it yesterday, but if you haven’t done it yesterday, do it today. <Laugh>
Lynette Zang:
Really wise words and the link to, Jerry’s YouTube channel is below and also will be on the blog. And this has been great. So when, when you learn new stuff, then you have to come back on because this is part of the community. Right? And that’s what this channel is all about. You’re absolutely right. Building that community and for everybody out there listening. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. And until next time go prep. Bye bye.