“You Helped Me Make a Tiny Community.”

Last week, I released the first official edition of Survival Illustrated.

It felt finished for now, but a feeling of accomplishment remained elusive. I wasn’t sure how many people would find it valuable—or even useful. Then the comments and emails started pouring in: More than a hundred comments between my two newsletters, and dozens of emails from people who are already using the guide, installing rain barrels and water filters, storing food, growing herbal medicines, and building units of survival with their neighbors.

Here’s one of the best so far:

Thanks to you I have not one but two massive water tanks because I got them on sale and remember thinking I’m sure the Sentinel would grab them as water is life! I only have 1100 sq metres and folks thought I was insane as I live in a rural area in town. Ha! Water rates have rocketed and I am able to meet our needs and water our food garden and tiny food forest for free. The non-native trees have been cut down and I have enough firewood for a number of winters. I was told I was an idiot keeping the tiny forest, put a pool in they said, it will increase your house price!! Anything grows here as long as it has water. I’ve lived in this house for 25 years and never used a spray, and I have been growing soil for that long when folks thought I was crazy. No need for expensive store bought fertiliser.

Your book helped me design my place for safety, best growing use and so much more. It’s on two levels and under the house is now a workshop, for processing the produce and storing it. I followed your guide, thank you, it saved me so much time. I also have a small safer living area, I am about to put in a composting toilet and a small shower that runs off a 12 v battery. In a cyclone I now have a retreat or another living area for a family when their home gets flooded. I’m on top of a hill but large areas around town go under. These used to be once in 75 year events, we’ve had 4 in the last ten years!

Folks are not laughing at me now and come to me to borrow a generator, get supplies, food etc. In return, they help harvesting and processing .

This is a red neck area, right wing and so racist. I’m the opposite. Weirdly, when your home is flooded and your car is floating away, it seems the crazy old hedge witch with the half dingo dog isn’t crazy anymore. Politics doesn’t matter when you’re homeless, cold, wet and hungry.

You gave me the belief I could do this.

Somehow the gun toting, racist ratbags are starting to see that eating a hot stew made by my lesbian mates while drinking a mug of steaming coffee from beans grown and harvested by my trans mate and particularly enjoying the shot of whiskey in that coffee distilled by an indigenous person makes racism rather childish.

Your little guide and previous articles have done much more than help me set this up, your book kills racism.

Please don’t stop doing what you are doing. When it all goes to shit , and ofc there are days when it does, I grab myself a whiskey, sit under the house, take five and pick up your guide knowing I’ll at least have a way of fixing the problem even if I need to get someone to help me and because folks have been helped in the past with zero judgement, I have people I can call on.

They still think I’m an old, welsh hedgewitch and still very wary of my dog but I’m now eccentric, not crazy.

You helped make a tiny community.

This is better than any review in a fancy magazine, because it’s real. It’s someone benefiting directly from the work, building on it, and improving the lives around them. These notes have meant a lot to me, because all this was the entire point of the guide, that people would take it and use it as the seed for their own networks and communities, or at least some fertilizer.

I’m also pretty sure this means a lot to AKET, the group that helped finance so much of the work. These are real results, and I hope to see more.

I wanted this to be more than just another survival guide. I didn’t want to be just one more prepper on social media trying to sell food buckets. I wanted to help make a roadmap for the future. They’re getting it:

I love your work because it's not just about moving to the wilderness and waiting for the world to end, but about living here, now and being prepared.

They’re not just stopping with the guide, either. They’re going out and gaining more knowledge, taking courses, and developing skills:

We love it! We printed it out and working our-way through the projects. We set up batteries and solar panels. Leaning to grow food, making water harvesting set up, using tools, giving my kids survival skills. We plan to do a bike maintenance class where it teaches you how to build a bike for local charities shop.

People have been dropping notes to tell me how much time and money the guide has already saved them implementing survival plans, not just for themselves, but for their families and their neighbors. It has helped them think about it and talk about it. This is the kind of movement I like to see, not scanning for bugout locations, not talking in hushed tones about disasters on the way, but getting ready where you are, with what you have. It’s the opposite of panicking.

It’s building.

A year ago, many of us wondered how we were going to get through this climate hell. We could barely say the word “collapse” without instantly getting accused of fearmongering. Now we have a much clearer picture of what’s possible, and how to get there. It doesn’t require moving out to the woods. It doesn’t require spending tens of thousands of dollars on special gear.

For the next week or so, I’m going to try and relax a little. (I don’t know if that’s possible for me). I’m going to listen to Cradle of Filth. I’m going to make a list of topics to explore in future posts. I’m going to write a little on other topics. I’m going to organize the garage again. I’m going to filter rainwater. I’m going to read and respond to as many of the comments and notes as I can.

How are you using the guide?

Let me know.

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