This website was only started in March 2020. We have made the decision to feed this site with as much good quality and useful general information, as quickly as we can. Hopefully no one will need to implement much of the info in this website in coming months, or years, but who knows. We are based in Queensland, Australia. This website adopts and adapts the Scout motto: “be prepared”.
Please note: This site is NOT a COVID-19 medical or health information website. This site purely focuses on sharing general info related to ‘being prepared for unknown situations’.
Why did We start this website?
Written: 29/08/20
The short answer is: We want to create a resource where we can document things we know and things we learn and do. We want to connect and collaborate with people who have similar values and beliefs. We want to share in the ‘change-maker movement’. We want to play out part in creating online resources and real word sanctuaries.
There is SO much we can do when united with common goals! The possibilities are endless! We are also very much about aiding grass-roots groups, change-makers, and anyone with a vision that resonates with ours. We have not shared our vision for the present and the future here but we believe it can be very bright and very good… for ALL!
Peace, love, growth and acceptance of ALL,… while remaining prepared for any unknowns we may face along the way!
The long answer is: We are a small group. The founder of the website is named Jay. Jay/ I am writing this text. I was raised on a farm in rural Queensland, Australia. My father was a 3rd generation farmer in Australia. Like many Caucasians in rural Australia, his grandparents moved to Australia from Europe back in the day (around the turn of the 20th century). Similar on my Mother’s side.
My father was also a State Emergency Services (SES) volunteer officer from the 1970’s (before I was born) onward. From 1999 he became a full-time SES Controller for 2 regions in Australia: Frazer Coast and Bundaberg Region.
Dad also was a registered Radio Amateur.
I was also a Scout as a kid,… and became an Assistant Scout Leader as an adult. Here is a website I recently set up for Scouts in Queensland — it is for a camp called the ‘Kiwi Woggle’.
Most of my extended family were and are very good growers of food. Some of my extended family also worked as emergency first-responders as well. Some still do.
My Nanna used to always say to us, “Waste not, want not.”
As a result, right from a young age I was surrounded by bushland, raised with traditional values, shown emergency supply boxes, taught aspects of first-aid, how to not die in the bush, the joys of communicating with other people on the planet via radio, how to swim, how to become fit and active and how to look after others.
I’ve been extremely fortunate to grow up in such an environment. I don’t take it for granted. Several years ago I started watching YouTube videos more regularly and started to REALLY take stock of the amount of content and things I could learn from YouTube videos (aka: people’s hard work creating content for YouTube). So I started spending 1 – 3 hrs per day and categorised all I watched.
I am now 41 years of age.
In recent years I attended a 3 day event where Joel Salatin from Polyface Farms presented amazing content. I was inspired! Very dear friends of mine also operate a Regenerative Farm (Gleneden Family Farm) in Queensland and I aid with their marketing.
With the knowledge and books I was given as a kid, combined with Scouting knowledge, knowledge from my parents and others, combined with YouTube knowledge, I decided to start this website.
My day job is working in media… the primary business I own is called Green Valley Digital (I named it after the farm where I grew up… which was called ‘Green Valley Grazing Company’). My day job career has played a part in starting this website too.
I am also an artist and maker, however, I do not use my art skills to express my options or feelings. I find writing, talking, listening, blogging, learning, and doing is how I prefer to express myself. I only use my visual art abilities to create ‘fun-art’ that I enjoy creating and looking at. My Instagram where I share some of my work is here.
I am trained as a communicator. Communication is about messages being sent and clearly received and understood. I find visual art can be left to interpretation via ‘the eye of the beholder’… so I don’t utilise it as a vehicle for meaningful communication.
The internet and all the technology we live with fascinates me. The many ways it can be used for good excites me! The ways in which it has allowed us all to learn soo much more from each other and about situations around the world still amazes me.
For example: I got REALLY inspired when I saw this video about Ron Finley during a local TED-X event last year:
Urban and Town Planning, future planning, science, sustainability, environment, humanity growth, etc are also interests of mine. Learning via the internet about the amazing things people are doing around the world… and passing it on so there are more ‘good news stories’ is something I am passionate about.
The things the internet is helping us all learn and relearn is exciting! To be living in Australia and to be alive at this time (end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st century) are things I am very grateful for.
It is terrible that many people around the world do not get to enjoy the lifestyle that myself and others I know live daily and enjoy. I REALLY want to see that change for the better… for everyone! …. AND soon!
I am eager to learn more about ‘being prepared’ for unknown situations and survival situations. I am also eager to connect with other similarly minded people:
- Strength in numbers!
- Being prepared for the unknowns
- Staying positive
- Being ready
It is my intention to utilise this website to document my journey ‘learning’ and ‘doing’ moving forward as I convert the 1.5 acres that I live on into:
- A good utilisation of this land… including growing lots of food
- A place to enjoy and call home.
- A place where I have all I need if a survival situation occurs (eg. a major economic collapse)
- A refuge for others I care about if needed
This website is also to be a place where I may also blog about certain situations going on nationally and internationally and other things related to ‘being prepared’. I believe that being informed is part of being prepared.
In part it is also about aiding our youth/ tomorrow’s future leaders.
I also want this website to be a place where new connections are made, where you can share information by writing for this website and/or contributing ideas, information, resources, discoveries, etc in the blog article contents. I believe in ‘starting’ and seeing where a journey (or journeys) go. Unexpected things occur. Lives interweave. Hope and joy happens. By being prepared we can thrive! This website is just a beginning. Let’s see where it goes.
Above image: I was given this copy of ‘Stay Alive A Handbook On Survival’ written by Maurice Dunlevy about 13 years ago. It is full of very useful information. It is also very small in physical size; ideal for carrying in a backpack. You can sometimes find 2nd-hand copies of this book on eBay. You may also be able to access it on Goodreads.
