The Grey Range - Episode 25 w/ Ernie Doble - "Community Homesteading and Preparedness"
Community Homesteading and Preparedness
Ernie Doble
The world is an uncertain place. These days it seems even more so. We inhabit a strangely dystopian present, where we no longer so easily carry the blind trust in our institutions and our social fabric that we once did. Some of this can be attributed to the downstream effects of the COVID pandemic and the seemingly endless rollout of draconian statutes, crackdowns on free speech, and the knowledge that each of us now has about how fragile our society is. We are acutely aware how quickly neighbors can be turned against neighbors for fear of being targeted by the government, or the media, or the mob. Then there is the gradual fracturing and segregation of our society along political and ideological veins that only becomes more pronounced as time goes on. As our economic prospects erode away and violent crime increases it's easy to see how people would start looking around at ways to alleviate the anxiety and the feeling of hopelessness that has become pervasive in our daily lives.
So, what remedy exists for this malaise we find ourselves in? For many, the antidote to fear is knowledge, and rightly so. Since the beginning of human existence we have been seeking the warmth of the fire and the security of the group. Food, water, and shelter are necessities for human survival, but so is social contact. So is community. That’s where people like Ernie Doble step in. For some people, it’s not good enough to just want a solution. It’s not acceptable to look outside for help that one could muster on ones own.
One of the core philosophies of the Old West is, “Do what has to be done.” And for some men, hearing the people that they care about express their fear and concern at the state of the world is a call to action. A duty to be fulfilled. Ernie Doble is no stranger to doing what must be done. He's a businessman who has run a successful engine repair shop here in the Peace Country for many years. But we were less interested in trucks and more interested in what first got him started with organizing courses that teach skills related to homesteading and preparedness.
In this interview, Ernie tells us how they went from a group of local, like-minded people whose skillsets revolved around canning, butchering and preserving food, or firearms and physical security, to, reaching out to subject matter experts in bushcraft and wilderness survival, trapping, and other skills necessary to the preservation and protection of life to share their knowledge. As the demand for these types of courses grows and the community that gets built up around them expands, we were happy to sit down with Ernie and talk about his experiences with preparing for a “fallen world”, and what it all means to him.
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Ernie Doble is reachable through the “Community Homesteading and Preparedness” FB page. That’s the best place to learn about upcoming courses, instructors, or events in the Peace Country. Check them out at the link below:
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The piece I read on this episode, "A Trail West" is from my new collection “Whiskey Painted Holocaust”, which is available in our webstore, as well as on Amazon. "Children of The New Unknown", my first collection, is still available as well.