We’re ‘doomsday damsels’ preparing for collapse of civilization – our kids eat pigeon stew & we even cook with roadkill
TRAINING their kids to use knives and dining out on roadkill... meet the suburban mums ready for the collapse of civilisation as we know it.
A surge in 'prepper parenting' has seen bookings in survival courses soar, with mothers across the UK stockpiling for a crisis - even if they're called 'doomsday damsels' by confused neighbours.
This month the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden told Brits to buy candles and battery powered radios in case power supplies or digital connections went down.
And experts tell The Sun that they had seen a 100 per cent rise in people taking survival classes well before this announcement, with women leading the way.
British preppers are worried about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza leading to a global conflict, rising energy prices, lockdown and flooding.
Survival expert Jason Ingamells, 46, from Matlock, Derbyshire, whose Woodland Ways company offers courses across the UK and abroad, says: “The number of men, women and families wanting to do a day, weekend or even a monthly long course has doubled.
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“We used to have more men, but now on some courses women dominate.
“I am even doing a course for hen parties who are opting out of boozy nights and into survival kits.
"I do some courses which show participants how to cook a meal just using what they can forage.
"Other courses see us dining on a gourmet meal of fresh roadkill."
Generation Prep
One of those mums who is ready for a crisis is Kya Fernwood, 47, from Oxford.
The acupuncturist and single mother-of-two attended a bushcraft show two years ago with her daughters, aged nine and 13.
They learned how to make fires from flint, forage for fruit and mushrooms and how to make a survival shelter.
Kya explains: “It was amazing. The girls had a great time and I felt more empowered learning new skills.”
While she had been surrounded by burly men in camo kit at the first show, the following year it was a different crowd.
Kya says: “There were more women and families than ever before.
“In Canada, where my relatives live, everyone has to have general preparedness kits in case of blizzards to survive three days without help.
“The fact the deputy PM has asked us to have kits at home just makes good sense."
Jason offered her the chance to become an apprentice course coordinator for Woodland Ways.
She says: “I do the school run, manage my acupuncture treatment clinic and teach survival courses and bushcraft skills.
“For the first time in my life I felt confident making a shelter and fire from nothing in the wildness. I felt I could handle a crisis if I found myself with out resources.”
“My daughters have learnt the same skills as me. They can start a fire without a lighter, build a shelter, find drinkable water and make a meal from what they forage.
“They are mini little modern bush crafters who can.”
Her daughters also know how to handle a knife, use a flint and have ‘kit bags’, which are filled with the key items needed for survival in the woods.
Kya says: “Some people might be horrified to see a child under 10 wielding a knife in the woods, but they know what they are doing.
“They don't spend time on TikTok or YouTube. They are at home in the woods now.
“I am glad my two girls have their grab bags with sleeping blankets, waterproof clothes, batteries, flints, mini shovels and kit to survive.”
Instead of eating fast food, the girls dine out on wild foraged salad, pigeon stew, elderflower fritters, woodland mushroom bakes and nettle soup.
Kya says: “I know many people will stick up their noses, but now mums, dads and families approach me wanting more information and to learn the skills my girls and I have.
“At home my kids both know how to survive a blackout, how to filter water, use a saw, cook on a fire, and what essential items are needed to stay and warm.
“I’m not an apocalypse junkie. I am a mum who is prepared."
I'm not an apocalypse junkie
Kya Fernwood
It is a sign that Britain is becoming more like the United States, where almost a third of the population have bought survival products.
in the UK, prepper shops are selling more backpack kits to grab and go in an emergency, stocked with items including water purifying tablets, tarpaulin, flints, specialist clothing, survival rations and in some cases gas masks.
Dad-of-one Jason, who has a masters degree in outdoor and experiential learning including bushcraft and survival from Cumbria University, has been a prepper and survival expert for 22 years.
He says: “Mums especially want more skills. Forget changing a car tire, it is knowing what to stockpile, how to be self-sufficient, what plants are edible, how to build a shelter and what to do in a crisis that's taking precedence.
“Women are getting bug-out bags rather than bags for life.”
Home survival
Suburban self-sufficiency is also attracting more Gen Prep mums who are planning to ‘bug in’ - stay put - if a crisis happens.
Mum-of-one Katie Lee, from Hartlepool, County Durham, has honed her survival skills using the great British tradition of an allotment.
“After lockdown, food shortages and fighting over toilet roll I wanted to be self-sufficient in suburbia," says the 31-year-old, who lives with partner, Michael, 40, a painter, and is mum to Bobby, ten.
She continues: “I was worried about shortages, relying on supermarkets, then when the cost-of-living crisis hit, I had the need to feel in control and improve my mental health and anxiety.
“Increased government controls also concerned me and so I knew my decision to ‘grow my own but on a big scale’ was the right one.”
After lockdown, food shortages and fighting over toilet roll I wanted to be self-sufficient in suburbia
Katie Lee
Katie is not alone.
There are at least 157,820 applications sitting on English local authorities’ allotment waiting lists, almost double the figure of 86,787 12 years ago.
Katie, who lives in a two-bedroom council house, nabbed her allotment in 2021.
She says: “I used to watch the TV show The Good Life and loved it. Now I am living it. In two years, we have become fruit and veg self-sufficient.
“It’s cut our grocery bill by £1,000 a year.”
Mum-of-two Care Johnson, 30 cannot afford an allotment, but has transformed her rented council house’s back garden into a prepper’s paradise.
Care, who is mum to Ruan, nine, and five-year-old Esland, says: “The Ukraine war and global unrest has brought out the survivalist in me. I’m a mummy prepper and proud.”
The 28-year-old from Oswestry, Shropshire, has replaced flowers and lawn with a vegetable patch and fruits and veggies growing in containers.
Crisis kits
She also has her own ‘crisis kit’ for an emergency.
Care says: “It’s not crazy, it's suburban survival. My bag includes solar-powered batteries, tarps, clothes, sleeping bags, matches, candles, basic camping kit, long-life meals including beans and rice.
“I have a prepper's attitude to food, adopting a zero-waste approach with any leftover vegetables getting blended up into homemade soups.
“I’m learning to go back to old-school solutions. Some ideas I even found in a Great Depression handbook include basic bread-making and no-money meals.”
We’re prepper mums and not afraid to admit it
Care Johnson
Care’s prepper attitude means not only growing her own food, emergency proofing her house and having a ‘crisis kit’, but going back to basics when it comes to clothing.
She explains: “I am a seamstress and show other mums how to repair clothes and make their own.
“One skill is turning my lads' school trousers into shorts for the next year or upcycling my daughter's school dress uniform and turning it into a skirt.
“Mums are gobsmacked when I share that tip.”
Care is not worried about the insults which are thrown at the survivalist community.
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She says: “If I get trolled for that or called a ‘doomsday damsel’ I feel sorry for those people. Being prepared for a crisis is keeping my family safe.
“We’re prepper mums and not afraid to admit it.”
