Harrisson Gardner's advice on keeping your home going during emergencies
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Why are heat, shelter, water, and food essential for surviving a grid failure?
Heat, shelter, water, food. Without them we can't survive. But nowadays we're used to having them easily available at the flick of a switch or the click of a mouse whenever we need them. We're on the grid. But what happens when the grid fails? How do we survive? When the electricity cuts out, the water stops coming through the tap, the shelves in our supermarkets are empty. My next guest has put his fifteen years of experience building off grid homes and teaching building skills into His new book, Heat, Shelter, Water, Food, How to Be Ready for the Unexpected Harrison Gardner. Welcome back to the show. I'm I'm you're laughing because I'm trying to lift up the book. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Quite a hefty volume and you're looking very rugged on the front there, uh chopping wood and all this sort of You say in the introduction that this book isn't about fostering fear but many might find the thought of having to provide their own heat shelter, water food a bit terrifying.
Yeah, and it really isn't. It's not meant to foster fear. It's meant to respond to maybe a bit of the anxiety that people might already be feeling. We've had a big couple of years, you know. Two year and a half ago we had Stormy Owen come through and cause huge problems across the country, and there were some people out in Claire who didn't have power for three weeks. No electricity for three weeks is a huge deal.
How did Stormy Owen’s three‑week blackout shape Harrison Gardner’s view on preparedness?
That means no internet, no way to communicate with With people, no way to make water work in your house. And then we have things like oil prices going up due to things that we can't control here in Ireland, right? We have no sway over a lot of those matters. And then most recently, you know, we have this extremely hot summer that just happened, and suddenly we have host pipe restrictions. We have to be careful with how we use our water. And I think in general, people are are realizing that we are a lot more reliant. Then we realize for things that are actually our basic human needs, these are the things that we need to survive. And it's really important, I think, to acknowledge that it does make us feel anxious when those things are threatened or when we realize that we might not have access to them.
But that this book, and what I'm trying to do with this book, is that it's actually really easy, it's really possible to take back a little bit age. of agency as much as you want to around each of those things.
Yeah, and the idea as you as you express it is to be calm in the face of chaos. And that calm comes from being prepared.
Exactly, yeah. It's it's really it's not meant to be a prepper book, right? But yeah, you're not you're not suggesting people go out and build bunkers. No, no no no bunkers, don't buy a gun, don't do anything crazy. This isn't about building walls, right? This is about Being being more able to look after yourself so that when things go wrong, if there's a power outage, that you're actually more able to go and support your community and help your neighbours and help other people around you because when we can't look after ourselves, everything becomes about us.
What’s the difference between prepper mentality and community‑focused resilience?
We're just worried about how we're gonna get by.
Yeah, I was really struck by that because I mean you referred to preppers and uh you know, people with the bunkers in the back garden and everything. And that is very much an individualistic thing. I'm going to guard my stack of tin cans with my with my life. Whereas you're talking about more of an outward focused we're all we will we will all be in this together as as as was proved during Storm O A Own actually.
That's it. And look, the truth of it is you can't build a wall high enough anyway. So stop trying, right? If if people want to come and take the things that you're growing, they're gonna come and take the things that you're growing. So your best option is to teach everyone how to do these things, right? Make sure that everyone's got electricity and water and food and shelter. Yeah. And then we're all okay.
Yeah. I mean you you you you're right about Storm I own in the book as as kind of a wake up call for all of us who was pretty grim in your house.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why are heat, shelter, water, and food essential for surviving a grid failure?
0:01–1:13
2
How did Stormy Owen’s three‑week blackout shape Harrison Gardner’s view on preparedness?
1:13–2:46
3
What’s the difference between prepper mentality and community‑focused resilience?
2:46–3:58
4
Which short‑term actions should you take when a storm warning is issued?
3:58–5:37
5
How can a modest battery bank keep essential devices running for 24‑hour outages?
5:37–6:40
6
Why are solar panels useless without batteries and a change‑over switch during outages?
6:40–8:10
7
What simple water‑filtration methods can protect your family when the tap stops working?
8:10–9:40
8
How does Harrison’s book guide readers to build long‑term, affordable off‑grid solutions?
9:40–10:51