Dennis Evers

 “Dennis has a big family. And when I say a big family, I mean A REALLY BIG family. With 11 children, and a growing army of grandchildren, he’s been a prepper for years now—before he even knew he was prepping—because you need to store a lot of food to feed an army of kids. We came to his farm in rural Colorado to show how he’s trained his kin to function as a self-sustaining unit that could survive an economic meltdown. When we stepped out of our white soccer mom minivan onto his farm, it was like walking into a mini theme park, which makes sense, because he makes train signals for amusement parks across the country. Look down wherever you are, and you’ll find brightly colored sculptures made out of recycled materials. To the right, an entire mini-street of a fake mini-town, complete with its own church and convenience store.

Dennis is a tinkerer and he and his family made all of this. I looked on in awe. I’m pretty helpless at manipulating real-world things outside of the screen of a computer and I can’t imagine how he learned to do all of this. It’s a fantastic place and his family is just as warm and inviting as the scenery. It’s rare and completely unexpected that the people you are filming prepare a meal for you. It’s way more rare that they insist that they will prepare ALL of your meals with delicious farm-fresh ingredients while they also feed their children and grandchildren who come and go all week.

While I’m not a prepper, I really respect the world Dennis and his family have created. They are largely self-sufficient, they can live off the land, they have an intimate relationship with the food on their plates. And when they see a problem, they fix it. When they think of an idea, they try to make it happen. The results can be seen with the hundreds of colorful sculptures keeping guard on their land, ready for what the world may bring.”

Quote
“I’m prepping to protect my family against global chaos caused by hyperinflation.”