Prepsteaders

YAY! We are back this week with 5 great ways to improve your health starting TODAY! I love you all. Thank you for joining me for another episode of PREPSTEADERS.tv!😊

5 Health Hacks Anyone Can Start Doing TODAY! We are diving into one of the most important and most overlooked preparedness topics! The good news is that every one of us can adopt these health protocols ...

YAY! A new episode!!! I told you more were coming. Join me picking Wild Honeysuckle and making the perfect Simple Syrup and drink! I've missed you all but am so glad to be back!🥰

The Scrumptious Wild Honeysuckle Drink You Simply Must Try! We are making my favorite Simple Syrup for Spring today! Learn how to make a delicious honeysuckle lemonade with this easy-to-follow tutorial. This homemade ...

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

My Dad and Mom make the cutest "Valentines". I wish you all could meet them. Today Dad is likely out picking up beautiful feathers in the field or the perfect sappy card to melt Mom's heart this weekend. I hope you remember to love on someone this week!

Every American schoolchild learns about Paul Revere's midnight ride.
"Listen my children and you shall hear / Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere..."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem made Revere immortal. His name became synonymous with American courage and patriotism.
But there's another rider—a teenage girl who reportedly rode twice as far, through rain and darkness, and history almost forgot her entirely.
Her name was Sybil Ludington.
On the night of April 26, 1777, British forces were marching toward Danbury, Connecticut, where the Continental Army stored critical supplies. Colonel Henry Ludington needed to alert the scattered militia—but he couldn't leave his post to organize the defense.
So he turned to someone he trusted completely: his sixteen-year-old daughter.
Sybil mounted her horse and rode into the darkness.
The stories say she traveled approximately 40 miles that night—through rain, through territory where British sympathizers and common criminals posed constant threats. She rode from farm to farm, knocking on doors, shouting warnings, rallying her father's troops.
According to family accounts passed down through generations, she even fought off a highwayman with a stick when he tried to stop her.
By dawn, Sybil Ludington had accomplished her mission. She returned home exhausted and soaked, having gathered nearly 400 militiamen who would march to confront the British forces.
The ride that made her a legend—if the traditional accounts are accurate—covered roughly double the distance of Paul Revere's famous journey two years earlier.
So why do we remember Revere and not Sybil?
Longfellow's poem. Written in 1860, it cemented Revere's ride in American memory. Sybil had no poet to immortalize her. Her story was passed down through family tradition, first published in 1880 by her great-nephew—more than a century after that rainy night.
Historians note that unlike Revere's ride, which has extensive contemporary documentation, Sybil's story relies primarily on family accounts recorded generations later. Some details may have been embellished over time. The exact distance, the highwayman encounter, even the specifics of her route remain subjects of historical debate.
But this much seems clear: a teenage girl did ride through the night to rally militia during the Revolution. She did contribute to the defense of her community. She did show remarkable courage at an age when most of us are worried about far smaller things.
Whether she rode exactly 40 miles or something less, whether she literally fought off an attacker or simply braved the dangers of a wartime night—Sybil Ludington took action when action was needed.
Today, a bronze statue stands on the shore of Lake Gleneida in Carmel, New York, depicting Sybil on horseback, arm raised in warning. Every April since 1979, runners have traced an approximation of her route in the Sybil Ludington 50-kilometer footrace.
She may not have a famous poem. But she has something that matters: people who remember.
Sybil Ludington was born on April 5, 1761. She lived until 1839, long enough to see the nation she helped defend grow from fragile experiment to established country.
She was sixteen years old when her father asked her to ride into the darkness.
She said yes.
History is full of heroes whose names we never learned—people who acted bravely in moments that were never recorded, never celebrated, never turned into poems or statues.
Sybil Ludington almost became one of them.
Instead, her story survived—through family memory, through local tradition, through people who refused to let her be forgotten.
Paul Revere deserves his fame. His ride was real, documented, and crucial.
But next time you hear his name, remember that he wasn't alone. Remember the other riders, the other heroes, the other Americans who risked everything in the darkness.
Remember the sixteen-year-old girl who rode through the rain.
Remember Sybil Ludington.

Hint: Extreme Superfood.

This used to be called "The 4 Freedoms" by Norman Rockwell. I feel like today we need to add the words "Fast Fading" there in the title. Enjoy them while you can. Pray for them to last. Stand up for them till there are no more of us to stand up! May God help us all.

September 22nd is the first day of Autumn already! Why not make time for at least one good Campfire Conversation this season?