Thriving on the Edge

Thriving on the Edge: Bridging the Gap Between Preppers and Permaculturists

What if the world doesn’t end in a blaze, but in a slow unraveling? What if the systems you rely on just… stop working?

This book isn’t a manifesto for doomsday. It’s a blueprint for living well no matter what comes next.

Drawn from a decade of daily reflections written during National Preparedness Month, Thriving on the Edge invites you into the life of a woman who’s raised kids, grown food, ditched the sugar, questioned everything, and built a community-not a stockpile.

With humor, grit, and hard-won wisdom, Nancy Calafati walks the line between personal liberty and collective resilience. She’s been called a prepper, a permaculturist, a homesteader… and occasionally, just plain batshit. That’s fine. She turned it into a brand.

Whether you’re raising chickens, saving seeds, or just trying to make sense of the headlines, this book will help you stop prepping for the worst and start living for the better.

Author Biography

Nancy Calafati was born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and moved to the Midwest in 1983 to attend Northwestern University. She’s the mother of twin Boilermakers and has spent four decades wrangling messy systems, fixing what’s broken, and keeping the lights on in the background of the tech industry. These days she lives with her husband at Batshit Crazy Farms near Valparaiso, Indiana, where they grow absurd amounts of hot peppers and host seasonal craft fairs at a neighboring property known as The Edge of Liberty.