Show Notes
This week I start
with Just a thought, followed by Blizzard Survival’s 20% Discount Offer,
Support these companies, A Tough
Question, 30% DISCOUNT FROM RIBZ, Disaster activity children’s kit,
wilderness121’s 10% Discount offer, When the Trucks Stop the UK Stops, Field
Leisure’s 10% Discount offer, Prepping When Cash is Tight, Buggrub’s 10%
Discount offer, More companies to support, Hunters Knives 10% Discount offer, Common
Prepping Mistakes, What is a BOV, and Do I Need One? Choosing a BoL, Further
companies to support, Caching Supplies, Common Methods of Processing and
Preserving Food, Being prepared, Prepping for Beginners, Rain water collection,
Water Purification, Michael Mills, THE WILDERNESS GATHERING 2014 14th
to the 17th August
Have you booked your ticket for the Wilderness Gathering?
You can get full details at www.wildernessgathering.co.uk or call 0845 8387062
Just a Thought
Will you be heading for the hills when SHTF? Where exactly
do you think you’ll go? If you already have some land in a wilderness area,
then that is OK.
But if you do not have a place to seek refuge, then you are
literally a refugee if you’re just wandering around the countryside or woods.
Having a planned BoL means having some money to rent, lease,
or buy the property, but the biggest benefit is you will be authorized to be
there, rather than acting as a squatter.
This could be a very important detail to the local people
and the local authorities during a crisis.
Blizzard Survival 20% Discount Offer
Blizzard Survival .com have a fantastic offer for you the
listener they are offering a 20%
discount on all goods bought from them at www.blizzardsurvival.com
The Ultimate in
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far warmer than goose down, yet 100% weatherproof, tough, ultra-portable and
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Life-saving technology has never been so affordable.
All you have to do to get a 20% discount is enter the code
“PREPPER” at the checkout, it is that simple. Thank you Blizzard Survival.com
If you are looking
for some new kit then please Support these Companies
The following
companies have supported this station and I will support them they are:
You will never need to boil water again
For I-shields UV Protection
For top quality 550 Paracord
For Survival Knives and Survival Kits
For the Nano Striker fire starter
For tasty MX3 Meals
The Lifesaver bottle
For the Knot Bone Lacelock
For the Wild and Edible Nutrition E Book
Browning Night Seeker Cap Light RGB
Multi lite Multi-tool
For the Ghillie Kettle
For the Blackbird SK-5 or his handmade leather sheaths http://www.hedgehogleatherworks.com
For the Farside Outdoor Meals
The Survivor knife
For the Chris Caine companion survival tool
Day Ration Pack
Vango Storm Shelter 400
myFC PowerTrekk
It runs on water, it really does
The Paper Shower
The Life Straw
Purinize is a 100% all-natural solution of concentrated
mineral salts and purified water.
Is a solar powered
phone charger really useful in the UK?
Recharge via mains
usb, PC, Car usb and in addition, Solar
Hold charge for
months, even when in a pocket
Any direct sunlight
will trickle charge the battery.
Get more charges per
given capacity and very useful in an emergency
A Tough
Question
My wife asked me
yesterday, what I plan to do with family members who don’t prep, in the event
of an actual SHTF emergency.
My brothers and sister and their families are some of those non-preppers, even though they know all about my views on that subject. On a side note, does it tarnish my prepper credibility when I can’t even convince my own siblings to prep?
I think that there are two questions in my Wife’s question, firstly will I help them if the SHTF? how far do I plan on helping, in terms of number of people/days? And if at all, I am going to help them in the first place.
These are questions I feel that every prepper must ask themselves when they start prepping, and it probably needs to be re-asked every few years or so as situations change.
I figure the answer to the first question will depend on the type of the emergency.
If it’s a small local emergency, like a house fire, flood or say the loss of their roof in high winds then yes, I am of course going to help them.
I can offer them a place to stay. I know my food preps would feed the family for some time.
What about a major SHTF event?
No one is perfect, in fact we all have weak points and perhaps illness’s to. What they may not have in health, they could make up for with experience, knowledge and skills.
Bringing extra adults (who you know) into my group would help greatly as there would be even more people to forage food and fire wood etc. and also allow for some sort of guard rota to be set up.
Remember if there are long standing fractions between you and the proposed incomers then stop, think, and re-think, can you handle that level of friction and argument? Do you need it?
Perhaps joining up is not going to be good for you, perhaps all you can offer is some of your prepps as you decide to not let them in.
Before any of this happens and you are faced with a decision of the heart, why not plan for what you would do IF this situation arose in the first place.
Work out, (knowing your family members etc.) how much extra food and water etc. You would need if they joined your group.
How long that food and water would last and where they all would sleep. As preppers we usually only prep for our immediate family so in this case the numbers change and we must take this into account.
Perhaps the actual question is, would I help in the first place, are my family behind any decision I make? Can I afford to provide exactly the same quality of prepps for my extended family as I do for my immediate family?
If I and my family agree to help then should my extended family members help me financially in some way as it is they who will benefit should SHTF
My sister and her family live near Birmingham 130 miles away, one brother and his family live down south 135 miles away and the other and his family live about 15 miles away.
Two are too far away to make it here if the SHTF, which means I don’t really only have one to prep for. And on one level, it is not good because I love them dearly, and want them to make it too.
I think that it might help me and my conscience if I inform my brothers and sister that I cannot be there from them all and perhaps include information on what to do to start prepping for themselves in the future and explain that not to do so is very serious indeed, in fact I would go so far as to say it would be like planning to not survive.
In conclusion I would finish by telling them that I have planned for me and my immediate families’ survival and ask them not to rely on knocking on my door.
As I have said many times before, this question is one of the toughest you will have to ask and now is the time to ask it.
Gather your immediate family together and discuss it and come up with your own answer then act on it.
My brothers and sister and their families are some of those non-preppers, even though they know all about my views on that subject. On a side note, does it tarnish my prepper credibility when I can’t even convince my own siblings to prep?
I think that there are two questions in my Wife’s question, firstly will I help them if the SHTF? how far do I plan on helping, in terms of number of people/days? And if at all, I am going to help them in the first place.
These are questions I feel that every prepper must ask themselves when they start prepping, and it probably needs to be re-asked every few years or so as situations change.
I figure the answer to the first question will depend on the type of the emergency.
If it’s a small local emergency, like a house fire, flood or say the loss of their roof in high winds then yes, I am of course going to help them.
I can offer them a place to stay. I know my food preps would feed the family for some time.
What about a major SHTF event?
No one is perfect, in fact we all have weak points and perhaps illness’s to. What they may not have in health, they could make up for with experience, knowledge and skills.
Bringing extra adults (who you know) into my group would help greatly as there would be even more people to forage food and fire wood etc. and also allow for some sort of guard rota to be set up.
Remember if there are long standing fractions between you and the proposed incomers then stop, think, and re-think, can you handle that level of friction and argument? Do you need it?
Perhaps joining up is not going to be good for you, perhaps all you can offer is some of your prepps as you decide to not let them in.
Before any of this happens and you are faced with a decision of the heart, why not plan for what you would do IF this situation arose in the first place.
Work out, (knowing your family members etc.) how much extra food and water etc. You would need if they joined your group.
How long that food and water would last and where they all would sleep. As preppers we usually only prep for our immediate family so in this case the numbers change and we must take this into account.
Perhaps the actual question is, would I help in the first place, are my family behind any decision I make? Can I afford to provide exactly the same quality of prepps for my extended family as I do for my immediate family?
If I and my family agree to help then should my extended family members help me financially in some way as it is they who will benefit should SHTF
My sister and her family live near Birmingham 130 miles away, one brother and his family live down south 135 miles away and the other and his family live about 15 miles away.
Two are too far away to make it here if the SHTF, which means I don’t really only have one to prep for. And on one level, it is not good because I love them dearly, and want them to make it too.
I think that it might help me and my conscience if I inform my brothers and sister that I cannot be there from them all and perhaps include information on what to do to start prepping for themselves in the future and explain that not to do so is very serious indeed, in fact I would go so far as to say it would be like planning to not survive.
In conclusion I would finish by telling them that I have planned for me and my immediate families’ survival and ask them not to rely on knocking on my door.
As I have said many times before, this question is one of the toughest you will have to ask and now is the time to ask it.
Gather your immediate family together and discuss it and come up with your own answer then act on it.
30% DISCOUNT FROM RIBZ
A front pack is a pack or bag that allows for access of
equipment from the persons chest. Front packs first and foremost allow for easy
access of gear without the removal of any equipment.
In many adventure outdoor activities it can be critical to
the sport to have the ability to reach essential gear fast without the removal
of a backpack. Simplicity is the foremost purpose of the front pack but there
are many additional benefits as well.
Weight distribution and balance is a key element in the
utility of the front pack. Shifting weight forward in situations when carrying
heavy loads can be critical to the comfort and balance of an individual.
Moving a small amount of heavy equipment forward to a front
pack can allow for an individual to either maximize or minimize the overall
load contained in a backpack.
In all there are unlimited uses for the front pack. Front
packs are the best compliment to any outdoorsman’s gear when accessibility,
functionality, mobility and simplicity are required. From horseback riding,
long distance biking, motorcycling and kayaking. All sports where fast and easy
access of gear is essential, a front pack is your best solution and as you can
imagine it is going down a storm within the prepping and survivalist community.
To get your 30% discount the summer code is "TRAILBLAZE" and can be used
in the coupon section within the Store. http://www.ribzwear.com/store/
Have a Great Summer!
Disaster
Activity Children’s Kit
This year saw some bad weather and massive floods here in
the UK and around the world we have seen earthquakes, extreme heat, landslides,
tsunamis, blizzards and tornadoes which have forced thousands of families to
flee their homes.
Children account for many of the victims displaced.
Parents can help a child get through the long days that follow a natural disaster with an activity survival kit. What are the benefits of a disaster activity survival kit? What are a few suggested items that can reduce stress and help a child cope with the disaster?
What items should not be taken to an evacuation shelter?
Kids and teens find it hard to camp out in a survival shelter for very long. Some people have to wait for days or weeks after a flood or other weather disaster has passed before they can safely return home.
A disaster survival kit can help keep a child (or teen) occupied for much of the waiting time. Let the child help pack his kit; older children and teens can pack their own.
Keeping the kit packed and ready-to-go saves valuable time in the event the family has to evacuate on short notice.
The most obvious reason for having a disaster activity survival kit for each child is to stave off boredom. Here are some other good reasons for building a kid's survival kit?
The child who builds or helps to build his disaster survival kit gets a sense of understanding and control in disaster planning.
Familiar, favourite items on hand will give comfort and hopefully keep stress and anxiety levels manageable in strange surroundings during a disaster crisis.
Items (such as drawing and colouring sets) gives the child an alternative way to vent feelings and fears about the disaster.
Items that make up a child's disaster survival kit depend on the child's age and personal preferences.
Consider too, where the family is going to be staying for the next few days or longer. Use a backpack or duffel bag to hold a child's survival kit items.
What items are recommended for a child's activity survival kit?
A few favourite books and/or magazines
Writing Pads and pens
Personal CD player, gaming device or other player that uses headphones
Laptop or notebook computer and headphones
Crayons, washable markers, paper and colouring books
Sticker books and word puzzle books
Favourite cuddly toy
Board games and puzzles with large pieces
Deck of cards
Favourite blanket and/or pillow
Small dolls, cars, action heroes and other toys that prompt a child's imagination
In a shelter situation or even in a hotel, don't forget batteries and headphones. Don't count on being able to plug in a battery charger at a shelter, and don't expect Internet service.
If your family is going to take refuge in a local community centre for example? There are rules parents need to be aware of – guidelines to follow when making activity suggestions to a teen or helping a child make a survival kit.
Remember that hundreds of evacuees can add up to a lot of noise unless shelter rules are observed. Know too, that space is extremely limited – spots are taped off in some shelters – so limit your belongings.
Horseplay, loud talking, profanity, musical instruments and loud music are not tolerated.
Plan "quiet" activities like a good book for reading or a diary to write in. If you want music, then bring a radio, personal CD player or similar player and a good set of headphones.
Don't assume that everyone is going to like your kind of music.
Show consideration when bringing toys for young children. No noisy toy instruments, remote control cars (can cause people to trip, too), whistles, or toys that emit sirens or other loud sounds.
Please, no balls, Frisbees or anything that might invade another person's space.
Steer clear of games and items with small pieces that could easily become lost. Leave messy things like glue, moulding clay and paint sets at home.
Leave behind sharp items like scissors and craft needles unless it's an older child that is responsible.
Incidentally, if you're going to be stuck in your home's basement shelter for a lengthy bit of time, then you still might want to follow the public shelter guidelines above.
Children will feel less stressed if they're allowed to pack-up and bring a few favourite belongings to an emergency shelter or other place of refuge.
Stick with quiet toys and devices that will reduce boredom and maintain peace for other evacuees.
It's no fun to leave the comfort and conveniences of home when a weather or land crisis strikes.
Include your children when making disaster preparations and allow them to make an activity kit.
Whole family involvement will make coping with bad weather and flooding and other natural disasters a whole lot easier.
Children account for many of the victims displaced.
Parents can help a child get through the long days that follow a natural disaster with an activity survival kit. What are the benefits of a disaster activity survival kit? What are a few suggested items that can reduce stress and help a child cope with the disaster?
What items should not be taken to an evacuation shelter?
Kids and teens find it hard to camp out in a survival shelter for very long. Some people have to wait for days or weeks after a flood or other weather disaster has passed before they can safely return home.
A disaster survival kit can help keep a child (or teen) occupied for much of the waiting time. Let the child help pack his kit; older children and teens can pack their own.
Keeping the kit packed and ready-to-go saves valuable time in the event the family has to evacuate on short notice.
The most obvious reason for having a disaster activity survival kit for each child is to stave off boredom. Here are some other good reasons for building a kid's survival kit?
The child who builds or helps to build his disaster survival kit gets a sense of understanding and control in disaster planning.
Familiar, favourite items on hand will give comfort and hopefully keep stress and anxiety levels manageable in strange surroundings during a disaster crisis.
Items (such as drawing and colouring sets) gives the child an alternative way to vent feelings and fears about the disaster.
Items that make up a child's disaster survival kit depend on the child's age and personal preferences.
Consider too, where the family is going to be staying for the next few days or longer. Use a backpack or duffel bag to hold a child's survival kit items.
What items are recommended for a child's activity survival kit?
A few favourite books and/or magazines
Writing Pads and pens
Personal CD player, gaming device or other player that uses headphones
Laptop or notebook computer and headphones
Crayons, washable markers, paper and colouring books
Sticker books and word puzzle books
Favourite cuddly toy
Board games and puzzles with large pieces
Deck of cards
Favourite blanket and/or pillow
Small dolls, cars, action heroes and other toys that prompt a child's imagination
In a shelter situation or even in a hotel, don't forget batteries and headphones. Don't count on being able to plug in a battery charger at a shelter, and don't expect Internet service.
If your family is going to take refuge in a local community centre for example? There are rules parents need to be aware of – guidelines to follow when making activity suggestions to a teen or helping a child make a survival kit.
Remember that hundreds of evacuees can add up to a lot of noise unless shelter rules are observed. Know too, that space is extremely limited – spots are taped off in some shelters – so limit your belongings.
Horseplay, loud talking, profanity, musical instruments and loud music are not tolerated.
Plan "quiet" activities like a good book for reading or a diary to write in. If you want music, then bring a radio, personal CD player or similar player and a good set of headphones.
Don't assume that everyone is going to like your kind of music.
Show consideration when bringing toys for young children. No noisy toy instruments, remote control cars (can cause people to trip, too), whistles, or toys that emit sirens or other loud sounds.
Please, no balls, Frisbees or anything that might invade another person's space.
Steer clear of games and items with small pieces that could easily become lost. Leave messy things like glue, moulding clay and paint sets at home.
Leave behind sharp items like scissors and craft needles unless it's an older child that is responsible.
Incidentally, if you're going to be stuck in your home's basement shelter for a lengthy bit of time, then you still might want to follow the public shelter guidelines above.
Children will feel less stressed if they're allowed to pack-up and bring a few favourite belongings to an emergency shelter or other place of refuge.
Stick with quiet toys and devices that will reduce boredom and maintain peace for other evacuees.
It's no fun to leave the comfort and conveniences of home when a weather or land crisis strikes.
Include your children when making disaster preparations and allow them to make an activity kit.
Whole family involvement will make coping with bad weather and flooding and other natural disasters a whole lot easier.
Wilderness121’s 10% discount
The new supplier of Purificup to the UK is Wilderness121 and
they really mean business, having spoken to the director Rob Williams he has
agreed to offer you dear listener a 10% discount just by putting the letters
UKPRN into the code box it is that simple.
Now pop along to www.wilderness121.co.uk
and check out their great range of survival related products.
When the Trucks
Stop the UK Stops
OK so you are not a
prepper and you think that preppers are a few cards short of a full deck? You
assume that anyone that is "preparing for doomsday" does not have
their elevator going all the way to the top floor?
Well, you might want to listen to me first before you make a final decision that all preppers are crazy.
The information that you are about to hear I hope will shock you. To be honest, you have no idea how incredibly vulnerable our economic system is to a transportation disruption. I am continually getting emails and comments on my websites asking "how to prepare" for what is coming, so when I came across this information I knew that I had to share it with all of you.
Hopefully what you are about to hear will motivate you to prepare like never before, and hopefully you will share this information with others.
Originally, I was going to write an article about the rising unemployment in Europe today. Did you know that unemployment in the Eurozone is now at a 15 year high? It has risen for 10 months in a row with no end in sight.
But I have written a few articles about the economic crisis in Europe before. So before starting on this article I started thinking of all the "preparation" questions I have been getting lately and I went surfing for further information.
The truth is that our "just in time" inventory and delivery systems leave us incredibly vulnerable to a nationwide disaster.
You see, it is very expensive to hold and store goods, so most manufacturers and retailers rely on a continual flow of deliveries that are scheduled to arrive "just in time", and this significantly reduces their operating expenses.
This is considered to be good business practice for manufacturers and retailers, but it also means that if there was a major nationwide transportation disruption that our economic system would grind to a halt almost immediately.
Once store shelves are picked clean, they would not be able to be replenished until trucks could get back on the road. In the event of a major nationwide disaster, that could be quite a while.
So what could potentially cause a nationwide transportation shutdown?
Well, it is easy to imagine a lot of potential scenarios - a volcanic eruption, a historic earthquake, an EMP attack, a solar megastorm, a war, a major terror attack, an asteroid strike, a killer pandemic, mass rioting in UK cities, or even martial law. If something caused the trucks to stop running, life in the UK would immediately start changing.
So exactly what would that look like?
A Timeline Showing the Deterioration of Major Industries Following a Truck Stoppage
The first 24 hours
Delivery of medical supplies to the affected area will cease.
Hospitals will run out of basic supplies such as syringes and catheters within hours. Radiopharmaceuticals will deteriorate and become unusable.
Service stations will begin to run out of fuel.
Manufacturers using just-in-time manufacturing will develop component shortages.
UK mail and other package delivery will cease.
Within one day
Food shortages will begin to develop.
Automobile fuel availability and delivery will dwindle, leading to skyrocketing prices and long lines at the petrol stations.
Without manufacturing components and trucks for product delivery, assembly lines will shut down, putting thousands out of work.
Within two to three days
Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic.
Supplies of essentials—such as bottled water, powdered milk, and canned meat—at major retailers will disappear.
ATMs will run out of cash and banks will be unable to process transactions.
Service stations will completely run out of fuel.
Domestic rubbish will start piling up in urban and suburban areas.
Container ships will sit idle in ports and rail transport will be disrupted, eventually coming to a standstill.
Within a week
Automobile travel will cease due to the lack of fuel. Without autos and busses, many people will not be able to get to work, shop for groceries, or access medical care.
Hospitals will begin to exhaust oxygen supplies.
Within two weeks
The nation’s clean water supply will begin to run dry within four weeks
The nation will exhaust its clean water supply and water will be safe for drinking only after boiling. As a result gastrointestinal illnesses will increase, further taxing an already weakened health care system.
This timeline presents only the primary effects of a freeze on truck travel. Secondary effects must be considered as well, such as inability to maintain telecommunications service, reduced law enforcement, increased crime, increased illness and injury, higher death rates, and likely, civil unrest.
All this would happen almost immediately if there was an EMP attack or a CME event, I suggest that if you are not a prepper that you seriously consider becoming one and if you are a prepper heed my words please.
Well, you might want to listen to me first before you make a final decision that all preppers are crazy.
The information that you are about to hear I hope will shock you. To be honest, you have no idea how incredibly vulnerable our economic system is to a transportation disruption. I am continually getting emails and comments on my websites asking "how to prepare" for what is coming, so when I came across this information I knew that I had to share it with all of you.
Hopefully what you are about to hear will motivate you to prepare like never before, and hopefully you will share this information with others.
Originally, I was going to write an article about the rising unemployment in Europe today. Did you know that unemployment in the Eurozone is now at a 15 year high? It has risen for 10 months in a row with no end in sight.
But I have written a few articles about the economic crisis in Europe before. So before starting on this article I started thinking of all the "preparation" questions I have been getting lately and I went surfing for further information.
The truth is that our "just in time" inventory and delivery systems leave us incredibly vulnerable to a nationwide disaster.
You see, it is very expensive to hold and store goods, so most manufacturers and retailers rely on a continual flow of deliveries that are scheduled to arrive "just in time", and this significantly reduces their operating expenses.
This is considered to be good business practice for manufacturers and retailers, but it also means that if there was a major nationwide transportation disruption that our economic system would grind to a halt almost immediately.
Once store shelves are picked clean, they would not be able to be replenished until trucks could get back on the road. In the event of a major nationwide disaster, that could be quite a while.
So what could potentially cause a nationwide transportation shutdown?
Well, it is easy to imagine a lot of potential scenarios - a volcanic eruption, a historic earthquake, an EMP attack, a solar megastorm, a war, a major terror attack, an asteroid strike, a killer pandemic, mass rioting in UK cities, or even martial law. If something caused the trucks to stop running, life in the UK would immediately start changing.
So exactly what would that look like?
A Timeline Showing the Deterioration of Major Industries Following a Truck Stoppage
The first 24 hours
Delivery of medical supplies to the affected area will cease.
Hospitals will run out of basic supplies such as syringes and catheters within hours. Radiopharmaceuticals will deteriorate and become unusable.
Service stations will begin to run out of fuel.
Manufacturers using just-in-time manufacturing will develop component shortages.
UK mail and other package delivery will cease.
Within one day
Food shortages will begin to develop.
Automobile fuel availability and delivery will dwindle, leading to skyrocketing prices and long lines at the petrol stations.
Without manufacturing components and trucks for product delivery, assembly lines will shut down, putting thousands out of work.
Within two to three days
Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic.
Supplies of essentials—such as bottled water, powdered milk, and canned meat—at major retailers will disappear.
ATMs will run out of cash and banks will be unable to process transactions.
Service stations will completely run out of fuel.
Domestic rubbish will start piling up in urban and suburban areas.
Container ships will sit idle in ports and rail transport will be disrupted, eventually coming to a standstill.
Within a week
Automobile travel will cease due to the lack of fuel. Without autos and busses, many people will not be able to get to work, shop for groceries, or access medical care.
Hospitals will begin to exhaust oxygen supplies.
Within two weeks
The nation’s clean water supply will begin to run dry within four weeks
The nation will exhaust its clean water supply and water will be safe for drinking only after boiling. As a result gastrointestinal illnesses will increase, further taxing an already weakened health care system.
This timeline presents only the primary effects of a freeze on truck travel. Secondary effects must be considered as well, such as inability to maintain telecommunications service, reduced law enforcement, increased crime, increased illness and injury, higher death rates, and likely, civil unrest.
All this would happen almost immediately if there was an EMP attack or a CME event, I suggest that if you are not a prepper that you seriously consider becoming one and if you are a prepper heed my words please.
Now thanks to the
Managing Director Paul listeners visiting Field Leisure - The
Bushcraft & Wilderness Store
at http://www.fieldleisure.co.uk/
can get 10% OFF by entering the code UKPRN at the checkout now Paul guarantees
next day delivery all over the UK and fast European and US delivery and that is
reassuring and refreshing too
Prepping When
Cash is Tight
Earlier this week, I
realized I have been doing as much prepping as I wanted to.
I don’t have as much done this far in the year as I had planned and am far behind my goals. Money has become tight, as I’m sure is the case for a lot of people. I’ll be honest; it got me down for about a day.
But! There’s lots that you can do that takes no money at all. I started out by taking inventory of what I do have and looking again at my list of what I would like to have. Reassess and revaluate your goals.
Next I spent hours watching videos on everything prepping and survival that I could find. Youtube is great for this, but make sure you take everything with a grain of salt. The people that make these videos could be anyone, just like you or me.
So really think about the things that these people do and say but there really is a wealth of information out there, for free. So find the videos and take notes. There is also a lot of information on facebook groups and hashtags on twitter.
After that, I decided I could use to be in a bit better shape. If the S were to HTF, being in good physical condition would definitely make it a bit easier. So, I revamped my workout routine. Anyone can work out and you don’t need gym equipment and you don’t even need to run.
One of the easiest things you can do is sit on the couch and watch an hour long program. Each time there is a commercial, do 20 sit ups or push ups.
That should give you close to 100 in an hour! If that’s too much work, cut it down to 10 or 5 or even 1, anywhere is a good starting point. By doing the exercise in small sets, it doesn’t feel like as much of a work out.
The last thing I did was mentally prepare. I realized that I may not have thousands of pounds tied up in my preparations but at least I have prepared.
That’s more than what most people have done. I thought about what could happen in my area (snowstorms, floods, economic collapse etc.) and thought about how my life would be affected.
What would I do in _____ situation? What if _____ happened? And make your plans from there.
What would it take to get you to bug out? Where would you go? What would you bring? Make your plans and constantly reassess them, always be willing to change them and be flexible!
If you haven’t started prepping you better get started soon because the world is facing a number of problems that could spell disaster for life as we know it.
Now I’m not trying to scare people into buying into the whole 2012 end of the world thing, but I do think we’re facing some serious trouble in the very near future.
From the growing Occupy movements that are increasingly starting to turn violent, to the global financial meltdown that’s wreaking havoc on the world, things seem to be getting worse at an alarming pace. The world as we know it seems to be teetering on the edge of a cliff and in my opinion there are way too many people hoping or trying to make it fall over.
But even if the world does fall into chaos, there are things that you can do that will help bring balance and stability back into your life. To start with you need to start preparing to survive whatever lies ahead.
There are lots of notions about preparing that turn out to be myths. The very mention of survival or preparedness can conjure negative mental images that have no basis in fact.
Myth 1 - Prepping Is Expensive. Prepping does not need to cost a lot. You can start small and only purchase things that are affordable. In fact, some preparations, including food storage, can actually save a little money.
Myth 2 - Prepping Takes Too Much Time. Anything, including hobbies, surfing the web, or watching TV, can "take a lot of time." Prepping is a worthwhile activity to which you are able to devote just as much or as little time as you want. It all depends on your comfort level.
Myth 3 - You Need A Lot Of Space For Storage. Anyone can create storage space, whether in a small apartment or a house in the suburbs.
Myth 4 - You Need A Farm Or A Retreat Location. It would be nice if we could each lay claim to a faraway place we could go to, but most of us aren't that fortunate. Instead, just prepare wherever you are, as best as you are able to. Any amount of preparation is preferable to none at all.
Myth 5 - Preparing Will Turn Me Into A Tin-Foil Hatter Living In The Woods Decked Out In Military Gear Threatening People with Explosives.
This image stems from media stereotypes of survivalists. Sociopathic loners like the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski and right wing militias that really enjoy visions of far-fetched conspiracies to warrant firearm fanaticism.
The truth is, most preppers are normal everyday people who realize the system may not always be around to support them and so feel they have to look after their own personal safety and security. In a time of on-going financial crisis, spectacular natural disasters, and technology run amok, imaginary conspiracies by shadowy government entities really are the very least of our problems.
There are plenty of emergencies we can plan for, which range from events with a higher likelihood of occurring, including unemployment or illness in the family, to natural disasters like hurricanes or floods to rare but extremely catastrophic events such as a terrorist attack or pandemic.
Whether you're making preparations for a short-term or long-term emergency the initial steps towards those goals are the same.
Even if you're starting from the beginning without any emergency supplies at all, as soon as you get started with the prepping process, you will soon start to see positive results.
As you build on these simple measures, you can expect to be confident in your labour and be rewarded with the confidence that you have done the very best you can to safeguard your household for disaster.
I don’t have as much done this far in the year as I had planned and am far behind my goals. Money has become tight, as I’m sure is the case for a lot of people. I’ll be honest; it got me down for about a day.
But! There’s lots that you can do that takes no money at all. I started out by taking inventory of what I do have and looking again at my list of what I would like to have. Reassess and revaluate your goals.
Next I spent hours watching videos on everything prepping and survival that I could find. Youtube is great for this, but make sure you take everything with a grain of salt. The people that make these videos could be anyone, just like you or me.
So really think about the things that these people do and say but there really is a wealth of information out there, for free. So find the videos and take notes. There is also a lot of information on facebook groups and hashtags on twitter.
After that, I decided I could use to be in a bit better shape. If the S were to HTF, being in good physical condition would definitely make it a bit easier. So, I revamped my workout routine. Anyone can work out and you don’t need gym equipment and you don’t even need to run.
One of the easiest things you can do is sit on the couch and watch an hour long program. Each time there is a commercial, do 20 sit ups or push ups.
That should give you close to 100 in an hour! If that’s too much work, cut it down to 10 or 5 or even 1, anywhere is a good starting point. By doing the exercise in small sets, it doesn’t feel like as much of a work out.
The last thing I did was mentally prepare. I realized that I may not have thousands of pounds tied up in my preparations but at least I have prepared.
That’s more than what most people have done. I thought about what could happen in my area (snowstorms, floods, economic collapse etc.) and thought about how my life would be affected.
What would I do in _____ situation? What if _____ happened? And make your plans from there.
What would it take to get you to bug out? Where would you go? What would you bring? Make your plans and constantly reassess them, always be willing to change them and be flexible!
If you haven’t started prepping you better get started soon because the world is facing a number of problems that could spell disaster for life as we know it.
Now I’m not trying to scare people into buying into the whole 2012 end of the world thing, but I do think we’re facing some serious trouble in the very near future.
From the growing Occupy movements that are increasingly starting to turn violent, to the global financial meltdown that’s wreaking havoc on the world, things seem to be getting worse at an alarming pace. The world as we know it seems to be teetering on the edge of a cliff and in my opinion there are way too many people hoping or trying to make it fall over.
But even if the world does fall into chaos, there are things that you can do that will help bring balance and stability back into your life. To start with you need to start preparing to survive whatever lies ahead.
There are lots of notions about preparing that turn out to be myths. The very mention of survival or preparedness can conjure negative mental images that have no basis in fact.
Myth 1 - Prepping Is Expensive. Prepping does not need to cost a lot. You can start small and only purchase things that are affordable. In fact, some preparations, including food storage, can actually save a little money.
Myth 2 - Prepping Takes Too Much Time. Anything, including hobbies, surfing the web, or watching TV, can "take a lot of time." Prepping is a worthwhile activity to which you are able to devote just as much or as little time as you want. It all depends on your comfort level.
Myth 3 - You Need A Lot Of Space For Storage. Anyone can create storage space, whether in a small apartment or a house in the suburbs.
Myth 4 - You Need A Farm Or A Retreat Location. It would be nice if we could each lay claim to a faraway place we could go to, but most of us aren't that fortunate. Instead, just prepare wherever you are, as best as you are able to. Any amount of preparation is preferable to none at all.
Myth 5 - Preparing Will Turn Me Into A Tin-Foil Hatter Living In The Woods Decked Out In Military Gear Threatening People with Explosives.
This image stems from media stereotypes of survivalists. Sociopathic loners like the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski and right wing militias that really enjoy visions of far-fetched conspiracies to warrant firearm fanaticism.
The truth is, most preppers are normal everyday people who realize the system may not always be around to support them and so feel they have to look after their own personal safety and security. In a time of on-going financial crisis, spectacular natural disasters, and technology run amok, imaginary conspiracies by shadowy government entities really are the very least of our problems.
There are plenty of emergencies we can plan for, which range from events with a higher likelihood of occurring, including unemployment or illness in the family, to natural disasters like hurricanes or floods to rare but extremely catastrophic events such as a terrorist attack or pandemic.
Whether you're making preparations for a short-term or long-term emergency the initial steps towards those goals are the same.
Even if you're starting from the beginning without any emergency supplies at all, as soon as you get started with the prepping process, you will soon start to see positive results.
As you build on these simple measures, you can expect to be confident in your labour and be rewarded with the confidence that you have done the very best you can to safeguard your household for disaster.
Peter at buggrub
is not only sponsoring the competition on my website he is also offering a 10%
discount on all his products by using the word PREPPER. So have you got the
gonads, can you walk the walk, dare you, I dear you to buy some buggrub and
then eat it, go on I dare you. Peter’s website is www.buggrub.co.uk
Here are some more
companies to support
72 hour survival pack
Blizzard Survival jacket
Survival Ration Packs
SOL Complete Survival Kit and SOL Bivy Bag
The answer to rough ground sleeping
For all your military equipment needs
NEW MRE’s
The Fire Piston
Great tasty MRE’s
The 95 Puukko Survival Knife
Gold Standard Whey Protein isolates which are 90% pure
protein by weight
The RIBZ Front Pack
The LuminAID
Your own water purification system
Nut, gluten- and milk-free foods for nearly a decade here.
Nigel at www.hunters-knives.co.uk has offered
you dear listener 10% on all his products simply by using the code PREP10.
The Survival Slingshot
Common Prepping
Mistakes
With the abundance of bad info out there, it’s easy for new
preppers to make a lot of mistakes.
I, myself, when I was a new prepper made many mistakes and I’m sure I’ll make more, but that’s part of the learning process.
To help you speed up this process, here are some common prepping mistakes you’ll want to avoid:
Not having a survival library. Books are less common these days because we do so much reading on the Internet and Kindles. But if the power goes out, having a good collection of survival books could save your life.
They’ll give you something to read when you’re bored, and will have important instructions on things like purifying water, building fires, and medical care.
While you want to learn as much of this info as you can ahead of time, no one can know everything, and there are bound to be times when a survival library will come in handy.
Focusing on supplies instead of skills. Of course, just because you have all the best books on survival doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother to learn survival skills. It’s possible your books will be destroyed or you won’t be able to get to them.
The same rule applies to your survival food and gear. What if you’re at work when your home is destroyed by an explosion, earthquake or some other disastrous event? Would you still have the skills to survive, or are you completely dependent on your food and gear?
Not having enough water preps. I cannot overemphasize the importance of water. There are many survivalists who have six months of food and only two weeks of water on hand.
Considering that you can survive without food about ten times as long as you can survive without water, you’d be better off with two weeks of food and six months of water.
Don’t do that either by the way, but at least make sure your water will last as long as your food. If you don’t have enough room for that much, there are many ways to collect and purify water.
Not having enough variety in food supplies. Too many new preppers buy nothing but rice, beans, flour, salt and sugar. If that’s all you have to eat after a disaster, you’re going to be miserable.
Your body will have trouble adjusting to the new bare-bones diet and you’ll suffer from food fatigue, where your survival food won’t be appetizing even when you’re very hungry.
Make sure you buy the ingredients for a variety of possible meals so you’ll feel satisfied every time you eat.
This leads to my next point…
Not eating what you store. This was the first mistake I made when I started stocking up on food. I bought all kinds of food, sealed it up, put it in the closet, and forgot about it.
Inevitably, some of my food went bad and I had to throw it out. It’s important you store what you eat and eat what you store.
If you’re not sure how to cook meals from the basic ingredients, I’d recommend getting some cookbooks and a guide like Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook 10 Common Prepping Mistakes which has a lot of great recipes.
Not having enough vitamins. Personally, I think everyone should be taking multivitamins since most modern diets don’t provide the nutrition we need, but this will be even more important in a survival situation.
The stress of having your life turned upside down, constant threats to you and your family, and manual labour will take a lot of energy and tax your immune system. Vitamins will help keep you strong and healthy, especially Vitamin C.
Relying only on food storage. While the last few points have been about food, don’t forget all your other survival needs. When a lot of people think of prepping, the first things they think about are food and water and they proceed to stock up on them while neglecting healthy and beauty supplies, first aid kids, bug out bags, cooking implements, clothes, weapons and other important items.
While food should be your first priority, don’t forget your other priorities.
Relying only on an arsenal. At the other end the spectrum, there are some preppers who focus all their attention on guns and ammo. The reasoning is that not only will they be able to protect themselves, they’ll be able to hunt their food and trade ammo for other supplies.
This is unrealistic, especially if you’re in or near a city. The little bit of wildlife in your area will be picked clean by others, and most people won’t be interested in your ammo as they, like you, will be looking to trade for food and other vital supplies. Sure, have some weapons for self-defence, but don’t go overboard.
Not taking care of pets. As much as we all love our pets, for some reason it’s easy to forget that they need preps, too.
Animals require more than just food and water.
Planning on bugging out. Although having a bug out bag and a vehicle survival kit is important, unless you have advance warning of a disaster it will be very difficult to get from your home to your bug out location.
The streets will be congested, roads and entire areas could be inaccessible, and fuel could become unavailable.
That’s why I think it’s so important to be ready to shelter in place.
I, myself, when I was a new prepper made many mistakes and I’m sure I’ll make more, but that’s part of the learning process.
To help you speed up this process, here are some common prepping mistakes you’ll want to avoid:
Not having a survival library. Books are less common these days because we do so much reading on the Internet and Kindles. But if the power goes out, having a good collection of survival books could save your life.
They’ll give you something to read when you’re bored, and will have important instructions on things like purifying water, building fires, and medical care.
While you want to learn as much of this info as you can ahead of time, no one can know everything, and there are bound to be times when a survival library will come in handy.
Focusing on supplies instead of skills. Of course, just because you have all the best books on survival doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother to learn survival skills. It’s possible your books will be destroyed or you won’t be able to get to them.
The same rule applies to your survival food and gear. What if you’re at work when your home is destroyed by an explosion, earthquake or some other disastrous event? Would you still have the skills to survive, or are you completely dependent on your food and gear?
Not having enough water preps. I cannot overemphasize the importance of water. There are many survivalists who have six months of food and only two weeks of water on hand.
Considering that you can survive without food about ten times as long as you can survive without water, you’d be better off with two weeks of food and six months of water.
Don’t do that either by the way, but at least make sure your water will last as long as your food. If you don’t have enough room for that much, there are many ways to collect and purify water.
Not having enough variety in food supplies. Too many new preppers buy nothing but rice, beans, flour, salt and sugar. If that’s all you have to eat after a disaster, you’re going to be miserable.
Your body will have trouble adjusting to the new bare-bones diet and you’ll suffer from food fatigue, where your survival food won’t be appetizing even when you’re very hungry.
Make sure you buy the ingredients for a variety of possible meals so you’ll feel satisfied every time you eat.
This leads to my next point…
Not eating what you store. This was the first mistake I made when I started stocking up on food. I bought all kinds of food, sealed it up, put it in the closet, and forgot about it.
Inevitably, some of my food went bad and I had to throw it out. It’s important you store what you eat and eat what you store.
If you’re not sure how to cook meals from the basic ingredients, I’d recommend getting some cookbooks and a guide like Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook 10 Common Prepping Mistakes which has a lot of great recipes.
Not having enough vitamins. Personally, I think everyone should be taking multivitamins since most modern diets don’t provide the nutrition we need, but this will be even more important in a survival situation.
The stress of having your life turned upside down, constant threats to you and your family, and manual labour will take a lot of energy and tax your immune system. Vitamins will help keep you strong and healthy, especially Vitamin C.
Relying only on food storage. While the last few points have been about food, don’t forget all your other survival needs. When a lot of people think of prepping, the first things they think about are food and water and they proceed to stock up on them while neglecting healthy and beauty supplies, first aid kids, bug out bags, cooking implements, clothes, weapons and other important items.
While food should be your first priority, don’t forget your other priorities.
Relying only on an arsenal. At the other end the spectrum, there are some preppers who focus all their attention on guns and ammo. The reasoning is that not only will they be able to protect themselves, they’ll be able to hunt their food and trade ammo for other supplies.
This is unrealistic, especially if you’re in or near a city. The little bit of wildlife in your area will be picked clean by others, and most people won’t be interested in your ammo as they, like you, will be looking to trade for food and other vital supplies. Sure, have some weapons for self-defence, but don’t go overboard.
Not taking care of pets. As much as we all love our pets, for some reason it’s easy to forget that they need preps, too.
Animals require more than just food and water.
Planning on bugging out. Although having a bug out bag and a vehicle survival kit is important, unless you have advance warning of a disaster it will be very difficult to get from your home to your bug out location.
The streets will be congested, roads and entire areas could be inaccessible, and fuel could become unavailable.
That’s why I think it’s so important to be ready to shelter in place.
What is a BOV,
and Do I Need One?
A BOV or Bug out Vehicle is some form of transport that will
take you away from your current location in a time of crisis or distress.
Almost anything that will move can be considered a potential BOV candidate.
That includes motor vehicles, animals, human powered devices or anything that can carry or tow some kind of load.
The next question is "do I need one?"
The simple answer is yes, it is very likely that you will need something to move you and your stuff around at one time or another. Even if you are well set up in a great location, there may come a time you will need to move.
I can’t elaborate on what the circumstances may be to make you move, but I can make some suggestions that will help you decide what you may require when that time comes.
Firstly, how many, how far, how much, how often? This is where you start to question what you need to move and how far you need to move it. If it is just one person, and they have a small bag of things, then the demands are not great.
However, if it is your whole family, and everything goes with you including the kitchen sink, then you will need something more substantial.
How many?
So, how many people are included in the group that are willing and able to move from your established location? Take into consideration that if your group is large, some might not wish to go even if it is against their better judgment.
Some of the group may have special requirements that will take up more space, things that cannot be left behind like medical equipment or wheelchairs.
Also consider that you may even have extra people to move around. You never know what might happen, and if you can make provision for these possibilities, within reason, more power to you.
How far?
Is your new location across the road, across the city, across the county, across the country, maybe even across the world! You will need to identify the location you wish to get to, and what might be required to get there.
That includes consumables, possible repairs and any chance you might have to adjust your course. Make allowances in your plan to get there via the ‘scenic route’.
How much?
This is what you plan to take with you if you do have to move. If you are in a set location with good resources and a chance of living well, then your absence may be short, until you can return.
In that case, short term items are of prime consideration, with a few longer term items thrown in just in case.
If you plan to bug out, and stay bugged out, then you will have to take a lot of gear with you. You must make plans to take all that gear with you safely and efficiently.
You may have to leave some of it behind, or hide it until the time is right to retrieve it. You may have to hide some of your gear beforehand to lessen the burden later on. This must all be considered and factored into your plan.
That includes motor vehicles, animals, human powered devices or anything that can carry or tow some kind of load.
The next question is "do I need one?"
The simple answer is yes, it is very likely that you will need something to move you and your stuff around at one time or another. Even if you are well set up in a great location, there may come a time you will need to move.
I can’t elaborate on what the circumstances may be to make you move, but I can make some suggestions that will help you decide what you may require when that time comes.
Firstly, how many, how far, how much, how often? This is where you start to question what you need to move and how far you need to move it. If it is just one person, and they have a small bag of things, then the demands are not great.
However, if it is your whole family, and everything goes with you including the kitchen sink, then you will need something more substantial.
How many?
So, how many people are included in the group that are willing and able to move from your established location? Take into consideration that if your group is large, some might not wish to go even if it is against their better judgment.
Some of the group may have special requirements that will take up more space, things that cannot be left behind like medical equipment or wheelchairs.
Also consider that you may even have extra people to move around. You never know what might happen, and if you can make provision for these possibilities, within reason, more power to you.
How far?
Is your new location across the road, across the city, across the county, across the country, maybe even across the world! You will need to identify the location you wish to get to, and what might be required to get there.
That includes consumables, possible repairs and any chance you might have to adjust your course. Make allowances in your plan to get there via the ‘scenic route’.
How much?
This is what you plan to take with you if you do have to move. If you are in a set location with good resources and a chance of living well, then your absence may be short, until you can return.
In that case, short term items are of prime consideration, with a few longer term items thrown in just in case.
If you plan to bug out, and stay bugged out, then you will have to take a lot of gear with you. You must make plans to take all that gear with you safely and efficiently.
You may have to leave some of it behind, or hide it until the time is right to retrieve it. You may have to hide some of your gear beforehand to lessen the burden later on. This must all be considered and factored into your plan.
How often?
Do you plan to move once, a few times or be continually on the move? If it is just once, think about where that one move is going to, and will you have to move again?
If the answer is yes, then your plans for the one move have already failed. Also, if you plan to continually move, will you be able to stay for an extended period in one spot if the circumstance permit?
You must be willing to be flexible in these plans, even if you have no thoughts of going anywhere, it is wise to be prepared ahead of time if the unthinkable occurs and you do have to move.
Different styles of travel require different modes of transport, and the transport you select must be able to follow those plans, or you aren’t going anywhere!
In the end, if you plan to survive for a long time, you will very likely have to move around a little no matter how well prepared you are, as even the best-laid plans sometimes fail.
Whichever way you decide to go, a good reliable BOV should always be placed high on the list of needs, even if it is just as an emergency.
Choosing a BOL
If your BOL comes under attack here is the priority of
defence – Person(s), Water, Food, Fire making, Shelter.
It may sound illogical not to include weapons in the top 5 however a resourceful prepper/survival should be able to make a make shift weapon.
Accessibility to food and water is critical to a BOL. The strong preference is to have the water and food source(s) within the confines of the actual BOL. If not on the BOL very nearby, since going to get the food/water consumes energy and time. Both will be in short supply once SHTF.
Stored Food – Store food in a location that is at the core of your BOL. The location should be a critical OpSec item and not discussed with anyone that has not been vetted. I highly recommend that your stored food be stored in more than one location. Your stored food location should be temperature controlled if possible (cellar, bunker, insulation, air flow), water proof (or at least the containers the food is in)
Gowned food supplies should be spaced out to conceal the crops, not to mention hide the numbers in the retreat. One can take an educated guess of your numbers based on the amount of food being grown, even the amount of waste being produced.
Raising livestock takes special care when looking for a BOL. One has to ensure proper draining and terrain types for the livestock they plan on raising. My preference is unless the BOL can be well defended stick with smaller livestock that can be mobile such as chickens, ducks, rabbits and goats.
As for wildlife when looking for a BOL look at maps to see surrounding water sources and places where wildlife is likely to be. Also look for signs of wildlife such as droppings, tracks and rubbings. Also talking with local hunters will yield clues of where the local wildlife is.
Water is almost as critical as shelter for survival.
Well Water – Is the best source one can have since in most prepper events the underground water table will be intact. The well needs to be well defended since the well water can be accessed and tampered with in a surgical strike. Also just because it’s from a water table does not mean it’s safe to drink (ask anyone that has had a gasoline leak near their well). If possible strike a well in sandy soil since the sand will act as a natural filter
A creek, river or pond is a good thing to have on one’s BOL (a spring fed pond or creek being the best). The major issue with running water is lack of control since most will run through one’s BOL and not start and stop on it. Also it is not a source you can for the most part locate where it’s tactically sound.
Much like stored food, make sure it’s in a core location. Also make sure the container that you are using is designed for long term liquid storage and if possible use layered storage methods so if one layer is breached the other layer keeps the water/food intact.
This is a large and vague topic, the main reason is how Defendable a BOL is depend on so many factors and is heavily dependent on the person as well. In general you want a location in which access can be controlled, in a location that is off the main path or blends in well with the environment.
Also something that would de-tract from the area is useful (like having an apartment a couple of blocks from a megastore, looters are more likely to target the megastore before targeting the apartment).
If you are low on manpower the object will be to make the BOL as shabby and unoccupied as possible. If you have the manpower then you want to do the opposite and make the BOL as foreboding as possible.
A hill is a double edged sword in that it makes one able to see a greater distance however bad guys can see the BOL from a greater distance.
It may sound illogical not to include weapons in the top 5 however a resourceful prepper/survival should be able to make a make shift weapon.
Accessibility to food and water is critical to a BOL. The strong preference is to have the water and food source(s) within the confines of the actual BOL. If not on the BOL very nearby, since going to get the food/water consumes energy and time. Both will be in short supply once SHTF.
Stored Food – Store food in a location that is at the core of your BOL. The location should be a critical OpSec item and not discussed with anyone that has not been vetted. I highly recommend that your stored food be stored in more than one location. Your stored food location should be temperature controlled if possible (cellar, bunker, insulation, air flow), water proof (or at least the containers the food is in)
Gowned food supplies should be spaced out to conceal the crops, not to mention hide the numbers in the retreat. One can take an educated guess of your numbers based on the amount of food being grown, even the amount of waste being produced.
Raising livestock takes special care when looking for a BOL. One has to ensure proper draining and terrain types for the livestock they plan on raising. My preference is unless the BOL can be well defended stick with smaller livestock that can be mobile such as chickens, ducks, rabbits and goats.
As for wildlife when looking for a BOL look at maps to see surrounding water sources and places where wildlife is likely to be. Also look for signs of wildlife such as droppings, tracks and rubbings. Also talking with local hunters will yield clues of where the local wildlife is.
Water is almost as critical as shelter for survival.
Well Water – Is the best source one can have since in most prepper events the underground water table will be intact. The well needs to be well defended since the well water can be accessed and tampered with in a surgical strike. Also just because it’s from a water table does not mean it’s safe to drink (ask anyone that has had a gasoline leak near their well). If possible strike a well in sandy soil since the sand will act as a natural filter
A creek, river or pond is a good thing to have on one’s BOL (a spring fed pond or creek being the best). The major issue with running water is lack of control since most will run through one’s BOL and not start and stop on it. Also it is not a source you can for the most part locate where it’s tactically sound.
Much like stored food, make sure it’s in a core location. Also make sure the container that you are using is designed for long term liquid storage and if possible use layered storage methods so if one layer is breached the other layer keeps the water/food intact.
This is a large and vague topic, the main reason is how Defendable a BOL is depend on so many factors and is heavily dependent on the person as well. In general you want a location in which access can be controlled, in a location that is off the main path or blends in well with the environment.
Also something that would de-tract from the area is useful (like having an apartment a couple of blocks from a megastore, looters are more likely to target the megastore before targeting the apartment).
If you are low on manpower the object will be to make the BOL as shabby and unoccupied as possible. If you have the manpower then you want to do the opposite and make the BOL as foreboding as possible.
A hill is a double edged sword in that it makes one able to see a greater distance however bad guys can see the BOL from a greater distance.
Further Companies to
Support
Uses natural fuel
EDC steel tools
Highlander Trojan Hydration Pack – Multicam
CUDEMAN HEAVY DUTY OLIVE WOOD BUSHCRAFT KNIFE - 111L
Alum Crystal and natural spa products
Tool logic Survival 11 Credit Card
BackHawk Web duty Belt
Guppie Multi=tool
Go Survival Pack
Beautiful Handmade Catapults
1 Person BASIC Backpack Survival Kit, the back pack that
does it all
DD Hammock –The ultimate in Travel Hammocks
Elzetta ZFL-M60 Tactical Weapon-Grade LED Torch
Ultimate Adventurer Survival Kit everything in one kit
Adjustable Knife Lanyard Review
Handmade knives by James D. Sanders
Mini alarm Device with an Ultra bright White LED
Lightload towels
The LUCI light
Fire Dragon Gel
TBS Boar Folding
Pocket Knife
Live Fire Emergency Fire Starter
THE ultimate Emergency Survival Fishing Kit
Gerber Mini Remix -
Drop Point, Fine Edge
The Mule Light
Matthew Martin
Tactical Pens
The BodyGard is the
Rolls-Royce of keychain emergency tools. Its two essential (and life-saving)
tools are its seat belt cutter and door glass breaker.
The BodyGard also includes a sonic alarm (to attract attention and ward-off a would-be attacker), LED flashlight, and distress flasher (a bright red flashing light).
The BodyGard is compact and smartly attaches to your keychain so it's within reach during an emergency. You owe it to yourself and to your family to carry a BodyGard.
The BodyGard also includes a sonic alarm (to attract attention and ward-off a would-be attacker), LED flashlight, and distress flasher (a bright red flashing light).
The BodyGard is compact and smartly attaches to your keychain so it's within reach during an emergency. You owe it to yourself and to your family to carry a BodyGard.
The powermonkey
explorer is not just for adventure travellers.
Compatible with the majority of smartphones including iPhone and
BlackBerry, mobile phones, iPods, MP3 / MP4, PDAs and portable games consoles,
the powermonkey explorer is a portable charger for your 5V devices - giving you
96 hours of standby on your mobile, 40 hours on your iPod, 5 hours on your
games console, 48 hours on your PDA and 6 hours on MP3/MP4 players.
Caching
Supplies
If your Urban
Survival Plan is to Bug Out at the appropriate time to a safe location, which
may be a family farm or a friends remote home, you need to consider
pre-locating some supplies, material and equipment close to this safe location
in case you do not have the chance to upload your vehicle with everything you
are planning on taking, or, in case you are regulated to moving on foot to this
safe location.
One method to pre-locate Survival supplies would be just to have your friends or family stock it for you.
However if you drop off a few pad locked foot lockers at your safe location, you run the risk of it not being there when you arrive.
What happens if you are late in arriving there and they get curious as to what you have in those foot lockers or worse yet, didn’t plan well themselves and are scavenging for food or whatever you have in these foot lockers?
What happens if your friends or family get overrun?
One of the best ways to pre-locate Survival Supplies is by Caching. Caching is the art of preparing, packaging and hiding items so you can retrieve them when needed.
There are a few considerations for emplacing caches. You want to emplace them in a location where you can get to them in case the safe location is compromised.
What happens if you finally get to your safe location and you see an angry crowd surrounding parked your friend’s house and your friends hanging in the tree or lying face down on the ground?
The caches have to be well hidden and survive accidental discovery by passers-by and from discovery by people who may think you have hidden something in the area.
You have to be able to find these caches, months or years after you emplace them – don’t trust your memory, prepare a cache report.
The Survival items must be prepared well and the cache container should provide protection from the elements, most notably water or moisture.
Good cache containers are surplus military ammunition cans, sealable buckets and large PVC tubes. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) makes excellent cache containers since it is relatively cheap and easy to find, and can be water proofed easily (using PVC cement) and painted to help camouflage and hide.
Plus PVC pipe in available in many different sizes (diameters) so you can custom make cache containers to what you want to cache. However, the larger the container, the harder it is to hide it.
So you will have to determine which cache concealment method (below ground cache, above ground concealment cache or submersible cache) is necessary.
The general idea being to bury the cache containing your Survival supplies. Some locations, such as rocky areas, may require an above ground concealment cache.
You will have to determine if you want each separate cache to be a mix of Survival items you forecast a need for, or if you will have separate caches for each Survival item group, e.g. Food, water,
matches/butane lighters, clothing, etc.
The ability to make a fire, maybe some clothing, spare footwear, flashlights, water, medical supplies are all items you would want to consider.
When you emplace the cache you will need to record, in some fashion, where it is. It is not a case of simply recording the coordinates on your GPS.
Consider an easily recognizable Initial Reference Point (IRP) which should be a terrain feature which will not move Crossroads, maybe a bridge for example.
From the IRP a distance and direction to a Final Reference Point (FRP) which should be another terrain feature that will not move, such as a rock outcropping or a large and distinguishable tree for example.
From the FRP a direction and distance to the buried, submersed or above ground concealed cache.
You may want to consider recording what tools you will need to recover the cache, such as a metal rod for probing for a buried cache and a shovel to dig it up with.
One method to pre-locate Survival supplies would be just to have your friends or family stock it for you.
However if you drop off a few pad locked foot lockers at your safe location, you run the risk of it not being there when you arrive.
What happens if you are late in arriving there and they get curious as to what you have in those foot lockers or worse yet, didn’t plan well themselves and are scavenging for food or whatever you have in these foot lockers?
What happens if your friends or family get overrun?
One of the best ways to pre-locate Survival Supplies is by Caching. Caching is the art of preparing, packaging and hiding items so you can retrieve them when needed.
There are a few considerations for emplacing caches. You want to emplace them in a location where you can get to them in case the safe location is compromised.
What happens if you finally get to your safe location and you see an angry crowd surrounding parked your friend’s house and your friends hanging in the tree or lying face down on the ground?
The caches have to be well hidden and survive accidental discovery by passers-by and from discovery by people who may think you have hidden something in the area.
You have to be able to find these caches, months or years after you emplace them – don’t trust your memory, prepare a cache report.
The Survival items must be prepared well and the cache container should provide protection from the elements, most notably water or moisture.
Good cache containers are surplus military ammunition cans, sealable buckets and large PVC tubes. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) makes excellent cache containers since it is relatively cheap and easy to find, and can be water proofed easily (using PVC cement) and painted to help camouflage and hide.
Plus PVC pipe in available in many different sizes (diameters) so you can custom make cache containers to what you want to cache. However, the larger the container, the harder it is to hide it.
So you will have to determine which cache concealment method (below ground cache, above ground concealment cache or submersible cache) is necessary.
The general idea being to bury the cache containing your Survival supplies. Some locations, such as rocky areas, may require an above ground concealment cache.
You will have to determine if you want each separate cache to be a mix of Survival items you forecast a need for, or if you will have separate caches for each Survival item group, e.g. Food, water,
matches/butane lighters, clothing, etc.
The ability to make a fire, maybe some clothing, spare footwear, flashlights, water, medical supplies are all items you would want to consider.
When you emplace the cache you will need to record, in some fashion, where it is. It is not a case of simply recording the coordinates on your GPS.
Consider an easily recognizable Initial Reference Point (IRP) which should be a terrain feature which will not move Crossroads, maybe a bridge for example.
From the IRP a distance and direction to a Final Reference Point (FRP) which should be another terrain feature that will not move, such as a rock outcropping or a large and distinguishable tree for example.
From the FRP a direction and distance to the buried, submersed or above ground concealed cache.
You may want to consider recording what tools you will need to recover the cache, such as a metal rod for probing for a buried cache and a shovel to dig it up with.
Common Methods
of Processing and Preserving Food
Food processing is a
way or technique implemented to convert raw food stuff into well-cooked and
well preserved eatables for both the humans and the animals.
All these methods are used by food processing industry to give out processed or preserved foods for our daily consumption.
Best quality harvested, slaughtered and butchered and clean constituents are used by food processing industry to manufacture very nutritious and easy to cook food products.
Following are some techniques and methods used to convert food into processed or preserved food.
Preservation process: this includes heating or boiling to destroy micro-organisms, oxidation, toxic inhibition, dehydration or drying, osmotic inhibition, freezing, a sort of cold pasteurization which destroys pathogens and various combinations of all these methods.
Drying: this is probably the most ancient method used by humans to preserve or process their food. Drying reduces the water content in the product and lack of water delays the bacterial growth very much.
Drying is the most common technique to preserve or process cereal grains like wheat, maize, oats, rice, barley, grams and rye etc.
Smoking: many foods such as meat, fish and others are processed, preserved and flavoured by the use of smoke mostly in big smoke houses.
This process is very simple as the combination of smoke to preserved food without actually cooking it and the aroma of hydro-carbons generated from the smoke processes the food and makes it even tastier to eat.
Freezing: probably, it is the most common technique used in modern world to preserve or process the food both on commercial and domestic basis.
This freezing is conducted in big cold storages which can stockpile huge amount of food stuffs which can be further used in some natural emergencies.
A very big range of products can be frozen to preserve and process which includes some which do not need freezing when are in their natural condition.
For example potato chips and potato wafers requires freezing whereas a potato does not.
Vacuum packs: in this method, food is packed in airtight bags and bottles in a vacuum area.
This method is used in processing the food as the air-tight environment doesn’t provide oxygen needed by germs especially bacteria to survive.
This then, prevents food from getting rotted. This method is very commonly used for preserving processed nuts.
Salting: the method of salting is used in food processing as it sucks out the moisture from the food. This is done through the process of osmosis.
Meat is the best example of the food processed by salting as nitrates are used very frequently to treat meat.
Sugaring: the method of using sugar to preserve or process food is very frequent where it comes to preserve fruits.
In this method fruits such as apples, peaches and plums are cooked with sugar until they are crystallized and then it is stored dry.
Now days, sugar is also used in combination of alcohol to make some branded alcohol and spirits.
Pickling: in this method of preserving or processing food, food is cooked in chemicals and materials which destroy micro-organisms.
This is very strictly kept in mind that these chemicals or materials are fit to eat for humans.
Normally, these include brine, vinegar, ethanol, vegetable oil and many other types of oils. Pickling is very commonly seen in vegetables such as cabbage and peppers.
Corned beef and eggs are the non-vegetarian eatables that are pickled.
These are some very common methods of preserving or processing food.
These all will work only when processing and preserving is done under very strict rules and regulation set by the governments.
All these methods are used by food processing industry to give out processed or preserved foods for our daily consumption.
Best quality harvested, slaughtered and butchered and clean constituents are used by food processing industry to manufacture very nutritious and easy to cook food products.
Following are some techniques and methods used to convert food into processed or preserved food.
Preservation process: this includes heating or boiling to destroy micro-organisms, oxidation, toxic inhibition, dehydration or drying, osmotic inhibition, freezing, a sort of cold pasteurization which destroys pathogens and various combinations of all these methods.
Drying: this is probably the most ancient method used by humans to preserve or process their food. Drying reduces the water content in the product and lack of water delays the bacterial growth very much.
Drying is the most common technique to preserve or process cereal grains like wheat, maize, oats, rice, barley, grams and rye etc.
Smoking: many foods such as meat, fish and others are processed, preserved and flavoured by the use of smoke mostly in big smoke houses.
This process is very simple as the combination of smoke to preserved food without actually cooking it and the aroma of hydro-carbons generated from the smoke processes the food and makes it even tastier to eat.
Freezing: probably, it is the most common technique used in modern world to preserve or process the food both on commercial and domestic basis.
This freezing is conducted in big cold storages which can stockpile huge amount of food stuffs which can be further used in some natural emergencies.
A very big range of products can be frozen to preserve and process which includes some which do not need freezing when are in their natural condition.
For example potato chips and potato wafers requires freezing whereas a potato does not.
Vacuum packs: in this method, food is packed in airtight bags and bottles in a vacuum area.
This method is used in processing the food as the air-tight environment doesn’t provide oxygen needed by germs especially bacteria to survive.
This then, prevents food from getting rotted. This method is very commonly used for preserving processed nuts.
Salting: the method of salting is used in food processing as it sucks out the moisture from the food. This is done through the process of osmosis.
Meat is the best example of the food processed by salting as nitrates are used very frequently to treat meat.
Sugaring: the method of using sugar to preserve or process food is very frequent where it comes to preserve fruits.
In this method fruits such as apples, peaches and plums are cooked with sugar until they are crystallized and then it is stored dry.
Now days, sugar is also used in combination of alcohol to make some branded alcohol and spirits.
Pickling: in this method of preserving or processing food, food is cooked in chemicals and materials which destroy micro-organisms.
This is very strictly kept in mind that these chemicals or materials are fit to eat for humans.
Normally, these include brine, vinegar, ethanol, vegetable oil and many other types of oils. Pickling is very commonly seen in vegetables such as cabbage and peppers.
Corned beef and eggs are the non-vegetarian eatables that are pickled.
These are some very common methods of preserving or processing food.
These all will work only when processing and preserving is done under very strict rules and regulation set by the governments.
Being Prepared
A popular
misconception about being prepared is that you are preparing for a total,
catastrophic meltdown that throws us all back to the stone-age.
One minute we're living, the next we're running around in chest rigs and getting into fire fights with those who would take what we have.
A SHTF event can be anything from an aggravating annoyance to what I have just described.
You can move or leave if it's a localized event so it's not SHTF
There are any number of scenarios where this simply isn't true.
Medical issues, family responsibilities, jobs, resources, quickness of weather events, etc can all conspire to prevent you from dashing off to safety.
And even if you could, I can't think of a worse case of the poop hitting the ventilation than having my home destroyed or a family member killed.
Minor things like flat tires are so easy to deal with that they aren't SHTF events
Really? Your car gets a flat in a coned off work area on the motorway, it's hanging out into a lane of traffic and the flat tire is on the traffic side.
As those cars whiz by your head please explain to the class how you aren't in a bad situation.
Take it a step further. Now it's your wife or daughter. When they call you on the phone in hysterics just tell them to suck it up and how "minor" the situation is.
Let me know how it turns out.
Y
ou break your leg. Not a SHTF event right? What if you just started a small cleaning business? You have three contracts at different apartment complexes and are a one-man operation.
Now you can't work, can't bill and can't make money. Oh yea, your apartments will likely replace you with someone else.
Call me crazy, but something like that seems pretty bad no?
Because a situation is minor for you doesn't mean it will be minor for all in your care.
Furthermore, any number of circumstances can ambush you to turn a minor event into a full blown catastrophe.
If there aren't zombies it's not SHTF
Are you 6? Forget the zombies for a minute.
You go out to dinner with the family. You round the corner on the way home to find your house has burnt to the ground.
A chemical truck spills and releases toxic gas into the air. You have to leave and leave right now.
You have just enough time to grab your family but have to leave your dog standing on the front porch.
A major blizzard snows in your elderly father. His power goes out and he needs his insulin to survive.
There is no way for him to leave, and very little chance of someone getting to him.
You move into a dream home for which you have saved your entire life. Six months later an earthquake damages it beyond repair.
You then find out your cut-rate insurance doesn't cover the damages and you don't have the money to fix your house.
You are on the way to take your oldest son to college. As you pull out of the driveway the phone rings. It's your boss and you've just been fired.
Now sure, those are fabricated situations. But you can't deny that in each one of them some level of crap has solidly hit the fan.
If I prepare for Mad-Max I'm prepared for all of the smaller things that could happen
People who focus on Mad-Max also tend to focus a lot on MRE's and guns.
They also tend to overlook little things like tire repair kits, quality footwear, cooking equipment, how they will take care of bodily waste, etc.
While you are planning for your trip to live in the woods, did you remember to buy rock salt so when your driveway is a sheet of ice you can get out?
You know what else they tend to overlook?
It’s just too easy to get wrapped up in the fantasy land of becoming a wandering one-man army in your brand new multicam kit and your 1000 yard rifle when all you think about is SHTF.
Trust me, it will cause you to overlook a simple preparation along the way.
One minute we're living, the next we're running around in chest rigs and getting into fire fights with those who would take what we have.
A SHTF event can be anything from an aggravating annoyance to what I have just described.
You can move or leave if it's a localized event so it's not SHTF
There are any number of scenarios where this simply isn't true.
Medical issues, family responsibilities, jobs, resources, quickness of weather events, etc can all conspire to prevent you from dashing off to safety.
And even if you could, I can't think of a worse case of the poop hitting the ventilation than having my home destroyed or a family member killed.
Minor things like flat tires are so easy to deal with that they aren't SHTF events
Really? Your car gets a flat in a coned off work area on the motorway, it's hanging out into a lane of traffic and the flat tire is on the traffic side.
As those cars whiz by your head please explain to the class how you aren't in a bad situation.
Take it a step further. Now it's your wife or daughter. When they call you on the phone in hysterics just tell them to suck it up and how "minor" the situation is.
Let me know how it turns out.
Y
ou break your leg. Not a SHTF event right? What if you just started a small cleaning business? You have three contracts at different apartment complexes and are a one-man operation.
Now you can't work, can't bill and can't make money. Oh yea, your apartments will likely replace you with someone else.
Call me crazy, but something like that seems pretty bad no?
Because a situation is minor for you doesn't mean it will be minor for all in your care.
Furthermore, any number of circumstances can ambush you to turn a minor event into a full blown catastrophe.
If there aren't zombies it's not SHTF
Are you 6? Forget the zombies for a minute.
You go out to dinner with the family. You round the corner on the way home to find your house has burnt to the ground.
A chemical truck spills and releases toxic gas into the air. You have to leave and leave right now.
You have just enough time to grab your family but have to leave your dog standing on the front porch.
A major blizzard snows in your elderly father. His power goes out and he needs his insulin to survive.
There is no way for him to leave, and very little chance of someone getting to him.
You move into a dream home for which you have saved your entire life. Six months later an earthquake damages it beyond repair.
You then find out your cut-rate insurance doesn't cover the damages and you don't have the money to fix your house.
You are on the way to take your oldest son to college. As you pull out of the driveway the phone rings. It's your boss and you've just been fired.
Now sure, those are fabricated situations. But you can't deny that in each one of them some level of crap has solidly hit the fan.
If I prepare for Mad-Max I'm prepared for all of the smaller things that could happen
People who focus on Mad-Max also tend to focus a lot on MRE's and guns.
They also tend to overlook little things like tire repair kits, quality footwear, cooking equipment, how they will take care of bodily waste, etc.
While you are planning for your trip to live in the woods, did you remember to buy rock salt so when your driveway is a sheet of ice you can get out?
You know what else they tend to overlook?
It’s just too easy to get wrapped up in the fantasy land of becoming a wandering one-man army in your brand new multicam kit and your 1000 yard rifle when all you think about is SHTF.
Trust me, it will cause you to overlook a simple preparation along the way.
Prepping for
Beginners
As humans, we are
naturally aware of possible threats around us, and often the way a person
neutralizes that threat is to create a story of the worst case scenario and
begin to prep around that.
Becoming a person who preps for disasters begins with a level of awareness. A prepper knows that there are possible threats, and it only makes sense to be as prepared as possible beginning with the basic disaster items to sustain basic needs (food, water, clothing and shelter) and then adding more preparedness layers onto it.
Basic disaster items are intended to sustain a person and their family for 3-5 days. However, many decide to expand their disaster supplies to encompass a longer duration in the case that emergency response is delayed. This is why preppers believe in having “back-ups for their back-ups.”
When preparing for a disaster, it is essential to have provisions in place to secure your needs. That being said, beginning a food supply must begin with research. Finding out how many calories a person needs per day in order to survive, and knowing how much food to store is essential when beginning to prepare.
Additionally, going to survival/prepping forums to read about what others are doing is another way of finding more research. Preppers are very open to helping others who want to prepare. We have all been at the beginning stage of preparing, and it can be overwhelming at first, but the overall goal is to get people prepared.
When beginning to get preparations in place, concentrate of the basic needs of survival: water, food, shelter, clothing and move on from there.
Becoming a person who preps for disasters begins with a level of awareness. A prepper knows that there are possible threats, and it only makes sense to be as prepared as possible beginning with the basic disaster items to sustain basic needs (food, water, clothing and shelter) and then adding more preparedness layers onto it.
Basic disaster items are intended to sustain a person and their family for 3-5 days. However, many decide to expand their disaster supplies to encompass a longer duration in the case that emergency response is delayed. This is why preppers believe in having “back-ups for their back-ups.”
When preparing for a disaster, it is essential to have provisions in place to secure your needs. That being said, beginning a food supply must begin with research. Finding out how many calories a person needs per day in order to survive, and knowing how much food to store is essential when beginning to prepare.
Additionally, going to survival/prepping forums to read about what others are doing is another way of finding more research. Preppers are very open to helping others who want to prepare. We have all been at the beginning stage of preparing, and it can be overwhelming at first, but the overall goal is to get people prepared.
When beginning to get preparations in place, concentrate of the basic needs of survival: water, food, shelter, clothing and move on from there.
Rain Water
Collection
Whether you are
planning ahead for future droughts or just want to lower your water bill,
saving rainwater makes sense.
Rainwater is pure compared to ground water because it does not contain the chemicals or minerals typically found in soil. Rain-collection systems vary in expense. Choose a system that meets your needs without exceeding your budget.
Collecting free rain water is also a preppers right and he would be silly to ignore it.
The easiest way to collect rainwater is to leave an open bucket or container outside. Covering the container on dry days will prevent evaporation and insect contamination.
To collect more rainwater, connect a container to your gutter's downspout.
The large area of your roof will collect the rain. Your home's gutters will funnel the water into the container. A simple system such as this might supply enough water for a typical home's outdoor watering needs.
More advanced systems collect more water, but are more expensive. Depending on your situation, you might need to invest in a quality pump to remove the water from your container.
For example, if your storage container is lower than the area where you plan to use the water, a pump will allow you to transport the water uphill.
You might need to filter the rainwater you collect. Simple filtration involves keeping out large debris and contaminants, such as leaves and insects. For example, if you collect water via your home's gutters, install wire-mesh gutter screens to block leaves and sticks.
Clear the debris regularly to ensure proper water flow. If you plan to drink the rainwater you collect, you must filter it first.
Use a quality filtration system that removes dangerous contaminants, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, especially if you store the rainwater for long periods.
Retail hardware stores sell plastic containers suitable for storing water. During winter months, don't allow the barrels to fill past the 3/4 mark. This leaves the water room to expand if it freezes.
Domestic rainwater collection offers certain economic and environmental benefits: The water collected is free to use and saves on energy that might otherwise be used to treat and pump water from a municipal source.
Installation of a rainwater collection system requires some initial expense, the extent of which depends in part on how you plan to use the water.
Rooftops are the primary source of rainwater collection, as the process involved is fairly straightforward and inexpensive. As the rainwater lands on the top of a building, it drips into gutters that are affixed to the edges of the roof.
The water is then funnelled through a downspout and into a large barrel fitted with a screen on top in order to prevent debris from entering. As an added benefit, the screen also prevents mosquitoes from breeding in the water.
The barrels used to hold rainwater are also known as cisterns and generally hold between 200 and 1,000 gallons of water. Some collection systems use a single barrel, while others use two or more barrels joined together by hose and connected to a single spigot.
The ideal location for a cistern is on solid, level ground with enough distance from the home to accommodate the discharge of overflow water.
There are a number of ways to use rainwater, with gardening being one of the more common. In some areas, collected water is used directly in irrigation. Additionally, homeowners can design gardens to take advantage of runoff by situating them in a depressed area with a soil that drains well, alternative uses of rainwater include car washing, laundry and showering.
Rainwater is naturally low in mineral content, which means that no additional "softening" is generally required. In many cases, collected water is used as is; however, indoor use demands special treatment in order to eliminate risks posed by contaminants.
For toilet flushing and laundering purposes, simple pressure filters may be sufficient. Where rainwater is to be used for cooking or drinking, additional treatment is often necessary, as drinking untreated rainwater brings the risk of contracting diseases such as listeria.
The type of roofing material used can affect the quality of the rainwater collected. For example, wood shingles are sometimes treated with herbicides in order to prevent rot and mould, which may render collected water unsuitable for gardening and drinking.
Similarly, roofs containing copper or zinc materials may also leach contaminants into the water.
Another method to reduce water is using greywater.
The term greywater is used to describe all household wastewater, excluding toilet waste. It includes water collected from the shower, bath, basin, laundry tub, washing machine and dishwasher.
Greywater is usually sent directly to sewer, however many people now divert their greywater to a greywater reuse system, or collect it for reusing on the garden.
Untreated greywater should not be stored for more than 24 hours.
Rainwater is pure compared to ground water because it does not contain the chemicals or minerals typically found in soil. Rain-collection systems vary in expense. Choose a system that meets your needs without exceeding your budget.
Collecting free rain water is also a preppers right and he would be silly to ignore it.
The easiest way to collect rainwater is to leave an open bucket or container outside. Covering the container on dry days will prevent evaporation and insect contamination.
To collect more rainwater, connect a container to your gutter's downspout.
The large area of your roof will collect the rain. Your home's gutters will funnel the water into the container. A simple system such as this might supply enough water for a typical home's outdoor watering needs.
More advanced systems collect more water, but are more expensive. Depending on your situation, you might need to invest in a quality pump to remove the water from your container.
For example, if your storage container is lower than the area where you plan to use the water, a pump will allow you to transport the water uphill.
You might need to filter the rainwater you collect. Simple filtration involves keeping out large debris and contaminants, such as leaves and insects. For example, if you collect water via your home's gutters, install wire-mesh gutter screens to block leaves and sticks.
Clear the debris regularly to ensure proper water flow. If you plan to drink the rainwater you collect, you must filter it first.
Use a quality filtration system that removes dangerous contaminants, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, especially if you store the rainwater for long periods.
Retail hardware stores sell plastic containers suitable for storing water. During winter months, don't allow the barrels to fill past the 3/4 mark. This leaves the water room to expand if it freezes.
Domestic rainwater collection offers certain economic and environmental benefits: The water collected is free to use and saves on energy that might otherwise be used to treat and pump water from a municipal source.
Installation of a rainwater collection system requires some initial expense, the extent of which depends in part on how you plan to use the water.
Rooftops are the primary source of rainwater collection, as the process involved is fairly straightforward and inexpensive. As the rainwater lands on the top of a building, it drips into gutters that are affixed to the edges of the roof.
The water is then funnelled through a downspout and into a large barrel fitted with a screen on top in order to prevent debris from entering. As an added benefit, the screen also prevents mosquitoes from breeding in the water.
The barrels used to hold rainwater are also known as cisterns and generally hold between 200 and 1,000 gallons of water. Some collection systems use a single barrel, while others use two or more barrels joined together by hose and connected to a single spigot.
The ideal location for a cistern is on solid, level ground with enough distance from the home to accommodate the discharge of overflow water.
There are a number of ways to use rainwater, with gardening being one of the more common. In some areas, collected water is used directly in irrigation. Additionally, homeowners can design gardens to take advantage of runoff by situating them in a depressed area with a soil that drains well, alternative uses of rainwater include car washing, laundry and showering.
Rainwater is naturally low in mineral content, which means that no additional "softening" is generally required. In many cases, collected water is used as is; however, indoor use demands special treatment in order to eliminate risks posed by contaminants.
For toilet flushing and laundering purposes, simple pressure filters may be sufficient. Where rainwater is to be used for cooking or drinking, additional treatment is often necessary, as drinking untreated rainwater brings the risk of contracting diseases such as listeria.
The type of roofing material used can affect the quality of the rainwater collected. For example, wood shingles are sometimes treated with herbicides in order to prevent rot and mould, which may render collected water unsuitable for gardening and drinking.
Similarly, roofs containing copper or zinc materials may also leach contaminants into the water.
Another method to reduce water is using greywater.
The term greywater is used to describe all household wastewater, excluding toilet waste. It includes water collected from the shower, bath, basin, laundry tub, washing machine and dishwasher.
Greywater is usually sent directly to sewer, however many people now divert their greywater to a greywater reuse system, or collect it for reusing on the garden.
Untreated greywater should not be stored for more than 24 hours.
Water
Purification
Now that I have
convinced you to consider all sources of water as contaminated until treated, I
would like to suggest the best way to make water safe to drink. Once again I am
sure to be stirring up a hornet’s nest of dissent on this subject but I stand
by what I write as proven beyond doubt. Try to release any preconceived notions
you may have as you read what follows.
The miracle of modern advertising would have you believe that the portable water filters on the market today will remove nearly all pathogens and disease causing organisms from water. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact is, studies have conclusively shown water filters vary a great deal in the types and amount of organisms they are able to filter. And that is when the water filters are functioning properly and users correctly operate and maintain them. A tall order indeed, especially in the field during adverse conditions.
Would you drink water from a filter that is removing only 85% of water borne disease organisms? Chances are the water filter you use isn’t even doing that well.
Various chemicals used to treat water also lack the ability to destroy 100% of disease causing organisms in water.
The manufacturers of chemicals and water filters don’t want you to know what the best way to make water safe to drink really is. That’s because it’s simple,inexpensive to operate, and they cannot sell it.
The fact is, the best way to make water safe for consumption will destroy or render inert 100% of disease causing organisms. What’s more, this process is readily available and nearly fool proof. It has been successfully used for centuries and remains hands down the best method of all: boiling.
The age old question has always been “how long does the Water Need to boil”?
Well here is my answer, water does do not even have to reach the boiling point (about 212° F or 100° C at sea level) to be rendered safe to drink; Once the water temperature reaches 185° F (85° C) nearly all disease causing organisms have been destroyed.
And the only reason you typically get water up to the boiling point is you probably do not have a “thermometer” handy to measure the water temperature and I would suggest that boiling is “proof positive” the water is hot enough to make it safe to drink.
You can also throw out the myth that you must boil water longer at higher elevations. The boiling point of water even on Mount Everest is still high enough to destroy all disease causing organisms even before the water has started to boil.
So to finish you must consider water from any source as contaminated with disease causing organisms.
By far the best way to treat water is by boiling it.
You only have to bring the water to a boil. Don’t waste fuel; there is no need to boil water for 10-minutes, 5-minutes, or even 1-minute. Once it is boiling all disease causing organisms have been destroyed or rendered inert some time earlier.
The miracle of modern advertising would have you believe that the portable water filters on the market today will remove nearly all pathogens and disease causing organisms from water. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact is, studies have conclusively shown water filters vary a great deal in the types and amount of organisms they are able to filter. And that is when the water filters are functioning properly and users correctly operate and maintain them. A tall order indeed, especially in the field during adverse conditions.
Would you drink water from a filter that is removing only 85% of water borne disease organisms? Chances are the water filter you use isn’t even doing that well.
Various chemicals used to treat water also lack the ability to destroy 100% of disease causing organisms in water.
The manufacturers of chemicals and water filters don’t want you to know what the best way to make water safe to drink really is. That’s because it’s simple,inexpensive to operate, and they cannot sell it.
The fact is, the best way to make water safe for consumption will destroy or render inert 100% of disease causing organisms. What’s more, this process is readily available and nearly fool proof. It has been successfully used for centuries and remains hands down the best method of all: boiling.
The age old question has always been “how long does the Water Need to boil”?
Well here is my answer, water does do not even have to reach the boiling point (about 212° F or 100° C at sea level) to be rendered safe to drink; Once the water temperature reaches 185° F (85° C) nearly all disease causing organisms have been destroyed.
And the only reason you typically get water up to the boiling point is you probably do not have a “thermometer” handy to measure the water temperature and I would suggest that boiling is “proof positive” the water is hot enough to make it safe to drink.
You can also throw out the myth that you must boil water longer at higher elevations. The boiling point of water even on Mount Everest is still high enough to destroy all disease causing organisms even before the water has started to boil.
So to finish you must consider water from any source as contaminated with disease causing organisms.
By far the best way to treat water is by boiling it.
You only have to bring the water to a boil. Don’t waste fuel; there is no need to boil water for 10-minutes, 5-minutes, or even 1-minute. Once it is boiling all disease causing organisms have been destroyed or rendered inert some time earlier.
Michael Mills
My name is Michael Mills, and I'm a Ph.D. candidate and Assistant
Lecturer in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at
University of Kent (England).
I am in the middle of conducting 3 years of research on the
preparedness community in America and Britain, which will form my doctoral
thesis and hopefully be channelled into several academic and media articles
(and other publications - possibly books).
Aware of the several misconceptions that exist around the preparedness
community and those within it - most obviously influenced by National
Geographic shows and various other media products - my research is an attempt
to conduct a more open-minded piece of research on the 21st century
preparedness community in Britain and America.
In particular, I am keen to learn about the reasons that people engage
in prepping, how it relates to their assessment of local and national and
international politics, and where prepping fits within a wider community and
social life for most preppers.
These are each issues that are misunderstood by the wider public in
relation to prepping.
In order to conduct this research - which has the potential to reform
the public image of prepping and have the effect of correcting
misrepresentative stereotypes - and make it worthwhile, I obviously need
to talk to preppers themselves who are willing to anonymously speak about their
motivations for prepping and several issues related to these behaviours.
I am therefore looking to conduct face-to-face interviews with as many
preppers in America and Britain as I possibly can.
British interviews can be done at any time, and I will be America
between early September and late November 2014 with the sole aim of talking to
as many preppers as I possibly can. Anyone who is even curious about
participating in these interviews should email me at mm645@kent.ac.uk
It can be immensely hard finding preppers willing to engage with me in
this, and I'm very grateful to anyone who expresses an interest in contributing
to the research.
All respondents are guaranteed anonymity - you do not need to inform me
of your real name or location, and if you did these would not be shared with
anyone else. Interviews can take place at a location of your choosing.
Needless to say, any interviews would be incredibly valuable to the
research and I'd be immensely grateful to anyone who is willing to come forward
and join the other interviewees in providing a realistic impression of the
preparedness movement and the broad range of people involved in these
activities.
I'm also conducting an online survey (which is much more convenient
than any interviews) to be directed to this survey, again, people should email
me at mm645@kent.ac.uk
THE WILDERNESS
GATHERING 2014 14th to the 17th August
The Wilderness
Gathering has over the years become a firm date in the diaries of those who
enjoy bushcraft, nature and wilderness survival skills. The previous ten years
have seen this event grow from a small event in one field with some traders and
schools sharing bushcraft skills and knowledge to a festival of wilderness
living skills encompassing bushcraft/survival and woodland crafts.
The show has grown
into an event with something for all the family with stories and music by the
campfire in the evenings and skills workshops and activities throughout the
three whole days of the festival.
The Wilderness
Gathering has without a doubt become the premier family event for all those
interested in bush crafts and the great outdoors.
The show has
bushcraft clubs for all age groups of children to get involved in plus more
activities for all including den building and wilderness skills classes for
all.
There are hands on
demonstrations of game preparation, knife sharpening, basha boat building,
bowmaking, greenwood working, archery and axe throwing and primitive fire
lighting to name just a few. There are talks on survival phycology, classes on
falconry and wilderness survival fishing. All of these skills are there for
everybody and anybody to participate in.
You can probably
pick up information on nearly all the skills needed to live in the wilderness
and prosper at The Wilderness Gathering.
There is a wealth of
good quality trade stands that are carefully selected to be in theme for the
show selling everything from custom knives to tipis and outdoor clothing to
primitive tools. The organisers have even laid on a free service bring and buy
stall where you can bring along your used and unwanted kit and they’ll sell it
for you.
There are local
scout and explorer group’s onsite promoting the World Wide Scouting Movement as
well helping out with some of the classes and site logistics.
The catering is
within the theme of the event with venison and game featuring on the menus plus
organic cakes and drinks. The woodland and open field camping facilities (with
hot showers) giving you the option to visit for the whole weekend or just to
attend as a day visitor.
ReplyDeleteGood post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumble upon on a daily basis. It will always be interesting to read articles from other authors and practice something from their websites...
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