Hi James,

Since I returned from Haiti, I have given a lot of thought about the field sanitation problems that would occur when the Golden Horde after a disaster starts entering an area to set up camps. I live in a pretty remote area that would be attractive to people leaving larger communities. This area is one where hunting and winter snowmobiling is popular.

What can be envisioned is people who can make it this far, who are familiar with the few water resources, and the limited game would probably wind up. There is also a national wildlife preserve nearby that would be attractive to people desiring to live off of the bounty of nature, and of course forget about any Federal laws protecting that preserve. A group of ham radio operators in the region are also concerned. Some are prepared and fully expecting a disaster, We are planning in advance because we know there will be some form of disaster eventually. Lets face it: Words like, Indonesia, Katrina, Haiti, and Chile should really keep people in the preparedness mode. Disasters happen!

Personally, I have become very focused on field sanitation the past couple of weeks. I believe that having some extra shovels, picks, digging bars around, and making up some basic booklets or fliers on how and where to dig latrines will be in my preparedness larder. I fully expect when something happens here that I should expect what could become a health problem to be created by people, who have no idea how to survive, and thrive in the out door environment.

The Boy Scouts program isn't as popular as is was 50 years ago. Most people in today's society are totally unprepared on how to properly be safe and sanitary in the outdoor environment, unless there is a plastic Porta-potty parked there to use. And somehow magically gets pumped out and cleaned every few days by the person who has the nastiest job in the country, who by no mistake is pretty well paid by their employers to take on such a job.

Methinks it to be very prudent to take on an extra responsibility, to have extra preparations for this eventuality. To ensure that disease doesn't become something that could and would cause extreme discomfort and even death to wipe out a community.

I know I am not in the best place for a Rawlesian retreat, but this is where the Lord planted me. He did it for a reason, always does. I believe facing this in a prepared and focused way will possibly prevent a second disaster, Like the one we will soon see raising its ugly head in a few more weeks in Haiti, and has already started unfortunately.

Latrines are something that has been neglected in the camps in Haiti, They will not be neglected where I live, if I have anything to say and can do about it. I am also going to start building some portaloos out of five gallon bucket, and buying some seats to attach to the portaloos, filling them with toilet paper (TP) and handy wipes, baby wipes. etc just to have on hand for this possible event. They will be part of my charitable offerings to those people I would encounter in my area of operations (AO).

Something to remember when digging a latrine, is to always keep it a minimum of 100 feet away from any wells, or surface water sources. They should be at least three feed deep, a foot wide, and four feet long to accommodate about ten people. they should have a shovel there to use in order to pitch in a little dirt after each use. When the latrine has only about 18 inches of depth left, then it should be filled in, and a fresh one dug for another cycle of use.

In the Army, our units built plywood four holers with toilet seats installed. the units were hinged and latched so that they could fold up and could be used over again, they had rigging on the sides so four men could pick them up with two long poles, and move them easily to the next location. Since I was in the Signal Corps, we had females in the units too. thus two units for each company were made. I think that having separate men's and women's latrines will be very necessary, along with privacy screening made out of tarps.

Keep in mind that people will congregate, for safety and community. Being a loner isn't practical or prudent. So if your in an area like me, if possible think ahead, and have a plan ahead of time. Thus, when the problem raises it's ugly head, all of the possibilities are addressed.

There are military field sanitation manuals available online. Extract the pages that would be thought most useful in your situations and make some basic copies. Then place them in a large plastic bag and keep them available in your preparedness larder.

Portaloos are fairly cheap and easy to build, a bottle of bleach and a toilet brush would also be a good addition for them too.
These can be useful for people living in tents, they are easy to transport to a latrine and cleaned out for further use. the cleaning is fairly easy. To fasten the toilet seat on for easy removal, install two long 1/4-20 bolts with washers and nuts holding the bolts in place with the ends pointed out. Install the seat using large flat washers and wing nuts. It will make it easier to remove the seat for transport, emptying ,and cleaning. Storing the cleaning supplies and TP inside the unit with the standard bucket cover is more convenient. Home Depot has orange [non-food grade] HDPE buckets available fairly inexpensively. I think a trip there or other similar store one can purchase everything needed to outfit a portaloo for about thirty dollars or so. Blessings and peace of mind in preparedness. - Dave M. in Oregon (A Blessings For Obedience World Missionary Radio volunteer)

Jim,

Concerning the lack of sanitation at some Haiti evacuation camps: Porta-john [chemical toilets] are nice, but must be pumped out, cleaned and refilled regularly in order to remain usable. A simple solution I have used on the farm is to cut out the bottom of the john's holding tank. Then we dig a hole and position the outhouse over the hole. As it is used, we occasionally throw a little lime or wood ash into the hole to control smell and bugs. The outhouse is on skids and is easy to move by hand, so when the hole is half full, we pull the john aside, dig a new hole and use the dirt to refill the "used" hole. When we have repositioned the outhouse over the new hole, we heap the remaining dirt around the outside edges of the building for more smell and insect control and to keep out ground water. Thus we have an always ready, clean and private facility for when the need arises.

I suggest that readers call their local porta-john rental companies. The suppliers in my area often have ones in need of slight repair available for purchase, at low cost. A non-chemical using, easy to move and clean outhouse would make a very nice, and most helpful, addition to

Sir:
I thought that you and your family might be encouraged by the following: There was an extraordinary occurrence in Haiti on February 17th. Here is a blog entry with a YouTube link about a nationally declared three days of fasting and prayer in Haiti. Amazing grace.

The final sentence in the entry is the most sobering:

"The only sadness that I feel today is for our nation. While a nation that has long been under Satan's domination is turning to God with total commitment, our nation, founded on Godly values, has rejected God and is rapidly trying to forget that His name even exists. Let us pray for revival." - Sheila M.

Hi James,
Its been a while. I just spent eight days in Haiti building a radio station in Crois des Bouquets. We were working with a church and pastor I have worked with before. He had about thirty Haitian people who lost everything in his home, plus 10 Americans, three on our radio team, and an evangelistic team out of Florida.

Our team went in with tent, MREs and Mountain House food. a water filter plus all of our necessities. fortunately we didn't need our food but donated it to the house hold to aid others. We left our tents, sleeping bags, and air mattresses behind and told the Pastor to give them to people he knew who really needed it.

We got a radio message from the states inquiring about an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp who had been sent aid
by a ministry in Indiana. Apparently they had not received their aid yet. We checked and thought we had the right IDP camp. They had not had anything to eat or water in over a week.

My first thought being an old army sergeant was: "Where are the privies?" There were no sanitation pits dug, and people were relieving themselves out in the open. This was just about three miles from the airport at the river bridge. There were two large tent cities in the same location with absolutely no sanitation facilities.

I talked with the leader of one camp and ask why they had no latrines dug. They had absolutely nothing to dig a hole with. I told him that if they didn't do something immediately about the problem, that disease would go through that camp in short order, and could wipe them all out. I told him I would get a pick and some shovels. I did so the next day.

On the following day we were leaving and the camp had a team out digging privies. Praise the Lord.
James, and readers, there was at that time absolutely nothing being done about sanitation in the camps. The U.S. Army was really concerned about this issue, but their hands were tied. There were no NGOs addressing the problem either. It is a major issue with the medical people I met.

I did see about ten brand new porta Johns at the IDP camp across the street from the presidential palace. But there was no one using them. I'm sure they were put there for the news nosies, just for the cameras. I know in the next month there will be a second disaster developing, and there already is in one camp. (I got word from a person that I trust and that is in the know, that a large TB outbreak had already occurred in one of the IDP camps.

The Haiti government is very inept and un prepared for any disaster. the UN, USAID, UNICEF, Red Curse, et cetera are all just having meetings and doing very little to help the situation.

All I saw when I was there was Christian ministries getting the job done. I know the Samaritan's Purse, Operation Blessing, Friend Ships, Catholic Relief, Mennonites, Baptists, et cetera are in there getting their hands dirty and getting the job done.

I would just say in closing that the first thing after a disaster strikes, and people are having to camp out, or go into a camp is to dig a suitable latrine, and make some effort to keep clean. One of the first things that our servicemen in all of our services learn in basic training is field sanitation. If our military were turned loose to help I know full well they would go in there and help provide some form of field sanitation.

I do have to say the Christians are pulling together in Haiti, and people are turning to Christ by the thousands.
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Blessings, - Dave M. (A Blessings For Obedience World Missionary Radio volunteer)

Mr. Rawles,

I thought I'd drop a note having been in Haiti from the day after the quake to a couple weeks ago, and having run an ongoing program there for a few years now. I wanted to comment on the issue of rioting in Haiti versus. Chile. I think the core issue was that people in each country were faced with different immediate challenges.

In Haiti, like many other developing countries lacking Chile's level of building codes and construction standards, Port Au Prince was extremely vulnerable to a quake. Because the quake hit only a few miles from Port Au Prince you had complete destruction of entire zones of the city, with entire blocks where 4/5 of the buildings just collapsed. As a result the death toll was 220,000 people.

The immediate job for a large percentage of the city became how do I dig through these buildings to rescue those 220,000 people or at least recover the bodies. The self organized work crews were pretty incredible. For much of the rest of the population the immediate task became how do I find my family and find shelter. Most of those alive were in front of completely destroyed houses (1.5 million homeless) Even when looking for a few immediate resources because so much was destroyed people were salvaging collapse sites more often than looting.

In addition the atmosphere was somber and surreal, the work crews pulling out bodies everywhere in the city and piling them, the people crying for help, the surgery taking place on the street. I would say that everybody I spoke to who emerged from that situation left with a truly profound sorrow in their hearts. Missing a day or two of food was pretty secondary for most people. Many Haitians have dealt with food insecurity and hunger before, that wasn't as much of an immediate issue. Even for aid workers it was hard to even remember to eat much less worry about it.

Outside Port Au Prince people were largely just melancholy, it is a small country, everybody had somebody who died, everything was shut down, you couldn't get money from banks or buy food in stores for a week, yet there weren't people in the streets till the very end of that, and even then it was just some organized marches in front of the banks for them to re-open. Within four days in Port Au Prince many of the aid services started emerging and food and water started to become more readily available. Within 6 days some money transfer services started opening in the rest of the country and commerce started again.

Thankfully in Chile, outside of the terrible devastation in the Tsunami zone, comparatively many of the structures in the earthquake zone stood. So the challenges faced were different. The people seen on television looting seem more concerned about scarce resources than trying to dig out their trapped friends and family out of the rubble. With a death toll under 1,000 so far the number of people who are directly missing people or who came back to find their home collapsed on their family must be much lower. Which leaves more people concerned about "Where do I get food, where do I get water" than "How do I dig these people out, dear god there are so many people dead, everywhere"

I think in the end the Chilean people will look back on this tragedy and realize how prepared they were as a nation, that they had put the standards in place to keep their buildings standing and they will take that to heart in preparing on a personal level. I am hopeful things will calm and they will find the strength to rebuild.

For the readers who want to know how to prepare for seismic situations let me offer 3 bits of gear advice, always have a full unbreakable water bottle on you, always carry a whistle, and always keep a respirator (even if just an n-95 mask in a pocket, you would not comprehend the toxic cloud that is created when a city collapses, it was like 9-11 everywhere). Beyond that if you are in a developing country in a seismic area with poor cement block construction (lots of parts of Peru, Guatemala, Thailand, Dominican Republic, India, Pakistan, etc) in older style buildings try to sleep near an exit to an open courtyard, try to stay in one story buildings, stay away from adobe. The safest bet is to try to stay in modern hotels, the big chains force proper construction techniques. If the quake hits get out and watch for falling hazards. Many prayers that the readers of this blog never have to face anything like what people are facing in Chile or Haiti. Sincerely, - Peter H.

Jim,

Having been a small municipal water system operator in Upstate New York, I have some experience with basic water treatment. The link provided in " Chris in West Virginia's" article is sound in regard to using Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione. One would want to use a test kit to measure residual chlorine in the water and maintain the level between 0.3 and 1ppm after initial treatment. To treat water, chlorine is added until the level is at least 0.5ppm after an one hour contact time. It is critical that the chlorine have time to interact with the water and some method of stirring the water during treatment must be employed. Once the water has had time to interact with the chlorine, there will be levels of combined chlorine in the form of chlorides and "free" residual chlorine. Presence of residual chlorine indicates that the water is saturated enough with chlorine that any microbes/contaminants present will continue to be oxidized.

Having clean, filtered water to work with is important as bacteria and other nasties can adhere to microscopic particles in the water making chlorine treatment difficult. There is not a particular specification for the size of particles; however, a bit of research into water treatment will reveal that municipal authorities typically use a flocculant to cause microscopic particles to congeal and sink to the bottom of a clarification basin. They use this method to quickly clarify water. In a survival situation, a good gravity filter for dirty water could be employed prior to chlorination to ensure that most, if not all contaminants are removed from the water. After treatment, the water should be kept still and siphoned from the containing vessel to ensure that any remaining contaminants settle to the bottom of the container. Also, the chlorine level of the water should be maintained at all times to ensure continuous protection.

These methods of water treatment are for surface water as well water typically does not support bacteria growth if the well is in continuous use; however, during a survival situation, treatment of well water is recommended. The need to filter well water prior to treatment is not as important unless debris is drawn up from the well or the well is open to surface contamination.

It is worth mentioning that it is very difficult to remove giardia cysts from contaminated water. To be sure that these parasites are removed, the water must be boiled to kill the cysts or filtered to less than 1micron to remove the cysts. Chlorine does not have any significant effect on giardia cysts. Giardia can be present in the fecal matter of dogs, cats, beavers, cows, and sheep. Infection with giardia causes "beaver fever" in humans.

Also, one should note that ingesting water with chlorine levels above 4ppm can do damage to the digestive system up to the point of death depending on the level of chlorine ingested; therefore it is absolutely critical to be able to test the level of chlorine present in the water before drinking!!

Anyone curious about studying water treatment more in depth can visit www.usabluebook.com for some very good self-training and reference materials on all levels of water treatment.

Regards, - Drew in Thailand

Dear James,

I have only just rediscovered your blog last night and I am now soaking it up like a sponge.

I’d like to be the “someone with a chemistry degree” to respond to our brother in Christ, Chris’ information regarding use of pool chemicals for drinking water treatment, notably Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione. I am a degree qualified chemical engineer who has spent most of the past 15 years in selling industrial chemicals including for water treatment. One of my recent activities was packaging pool and spa chemicals.

The chemical name sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione is also known as isocyanuric acid. Details of this chemical may be found at this link and at Wikipedia.

It is particularly effective as a water treatment chemical for sterilizing purposes due to its high effective chlorine % (typically >50%) and ease of use due to its powdered or tablet form; when compared with other chlorine sterilizing agents such as sodium or calcium hypochlorite. The other advantage of the powdered isocyanuric acid is that it remains stable over long periods of time provided that the powder is not exposed to moisture or excessive heat. The liquid hypochlorite solutions will lose their activity over any long period of time even when stored in closed drums simply by converting back to chlorine gas and caustic soda. Powdered calcium hypochlorite does not have this same problem provided it is also protected from heat, light and moisture. Liquid sodium hypochlorite (e.g. Clorox) has only 5.7% available chlorine, so more is required per gallon of water treated.

The toxicity of the isocyanuric acid is not 100% known though it is generally thought to be of low toxicity. This link gives details of toxicity studies completed to date .

Having packaged the product in its finely powdered form, one thing is clear – do not breath the dust as it will cause all kinds of acute (short term, intense) respiratory (breathing) problems. It literally feels like the air is being sucked out of your lungs.

There’s no doubt that the isocyanuric acid is more effective compared to hypochlorite in terms of gallons of water treated per pound of chemical used. I also know that the isocyanuric acid is way more expensive per pound to purchase – at least at the wholesale level. My preference would be to stick with hypochlorite since it’s a little safer to handle, more readily available (not every town has a pool and spa supply but almost every town has a supplier of Clorox brand bleach) and more well researched in terms of toxicity. I’m also concerned whenever I see chemical compounds that have “cyan” and “uric” as part of the chemical structure. Under the right conditions this chemical could break down to form hydrogen cyanide (HCN) as a decomposition product – toxic to humans as well as microbes in water.

It should also be noted that any individual or entity manufacturing or repackaging chemicals for sterilization or disinfection purposes must be registered with the [US] Federal EPA as a pesticide manufacturer. Retail pool and spa outlets would be exempt from this requirement as they are retailing products that should already comply with this. Consumers should inspect all packaging to look for a federal EPA registration number for any product that has a claim of disinfection. My bottle of Clorox clearly shows the ingredients and also the EPA Reg No 5813-50.

Your readers should also consider hydrogen peroxide as a disinfectant, since its decomposition products are water and oxygen, though it also has problems with long term storage as it will decompose when exposed to moisture, heat and light. Other methods for disinfecting water include chlorine dioxide and ozone (small equipment systems can be purchased to make these and directly inject into the water being treated). Ozone injection is often used in bottled water filling operations for rinsing bottles and also for the water itself, as it decomposes back into oxygen in a few hours and adds no taste to the water once the ozone has depleted. Ozone can’t be stored and you need electricity (probably > 1,500 watts) to run an ozone generator.

As a general rule, I always prefer from a survival perspective to look at disinfection techniques that can be done using physical processes, rather than chemical processes. Filtration (Berkey and activated carbon), boiling and other physical processes can be used to treat water for drinking purposes and use of purification tablets as an additional safety precaution. No chemical disinfection process has shown itself to be 100% effective against all microbes and your readers should consider multiple processes for water treatment prior to use of chemicals.

As another rule of thumb, be careful when buying disinfecting chemicals from pool and spa outlets. The label ingredients are only required to declare the active ingredients that are responsible for the disinfection. You will often see “inert ingredients” listed on the label, sometimes not even these are listed. Typically in powdered and liquid pool chemicals there may be other ingredients included (such as anti-caking agents, stabilizers, surfactants) many of which you don’t want in your drinking water but are included in pool chemicals to enhance the performance in its intended application.

Sincerely, - Graham T.

Sir:
A quick note about cloth diapers: Many stores (Wal-Mart and its French-owned counterpart at least) have flannel sheets on sale right now with twin sets running between $6.24 and $10. Woolrich is one brand and they seem to be of decent quality. That is a lot of fabric for little money. I picked up a half dozen sets. They provide warm bedding, but large pieces of fabric, often in dark or natural colors could have many uses. I will set aside at least 2 sets of the chocolate brown ones to make more cloth diapers for the baby we are expecting in September- no concerns about stains! The scraps will be useful for cloth pads for the same reason.

Also, I have found that snaps are better than velcro. On the original diapers I made for my older children I used Velcro. Not only does it tend to stick to everything else in the wash, but it takes lots of it to make an adjustable diaper and that gets expensive. I bought a Kam Snap pliers set and have been happier with the results, though you have to squeeze hard to get them on well through so many layers of cloth. I put 6-8 "male" snaps across the front of the diaper and then the two "female" snaps on the tabs can be snapped to any front pair to fit the child as he/she grows. I also used the basic pattern provided in Backwoods Home and was pleased with the results. Be sure to use the narrow elastic she recommends.

With regards to diaper covers, I have had the best performance from ones with "leg gussets." They tend to prevent many more leaks and I have been able to use them longer since they will accommodate a larger diaper. You don't need many covers since they dry almost immediately, so I consider it worthwhile to get quality ones.

With regards to rinsing diapers, I have an unconventional method. We live out in the country on a farm so when weather permits, I take the diaper out to the hose and spray it off behind a bush. Newborn and young nursing babies' diapers will usually wash clean in the machine without any special pre-rinsing. I hang dry my diapers so they don't tend to wrinkle or ball up in the dryer. They take longer than an average load to dry anyway and it saves a lot of wear on them to hang dry. In good weather, they go on the clothesline in the sun. Otherwise, I hang them on skirt hangers, preferably near the pot-belly stove.

Thanks for the great site and to all those who contribute! I recommend you often! - Laura in an Unnamed Southern State

Mr. Rawles,
Regarding the blog entry "Your Post-TEOTWAWKI Diaper Insurance," I wanted to add that the problem with the messiness of cloth diapers can be lessened by using disposable liners. Special liners are sold for use in cloth diapers, however a more cost effective solution is to dry out cheaper baby wipes and use those [as liners]. Thank you for your diligent service to the survival community. Keep up the great work. Sincerely, - JD in Richmond, Virginia

Jim,
I love your blog site. About the article about cloth diapers -- they are easy to make and cheaper than bought ones. There was an article in Backwoods Home Magazine about making them.

Last year we had two grandbabies born and I made 3 dozen of each size for each baby. Cutting that much terry cloth was messy and the project time consuming, but well worth the effort. Their mothers used them and were glad to save money on disposable diapers. I suggest getting the snap machine and snaps to close the diapers, I never was successful sewing on the velcro.

Also, for the ladies, there are patterns on the Internet for making [washable] ladies menstrual pads. The same materials for babies diapers can be used to make these pads. Here is one of the web sites for patterns for making these.

Thank you for providing such a great site to share ideas for survival. - A Granny in the Woods

Mr. Rawles:
This was a good, informative article. There are a few things that I'd add for your readers:

1. You can save money on cloth diaper systems by buying them used.

2. You can also sew diapers yourself. I sewed pre-folds for our children from old flannel sheets and cotton terry cloth towels: a rectangular center pad of 6 layers of cotton flannel or 1 layer of terry cloth, sandwiched between two wider rectangles of flannel. I made them in three sizes, for newborns up to older toddlers. Leftover flannel scraps went into diaper doublers, cloth wipes, or "mama cloth" (see below).

3. If you can't spray dirty diapers, they can be scraped with an old spatula or an ice scraper for windshields. I've never dunked or sprayed diapers, though the hand-powered sprayer does sound useful.

4. For an emergency diaper, fold a washcloth into half or thirds and put inside a onesie; or use a flannel receiving blanket as a flat diaper, by folding it into a rectangle or triangle. Cloth diapers are easy to contrive--just look at what cotton fabrics you have on hand, and fold them into a shape that is thick in the right places and can be pinned onto the baby. Diaper covers are not quite so easy; in a pinch I would cut a triangle of polar fleece or old sweatshirt, and pin it on over the diaper.

5. Diaper pins are strong and don't rust, you may want to keep some around even if you don't have a baby.

6. At night and while traveling, the key to avoiding overflows seems to be to simply provide enough absorbency. We put a "doubler" (an extra pad of flannel, using scraps leftover after sewing diapers), or a smaller pre-fold diaper folded lengthwise, inside the diaper.

7. Cloth diapers may require some troubleshooting. Typical problems are recurring diaper rashes or diapers that are stinky after being washed. "Stripping" the diapers by washing them with a little Dawn dish detergent, and improving the diaper washing procedure may help. Direct sunlight will help disinfect diapers.

8. For the ladies, flannel "mama cloth" pads can also be made: 6 layers of flannel, or 2 layers of terry between 2 layers of flannel, sewed together into a pad shape. These are comfortable and do the job surprisingly well.

Thank you for your excellent blog, - Peggy

Having spent a lot of years on military planning staffs, I can't help war-gaming scenarios. In short (as you know well) Course of Action (COA) development is a big part of Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) and is a fairly reliable way of looking at possibilities and choosing likely sequels, given scenarios. In effect, a way of war-gaming out the future. There are a number of horror scenarios that seem to me to be fairly probable and they keep going around and around in my head as I try to sequence them and assign probabilities to each one. I am haunted by the possible future, an occupational hazard for a professional planner. I sincerely hope our civilization outlives me because it's failure could be truly horrible.

I agree completely with you on relocation to safer areas and stocking a remote retreat in the hinter-boonies. That's the optimum solution and in worst case situations, it's really the only solution likely to work long term. Any of your readers stuck in less than optimum situations are going to make a valiant effort to survive, but their odds are not as good. I am one of these folks. I worry about the golden hoard more than anything else. I would like to pass on some thoughts on the subject of what the unwashed masses will be doing after TEOTWAWKI. I am only guessing, but my guesses are made using history as a template. If anyone disagrees with my analysis, I would love to hear about it.

What about those totally unprepared? What are they going to do? There are many survival strategies open to the unwashed masses other than sitting down and starving to death. We all need to compare our own plans with these other strategies because I guarantee some of these strategies will be used by the teeming masses. When the power grid drops and the food shipments end, the average citizen is going to get a huge shot of reality. Guessing what they are going to do WTSHTF is central to all other survival planning, especially in the Eastern US or Europe.

ASSUMPTIONS:
I am talking here about a total collapse situation, not a slow slide decline or regional disruption. You can pick your own favorite cause from an EMP event to a finance system failure. They all cause roughly the same sequence of events. The results of any catastrophic collapse could easily be worse than any fiction you have ever read. The worst case scenarios all result in disruption of services and quick spiral into anarchy, but leave most of the population alive and hungry. This is the stuff of nightmares.

To recap our unprecedented bad situation: The vast majority of people live in urban or suburban areas near large population centers. They are poorly prepared for any emergency and completely unable to live self sufficiently. The food production systems that currently supply their food are fragile and subject to catastrophic failure. Most people's very lives depend on a fragile triad made up of the transportation network, power grid and finance system. All three of these systems depend on the other two and they are all three unbelievably fragile. (There are many dependencies, but I see these as the three key points of failure.)

Most people currently live shoulder to shoulder in unthinkable crowding. Once the triad of services breaks down, the vast majority of people will suddenly be living on a very limited amount of capital in the form of the tiny amount of consumables on hand in each city. Once the Evian is gone and the toilets don't work, they will have no way to get drinking water or even dispose of their own sewage. They are literally less than a week away from serious acute hunger.

This situation will not get better unless the government is able to restore critical systems very quickly. The odds of restoring order get worse the longer the crisis lasts as the teeming masses start migrating and civil order disintegrates. Assuming the government fails, the countryside cannot feed the population of the USA without modern fuel, finance, power and distribution systems in place. Using 19th century techniques (where that is possible), the farmland in the USA cannot begin to feed everyone. (Europe has the same problem). In short, people are living where there will be no resources and farmland (and farmers) will be overtaxed just to support locals. We don't have the capital goods (horses, tack, hand plows, tools, seeds etc ) or skills to go back to old farming methods quickly. The math points to a die-off larger than anything recorded in history. Did I miss any main points?

People are not going to starve to death quietly. They never do unless there is a government to enforce it. Every last one of them is going to try something to survive or even just hang on one more day. Humans are survivors. They are intelligent, ruthless and deadly omnivores. We use the terms "sheeple", or "Joe Six-pack" pretty flippantly, but even the most stupid human is very dangerous and many of the "sheeple" are not stupid or incompetent. They are, in fact, the most dangerous predators on earth. You are much better off surrounded by hungry tigers than hungry humans. On the other hand, these are real people that used to be your neighbors, mothers, fathers, daughters. When you look them in the face it's going to be very hard to pull a trigger.

AVAILABLE STRATEGIES:
This is not an all inclusive list. People are going to try all of these concurrently. I expect to see a general sequence of strategy choices, but it's not iron clad. While you would expect it much later in the crisis, you might run into a professional army on day one! The interplay of each strategy with the others is also hard to predict. People are going to try other things too (That I haven't thought of). Local variables will effect how each strategy plays out and what events are likely to occur. The interplay of all these activities is where my analysis breaks down in complexity. You have to evaluate them with local variables, so generalizations can only go so far. I believe people will try all of these strategies. Some of them will work, but most of them will fail. There are only so many resources.

1. Begging/bartering. This is probably the first strategy you will encounter. Begging will go on until the very end. This strategy is open to everyone. It will work better for weak individuals, but ultimately, charity is going to dry up as resources get tighter. The vast majority of people who depend solely on begging will ultimately starve to death. (Unfortunately, most people will beg, barter, steal and kill, in that order. Even a single mother may cut your throat to save her children.)

PLANNING NOTE: In a total meltdown, the numbers will crush you if you let them. You have stored a finite amount of food, but there is an almost infinite number of beggars out there. Can you turn away a family with children who only want a bite to eat? You better think this out carefully and steel yourself for whatever you decide to do. If you give too many of your supplies away you will starve. If you turn everyone away, you may feel really bad. Think about it. How are your wife and kids going to react to begging? Watching a die-off is going to be tragic.

a. Bartering services. This could be prostitution or offering to act as security guard. This is actually a viable strategy for anyone with end-of-the-world useful skills. Find someone (or preferably a community) with food and sell yourself. If you have military training and equipment or specific skills, this could work. I don't expect all the doctors to starve.

b. Bartering goods. Rich people may try to buy basic supplies at scalper's prices. You might get a great deal on a Rolex or Mercedes.

2. Stealing/looting. This is a no-brainer once law enforcement breaks down. Even while there is some order, people are going to steal anything they can get their hands on, even at the risk of being hurt or killed. If we drop into anarchy, expect crowds of hungry people or "professional rioters" to sweep the city streets. As the public-access shops and warehouses begin to empty, crowds may move into residential areas for a while, but I don't expect this to last long. Big crowds will probably disband completely when resources become more scarce or they have to travel further to get to them. A warehouse of food or shopping center near the inner city may support this behavior, but a suburban neighborhood 10 miles away won't. Residential areas within cities may be in serious peril. The closer you are to densely populated areas and/or poor areas, the more peril you face. Once the big flash-crowds disappear or people start to forage in the suburbs,
small groups will splinter off and begin raiding (see item #5 below).

There will also be a lot of solitary (or small groups) burglars and sneak-thieves. If you keep chickens in your yard, watch your neighbors closely. If you plan to go to work and leave your house empty, it may be looted while you are away. Gasoline tanks without locks will be prime targets for night visitors. Suburban gardens are prime targets. This applies to slow-slide declines too.

Beggars can turn into looters quickly if nobody is watching. If nobody answers a door, they may try to break a window. The suburbs may be swamped with beggar/looters. As they get more desperate, looters will get bolder and more dangerous. The further out of town you live the safer you will be from this group. Of course, the more isolated you are, the more vulnerable you are to raiders.

3. Some people will sit tight and wait for things to somehow return to normal. Most people who have food and other resources will try to live on them and wait it out. If they stay in small family groups, they will be easy prey for mobs or raiders. Still, I expect most urbanites will do this until they are almost out of resources...then they will join the beggars and looters. This group will grow smaller every day and swell the numbers of looters.

4. Banding. Almost all people will band together for mutual protection and support. How well this works depends on many factors, but ultimately the only safety anywhere will be provided by numbers. Single survivors will get swallowed up quickly.

a. Banding by family unit. This is the basic family group and will be the the first and most common grouping. These groups are small in size but very cohesive. Most families will quickly band with other families into larger groups. The ones who don't will be easy prey.

b. Banding by geography. Neighborhoods will try to form bands for mutual protection. Neighborhoods will try to do this, but historically, this is often not very effective, especially if the distance between neighbors is large. Sharing of resources within neighborhood bands is spotty and as individuals run low, they tend to leave. Rural neighborhood watches are doomed by small numbers, and urban neighborhood watches are doomed from having too many people.

Populations of small towns will band together to put up road-blocks and keep from being overwhelmed. This is the only way most small communities will be able to survive, even if they are capable of supporting themselves by farming. Unless they band effectively and very quickly, they are doomed to be overrun by refugees or raiders. Even the communities who quickly band together may get soft hearted and let in too many people to support. I think pitiful refugees are more dangerous than raiders. It's a rare American who can watch genuine suffering and not try to help. This is especially dangerous if it looks as though the situation could improve and things go back to normal. If there is hope of getting help from outside the community, most people are inclined to save as many others as possible. I feel that this issue will doom many small communities.

PLANNING CONSIDERATION: If your plans include banding with a farming community, you must take steps immediately to close off the flow of refugees into the area. Convincing others to take steps this drastic will be hard or even impossible, especially early in a crisis. Closing your community and isolating it may very well be impossible. If it is, you are at the mercy of fate and geography. You had better have a plan-b.

c. Banding by profession. Cops, medical workers, emergency workers, soldiers, and perhaps factory workers may band with co-workers. You will especially see this behavior with professional military groups. Beware of military installations in a total breakdown! You have a lot of very young, very scared and highly trained young men with no families there. It might get very dangerous to be near a military town if the government totally disappears. (In a slow slide disaster or regional disaster Army Towns are perhaps the safest places to be, but once the chain of command disappears, watch out.)

d. Banding by religion. This is perhaps the easiest, most effective band to join, since the churches already congregate groups of like-minded people within a small area. Religious bands will probably be the basis for "small community group banding" and are usually the strongest bands possible to form on short notice. All the church groups in an area or a town will likely band together and put on the mantle of "local government". I anticipate local churches forming the backbone of most local governments. They will be equipped with arm bands and represent "legitimate" government when they come to loot your supplies. Joining one of these bands will be a good survival strategy for many people, but in a total collapse, they are very likely to keep as many people alive as possible until they run out of resources and then starve together. Expect to see local polities formed from church groups going to war as resources get scarce. They will go
after both looters and hoarders. Fascism in America will probably arrive carrying a cross.

e. Banding by racial or ethnic group. You will see racially or ethnically pure groups in some regions. This could be very important factor in places like Los Angeles or New York almost immediately and may take precedence over geography or religion. It's an ugly thought, but being the wrong color may be a death sentence some places. (Ironically, I don't expect any serious racial tension in the deep South.)

f. Banding by gang or club affiliation. Not only urban gangs and bikers, but also gun-clubs, country clubs, and survival groups fall into this category. Some clubs will obviously not band effectively in an emergency (like a yacht club for instance), but you can bet the Aryan Brotherhood will cleave together like real brothers. Your survival group, can form a strong group if you have like minds and have clear plans for how to band, where to meet etc.

(PLANNING NOTE: Unfortunately, you are very unlikely to be able to form a survival group large enough to defend yourselves. You may have more success joining your survival group with a local church group or community group or some other band to increase your numbers. The only way you will be able to do that is to store enough food. Plan this out carefully. How big is your optimum band size and how will you feed everyone? Remember, you can use the same tactics other groups will use....like confiscation of warehouses, if your numbers are large enough and you are quick enough. But, If your ultimate size gets too large it will become unwieldy and impossible to control or feed. This is a conundrum you need to give some thought to now.)

Consider this topic well because your group belief system will vary depending on how you form the group and who you let in. A church group will have to use different tactics than a biker club or a neighborhood watch. This will limit or shape your options and set the tone of everything you do. No church group is going to seriously consider cannibalism, for instance.

5. Raiding/Banditry. Raider bands are going to spring up everywhere. Some will start as low level looters and graduate into larger scale violence. Some, however will start out as systematic raiders. There are some very bad perpetrators out there and there will be even more once the prisons empty. In the short term, violence will be very lucrative.

Raiders will take casualties over time. They will also replenish their numbers somewhat, but fortunately these are mostly anti-social types and may have trouble integrating new members. The further you are from them at the start, the safer you will be, but they can hit you anywhere, anytime. I don't see a good solution for this other than sheer numbers or good OPSEC. They won't attack an obviously hard target. and of course, they can't attack what they don't know about. They have to win to stay in business, so they won't attack unless they feel they can win. Distance will spread out the number of groups and allow other survivors to thin their numbers in numerous gun battles. True raiders may not last long, but they are going to be a real problem in the short term.

I expect raiding to take two main forms. The roadside ambush and the home invasion. Home invasions are always dangerous and often brutal. If the raiders attack your home, they will try to take you by surprise and kill every combatant in the house before anyone can react. They will force every more at a very fast pace to prevent you from reacting. They may use some kind of distraction or disguise to gain surprise. Home invasion, carried out with professionalism and gusto is fairly
safe and easier than you would think. Expect to see some of them wearing body armor, dressed in police uniforms and carrying
badges. (Some of them will have professional entry training...like SWAT and military). Failing at a stack entry, they may use CS gas to drive out the occupants. Failing that, they will use fire.

Waylaying travelers on the roads is very easy and safe. Cars are just too vulnerable to gunfire. The roads outside small communities could be very dangerous to travel.

Don't ever underestimate the vile depravity of human beings. Anarchy is the dirtiest word in the English language. Rape and torture may be common. I believe as food gets harder to find, many people will turn to cannibalism to sustain themselves. (I wish this were not true, but historically, it's very common.) I am not advocating cannibalism in any way, but In all fairness, cannibalism can greatly extend a group's supply base. There are a whole lot of people out there and people are made of meat. While easy targets are available, some groups may prosper for some months eating human flesh. It could be a fairly successful strategy for some groups. Beware. History of other collapses warns us that this may be common.

A longer term problem you should watch for is what I call "part time raiders". Historically, most raids have been conducted by young men in one community raiding a nearby community. This phenomenon won't happen overnight in most places but it will probably happen eventually unless somebody forms a central authority within a year or two.

6. Extortion. Outlaw bands will give way to professional armies in some places. Possibly with a core of military trained personnel, a hundred or more killers traveling together can extort more than smaller groups can steal. These groups will get larger as time goes by but they are doomed unless they can take over someone else s farmland and extort "taxes". You may see groups like this move in to agricultural areas and set up shadow governments, taxing all the farmers nearby...or selling protection. Anyone who doesn't play ball will be burned out. Expect them to use classic tactics like assassination, kidnapping, and terrorism to cow the locals. Local governments are going to probably hire many thugs and enforcers too. Telling the good guys from the bad guys might get difficult. Anyone trying to take your food is probably a bad guy, but it might be worth your while to pay him off.

7. Hiding. Some people are going to try to hide from the die-off.
Hiding inside a city or suburbs (in my opinion) is not going to work. People are going to systematically search every building for food. You could conceivably scare off or outfight wave after wave of looters and finally be looted by a local government or burned out by a large gang or rioters. The fact that you are living there will be impossible to hide when they try to search your building, If you are there, you will eventually have to fight or surrender your supplies. Hiding in the suburbs is just not possible and staying in an apartment building (even if you band with the other occupants for mutual protection) will eventually get you killed.

Hiding in a rural area is possible, just because of the distances involved. The number of hungry mouths will be less in the country, but local citizens are still going to confiscate your "Hoarded" food if they need it. Your best hiding place is in an area that will be defended by well-fed people. (but if you have a well-fed community defending you, you should really help them defend it, don't you think?)

The second best hiding place is a wilderness area with no roads or natural resources that someone will want. A wilderness hide site takes a lot of skills to pull off. Also, it is not sustainable without some planning and a lot of discipline. Essentially, this is hunkering down in a remote place and eating supplies you brought with you while you wait patiently for the teeming masses to die off. Living quietly in the wilderness, mostly underground is a hard way to live, especially in bad weather, but it could be your best chance to miss the die-off if you are healthy and have a solid set of outdoor tactical skills.

8. Bug out (presumably to a safe place).
This is going to be very popular, even for people who have no place to go. Once the power is off and the sewage starts backing up, the cities are going to start losing people. The exodus may begin immediately or be delayed several days (depending on the scenario). Either way, the refugees will generally try to leave in family groups. They will mostly follow interstates, highways, state roads, and farm roads, in that order. Nobody (almost nobody) is going to just start walking in a random direction and go cross country. They will drive until they have to walk and try to re-supply along the way.

While there is order, the roads may be jammed with cars leaving the cities going nowhere. In practice, almost everyone is going to be driving out of the city with a definite destination in mind. Some relative, some small town they know of, etc. Most of these destinations are going to be just as bad as the ones they just left, but these will be desperate people. Many of them are going to seriously overestimate their vehicle range. (Traffic jams eat a lot of fuel, probably more than most people will plan for).

Most of those thousands of cars on the interstate are going to run out of gasoline in a matter of hours and wherever they finally run out, that's where the occupants are going to start walking. Of course most of them are going to pull off the highways and interstates just before they run out and mob every town along the highway. (This is a historic fact, proven by every hurricane evacuation we have ever attempted). I expect people to turn very nasty when they run out of fuel. When they cannot buy fuel or food, the towns along America's highways will be filled with armed, hungry desperate people who may kill for a gallon of gas or a drink of water. Sound like fantasy? Don't bet on it. It's happened even during regional crisis with help on the way. In a general meltdown, I expect lots of violence in small towns and strip communities along highways and especially interstates.

There may be long columns of desperate refugees walking the interstates, but I don't foresee this. Most people will congregate in towns along the route. It's difficult to predict what desperate people will do without knowing local variables. If there is a hopeful destination within perceived walking distance, I would expect a lot of foot traffic. Of course, there will be a large number of breakdowns, but probably no mass migrations on foot unless they are being chased by something like a fire or chemical spill etc.

PLANNING NOTE: If you wait too long to G.O.O.D. you won't make it. I believe G.O.O.D. movement of any kind is going to be very dangerous. Moving vehicles are just too vulnerable, and there are going to be a lot of desperate, armed people stranded on the roads. This specifically includes law enforcement. They are not going to let you drive by with a load of gas cans in the back when their patrol car is sitting empty. Get out early or don't try it.

9. Going on with your life and ignoring the crisis.
I think this will be a very popular early response. Some people will still try to make it to work, just like they always have. Until the crisis really gets bad, you will probably see shopkeepers, lawyers, bankers etc trying to commute to work. I really hope the police and firemen do this for as long as possible--and garbage collectors and power workers too! In fact, this is probably our best defense against a general melt-down. If everyone would stay calm and keep trying to make the system work, our society could survive almost anything. (I am betting on the exact opposite).

10. LaMOE (LAst Man On Earth) of the wilderness.
Some people will grab their outdoors gear and head for the woods planning to live out of a rucksack and forage or hunt for their food. I include fishermen in this category. I expect the wilderness areas to be absolutely stiff with "sportsmen" who are going to try to camp their way out of trouble. Maybe not, but I have heard a lot of people talk about it. This is a losing proposition, but that's not obvious to everyone.

PLANNING CONSIDERATION: If you attempt to hide in a wilderness location, you are going to have to avoid these knuckleheads. Choose your hide site well.

11. Throw yourself on the mercy of the government.
Another VERY popular option. America has become the land of the entitlement. This generation seems to believe the government is there to take care of them from cradle to grave. I expect lots of folks to gather around anything even remotely resembling government. This will only last while government offices are open, but it might allow formation of groups or bands that will later loot and burn the city.

12. Go nuts and start burning everything in sight. It's happened before and will probably happen again. For some reason, arson seems to be some kind of release mechanism for unstable personalities. These folks are yet another reason to avoid urban areas. They won't last long, but they can cause a lot of damage in the short term.

13. Something else. This is only a partial list of all the possible strategies people will use. If you can think of something, expect someone to try it. Look at your local variables and think about it.

EXPECTED SEQUENCE:
Tricky, but in general terms, I expect urbanites to hang onto their city as long as supplies hold out and then attempt a bug-out. Some, of course, are going to bug out almost immediately. Some will never bug out.

Most people are going to sit tight until they get hungry and then either attempt a bug-out or try to barter/beg/or loot food.
Looters will start looting as soon as they can get away with it. Their numbers will be fairly small in the beginning, but will grow as more people get hungry. They will continue until there is nothing to loot...then they will have to change strategies. The next strategy up the scale is raiding.

Most people will never make that transition to violence, but I estimate up to 5% of the total population will easily make that transition and another 10% are capable of doing it if they have more time to get used to the idea (and get hungry). These numbers are not really supportable historically, but I feel that they are very close to reality...just personal opinion. If I am right, that means even a city of 100,000 people could produce 5,000 potential murderers in a few days. That's a lot of bad guys.

Raiders, bandits and bad guys are going to prey on the weak until somebody establishes order or they run out of easy targets. This order will probably be in the form of locally formed polities (local governments and committees, neighborhood watches, and church groups.) Once we reestablish real order, most remaining raiders are going to try to change strategies. Some of them may join your church.

Unfortunately, the horrible die-off will encompass multiple years. It won't end until local communities reach equilibrium and produce as much food as they consume. That could easily take more than two years. (The first harvest after a major crisis is going to be a disappointing time for some communities.) Some of the starving polities (probably after the first harvest) may choose war over starvation and attack neighbors. Sounds really grim, but I call em like I see em.

Livestock mortality the first two years is going to be astronomical. People are going to have to literally allow other humans to die while they feed livestock. Also, they are going to be very valuable commodities and prone to theft.

Wildlife and fish mortality will also be very high. Everybody who sees a deer will attempt to kill it. After a year or two, I expect deer, bear and wild hogs to be nearly extinct in the Eastern US. Small game will also suffer huge losses to poaching and so will fish.

SO, WHAT STRATEGY DO I PLAN TO USE?
I live in a nice suburban neighborhood of a small town within 45 minutes of a large urban area. The area surrounding us is a poor rural agricultural area in Southern Georgia. My town is near a secondary line of drift from Savannah. Not the worst place to live, but not good either. In a slow slide scenario, I will stay in place, participate in the neighborhood watch and go to work every day. I even have plans to set up a soup kitchen, field bakery and water purification plant at a local church if needed. My plan is to make myself valuable to the community. If things get really bad, I have the ability to arm up to 6 others. I have enough spare stored food, equipment and weapons to do this and still be postured for plan-B.

Plan-B. In the event of a TEOTWAWKI I intend to use several options. I intend to Bug out with a truck-load of supplies to a pre-selected wilderness area (within 15 minute ride of home), establish a hide site and wait out the carnage. (I have about seven months supplies for my family plus a couple of caches with extra food and weapons nearby for a total of roughly nine months of rough living. I believe our odds of remaining unnoticed for six or more months are very good while maintaining a fairly high standard of living. (Living this close to Savannah, this is the best plan I could come up with).

Why hide out? first, I have the skills, equipment and a good area. But mostly, I know myself. Having seen real hunger in Africa and the Balkans, I don't believe I have the emotional hardness to watch people suffer and die without joining them by trying to help. Hiding out and missing the die-off will be hard, but watching it happen (for me) is just impossible. I can't watch.

When things cool down, I will scout the area and attempt to barter my skills to local farmers or whoever is in power. (I have acquired quite a few barterable skills over the years). So, if I show up at your retreat door six months after a collapse looking for work: don't shoot! It's just me! - JIR

Most of the SurvivalBlog.com articles focus on the "how tos" of living in or preparing for survival situations. We all understand these needs. However, there has been much less discussion on preparedness for death and dying. I have worked in the medical profession since 1975. I have worked with people in various stages of death and dying in hospitals, hospices, operating rooms, clinics and accident sites. While most of us are doing as much as possible to prepare and stay alive in bad situations we know that our options may be greatly limited in future scenarios. Death and dying are two examples. Initially, I thought that this subject would be too abstract or "soft" in comparison other "how to" articles. However, after some consideration it seems that I was wrong.

Death, dying and bereavement make take very different forms in future scenarios. Our society generally requires a fairly orderly approach to these issues. Much of this process is sanitized in the form of body management and dying locations.. Aside from accidents, civilians usually die in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes or their own residences. We have witnessed many recent natural disasters that displaced thousands. Many of those died in strange or makeshift environments. Families and friends often find closure at a planned funeral. Some have the benefit of resolving bereavement issue with clergy or counselors. How do you suppose that will change in TEOTWAWKI? Many of those services will either be nonexistent or deferred to the most skilled family member. You might be that "go-to" person. The sanitized funerals of today will look very different tomorrow. Death and dying will become a more visible. This is was the case in Europe during the Great Plague in England in the 1600s.

This country has gone through years of pandemic planning in corporate and government sectors. I have been on some of the planning committees at those levels for pandemic preparedness. Government plans for the dead and dying in a full blown pandemic are very real and very ready. Large institutions (i.e. prisons) have purchased or at least budgeted for body bags and other burial supplies for on site mass graves. I never saw these details made public so I can only assume that smarter people didn't want to scare the general public. Although these are largely public health and institutional security issues the same should apply to personal preparedness.

Consider a medication issue: while many may be able to manage various acute medical problems it is unlikely that any will be able to manufacture medications required to sustain life for the long haul. Simply put, a lot of us won't last very long in a TEOTWAWKI or even a protracted natural disaster- regardless of preparedness because our we are living due to modern medications. How long would a fragile insulin dependent diabetic live without insulin? When we look at supply lines we find that much of our generic medications come from foreign nations. Major foreign producers already have major quality control issue with medication production. supply shortages will only worsen any product.

Because of restricted budgets many foreign countries already lack access to medications commonly found in America. Those countries may well be the ultimate survivors, in terms of medication need, as many have already developed and adapted in the absence of modern medicine and limited national budgets. A trip to China, India or any Eastern European nation will demonstrate the point. Could it be that modern medicine has actually placed us behind the curve by making us more dependent on technology? Let's consider practical alternatives.

For starters, take a quick self/family inventory. What will happen to you when your medications are gone? Which of your family members requires meds for diabetes, epilepsy, high blood pressure, cancer, chronic pain,mental illness or chronic infections? Who requires dialysis, oxygen or is bed ridden? Start by talking with your medical provider. Ask for help to prioritize your meds. This is commonly done in clinics because of cost concerns so the question should not seem odd. What would happen if you had to reduce your dose or ran out completely? Your provider should be able to give you planning options. Ask about alternatives for cheaper or more readily available medications. Pharmacists are also excellent resources for these questions. What are your options when the local pharmacy closes? Many now order drugs on line from out of country. Medication planning could help to avoid death in a scenario of limited duration, i.e. natural disaster. The same concerns apply to those dependent on medical devices and related equipment: ventilators, pumps, oxygen, braces and wheelchairs. Many avoid this aspect of preparedness planning as the details can be overwhelming. Despite our best efforts, many will die quickly or painfully because of the lack of medications and medical devices. There are options.

If your health is fine then you are good to go, right? Wrong! What about your spouse, child, friend or pet? The ultimate part of preparedness includes an understanding of death and dying. Although faith is obviously a cornerstone to this discussion it is not the entire story. It is not enough to simply put your loved one in a back room until God decides the time. I have been with many people of faith during their dying time. Responses are varied. Often, the relatives of the dying require just as much care.

Aside from your own discussions with your maker, there are some other practical considerations to a death and dying scenario.

• Develop an understanding of how your religion or belief system values death and dying.
• Help those in your community who struggle with health problems, aging, chronic disease or sudden loss. Shovel a neighbor's snow or mow a yard. This will frame your mind for understanding community effort as well as just doing the right thing.
• Volunteer as a nursing home/hospice visitor. Learn to see dying up close. Make yourself available. Listen to the dying person.
• Help your neighbor when they lose a member. Take a meal to a friend. Help your sick farm/ranch neighbor with their cattle or crops. Get used to exercising your "volunteer" muscle.
• If your community is culturally diverse then you will need to at least be aware or cultural requirements for dying/death rituals.
• At the risk of getting yourself committed, consider talking with your family members about death and dying for the purpose of stimulating their own planning. You have to be careful with this one as many professionals see this as a sign of suicidal intent. This discussion definitely takes planning! Some "loving" members will only be interested in getting your guns and gold after your demise so don't be too surprised. Some will consider you just plain crazy. You might just decide to skip this one.
• Survival community members may have different ideas about cares for the dead and dying. Planning will help to minimize fights and will develop cohesiveness.
• Reevaluate your bug out plans. Do you have a contingency plan for a relative who suddenly dies or cannot be transported because of injury or illness? Would you leave that person or pet to die alone? Do you need to add supplies to your BOB for that dying person?
• Even if not eating or drinking, dying folks continue to require oral and other personal hygiene cares. Helping people to die with dignity often includes helping another with bathing, shaving, dressing, toiletry,, and cleaning up after they drool their food.
• A bed ridden person requires attention to range of motion and turning. A dying person can develop unnecessary pain and bed sores if these cares are avoided.
• Address acute and chronic pain as best as possible. Current management of cancer and other end of life pain includes appropriate uses of various medications. Future scenarios would limit access to what is now more readily available. Research your options.
• Stock a bedpan/urinal. Be prepared to change bedding when needed. Learn to change bed linens with someone in the bed.
• If at all possible, don't let loved ones die alone. Move beyond your personal fear of death.
• If death is imminent (particularly in a field situation) ask if there are any special requests. It might be a prayer or last rites. Family members are often greatly comforted by simply knowing that a last request, especially a religious request, was granted. Don't be afraid to say a blessing or prayer over a dead body.
• Communicate your desires (e.g. CPR) to family and friends. Does your aging grandmother expect you to perform CPR and break all of her ribs when she has the Big One? Again, be careful with this one per the preceding discussion least you get locked up. You can do this in a more acceptable manner if you refer to this as "advance directives". Have a written will. It might be as simple as dividing bullets and beans. It will help to avoid bickering will help to keep the family unit together.
• Be prepared to deal with a dead body in the absence of a funeral home. Other articles have already addressed this. If possible, be sensitive to cultural codes of body management. Is your retreat space planned for this?
• State laws require that most deaths be either investigated or reported to the appropriate agency. These especially include infants, accidents,and unexpected deaths (medically unattended).Just be aware of your legal obligations under current laws.
• Include death and dying books in your library. Also include basic nursing texts that cover care of the dying. Medical texts often omit this chapter as most doctors aren't the ones who provide actual bedside care.
• Research the role of humor in dying and chronic illness. This could be a very useful and established skill for your tool box.This skill is not overlooked in cancer and pain management centers.
• Don't be afraid to tell family member, on a regular basis, that you love them. Remember 9-11? Any of those people would have given everything to have been able to have said just those words.
• Read John Donne's Meditation XVII ("No man is an island"). Donne was an English poet and preacher in the 1600s. Death was then rampant and very visible because of the Great Plague. He describes, from a Christian perspective, man's mortality and how the death of one person affects an entire community.We may well find ourselves returning to that scenario.
• Never assume that a dying person cannot hear. I have witnessed many folks bad mouthing their comatose relative only to see them walking the hospital hallway the following day- and the still dying person remembered every word!
• Learn to be a good listener.

For some of us, our ultimate value will be appreciated by how we both lived and died. Dying members of any group will threaten to drain limited resources. However, their death, if handled properly, may ultimately strengthen their community.

Sir;
While obtaining law doctorate, one of my classes was Health Law, which is two parts navigating your way through the morass of Federal intrusion. One part was actual policy. But, I digress. Only one thing of significance stuck in my mind from that whole class: "Of the forty years increased life expectancy enjoyed in the past one-hundred years, 35 of those years are the result of improvements in
hygiene and sanitation. Five years are due to clinical medicine." I translate that to: "you owe more for your health to the trash man and plumber than you do your doctor."

I hope yours was a Merry Christmas. - Ben W.

JWR Replies: As prepared individuals, we need to recognize the public health risks posed by any major disruption of utility water, sewers, and garbage collection. Again: It the power grids go down for more than four or five days, it will mean The End of the World as We Know it. (TEOTWAWKI)

I’m kind of a weird woman, not really a "girly" girl. I grew up on horseback, helping my Daddy out in his oilfield service company shop (my job was to clean old parts), and playing cowboys and Indians out with my brother. I like my guns and my motorcycle now, and I’ve been preparing for a SHTF scenario for almost a year. My career is also kind of weird, I repair musical instruments. School band instruments, flutes, clarinets, saxophones, that sort of thing. My husband is also an instrument repair technician, and we began our own business about seven years ago. Because of the nature of our business, I found myself working with nothing but a shop full of men for several years. And I didn’t realize until much time had passed that there were some things that I needed in order to feel, well, womanly. And in this respect, if there are survival groups being planned and executed by men, sometimes they might not think about what a woman might need to be content.

I know, contentment is not a high priority here. But most women, I believe, actually require very little to achieve contentment. Of course, feeling as safe as possible, knowing that there will be enough food for the family, feeling confident in the use of weapons as well as the use of cookware. Some women like to lean on a man, and others don’t. But there are some special needs that, if the men of the group are aware of them, some planning can be done. Your list of lists only says “Ladies Supplies.” Well, that could include lots of things. The menstrual problems have been pretty well covered in some other posts, so I don’t feel that I need to cover them here.

It is probable, as in your book "Patriots", that someone will become pregnant. Some wrap-around skirts would be a nice thing to pack away, or oversized pants with extra fabric and drawstrings in the waist. Speaking of babies, I think that cloth diapers would not only come in very handy, but would be great trading wampum as well. I prefer the longer unfolded kind, I think they are easier to get clean. They can be used even if very worn. Plus, they have many other uses after the child doesn’t need them anymore.
Full size diaper pins are going to be an important item, also, and would make for great trading. Safety pins are rarely big enough to pin a diaper with. Diaper pins are big and sturdy, and after my children were out of diapers I found many uses for them around the house.

Women who are breastfeeding an infant might want larger size bras, and nursing bras will be even more of a luxury. Remember, when a woman’s milk comes in, her breasts get much bigger, and sometimes sore and tender. When this happens even walking a short distance can be very painful. For first time mothers, this can be a really nasty surprise that wasn’t considered in the preparation. The support of a bra could make all the difference between a happy camper and a very unhappy one.

That’s just a few “necessaries” that I thought of. But, I found that in my time of working with nothing but men there were other things that I started craving.
Take flowers, for instance. I never used to care anything about flowers, and generally thought it was a huge waste of money for anyone to buy me any. However, one day one of my shop guys stopped to pick some wildflowers for me on his way to work, and I instantly embarrassed myself by breaking out into tears. What can I say? I was just struck at that moment by the absence of flowers or anything else pretty in my life, and those little flowers were the most beautiful things I had ever seen.

After that, I learned that even tomboy me needed some beauty around. I started putting some pinks, reds, yellows, and generally “feminine” colors in my bedroom and instantly became more contented. And not all women would like the colors I picked, but the idea of something pretty will make a big difference in a girl’s life.

Now, when faced with some dirt-bag trying to get into my retreat, I can be as vicious as any man. Maybe not as strong, but certainly as lethal with a weapon in my hands. But in the day-to-day drudgery of eking out a living after TSHTF, little pretty things may make existence much more pleasant. Packing away some flower seeds or starting some antique rose varieties would keep beauty in her world.
When we got to the point in our business where I could hire a bookkeeper, I was thrilled. Not only did the lady I hired do a terrific job, she became my fast friend and companion. The point is, even the most die-hard of us probably need some other women as company. If a woman is the only feminine presence in the retreat, she may feel alone and overwhelmed.

When I first started working with the guys, I did learn much about cars, guns, and motorcycles, and I enjoyed the conversations. But after a while, I craved some girl-talk, and I found myself growing weary of the “guy” conversations. I would go find something else to do. My friend was a God-send. In my retreat planning, I am certainly going to make sure that I am not the only women there if I can help it.
Of course, starting our own business then meant that my husband and I spent every minute together of every single day. 24/7. We both had to learn, the hard way, that we really both needed some “alone” time. In a The End of the Worlds as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) situation, young couples especially may have a hard time dealing with this. Don’t ever compromise your tactical position, but do respect the other person’s need for some time to themselves, even if it is just a little bit.

If I was a man preparing my retreat, I would put a very small little tin in my bug-out bag, so that I would always have it handy. In the tin, I would put a few little gifts for that special woman in my life. A pretty thimble, perhaps. Or some pretty ribbon, her favorite color. A few pretty antique buttons. A gold or silver ring. A necklace she could wear under her camos. A silver cross or other religious symbol. Anything to brighten a bad day, a storehouse in a tiny box of “pretty gifts” that will let her know you thought about her and that you appreciate her. My husband hand-made a thimble for me out of brass, a special quilting thimble, and he polished and lacquered it. It is one of my most prized possessions, and one of the least expensive yet most thoughtful gifts he has ever given me. And he didn’t give it to me on my birthday or anything like that, he gave it to me after we had a particularly stressful day. I love him all the more for it.

I have never been in the military, although the Marines tried to recruit me when I was a young girl. I don’t know how the girls who get sent over to Iraq and Afghanistan handle this stuff. Perhaps they are too young to know the difference, and they get used to it. I’m 53, and this has just been my experience.

When TSHTF, I’m sure I can tough it out like most women. Heck, my grandmother traveled across country in a covered wagon. But it sure would be nice for someone to appreciate what I do, and make sure I had a little beauty in my life. If this country goes down the path I think it is going to, there are going to be so many folks who mentally can’t handle the stress. A little thing might help a lot. - Jeanan

Captain Rawles:
While in the US Navy as a diver, Temporary Attached Duty (TAD), to a British Mine sweeper for a couple weeks, I was amused to find their toilet paper to have the consistency of wax paper. And on each square was printed, "Property of the British Government". Needless to say, I still have half a roll of it around here somewhere. I felt compelled to show it to our sailors for a chuckle. - Chester

Dear Mr. Rawles,
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! My prayers are with your family this year especially.

I came in late on the whole toilet paper discussion, but this is actually something I was dealing with myself. I have stored quite a bit of TP, and even a few of those old phone books, but our large family goes through a lot and even my stores won't last long. Because you are kind enough to post all the discussion I thought of something that should work for prepper nearly anywhere!

Any woman who has had a baby comes home with small squirt bottles from the hospital to use to clean herself when using the bathroom. These small squirt bottles can be found in any travel section or dollar store and hold several ounces of water. I think my bottle holds about ten ounces and I would get one that large so you can get some power behind the spray. Cleaning the front area is easy enough. However, you can also easily clean your rear end without touching it. And the filthy water will fall safely into whatever hole or potty you are using. It is in a sense a portable Bidet and will be invaluable in poor sanitary conditions and especially for those with children.

I hope this helps, you helped me and now I am going to stock up on these. Call me paranoid, I never like using public restroom TP myself. I just don't trust what someone could have done to it before I got there. Anyhoo, Many Blessings - Ace

This is for the Ladies: take the lead on frugality to finance your family preparedness! Below are things I do and have done, some for years, some for only a few months. You’d be amazed at how much starts accumulating in your checking account when you do these things. I have paid off credit cares and bought a rifle with scope, some junk silver, 1,000 rounds of ammo and a more than three month food supply since I started being more serious about these things.

My husband and I are professionals making good salaries – at least for now. We are fortunate to be able to live in a small town in a relatively low-cost area. This allows us to avoid some of the gratuitous spending pitfalls in larger urban areas, such as parking fees and bridge tolls. We have 10 mile commutes. We are able to live fairly simply. We still seem normal in the workplace, but there are some tricks for this that I will share. Why? Because if you are just waking up to the need to start your preparedness and are not already frugal, these are some good ways to free up disposable income without suddenly showing up at work looking really different and starting the curiosity mill....

First is transportation. For your ‘normal’ part of life, remember that the vast majority of automobiles are not investments, they are financial liabilities that depreciate every moment. My husband and I have different work hours at widely-spread places, so we commute separately in old Hondas. His is a 1991, mine is a 2000. We inherited both from my parents, so no high payments for fancy cars. We keep up the routine maintenance but not at the dealer, though we have a trusted mechanic for the tricky stuff. With rare exception, they get clean in the rain (we have no road salt issues here). I haven’t had to make a car payment since 1992, and I bought that car with cash. Our G.O.O.D. vehicle is a truck and we paid cash. Occasionally someone will make a crack about my car – essentially that at my salary I should be able to afford a nice car. I just smile and make some benign remark as I think about all that I save on transportation and how that money is helping me be more prepared.

Next, if you work and must keep looking ‘normal’ here are some tips on The Office Look if you haven’t been able to take the leap to work out of your retreat.
For Basic skin care: Frugality doesn’t mean you stop looking normal at the office. It is a subtle change in how you get to that look. Stop buying anything from cosmetic counters in department stores. Buy no Lancome or Estee Lauder. You don’t need the 4-step (that means four expensive products) skin cleaning system. It is a trick. Where ever you enter in the 4-product cycle, the product creates a skin problem that the next one fixes. The cleanser leaves your skin oily so you need the ‘toner’. The toner dries you so you need the ‘moisturizer’. See where this goes? Take care of your skin simply. If you really need a ‘toner’ here’s a secret: it is mostly witch hazel and colorant. Buy the witch hazel from K-Mart or another discount chain – twice as much for 10% of the price.

Bar soap is probably too harsh for most of us. Get some Neutrogena facial wash (unscented) and a stack of cheap washcloths – the kind that come in 12 packs and have really short loops in the terry. Dilute the Neutrogena by half with warm water so it mixes well. Use one or two pumps on a wet washcloth in the shower – work it into the cloth well before you start and use it all over, from the top down. Remember that both sides of the cloth are soapy! Fanny is next to last, feet are last. ( Use a clean cloth each day or rinse well and let dry in the sun so you don’t end up with a fungus from your feet). You have just been cleaned and exfoliated. If you don’t like this brand, use a mild shower gel but dilute it by at least half. Shower gel is commercially engineered for you to use much more than you need so you will buy more and sooner. By diluting, you get better foaming and waste less – either pump or sprinkle on the cloth.

Now, use a little Aveeno daily moisture lotion on your face and your parts that get dry. It will not make your skin oily or plug your pores. Buy the stuff in the big bottle for $8, not in the expensive little bottles. If you need a sunscreen, then get the Aveeno in the big bottle with SPF 15. You have just replaced at least 5 products at $20 or more each with 3 (4 if you include the bundle of washcloths) for a total of less than $20. That gives you $80 to buy ammo or junk silver this month. See where this is going?

For your work cosmetics: do your research. Many of the K-Mart brands are the expensive department store brands without the pushy sales people. Learn a basic routine that puts on eye makeup first, then the rest. Otherwise you use more product fixing the mistakes. Most of us can get by with very little makeup, and we look better for it. If you really like a specific brand, you can probably find it for about half price on eBay. Most of the sellers are basically honest– just check their feedback. This change can free up $100 a year or more, depending on your habit.

For your things that grow: Stop getting nail jobs. Long cutesy nails make you look less professional and cost a bundle. Trim and file your own. Keep them short and clean. There’s $30 a month, more if you stop pedicures, laser hair removal, tans, etc.. I still get a haircut, with no color or perm, about every 8 weeks from a one-woman salon in another small town. She charges $15 a cut. Even with a tip, I enjoy a ‘private consultation’ for a quarter of the price I was paying with my perm-and-cut style at a conventional salon. So, there’s another $25 to $50 a month by being you!

For your wardrobe: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify. Choose two color palettes of relatively timeless pieces. Mine are in black and navy blue. I have several black skirts, pants and jackets in black, less in Navy. Black works well because you don’t have the same ‘shades’ problem as you get with navy. Black is black. I have some different shirts and an odd skirt or pair of pants (gray, wedgewood blue) just to keep it from looking too uniform-ish. The jackets are in the washable Traveler styles from on-line cataloguers, hence no dry cleaning. I wash on gentle and hang to dry. I have two sets of navy and black shoes – same shoes in both colors. I wear black or navy hose. Everything mixes and matches easily. I have a couple of nice pairs of pearl earrings and make my own pearl necklaces by stringing the sale pearls from Fire Mountain Gems. There’s my professional working woman wardrobe. I plan to retire in a year, so I will buy even fewer items before I retire. Do this and your ‘wardrobe spending’ goes way down. I went from 80% dry cleaning to about 10% dry cleaning using this basic scheme, so have saved money there as well. Stockings, one or two tops and a couple of pairs of shoes a year are your shopping list once you have the basics -- possible replace a piece or two if too well worn. Just the dry cleaning part of this saves about $50 a month.

Personal habits:
If you still smoke, then stop. You can buy your year’s prudent reserve of food by quitting smoking alone. If your household consumes more than 1 bottle of wine a week, cut back. If you eat out, including lunch at work, more than once a week, cut back. Stop buying prepared packaged food. Spend some time cooking over the weekend and freeze it for your lunches. Stop buying lottery tickets. These are the easiest dollars to keep and will add up. You will probably feel more like firing your weapon on weekends when you eat less junk.

Around The House:

In the kitchen:
Best investment I’ve made in a while was a really nice bread machine. I bought a Japanese one that makes a normal-looking loaf. It paid for itself really fast when good bread was pushing $4.50 a loaf. My husband was taking a bakery-bought bagel to work every day for breakfast as well. We were spending $10 to $12 a week for bread products. Making our own for about $3 a loaf is a deal. Our ‘bread bill’ was cut in half and paid for the machine in 7 months. We go full tilt on nutrition as well. No sugar or corn syrup, and plenty of dry milk, whole wheat, nuts and dried fruit so a slice of bread is more than half the meal. This also helps me in rotating our supplies because we eat what we store.

Your water:
If you have hard water, try to learn to live with it without a water softener. If you feel you must have one, then locate it in a place where only the hot water coming into the house goes through the softener. Most cold water applications do not need softened water. You want your shampoo to suds up, so just do the hot for your warm shower. Bar soap does not work well in hard water, so another reason to go with the diluted shower gel and a washcloth. There’s the price of a big bag of salt or more each month for your prep supplies.

Laundry:
Not all detergents are created equal. We have very hard water and have learned to adjust to it rather than use a water softener. I tried all sorts of combinations trying to reduce the residue, which is mainly the solids from the detergent. I find that All free and clear cleans as well or better than the rest and leaves little residue. I use cold water and about half the amount of detergent they recommend. Powdered detergent in a hard water area will ruin your clothes or require more additives, so a low-solids liquid like All Free and Clear fits the bill. I learned this from my County Agent – he had a list of detergents and how much powdered residue they bring to your wash load. I buy the largest container when it is on sale. I use it to refill the small container that I keep in the laundry room. A dab full strength on greasy spots, otherwise everything goes in, no pre-soak, spray, etc.. If something is really smelly, I add a splash of Pinesol to the mix. When I retire next year, I anticipate having time to line dry a lot of items. Right now, it is only my work tops and jackets (traveler fabric dries fast). What I have found is that it is the drying that wears clothes out. Set you drier on a low to medium heat for the minimum time needed. Our old dryer does have a moisture sensor. I set it on the moist side of medium. No need for softeners if you don’t have fabrics full of solids from your detergent and are not toasting them in the dryer. Your clothes will now last longer and you will save on lots of product that you no longer need. I spend less than a dime per load of wash on laundry product and my clothes are soft and long-lasting. Over time, this can save you a few hundred dollars in a year.

Electricity:
If you are on the grid like we are, power is a big expense. First thing to invest in is a programmable thermometer. Program the temp to be seasonally 10 degrees higher or lower when you know you will not be in the house. Ours changes the temp for the time we prepare for work and then when we get home. Nights are set colder in the winter. That, along with turning off lights that we aren’t using and minimizing use of appliances makes a difference. Also, if you have natural gas or propane available, migrate appliances to gas as you replace them over time. We also make use of our lovely desert natural light when we can. From the complaints I hear, we spend about half of what our neighbors are spending on power.

Tissue
Little things add up, so pay attention. We both have allergies and a lot of runny or stuffy nose problems. For tissues, I buy one fancy boutique-shaped tissue box per dispenser. When it is empty, I cut the top so I can refill it from the big, less expensive boxes. I can refill 3 vanity boxes with 1 large box of tissue. There’s another $5 a month.

Hand soap
We don’t use much bar soap here in the desert, it dries you out to much. I get the foam soap dispensers with a screw top, usually from Bath and Body works during their big sales. These have several advantages. Most are refillable. You can refill with a couple of tablespoons of the diluted shower soap and more water and have a fresh supply. In addition to saving product, these foamers save water as well, because you are not running water to get the blob of thick soap off your hands. Hand-washing is a good habit to maintain with the pandemic du jour potential over the next few years.

I have probably exceeded my word limit so will stop for now. The above tips can go a long way to building a larder, so we ladies shouldn’t leave all that to our primary breadwinners. Lets do our part – oh, and don’t forget to work hard on your marksmanship. I recently beat my husband on the pistol range. - Desert Dawn

Hi Jim,

May your family count your blessings during this holiday time of the year. Being the first after losing a loved one. We all make that trip eventually. If the time was spent in a good fruitful life, then their are no regrets. Peace be with you and your family.

I was in the Peace Corps in West Africa, The Sahel. This was the southern portion of the Sahara Desert. Water was plentiful but had to be drawn from 60 to 80 ft. deep wells by hand. Then transported in containers to or throughout the village. It was labor intensive. Water was the most critical item for everyday existence.

No one in the native population living in the bush used toilet paper. It was the left hand wipe and clean off in the sand.

Water drawn from the well was not used by the natives for body washing. They just could not afford that kind of labor. Nearly all of the adult men were gone to neighboring countries to work. The women were left to do the manual labor.

Viruses abounded in this area.
Once I was deathly sick with massive diarrhea and massive vomiting simultaneously for six hours. The Peace Corps doctor told me I had UAV: "Unidentified African virus"I learned my lesson. Extreme cleanliness had to be the norm.

Staying healthy was the most important thing you did each day in terms of time. No shortcuts. This activity to transport, purify water and cook meals that were not contaminated took 60% to 80% of my time each day. Exposure to viruses, bacteria, skin parasites and internal parasites and insect vectors was vast. Both subtropical and tropical diseases were present including malaria. Because I had taken classes in bacteriology and microbiology during my college trials I was aware of the potential for infection. I was extra careful.

Cleaning yourself rectally with your hand was inviting exposure to a plethora of sickness. My answer was to use a rubber glove and soft cotton cloth. Then sterilize the glove in water and Clorox.
Wash the cloth in warm soapy water and sterilize it also for reuse. I kept dozens of these cloths in case the trots returned. Note: the bleach was not that brand name since it was a French product. I don't recall the name of it now but it was the same [hypochlorite bleach sold] as Clorox.

This method worked well for me. I stayed healthy during most of my time as a Peace Corps volunteer. But I was told that the greatest infectious problem among the Peace Corps in this country was sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

I was the only person in our group [46] of Peace Corps volunteers to bring with me pairs of work and rubber gloves. Also among the few that showed up for transport to Africa without a Western style suit and street shoes. Instead I brought a kit of tools, an 18" Ontario machete, a large Buck knife and a good compass. Being raised partially on a farm by extended family I knew about gloves, tools, boots and such. Most of the Peace Corps people in my group came from the far east coast ivy league universities. They for the most part were helpless outside a modern house without water, electricity, phones, television and air conditioning. For this they suffered and were not prepared for life in the bush.

I was all of 44 and the third oldest in the group. But I was the best prepared of all of them for the bush.

Learn to solve problems using the simple principle: Complexity is time and intense maintenance. Avoid creating problems that are greater than the one you are to solve. Use what you have and improvise. Above all else, engage brain and think.

I read your site every day. Cordially, - J.W.C.

Sir:
As a member of the military, I've spent a lot of time in cultures where toilet paper is uncommon, like writer E.B.G. I'm deployed to one as I write this. But before I agree not using toilet paper and instead using your hand and water is a practical alternative for Western preppers, I would point out one key issue. In most of those cultures, the left hand is considered unclean and unfit for almost any other use. It's not hard to deduce the very practical reason behind this- and this "one-handed" society is not something many of us adapt to very well. - Todd in Baghdad


Mr. Editor,
There's no need to clean your backside with your hand. Just use an ordinary kitchen sink sprayer to clean yourself after using the toilet. Come on people, this isn't that hard!
Regards, - Owen G.

Sir:
While I agree hot water and soap would be a sanitary alternative to toilet paper (TP); a bucket of cold water sitting next to the toilet does not. Even with toilet paper (TP), the lack of hot water and soap is of concern in light of limiting disease transfer. I'll stick to stocking TP; it is relatively cheap, and while space is always a concern, TP can be stored just about anywhere that is not wet. God Bless,- Eric G.

Mr. Rawles-
E.B.G. mentioned a method of cleaning up after a bowel movement that, as you noted, would not be an ideal choice. Here in the south the old timers kept a basket of corn cobs or a Sears and Roebuck catalog in the privy to use in place of toilet paper. If you shell your own corn the cobs would be available and while it would not rate up there with Charmin' for comfort some of that junk mail could be used. The junk mail won't last after the SHTF but you can conserve toilet paper while it does. Don't forget old phone books, too. - Gordon in Georgia, a former ASA 98C

JWR:
Well, I'm not quite ready to use the old left hand for that.. but I did buy a bidet. it was less than $30 on eBay. its plastic and connects right on the [toilet] seat. the wife doesn't like it. But I bet she will reconsider when the TP runs out. My eight year old son thinks its lots of fun, I just have to watch him so he doesn't make it hit the wall on the other side of the bathroom. - Brad S.

James,
I grew up in good old USA. I traveled to the Philippines after High School. They sell toilet paper in the stores and we bought some, of course.

It wasn't until later that summer that I forgot to bring some toilet paper with me once when we went to the mall. (Yes the malls do not have any toilet paper, it is a "bring it yourself" world). Luckily I happened to pick the stall that had a scoop and a bucket with water. I had no choice but to use the water "the way the natives do".

After this experience, and it was quite a learning experience, I learned to use a good amount of water and to splash it around really well. Only after I used 1-2 scoops and splashed it around well did I then touch anything with the 3rd and 4th scoops of water. Usually after the first one or two scoops there is hardly anything left.

I happen to be lucky this day and the bathroom had soap. They don't always have soap but I guess it was fortunate for me that they did.

Would you believe it that I actually felt cleaner using water rather than toilet paper? It is true, it feels much cleaner. My wife and I joke that we will buy a bunch of toilet paper and then hold it for a while if/when the SHTF. We'll then sell it for a premium while we use soap and water.

Anyhow, if you have never tried it then at least try it for a few days and learn to use it. Remember, you always have soap and you can always clean up. It may be a skill that will come in handy in the future.

Take care, - KP

Dear Jim,
When my daughter was growing up, some of our favourite home-school activities were our history 'lessons'. We didn't just read about it, we would spend a week or so actually living as if we were in a particular period of history. It was a great educational experience for all of us and went some way towards preparation to cope with possible primitive situations. My daughter is now quite at home making soap, paper, gathering herbs and a myriad of other low-tech activities.

One thing we discovered during these enactments is that the Roman method of cleaning one's nether regions - a small sponge on a stick kept in disinfected water - was particularly effective and not unpleasant. We kept several small sponges in a bucket and the used ones would be washed at the end of each day. Natural sponges or artificial baby sponges are the kindest on your rear. This is probably more acceptable to First-Worlders than the hand and water method and requires less storage space than cart-loads of toilet paper. For the record, I store both paper and sponges!

Praying for you all. Blessings, - Luddite Jean in England

Mr. Rawles-
I've seen it repeated everywhere that an item of big importance in survival preps is toilet paper. I do not understand this, myself. While I do use the stuff, I grew up as the son of immigrants from an impoverished nation, and learned a bit about the bathroom customs of the old country. Basically, my progenitors would use a small bucket of water and their hand to wash themselves post-elimination. Frankly, I think it gets the area cleaner than the best 3-ply can. It would put less of a load on a septic tank, if you've got one. It certainly costs less. It's far more gentle on your skin than wiping, and less likely to irritate or exacerbate a hemorrhoidal condition. And you can store a lot of food and ammunition in the space that a 1-year supply would occupy. It's even a more "green" solution to that particular problem, if you're into that sort of thing.

I understand that there may be a bit of a "blech" factor in getting used to this manner of post-BM cleansing. And in areas where water will be difficult to obtain, this may prove less convenient than storing a pallet of hind-end wipes. I think, though, for a great many people, this would be a superior hygienic solution.

Sincerely, - E.B.G.

JWR Replies: This method is not appealing to most First Worlders, but I must admit that it is pragmatic, if the requisite sanitary measures are taken. Just be sure to to store lots of soap, and in the long term, be prepared to make your own soap. (Regardless, be sure to get a copy of Anne Watson's book Smart Soapmaking.)

Hello Mr. Rawles,
I love the Blog! Here is a tip for those readers who would like to save money and their backs by following Carla's soap recipe. Since I have a cat, I have been using the bargain basement cat litter that come in rectangular HDPE buckets. Rather than throw them out, why not save money by not buying 5 gallon buckets? Of course, one needs a cat owner who uses this product, but with the mess this economy is in, frugal relatives, friends and neighbors may have some. One could make up a smaller batch of her detergent, it would be easier to move around the laundry room, ( thus saving wear-and-tear on the back), they have re-sealable lids and carrying handles, and they are square! These are not safe for food storage, but I have used them for tool carrying, ammo storage (since the Federal government seems to be destroying surplus ammo cans), and other uses. And since square containers pack into trunks and the rear of Bug-Out Vehicles (BOVs) better than round containers, thus freeing up space, they may allow you to carry that little bit of extra gear when you need to Get Out of Dodge G.O.O.D. They also stack Vertically! This may sound like a trivial thing, but as a former U.S. Navy Submariner who served aboard two different Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) subs, I know the importance of using every square inch of space. And a penny saved is a silver dime bought! Hope this sparks other ideas for these containers among the readers. God's blessings on you and your House. - Bubblehead Les

Dear JWR:
I am a new reader to survival blog and glean new info daily. We are making preparations slowly to Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.), ASAP! Fortunately we do not have jobs to hold us down (husband is self employed and trying to start a web business) and I homeschool and raise our six kids. Unfortunately, the income is not steady and with 6 kids, we do not have as much money as we would like. But with God leading, anything is possible.

The reason for this letter is to add something to the very interesting article about the homemade laundry soap. I have been making our own soap for months now. But there is a way to make it in powder form if you prefer powder detergent:

1 bar Fels Naptha (or 2 bars of Ivory)
1 C Washing soda
1 C Borax

Grate the soap finely. You don't want big chunks. I use a hand grater, but I suppose you could use a food processor [that is designated for only non-food purposes]. This part takes a long time and is labor intensive.
Then add a cup each of the washing soda and borax. Mix well. I put it into a large plastic freezer bag for compact storage. Add 1 Tablespoon to each load, and get nice clean laundry.

A few things to be aware of: your soap won't suds up at all. That does not mean you have to add more soap. And clean clothes smell like nothing. You don't need added scent for clean clothes like most commercial laundry soaps. Also, if you want a softener, then add about a quarter cup of vinegar to the rinse. Your clothes won't smell like vinegar, but they will be nice and soft. You won't need a dryer sheet, either.

One last thing: Fels Naptha is a laundry bar. Meaning you can just rub the soap on a stain and watch it come out in the wash. I have tried it, and it does work. So buy an extra bar for stains instead of expensive pre-treaters like Oxy Clean. One bar will last a long time! - Anita

What would make someone want to make their own laundry detergent? It is so convenient to go to the store and get a ready made, nicely package, conveniently mixed, nice smelling, make your clothes fresher and your life better if you use me, laundry detergent. My husband and I have always had a preparedness mentality-we live 10 miles from a grocery store and 20 miles from a Wal-Mart. You don't just run up the street to buy a roll of toilet paper. We prepared for Y2K and have always thought "what if." We don't worry, for we know God is in control and is truly the provider, but feel he leaves it up to us to do the leg work.

[Some deleted, for brevity]

Not only am I preparing for my family, but I have neighbors that will ultimately need some help, extended family members that are not in the position financially to be able to stock up and hopefully enough to barter if necessary. So as I buy, it is on my mind "How far will this go to feed possibly 10-to-15 people?" Soup ingredients, meat extenders, et cetera are some of the things that will help to feed a lot on a little. Not wasting the money we have and are trying to save up, making sure I spend wisely for the money is of utmost importance.

I started looking for ways to "substitute" my own homemade items for those that we normally buy. Homemade mixes for Bisquick, brownies, rice mixes, etc., anything that saves money is on my lists. One of the most expensive-even though I would lean to the least expensive side-was laundry detergent. It is an item where you are literally throwing your money down the drain. I began to look on the web for ways to make my own, and lo and behold I came across a lot of formulas. I started making my own and have passed the recipe to many friends. They can't thank me enough! It is as good and in my humble opinion, better than the most expensive store-bought laundry detergent. When you figure the costs savings, it is outstanding! Even if you are not "into" preparedness, it is just a great way to save money in these harder times. I find my ingredients at the local Kroger's [grocery] store and one of the items can be bought at Wal-Mart, but for the few cents savings, unless I am going there for many more items, the time factor and extra mileage, it is just not worth it. Trying to buy laundry detergent in bulk, the storage problem and costs factor, is really diminished by making your own. I have tweaked the use part of this recipe to suit me, but will give you the total information and then let each decide on their own.

Homemade Laundry Detergent -- Makes Enough for About 180 Loads

1 Bar - Fels Naptha soap ($1.29 for a 5-1/2 ounce bar)
1 cup - Washing soda $3.99 55 ounce box (do not confuse this with baking soda)
1/2 cup - Borax ($3.49 for a 76 ounce box on sale price, regular price is $3.99) This is the old 20 Mule Team brand, and this can be found at Wal-Mart.)
1 - 5 gal. HDPE plastic utility bucket with lid. These are often available free from bakeries, or approximately $4-tio $5 at [Sam's Club or] Wal-Mart, or your local paint store)

Grate the Fels Naptha soap into small pieces. You can chop it with a knife, cheese grater, or food processor. Heat four quarts of water in a large, heavy saucepan on top of stove and add soap, stirring constantly till melted. This will take a while depending on the size of your grated pieces. Meanwhile, fill the five gallon bucket half full with warm water. Add the 1 cup of washing soda and the 1/2 cup of Borax and stir well. When soap is melted pour into bucket, then continue to fill bucket with warm water until full. Stir well and let sit overnight until cool. This "concentrate" will thicken as it sits. Stir before using. Now, I use this concentrate straight out of the bucket and use 1/3 cup per large load. The original instructions said to save an old laundry detergent container, fill half full with concentrate then add water to top. Shake and use 5/8ths cup per large load. Repeat till your concentrate is gone. This will give you 10 gallons of laundry detergent. That just seemed more trouble than necessary. So I use the concentrate as-is. No need to have to make room for another container. You will have enough leftover soda and Borax to make approximately five more buckets of detergent. You will have to buy more soap. The costs for one 5-gallon bucket (not including the bucket) is approximately $2.40. If you compared that to the expensive brand of concentrate @ $20.00 per container, just think of the savings and that is if your store bought container makes 180 loads! Since I don't buy the twenty dollar Tide brand, I'm not sure if that is for 180 loads, so the savings could be a lot more. $14.40 for a total of six 5-gallon buckets compared to $120 for six containers of Tide 2X concentrate. In a small space, enough to hold 1 box of Borax, 1 box of washing soda and 6 bars of Fels Naptha you can have better cleaning power than six containers of store bought laundry detergent. This will also save more than $100!

I have a niece that uses Ivory bar soap, which is cheaper than the Fels Naptha and is totally pleased with her product. The Borax and washing soda have many other household uses also, as the detergent would not. Making my own has gotten me hooked on doing many other things for myself. Why pay someone to do the mixing? It would be nice to put the savings into a jar, but there are too many other things that we need to get ready for when TEOTWAWKI comes along. It is good to look at my pantry that God has provided and know that my family will not go hungry. We can stay clean, one of the most important factors in hard times, thanks to many of the good articles that you have on the blog.

I just read today about using a 5 gallon bucket and making a washing "machine." We have many things that we still need, but are working on acquiring and every time there is a new entry marked off the list, it gives us a sense of security knowing that is one thing we won't have to worry about. We have encouraged others that we know are capable to do likewise. Not necessarily because they believe [in disaster preparedness] as we do, but to just be good stewards of what the Lord has given us. Whether it is an ice storm, which we have made it through several times comfortably, or tornado damage and electricity out for 4-to-5 days, we can survive easily. I'm thankful for all you folks who are teaching me what to do and how to do it. Saving money in small ways makes it easier to acquire more of the needful things. - Carla

JWR:
For those who are planning to wash clothes in case of power outage or loss of delivered water I have two suggestions.

First is the wringer to get excess water out of washed clothes. Use an industrial mop wringer, such as the kind available through Lowe's stores. It is made of heavy duty industrial plastic, and, of course, is dual use. Wring out your mops or your clothes. It is less expensive than a traditional roller type wringer.

Second, for washing clothes in small batches you might consider a foot moved (adapted to hand crank on rollers) drum cement mixer of the kind marketed by Sportsman's Guide. It is made of poly plastic and is easily cleaned. Once again, it is a dual use item. Mix your cement (60 lb. sack capable) or in an emergency use it as a clothes washer. Due to its tight seal it could also be used as a storage container if need be, instead of a five gallon bucket. If you choose, you could get multiple buckets for storage use and then after the manure hits the spreader, when the drums are empty, use them as barter items.

One final item: Sealable plastic drums with removable tops of the 55 gallon variety are a good way to store sacks of cement and keep them dry until they are needed. Bag each cement sack in heavy duty plastic bags before storage, as a "just in case", so that if one bursts it does not make a mess. Plastic drums used for soap --like that used by car washes (or auto dealers)--can sometimes be purchased fairly cheaply from the car wash owner. (They have a return fee to the distributor of between $10 and $20.) These type of drums have two small caps in the top and are easily cleaned and reused to collect runoff water for gardening, toilet flushing, or could be adapted for use as mini-septic tanks with exit holes drilled on one third of a side (properly called vaults) or cut a hole in the bottom, install a toilet seat and use it for an outhouse (but don't forget to cut out the top and set it on a base layer of large gravel prior to use).

Just a few thoughts for the "adapt, reuse and recycle" minded. - Bob W., in West Virginia

Influenza Pandemic Update:

1918 & 2009 H1N1 Similarities Confirm Recombination "...the growing list of similarities between 2009 pandemic H1N1 and 1918 pandemic H1N1 continues to cause concern."

UK: Swine Flu Vaccine to be Cleared After 5-Day Trial (How can they eliminate the risk of pathogenicity so quickly? Your Editor is dubious.)

WHO Says Health Workers Priority for H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine

Something you may not have given much thought about in your planning for long term food storage is Pest Control. All the hard work, preparedness and money spent on stockpiling and storing food can be quickly ruined by pests. You need to protect your investment. As a former exterminator I have seen my share of these pests and can share my experience and knowledge of control measures. While some of these measures are just ordinary common sense, we all know that common sense isn't all that common.

A few things to consider:
Most infestations come home from the store with you. You would be surprised to learn what I've found in the average, clean looking big name grocery store!
Dry pet food is notorious for being infested. Pet food is not processed and packaged with the same standards as "people food".
90% of Stored Product Pest Control is not about chemical treatments. We will use poisons sparingly and effectively.
Some, but not all, pests are disease carrying.
While there are hundreds (or thousands!) of individual species of pests you could have to deal with, we will focus on the three main problem pests when it comes to Food Storage: Pantry Pests, Rodents and Cockroaches.

PANTRY PESTS
Pantry Pests generally include Moths, Beetles and Weevils. There are too many species to list individually, but luckily the identification, prevention and control measures are all similar enough to lump into one category. Most Pantry Pests have a similar mode of action: the adult bores a hole into the grain/kernel/meal, lays its egg and repeats. The larva hatches inside the grain/kernel/meal, then eats it's fill until ready to pupate. The pupa hatches out of the grain/kernel/meal as an adult, and the cycle repeats itself.
They usually appear after bringing home a product from the store that was already infested, however some indigenous species do infest crops, and so may infest the grain in the field first.
If you spot moths, beetles or other stored product pests in your home or food storage areas, it's already too late. As mentioned above, the adults are not what will be eating your food, it's the young inside your rice, corn or wheat that is destroying it. While it's fine to eradicate the adults you see, the real problem is in the food itself. Once cut off from the food source, the adults will die off without having reproduced.

Inspection
All stored product should be removed from storage and inspected for infestation. Do not skip over anything just because it's an unopened box or what you think is an airtight container, go through it all. You may see webbing (like flat spider webs) inside a heavily infested product. You might see active adults working to lay their eggs, or holes bored through packaging like waxed paper and plastic bags. If you can afford to, throw this infested product out. While not the most economical approach this is what most homeowners will do.

Sanitation and Exclusion
Once your cupboards are bare it's time to get cleaning. All cracks, crevices and corners should be vacuumed clean of dust, flour and food stuffs that may have fallen in. In absence of a vacuum, wipe out everything you can with a wet rag, then blow out the voids and repeat until as clean as possible. You can treat the cracks and crevices with a general purpose pesticide at this point if you like, but it is not necessary. The cracks and crevices should now be filled with caulk, or something similar. This serves the dual purpose of both sealing out future food spills and pests, and sealing in anything you may have missed.

Control
As mentioned above, throw out all known or suspected infested product if you possibly can. If that is not an option, there are things we can do to kill the critters inside without losing the grain. Please note that while these bugs might seem disgusting to us, and they are eating your food, you can eat them without adverse consequences as most are not disease carrying. How shall we cook them? Let's bake!
An oven set to 130 degrees for four hours is the minimum standard for killing the larvae and adults. No promises on the eggs as they can be extremely tough. A slightly higher heat and more time will likely net better results, but use caution not to damage the grain.
Freezing the grain can also kill the larva and adults, and again, no promises on the eggs. This method is not as effective as baking, and may be impractical.
A professional will use fumigation to treat a large amount of infested product, say a grain silo full of weevils, but it’s very expensive, and may not always be available to you. In any case, you can’t just go pick it up off the shelf, you need a Pest Control Operators License to purchase the chemical, and rightly so, it is highly toxic.

Storage
The packaging your food comes in from the grocery store is not good enough. These pests can bore a hole into the toughest shell nature can provide, do you think a cardboard box or waxed paper will stop them? Of course not. The best containers are glass or metal and airtight. Tupperware/Rubbermaid type containers are second best. Ziplocs and plastic bags are not acceptable for long term storage at all. It's not a bad idea to store bulk food in many small containers rather than one large one. Don't put all your eggs in one basket!
Finally...
Check your food stuffs regularly. Periods of dormancy are a part of an insect’s life cycle. Just because you don't see them now, that doesn't mean they're not there!

RODENTS
Mice and Rats are some of the most damaging creatures we have to deal with. They eat what we eat, live where we live and carry parasites like lice and fleas. Because they are very similar to us biologically (one reason they are used extensively in research laboratories) it is easy for them to transmit disease to humans.
Luckily, control is actually very simple.

Identification
The only important reason to differentiate between a rat and mouse problem, is to choose what trap to use. A rat trap is just too big to effectively kill mice (something akin to killing an ant with a sledgehammer), they sometimes completely miss the mouse, and mouse traps only serve to make the rats mad.
The telltale signs of mice and rats are holes chewed into objects and food packaging, droppings, odors and noise.
As with all rodents, both mice and rats have large incisors (front teeth) that never stop growing. Because of that fact, they must constantly chew anything and everything in order to keep them ground down (I've seen pictures of a rat, not allowed to chew at all in a laboratory, whose lower teeth grew up over his head and into his skull!). You may see two parallel scrape marks in some materials from these teeth, the size will tell you if it's a mouse or rat. They will chew electrical wiring, and are the cause of a surprising number of house fires (they are actually attracted to wiring because it looks and feels like one of their natural foods, grass shoots).

They both leave droppings wherever they go, black in color, tube shaped like a grain of rice. Mouse droppings are about the size of a grain of rice, and rat droppings are naturally bigger than that, about a half inch long by a quarter inch wide. Both species also urinate everywhere they go, and so will leave urine trails and odors behind.
A sound at night like someone scratching their nails lightly on the wall indicates a mouse problem. People with rats in their homes describe it as sounding like "elephants in the attic". You may not hear anything at all, though, and still have a problem with either pest, sounds are just an indication. Rats love to nest above the water heater and furnace where it's always warm, especially in winter. There is usually a screen vent above those appliances, where you may see nesting materials like candy wrappers and snail shells (a favorite food). Rats do, but mice do not drink water, they get all the moisture they need from their food.

You may mistake a baby rat for an adult mouse, you can tell the difference by the tail, a rats will be thicker and almost as long as its body. A baby rat will have very large feet as well, all ages of mice have small, delicate feet.

Exclusion
Exclusion is the first step. Seal any and all openings into the house. A rodent’s skull is the only solid part of his body, if he can squeeze his head through, he can flatten the rest of his body out to squeeze through, too. A mouse's head is about the size of a dime, or you're little finger. If you can fit a finger in a hole, seal it up. The smallest rats head is about the size of your thumb, but we're going to seal up all the holes we find anyway, right?
Check and seal all vents to the crawlspace, especially around the air conditioning tubing, with steel wool, expanding foam or other inedible material. Do likewise to the soffit (attic) vents. You don't have to make it bulletproof, just enough to discourage them. The bottom of a side garage door is almost guaranteed to be a problem, it's required building code -to allow carbon monoxide gas from cars to escape. While I would NEVER suggest you break the law or bypass any safety measure, some people install a weather-stripping door sweep to keep the mice and rats outside where they belong. Trim all tree limbs that overhang, or worse, touch the house, as this is the Roof Rats favored method of entry. Anyplace two roof lines come together, climb up and seal the gaps in the soffits. Clothes lines and the like should not be attached to the house in any way. Ensure that any fences or other structures don't come within several feet of the roof, rats are excellent jumpers. Think of squirrels, they are basically just cleaner rats with furry tails. Keep ground-cover, especially ivy, trimmed back from the house, at least 2 feet. Wood piles should not be stacked against the house, you're just inviting trouble. Check the entire footprint of the house for tunnels, Norway Rats like to tunnel in, I've found many getting in that way.
Rats and mice do not live exclusively in your home, they come and go as they please.
Once the structure is sealed up, one of two things has happened: You have sealed them out, or you have sealed them in. If you've sealed them out, great, you're done! If you've sealed them in, how should we get rid of them?

Trapping
Trapping is hands down the preferred method of killing them. There is no better mouse trap! The standard mouse and rat snap traps are exactly what you need, and they can be used over and over again. Use a very small amount of peanut butter underneath the trigger for best results. A big glob will soon dry up and a crafty rodent can just gently pick it off. Smear a little underneath, and he has to jump up there with both feet to dig at it and, well, you get the rest. An old trick is to use a wire twist tie to secure a nut or a snail to the trigger for an especially tricky rat. Both size traps should be slid in perpendicular to the wall (skinny end with the trigger goes against the wall), mice and rats both travel in straight lines against the wall (they use their whiskers to feel their way along in the dark). Trapping also insures that you control where the bodies will be for retrieval and disposal. You can place traps anywhere you've had activity that is convenient for you. The mice and rats sealed in will eventually get hungry enough to explore and find your trap, I promise.
Do not bother with live traps or glue traps, you risk getting bit and infected, and if released from a live trap they will probably just come back anyway.

Maintenance
Once you have stopped catching mice and rats, and you're very sure the problem is solved, then you can consider using baits (poisons) as a prevention measure. If a rodent somehow gets in later, he will take the bait, which are all slow acting (several days) and leave when he starts to get sick. Mice are small enough that they don't cause too many problems if they die in a wall, they just don’t have the body mass. Rats, on the other hand are horrible to deal with in a wall. If you don't follow my advice about trapping and go right to using a poison with a rat, I promise you will regret it, I've learned this the hard way. The stench of death (rotting meat in your walls), the brown goo leeching through the drywall, the flies and maggots will remind you of these words.
Be extremely careful using baits outdoors. In fact, I don't recommend it. There is nothing you can do to keep pests out of your yard, all you can control is the structure of the house. Most baits today are pretty safe, but I have had a customer kill her own dog by not following my advice and putting her own store bought bait under a wood shed. Can you imagine if a child had gotten into it? When a professional has to bait outdoors, he uses a tamper-proof metal or plastic box. These can be purchased if needed.
This last statement is going to upset some people, but cats are NOT the best rodent prevention and control measure. Yes they will kill mice and rats, and they can thin the herd, but they will never eradicate them all. Mice are a staple food to scores of predators like birds of prey and snakes, and the mice still manage to be the second most successful mammal on the planet! Have all the best mousers you like, they will help, but follow my advice above for best results.
And please, don’t leave pet food out at night! Keep dry pet food and the like in metal cans with tight fitting lids, and far from where you store your own food.

COCKROACHES
Cockroaches are filthy, disease-ridden creatures. All species thrive in unsanitary conditions. They breed incredibly fast, that's part of the problem. A male and female German Cockroach, given an ideal environment can produce 1,000,000 offspring in one year. They are typically brought home from somewhere else like the grocery store, in someone's luggage, etc.
In the old days they were extremely hard to get rid of, today, it's a piece of cake.

Identification
There are many species of cockroach, but we will gear our attack toward the German Cockroach, as he is the main culprit in ruining foodstuffs. Outdoor Roaches like the American or Oriental are not usually an infestation problem inside the house, they are just a nuisance.
The German Cockroach is about a 1/2 inch to 3/4 of an inch long. Tan or brown colored, usually with two distinct black parallel lines on its head. They will hide in cracks and crevices under a sink, in cabinets or the baseboards, behind wall paneling, etc. (in the wild, they live under rocks and tree bark). As with other pests, it's not a bad idea to fill these cracks and so eliminate their habitat. They will leave droppings that look something like black pepper, egg sacks after hatching, and their shells after they molt (shed their skin, so to speak). They avoid light, and will scatter for cover if you turn on a light while they're out.

Sanitation
Clean grease and spills thoroughly, especially under the stove, oven and sink. Be sure to clean all surfaces well, including the cracks and crevices. Keep your food in pest proof containers. Do not give these guys an inch. Without proper sanitation it is impossible to get rid of them, you must take away the food sources (clean up spills)!
Control
Do not bother with any kind of spray, use a Bait Gel. It's safer and much more effective, in fact, in my opinion it revolutionized the Pest Control Industry. It will come in a mini syringe with the active ingredient Hydramethylon. My experience is that it kills about 75% of a population in 2 weeks. Then 75% of what's left in another 2 week follow-up visit. After 6 weeks, I can call a job done. For contrast, using conventional sprays, I could kill about 10% of a population per visit, and slowly make ground on them over many months.

CONCLUSION
It would be wise to stock up on pesticides just as you would medications. They are just not something you can replicate yourself. None of these products are terribly expensive, you can probably pick up everything you need for about $100. Note that these products do have a shelf life, so use them or give them away before they expire, and replace as needed.
You can see that 90% of Pest Control is not about chemical warfare, it's about common sense and cleanliness.
Here's the top ten things I recommend you stock up on:
1. General Purpose Pesticide like Malathion or Diazinon. Try to find a "Wettable Powder", it keeps longer and can be mixed to whatever strength required. It also sticks better than liquids after application. In addition to a powder, try to find a Granular product, it is applied with a seed spreader and activated by water.
2. Ant Bait Gel with the active ingredient Fipronil. Combat brand is a good “over the counter” choice. The ants will carry it back to the nest to feed the other 99% of the ants you don't see, including the queen, workers, soldiers and the "babies".
3. Wasp Spray aerosol cans. This stuff shoots a stream about 10 feet away and will drop them dead in the air. Use on wasp nests, yellow-jackets and bees. While not specifically labeled for them, it will kill just about any insect you don't want to get too close to (like Black Widows and scorpions). Any brand will do.
4. Flea Spray. Fleas are tough. Bathe and treat your pets first, clean your carpets and then treat the house.
5. Bug Bombs. These are not terribly effective, even the "prescription strength" ones in the industry are not that great. Still, I'd keep a few in stock.
6. Snap Traps for rats and mice. A dozen or two of each size should last many years, maybe forever. Try to find the ones with the big, yellow triggers. Much safer to set than the older metal ones, trust me, I've broken a finger setting a rat trap, they are no joke.
7. Rodent Bait. Decon will work, but the Combat brand (big, waxy blue blocks with the active ingredient Bromadiolone, an anti-coagulant) are better. It keeps longer and can be thrown into far corners of attics and crawlspaces.
8. Roach Bait Gel. Maxforce or Combat brand, active ingredient Hydramethylon.
9. Termiticide. A liquid will kill more than just termites and so is more versatile, but the commercially available baits (wood stakes impregnated with a stomach poison) are much more effective.
10. Building Repair Materials. Screening, caulking, steel wool, foam, etc.
Please, follow all warning labels on each product you use!

When either you or your group is confronted with a biological threat [such as a pandemic or biological warfare], you must determine the following before making decisions either for yourself or for your group.

1) What is the threat?
2) What is the incubation period prior to showing symptoms?
3) How contagious is the threat?
4) By what means is the threat contagious?
5) What is the morbidity rate?
6) What is the mortality rate?

Once you have determined these things, you can make sound decisions that can get you and your group through a trying time.

Quarantine:
In the event that you are forced to deal with new members joining your group, [during a pandemic] you will need to quarantine them for a set period of time. This will assure you and your group that the new-comer's presence does not cause harm within your group.

To set up quarantine you will need the following items which will be detailed below:

Shelter
Food & Water
Disinfectant
Communication equipment -or- Another pre-determined way of communicating with the quarantined.
Medicine
Symptom measuring devices and charts.
Rules that the quarantined must follow if they wish to become part of your group.
A plan should the quarantined not follow those rules.
A plan should the quarantined show symptoms and/or become sick.
A way for the quarantined to expel waste that does not pose a risk of infection to other members of the group.
There is not a single point above that can be neglected for any reason. Having to survive a biological threat has nothing to do with niceties or with comfort.

Shelter:
A place [that is downwind,] away from all group activity for the person(s) in question to be quarantined. How far away is far enough? Miles would be great but it is probably not economical so do with what you have to ensure that your group never gets within a 1,000 feet of the quarantined.

Food & Water:
Whatever the food and water that you supply or that your possible guests bring, they must have means of making it safe for human consumption.

Disinfectant:
You and the quarantined must be able to protect yourselves from the environment and the biological threat. A strong bleach solution, a rag and a bucket would be fine for disinfecting everything. Alcohol sanitizer and anti-bacterial soap are luxuries if you can afford them.

Communication:
The group and the quarantined must be able to communicate for numerous reasons. Humans get pent up if they are left in a confined place to their own devices for long and to limit the risk of the quarantined coming too close to the group, they must be able to communicate with the group from a safe distance.

Two-way radios with rechargeable batteries and a way to recharge them at the quarantine site make the best answer to the communication problem, the only problem is that they are expensive to have spares around and impossible to outlast the quarantine if power isn’t available to recharge them.

In the absence of two way radios, your group should have a pre-determined plan for communication should anyone be at risk for the threat, including any quarantined individuals.

The group should never risk entering a place of possible contamination if it can be avoided in any way, so a group should have a Communication Center set up some distance away from the quarantined and a further distance away from the group.

To allow the best ventilation, Communication Centers should never be indoors so a tree, a table or a large rock, all make adequate places.

Each member (the group and the quarantined) should have a pen and multiple sheets of paper (A dry erase board for each group would do fine) of their own to write on and leave at the communication center. Each member should understand the nature of the quarantine and the time at which the papers will be picked up, read and possibly replied to that is consistent with the length of time that the biological threat is thought to stay active on paper.
(e.g: Every 3 hours from __ a.m. - __ p.m.)

Medicine:
Your group should have medicine that can be used to treat common pains and injuries so that the quarantined can be comfortable and it will be easier to gauge their symptoms if they should have any.

Symptom Measuring Devises:
You should include devises that allow the measuring of all symptoms familiar to the threat. Some adequate symptoms measuring devices include a Thermometer, a watch for checking pulse and blood pressure and so on.

Rules:
Your group should have rules that everyone in the group must follow and separate rules that the quarantined must follow if they wish to eventually enter your group. These rules must include items like; Staying at least _00(0) feet away from every member of the group at all times, keeping the quarantine area clean and free of infection, following proper communication procedures, washing all contaminated clothing upon entering the quarantine area and being honest with the progression of any and all symptoms including minor symptoms that may or may not be related to the threat.

Contingency plan for symptoms within the quarantined:
This plan needs special consideration because the quarantined may be members of one’s own family or close friends and particular thought must be given to how they will handle the onset of symptoms and how the group must handle the quarantined should they become less than complacent including delivery of proper medication to treat the threat.

Contingency plan if the quarantined does not follow the rules:
This plan should be relatively simple. Anyone who puts your group’s health and safety at risk by not following the rules is not a valued member of any group and should be avoided like the threat itself.

Waste Expulsion:
Human waste is possibly a carrier of the threat and since it cannot be avoided it should be taken into consideration.

If there is a working toilet and sink at the quarantine site, by all means use it.

In place of a working toilet and sink, the quarantined will have to take special measures to not endanger the group. In an outdoor environment, the group will have to dig a hole at the quarantine site (Prior to the visitor’s arrival) at least 5-6 feet deep and mark that area with a flag easily visible to both the quarantined and the group. The quarantined will then need to expel all human waste in that hole and only in that hole (to limit the exposure of contaminants to the quarantine site) and then kick a little bit of the pre-dug dirt back into the hole covering the excrements.

This is the time where a little lime would go a long way. If at all possible to acquire, get some lime prior to the threat to have on storage for just such a need.


Quarantine Items:
2 - 5 Gallon bucket(s) or the equivalent.
Bleach
Rag(s)
Anti-Bacterial soap
Food that does not need cooking (Min. of incubation period worth of food if able to spare) and additional food left at communication center every day.
Water or a clean water source
2 way radios with rechargeable batteries and a battery charger
Paper and Pens should the 2-way radios give out
Gloves
Mask(s)
Flag(s) for marking human waste site
Watch for keeping time for communication and symptoms
Thermometer
Toilet Paper (If available)
Quarantine Item Set Up:
All should be able to fit within the 5 gallon bucket with the exception of food and water (Though a little will be placed in there in advance) including the following items placed on the top:

Rules of the group
Expected quarantine Time
Rules of quarantine
Rules of communication



Rules:
This will be a pre-printed or pre-written page that will be given to the prospective guests to read and decide whether they are willing to do the things necessary to join the group.

Hello,
We are very glad to see you healthy and well and are taking the health and wellness of our group extremely serious. In doing so, we have implemented rules that you must adhere to without exception if you wish to join our group.

These rules may seem tedious but we are not taking chances when human life is at stake just as we will not take chances in protecting your health or the health of any new members to our group.

Firstly, we will not be having any face to face communication. In place of this, we will provide, among other things, a 2 way radio, rechargeable batteries and a battery charger so that we may communicate with each other at all times (or another way of communicating as described later).

The current known incubation period of the threat that we face together is ____ hours or __ days. If you wish to join our group, you will be forced to quarantine yourself in a location that we provide or set for ____ hours or __ days to ensure your safety and the safety of our group. If you are not willing to follow these rules including duration of quarantine, kindly set down this sheet of paper now and walk away.

At no time will a group member come within 500 – 1,000 feet of you during your time in quarantine. This is for the protection of all members of the group and yourself. Do not violate this rule – Use the radio or the aforementioned way of communicating in it’s place.

Once you enter your quarantine location, you will be required to stay within _00(0) feet of your quarantine location until the time of quarantine is over. If you breach this _00(0) feet marker which we will set or determine, you will no longer be eligible for joining our group. Please follow this rule.

If you do not have food and water with you, food and water will be provided for you at a drop point that we will disclose later.

Human Waste:
There will be a pre-dug designated latrine that will be used for the disposal of all human waste. Human waste, which already poses a health safety hazard is not to be expelled into any container but dropped directly from your body into the designated latrine as you “go to the bathroom” after which you are required to kick dirt or shovel lime back into the latrine to cover the waste.

Food disposal:
Only prepare as much food to eat and you are going to eat. Any food that is not consumed is to be buried with the waste as noted above.

Self evaluation and symptom reporting:
We will provide you with the tools necessary to evaluate yourself. You will be required to evaluate yourself twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed. You must answer all items honestly. You are to report the following items to the group:

Appetite: None, Normal or Excessive
Vision: Clear, Blurry or Normal
Fluid Consumption: Normal, Heavy or Low
Temperature:
Physical Well-Being: Tired, Energetic or Normal
Medications taken within the last 24 hours:
Pain: None or on a level of 1 – 10 with 10 being the worst pain you’ve ever felt.
Stress Level: Low, Moderate or High
Symptoms: ________
Urine Excretion: Yellow, Cloudy or Clear (Was there a hot or burning sensation when urinating?)
Waste Excretion: How many times a day and; Loose, firm, normal or painful.
Staying Healthy:
We expect that you came to us healthy and we want to see you remain that way. Please eat 3 meals every day, drink plenty of liquids, busy yourself with items you brought or by writing a story (not involving the current situation but rather one that is purely fictional) and following the listed daily exercise recommendations:

Walking: Even in a confined area, walking moves the blood through your system and will provide a healthier you.
Arm and leg stretches: Stretching your arms and legs is a fundamental need that every body has.
Not staying in one spot or position for an extended period of time.
Brushing your teeth daily with or without toothpaste and brushing your body down (dry shower) with a rag are two essential ways of staying healthy.
Please do not perform any muscle building or muscle retaining exercises during this time. Muscle building exercises break down your current muscle to rebuild more and releases toxins into your system. Refrain from any such activity during this time so as not to confuse the symptoms of muscle breakdown with symptoms of the threat.

Positive Thought:
Negative thought will not be tolerated in our group. You are a strong person and you will get through this. Please do not let the dire nature of this threat overwhelm your sense of self worth or the free will that God gave to you. If the threat seems overwhelming, know that you are strong and pray for the endurance to see this through.

Carried Item Quarantine:
Please understand that the items that you brought with you may carry the threat on them for an unknown amount of time. The group will decide which items can be cleaned, used or disposed of without hesitation or regard to personal feelings. You may at no time keep an item that the group feels is dangerous.

That is it. Those are the rules required by anyone who wishes to join our group and anyone who leaves our group for any amount of time.

If you are not 100% sure that this move is right for you and 100% sure that you will abide by these rules, there will be no hard feelings between us. Please put this paper down on the ground, wave a goodbye and walk away now.

We thank you for your patience and understanding during these difficult times that we all must face.

If you are positive beyond doubt that you will abide by these rules and any rules that the group may impose in addition to these, please fold this paper up and place it in either your shirt or pants pocket. At this time we will disclose the location of items that we will be providing you and further our communication together.

Go on to Document #2


Document #2 – On a separate sheet of paper

Hi,

We are very glad that you have chosen to quarantine yourself from our group before joining it. This shows that you care as much about our well being as we do yours and proves your willingness to put the group’s needs ahead of your own. In no way does quarantine mean isolation, we look forward to communicating with you using the two way radios that we will provide or the use of a communication center that we will set up.

We know that this can be an emotional time. Please do not let your emotions run your self control, will for life or care for others. We are here to communicate with you throughout this entire time and we look forward to spending time with you once you join our group.

The location that you will be staying in during your quarantine is:

________________________________________________


We will provide the following items for you if you do not already have them on hand.
2 - 5 Gallon bucket(s) or the equivalent (for the cleaning of clothes and items.)
Bleach
Rag(s)
Anti-Bacterial soap
Food that does not need cooking (Min. of incubation period worth of food if able to spare) and additional food left at communication center every day.
Water or a clean water source
2 way radios with rechargeable batteries and a battery charger
Paper and Pens (In case the 2-way radios give out or for story writing)
Gloves
Mask(s)
Watch (for keeping time for communication and daily health evaluations.)
Thermometer
Toilet Paper (If available)


Radio Operation:
Provide instruction for radios here

Communication Center:
The communication center will be at the following location.



________________________________________________

We will be using the communication center for the supply or re-supply of all goods including the items that you will get once entering quarantine. We will also use it for communication if the radios fail to work properly. We will be checking for communication every ___ hours (1 hour beyond the time that the threat is thought to survive on paper) from ____ a.m. to ____ p.m. daily. Please flag a new communication by placing __________ over the paper or dry erase board for the group to see.

Proper Communication Etiquette:
As you can probably tell, we are limited by the items that we have on hand including paper. Please write legibly and please tear off the paper at the bottom of your communication so that the rest of the paper may be saved for later use.

To limit the risk of exposure, we will not be touching any communication items at the communication center. It will be your job to dispose of all paper used for communication by placing it in the latrine.

Emergency Communication:
A true emergency is something that is life threatening and that cannot wait until our next communication. We will never cry wolf to you so please express the same care and respect for us.

If the need should arise for emergency communication, the universal distress code that we will use is 3 of anything, 3 seconds apart. That means 3 loud whistles 3 seconds apart, 3 bangs on the bottom of a bucket, 3 shouts using the word “Emergency” or 3 blows on an air horn.

We will continue to use this code every 3 minutes until visual confirmation can be made of the person issuing the emergency code and the group.

Example use of the Emergency Distress Code: Whistle Whistle Whistle – Wait 3 seconds - Whistle Whistle Whistle – Wait 3 seconds and then finally Whistle Whistle Whistle now wait 3 minutes and repeat.

That covers it. We are so glad to see you well. Please fold this paper up, place it in your pocket and follow the schedule below:

Schedule:

Now:
Gather your items and bring them with you to the quarantine site.
Leave all items well outside of the quarantine site until proper decontamination can be fulfilled.
Before entering the Quarantine Site: Remove any outer clothing which may be contaminated and place all items inside the bleach/water solution that is in the bucket provided for you at the site.
Next, take a rag and rinse your body over with the bleach and water solution from head to toes. Bleach will not hurt you at the strength it is diluted to. Please wash well your hair, face, hands and all exposed body parts.
Dry off with clean rag provided.
Enter Quarantine site

Mr. Editor:
In regards to EM Joe's post regarding "That Post Die-Off Fragrance," I too spent 30 years in Public Service as a Forensic Investigator attending and investigating numerous death scenes and autopsies involving decomposing bodies. I used to use copious amounts of Vicks Vapor-Rub, both on my upper lip and even stuffed up the nose. One day, while attending an autopsy on a real "stinker", the pathologist conducting the post mortem exam observed me and my faithful jar of Vicks and informed me that if I used enough of the stuff I would eventually erode away the mucus membranes in the sinus cavity. Just Dandy I thought to myself, soooo I asked what would be a good alternative? He responded by saying that a good activated charcoal filter mask would do the trick for a short time. However, for long term the mask and a small single drop of Oil of Clove on the exterior front portion of the mask, between the nose and mouth would work wonders. I employed this method for approximately 25 years with no side effects. A caution when using this method is to use only a single drop of oil and not make direct skin contact with the Oil of Clove. It has a tendency to burn the skin. Regards, - Surfin' Cowboy

Jim:
I worked in around Gulfport, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina as an insurance adjuster. Most of the deaths occurred next to the ocean where the storm surge killed people and animals. You could drive down the interstate 6 to 8 miles north from the kill zone and still smell decaying flesh. This came from all the dead pets, wildlife, sea life, and a few dead people. (a warehouse full of frozen chicken didn't help either)

If it is summertime, the problem takes care of itself in about 2 weeks. We pulled out of the worst area for a week or so to let nature take its course. Obviously the duration depends of the time of year. In the summertime in the deep south we have 100 degree weather and near 100% humidity. Bodies quickly decompose to little more than bones in a very short period of time.

Like anything, you quit smelling it and will not notice it unless you leave the area and come back - J.

I have read many [preparedness-oriented] web pages and other scenarios of the impending collapse as they see it. A common theme in most of them is there will be a sudden and short lived phase of total chaos. In your novel "Patriots" I remember the couple who took to a storm drain while the blood ran in the streets overhead.

So let's say we are unfortunate enough that this really does happen, and at least half the people on the planet get wiped out in short order. Meanwhile, the other half can do nothing more than fight, run, and hunker down. And those survivors of the great collapse are all very careful about cooking odors, no perfumes, plain soap only, etc. The survivors are just dang busy setting up their means to survive, because its a new, tough world. But just weeks earlier, it was a much more sanitized world. In my 30 years as a Paramedic I was called out many times to check out "that foul odor" coming from somebody's house or apartment.

I can't even begin to imagine what its going to smell like with about three billion fresh corpses scattered around rotting without a single funeral home open for business. I can tell you its probably not going to smell too good! Heaven help us who are down wind of a major city!

Sure, in time the problem will fade away. But let's face facts, most people don't have any real exposure to the possible stench "The Big Die Off" will conjure up. So, what are some recommendations to get through "The Big Stink" while you are trying to survive the post social chaos event? Vicks Vapo-Rub under the Nose? I can tell you from first hand experience that it offers only minimal relief. I became quite good at putting on a Fire Fighters Self Contained Breathing Pack. Some of our Tactical Team Medics who went to New Orleans in the days following Hurricane Katrina can tell you a little about how its going to smell. Most of them ordered new uniforms after their deployment, since the old uniforms had taken on a new fragrance. - EM Joe

Mr. Rawles:

How about washing clothes without electricity? One way that works fairly well is to take 5-to-6 gallon plastic buckets and cut a small hole in the center of the lid just big enough for a toilet plunger. Fill 3/4 ways with water add soap (you did remember laundry soap for a year right?) add clothes for about one person pants, shirt t-shirt, under wear and socks, plunged for 1 minute let soak for 5 minutes plunge again for 10 seconds. Dump out water, fill with fresh water again plunge for 1 minute dump out, fill again with clean water plunge for 1 minute dump out. Hand wring the clothes, hang out to dry or hang near wood stove in the winter to dry.

Clothes washing was something I had thought about. I was going to buy one of those old fashioned double tub sinks to wash clothes outside. The "bucket method" sounds much easier AND I already have all of the items I need.

I did think of a few things to do in addition to this. Here is how I plan to use this method. There are three in my family, so we will have three buckets and three plungers. On wash day each person will have their own bucket. The person with the cleanest clothes gets water and soap first and does the above. That water is put in the next cleanest person's bucket and then that water goes into the dirtiest bucket. By cycling the water down the chain, we should be able to use much less water. Of course the dirtiest bucket would get an extra rinse job. We will also have laundry soap that will not harm plants, so we will use the water for the garden.

I have become an avid reader of your site. I've gotten more helpful information from your posters than many books and sites I have used for years. They seem stuck at the basics and have never moved on to fine tuning. Thanks for your work. - Jennifer G.

Here's a beginner's list I made for my [elderly] father today:

Food
{Brown pearl] rice does not store well. Neither does cooking oil so that needs to be fresh. No, Crisco doesn't count.
Coconut oil would be your best bet.
Wheat berries - 400 pounds - bulk order at your local health food store
Beans - 400 pounds - bulk order at your local health food store
Mylar bags
Spices
Salt
Country Living grain mill
propane tanks, small stove and hoses to connect
freeze dried fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat if you can find them.
Water
500 gallons of water [storage capacity. Rainwater catchment is a common practice in Hawaii]
Water filter

Cooking
Cast Iron Cookware

Firearms
FN PS 90

10 PS 90 magazines

5.7 handgun

10 FN 5.7 handgun magazines

5.7 ammo

Training: Front Sight four day defensive handgun course. (Note: eBay sometimes has course certificates for $100!)

Body armor: Nick at BulletProofME.com

Medical
Personal medications
Augmentin antibiotic
Up to date dental work
Painkillers
Bandages
Iodine
Anti-fungal spray

Finances
$10,000 cash in small bills
100 one-ounce silver coins (GoldDealer.com or Tulving.com)

Transport
Gasoline in 5 gallon cans or better yet, this.
Gas stabilizer
Mountain bikes
Air pump

Miscellany
Flashlights
Rechargeable Batteries
Battery charger
Hand held walkie talkies
Topographical map of your area
Spare eyeglasses
Shortwave radio
Home generated power
12 volt battery system
Good backpack
Good knife
Good compass
Good shoes
Bar soap
Toothbrushes
Dental floss
Toilet paper
Fishing kit
Salt licks
Connibear traps

Regards, - SF in Hawaii

JWR Adds: The following is based on the assumption that SF's father also lives in Hawaii: Because of the 10 round magazine limit for handguns, I recommend that Hawaiians purchase only large bore handguns for self defense--such as .45 ACP. Both the Springfield Armory XD .45 Compact or the Glock Model 30 would both be good choices. The "high capacity" advantage of smaller caliber handguns is not available to civilians in Hawaii, so you might as well get a more potent man stopper, given the arbitrary 10 round limitation.

Jim,
Thanks for your warnings and all the help your novel and blog are to us.

In reference to the recent mention of Dr. Bronner's soaps, I just wanted to pass along some tips on Kirk's Castile coconut soap. It doesn't have a lot of added chemicals. I can purchase it at Woodman's for 79 cents a bar.[JWR Adds: It is also available at reasonable prices from several Internet vendors if bought in full cases.] It can be used as shampoo as well as to brush your teeth. People don't believe me when I tell them it's been my shampoo for years. It's better for your teeth than any toothpaste that has glycerin. It can be used as dish soap also. Why buy many products to store when this one is inexpensive and has many uses? Staying clean is so important to our health. Praying for God's mercy, - Deb in Wisconsin

Salutations,
[In a recent letter to SurvivalBlog,] Jeff in Ohio mentioned filling the toilet tank with water in order to flush it, however, this is not necessary. You can flush by pouring about a gallon directly into the bowl. (Don't dribble it in, but also don't get carried away and slosh it in at once . . . unless you really want to use more water to mop the floor.) I learned this from my military service in Okinawa in the late 70s where we had water rationing with running water only every other day. On water days we filled 55-gallon drums with water and then used one-gallon coffee cans to flush the rest of the time. (If you live in an area that tends to lose power, you do fill your bathtubs with water prior to storm onsets, right?)

Give it a try today, for the sake of familiarity. There's nothing like indoor plumbing, until you lose it. - Home's Cool Mom

Jim,
With [hurricanes] Gustav and Ike paying us a visit, I thought I would send you a note regarding the importance of self reliance versus shelter life. Living in the Gulf South, hurricanes are something you have to prepare for. Government support and shelter will not be there for you in the way you might think. Your lack of supplies or resources when you most need them, depending on the emergency, could mean a thoroughly miserable experience for you and your family at best; or [something far] worse if the emergency is wider and deeper in scope. Start making your preparations now, when they’re not needed immediately and are readily available. When the time to act arrives, don’t hesitate, and you will find yourself in safer territory long before the rest of the unprepared and sometimes frantic crowd.

Hurricanes are simply a part of life in the Gulf South. Out West there are earthquakes, wildfires and even volcanic activity. Elsewhere in the US we have to prepare for tornados, blizzards, nor’easters, floods, et cetera. And these are just what nature can throw at us and often does. Barely a day goes by where we are not reading about some unfortunate people caught short in an unexpected event, and unprepared for [the] emergency. In addition, in today’s world there are legitimate man-made concerns, such as terrorist activity, industrial accidents and the threat of economic collapse as highlighted in your most entertaining and informative novel; "Patriots". In short, I don’t think anybody; anywhere is 100% immune from some sort of emergency or cataclysmic event. The time to start preparing was yesterday. The time to stop, is never. Always look to improve and renew your preparations.

Before Hurricane Katrina, I thought that I had my act together. My wife laughed at how prepared I always was. I took great pride in her labeling me as her little Boy Scout. But I soon found that I wasn’t. After the storm passed I discovered that the recoil [starter] spring on the generator was broken. (I hadn’t checked it for the last couple of years). And although I found a way around that, I only had enough gas to run it for a few days. I figured it would all be over quickly as had been the case with so many other storms that merely brushed by and brought little more than an inconvenience. My easily prepared food was also limited to a few days, maybe a week at best. Water I had enough of for a week or two. I soon realized that I was little better prepared, if at all, than anyone else on my street. Sure, I was the first one with boards on my windows, and I had a generator; but that was about it.

Taking it a step further, I had these preparations for myself. My wife and family had evacuated. In the event there was an emergency where they wouldn’t be able to evacuate, with generator power for a few days, food and water maybe the same, we would have found ourselves in dire straights all too quickly with little or no choice other than to rely on charity. If we were creative, we might have been able to stretch it out for almost two week, at best. Cleaning up after a storm and trying to put your life back together requires a lot of extra calories and is certainly not the time to scrimp together a minimal diet.

We were lucky, however, in that we had saved money for a grand family vacation the following year, so there were funds available to take care of everyone for three weeks while they were evacuated. Fortunately for me, I am a police officer, so decent hot food and support was available to me. Not to mention being able to take home a few gallons of gas each day for my generator. Had I of been Mr. John Q. Public given the same set of circumstances, I would have been in line for Red Cross meals twice a day before long, and totally without power unless I went from 8-to-12 hours per day to 2 or 3.

Again, taking it a step further, if my family needed shelter, given either a lack of funds or the opportunity to evacuate, and unable to stay in my house due to storm damage, we would have wound up in line for food and spending the night in the corridors of a local school which is used for [a public] shelter. I have worked as security at those shelters. Believe me, they are not places you want to spend time in, filled with the homeless, near homeless, mentally ill, infirm and a rough assortment of folks with near nothing to their name.

During [Hurricane] Gustav our city had several shelters, and by design, they are not comfortable. One shelter where you could bring your pet (in a crate & with food & supplies only!) had a huge generator. All of the pets enjoyed air conditioning. The people, housed in a separate area, did not. The other shelters where pets were strictly not allowed also had no air conditioning. When asking the Red Cross officials about this, they stated that their rules demanded air conditioning and 20 square feet of space per pet. For people, no air conditioning was required and only 15 square feet of space was deemed necessary. They said they didn’t want the people to be too comfortable where they wouldn’t want to leave. They achieved this goal ‘handsomely’. The walls of the school corridors were soon sweating profusely from condensation and pools of water covered the floor. Anything like sleeping bags, or bags of clothing left on the floor soon began to absorb water. Even after 24 hours, the smell began to set in. No one hung around any longer than they absolutely had to. Mission accomplished. Given different circumstances and recourses, I’m sure they would have been more accommodating, but I never want to find out first hand.

The local school board was also what I would describe as less than considerate. At the shelter I worked at, the folks from the Red Cross were told by the principal that they were limited to the hallways, cafeteria and gym; that the people requiring shelter could only be from that area – no evacuees from further afield; and that 12 hours after the storm passed, everyone had to be out. In short, evacuees found themselves in miserable conditions, and felt unwanted all round. The Lord should smile on the Red Cross volunteers who actually manned the shelter as they worked themselves silly to do all they could for the inhabitants, but try as they might, they simply could not do much to alleviate the miserable conditions. I never want to find myself there, and refuse to let my family go through anything remotely like that.

Today I am far more prepared in every respect, and continuing to improve on my preparations all around. When I first started getting truly prepared, my family thought I was a little ‘nutty’. Now, in many ways they see the need, but still see a somewhat eccentric side to me. They were all born in a time of plenty. A time where we are accustomed to having what we want and when we want it. Increasingly, the finer things in life are taken for granted and many segments of society even demand not only their necessities, but the luxuries of life to be handed to them, gratis. In time of need, the more sudden, the deeper and prolonged the emergency, the more severe their reaction to take what they don’t have and we do have, by any means necessary.

Hurricanes are relatively small emergencies. Given the scope of [hurricanes such as] Ike, Gustav, Katrina, or Andrew, for example, some may say they were anything but small. To many, they lost everything. But on the whole, hurricanes produce short lived, localized emergency conditions which the rest of the country responds to. Given a far wider reaching event, such as a [large scale] EMP attack, economic collapse, pandemic etc, the effects could be very widespread over a far longer period. It wouldn’t take long for people to realize that no one would be coming to help. The 911 telephone system wouldn’t work, or would work less effectively. Shelters, if available, would be hell, but for those of us unprepared, we would have little else to fall back on. This, in large part, is why I prepare. It is why we all should. - DZ in Louisiana

Jim:
Here are some random thoughts that I'd like to share on water conservation, for when the Schumer Hits the Fan (WTSHTF):

Latex or nitrile gloves - Minimizes the use of water for cleaning up after a dirty chore. The nitrile gloves sold by Costco seem to be the strongest and do not oxidize like latex. [JWR Adds: The cost of nitrile gloves bought in bulk is so low, that they are well worth using. They are particularly important to use when handling dyes, paint, strong acids (such as during battery maintenance), strong bases (such as when making soap or when putting lime in an outhouse pit or a carcass pit), pesticides, herbicides, fuel (filling kerosene lamps or transferring gas to or from cans), or motor oil. (Used crank case oil is of particular concern, since it has been identified as a carcinogen.)

Reynold's Oven Bags - Use inside a cooking pot to minimize clean-up. They can also be used outside a solar cooking to to retain moisture and heat. These shorten the cooking time for both solar and conventional ovens. hey are strong and thin. They can also serve as an impromptu canteen. (Put a couple of them in each outdoor survival kit.)

A small rubber primer bulb for out bard motors - Use as a foot pump for tubing from a water source to a water basin.This provides controlled"one person" water delivery. I use vinyl tubing connected to piece of 1/4" diameter copper tubing that was bent nearly 90 degrees for the "faucet." This uses just a small fraction of the water that is normally expended with a traditionally-plumbed sink.

Funnels. - Buy several of these of various shapes and sizes, to reduce spills.

Garden pressure sprayer - Buy a new, clean one (not contaminated with chemicals) to rinse kitchenware. BTW, we found that they had too fine a spray for use as a bathing shower.

Clothes wringer - Efficiently wrings gray water out for wet clothes. This water can be re-used for toilet flushing.

Basins - Use plastic basins to wash and rinse dishes or to hand-wash small batches of laundry .This again saves gray water for re-use.

Whitewater Rafting Dry Bags - Can be used to prevent items from getting wet, or can be used as a "clothes washer." Add hot water and powdered laundry detergent and agitate.
- Doc Anonymous

Dear Sir,
It was James Howard Kunstler who alerted me to the problems that has caught so many other people unawares in early 2002. Alas, although we're light years ahead of our fellow citizens in terms of preparedness, we're many parsecs behind the majority of your readers! We do have about six months of food on hand (which keeps growing each day), plus containers for water storage and filters for water purification. We have some basic medical supplies. Our "battery" has been augmented including the storage of several hundreds (although not thousands yet) of rounds of ammunition. Soon, I'll have a basic reloading set up. I've been buying whatever high-quality tools I can find, whether it's a 1930s #8 Stanley plane or a King of Spades shovel. Our organic garden is growing each year. We're not squeamish so we'll probably be gray-watering and humanuring as soon as it is feasible. My wife is a green thumb and is becoming an expert on foraging: she knows every edible plant/mushroom in Kansas!

So all hope isn't lost but there is so much to be done. Which brings me to my point: thanks ever so much for this incredible resource!
But I have one question: knowing the little that you do about us (family of four, in rural Kansas, slightly-prepared but not much) what would you recommend as being our first priority? What products/skills should I spend the next year focusing upon? Thanks again, - SF, DDS, in Kansas

JWR Replies: My recommendation, particularly for anyone living in the Plains States and most of the western US is that water should be your top priority, including roof downspout rain barrel conversions, and locating any nearby creeks or reservoirs where you can collect water, and the means to transport and treat it, even if you are ling "Grid Down" and don't have gasoline available to operate motor vehicles for hauling water..

In the next year, take advantage of as much free and low cost training as your schedule permits. (Red Cross, WRSA, et cetera.) Next, move on to more sophisticated training, as your budget permits. (Medical Corps, Front Sight, OnPoint Tactical, et cetera.)

Since you are a dentist, you might think in terms of operating a minimalist general dentistry and dental surgery practice without grid power. Stock up on expendable supplies. Search for old-fashioned/alternative equipment. Buy a full-up photovoltaic power system if you can afford it. You might even be able to find a foot-powered dental drill. These are now considered museum pieces, except in the Third World, where they are still in limited use.

As I've previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog, I have some very strong reservations about the humanure approach. To be done safely, it takes very close temperature monitoring, and that might prove difficult in a grid-down post-collapse environment. I also consider it unfeasible for handing waste at a remote retreat that is only occupied for part of each year. (Ideally, it would best done at a rural farm or ranch that has at least five residents that are living there year-round.) In my opinion the risks far outweigh the rewards for most of us.

"Death is still a fearful, frightening happening, and the fear of death is a universal fear even if we think we have mastered it on many levels." - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself, as the saying goes. The basis of much fear is simply the unknown. As a society, we have distanced ourselves from death. Hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, and funeral homes do all the "dirty work" and cemetery's are neatly hidden behind fences and walls, trees and hedges. We pass by on a daily basis, unwilling to acknowledge what lies beyond those barriers; but the time is fast approaching when death will not hide its face any longer.

Most of us are not prepared for wholesale death. We have little to no experience with it. We owe it to ourselves and to our families to become acquainted with this "fact of life" and learn how to manage its effects as best we can. The first thing we can do is to look death in the face.

So what does death look like, anyway? Soon after death, anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours depending on various factors, the body begins to cool off. It becomes pale and internal sphincter muscles (i.e., circular muscles controlling stomach, bladder and anus) relax. This leads to the release of their contents if the body is moved. Dependent lividity sets in within about 30 minutes. This is where blood pools in the lowest parts of the body (usually the back and bottom of the person, if in a prone position) and begins to coagulate. Rigor mortis sets in and the muscles in the body begin to stiffen, the skin starts hardening, and hands and toes curl. (I know this is graphic, but think "wicked witch of the west that Dorothy's house just landed on with time lapse photography.) This peaks around 12 hours after death and disappears in another 24 hours, depending on the temperature. Decay becomes visible within 24 hours. Human intestines contain friendly bacteria that help us when we are alive but become predators after we die. The internal organs begin to collapse, the skin loses its connection with underlying tissues, and bacteria create gases that cause bloating and swelling. This is a major cause of the putrefaction (rot) that sets in. The internal organs eventually turn to liquid and when the liquid exits through the orifices (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, exit points of the bowel and bladder), it is called "purge." It's ugly and smelly. The last organs to liquefy are the uterus and prostate. They can last as long as 12 months. This is how a coroner can determine the sex of a corpse dead less than 12 months.

It takes a corpse 12-20 years to return to dust depending on whether the corpse is an adult or child, what the grave temperature is, whether the body was fat (fat takes longer to break down), if and how it was embalmed, etc. In Scotland, where graves are reused, a grave is considered "ripe" until it is at least 20 years old; meaning if you open it before 20 years, you may be in for a very unpleasant surprise. (Due to the rocky terrain, graves in Scotland have to be reused.) So a corpse does not disappear quickly.

So why not just leave it where it lies? If a corpse is left out in the open, wild animals and insects will feast on it. And if the body is diseased, disease will spread quickly to humans. If you wonder why, just imagine flies crawling in and all over a dead body and the purge oozing from the orifices, and then crawling all over your dinner. That is why dead bodies must be disposed of quickly.
And flies are not the only lovers of dead meat. It has been observed that man's "best friend" will devour him when he dies. One man died at home and his dog tore him apart in less than an hour. Firemen used to allow their mascots to come along with them on runs until the fire trucks started following ambulances. The firemen had to stop allowing their dogs to come along on runs because the dogs went straight for the dead meat. Definitely a public relations situation not to mention a health hazard.

Okay, so you've got a dead body in your vicinity. What are you going to do? Assuming the body is in the area you are inhabiting and you do not live near the ocean, you have two options, both of which require a lot of hard work: (1) you can bury it, or (2) you can incinerate it. But the one thing you cannot do is to ignore it.

(1) Burying requires digging a hole six feet deep (and five feet wide and seven feet long, depending on the size of the corpse. You can either bury the body in a shroud or bury it in a pine box (links below). Either way, the corpse will decompose and bacteria could find its way into the water table, which is why current laws require a concrete liner. However, in emergency situations chances are concrete liners will not be available. That is why option 2 may be the better option, unless fire conditions exist (which is more likely given the current worldwide drought situation).

(2) Cremation/Incineration (a/k/a "the funeral pyre") is both an ancient and modern practice for the disposition of dead bodies. For the pyre, stack up lots of wood. Then put the body on top of the wood and pour flammable liquid such as oil, motor oil, kerosene, heating oil, or charcoal on the body and the wood. Then ignite the fire. It is best to keep the fire burning as hot as possible. Do not use gasoline. This will destroy harmful germs quickly and won't contaminate the groundwater. Don't breathe the fumes, the smell of a burning human body is not only sickening, but could make you sick. Make sure the wind will carry the smoke away from your home (or camp). For detailed instructions on how to build a funeral pyre, see below. You can also use a furnace or incinerator if you have one available.

If you happen to be near the ocean, feeding a corpse to the fish would be the easiest way to dispose of a corpse. However, if you are physically unable to do that or any of the above, the best thing to do is to wrap the corpse in plastic sheeting and move it as far away from your location as you can, preferably downwind and not near any body of water. Putting rocks over it (without burying it in the ground) would keep smaller animals from desecrating the remains and the plastic would keep the flies from crawling all over it. One thing to remember with any of these methods, except for burial at sea, is that you are leaving visible signs that someone is nearby. If this will be a security issue, then you must devise a plan to dispose of remains in a way that will be hidden from intruders.

If you are in a position to have a funeral, don't think about embalming the body. It is a complicated process and requires special training, material and equipment. The only purpose of embalming is to delay the putrefaction process so that the funeral can take place 3-5 days after death. In an emergency situation, this will not be possible. Any funeral would have to be done quickly followed immediately by disposition of the body.

Landfills are not a viable solution for the disposal of dead bodies either because not only of the presence of rats and smoke, but paper and plastic film dispersed by the winds, all of which could carry disease.

Composting (animal remains) is also a non-viable option. Flies, mosquitoes, rats, wildlife, and other vectors of disease transmission would be attracted to the compost pile and after a hearty lunch would spread disease. Large bones and hides will not compost easily, thus defeating the composting process.

As mentioned above, improper disposition of human (and animal) remains constitute a potential for ground and surface water contamination. Groundwater is contained in a geological layer called an aquifer. Aquifers are composed of permeable or porous geological material (materials that can be penetrated by liquids or gases) located at greater depths and, though somewhat protected, can still be contaminated when they are tapped for use or are close to a source of heavy contamination for a long time. And that, of course, leads to serious health concerns.

When dealing with dead bodies, always wear a facemask, clothing barrier, gloves and goggles. Depending on the state of decay, gasses could be a problem and you need to be prepared if something were to explode and spew in your face. Decontaminate yourself thoroughly after handling a dead body, as well as your equipment and clothing.

Every home should have a "Last Aid" kit containing the following items:
1. For burials:
a. A pick mattock;
b. A round and square-bladed shovel (one of each);
c. Pre-made pine boxes that are easily screwed together and can be lain flat as a kit under the bed, or kept in the closet in a cardboard shipping (original) container. Needs only a few screwdrivers, and about 2 hours to assemble. No power tools needed. You could also make a coffin or two and use them as coffee tables or bookshelves or storage until they are needed (links below);
d. Shroud material, or coffin lining material;
e. A grave site picked out in the backyard or a place in the city park or the local graveyard. Those on farms or ranches can utilize the "Back 40" for the family cemetery;
f. If there will be a viewing, put some glue on the lips of the deceased, otherwise the mouth can come open and scare people. There should be no viewing if the person died of an infectious disease. If death was caused by an accident and there is disfigurement, bandages could be placed or gauze placed to conceal the damage. Children should not be excluded from the grieving process and should not be lied to that "mommy is asleep" or "daddy is on a long trip." They can always tell something isn't right and will find out eventually anyway.
g. Several strong ropes for lowering the coffin into the grave site.
h. A marker of some type, if desired.
2. For incineration/funeral pyres:
a. Flammable liquids (as described above);
b. Wood;
c. Fire (matches, BBQ lighters, etc.).
3. For situations that are not TEOTWAWKI scenarios wherein the government remains intact (such as might occur in a bird flu pandemic), the following will help the authorities with identification:
a. A complete set of identification and papers should be kept with the body; and
b. All medicines the deceased was taking, placed in a Ziploc bag along with an envelope containing the papers that describe the medicines and put with the body (this could help with further identification as well as an autopsy).
4. As a person nears death, several changes of bedding and blankets should be neatly folded, laundered and ready for changing. When a person is at the point of passing away, the bowel and bladder functions naturally release the sphincter muscles and discharge will follow.
a. Remember, the same bed will likely be reused, so it is best to encase the mattress in a protective cover. Burn the plastic cover after the person dies and disinfect the mattress.
b. Soiled laundry should not be re-used if it can't be cleaned with bleach. If the deceased person died from an infectious disease, soiled laundry should be burned. Always take standard precautions (gloves, goggles, clothing barrier) when handling infected materials.
5. Bodies should be disposed of within 24 hours, if at all possible. Sooner, if death was caused by a contagious disease or the outside temperature is hot.
6. If it is winter or you are in a cold climate, a body can stay frozen, but needs to be disposed of before it thaws.
7. Get some books on grieving, how to conduct a funeral, etc. and get educated so when death comes you will be prepared to deal with it mentally and emotionally. With that taken care of, you will be better equipped to assist all affected by death.

Unstable times are upon us. Things like funerals may become a thing of the past in order to just survive. The most important thing to focus on is preparing yourself mentally and emotionally in advance for the prospect of death, including perhaps your own or your loved ones. Education and preparation are vital so that you will be able to continue functioning in a survival situation.

References:
How to Build a Funeral Pyre

How to Build a Coffin (has links to other articles as well as listing several interim uses for a coffin)

Coffins, Shrouds, Green Burials, Books on Death/Dying, etc.

"On Death and Dying", Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D.

"Death to Dust", Kenneth V. Iserson

JWR Adds: Laws on burial on private property vary widely. Be sure to consult your state and local laws. In the event of a disaster situation you may end up burying a loved one ad hoc, and have to catch up on death certificate paperwork after order is restored. Some digital photographs and sworn and notarized statements may suffice to prevent the indignity of a subsequent exhumation. In many ways, do-it-yourself burial is a lot easier to explain to public officials than cremation. Also keep in mind that that it takes a tremendous amount of fuel to fully cremate a human body. This is not an issue for regions with plentiful firewood, but it could be a limiting factor in other regions.

Some of the things I will mention might have been covered before, but it never hurts to mention them again. Some readers might have missed them.

I can tell you from experience that people will tease you about your preparations, but when something happens they will come calling. My own brother borrowed my new-in-box chainsaw and my [12 VDC] jump starting [battery pack] to light up the area so that he could saw in hours of darkness. I told him to keep the jump pack charged. Several months later I got the chainsaw and jump pack back. The saw will not start and the battery is dead in the jump pack. I just held my tongue. They are only possessions. But it goes to show how stuff loaned out gets treated.

I did have a real cool setup until about six years ago when a water leak turned into a [household] mold. When the mold showed up we were told to immediately evacuate. We left with just the clothes on our backs. The second company yanked everything in the house out leaving just a shell. This took several months. We had been told it would only take two weeks. In meantime insurance company didn’t pay anyone. So a second company took all our stuff. When it was returned, we found that many items had been pilfered. After six years, our lawyer finally told us to settle but this never covered all our losses. Now we have several judgments against us. God has watched over us. We had a roof over our head and food on our plate. I'm telling this story to show how you never know what can happen.

We had a year supply of mt house food from nitro-pak, a great company. Second company took it to their warehouse where not environment controlled heat up to a 100 degrees F and cool down to 10 degrees F.

I had a three-way generator [carburetor] set up. This is a little more expensive, but it gives you options. The carburetor can use propane or natural gas or gasoline. I had it set for propane. I had a 500-gallon tank put in the back yard and a line run tom genset. With this setup, you can store more fuel, and not worry too much about it going bad. It also was hooked to the main power. If needed I could throw a switch. That was for down the power line safety for anyone working on the power lines. My main concern was for the well pump. You can’t live without water.

Some things that might have been over looked are hats to wear when going to bed in the winter. If you’ve seen the older movie about Scrooge, the hat he was wearing when he went to bed wasn’t for looks. It was for keeping warm and preventing body heat loss. Remember that you lose more heat from your head than other places on your body. In the winter, when our power has gone out we do a thing I call tenting. It is where you either pull covers over your head or leave a small hole to replace air and keep in your body heat when you exhale. You can make something to go over the end of the bed if the power failure lasts longer than a few hours.

Save old bottles, there is always a use for them. Pump bottles are good if you can buy stuff in bulk, like hand sanitizer or wash. Make sure you clean the bottles out and let them dry before using. Two liter bottles can have many uses. You can cut them up and make panels to nail down and maybe make a small greenhouse. Ideas are only limited to the imagination.

You can buy hand warmers at WalMart or Sam's Club. These can come in real handy. We had a real bad ice storm and we went to my wife’s parents house because they had a fireplace. We took our dogs and some sleeping bags that were rated at 30 degrees F, plus several blankets. We were less than 10 feet from fireplace and it was cold . Most of the heat went up chimney. I opened a hand warmer, shook it and in a few minutes it was warm. I place between my knees and went right to sleep. My wife didn’t want one and was miserable all night. Guess who was also made miserable? Yep, misery loves company. She shook me awake about every hour and told me, “I’m cold get more wood on the fire.” She had both dogs with her. The hand warmers don’t have a flame or odor and are very safe to use. Depending on what brand you get, they last from 6 to 12 hours.

Condoms. I could say enough said, but they are also multipurpose. They can be put over a gun barrel to protect it. They can hold liquids as a last resort, and just about anything that you can think of.
Stuff for foods like salt and pepper. Your body needs salt, and pepper will be hard to get. Plus any other spices you might like or need. Eating the same old food everyday gets old real quickly.

Bug nets or mosquito nets. They are not just for outside use, but inside to cover your bed at night. If power is off, most likely the windows will be open to cool off the house in the summer. Bugs have a nasty way of getting in. You can inexpensively get soft netting from eBay. Some are ready-made to cover beds. At Lowe's hardware, in their door screen section, you can buy rolls of screening and make your own inside or outside net. Get the smallest mesh possible like "No-see-um" netting.

Now that things are starting to get back to normal in our lives, we are replacing everything. If you are about broke, or on a tight budget, here are some ideas. Since I can’t afford the Mountain House foods and they [presently] are not available [in #10 cans] anyway, I buy [wet-packed canned foods in the large Number 10 cans (one gallon) at the grocery store. They are date stamped and most last almost two years. I can buy most at less than four dollars a can.

Get canned meats like beef stew and corned beef hash, canned ham, Spam etc. As of today, those are dated to expire in 2011.

Stuff like powdered Gatorade or the single serve tea packs are good. Gatorade has sugar. The tea uses Splenda. Get Splenda at Sam's Club if possible because they are cheaper there compared to the grocery store prices. [JWR Adds: I have some serious concerns about Splenda and most other synthetic sugar substitutes. See the recent SurvivalBlog letter on diabetes, for details]

Other things that might be missed are razor blades and aftershave. I don’t want to shave without them. Remember that preventative care is better than acute health care(if its available.) You will need other toiletries too.

Every time you go to store pick up a few items. Getting two cans of soup here and extra toilet paper there adds up tremendously. All these items can be used to trade with. Buy in bulk when you can. At Sam's Club get the big bags of disposable razors. If people come knocking you can give them one, or trade. Sometimes acts of kindness go a long way to settle down people with an intent on harm or who are belligerent.

Don’t forget some forms of entertainment, like books for reading. The most important book is the Bible. Trust in the Lord, He will see us through. - Tim G.

Safe food handling is critical for a healthy life in both good and bad times. As a former restaurant manager, I can tell you food safety or customer safety was priority number one. It’s hard to make money when you’ve killed your customers, which is the alternative to safe food handling. Death or severe illness is the unforgiving consequence to food borne illness. Food borne illnesses doesn’t just happen in restaurants it happens everywhere food is handled and prepared whether it’s during decadent affluence or full scale TEOTWAWKI.

Please don’t confuse food poisoning with food borne illnesses. Chemicals, bacteria, or certain foods like wild poisonous mushrooms and berries cause food poisoning. Germs that grow in food or in our bodies cause food borne infections. Symptoms of food borne infections include headache, fever, stomachache, vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms can start showing in just a few hours or take several weeks to appear. The CDC estimates that every year 76 million Americans get sick and nearly 5,000 die each year from food borne illnesses.
Some groups of people are more susceptible to food borne illness. Health professionals recognize the following groups:

Younger than 5 years old
Older than 65 years old
Pregnant
Immune-compromised (due to AIDS, cancer, diabetes, certain medications, or other conditions) These "at risk: groups are described with the acronym YOPI.

These groups are highly susceptible and usually get sick more often or have more severe symptoms. Also some foods are more likely to cause food borne illness in YOPI. These foods include the following:
Unpasteurized milk or juices
Raw sprouts
Undercooked eggs
Raw oysters
Undercooked meats

Facilities that cater to YOPI such as nursing homes, hospitals, child-care centers, and adult care homes have additional food safety requirements. If you are thinking of producing foods products for sale or take care of others during hard times, then additional research in warranted for consumer safety. Right now it is illegal to sell unpasteurized dairy products but I’ve heard of some families buying fresh milk as “pig feed” for consumption. Another case of ingenuity over the nanny state.

Hazards In Food
The obvious goal of food safety is to prevent the hazards that cause food borne illness or injury. Most of the hazards in foods are things you cannot taste, see or even smell. Injury or illness can be caused by three types of food borne hazards in food and drink. They are:
Physical Hard or soft objects like glass or fingernails
Chemical Naturally occurring or added substances like cleaning agents
Biological Germs like parasites, viruses and bacteria
Physical hazards occur because of unsafe food handling practices or contamination. Physical contamination can be prevented by:

Looking closely at the foods you prepare
Washing fruits and vegetables carefully
Keeping your food prep area clear of things that can fall into the food

Chemical hazards like soaps, cleaners, sanitizers and pesticides must be stored away from food, food prep areas and utensils. If you must store chemicals in the kitchen area put them on the lowest shelf below food or food contact surfaces so nothing can drip onto food. All chemical containers should be marked and labeled.
Never use a container as a food or beverage storage container if it previously was used to store chemicals. Sometimes it helps to say the obvious.

How to avoid chemical contamination:
Store all chemicals below food and prep areas
Label all chemical containers
Use only food grade approved containers to store food
Don’t use galvanized containers, since zinc coatings can be harmful.
Make sure all your food is covered and protected when cleaning

Biological contamination is the world of germs like bacteria, parasites and viruses.
Parasites Tiny worms that live in Pork, Fish and meats that can be killed if frozen or cooked to the right temperatures. Parasites are also found I contaminated water.
Safety measures for parasites:
Cook all meat, pork and fish to proper temps
Filter or treat water before consuming or cooking
Eat sushi at your own risk
Viruses Viruses are very common-like the common cold, chicken pox or influenza and freezing don’t destroy them. The disgusting thing is that these viruses are usually transmitted by the fecal-oral route when a food handler doesn’t wash their hands correctly or at all. Hepatitis A and the Novovirus are two common viruses transmitted in this fashion.

Safety measures for viruses:
Don’t handle or prep when you have diarrhea, fever or have been vomiting
Wash your hands twice after using the toilet. Once I the bathroom and again in the food prep area. Hand washing should be hot water, soap and long enough to sing “Happy Birthday”
Use disposable gloves or utensils whenever possible-especially ready-to-eat foods

Bacteria
The ever present big-bad bacteria. This is the most predominant of food borne illnesses. Unlike viruses, bacteria can actually grow in foods and cause food to spoil or cause food borne illness. It is critical to focus on time, temperature and cleanliness when preparing food. Even though bacteria are everywhere they tend to prosper in certain foods. These foods are called Potentially Hazardous Foods.

Potentially Hazardous Foods
Animal Products
Meat, fish, poultry, seafood and eggs
Dairy products
Cooked Starches
Cooked Rice, beans, pasta and potatoes
Fruits and Vegetables
Cooked Vegetables
Cut melons
Sprouts (bean and alfalfa sprouts)
Tofu
Garlic and Herbs bottled in oil

Safety measures for protection from bacteria:
Keep potentially hazardous foods out of the danger zone (41-140 degrees F)
Don’t work with food when you are ill (diarrhea, vomiting or fever)
Wash hands twice after using the restroom
Wash, rinse and sanitize all utensils used for food prep
Use gloves and utensils when working with ready-to-eat foods

Food Safety Rules
Rule 1: Food handlers must have good personal hygiene
Rule 2: Food must be cooked and held at correct temperatures
Rule 3: Prevent cross-contamination when preparing and storing food

Rule 1: Food handlers must have good personal hygiene from hand washing to keeping fingernails trimmed for cleanliness. The most likely time for contamination is the following:
After using the restroom
After handling garbage or dirty dishes
After handling raw meat, fish or poultry
After eating or smoking
After sneezing, coughing, or blowing your nose
After handling animals or using chemicals
Note: Using hand sanitizer is not an acceptable substitute for hand washing.

Rule 2: Food must be cooked and held at correct temperatures that avoid the danger zone of 40-140 degrees F. Every kitchen should have two or more metal stem thermometers and you should know how to use it and calibrate it. Food that sits in the danger zone quickly produces harmful levels of bacteria and toxins that can make you sick.
Potentially hazardous food may be at room temperature for up to 2 Hours while you are preparing it. The basic procedure is to keep cold food cold and hot food hot while in the preparation stage.
Note: If food has been left out at room temp or you don’t know long it’s been in the danger zone—Throw it out!! When it doubt—Throw it out!!
Thermometers are an essential tool for every kitchen just like a stove or oven. There are two types of thermometers:
Metal Stem Thermometer Metal stem with dial face-can be calibrated and must stay in food for 20 seconds to get accurate reading.
Digital Thermometer Very accurate especially for thin meats like hamburger patties. Downside:: it is an electronic device.

Using a thermometer:
Calibrate by setting into glass of water with crushed ice-should read 32 degrees. If it doesn’t, then adjust nut underneath until needle hits 32
Make sure the stem is clean and sanitized before and after each use
Always take reading at the thickest part of the food which is usually in the center
Hold stem for several seconds until reading holds steady

The best way to kill germs is to cook food to the right temperature in the right amount of time. Cooking temps depend on the type of food, prep procedures and cooking time.
Cooking with a microwave deserves a special warning. Microwaves cook food unevenly so if you cook raw animal products you must cook to 165 degrees, keep it most and covered and stir it at least once to make sure all of it hits 165 degrees. This applies to re-heating food also.

Hot Holding food (140 degrees F or hotter) is the holding hot food at service temperature for extended periods of time. Cooking doesn’t kill all bacteria so cooked potentially hazardous food must be kept hot until served. If the temp falls into the danger zone bacteria can begin to multiply, thus quickly contaminating the food. Anything used to hold food at 140 degrees or higher must be warmed up to temp prior to putting food into it.

Tips for keeping hot food hot:
Never mix cold foods with cooked foods
Cover pans
Stir food often to distribute the heat
Reheating food that is cooked and properly cooled can be re-heated to any temp if served and eating immediately. Cold food that will be hot held needs to be reheated to 165 degrees in under two hours or more quickly.

Cooking Temperatures
Foods that need to be cooked to 165 degrees F (for 15 seconds):
Poultry-Chicken, Turkey, Waterfowl, all game birds
Stuffed foods and stuffing
Casseroles
All raw animal products cooked in a microwave
All reheated potentially hazardous foods
Foods that need to be cooked to 155 degrees F (for 15 seconds):
Hamburger
Sausage
All ground meats
Foods that need to be cooked to 145 degrees F (for 15 seconds):
Fish
Beef
Eggs
Pork
Foods that need to be cooked to 140 degrees F (for 15 seconds):
Packaged ready-to-eat foods (canned chili/hot dogs) heated for hot holding
Vegetables that will be hot held
Beef and Pork roasts require additional cooking requirements-specifically making sure internal temp of pork reaches 150 degrees F. Cooling Foods

Keeping cold foods cold is the key to food safety at the lower end of the temp spectrum. Again the danger zone is 40 degrees to 140 degrees F. Cold food must be kept at 41 degrees F or colder. If using ice make sure the ice surrounds the food to the top level of the food. Cold salads made from food at room temp must be lowered to 41 degrees F or lower within 4 hours. Try pre-chilling all ingredients before making cold salads to expedite the process.

Thawing foods need special care to prevent bacteria from growing on the outside of food while the inside remains frozen. Here are three methods for thawing:
Submerge food under cold running water-70 degrees or colder until thawed
Put frozen foods into the refrigerator for the safest method---bottom shelf
Thaw during cooking process or in the microwave—small portions only

Cooling foods is the riskiest step in food preparation because bacteria grows very quickly in cooling food. The goal is to get the food cooled through the danger zone as quickly as possible. It’s also important to take cooling seriously since certain bacteria produce poisons that won’t be destroyed during reheating.

The following three cooling methods are approved in Washington State and are very similar to requirements in corporate restaurant chains nationwide. (My experience was with Brinker International-Chili’s Grill & Bar in Washington & Alabama--great standards!)

Three Methods for cooling:
1. Shallow Pan Method (food no deeper than 2 inches)
2. Size reduction (cutting solid foods into smaller pieces)
3. Time and Temperature monitored (forcing food to cool in short amount of time)

Cooling Method 1: Shallow Pan is basically taking large quantities of food and dividing it into several smaller and shallow pans for cooling. Works best for chili, rice, refried beans, potatoes, casseroles, ground meat and meatloaf.
Steps for shallow pan method:
1. Put hot food into shallow pans no more than 2 inches deep
2. Put pans onto top shelf of refrigerator to cool and keep food from dripping into it
3. Make sure air can move around pans so don’t stack or cover
4. Only cover food when temp reaches 41 degrees F or less

Cooling Method 2: Size reduction is simply cutting large pieces into smaller pieces for
Cooling. This method works best for large whole food like roasts, turkey or ham. Not recommended for ground meats.
Steps for size reduction method:
1. Cut large meat into chunks no larger than 4 inches
2. Put onto tray for cooling. No pieces should be touching
3. Put pans onto top shelf of refrigerator to cool and keep food from dripping into it
4. Make sure air can move around pans so don’t stack or cover
5. Only cover food when temp reaches 41 degrees F or less

Cooling Method 3: Time and Temperature Monitored is a 2 step process that must be closely watched or not used.
Step 1: Food must cool down from 140 degrees F to 70 degrees F in 2 hours.
Step 2: Food must finish cooling to 41 degrees F or less within 6 hours.
For example: The ice bath method is very suitable for sauces, gravy and soups. Just drop hot pot of food into ice water bath right below the edge of the pot. Stir often to facilitate the cooling throughout the food. You will need to keep adding ice as it cools and melts ice in the water. Make sure it cools down to 70 degrees F in 2 hours and under 41 degrees F within 6 hours. Cover and put in the fridge once it cools.

Preventing Cross Contamination
Cross Contamination is the spread of bacteria from raw meat onto other foods. The main source of cross contamination is when blood or juice from raw meat gets onto the surfaces of utensils, cutting boards, countertop and hands and then gets onto ready to eat foods.
The obvious: Keep raw meat away from other food.

Tips to avoid cross contamination:
Wash and sanitize all surfaces and utensils that contact raw meat
Wash hands after touching raw meat
Prep raw meat away from other foods
Designate a separate cutting board just for raw meat
Store raw meat below all other foods in fridge and freezer
Store meats with higher cooking temp below meats with lower cooking temp
(Raw chicken juice on fish doesn’t get killed at 145 degrees F)

Wash Cycle is a four-step process to practice when cleaning and sanitizing. The 4 steps are as follows:
1. Wash Hot Water and soap to remove food particles.
2. Rinse Clean and hot
3. Sanitize soak dishes in warm water with measured amount of sanitizer
4. Air Dry Dishcloths can contaminate clean dishes.
Some folks refer to this as the 3-sink system with dish rack as step four.
Sanitizer: 1 teaspoon unscented chlorine bleach with 1 gallon of cool water
This concludes the formal food borne illness information that you can basically receive from any County Health Department. Health departments hold two-hour classes for less than $20 to review and test over this information. Those who pass receive a food handler’s permit and you receive all this info in a handy booklet, which you should keep with your cookbooks. I think the class is worth every penny just on the cool horror stories they tell from doing restaurant inspections. It will raise the hair on your neck. Yuck!

Application in Preparedness
Home is where the application of this information is vital. Putting these standards into practice is very easy. Even if you have a single sink in the kitchen you can meet these standards. My brother and I insist on a three-sink system when at hunting camp after everyone got the runs from soap residue on the utensils.
An easy three-sink bug out system looks like this:

Three plastic dish tubs from Wal-Mart ($3)
Folding camp dish rack ($3)
Small Bottle of bleach and dish soap ($3)
Scrub sponge, wash cloth and dish towel ($3)

Put all items into the first tub and stack onto other two tubs. Everything should sit inside tubs and then inside plastic bag for easy grab and carry.
I’ve taken it a step further and I have a Rubbermaid bin with all kitchen items for camp kitchen. Tubs with all items above inside and next to them are several small Rubbermaid bins. One with silverware, one with spices, one with knives, one with serving and cooking utensils and even one with small cookbooks inside. Underneath all that is flat pan, frying pan and Dutch oven. I have to keep a separate large bin for rest of Dutch oven cookware for weight distribution and 2nd priority pile for rapid relocate.

In a less than decadent world we will be preparing a lot more of our food and game. Game processing should be staged for safety also. Gut and field dress away from anything else, making sure not to perforate intestines and soil meat. Keep a bucket of sanitizer when butchering and stage process to separate cutting from rinsing and wrapping.

I try to thaw meat while it’s in a pan marinating—"two birds with one stone". Saltiness of the marinade with cold temps almost assures of zero bacterial growth while thawing.
Hunting camp can be a perilous place when guys who never do more than fire up the grill start preparing meals for several days. I’ve learned to avoid the perils of “Montezuma’s Revenge” by preparing all the meals at home first. Pre-cooking and storing in Ziploc bags makes camp cooking easy. Pasta cooked and bagged, chili opened and bagged, all veggies and fruit diced, cut and bagged. To heat up food just heat up water. For example:

Take steaks or meat out of package and put into large Ziploc with marinade for one day then freeze flat. Replaces same amount of ice and is ready to cook on day 3 or 4 when thawed.
Freeze cooked pasta with marinara and meatballs. Day 2 meal just drop bag into boiling water and dinner is ready.
Cooking in Ziploc bags means no dishes to clean except utensils and hot water is already to go. Assuming your using mostly paper plates.
Pre-cutting and bagging vegetables means less time cooking and more time with Cousin George Dickel and family hunting lies around the fire. Dump cut veggies, venison, 2 cups wine, 2 cups water and 2 packs of stew seasoning into Dutch oven and three hours later dinner is done.

All of these ideas save time, energy and avoid food borne illness. You should plan on cooking your food to well done to avoid possible danger during a true survival situation. Diarrhea in the field can be as deadly as "Mutant Zombies" or a well-intentioned bureaucrat.

In closing, I highly recommend sitting through a county health department class on food borne illness. Two hours on a weeknight could save your life or someone else’s. I hope this helps keep you and your families safer. I’ll get back to you when I figure out how to make nachos over the campfire. Straight Ahead! - B.H. in Western Washington (soon to be in north Idaho)

Dear Jim:

As you know, ordinary chlorine bleach is an item with a multitude of potential uses in survival situations. In addition to its common use in the laundry to brighten our whites, it can also purify drinking water and serve as a general disinfectant to sanitize food preparation areas and control the spread of disease causing bacteria.

Liquid chlorine bleach, however, is inconvenient to store. Only about 5.25% - 7.5% of each eight pound gallon is active sodium (or calcium) hypochlorite; the rest is just water. Yet because of the potency of its active ingredient, and the flimsiness of typical plastic bleach bottles, it poses a constant risk to everything stored near it.

One potential solution is to store concentrated dry chlorine granules; commonly available as swimming pool shock treatment. Available in a wide variety of sizes, swimming pool shock treatment typically contains from 50% - 60% active calcium hypochlorite, making it much lighter in weight and 10 times as concentrated as liquid bleach, but not susceptible to spilling and leaking risks. Theoretically, it should be possible to make your own chlorine bleach by simply combining the proper amount of water and dry granules.

I quickly discovered, however, that storing dry chlorine poses hazards of its own. Initially, I purchased two 1 pound plastic bags of swimming pool shock treatment and stored them in a small closet along with a variety of other preparedness items. The granules generated a strong chlorine smell in the closet, but when access was needed, opening the door for a minute or two would reduce the small to a tolerable level.

About a year later, however, I went to reorganize the closet, and was startled to find many things badly corroded by fumes from the granules. Several storage tins were badly rusted, some 200-hour emergency candles in tins were nearly rusted clear through, and the steel ends of some batteries were also corroded.

Surprisingly, even some lightweight cardboard boxes were so badly degraded that they virtually disintegrated when handled, and a 10-page document (about emergency water) which had been printed on our computer's inkjet printer was virtually erased!

To combat these problems, I bought a fresh supply of (HTH brand $3.35/lb. at Wal-Mart) chlorine granules and stored them in an all-glass canister with a glass top, rubber ring, and spring wire snap latch ($4.44 at Wal-Mart) . That has solved my storage problem.

In an article on emergency water purification, in addition to the old 10 drops of bleach per gallon of clear water or 20 drops per gallon of cloudy formula; I found this recipe for using granular pool chlorine:
For use in purifying drinking water, first prepare a stock solution of one heaping teaspoon of granules dissolved in two gallons of water. This may then be mixed at the rate of 1 part
stock solution to 100 parts water for disinfection purposes. That would equal: 1 quart for 25 gallons, 6 1/2 ounces for five gallons, or 2 Tbsp. per gallon.

Jim, I wish you could help me find out: How much dry chlorine would be needed to make a one gallon batch of standard 5.25% chlorine bleach? I haven't been able to find that information anywhere! These HTH granules are 54% calcium hypochlorite. Perhaps you or one of your chemistry-savvy readers could figure-out the correct formula. Sincerely, - Steve W

JWR Replies:

It is best to keep your sodium hypochlorate in powdered form until just before it is used. Once it is put in solution, it weakens over time. This can create confusion about its remaining concentration when it is eventually used to treat water. Back in June of 2007, SurvivalBlog reader Terry M. kindly provided some useful details on treating water with both commonly available forms of hypochlorate powder. Perhaps some readers would care to chime in about the dry measure required for making each gallon of liquid bleach. (I'm not a chemist!)

If you are a regular SurvivalBlog reader, the odds are that you already have the majority of your key logistics squared away, like food storage, tools, guns, communications gear. So now it is time to stock up on "soft" and perishable items. These include over the counter medications, vitamins, chemical light sticks, matches, paper products, cleansers, spices, liquid fuels, and so forth.

You need to exercise caution when stockpiling soft items, for several reasons:

1.) Shelf Life and Deterioration. Some items like pharmaceuticals, batteries, and chemical light sticks are best stored in a refrigerator. Keep in mind that items like matches are vulnerable to humidity. (BTW, do not store matches in Mason type glass jars! Resist the urge, or else you'll inadvertently make a glass shrapnel bomb! Instead, use a vacuum sealer, such as the Tilia FoodSaver sealers sold by Ready Made Resources. This is also a great way to keep rubber bands (including elastrator bands) from deteriorating. Exposure to sunlight, or heat, or moisture can all be deleterious to soft goods.

2.) Bulkiness. Paper products like paper towels, toilet paper, and paper napkins are extremely bulky, per dollar value. If you have limited storage space then you will need to budget that space carefully.

3.) Flammability. You should think of your stored paper products as house fire tinder, and your stored liquid fuels as potential fire accelerants and explosives. One mistake that that I've heard mentioned is storing numerous gasoline cans at home, in an attached garage. Most garages have a hot water heater, often fired by natural gas or propane. Uh oh! Store gas cans, oil-based paint cans, and bulk lubricants only in a well-ventilated outbuilding that is well-removed from your residence. Be sure to check your state and local fire code for permissible limits.

4.) OPSEC risk. The aforementioned bulk of stored paper products also makes them obtrusive to casual observers. This present s an OPSEC risk. If you have 500 rolls of toilet paper and paper towels in your garage, someone is likely to notice. OBTW, one item that I've stored as a potential barter item is sheet plywood. Those extra plywood sheets, if properly positioned can keep prying eyes away from your stockpiles.

5.) Abundance-Inspired Waste. Human nature dictates that when something is scarce, it is used frugally, but when it is abundant, it tends to get used more wastefully. I've seen this happen with my children, in target practice with .22 rimfire ammunition. If they know that they have just 50 rounds apiece available for a shooting session, they make every shot count. But if there is a full "brick" of ammo sitting there, it soon starts to sound like a day at Knob Creek.

In his book The Alpha Strategy, John Pugsley mentioned some friends that "invested" in stocking their own home wine cellar. They determined that it would be less expensive to buy wine by the case. But they soon had so much wine that they got in the habit of having a bottle with dinner almost every evening. So even though the per-bottle cost decreased, their monthly expense on wine actually doubled! OBTW Pugsley's The Alpha Strategy is highly recommended. It is available for free download, but I recommend also picking up a used copy, for reference. They are often available through Amazon.com for less than $5.

“I’m right there in the room and no one acknowledges me.”

"We must face the prospect of changing our basic way of living. This change will either be made on our own initiative in a planned way, or forced on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature." - President Jimmy Carter (1976)

Before we discuss this Elephant in the Room we must first briefly consider the notion of ‘sustainability’. Too often people debate sustainability issues from an understanding that is vague, incomplete or frankly flawed.

"Just exactly what is meant when the word 'sustainable' or ‘sustainability’ are used?" They are popularly used to describe a wide variety of activities which are generally ecologically laudable but which may not be sustainable.

First, we must accept the idea that "sustainable" has to mean “for an unspecified long period of time.”

Secondly we have a spectrum for the use of the term "sustainable." At one end of the spectrum, the term is used with precision by people who are introducing new concepts as a consequence of thinking profoundly about the long-term future of the human race. In the middle of the spectrum, the term is simply added as a modifier to the names and titles of very beneficial studies in efficiency, etc. that have been in progress for years. In some cases the term may be used mindlessly (or possibly with the intent to deceive) in order to try to shed a favourable light on continuing activities that may or may not be capable of continuing for long periods of time.

The Government of the United Kingdom defines a ‘sustainable community’ in its 2003 Sustainable Communities Plan: ‘Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.’

So there briefly we have “sustainable”?

If we follow on from the above we can see that a ‘sustainable population’ would be one that can survive over the long term, I am talking of thousands to tens of thousands of years, without running out of resources or damaging the environment in the process. This means that most of the resources we use have to be both renewable through natural processes and entirely recycled if they are not renewable. Our numbers and level of activity must not generate more waste than natural processes can return to the biosphere. A sustainable population must not grow past the point where those natural limits are breached.

If the population does exceed the carrying capacity, the death rate will increase until the population numbers are stable. Using these criteria it is obvious that the current human population is not sustainable.

In the entire environmental-related discussion taking place, population is a word we seldom dare to speak and it is conspicuous by its absence: Population is the elephant in the room.

It is obvious that something has massively increased the world's carrying capacity in the last 150 years. During the first 1800 years of the Common Era, like the tens of thousands of years before, the population rose very gradually as humanity spread across the globe. Around 1800 this began to change, and by 1900 the human population was rising dramatically:

That something is oil.


Peak Oil

As we all know, but are sometimes reluctant to contemplate, oil is a finite, non-renewable resource. This automatically means that its use is not sustainable. Oil and Natural Gas are finite! There may be arguments over how much oil/gas there was/is but, regardless of what that number is they are finite, absolute.

If the use of oil is not sustainable, then of course the added carrying capacity the oil has provided is likewise unsustainable. Carrying capacity has been added to the world in direct proportion to the use of oil, and the disturbing implication is that if our oil supply declines, the carrying capacity of the world will automatically fall with it.

These two observations (that oil has expanded the world's carrying capacity and oil use is unsustainable) combine to yield a further implication. While humanity has apparently not yet reached the carrying capacity of a world with oil, we are already in drastic overshoot when you consider a world without oil. In fact our population today is at least five times what it was before oil came on the scene. If this sustaining resource were to be exhausted, our population would have no option but to decline to the level supportable by the worlds lowered carrying capacity.

What are the chances that we will experience a decline in our global oil supply? Of course given that oil is a finite, non-renewable resource, such an occurrence is inevitable. The field of study known as Peak Oil has generated a vast amount of analysis that indicates this decline will happen soon, and may even be upon us right now. The decline in oil supply will reduce the planet's carrying capacity, thus forcing humanity into overshoot with the inevitable consequence of a population decline.

The rapidity of the decline following the peak will determine whether our descent will be a leisurely stroll down to the canyon floor or a headlong tumble carrying a little sign reading, "Help!"

Each of the global problems we face today is the result of too many people using too much of our planet's finite, non-renewable resources and filling its waste repositories of land, water and air to overflowing. The true danger posed by our exploding population is not our absolute numbers but the inability of our environment to cope with so many of us doing what we do.

But are there other factors besides these that may contribute to overshoot with the inevitable consequence of a population decline.

The United Kingdom

UK population growth is environmentally unsustainable, and if it is environmentally unsustainable it is also economically unsustainable, for without ecologically healthy land our economy will not be able to support its own people without causing damage to the environment.

Today, the UK population is about 62 million and is one of the most crowded areas in the world. In 1750, when the Industrial Revolution was beginning, it was about 6 million. It had never exceeded this figure, although during the Dark Ages and after the Black Death it fell to one or two million.

Most people lived and died in poverty. Pre-industrial farmers were pushed to the limit to feed so many. The population increased slightly in years with good harvests, but starvation and malnutrition cut it back to the 6 million norm when harvests were bad.

We are in fantasy land if we think that we can continue to support the number of people that we do now without the full input of oil and its related products.

We have become so dependent on those fuels, that there is no way we can sustain ourselves at this population density and level of technology without them. Even something as basic as food will become impossible to produce, process and transport for our present numbers without fuel.



Just as redistributing greenhouse gas emissions is no solution to climate change, population redistribution provides no long-term solution to environmental sustainability - total population numbers need to decrease both in the UK and worldwide, alongside efforts to reduce people's individual environmental impacts.

By adding over two million more people (extra producers of greenhouse gas emissions through household, transport and business use) to the population of the UK since 1997, and by allowing the number of climate changers to rise by more than 300,000 people a year, the government's population policy has undermined most of its environmental goals.

Climate Change

The climate change scenario for the UK is one of initial warming. Longer drier summers and stormy wetter winters are predicted, based on a temperature rise of 2/3.5° Celsius for the UK by the 2080s [UK Climate Impacts Programme, 2002]. [1]

But a 5.8° Celsius rise is possible, with some climate scientists suggesting even faster warming. In the UK, 2006 was the warmest year since records began in 1659.

The Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College, London, has produced maps of Britain showing the additional impact of sea-level rise under three scenarios. [2]

There is also increasing evidence of another worrying scenario - the possible failure of the Gulf Stream that keeps Britain's climate warm. Without it, the UK would be plunged rapidly into freezing temperatures that would prevail for many generations, and be unable to support its current population of nearly 60 million.

Extremes of temperature and climate, combined with weather-related disruptions, would severely reduce the size of the country's population carrying capacity.

Food

The UK does not need to be wholly self-sufficient in food, but with population continuing to grow, urbanisation eating up farmland, and more of our remaining agricultural land likely to be used for energy crops, food production will be further squeezed.

The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the biosphere poses a danger similar to that of disease. When a plant GMO is created, its pollen spreads around the world. It is quite conceivable that much of mankind’s food supply could be eliminated, simply by a terrible error in which the introduction of one or more GMOs resulted in the global loss of harvests of a staple food, such as a cereal grain. [3]

The systems that produce the world's food supply are heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Vast amounts of oil and gas are used as raw materials and energy in the manufacture of fertilisers and pesticides, and at all stages of food production: from planting, irrigation, feeding and harvesting, through to processing, distribution and packaging.

In addition, fossil fuels are essential in the construction and the repair of equipment and infrastructure needed to facilitate this industry, including farm machinery, processing facilities, storage, ships, trucks and roads. The industrial food supply system is one of the biggest consumers of fossil fuels and one of the greatest producers of greenhouse gases.

Almost every current human endeavour from transportation, to manufacturing, to electricity to plastics, and especially food production is inextricably intertwined with oil and natural gas supplies. We are now at a point where the demand for food/oil continues to rise, while our ability to produce it in an affordable fashion is about to drop.

Wastes

Changing consumption patterns reflecting higher material living standards are causes which can be mitigated by changing habits and better recycling, but the 2000-06 rate of increase in municipal waste exactly matches that of population growth. As each individual recycles more of his or her own waste, success is undermined by the constantly increasing numbers of people who create waste.

Power

Among the alternative power proposals is wind power. Wind power is clean and carbon-free, and if the UK's offshore air currents remain as prevalent as they are today, it will remain the most promising proven source of renewable energy until and if technological innovations improve prospects for solar, wave and tidal power.

But how much land would be needed to provide all our electricity? It depends how much wind power can be constructed offshore. If half the 25,200 MW target for 2020 (estimated to provide a fifth of UK electricity) were built onshore, 3,100 square kilometres of land would be needed - an area larger than the whole county of Dorset (2,653 sq km). For wind power to supply all-electric homes at today's rates of consumption, for today's 60 million people, several counties would need to be covered with wind turbines.

Turbines are being built to rated capacities above 1MW, but whatever the capacity of a turbine, and whatever the improvement in energy yield per hectare, these calculations apply only to household electricity demand - if wind power were to be used to produce hydrogen fuel cells as a substitute for petrol for motor transport, land requirements for turbines would rise further.

Water

The total amount of water used in UK (on a per person basis, but including domestic, industrial and agricultural withdrawals) is modest – about 550 litres per day - compared to the majority of countries in the world, because agriculture can be carried on mostly without irrigation.

The UK Government attaches importance to the goal of lowering water use per household because of increasing water constraints: rivers reduced to a trickle for several months, reservoir levels dropping, water tables (for groundwater supplies) continuing to drop. The large increases in the UK population experienced during the last five years makes it even more important to try to push per person consumption downwards.

Against this background, it is astonishing that the UK government has given the go-ahead – indeed has promoted – a massive expansion of housing. Half a million new homes are planned in the South East alone.


The CFRE (Campaign For Rural England) has said: ‘The Environment Agency’s own figures show that for this number of houses to be sustainable would require all the new houses to be 25% more water-efficient and all existing houses to be 8% more water-efficient. Yet 200,000 new houses have already been built in the region without any water conservation measures. Unless we can make the politicians and planners listen and re-think, we are heading for disaster here in Eastern England.’

In a letter to The Guardian, on August 9 2006, Campaign to Protect Rural England chief executive said:

‘Any attempt to define an optimum level for immigration… needs to look beyond issues of the economy and social stability, important as these are, to take into account the environment…. The UK is one of the most densely populated and built up countries in the EU and some English regions are already close to reaching the limits of their capacity to take further development without serious damage to the environment or quality of life.’

Our total usage of water just puts us inside the WWF category of mild stress, and we should regard this as a wake-up call. Along with every measure for reducing per person use of water, through metering, efficient appliances, rainwater harvesting, and reduction of pipe leakages, we should address the problem of population.

UK Summary

The UK has until recently been one of the most resilient economies in the world. Over the last 100 years, it has survived two world wars, staged spectacular economic recoveries, been blessed with energy resources, and evolved from manufacturer to the world into a service economy. But the position in which it now finds itself looks bleaker.

The UK is no longer a net exporter of oil and gas, and though rising prices will in the short term mitigate the impact of this reversal, its trade deficit in goods and services continues to widen. Domestic energy substitutes are unlikely to be able to support current levels of economic activity, and the insecurity of energy imports and import prices is already evident.

Of all the problems that we have to face right now the convergence of Peak Oil, Climate Change and economic instability are probably the most crucial issues we face.

All these problems are merely symptoms of a single, deeper underlying problem. They are symptoms of a species and a way of life that have grown beyond the ability of this planet to supply enough resources or to cope with our inevitable waste products. This growth is seen in the human population, currently surging through 6.6 billion people worldwide. It is also seen in our economic and industrial growth, with its emphasis on perpetually rising living standards and increasing wealth.

The consequences are already clear - our planet is under mounting stress from human activities, with its climate changing and its ecosystems failing. But recognition that we must act urgently to preserve our natural habitat has been undermined by persistent failure to admit the multiplier effect of human numbers. Without policies to reduce world population, efforts to save our environment cannot succeed.

The only thing that has enabled our numbers to shoot so far over the long-term carrying capacity is the planet's one-time gift of fossil fuels. This has also enabled our underlying destruction of the biosphere.

The global human population before the discovery of oil was about 1-billion. Today it is about 6.6 billion and rising. Without oil, the earth will only support about 2-3 billion, and only if we stop desecrating our environment right now. We cannot continue to feed an expanding global population indefinitely.

The uncomfortable truth is that the impact on Earth's biosphere of a projected 9 billion people living at a desired higher standard of living in 2050 would be fatal for the planet in terms of greenhouse gas emissions alone.

Conclusions

Given the fact that our world's carrying capacity is supported by oil, and that the oil is about to start going away, it seems that a population decline is inevitable. The form it will take, the factors that will precipitate it and the widely differing regional effects are all imponderables.

Populations in serious overshoot always decline, though actually, it's a bit worse than that. The population may actually fall to a lower level than was sustainable before the overshoot.

The reason is that unsustainable consumption while in overshoot allowed the species to use more non-renewable resources and to further poison their environment with excessive wastes.

However it is important to recognize that humanity is not, overall, in a position of overshoot at the moment. Our numbers are still growing (though the rate of growth is declining).

However, we are getting obvious signals from our environment that all is not well. If the carrying capacity were to be reduced as our numbers continued to grow we could find ourselves in overshoot rather suddenly. The consequences of that would be quite grave.

So here we have a huge, complex, brittle system built on the foundation of a depleting, non-renewable resource and depending on a damaged environment with diminished carrying capacity. If this system receives a series of shocks (such as repeated local interruptions of its energy supply) the resulting failure cascades can disrupt the organization of the system to such an extent that the cohesion provided by its interconnections fails. Ironically those connections themselves become the pathways that spread the failure to other parts of the system.

What has all this theorizing to do with population?

Because we are now a global species with a global civilization, continuing growth of our numbers depends on the continuing growth of our civilization. Humanity does not grow through demographics alone; there must be a sufficient level of food, shelter, energy and medical care available. All these factors will be put at risk globally within the next two decades due to the loss of oil and our ability to keep people alive will decline.Food production and distribution will be hampered or in some cases made impossible, and due to the damage of soil and water local agriculture will prove very difficult in some places. If medical care erodes, so will infant mortality and longevity. The erosion of urban sanitation systems will have an identical but greater effect. Across the world the effects will be highly variable, with some places like the United States and the United Kingdom suffering from the catastrophic decline in net global oil exports that is now underway. Other countries like those at the bottom of the list of developing nations will simply be too poor to compete against the developed world for the resources needed for survival. Populations will fall as a result.

This leads inevitably to the objection that such a position caps the aspirations of less developed countries and is thus morally unacceptable. Be that as it may, the facts remain: there aren't enough resources to bring the whole world up to the industrial level of the developed world and the developed world is unlikely to consent to their own voluntary impoverishment in favour of industrializing the less developed world, and attempting such an approach would increase rather than reduce global ecological devastation. There appears to be no possibility of reducing global fertility through industrialization.

What is amazing is that today’s human society views the present planetary catastrophe (to the limited extent that it considers it at all) only in terms of its impact on itself – on the current generation of human beings. From the viewpoint of future generations, Nero is fiddling as Rome burns.

According to the 2003 State of the World report by the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, the human race has only one or perhaps two generations to rescue itself. "The longer that no remedial action is taken, the greater the degree of misery and biological impoverishment that humankind must be prepared to accept," the Institute says in its 20th annual report. Various other reports, like that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change foresee world-catastrophic conditions already for the second decade of this greatly celebrated millennium.

The authors of The Limits to Growth suggested that it may be possible to avoid the collapse, and transit peacefully to a long-term-sustainable equilibrium, that was over thirty years ago.

I fear this ‘predicament’, not ‘crisis’, because these conditions are not of recent origin and will not soon abate, may no longer be solvable by ourselves and that the change will now be forced upon us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature.

Faith in technology as the ultimate solution to all problems can divert our attention from the most fundamental problem--the problem of growth in a finite system--and prevent us from taking effective action to solve it.

We must learn to live within carrying capacity without trying to enlarge it. We must rely on renewable resources consumed no faster than at sustained yield rates.

"If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached sometime within the next one hundred years. The most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity." [4]

"As for man, there is little reason to think that he can, in the long run, escape the fate of other creatures…….. During ten thousand years his numbers have been on the upgrade in spite of wars, pestilence, and famines. This increase in population has become more and more rapid. Biologically, man has for too long a time been rolling an uninterrupted run of sevens." - George R Stewart, Earth Abides (1949)

References

[1] UK Climate Impacts Programme, 2002.

[2] The Benfield Hazard Research Centre

[3] Human Genome Project Information

[4] The Limits to Growth (1972)

2003 State of the World report by the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute


My special thanks to Paul Chefurka for his Peak Oil, Climate Chaos; the World Problematique; to OPT; and to Rosamund McDougall for their assistance.

Compiled by Norman. J. Church

Sir,
Please pass on a reminder to people to prepare themselves with a plan and supplies to deal with for the inevitable event [of an Avian Influenza outbreak]. Begin by practicing impeccable agricultural hygiene and discouraging any visitation of persons near their barn yards, hen houses and migratory wildlife flocks of geese or ducks on or near their ponds, open water sources or feed sources. This is best done with a couple of good herding type dogs who don’t mind getting their feet wet in the ponds or on the property watering holes. Our chickens are free range, yet they are blocked from the access of the open water sources, and their supple mental food and calcium sources are kept away from access of migrating and indigenous species of birds. The dogs also help with poultry predatory losses from fox, coons and hawks. - KBF

Hi Jim -
I am a "ten center" and read your blog every day. Just wanted to say that I thought Keith in Minnesota's article on "Survival Chickens" was outstanding. A really good example of maximizing what you have (and leveraging Mother Nature) without spending huge amounts of effort or money to get a major benefit. - John

Jim and Memsahib,
Regarding the recent blog entry "The Home Chicken Flock for Self-Reliance", I have a few comments. I have been raising chickens since I was young and continue to this day. Having a source of fresh eggs is great and I do agree that they are not free. They are of a much superior quality and taste and they are right there in your backyard. That makes them worthwhile.
I do disagree with a couple of care issues from the article. I always lock up the birds at night. Poultry cannot see in the dark but their predators can. Giving your birds a safe roost at night is trivial and you just need to make closing them up at night part of your routine. If you are relying upon them for a source of food, you can't afford to waste them by making the predators fat. In addition, most predators will remember where they got their last meal and will return time and time again leaving you with no survival stock.
Another item I differ from is the cleanliness. Clean water and a clean coop is crucial for avoiding numerous illnesses. There are many methods to coop cleaning and I lean toward the every week method. Ammonia from decomposing manure build up can occur under damp conditions and the birds can develop serious respiratory issues. In the cold weather, you can be a bit more relaxed with coop cleaning if desired as the bedding usually freezes solid. Make sure the coop is not drafty but good ventilation is a must to keep fresh air flowing inside. As well as being beneficial to the birds it will dry up the bedding and eliminate the ammonia smell.

Some other tips:
Many bantams chickens tend to be better foragers than standard breeds. You also get smaller eggs but bird weight to egg ratio is pretty good (read: less feed required per egg). Bantam roosters are much cockier than their larger counterpart and will stand up to dogs. (But they don't always win!) Bantam hens are great mothers who will incubate and brood any other type of poultry you'd like to raise.
Bringing in new birds to your flock should be handled with care. I recommend at least a two week quarantine before introduction. Chickens don't always telegraph their illnesses and you may need to allow a disease to work through a more advanced stage to be able to see it. Of course, the situation allows for it, you should have some medications on hand to assist in the prevention/recovery. Don't forget to sanitize shoes/boots and clothing after visiting another person's coop. You can easily bring home diseases from the manure on your boots.
Chickens will eat nearly any table scraps you produce. We do not give ours any onions (it will transfer the taste to the egg) or meat. Our birds get insects, worms, and grubs for meat protein. These scraps will greatly reduce the amount of feed required.- Rob

JWR,
Keep up the great work! I'm proud to be a double ten-cent subscriber and continually amazed at the wealth of new topics that come up on your site. The recent post on survival flocks is an excellent example of a concept I had not considered before, but could be lifesaving.

Regarding the survival flock, did anyone else notice that the traits Kevin in Minnesota breeds into his chickens are pretty much exactly the same traits we work towards in ourselves and search for in group members?
1. Can you provide for you own food?
2. Do you have the ability to defend yourself from predators?
3. Are you smart enough to avoid predators in the first place?
4. Strong immune system?
5. Raise your own "chicks"?

I got a chuckle out of rereading the entire "survival flock" article and applying everything in there to people. And for me, preparedness can be summarized as Keith states, it's pretty easy to separate them into two flocks, the dinner flock and the survivor flock. Which flock will you belong to when the Schumer hits?

Speaking of Schumer, I'd like to comment on the recent Sanitation letter, and the treatment of Schumer, the home-grown kind, not the political kind. I take a different view on "The Humanure Handbook" than you. Yes, there are risks in composting your own manure, but no more risk than kerosene, chainsaws, and firearms. Each of these three items have inherent risks that are life-threatening, but easily avoided thru training and safety precautions, just like humanure. And fortunately, the "Humanure Handbook" is available free on-line, and it provides all the details, and scientific studies that prove this is safe, and how to do it safely and easily. I will not go into the details of how, it's all there in the book. But I will stress the advantages for people like me that plan to build a retreat, but don't have a fortune to spend.
1. Huge Cost Savings. Not having to build a septic system will save thousands of dollars.
2. Comfort and Convenience. No trudging outdoors thru the weather to a dark and cold, or hot and bug infested, outhouse. And when done correctly, there is no smell!
3. OPSEC. No need for everyone, several times a day, to expose themselves to prying eyes to visit the outhouse. Have you ever seen the Academy Award-winning movie "Unforgiven" starring Clint Eastwood? The outhouse scene amplifies my fears. This especially applies to your observation posts if hidden. Do you plan to drink hot liquids to stay awake during sentry duty? If so, you will want a bucket system as described in the"Humanure Handbook" to stay hidden.
4. Simplicity. No pipes to clog up and backup. No need to pump/store/waste precious water on flushing. No reliance on a septic pumping company. Even in your own outstanding book, "Patriots", the septic system became overloaded, and had to be reserved for emergency use only. Why not skip it altogether?
5. Thrifty. Why waste perfectly good, home-grown fertilizer?

But to be fair and balanced, there are some minor drawbacks.
1. Sawdust and Hay. You need a "pickup truck" supply of sawdust per year per family. The sawdust, or equivalent leaves/moss/hulls, is used to cover your deposits, after each and every deposit (this is what prevents all fumes). Fortunately, I love the smell of sawdust! But some planning/work is necessary to ensure easy access to cover material (like sawdust). You will also need about 8 bales of hay (or equivalent yard waste) per year per family to cover/protect/oxygenate your compost pile.
2. Gray water System. If you have no septic system, you will need some kind of gray water system to handle your wash water. Wash water can be from vegetables, clothes, or your bath. Fortunately, these are easy to build, but are best thought out in advance. Many sources of information are available on the internet.
3. Another Household Chore. Approximately weekly, someone must haul the full buckets out to the compost pile, wash the buckets, and monitor the heat in the compost. But this should only take 30 minutes at most. This is not labor intensive at all.
4. Humility. You will need some humility to admit you use this system. But this is good for you.
5. Fecophobia. Yes, there is such a word. Yes, your family/friends/neighbors may shun you until you convince them. But this system works! How do you think the Chinese have farmed the same land for centuries without external fertilizer inputs? But Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV).

As a side note, the excellent book by John Seymour titled "The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It", describes a similar humanure system, but without buckets. So if the only thing holding you back is the buckets, I would also recommend John Seymour's "Loveable Loo" as an alternative. Always learning more, - Rookie

Dear JWR and Memsahib,
I wish to offer some helpful comment regarding the article prescribing “Hardening Chickens”. I have raised chickens and other poultry in a free range setting for 20 plus years. My pre-retirement career was that of a health care professional. I have also worked and volunteered in community health care projects and health education in several third world countries. I still volunteer my services when the need arises and I am able to respond. While I strongly agree in the practice of free ranging chickens and all poultry for that matter, for an aid to general hardiness and convenience of caretaking and the overall natural health benefit of the poultry and the superb quality of their eggs. I however must also warn us all of the severe health consequences caused out of human negligence and lack of proactive caretaking responsibility to ourselves and our farm animals which are being used for human and other farm animal food cycle sources. When TEOTWAWKI occurs, and I believe it will sooner than later, medical care and resources will become infrequent if nil to obtain in hinterboonies regions and rural isolated areas and very questionable at best if you are not fortunate enough to have networked adequately beforehand for that valuable and crucial medical person to come on board, or at least viably reachable by travel and who is also agreeable to being available for your survival group in a worst case scenario. My prime concern here is advocating a proactive responsibility in maintaining and keeping humans and their animals healthy in as natural as possible using natures sources of availability. The practice of poor to absent hygiene practices advocated by the author of the article is questionable for the good health outcome of both species. Even in third world countries, the incorporation of holistic health practices of a sanitary or “clean environment” for human and animal hygiene have statistically shown vast improvements in the populations affected by those health practices and significant reduction of diseases and mortality rates related to them. Thus, their overall quality of life improved. Note, I am not refuting the issue of immunity. That is a whole other issue of whether it is acquired or natural or artificial immunity, passive or active. Diseases caused specifically via harmful bacteria, viruses, protozoans, fungus or the vectors like flies, mites, mosquitoes, and fleas that carry them into contact with us or our animals, must be discouraged. Practices to reduce those harmful populations must be performed in earnest.

Never plan to dine on an animal that had or has questionable health issues. Never feed their caucuses, milk, eggs, or any byproducts of questionable health animals to your family or other animals. Do not put them into your compost pile. Incinerate them. Here you will find just a sampling of multiple diseases causes and effects from an unclean environment. Botulism is more common than we hear about in unclean environments, which is potentially deadly and is transferable to the egg. If you practice the dirty litter suggested by this author, then you had best take heed and caution. Coccidiosis is caused by a protozoan parasite, which are deep tissue invaders occurring in the meat of the bird and eggs laid by it and harbored in moist, old litter. You could treat the poultry with Sulfa based medications which is also then passed on to you in their meat and eggs. Or, you can keep a clean hen house for proactive prevention. Erysipelas is caused by a soil borne gram positive bacteria which enters a break in the skin. It is spread by poultry being bitten by biting flies which are attracted to manure. This is also a human transmittable strain and also transmittable to stocked fish in ponds which are used as free range poultry water sources. It can also transmit to your pigs, sheep, mice and your other yard poultry. Encephalitis is caused by vectors of migrating mosquitoes and biting flies near or on open water sources. The flies lay their eggs in the poultry manure or spilled food. The disease list goes on. Most, if not all can be avoided by your proactive responsible health practices of cleanliness.

I highly recommend the World Poultry web site for its accuracy of abundant information; ease of reference, and on line pictures. It would take volumes for me to describe the offenses and diseases that are caused in poultry alone by these harmful organisms. But, I have high objection and researched validation to show the negative consequences to cleaning a coop of its litter and manure only once a year. All that manure is valuable as garden composting, only after it has cooked to a usable loam state. Never apply green manure directly to your garden or plants. It must be allowed to compost cook to kill off harmful organism cycles. Wear your gardening gloves to protect yourself from live harmful organisms. Wear them over a pair of disposable gloves or rubber gloves when applying compost to your plants or for that matter anytime you work directly in the soil. If you’re kneeling in the soil, wear knee protectors. The object is to protect your intact skin. For the coop cleaning process remove all the eggs and the poultry out and away from the coop. Wear a specifically designated outfit for this clean out, preferably a Tyvek type zip jumpsuit to protect your whole body surface. These can be hosed off and reused many times as long as there are no punctures to the fabric or stresses to the seams. Get a size that is one size larger than your normal size of clothes. If this is not available for you, use a heavy denim type or high denier cloth type military jumpsuit that zips in front. Don latex, or nitrile gloves if you’re allergic to rubber, make sure the gloves cover over the sleeve of the jumpsuit so you have created a skin seal. Last, wear a face mask that also fully protects your eyes, nose and mouth when you clean out either your coop or the nests found randomly constructed on the outskirts of your property. My husband makes use of his light weight welding helmet for this purpose over a disposable nose and mouth mask. This actually provides whole head and hair and ear protection as well. Those feathers can go into the composter as well, unless you are sanitizing them and using them for some other project. Note if you are finding these frequently, your poultry are talking to you. They’re telling you they either need fresh litter or the hen house nest boxes are being occupied when they need to use it. This will usually happen most during brooding season. Listen to them and fix the problem.

Just because you can’t see the bacteria, protozoa, fungus, mold, spores, and the most virulent harmful organisms doesn’t mean they are not there. They are. Most of these become airborne during the clean out process and are unknowingly inhaled by you and your chickens. Even if you have a great immune system response, it does not work well for another or the very young or the elders or the already infirmed that you will come in contact with. These organisms can be passed on by humans performing the human or animal care. This becomes possible by touching contact with the harmful source, or by any natural anatomical open orifice on your body, or unnatural open orifice of skin, like a cut, scrape or burn, for them to enter or be inhaled. You need on hand all these suggested items in ample supply anyway in your survival storage for the more virulent strains of viruses to come.

There are nutritional issues that need to be considered in this important food cycle as well. The poultry must receive a daily minimum requirement of good vegetable protein, vitamins and minerals in their natural habitat if you’re going to only free range. Just like humans. Remember, we’re going to eat their bodies and eggs. The practice of supplements is a good one if you are living in an area where the soil or vegetation is lacking these. Test your soil. Do some study on safe for poultry forage consumable vegetative sources which will provide natural vitamin and mineral supplements. The primary ones to consider are Calcium, Phosphorus, Vitamin D3 and Folic acid. While it is a fact that chicken feces does provide Phosphorus if consumed, eating unnaturally high colony counts of bacteria or viruses which were allowed to incubate for months, could easily infest and kill your entire flock inadvertently. Also, the practice of supplementing back raw egg shells for calcium as a feed supplement should be discouraged as it encourages egg cannibalism. A plot of Spinach plantings and castings are a much better choice. Without adequate intake of these supplements, either natural or store bought, the poultry will poorly develop and are subject to many other maladies related to growth, bone development, skin, and vision. Thus are poor consumables. Those hip fractures described in the article may be related to more than a jump off the roost. My chickens get calcium via crushed oyster shell and have a perpetual spinach plot. They have jumped off the roof of their 10 foot hen house and don’t suffer broken hips. We must always be responsible and accountable to our animals who serve our needs so well. Unlike humans, they can’t tell us that something is wrong. We have to conduct daily routine observation of their behavior and bodies to detect a problem and insure a proactive and ongoing active level of maintenance and responsibility to protect and care for our animals. If you are not willing to make this level of commitment, perhaps it would be better to skip the poultry for you and your family’s sake of good health. Cleanliness is truly next to Godliness in our triage of practices on the homestead.

Once you’re finished with the cleaning process and are ready to leave the coop, please follow these infection prevention practices in this order. Remove the garden gloves and hang them up. Leave the rubber or disposable gloves on until you’re totally finished cleaning your other personal articles. Remove the face mask, and hang it up or throw it away in the trash if it is a disposable. If you’re not using a whole face mask, then wear at least eye goggles and the mask must completely cover your nose and mouth and be one that will protect you from tiny viruses. Read the label. Remove that organism laden jumpsuit that’s protecting your underwear or clothing, by peeling it off at the shoulders and backwards away from your clean body and step out of it. Tug on the bottom exterior of the suit to get your legs and arms out if you need to get it over your washable boots. Avoid turning the soiled side to make contact with your clean skin. Hang it, zip it up and Hose it down in the yard near the coop and away from your home. Scrub your washable muck boots on a boot cleaner outdoors and hose them off and then remove them in your mud room or garage. Keep another pair of clean shoes or scuffs to slip on to wear inside your home. Remove the disposable gloves and dispose them. Wash your hands well with soap and water before you reenter into your inner home. Shower as soon as possible.

God Bless you and yours, this of course includes all your fortunate animals. - KBF

Sanitation may be an area that is neglected in our preparations for during difficult times. Not because people don't care, but because we take so much of it for granted we aren't aware of its importance. There are several areas in the sanitation arena that need to be considered when preparing;
1. Food
2. Daily Living
3.Waste Disposal
4. Medical
5. Deaths

The most obvious area to consider is that of our food preparations. We are all aware of the importance of washing our hands and not cross contaminating foods like meats and vegetables. All counters where foods may be prepared should be kept spotlessly clean. This includes areas where butchering is being done. The areas should be hosed and bleached and the meat meticulously washed, making certain the contents of the animals intestines does not come in contact with the meat. The animals should be covered with a fabric bag (one that breathes) to protect the meat from flies, and dirt while the meat is hung. All utensils including those being used for dehydrated foods and canning should be sterilized by boiling or baking. (Do not bake canning lids, they are placed in very hot water prior to processing.)

In the area of daily living, if we allow ourselves to become cluttered and disorganized because the world around us is falling apart we have begun the downward spiral ourselves. Remaining organized and clutter free gives us access to items which may be of immediate necessity and less chance of an accident of which even something as minor as tripping over clutter could become life threatening. Keeping organized also causes us less stress. Relieving our minds to be put to better use. It also provides activities to the group, giving tasks to those who may not be able to do other things or just an extra way to stay 'busy'. Clothes that are kept clean are warmer and last longer (dryers are hard on fabric). And shoes should be worn at all times outside. Personal hygiene is important not only for our physical health, but our mental health as well. Ever notice how much better you feel after a shower? It helps us maintain some a semblance of normalcy and civility in our lives not only for ourselves, but for the group. When we are clean and groomed it is also easier to spot someone not well. Special attention needs to be paid to the care of our teeth. Brushing, flossing and possibly rinsing with an anti-cavity rinse.

Feminine hygiene products that are disposable should be burned and the fabric reusables (for the same) as well as cloth baby diapers should be either boiled or bleached and hung in the sun. (The ultraviolet rays kill lots of bacteria)

Of course you can't assume that cleanliness is next to Godliness is only for the people in your group. Your animals will benefit from your diligent attention to their well being as well. Keeping their pens, bedding and feeders clean could mean the difference between animals used to fulfill our needs and sickly or dead critters. Most domesticated animal waste can be safely used as fertilizer after composting with the exception of dogs, cats and pigs. These should never be used around areas that will have vegetables and pregnant women should Never handle cat waste.

The third great consideration is waste disposal. This not only pertains to manure, but garbage as well. Most containers used for foods will probable be kept for some other need down the road. However, that means time and effort into making sure they are very well cleaned and stowed properly so as not to attract rodents or flies and bacteria. That which isn't needed should be burned, composted or deeply buried away from your area. Food scraps can be fed to animals or composted (not meats) or put into a worm bin (a little bit of meat is okay here) which not only provides great fertilizer for the garden, but worms for your fowl.

Human waste is much more of a problem. We are no longer used to dealing with our own waste. Most of us just pass it on to someone else to take care of. The average person produces 2-3 pints of urine and one pound of feces per day. Multiply that by the number of people in your group for a day/week or longer and you begin to see the problem. If the sewer system is working you can still use your toilet by pouring water directly into the bowl to flush the waste. Five gallon buckets with a toilet seat can be used as a porta-potty. Lime, wood ash, and good ol' dirt can be used to reduce the odor. This will have to be cleaned daily and an area set up away from any possible contamination sites to be used for composting keeping the compost covered to deter flies, etc. You should not use this compost in food gardening. A trench toilet is also an option. Dig a trench two feet wide and a minimum of 12 inches deep and 4 feet long or more. After use, cover with the dirt from the hole, filling in from one end as you go. Bad bacteria can travel 300 feet from its original site. Pay attention to drainage and making sure the manure is covered with lime, ashes or dirt. The area could attract rodents, dogs, and worse, flies. The most important things to remember are reducing the fly/rodent problem and washing your hands thoroughly when you've finished. Stock up on hand sanitizer as well as soap. The book "The Humanure Handbook" by Joseph Jenkins is an interesting read. [JWR Adds: I must add a strong proviso. With this approach, temperature monitoring is crucial! Unless you can be absolutely sure that a bacteria-killing temperature is achieved, then do not attempt to use this method for manure that will be used for vegetable or grain growing!] In my opinion, the risks far outweigh the rewards.

For those of you planning on hunkering down in place if the grid were to go down and the sewer were to quit functioning, pay attention to where the access lids to the sewer are in your area. If you are anywhere down hill sewage may back up through these portals and even into your drains, and toilets. Give this some thought.

The fourth area of consideration is medical. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, we may be having people show up late or be accepted into our group that weren't there in the beginning. We need to consider that these folks whether loved ones or stranger may be bringing something unwanted with them. If possible a 'quarantine' area should be set up where these people could spend two weeks away from the group to make sure they aren't sick. It may sound cruel, but these people should remain without direct contact with the group. (radio contact or distant voice communication if acceptable would be greatly appreciated.) Their meals could be dropped off on paper plates that they could burn after finishing. There utensils washed by them and kept in the quarantine area. Anything that is needed should be brought and dropped off so as not to expose the other members of the group. They would need to remain in the quarantine area at all times and not expose people, animals, areas, or equipment. If after two weeks they are well, the chances are greatly reduced that they have a communicable disease.

There should also be a separate area for medical procedures. A separate bedroom or bathroom. This area should be kept spotless at all times. All items being used should be boiled or steamed (a steam canner or pressure canner as an autoclave) and all fabrics baked (200 degrees for one hour) prior to use. Tables, trays and equipment should be washed and bleached. (Alcohol is a great bacteria killer) New garbage bags can be used to cover tables, chairs etc. prior to use and after cleaning, and to protect between activities. They are fairly sanitary. Disposable rubber gloves and masks should be used when treating patients and if blood is present goggles should be worn (swim goggles, or ski goggles over glasses would work). Used dressings, etc should be burned or buried deeply, away from the area.

A hundred years ago our ancestors lived with germs that our systems are no longer used to. What would not have made them sick, could easily sicken us today. Rodents and flies that carry disease are probably one of the major concerns for us. In a grid down situation they would flourish. And if we weren't exceptionally careful, bring disease to us. Rodent control would be a regular requirement around our 'camps', but handling them could be an issue in itself. Probably best done with a mask and gloves. Keeping flies away from any foods and food areas would be vital. Fly tape wouldn't hurt. All this of course means more water. Stock up on those barrels if you have no other means and if you'll be living downstream of metropolitan areas the water runoff could be deadly so remember to use caution.

The most difficult area of sanitation we may have to deal with is death. Although many organisms in the body of the deceased are not likely to infect a healthy person, handling the blood, bodily fluids and tissues of those who had been infected increases that risk. Many fluids leak from a dead body, including contents of the stomach, and intestines. Decomposition depends on how long the person has been deceased, the temperature of the environment and the damage to the body and the bacteria present. There are some basic precautions to take in handling the deceased. Wear disposable gloves when handling anything associated with the body and cover all cuts or abrasions with waterproof bandages or tape. Wear a mask, or face shield, goggles or some kind of protection to the face for the mouth, nose and eyes. Decomposing bodies can sometimes burst and spray fluids and tissues due to the buildup of gases. Wear aprons or gowns that can be destroyed. Wrap the body in a body bag or several layers of garbage sacks or plastic sheeting. The more quickly this takes place after the death, the less chance of leaking [body] fluids will occur. Graves should be dug at least 100 feet away from all open water sources and deep enough that animals won't dig them up. Cremation requires large amounts of fuel and may not be feasible. In case of accidental exposure, flush with huge quantities of water. (Dilution is the solution.) Thoroughly wash yourself afterward and dip your hands in a bleach solution even if no apparent contact was made. Disinfect all equipment, surfaces, floors, and so forth with a bleach solution. Don't forget to make notes on the deceased and the circumstances surrounding the death and burial. Take pictures if you can. Anything that you think is of importance in case the authorities come back and question it at some time. This may be the most difficult part of a crash. But, the quicker it is dealt with, the better for everyone involved.

Sanitation is a major concern in your preparations. Improper sanitation is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. It would be a shame if you stored your beans, bullets and band aids, but died of dysentery due to lack of proper sanitation. Give this one some serious thought.

Start your retreat stocking effort by first composing a List of Lists, then draft prioritized lists for each subject, on separate sheets of paper. (Or in a spreadsheet if you are a techno-nerd like me. Just be sure to print out a hard copy for use when the power grid goes down!) It is important to tailor your lists to suit your particular geography, climate, and population density as well as your peculiar needs and likes/dislikes. Someone setting up a retreat in a coastal area is likely to have a far different list than someone living in the Rockies.

As I often mention in my lectures and radio interviews, a great way to create truly commonsense preparedness lists is to take a three-day weekend TEOTWAWKI Weekend Experiment” with your family. When you come home from work on Friday evening, turn off your main circuit breaker, turn off your gas main (or propane tank), and shut your main water valve (or turn off your well pump.) Spend that weekend in primitive conditions. Practice using only your storage food, preparing it on a wood stove (or camping stove.)

A “TEOTWAWKI Weekend Experiment” will surprise you. Things that you take for granted will suddenly become labor intensive. False assumptions will be shattered. Your family will grow closer and more confident. Most importantly, some of the most thorough lists that you will ever make will be those written by candlelight.

Your List of Lists should include: (Sorry that this post is in outline form, but it would take a full length book to discus all of the following in great detail)

Water List
Food Storage List
Food Preparation List
Personal List
First Aid /Minor Surgery List
Nuke Defense List
Biological Warfare Defense List
Gardening List
Hygiene List/Sanitation List
Hunting/Fishing/Trapping List
Power/Lighting/Batteries List
Fuels List
Firefighting List
Tactical Living List
Security-General
Security-Firearms
Communications/Monitoring List
Tools List
Sundries List
Survival Bookshelf List
Barter and Charity List

JWR’s Specific Recommendations For Developing Your Lists:

Water List
House downspout conversion sheet metal work and barrels. (BTW, this is another good reason to upgrade your retreat to a fireproof metal roof.)
Drawing water from open sources. Buy extra containers. Don’t buy big barrels, since five gallon food grade buckets are the largest size that most people can handle without back strain.
For transporting water if and when gas is too precious to waste, buy a couple of heavy duty two wheel garden carts--convert the wheels to foam filled "no flats" tires. (BTW, you will find lots of other uses for those carts around your retreat, such as hauling hay, firewood, manure, fertilizer, et cetera.)
Treating water. Buy plain Clorox hypochlorite bleach. A little goes a long way. Buy some extra half-gallon bottles for barter and charity. If you can afford it, buy a “Big Berky” British Berkefeld ceramic water filter. (Available from Ready Made Resources and several other Internet vendors. Even if you have pure spring water at your retreat, you never know where you may end up, and a good filter could be a lifesaver.)

Food Storage List
See my post tomorrow which will be devoted to food storage. Also see the recent letter from David in Israel on this subject.

Food Preparation List
Having more people under your roof will necessitate having an oversize skillet and a huge stew pot. BTW, you will want to buy several huge kettles, because odds are you will have to heat water on your wood stove for bathing, dish washing, and clothes washing. You will also need even more kettles, barrels, and 5 or 6 gallon PVC buckets--for water hauling, rendering, soap making, and dying. They will also make great barter or charity items. (To quote my mentor Dr. Gary North: “Nails: buy a barrel of them. Barrels: Buy a barrel of them!”)
Don’t overlook skinning knives, gut-buckets, gambrels, and meat saws.

Personal List
(Make a separate personal list for each family member and individual expected to arrive at your retreat.)
Spare glasses.
Prescription and nonprescription medications.
Birth control.
Keep dentistry up to date.
Any elective surgery that you've been postponing
Work off that gut.
Stay in shape.
Back strength and health—particularly important, given the heavy manual tasks required for self-sufficiency.
Educate yourself on survival topics, and practice them. For example, even if you don’t presently live at your retreat, you should plant a vegetable garden every year. It is better to learn through experience and make mistakes now, when the loss of crop is an annoyance rather than a crucial event.
“Comfort” items to help get through high stress times. (Books, games, CDs, chocolates, etc.)

First Aid /Minor Surgery List
When tailoring this list, consider your neighborhood going for many months without power, extensive use of open flames, and sentries standing picket shifts exposed in the elements. Then consider axes, chainsaws and tractors being wielded by newbies, and a greater likelihood of gunshot wounds. With all of this, add the possibility of no access to doctors or high tech medical diagnostic equipment. Put a strong emphasis on burn treatment first aid supplies. Don’t overlook do-it-yourself dentistry! (Oil of cloves, temporary filling kit, extraction tools, et cetera.) Buy a full minor surgery outfit (inexpensive Pakistani stainless steel instruments), even if you don’t know how to use them all yet. You may have to learn, or you will have the opportunity to put them in the hands of someone experienced who needs them.) This is going to be a big list!

Chem/Nuke Defense List
Dosimeter and rate meter, and charger, radiac meter (hand held Geiger counter), rolls of sheet plastic (for isolating airflow to air filter inlets and for covering window frames in the event that windows are broken due to blast effects), duct tape, HEPA filters (ands spares) for your shelter. Potassium iodate (KI) tablets to prevent thyroid damage.(See my recent post on that subject.) Outdoor shower rig for just outside your shelter entrance.

Biological Warfare Defense List
Disinfectants
Hand Sanitizer
Sneeze masks
Colloidal silver generator and spare supplies (distilled water and .999 fine silver rod.)
Natural antibiotics (Echinacea, Tea Tree oil, …)

Gardening List
One important item for your gardening list is the construction of a very tall deer-proof and rabbit-proof fence. Under current circumstances, a raid by deer on your garden is probably just an inconvenience. After the balloon goes up, it could mean the difference between eating well, and starvation.
Top Soil/Amendments/Fertilizers.
Tools+ spares for barter/charity
Long-term storage non hybrid (open pollinated) seed. (Non-hybrid “heirloom” seed assortments tailors to different climate zones are available from The Ark Institute
Herbs: Get started with medicinal herbs such as aloe vera (for burns), echinacea (purple cone flower), valerian, et cetera.

Hygiene/Sanitation List
Sacks of powdered lime for the outhouse. Buy plenty!
TP in quantity (Stores well if kept dry and away from vermin and it is lightweight, but it is very bulky. This is a good item to store in the attic. See my novel about stocking up on used phone books for use as TP.
Soap in quantity (hand soap, dish soap, laundry soap, cleansers, etc.)
Bottled lye for soap making.
Ladies’ supplies.
Toothpaste (or powder).
Floss.
Fluoride rinse. (Unless you have health objections to the use of fluoride.)
Sunscreen.
Livestock List:
Hoof rasp, hoof nippers, hoof pick, horse brushes, hand sheep shears, styptic, carding combs, goat milking stand, teat dip, udder wash, Bag Balm, elastrator and bands, SWOT fly repellent, nail clippers (various sizes), Copper-tox, leads, leashes, collars, halters, hay hooks, hay fork, manure shovel, feed buckets, bulk grain and C-O-B sweet feed (store in galvanized trash cans with tight fitting lids to keep the mice out), various tack and saddles, tack repair tools, et cetera. If your region has selenium deficient soil (ask your local Agricultural extension office) then be sure to get selenium-fortified salt blocks rather than plain white salt blocks--at least for those that you are going to set aside strictly for your livestock.

Hunting/Fishing/Trapping List
“Buckshot” Bruce Hemming has produced an excellent series of videos on trapping and making improvised traps. (He also sells traps and scents at very reasonable prices.)
Night vision gear, spares, maintenance, and battery charging
Salt. Post-TEOTWAWKI, don’t “go hunting.” That would be a waste of effort. Have the game come to you. Buy 20 or more salt blocks. They will also make very valuable barter items.
Sell your fly fishing gear (all but perhaps a few flies) and buy practical spin casting equipment.
Extra tackle may be useful for barter, but probably only in a very long term Crunch.
Buy some frog gigs if you have bullfrogs in your area. Buy some crawfish traps if you have crawfish in your area.
Learn how to rig trot lines and make fish traps for non-labor intensive fishing WTSHTF.

Power/Lighting/Batteries List
One proviso: In the event of a “grid down” situation, if you are the only family in the area with power, it could turn your house into a “come loot me” beacon at night. At the same time, your house lighting will ruin the night vision of your LP/OP pickets. Make plans and buy materials in advance for making blackout screens or fully opaque curtains for your windows.
When possible, buy nickel metal hydride batteries. (Unlike the older nickel cadmium technology, these have no adverse charge level “memory” effect.)
If your home has propane appliances, get a “tri-fuel” generator--with a carburetor that is selectable between gasoline, propane, and natural gas. If you heat your home with home heating oil, then get a diesel-burning generator. (And plan on getting at least one diesel burning pickup and/or tractor). In a pinch, you can run your diesel generator and diesel vehicles on home heating oil.
Kerosene lamps; plenty of extra wicks, mantles, and chimneys. (These will also make great barter items.)
Greater detail on do-it-yourself power will be included in my forthcoming blog posts.

Fuels List
Buy the biggest propane, home heating oil, gas, or diesel tanks that your local ordinances permit and that you can afford. Always keep them at least two-thirds full. For privacy concerns, ballistic impact concerns, and fire concerns, underground tanks are best if you local water table allows it. In any case, do not buy an aboveground fuel tank that would visible from any public road or navigable waterway. Buy plenty of extra fuel for barter. Don’t overlook buying plenty of kerosene. (For barter, you will want some in one or two gallon cans.) Stock up on firewood or coal. (See my previous blog posts.) Get the best quality chainsaw you can afford. I prefer Stihls and Husqavarnas. If you can afford it, buy two of the same model. Buy extra chains, critical spare parts, and plenty of two-cycle oil. (Two-cycle oil will be great for barter!) Get a pair of Kevlar chainsaw safety chaps. They are expensive but they might save yourself a trip to the emergency room. Always wear gloves, goggles, and ear-muffs. Wear a logger’s helmet when felling. Have someone who is well experienced teach you how to re-sharpen chains. BTW, don’t cut up your wood into rounds near any rocks or you will destroy a chain in a hurry.

Firefighting List
Now that you have all of those flammables on hand (see the previous list) and the prospect of looters shooting tracer ammo or throwing Molotov cocktails at your house, think in terms of fire fighting from start to finish without the aid of a fire department. Even without looters to consider, you should be ready for uncontrolled brush or residential fires, as well as the greater fire risk associated with greenhorns who have just arrived at your retreat working with wood stoves and kerosene lamps!
Upgrade your retreat with a fireproof metal roof.
2” water line from your gravity-fed storage tank (to provide large water volume for firefighting)
Fire fighting rig with an adjustable stream/mist head.
Smoke and CO detectors.

Tactical Living List
Adjust your wardrobe buying toward sturdy earth-tone clothing. (Frequent your local thrift store and buy extras for retreat newcomers, charity, and barter.)
Dyes. Stock up on some boxes of green and brown cloth dye. Buy some extra for barter. With dye, you can turn most light colored clothes into semi-tactical clothing on short notice.
Two-inch wide burlap strip material in green and brown. This burlap is available in large spools from Gun Parts Corp. Even if you don’t have time now, stock up so that you can make camouflage ghillie suits post-TEOTWAWKI.
Save those wine corks! (Burned cork makes quick and cheap face camouflage.)
Cold weather and foul weather gear—buy plenty, since you will be doing more outdoor chores, hunting, and standing guard duty.
Don’t overlook ponchos and gaiters.
Mosquito repellent.
Synthetic double-bag (modular) sleeping bags for each person at the retreat, plus a couple of spares. The Wiggy’s brand Flexible Temperature Range Sleep System (FTRSS) made by Wiggy's of Grand Junction, Colorado is highly recommended.
Night vision gear + IR floodlights for your retreat house
Subdued flashlights and penlights.
Noise, light, and litter discipline. (More on this in future posts--or perhaps a reader would like to send a brief article on this subject)
Security-General: Locks, intrusion detection/alarm systems, exterior obstacles (fences, gates, 5/8” diameter (or larger) locking road cables, rosebush plantings, “decorative” ponds (moats), ballistic protection (personal and residential), anti-vehicular ditches/berms, anti-vehicular concrete “planter boxes”, razor wire, etc.)
Starlight electronic light amplification scopes are critical tools for retreat security.
A Starlight scope (or goggles, or a monocular) literally amplifies low ambient light by up to 100,000 times, turning nighttime darkness into daylight--albeit a green and fuzzy view. Starlight light amplification technology was first developed during the Vietnam War. Late issue Third Generation (also called or “Third Gen” or “Gen 3”) starlight scopes can cost up to $3,500 each. Rebuilt first gen (early 1970s technology scopes can often be had for as little as $500. Russian-made monoculars (with lousy optics) can be had for under $100. One Russian model that uses a piezoelectric generator instead of batteries is the best of this low-cost breed. These are best used as backups (in case your expensive American made scopes fail. They should not be purchased for use as your primary night vision devices unless you are on a very restrictive budget. (They are better than nothing.) Buy the best starlight scopes, goggles, and monoculars you can afford. They may be life-savers! If you can afford to buy only one, make it a weapon sight such as an AN/PVS-4, with a Gen 2 (or better) tube. Make sure to specify that that the tube is new or “low hours”, has a high “line pair” count, and minimal scintillation. It is important to buy your Starlight gear from a reputable dealer. The market is crowded with rip-off artists and scammers. One dealer that I trust, is Al Glanze (spoken “Glan-zee”) who runs STANO Components, Inc. in Silver City, Nevada. Note: In a subsequent blog posts I will discuss the relationship and implications to IR illuminators and tritium sights.
Range cards and sector sketches.
If you live in the boonies, piece together nine of the USGS 15-minute maps, with your retreat property on the center map. Mount that map on an oversize map board. Draw in the property lines and owner names of all of your surrounding neighbor’s parcels (in pencil) in at least a five mile radius. (Get boundary line and current owner name info from your County Recorder’s office.) Study and memorize both the terrain and the neighbors’ names. Make a phone number/e-mail list that corresponds to all of the names marked on the map, plus city and county office contact numbers for quick reference and tack it up right next to the map board. Cover the whole map sheet with a sheet of heavy-duty acetate, so you can mark it up just like a military commander’s map board. (This may sound a bit “over the top”, but remember, you are planning for the worst case. It will also help you get to know your neighbors: When you are introduced by name to one of them when in town, you will be able to say, “Oh, don’t you live about two miles up the road between the Jones place and the Smith’s ranch?” They will be impressed, and you will seem like an instant “old timer.”

Security-Firearms List
Guns, ammunition, web gear, eye and ear protection, cleaning equipment, carrying cases, scopes, magazines, spare parts, gunsmithing tools, targets and target frames, et cetera. Each rifle and pistol should have at least six top quality (original military contract or original manufacturer) full capacity spare magazines. Note: Considerable detail on firearms and optics selection, training, use, and logistic support are covered in the SurvivalBlog archives and FAQs.

Communications/Monitoring List
When selecting radios buy only models that will run on 12 volt DC power or rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery packs (that can be recharged from your retreat’s 12 VDC power system without having to use an inverter.)
As a secondary purchasing goal, buy spare radios of each type if you can afford them. Keep your spares in sealed metal boxes to protect them from EMP.
If you live in a far inland region, I recommend buying two or more 12 VDC marine band radios. These frequencies will probably not be monitored in your region, leaving you an essentially private band to use. (But never assume that any two-way radio communications are secure!)
Note: More detail on survival communications gear selection, training, use, security/cryptography measures, antennas, EMP protection, and logistical support will be covered in forthcoming blog posts.

Tools List
Gardening tools.
Auto mechanics tools.
Welding.
Bolt cutters--the indispensable “universal key.”
Woodworking tools.
Gunsmithing tools.
Emphasis on hand powered tools.
Hand or treadle powered grinding wheel.
Don’t forget to buy plenty of extra work gloves (in earth tone colors).
Sundries List:
Systematically list the things that you use on a regular basis, or that you might need if the local hardware store were to ever disappear: wire of various gauges, duct tape, reinforced strapping tape, chain, nails, nuts and bolts, weather stripping, abrasives, twine, white glue, cyanoacrylate glue, et cetera.

Book/Reference List
You should probably have nearly every book on my Bookshelf page. For some, you will want to have two or three copies, such as Carla Emery’s "Encyclopedia of Country Living". This is because these books are so valuable and indispensable that you won’t want to risk lending out your only copy.

Barter and Charity List
For your barter list, acquire primarily items that are durable, non-perishable, and either in small packages or that are easily divisible. Concentrate on the items that other people are likely to overlook or have in short supply. Some of my favorites are ammunition. [The late] Jeff Cooper referred to it as “ballistic wampum.” WTSHTF, ammo will be worth nearly its weight in silver. Store all of your ammo in military surplus ammo cans (with seals that are still soft) and it will store for decades. Stick to common calibers, get plenty of .22 LR (most high velocity hollow points) plus at least ten boxes of the local favorite deer hunting cartridge, even if you don’t own a rifle chambered for this cartridge. (Ask your local sporting goods shop about their top selling chamberings). Also buy at least ten boxes of the local police department’s standard pistol cartridge, again even if you don’t own a pistol chambered for this cartridge.
Ladies supplies.
Salt (Buy lots of cattle blocks and 1 pound canisters of iodized table salt.)
(Stores indefinitely if kept dry.)
Two cycle engine oil (for chain saw gas mixing. Gas may still be available after a collapse, but two-cycle oil will probably be like liquid gold!)
Gas stabilizer.
Diesel antibacterial additive.
50-pound sacks of lime (for outhouses).
1 oz. bottles of military rifle bore cleaner and Break Free (or similar) lubricant.
Waterproof dufflebags in earth tone colors (whitewater rafting "dry bags").
Thermal socks.
Semi-waterproof matches (from military rations.)
Military web gear (lots of folks will suddenly need pistol belts, holsters, magazine pouches, et cetera.)
Pre-1965 silver dimes.
1-gallon cans of kerosene.
Rolls of olive drab parachute cord.
Rolls of olive-drab duct tape.
Spools of monofilament fishing line.
Rolls of 10 mil "Visqueen", sheet plastic (for replacing windows, isolating airspaces for nuke scenarios, etc.)
I also respect the opinion of one gentleman with whom I've corresponded, who recommended the following:
Strike anywhere matches. (Dip the heads in paraffin to make them waterproof.)
Playing cards.
Cooking spices. (Do a web search for reasonably priced bulk spices.)
Rope & string.
Sewing supplies.
Candle wax and wicking.
Lastly, any supplies necessary for operating a home-based business. Some that you might consider are: leather crafting, small appliance repair, gun repair, locksmithing, et cetera. Every family should have at least one home-based business (preferably two!) that they can depend on in the event of an economic collapse.
Stock up on additional items to dispense to refugees as charity.
Note: See the Barter Faire chapter in my novel "Patriots" for lengthy lists of potential barter items.

Sir;
It seems there has been little on the subject of garbage and what to do with it after TEOTWAWKI. I would suggest that anyone who has put any sort of effort into preparing for the end should come up with a plan for their trash, and soon. Whether you plan to bug in, bug out to a prepared location or already live in your location away from the Golden Horde and their anticipated escape routes, a plan should be in place before it is needed. The best example of how many communities will look (and in a very short time) can be found by going to one of the video hosting web sites (YouTube, Live Leak, Google) and do a search for "Naples Garbage". My favourite is when the Italian Army shows up to clear it away from schools so they can reopen....and minor riots occur. The popular U.S. media seems to be ignoring this story (although, one of the videos is carried on ABC).
So, what to do with it then?
Burning it has been popular in every bad place I've been to (Somalia, Bosnia, Croatia). There, a burning trash heap was the indicator of many towns and villages, the plume visible before you arrived. This burning trash heap would probably not be the best solution to the survivalist who is trying to stay low in terms of visibility.
I used to live in the country, far away from anything that was important. My neighbour (and many others) had a burn barrel for most garbage that we both used, and a there were compost heaps for everything else. We would feed small amounts into the barrel, reinforced with some wood, cardboard or paper and let it burn. We tried to avoid burning plastics and styrofoam, since we could recycle, but there was no trash pickup. Eventually, the township started free garbage pickup and the barrels fell from popular use.
My suggestion as to what to so with it? Burn it, in a metal container like a 45 gallon drum with one end cut off, at night, either well off the road or in "dead ground" (a piece of terrain that is not easily viewed from the surrounding area) away from the main retreat. This keeps the fire contained in the barrel. The light from the fire will be controlled in what it illuminates, as in, the low ground you are in, not an open field (remember, it is a small fire). It builds in an emergency zone in case the fire gets out of the barrel and an area for any hot cinders to not land on the main retreat (use caution in grassy areas, always use fire common sense like water buckets, fire brooms and shovels). This also keeps the smoke plume from acting like a beacon for others.
Now, does everything burn, or should you burn everything? No. Plastics release toxic fumes when they burn. Metal, obviously, does not burn and can sometimes be re-used in some way shape or form. Have fun, stay safe. - R.J., Up North

JWR Replies: In my novel "Patriots", I describe the "conserver lifestyle." When living frugally and self-sufficiently in a post-collapse situation, you may generate hardly and trash aside for perhaps some plastic packaging and broken crockery.

A dedicated "conserver" does not generate much "garbage" in the modern sense. Consider the following ultra-frugal conserver practices:

Kitchen scraps: Use every available scrap for animal feed or for compost. (With the usual safety provisos for not using things like uncooked potato peels as animal feed.)

Paper and cardboard--saved for re-use as stationary or for fire kindling, insulation

Bottles, jars, plastic jugs, and plastic bags are washed and saved for re-use. (The ubiquitous one gallon plastic milk jug, for example, has a huge number of potential uses. One of these is making mini-greenhouse "hot caps" for your garden.)

Candle stubs and soap scraps. Save to periodically combine and re-use.

Steel and aluminum cans should all be carefully washed and sorted, for re-use as containers or a material for various metal projects. (Everything from patches for leaky roofs to alarm bells for your defensive wire.)

After being for soup bones, most bones can be ground to make bone meal, or burned to make lime.

Scrap metal of all descriptions should be sorted and stored.

Wood ashes and fat scraps should be saved for soap making.

Twine, string and thread of all kinds can be saved for re-use.

Clothes worn beyond the point or usefulness should be saved for bandage material, quilts, rags, and insulation. It is likely that we would revert to 19th century lifestyle mode of cloth handkerchiefs, cloth ladies supplies, and cloth diapers. (BTW, Lehman's sells scrub boards and James Washers.)

Electronics beyond economical repair should be cannibalized for their metal hardware and individual components.

Of course, most of these extreme measures should be reserved for post-TEOTWAWKI. The value of your time must be considered! Taking these measures now would probably alienate your spouse. Your family and neighbors would also soon notice your growing heap of stored "recyclables" which they would surely label garbage. It might not be to long until the fire marshal was called to condemn your stockpile as a fire hazard. Unless, of course you could convince them that all you were doing was "reducing your carbon footprint".

Throughout my life I have been caught unprepared several times and while nothing seriously bad happened, it easily could have.  I have been lost hiking.  My car has broken down in very bad neighborhoods - twice.  I have been close enough to riots that I feared they would spread to my neighborhood, been in earthquakes, been too close to wildfires, been stuck in a blizzard, and have been without power and water for several days after a hurricane.   I managed to get myself out of each situation, I thanked God, and tried to learn from my mistakes.  I could have avoided these situations or made them much less unsafe and worrisome if I had been more aware and prepared.  I have also tried to learn from the mistakes of others so as to not learn everything the hard way.  One group I assisted was a two hour drive into the mountains, out of gas, wearing tee shirts, and had empty water bottles (at least they kept them) (I have made each of those mistakes but not all at the same time).