Sir:
In her recent article on repurposing material by sewing, Penny Pincher said: "The Army poncho liner is nothing more than a thin quilt with a head hole in the middle.  It’s camo lightweight nylon with thin polyfil for batting, a few strings at the corners, and bound on the edges.  You could make something similar.  If you didn’t mind the extra weight, you could use some thin wool, maybe in two layers, and sandwich that between nylon to make it ride smoother."

I made something similar last spring, but with nylon on only one side. I like carrying a wool blanket rather than a sleeping bag when motorcycle camping. Heavy wool blankets get very hot -- in part due to the nap of the wool directly against the skin. So I took an old olive drab blanket (washing it first to shrink as much as possible) and sewed a similarly sized piece of dark brown thin nylon to one side of it. After "quilting" the two pieces together by simply running it through the sewing machine a few times in both directions, I bound the four edges with canvas left over from an old couch, tan khaki in color. Now I have an extremely durable blanket/quilt (in woodland camo colors) that doesn't get unbearably hot in the summer, but which can be reversed to make the most of wool's insulative properties when required.

Because I started out with the largest surplus blanket I could find and pre-shrunk it, and because nylon and wool are both water repellent, I was able to sleep soundly with only my blanket in a solid drizzle while camping this winter in Mississippi. And the whole thing rolls up to about the diameter of a surplus closed-cell foam pad, and it's only about half the length of those pads. So far it's been used for motorcycle camping, as a ground pad for rifle practice, as my bedding while at the station where I'm an EMT, and as an occasional play tent for my toddler. Very durable, only been washed once, and looks brand new. - J.D.C. in Mississippi

Dear Jim,
I have been a welder, machinist, engineer, and someone interested in self-reliance for many years. I read the recent discussion on SurvivalBlog of post-SHTF welding with interest.

I do not disagree that thermite could be made from scrap yard materials (done it, with aluminum filings and black sand (magnetite) from the river), but it would require a custom-made refractory mold for each joint.  IMHO two other forms of welding would be much more practical.

Forge welding was the only available process up into the 1800s, and requires only anvil, hammer, fire of coke or charcoal and forced air.  Borax or other flux is very helpful on steel, as opposed to wrought iron. Common salt would probably work, too, but avoid the chlorine fumes.

Electric arc welding is infinitely faster and more flexible, and not out of reach post-SHTF.

Engine-driven welding machines are common, and can of course be used as designed as long as their fuels, usually gasoline or Diesel oil,  are available.

Gasoline engines can also be run on wood-gas, natural gas, propane, manure gas, with suitable carburetion;  Diesels of course on vegetable or waste petroleum oils.

A steam engine burning wood, or a water-wheel, could run a generator welder just as effectively as a modern internal combustion engine, with suitable belting or gearing to provide the right rotational speed.

A medium-size off-grid solar electric power system will also run some small welding machines for limited duty cycles.

Many types of finely compounded  welding rods are used today for specific purposes. However, a DC welding machine can be used to weld with coat-hanger or most other types of plain bare steel wire.  It is much more difficult to control the arc, and the properties of the weld joint will not be as good, but will be usable for many purposes by a skilled welder.  Nor is it out of the realm of possibility to make coated electrodes with better properties, as for instance the coating on one of the most common and most useful modern (E6010) electrodes could be closely approximated with wrapping of newspaper soaked in waterglass, or probably salt or soda mixed with powdered sand.

However I will leave you with a major caveat: If you are not a skilled welder now, then do not expect to do yourself any good by taking up the craft with improvised materials after SHTF.

One of the biggest income-enhancers for the general repair welder like myself, is the guy who buys himself his own welding machine.  Fixing it after it was fixed wrong the first time, costs a lot more than doing it right the first time. 

As with all skills you may wish you had in an emergency, do not wait for the emergency to acquire them.

Thanks for your service, Mr. Rawles! - Ben F.

James Wesley;
I'm worried about keeping farm machinery operating, in a long-term TEOTWAWKI whammy. Some of my equipment is horse-drawn and a full century old. God forbid we go through a multi-generational scenario like you've talked about. How will we repair broken metal, or cast metal, or join metal ('cept drilling and nuts and bolts)? Obviously arc welding is out, unless someone has a huge solar battery bank, and I'm not at that Pay Grade. (I live almost paycheck to paycheck, other than a seasonal bump when I sell hay each year.) And gas welding will be non-functional once the available welding gas supplies run out. I also saw the SurvivalBlog piece on the giant fresnel lens solar oven (for aluminum casting) but beyond that I'm stumped. What am I missing? Thanks for your time, - Rod C.

JWR Replies: Missing? In a word: Thermite. (The formerly patented trade name was "Thermit.") Thermite welding is a simple process that just employs a mixture of iron oxide powder and aluminum powder to create what my high school teacher called "a vigorous exothermic reaction." It is most commonly used to join railroad tracks, using specialized molds and tooling. (Thermited tracks don't have that traditional "clickety-clack" sound.) The only fairly exotic material needed is magnesium ribbon, to ignite the mixture. An Aside: My #1 Son found that a Blast Match or Sparkie fire starter (both sold by several of our advertisers) works just fine as an igniter, just by itself.

The iron oxide and aluminum powders needed for thermite welding can even be produced locally, albeit very laboriously, with materials from your local automobile wrecking yard. (Hint: Look for aluminum "Mag" wheels.) Welding with thermite can be tricky: If you use too little or if you don't contain the "puddle" properly, then you don't get a good weld. If you use too much, then you destroy the parent metal. Practice a lot now with scrap metal so that you don't make costly mistakes, later.

Warning! All the usual safety provisos for welding apply, and then some! Thermite burns at thousands of degrees and looking directly at the reaction can cause permanently-blinding retinal burns. You'll need welding goggles. Since a thermite reaction creates its own oxygen, unless you have a Class D fire extinguisher there is basically no effective way to fight a thermite fire. (Without a Class D extinguisher you have to just wait until it burns out--although cooling it with a CO2 extinguisher helps a bit.) Also, keep in mind that if a glob of burning thermite contacts water or even just mud, it can cause an instantaneous steam explosion that will throw burning thermite in all directions. Also, using finely-ground thermite powder, or any sort of expanding gas containment can also cause thermite explosions, so use extreme caution. And if you aren't wearing welding clothes and dark welding goggles when igniting thermite, then you are foolish. After mixing or otherwise handling loose thermite powder be sure to thoroughly wash your hands before using it. (Setting your thermite-powdered hands on fire would be a Very Bad Thing.)

Thermite has many other clever uses, as described, in my novel Patriots. (The Mythbusters guys demonstrate overkill.)

Reprints of two old thermite welding references now that are now in the public domain are available from Amazon.com. They are:

Thermit Welding Process 1914 by Richard N. Hart

and

Thermit Welding (A series of articles revealing the art and science of welding) by Ethan Vial

Thermite welding is also briefly described in the free Kindle e-book: Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting Electric, Forge and Thermit Welding together with related methods and materials used in metal working and the oxygen process, by Harold P. Manly.

An inexpensive source for iron oxide powder, aluminum powder, and magnesium ribbon with excellent customer service is AlphaChemicals.com. They have been a SurvivalBlog advertiser since early 2011, and I must mention that I have had ZERO complaints about the company, since then. They have satisfied thousands of SurvivalBlog-reader customers. AlphaChem now packages most of their iron oxide powder and aluminum powder in resealable heavy duty mylar pouches. This keeps everything neat and dry. They double package and discreetly ship via UPS in boxes that just have one small blue "ORM-D" safety label. (The binary components are not classified as pyrotechnics until after you mix the component powders yourself.)

Because of its weight, any casting equipment (molds, crucibles, refiner's sand, etc.) is best found locally, from an industrial supply company, or better yet used, via Craigslist. And of course terra cotta clay pots are available at garage sales or your local garden supply store.

Lastly, keep in mind that if you are planning to cast metal with Thermite, then wet sand or damp clay processes cannot be used. (See my previous warning about instantaneous steam explosions.) Your molds must be quite dry!

Dear Editor:
I used to be much more of a seamstress than I am now, but I’m getting back into it as I can’t find clothes I like (modern women’s pants all want to fall off my butt) and I am sewing my own gear to save money.  This article will focus on repurposing fabric items that are worn out or that you don’t want anymore, into other fabric items that are more useful for a SHTF situation.

Don’t throw out old clothes, even if they’re stained or otherwise unwearable.  Even clean old underwear can be repurposed into rags or stuffing for pillows.  You can take the hook and eye parts of old bras, and use them in other underwear projects or for mending.  You can remove the zippers, elastic, buttons, etc. of old clothes, and keep them for future projects.  You can even save good strong thread if you are careful deconstructing something.

If you want to dye something that is a natural fiber a different color, you can learn about plant dyes, or there is a kind of dye called procion dye.  The mordant (fixer) for that kind of dye is washing soda, which you can buy at the grocery store in the laundry soap aisle.  This dye is the kind that people who make tie-dyes use, it comes in all different colors including earth tones – you can make your own camo if need be that way, out of your existing clothes.  I used to get mine at Dharma Trading Co. which is online, but there may be other sellers.  To conserve dye, it is much more economical to squirt or spray the dye onto your garment than to vat-dye it, unless you are doing a really big batch all the same color.

If you find elastic eventually wears out and becomes unavailable, you can make drawstrings instead out of strips of fabric and modify your clothes to accept drawstrings.

You can make socks out of old sweaters or sweatshirts.  You don’t even need to know how to knit, if you can cut and sew it so it doesn’t unravel.  (I recommend zigzag stitch). Or in a pinch you can wrap a rag around your foot and stuff it in a shoe like that, but why not have something that is shaped like a sock?

Old pants legs with minimal sewing can make good bags, pouches, aprons, pillows, book covers, gaiters, or panels for bodices.  They could even be made into hammocks or cots if you have enough of them, which if bedbugs take over the world or if you end up being nomadic, you’ll be getting rid of your mattresses eventually anyway.  One thing I haven’t seen yet is a denim plate carrier.  One might fasten a 550 steel target to the inside of the bib of a pair of overalls, as an improvised rifle plate. (but pad the inside of the steel too).

You can make tactical gear or smaller bags out of old luggage you cut apart.  Many suitcases are made from Cordura.  You can save the straps from knapsacks to use for webbing or slings.  Even outdoor upholstery fabric remnants would work, but to get Cordura, the “real thing”, without ordering it, look to the luggage at the thrift store.

You can also hide clothes or gear by making them into cushions.  How about a “bolster-holster” for your rifle?  How about a piece of web gear that is reversible?  One minute it’s a purse or satchel or pillow, the next it’s your vest.   How many sets of clothes can you stuff into a seat cushion?

Back to quilts for a second, the Army poncho liner is nothing more than a thin quilt with a head hole in the middle.  It’s camo lightweight nylon with thin polyfil for batting, a few strings at the corners, and bound on the edges.  You could make something similar.  If you didn’t mind the extra weight, you could use some thin wool, maybe in two layers, and sandwich that between nylon to make it ride smoother.  It would probably be a lot warmer than polyfil, although if you were running around it might get too hot.

If you don’t have a pattern, you can make your own shirt and dress patterns by draping cheap fabric on a dress dummy or a person and pinning it, drawing on it, adding to it, cutting it, etc. You can sew a mock-up and then take it apart and there’s your pattern, only made of fabric instead of tissue paper.  And of course, once you are done with the pattern you can reuse the fabric.

You can make yourself a custom dress dummy by wearing an old T-shirt and wrapping your torso with duct tape, cutting your way out of it and taping the cut back together, then stuffing it.  I suppose if you stuff it with heavy enough stuff, you could also chain it to a door frame and use it as a punching bag when you get frustrated trying to drape cheap fabric on it (just make sure the pins are all out).

Last but not least, it might be slow, but you can always hand sew clothes if you don’t have a machine.  Sometimes I find my machine can’t handle real thick things, and all at the same time I had 3 or 4 projects that would have required a walking foot machine, which is an industrial sewing machine designed for thick fabric, where the presser foot goes up and down with every stitch.  Instead of looking for a walking foot machine, which is expensive, I hand sewed what I needed to, and made due.  You can also hand baste things like quilts, to hold them together before you quilt them for real.  It keeps the layers from migrating too much. - Penny Pincher

Dear James,
As a former professional seamstress, I have a comment on using woolen materials for quilts.  They can successfully be washed, provided that the woolen material was previously washed before making a quilt of it, whether the wool is used as the top layer, or as the batting.

The wool should be washed in hot water, and then dried on high heat in the dryer.  It will shrink, which has the double advantage of:  1. making it much warmer; and 2. washed wool becomes somewhat felted, which makes it much sturdier and less prone to wear and pulling of threads which might catch on splinters or rough surfaces.

I have run wool fabrics through the washer and drier prior to sewing them for many years for exactly these reasons, and have nearly always been pleased with the results...except for a couple of extremely loosely knitted fabrics which over-shrank.  Still, even these would have been good for quilt stuffing.

Speaking of which, you can find woolen clothing at thrift shops which can be used for stuffing, as well as for tops.

The author also mentions using acrylic yarn for knitting.  Yes, it is cheap and warm.  However, under TEOTWAWKI conditions, it would be a disaster, since it frays and starts wearing out within a year of heavy use.  Woolen yarn is almost impossible to get any more at ordinary stores, but is readily available online - try eBay - at prices comparable to acrylic. 

Woolen yarn lasts for years, and can be re-knitted when the original item develops wear spots, as the author describes.  Doing that with acrylic is a waste of time. 

I am not a herder, but do know that tribesmen in the Arabian desert mostly live on the sheep they herd, and wear woolen clothing.  Also, the Navajo of the southwest are famous for their woolen blankets, made from the sheep they raise.  Clearly there are sheep that would do fine in the author's desert area.  Perhaps some of your readers would know what breeds would be appropriate.

The tied quilt sounds like a really fast and simple way to make quilts under emergency conditions.

Wiggy's is planning to offer quilting, so your readers may want to contact him. Warmly, - Janet W.

James,
Thanks to George H. and George W. for their input on chainsaw safety. Yes, buy Kevlar chaps and use them.  Once getting your hands on a pair, don’t expect them to function like body armor because they have Kevlar in them.  From personal experience, they work by the chain’s cutters tearing through the outer fabric of the chaps, then pulling out Kevlar fibers, that then bind up the saw and almost instantly stop the chain from moving. Chain stops and you don’t get cut. Then the penance you pay for your lapse in judgment is taking the cover off your saw and pulling Kevlar fibers out of the works. Again, from personal experience, blue-jeans do not serve this function; although if God is watching over you, you can get your keys pulled straight out of your shredded pant pocket and they will stop the chain when they enter the saw housing. I’ve had a running chainsaw cut into fabric on my leg four times, two with chaps and two without.  I am truly blessed that none of the incidents have drawn a drop of blood.  All four times happened towards the end of the day, when I was tired, and was cutting something in an awkward position.  Think safety all the time. Also, don’t forget ear protection.  A chainsaw isn’t as loud as a gun, but consistent exposure to the engine noise can lead to slow, but permanent hearing loss.  Whatever you keep your chainsaw in, put some hearing protection in there too.
Keep your oil reservoir full and the cutters sharp. - Sean B.
 
 

Editor:
I read the article on felling trees and the follow up on chainsaw chaps. Several years ago my son and I bought two pair of chainsaw chaps from Labonville Inc. up in New Hampshire. These chaps are made in the USA and sell for less then the name brand chaps sold at Lowe's or Home Depot. They are of the highest quality and I highly recommend them. Also you are supporting the USA and the local New Hampshire economy. See: Labonville.com or 800-764-9969. I have no financial interest in them or the company. - E.G. form North East Tennessee

Jim,
The other great thing about Kevlar chain saw chaps is that they save your jeans.  I use my chain saw two or three times a month on average, often in brushy areas.  I am confident that over the course of two years that the chaps have paid for themselves just in reduced wear and tear on my jeans.  - Jim B.

James,
That was an excellent article by George H. on Felling Trees. He mentioned Kevlar Chaps as only being recommended. Were I writing the article I would have advised people to use them as mandatory equipment.
I have never been a "safety nazi", but my dealer would not sell me my new Husky unless I bought these, which cost very little. I now agree with his demand.
He has an old time logger who almost died after cutting his femoral artery without these chaps. New saws of any manufacturer have higher RPM on the bar, and the chain will keep spinning around the bar longer than older saws I have used, making them more likely to be near the body before the chain is fully stopped.
The chaps have saved my artery area at least twice, and saved each of my sons. None of us cut without Kevlar Chaps. The cost is very little given the very possible alternative of death due to bleed out from a femoral artery nick, which has happened to many experienced loggers. Think about it, many of us live in rural areas, who are serviced by volunteer fire departments made up of great people, who may or may not be home when you get in trouble, who may not be able to respond quickly, who may not be in the best physical fitness level, who may not find you quickly, who may not know how to stop such bleeding, etc., and one can see that a femoral cut can kill you quickly. Go get some chaps! - George W.

Last summer I wrote an article on dealing with trash at your retreat and recently I wrote Part 1 of this article about sewing.  So I’m going to forego the usual introduction and description of my living style and just jump right into the topic.

I began to think about writing this article while watching the television show Jericho.  First of all, let’s just get this out of the way. I know that “Jericho” is a television show. I know that it is fiction.  I know that the conditions depicted are in no way realistic, etc.  It is a television show.  Okay, now that’s out of the way, I found myself considering events in the television show and how I would expect things in my community to go.  Would we share our food? Would we all get together at the pub for information? Who would come forward as a leader in our community since we have no local government?  I also thought about how my specific talents could be used community wide.  In the television show, the first winter was depicted as brutal. They give the idea that people were not prepared for the harsh winter without central heat in their homes.  Some people were shown as frozen to death in their homes, under single comforters and basic blankets.  Being a beginning quilter, I thought to myself, “Where were the quilting bees?  Where were the circles of women knitting and crocheting?”  Too provincial?   Too old-fashioned?   I imagine some people would say yes, but actually, these crafts remain very popular.  You have only to look online for patterns for quilting, knitting and crochet to see how popular these crafts are today.  The internet is overflowing with ideas, blogs and videos for today’s crafter.

So, in a TEOTWAWKI situation, what can you produce to keep yourself and maybe some neighbors warm if necessary?  Let’s start with quilting.  In our small community, I help a friend keep a small quilt shop open.   I quilt for her and sometimes watch the shop when she is gone.  The shop is full of quilts, not really fabric to quilt, but quilts made and sold on consignment.  I am by no means an expert quilter.  I still have much to learn, but I do know this.  You can make a quilt out of just about anything. 

A basic quilt is very easy to construct. You need a top, middle, and a bottom often called a lining.  Today, pieced quilt tops are works of art. New patterns are often copyrighted and the old patterns are still popular as well.  These pieced tops are an important part of our heritage, but they are not necessarily the only way to make a quilt. The top can be as easy as a sheet. Actually, this would be considered a whole cloth quilt and that type of quilt is older than the pieced quilt.  You can make quilt tops out of jeans, cotton, polyester, or double knit. I’d suggest something washable and sturdy if you are thinking of saving fabrics for this future project.  Just a quick note about double knit; it is absolute gold in some quilting circles (not the artsy ones) because it is indestructible, washable and warm, warm, warm.  It is really difficult to wear out double knit, so those awful leisure suits from the 70’s are still good for something. 

Next, consider the size that you will need.  King size quilts are hard to make just because of their size, but they are doable on a home machine. However, I’d aim for smaller quilts.  I will quote a standard range of sizes for bedding, but if you know what bed you are quilting for, measure it.  Some things to consider are overhang on the sides and at the foot of the mattress and if you tuck your pillows into the quilt or leave them on top.  If you tuck pillows as you would with a regular bedspread, then you’ll want to add length.  Is tucking pillows really that important in the TEOTWAWKI situation?  Absolutely not, but you might as well get some proper instruction while we have the chance.  Twin bed quilt sizes range from 76 to 82 inches wide by 105 to 110 inches in length.  Double bed quilts can range in size from 90 to 96 inches wide by 105 to 110 inches in length.  Queen sizes range from 100 to 110 inches wide by 100 to 110 inches in length.  King size quilts come in two different sizes, the standard and the Super King (or "California King") size.  Standard size quilts are for those mattresses that are thinner and the Super Kings are for the thicker pillow top mattresses.  Standard Kings range from 105 to 110 inches in width and 110 inches in length while super kings ought to be about 120 by 120.

Size can also be determined by your immediate need or by the materials that you have on hand.  First, you need to decide what you are going to use for a top.  If you use a sheet or another piece of whole cloth, then measure it and you are ready for the next step.  If you decide to piece it, you have several decisions to make.  Whether you are trying for a pattern or not, you’ll need some sort of idea about how you want to sew your pieces together.   You can sew them randomly and then get to a certain size, for example a 12” square, and trim it.  You can cut squares, rectangles, triangles or any variation of those pieces and sew them together in a pattern.  You can find thousands of patterns online, in books and in magazines.  I would suggest that you start with squares or rectangles.  You can cut squares any size between 3” and 12”.  It would be best to have all of your squares the same size.  Then you sew them into rows and the rows onto the other rows and you keep adding until you’ve reached the desired size.    You can cut up the legs of blue jeans and use these rectangles for strips.  Sew them randomly until you reach the desired quilt size.   When piecing like this, you want to keep your seams a consistent 1/4 inch.

Now, if you were making this quilt today, I would spend the next paragraph talking about ironing seams a certain way, matching seams so that they line up, and so on. Matching seams makes a nice quilt.  It is not absolutely necessary if you are making quilts in some kind of emergency situation.  It is always important to do the best job that you can do, but I also want to impress upon you that the purpose is to stay warm and covered.  In the end, and in an emergency, it doesn’t matter if the seams match.  This description of piecing a quilt top also does not cover the enormous range of things that you can do with a few hundred squares of fabric.  I’m not going to go into inner borders or outer borders or patterned borders or pieced borders.  Quilting is a huge topic.  If this article inspires some interest, then you really need to do some research on basic quilting.  One of the reasons why quilting remains so popular today is because it is an incredibly challenging form of art.  That’s not our focus.  Our focus is quilting in an “end times” scenario where you cannot run to the fabric store and design a piece of art for display. 

Your next step in quilting is to find fabric for the lining.  This is the back of the quilt and today is often sewn from one fabric.  The linings usually come from the same fabric.  Most fabric is 42” or 44” wide.  Some can be as wide as 108”.  On larger quilts, the fabric is often matched for pattern and then sewn to make the lining large enough.  They can be pieced just like the top of the quilt, but the seams are not very comfortable to sleep under.  But, if your bed is layered, then it isn’t a big deal.  Again, the beauty of the quilt is a current times concern, not one we’ll worry about once the ball (whatever ball) drops.  Your lining needs to be at least 2 inches larger all the way around than the pieced top.  This is important because as you quilt, the top tends to creep toward the edge.  That is why you start quilting in the middle.  We’ll get to that when we talk about the actual quilting. 

Next, you need to find the middle batting.  Some of us may have quilt batting stored, but even my friend, who owns the shop and quilts everyday all day, has only 10 bags of batting in the shop at a time.  So, most of us are not going to have a thick roll of batting lying around.  What else can you use?  A lot, actually.  You can use an old ragged blanket, you can use strips of fabric, you can use wool suits from your professional wardrobe (that quilt won’t be washable), you can use cut up t-shirts, old cotton socks (cut those in half so that they are one layer), you can use bath towels or a fleece, you can use old table cloths or curtains.  Sometimes pillows are actually layered batting, so they could be deconstructed.   Some of the things that might not work well are batting used for stuffing animals, nylon, leather, and paper.  Your batting needs to be 2” larger than your pieced top all of the way around. 

Just a quick word about wool.  I have an antique quilt made from wool suiting.  It is a tied quilt with cotton batting and a cotton lining.  You can’t wash these quilts. They either need to be shaken out and aired in the sun, or dry cleaned.  That doesn’t mean that they are not wonderful quilts.  The one that I have is very warm and the kids fight over it in the winter because we only have localized heat sources, not central heat.  As long as no one spills hot chocolate on it, I can keep that quilt nice with a few good shakes and hanging it on the line.

So, we’ve got a pieced top, batting and lining.  Now what?  You need to lay these three layers out on the flattest surface that you can find.  It is very important that all three layers are pulled and clamped as tautly as possible.  You will need to either pin the quilt with safety pins or baste the quilt with thread.  It is important to keep the layers taut so that the lining and batting don’t bunch up.  Your quilt will creep in the sewing process.  Pin the quilt in every square, do not pin over the seams because that is where you’ll be sewing.  Do the same with basting.  I’ve never basted a quilt; that is often a process used for hand quilting.

There are two processes in quilting and the first one that I’ve just described is called piecing.  The second process is the actual quilting.  In the article on sewing, I closed with the suggestion that everyone consult the article on sewing machines written by Lockstich and published in February 2013.  I hope he doesn’t mind if I renew that suggestion here.  Get a machine that meets your needs post-TEOTWAWKI.  If you don’t have a machine or your machine breaks, there are other options and I’ll get to those.  Assuming you have a sewing machine, there are a few options that you need to know when picking a stitch for your quilt.  Many people will choose a straight stitch because it will look like hand quilting.  I urge you to consider other, stronger stitches.  Most quilting machines have what is called a basic quilting stitch.  It is a modified zig-zag stitch and it is a very strong stitch.  I use this stitch and sew directly over a pieced seam.  That stitch is going to hold more than 100 years unless the quilt is left to the weather.  Look for something similar on your machine.  You might look for a serpentine stitch.  It is a straight stitch, but it locks both sides of the seam.  If you don’t have anything else, use a lengthened zig-zag stitch.  Only use a straight stitch as a last resort.   

To quilt, set your machine up to quilt.  If you have an extension table that goes around the arm of the quilt, then so much the better.   Roll your quilt like a scroll from two sides to the middle.  Depending on what you used as batting, the side you start with may matter, but usually you just choose.  Set your stitch and then start stitching at the top of the middle row and work your way downward.  You will see right off that it is not always easy to stuff the rolled part of the quilt through the throat of your machine.  Sew slowly, it will fit, but this is not the place to rush.  You can go up and down the rows until you reach the edge.  I’ve been taught to sew the edge at this point, but that doesn’t work well for me.  You’ll turn the quilt 4 times if you’ve just made a simple square pieced quilt.  You’ll want to quilt the rows from top to bottom and from side to side.  At this point, I sew my edges.  I sew the two sides first, and then the top and bottom.  You’ll see what I mean about creeping.  If you have a large fold of fabric, then cut right by the sewed seam and lay the fabric over it.  All of this will be hidden by the binding.

The next step is binding.  To bind, cut strips 2.5” wide.  Turn your quilt so that the back side is facing up.  Fold the binding strips in half and place the raw cut side on the edge of the quilt.  Sew ¼” in from the edge of the quilt.  Start this process in the middle of a side, do not start your binding at a corner.   This is one of the few places where you use a straight stitch.  Turning the binding at the corners is not hard or complicated; it is just hard to explain. Sew up to the corner and stop about two stitches from the end.  Turn your quilt and fold the binding in a tight triangle, setting the raw edge against the new side.  Start stitching again about 2 stitches from the top.  This process is much easier learned by seeing than reading.  There are many, many articles and videos on YouTube detailing this process.  Go look at them.  Once you’ve sewn the binding to the back of the quilt, turn your quilt to the front.   Starting in the middle of a side, turn the binding, so that it just covers the stitch at the edge and sew the binding on the front using the same stitch that you used to quilt the quilt.  A quilt bound in this manner will last a very, very long time.  If that just seems like too much work, then once you’ve pinned your quilt, you can trim the batting and fold the lining up, turn under the raw edge and sew it onto the front as a binding. 

Hand quilting is a treasure and legacy from our history and the skill should not be lost.  Pioneers used every scrap of material and quilted for warmth and comfort.  They quilted not for art, but for necessity.  It could be that, once again, Americans find themselves in a place where hand piecing and hand quilting are a necessity.  That being said, machine quilts are stronger and they last longer.  You can prepare for both or either; you choose.  If you choose to hand quilt, then you are going to need sharp needles and a good strong, thick cotton thread.  Hand piecing is similar to machine piecing.  You’ll want to keep a ¼” seam.  You will want to make small stitches and the more stitches per inch, the better.   With hand piecing, neatness counts.  It is important that your stitches be straight.  As for hand quilting, if this is just for warmth and not for show, then it doesn’t really matter what kind of pattern you use to hand quilt.   In hand quilting, you use a straight sewing stitch, with as many small stitches as you can neatly make.  You need to concentrate on the seams so that they can be secure and you need to quilt in areas that do not have seams.  You do not want large spaces or areas of your quilt un-quilted.  Hand quilting is a skill, more so than machine quilting.  If this is where your interests lie, practice.

Another way to put a quilt together is to tie it.  This is another situation where, if you are interested, you be best served to look this up on YouTube.  But, just in case, you can’t get there, tying is very easy, just difficult to describe.  If you have a quilt made out of squares then you’ll want to tie every four square intersection.  You’ll need a heavy thread or a yarn for this procedure.  You’ll also need a sharp needle.  With your needle you sew down from the top of the quilt about 1/8” from the intersection.  When you tie an intersection, you will only sew in two of the squares.  Leave an inch tail.  Come up on the diagonal and then take your needle back down on the diagonal close to that tail.  Come up again near your other stitch, leave a tail of about an inch and cut.  You are tying the seam where the squares meet and you sew across the seam of two squares.  You have something that looks like a stitch with tails of both ends of the stitch.  Then, using the tails, you tie a knot.  Again, a video on YouTube might be more helpful than that description.  Check it out if you want to know more.

That is basic quilting.  A top, a lining and something for batting could mean the difference between you and some really brutal winters.  Maybe you’ll need several, but this is a very easy skill to acquire and one that may serve you well. 

As I said, while I was watching “Jericho”, I wondered what my skills could add to the needs I saw portrayed on screen.  In addition to quilting and other fiber hobbies, I have taught myself to crochet and plan to teach myself to knit.  I wondered if any of the people who froze to death in that fictional winter could have used another wool hat or some gloves to stay warm.

The materials needed for both skills are easy and fairly inexpensive.  Crochet uses hooks and knitting uses needles.  Basic crochet hooks come in five sizes starting with size G and on through K.  There are smaller hooks and they have their uses, and I would get them while they are available.  But, for the most part, the smaller hooks are for crocheting smaller projects like doilies.  While I’m a fan of the intricate string crochet that you find in doilies, I’m not sure that the time learning to crochet doilies is time well spent.  Once you’ve made trunks full of afghans and other wearable crochet items, then maybe you can move on to doilies.  These crochet hooks can be found everywhere and they are inexpensive.   A basic set can be found at Amazon for less than $7.  I’m not near a Wal-Mart, but they can’t be much more than Amazon.  The same can be said for knitting needles.  They are only slightly more expensive than crochet hooks.  I’ve heard that some knitters can be very particular about their needles.  I personally don’t care for the shiny aluminum sets; I like the wooden needles better.  Knitting needles come in pairs and are usually 10” to 16” in length.  Some are tethered together and are called circular knitting needles.  The metric sizes range from 2.0 mm to 25.0 mm.  Within that range, the US has size designations, the UK has size designations, and on the list that I referenced, the Japanese have size designations.  The same could probably be said for other nations as well, but these three are the most consistent that I’ve seen.  I cannot recommend anything here.  I haven’t learned yet.  I have a basic 5 pair US set that I’ve learned some basic stitches on.  A basic set of aluminum knitting needles at Amazon will cost around $10.  The wooden ones may cost twice that.  There are also cable needles and place markers in knitting.  A book, a class, some videos online can get you started with this process.  If you look into this now, you’ve got choices.  You also need some sort of pattern.  Patterns are also everywhere.  Patterns can be found at craft stores, fabric stores, discount stores, and online.  It is very easy to find patterns at all skill levels.

The final tool needed is yarn.  Currently you can buy many different types of yarn that run from plain cotton to wool to exotic yarns like llama and alpaca yarn.  It can be expensive or it can be inexpensive.  The acrylic wool blend that I like at the moment is just over $5 a skein. I find that expensive, so I really watch for sales. It is bulky, though, so storing it will be an issue.  If you have those old afghans of your grandmas, with a snip at some knots, you can pull a crocheted afghan apart and use the yarn for other projects that suit your needs.  You can unravel a knit sweater to reuse yarn also.  This was a common practice in the Depression, but we don’t do it often now.  Machine finished and serged knit garments are less desirable because they are often not one continuous stitched piece.  You might look for hand knit and hand crochet items at thrift stores and garage sales. 

Since yarn is a key issue, my husband and I plan to add some sort of fiber producing animal to our homestead shortly.  We haven’t decided what animal, but probably goats.  Living in the desert, we cannot have a wooly animal.  Once we’ve achieved that goal, I will buy a spinning wheel and learn to spin.  I may have to go out of state for classes, or I may be able to teach myself.  The ability to keep some sort of animal that provides fiber and the ability to spin that fiber into yarn and to turn that yarn into something wearable puts a level of comfort into your homestead preparations that will set you apart from other preppers.

There are two consistent issues that I’ve heard about crochet and knitting.  One is keeping the yarn tension loose and consistent.  Most people attribute this to stress.  I’m not a stressed person.  I’ve never had to rip anything out due to thread tension, but I do know that there are many articles and helpful hints out there to help you if you have this particular problem.  The second issue is reading the patterns.  This is a valid point.  US and British have slightly different definitions for crochet terms.  Double crochet in the US is different than a double crochet in British terms.  German and Japanese companies release beautiful patterns, but they are not in English.  There is a new system using diagrams that I’ve seen here and there.  I think it will transcend language issues once a standard gets established.  It is important to read the pattern before you begin.  Usually, if you read it, you’ll find that a significant portion of the project is repeated.  Once you get the repeat down, you can make your project.  I’ve run in to this several times as I’ve taught myself to crochet.  Usually, I just crochet and rip, crochet and rip until I am satisfied with what I’m doing.  Since I enjoy this as a hobby, I don’t consider this time wasted.  When I finally get around to teaching myself to knit, I imagine that the process will be similar.  At the end of the day, you treat this skill like any other skill.  You start small and easy and work your way to more advanced projects.  If you get stuck, ask for help or find a video tutorial or a class at the local community center.  Figure it out now while you have choices.

Sewing, quilting and other fiber pursuits can really make the difference in the comfort level of a homestead.  Any time you read a book, fiction or non-fiction, about pioneers and Americans of the 18th and 19th centuries, you find skills.  Their skills are many and varied.  The way that our forefathers and the pioneers of old lived was remarkable, but for them it was simply how they lived.  They had those skills because they needed them; they used them, sometimes every day.  The more skills they possessed, the more comfortable their lives were.  In America today, most of us live a very comfortable life.  I can buy all of the hats, scarves, and quilts that I want to buy.   I don’t feel the need to apologize for our basic comforts.  I do believe, though, that the loss of our skills to mass produced merchandise is ill advised.  The point is, as a prepper, you can go out and buy stores of quilts, comforters, blankets, hats, scarves, clothing, etc. and store them.  But as a prepper, you know that doing for yourself, making for yourself, honing the skills to make a comfortable life for yourself is more important that what money can buy.
In review:

• Quilting is an easy skill to attain.  Classes now can help you acquire those skills, but basic construction is only a top, pieced or not, a lining, and batting for the middle.
• You can use a variety of material for each of these components.  Cotton is the best, but you can also use double knit, silks, velvets, wools, and any other fabric used in clothing.  Some of these fabrics require special laundering.
• Make sure that you pin or baste your quilt very well. It isn’t the end of the world to have a crease on the lining, but as long as you’re learning, you might as well learn correctly.
• Go back to the article written by Lockstitch in February 2013 about choosing a sewing machine that will stand up to the demands post TEOTWAWKI.  Find a good machine if you don’t already have one.
• Try to use a good quilting stitch when using your machine.  If nothing else use a lengthened zig-zag stitch.
• Hand piecing, hand quilting and tying quilts are also options for putting a quilt together.  They are slower and it is more difficult to make a quilt that will stay together.  Hand quilting is by far a larger skill than machine quilting, but machine quilts are inherently stronger.
• Other fiber arts or hobbies, such as crochet and knitting could be very important in a TEOTWAWKI situation.  Having the clothing to layer both body and bed could keep you alive.

Disclaimer: Tree cutting is inherently dangerous with many injuries and fatalities every year, please do you own research and obtain training before trying this on your own.

In New England there is extensive woodland and always a need to cut down trees to keep your garden growing and your house from being overrun. This keeps your house warm with the resulting firewood. Cutting down a tree is always risky but there are many ways to reduce this risk using various tools and skills.

Never start cutting unless you are well rested, fully alert and all your tools are sharpened and fully fueled.

First clear the area around the tree to be cut. Make sure you have several escape paths it case the tree decides to come down when and where you least expect it. Check for wind, do not cut if it is a windy day as the tree may suddenly get pushed over by a sudden gust.  Look for dead branches on the trees which may fall onto you during cutting, take these down if at all possible. If you can not remove the dead branches wear a hard hard and do not work under the dead branch Next look at the tree and branches, if it is on the edge of a forest odds are it will weigh more on the side away from the forest. Branches grow toward the sun more so then into a shaded forest. This helps with your estimate of where the tree will LIKELY fall. Another trick is to hug a tree and look up, which way is it leaning? That is a likely falling direction.

Once you know where you want the tree to fall or where it is likely to fall make sure there is nothing in the way. If there is might be a good time to throw a line over a high branch and begin directing the tree either with a helper and/or tying the heavy rope taught to a tree in the direction you are aiming for. Make sure the rope will not catch you when the tree falls! Placing the rope: the higher the better as this gives you more leverage. Also make sure the falling tree will not get hung up on another tree. This will result in a dangerous situation where the tree you are cutting may swing back at you or create a widow maker.
Use two tow straps and come-a-long if a shed or other structure is in possible danger. Or if the tree is too large for a heavy rope. Get the ropes and straps in place before cutting, after cutting has started the tree is more likely to come down at any time with a sudden gust of wind or if the tree has damage from ants, internal rotting or disease.

Get all of your tools ready for use, not just the tool you think you need. If the tree shifts and pinches your chainsaw you need a backup right away not after the batteries charge and saw is sharpened and you have found the wedges. Keep the tools nearby but safe. I keep the tools behind a tree I am not cutting so if the tree comes down towards the tools they should still be safe.

NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A TREE ONCE YOU HAVE STARTED TO CUT IT.

Next notch the tree on the side towards to desired felling. Chainsaw or axe works great for this, chainsaw requires two cuts about one third through each at about 30 degrees from horizontal.This takes some practice as the first few cuts may not line up on both sides requiring a 3rd or 4th cut. An axe can also create this by shifting the swing angle to match. Next make a single cut on the side away from the fell direction with a chainsaw or timber saw, this gives the tree one way to fall without resistance (desired direction and the other side can only shift slightly before coming to rest on the saw and tree. Do not cut completely through the tree. You want to create a pivot point NOT have a moving tree coming at you. Hopefully the tree comes down right where you want it to.
If I am using an axe I make a point of switching my swing direction. Swinging to the right is the most comfortable and accurate for me but it limits how much I can do. Plus if i am ever injured on that side no more tree cutting. Switching the swing allows me to cut faster longer after getting used to it. If there is not room to swing an axe then stop and clear the brush and branches. How are you going to get out of the way when the tree starts coming down at you if you don’t have room to swing an axe?

After the tree is down the next step is limbing the tree which is fastest for me with an axe. Always stand on the side of the tree opposite of the branch you are swinging at. If you miss or the axe goes through the branch the tree will take the blow not you. Also swing at the branch to hit the branch towards the bottom of the tree. This results in a cleaner break the swinging from the top down.
After limbing pull all the branches out of the way and create a brush pile well out of sight. This gives you a safe work area for cutting up the trunk. This brush pile can be used as a barrier for someone approaching your house and could also be used as concealment for both you and someone approaching you.

I typically cut the trunk and large branches into 4-6 foot lengths and leave to season for firewood. 4-6 feet is what I can comfortably handle for heavy green wood depending on the tree size. Next year I will cut it into size and know it is ready for burning.

After an ice storm two years ago my tree cutting took greater importance. We had many heavy branches on our power lines and lost power for a week due to trees in the area taking out power lines. At the time I had all my hand tools, no power tools. Hand tools are fine if you have time and energy, during the ice storm I had neither! Power tools I consider a force multiplier, Same amount of time and effort I get twice the work done.

Hand tools were fine for clearing our 400 foot driveway after the storm but not the garden, yard and woodlot that year. Gas powered chainsaws were great when I was cutting many trees but for occasional use electric has much less maintenance and is faster to setup. Initially I went with a battery powered chain saw and pole saw both using the same battery packs. This worked very well as by the time the batteries were drained I had as much cut up as I could handle before needing a rest. I also shifted to vegetable oil for chain lube since my fruit and nut trees need pruning often. I obtained a corded electric chain saw soon after for firewood cutting. I can run this off the photoelectric battery bank and keep my work quiet good for OPSEC.

Safety equipment- always steel toed boots, leather gloves and safety glasses. If I am using a pole saw or a branch might fall from above then a hard hat or lumberjack helmet as well. Kevlar chainsaw safety chaps are recommended for frequent use of gas chain saws but can be pricey and not rated for electric chain saws. Leather gloves with a gel insert to protect your hands from the vibration are a definite plus. If your hands hurt from splitting wood then try a pair, I bought one pair only because they were on sale and never went back. Personally I prefer working in the winter and fall wearing at least a long sleeve shirt and heavy duty pants. This keeps the bugs, thorns and branches from scratching up my skin. Last summer there was one small job where I was not wearing my work pants and boots found a hornets nest that day. If I had my usual work clothes I would not have been stung several times on my legs. Summer work is the most challenging because of the heat and PPE only adds to the heat. Spring brings Bugs, rain and mud.

Here are the tools I have used:

1. Axe: Best all around woodcutting tool. Can fell trees, cut and split firewood.  Not perfect for every use but can fill most in a pinch. Great for notching a tree to help it come down where you would like it to and limbing a tree when it is down. Plastic/fiberglass type handles last much longer than the wooden handles. I have a double edged axe for use when I know I will not need to drive the wedges in.
2. Maul: Ideal for splitting wood and driving wedges. Definitely use a plastic/fiberglass handle, and vibration resistant gloves plus a rubber collar for the occasional missed swing.
3. Large timber saw: Good for cutting firewood and felling trees, very fast if you are in practice.
4. Loppers: good for removing small branches, Axe or Hatchet is faster but loppers have reach.
5. Bow saw: useful for small branch removal and cutting small firewood
6. Chainsaws: The fastest way to take down trees but require skill and maintenance to use regularly. Every time someone uses a gas powered chainsaw in my neighborhood everyone knows it. Electric chainsaws are very quiet with much less maintenance but you need electricity and are limited by extension cord distance to the outlet or battery life. Gas powered saws need frequent fuel changes and carb cleaning if left to sit between seasons.
7. Cordless electric pole saw: for removing overhanging branches, clearing low hanging branches which are in the way and cutting down small trees.
8. Cordless electric chainsaw: good for small jobs away from an outlet or to do a small job without running an electric cord or priming the gas chainsaw.
9. Throw bag, cord and heavy duty rope: to rope and pull or convince a tree to fall where you want it.
10. Tow straps and come-along: to further convince a tree which way to fall. I run the throw bag and cord first, then rope then tow strap.

Maintenance:

1. Flat files for removing dents on the maul and sharpening the axe and timber saw. Round files for the chain saw, with light oil to preserve the steel and lube the cutting tools. Sharpening stones could be used as well in place of the flat file for the axe.
2. Spare chains for the chainsaw, spare vegetable oil for cutting lubrication and other use. Spare axe and handles are another plus.

Not to overstress safety but many people I have been trained by have later been injured cutting trees. Eventually chains break, trees kick back or bounce back, logs shift, branches fall, things happen. PPE is required not optional. Make sure you can finish cutting down a tree before making the first cut. Don’t limb a tree or start another tree when you need a rest. And never put your back to a falling tree. I only know of one local tree felling fatality, someone who had 40 years experience. He walked away from a tree cut to move his truck out of the way and the tree fell on him.

In a short article I am trying to describe what can be a month long process of clearing brush and cutting down trees. There is a lot to be learned, for experience there are always Arborists and loggers needing help pulling brush and cutting up branches and summer camps needing volunteers. You do not want to learn the hard way, learn from experienced people.

James:
I would like to add a couple of things with regard to the recent article and letters on sewing.
 
1.  Get a button jar.  People used to save the buttons from discarded, worn out clothing and use them for repair or when making new items.  When a button hole begins to wear out even a novice with needle and thread can sew on a larger button and make the garment wearable until the button hole can be repaired. A riveted metal button cannot be sewn back on and neither can a broken button.  I have buttons that have outlasted several garments and are still doing their duty.
 
2.   Wal-Mart sells an assortment of needles suitable for most sewing tasks including some that are sturdy enough to sew leather.  They also sell a large spool of thread that is meant for sewing on buttons but is ideal for repairing work clothing as well.  Both of them together are less than $3.00.
 
3.  Next time you go to Goodwill or your favorite thrift look at the far end of the rack of denim pants/jeans.  Often you can find a pair of new or nearly new jeans in a very large size.  I bought a size 48 heavy denim jean that was  new or nearly new for $.99.  I hope to never be able to wear that size but by buying them I got several yards of heavy denim and a new zipper.  The back pockets are already cut and hemmed and can be used as patches on coat elbows or the knees of kids jeans.  When I buy a pair of bib overalls I put double knee patches on them right away.  It is easier to do this when they are new as the knees are not stretched out.  Put the patch on the outside of the overalls and leave the bottom of the patch un-sewn.  They dry faster when washed, you can put padding in there if you have to spend a long time on your knees and any lint or debris that finds its way behind the patch will fall out.  Jeans patched this way from the bottom of the pockets to below the knees are warmer and more comfortable to kneel in than before they were patched.  This large pair of jeans will provide patches for two pairs of bibs and that will double the wear that you can expect from them. - Larry K.

Jim,
Another reader commented: "Buttons. Lay in a store of metal buttons. I can't tell you how many plastic, conventional buttons I've smashed working on something. Metal shirt and pant buttons don't break and wear for years. Plan on making clothes using buttons, including suspender buttons. Zippers break, jam and are far harder to replace than good metal buttons."

That's another of the things that our zinc sandwich phony pennies are good for: Turning them into buttons is really simple and easy with a drill press and 1/32" drill bit, but can be done with hand tools if necessary. - George S.  

Prepper communities and compounds rely on each members worth to their group, cooking, sewing, carpentry, leatherwork, gardening. There is one skill that cannot be over looked as one of the most valuable skills/trade for a prepper to possess.  Blacksmithing.  All other crafts and trades will require once again the skills of a blacksmith to replace stolen, broken tools.  In addition to making these tools a blacksmith can also make weapons, swords, axes, daggers, spears, arrow heads. 

But how would one go about obtaining these skills?  Look in your local areas for classes offered, some community colleges are now offering blacksmithing courses. Look for a local blacksmith group, a living museum that has a working blacksmith shop can help locate a blacksmith that’s willing to teach the basics. After taking the lessons or classes, it’s just a matter of practice before you’re looking for more complicated projects. A blacksmith with even the minimal skill set will be of great value, even if all they can do is make a simple knife, tomahawk or even a hinge. 

Once you’ve gotten the basic knowledge of blacksmithing practice is very important, for you to learn how to not burn your metal. (Yes metal will burn if heated too hot.) So you need to practice, how you’re asking, what next?  Build or purchase a forge, while a gas forge is great because it’s harder to heat the metal too hot in a gas forge, if TEOTWAWKI occurs, it won’t be long before propane or natural gas will become more valuable than gold.  So by all means use a gas forge to increase your skills, but also look at the many plans online to build your own coal/coke forge.  Even if you don’t have a supply of coal or coke you can use charcoal that you can produce yourself.  I believe the winner of round 42 of this contest is about making your own charcoal.  Tools, you can find blacksmithing tools at most flea markets, trade days and even on craigslist, or you can make your own tools.  Something most blacksmith will usually do when they want a specific tool for a job. That’s why when you see a picture of a blacksmith shop it’s cluttered looking due to all the tools and metal laying around. There are companies that also sell the coal forges as well, I took advantage of a sale and purchased a coke fire pot for the forge I built. Coke is coal with the impurities burnt out, coke burns cleaner and hotter making it quicker to heat your metal and finish your project in less time. Again practice is the most important thing in getting better at blacksmithing.

Hammer control is, (IMHO) the best and hardest skill to learn in blacksmithing.  Take a piece of wood and place it on your anvil, mark and X in the middle of the wood, now strike it with your hammer. Now hit it again. Did you hit the mark twice? Were you off the mark on the first and on the second? Or were you able to hit the mark twice in a row? Continue practicing this till you can hit the X every time, or until the wood splinters for your kindling.  Hammer control will allow you to finish a project in fewer hammer blows.

A source of metal is something else you’ll need, at one time I had several thousands of pounds of metal stored. When I was forced to sell out and move back into town, I sold most of it to a scrap yard. The one thing to be careful of is galvanized metals, the gas put off from heating galvanized metal is very toxic and can kill you if you breath it in. Zinc, the metal that galvanizes is the metal that creates this deadly gas. So again, classes, reading everything you can find on blacksmithing may save your life.

Speaking of heating metal to white hot, this is the perfect temperature to work metal, you want to push the metal around with your hammer. Make hard confident strikes, practice, practice, practice. Make nails, when you can make a nail in less than three heats then you’re doing fantastically well. The trouble I see most newcomers to blacksmithing is having a timid hammer strike. Once the metal cools to almost a dull red, put it back in the fire. If you see sparks, you’ve gotten it too hot. Once the metal has burnt, it’s not worth anything and after you heat it back up, cut the burnt piece off.  Remember, strike it while it’s hot is more than an old saying our grandparents used to say.

A lot of the old equipment was ran off a steam powered system or a system powered by water, they used belts and pulleys to power the equipment. If you’re homestead has the means for something like this, it will make life easier as a blacksmith to have the better equipment.

Being a blacksmith has been a great experience, you can learn a lot about life from blacksmithing. Blacksmithing as in life, you will get burned. Some will be minor irritating burns that are forgotten the next day. Some will be second or third degree and will leave a scar, a gentle reminder of a lesson learned at a price. The burns will heal, most of the scars will fade, but taking a cold hard piece of metal and heating it white hot, then molding and shaping it into something useful, there’s no greater thrill than seeing something you’ve created work like it’s supposed to.  The pride you’ll feel when someone oohs and aahs over a sword you’ve made.

Blacksmithing at one time was a common trade, many farms and ranches had a blacksmith shop for creating tools, repairing equipment, and many other tasks. In old Sears and Roebuck catalogs a complete blacksmith kit would cost less than $20. Now you’re lucky if you can find a single tool for that price. Blacksmithing as a prepper, you will gather your tools and supplies and build a nice stockpile of them. You never know when someone will come up and request a certain tool and you don’t have a piece of metal big enough to do the job.

Imagine making a hunting knife with which you can trade a hunter for two deer.  A chisel to a carpenter for a tool chest. A candle holder to someone for twelve jars of canned vegetables. The list goes on and on the things you can make and barter for.  An additional thing a blacksmith can do is create bolts for doors, hinge straps to re-enforce a door, metal for the corners of a wooden box. Just remember when you barter, you are the one that has what they want, and if they want it, they’ll make a fair trade. If not it’s up to your judgment on how to proceed, will not giving in create a hardship for you your family, will it put you in possible harms way. Unfortunately when TEOTWAWKI is gone, there are going to be people out there who won’t think twice about hurting you or your family to get what they want. A blacksmith is going to have many things that people want. Trust your instincts.

While the government may track down and take the guns away from the registered owners, they’ll overlook the knives, arrow heads, spear heads, thinking they’re just pretty flea market items. If someone breaks into your house and all they’re armed with is a small knife or club, pulling a sword or spear on them will make them change their minds quickly.  As will a crossbow with a sharp arrow head you’ve put the finishing touches on. England defended many invaders with nothing more than swords, axes and spears. If I can make a nice stockpile of weapons that don’t have to be registered with the government to keep my family safe, then light the forge and heat the steel, it’s time to increase my value.

A great place to start is with the Artist-Blacksmith’s Association of North America (ABANA), you can locate local smith’s, classes and even find a few projects to try. Another good place is Anvilfire.com, with loads of useful tips and projects. Last but not least is The Blacksmith’s Journal, they publish a small booklet that contains new projects and tips each month that will be mailed to your house each month, you can also purchase past issues as well.

Remember, while you have the chance to enjoy this wonderful craft, do just that, enjoy it. Because when it’s no longer a hobby, but a matter of putting food on your table for your family, or protecting them. There won’t be many days you’ll be able to remember to enjoy it. Don’t be afraid to contact a blacksmith, most are eager to share and pass on their trade especially if they’re doing it mostly as a hobby. It’s a little harder to get someone to share their knowledge when it’s what pays the bills.

Blacksmithing can be enjoyable, profitable and useful. It’s never too late to learn, and you can start out with simple equipment like a piece of railroad rail, hammer and a long handle pair of pliers for tools. I hope this helps put a spark in your life and will help create a few more blacksmith’s in the world.

I received the following from an embedded mil-blogger friend.  His personal information has been redacted:

Sir, 
If I may, I would like to share some information with you.  Some is based on personal experience, and some comes from experts I know and trust.  What you do with this is up to you, but I wanted you to have it to think about just in case.  

First, I can commend an I-phone app (should be available for other platforms as well) that the Army had suggested to me called IED Aware.  It is actually pretty much the basic Army awareness course (pre-deployment) done as an app.  Maker is ForceReadiness.com, that does other education and training apps as well.  Not sure if it is free or not, but quite a few of the study apps are.  

Something I can share with you based on experience is that situational awareness is the key.  But, not just in trying to spot something -- you need it to be prepared for realistic options.  

Visually and otherwise scout your AO immediately.  You are not just looking for potential IED sites, you need to get an idea of cover options.  Concealment is NOT cover.  Things that can hide you from view are concealment, not cover.  Cover is something that can protect you from bullets, blast, and fragments.  Cover is concrete, it is thick metal as in armor or even the engine block of a car, it is a ditch, a culvert, or other thing that can stop/deflect incoming.  And, yes, cover can help deflect a blast wave, as they are strange creatures that can and do bounce, deflect, and reflect.  Buy me a beer and I will tell you of one (non-IED generated) I know first-hand caused a relocation of a wall without breaking a pane of glass in that glass wall.  

You need to know cover not just for yourself, but if something happens you need to be able to direct people away using as much of that cover as realistically possible.  So, scout, plan, and plan options so that you do not have to think about things if something happens, but can assess and be proactive in an emergency.  Having to stop and think can and does get people killed.  Plan ahead. 

Then, scan the area thinking of where an IED can be easily concealed (trash can, paper bin, etc.) and check those for anything suspicious.  It looks suspicious, call out and call in.  Clear the area, and hunker down in a place that gives you as much cover as possible yet still allows you to control the cleared area to keep idiots and others from wandering in.  

If the area is clear, scan for distance markers.  One of the most common currently is a plastic grocery bag tied to a branch or otherwise secured; but, the key is to look for something out of place and or a series of things that also happen to be a uniform distance apart.  Just as we use distance and aiming stakes, so to does the enemy.  While it is often that such a bag or other signal marks the spot of the IED, it can also be a trigger point so that a vehicle or group moving at a steady speed will be in the blast zone if the remote detonator is triggered as they pass that point.  Using this method, someone can be at home or a nearby bar watching an event on television and know when to dial the phone or press the button.  If you see something that could be a distance/location marker, call out and call it in.  If that marker is near a culvert or sewer line under the street, it needs to be checked out immediately.  Admittedly, IEDs in such are mostly for vehicles, but… 

It is doubtful that most terrorists would try to bury anything, but do keep an eye out for a freshly plowed or dug flower bed or such, just in case.  

Watch for suspicious behavior.  Someone moving a bit too nonchalantly, exceedingly nervous, obviously drunk or on drugs with a coat or such over themselves (amazing how many suicide bombers have to have chemical enhancement to do the job), or someone who may or may not be praying but has a look on their face and/or in their eyes that really can't be described other than to say that when you see it, you know it.  They will usually move confidently and force their way towards their destination no matter what, and one hand is usually at their side or in a pocket.  It's not just someone moving in quickly, dropping a backpack or other container and then moving away, it is a host and range of behaviors that don't fit the norm.  If you spot someone like this, don't approach if at all possible, but here stay calm, talk normally and call in and have LE come and intercept the person.  

If an IED goes off, take cover.  If possible, choose cover that provides overhead cover as well.  Roll under a vehicle, concrete bench, etc.  If there is no cover, go flat:  shrapnel tends to go out in a cone, and if you can get under the cone, all you have to deal with immediately is blast effect.  Quite a few wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan from incoming happen because people kept trying to run to a duck and cover or other shelter, instead of going flat.  You hear blast, or get an incoming warning, you go flat if you can't make shelter in about five seconds.  

Keep in mind that immediate shrapnel is only part of the issue:  blasts like that tend to toss things in the air, sometimes substantial things.  That's why if you can get to cover that provides overhead cover, you should.  Keep in mind that in Boston, parts of the bomb were found on a rooftop some ten stories up.  Debris can be coming down for up to a minute after a blast.  If there is no cover, after the initial blast front and shrapnel wave has passed, you go turtle (legs and arm under you, head back so your helmet goes over back armor as much as possible) or squat with your feet flat, knees to chest, back to blast, and hands over head so that you make the smallest possible area from a vertical perspective.  

Next, know that there are likely to be more explosions, as various online manuals (and generally smart terrorists) will do secondaries or even tertiaries to get first responders.  You will have seconds to a couple of minutes to regroup, try to get people moving in a safe direction, and get set for the next blast.  Use it well.  

For any form of IED, tourniquets are essential.  In Boston, we saw a lot of improvised and it is likely that we will have to do so at need as most IGR do not have combat tourniquets.  People are going to be screaming, there's going to be blood and debris, and triage needs to be with traumatic amputations first and foremost.  If a limb is gone, or just about gone, get the tourniquet on as low as possible on the limb and as quickly as possible.  Then worry about shrapnel wounds.  Know that if they follow standard doctrine, bleeding is going to worse because the shrapnel was coated with rat poison, warfarin, which is known medically as Coumadin.  It is an anti-coagulant, and the idea is to get as much as possible into the wound to make the victim bleed out.  

Now, to something I put last because it is against most current doctrine.

One thing that is not to the liking of academics and other rear-echelon types is that you want to see if there is a dump point in your immediate AO.  A dump point is something that will reduce blast effects and shrapnel.  Good foxholes have a grenade sump for this, when you are on foot or at an event, you don't have that but you do have other options.  Keep in mind that blast waves, no matter how powerful, like to follow the path of least resistance as much as possible.  You want to spot a dump point in advance because sometimes you roll snake eyes don't have a lot of options.  A dump point can be a concrete road barrier, a dumpster, a sewer opening, or anything that gives thicker sides and no top or a weak top.  You dump an IED into such, it will be destroyed, but most of the blast and shrapnel is likely to go up, not out; and, what does go out will not go out as far.  

Two quick scenarios under this heading.  First, someone drops a bag of some type nearby and takes off running.  If they do that, things are out of control on both sides and your options are very limited.  If they have dropped it, and there is no boom, the odds of it having any form of movement trigger are slim to none.  If they are running, they are panicked and no longer thinking and can trigger immediately or even forget to do so.  If it is a timed bomb, then they may be running because time is running out -- but you have time to think and act.  Right then, you have to make a choice.  

First thing you do, is get people to get down and/or move away as quickly as possible, because even if it is someone playing a "joke" on security, you have to treat it as real.  If you are that close, there are few realistic options for survival unless you have a dump point planned.  Get the bag to the dump point, then try to get people and yourself away if no immediate boom, and do so as low as possible.  If you hear any noise from the direction of the bag, go flat.  You can't help anyone if you are dead.  The second scenario is a suicide bomber near/next to you.  Your only viable option is to try to control them, get them into the dump point, and try to get away.  Odds are you won't, but you are pretty much out of options at that point anyway.  If you are within about 15 feet of either, odds are that you are going to die, the only difference being how many die with you. - X.

- Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog Editor at Large)

James Wesley,
I have a few comments on the recent clothing article:
 
Good heavy work clothing is around, if you know where to look. Carhartt, Prison Blues, Roundhouse, Wild Ass jeans and Dickies to name just a few of the better known names. Treat this clothing as an investment and buy it even if its expensive as it's worth every penny.
 
Buttons.  Lay in a store of metal buttons.  I can't tell you how many plastic, conventional buttons I've smashed working on something.  Metal shirt and pant buttons don't break and wear for years. Plan on making clothes using buttons, including suspender buttons.  Zippers break, jam and are far harder to replace than good metal buttons. 
 
Lay in a pattern for overalls.  Sure, they look dorky but there isn't a better piece of clothing for hard work.  You can get them with double knees, all of them have the metal buttons, and the well made ones are made with 12 ounce denim, so they wear well for years.  Lots of pockets for tools, easy to layer up under them in cold weather, it's no wonder they've been in use for decades. - Bill S.

]Editor's Note: See my warning about this technique, below!]

With the current ammo shortages that have been plaguing the country and seem to have no end in sight, having a way to stock up on a key caliber for your preps is vital. Hindsight being 20/20 many of us now wish we would have put more of our valuable prepping budget towards stocking up on ballistic wampum. I believe I've found a way to still stock up on some very useful ammo while still making your valuable prepping dollars stretch just a bit farther.

The shotgun is universality accepted as being a part of almost every prepared person’s arms locker due to its flexibility and firepower. Of course the ammo shortage has also reached into the shotgun gauges, trying to find a box of 00 buck or slugs is almost impossible, and if you do their price has significantly increased in the last year. On the other hand a box of bird shot can be found relatively easily and for less than ten dollars ($8.99 at our local Wal-Mart.) While I wouldn’t want to be hit with bird shot its use as a self defense round is very limited. I’d like to discuss how to turn readily accessible bird shot into a formidable self defense frangible slug.                 

The “Waxer Slug” is a simple but great idea in my humble opinion. By removing the shot from a bird shot shell and mixing it with melted wax and putting it back you have made a frangible slug. The benefits of a waxer slug are pretty impressive. First and foremost is cost, they are dirt cheap to make, giving us the ability to stock up. Another benefit is that the effective range of the birdshot is actually increased, but it still has the low recoil of a bird shot load. Another benefit the waxer slug has is its slug like penetrating power, along with its unbelievable stopping power. This is due to the high transfer of energy into the target that frangible rounds are famous for. Basically when a wax slug hits something it penetrates a bit then shatters (fragments) back into its original shot form which can create massive wounds and unreal destruction to tissue and bone. You have to see these in use to really appreciate their destructive power. Of course there is always a downside to consider. High temperature can affect these so desert climate users beware.  Taking into consideration the melt temperature of wax, I would never uses these shells in Temperatures over 95 degrees. Also range is less than a real factory slug. A wax slug just isn’t very aerodynamic and has been known to tumble, so the optimal range is 50 yards, with 65 yards being the limit that I’ve been able to hit a torso target with six out of seven shots. Please balance the pros and cons to decide if this is for you.

Okay if you’re still interested... the first step you need to do is gather a few low cost materials. Of course Bird shot shells are the first item to procure. I’ve found the best success using shot ranging from 7.5 to 9. The larger size pellets tends to tear apart the slug while these smaller sizes cost less and work better (Win-Win). There are some other very basic materials that are needed and as you become familiar with the process you can add or substitute a few of them. One item that you will need will be a small pot (that your wife will not want back) this will be used to melt the wax. A larger pot that the small pot can fit into is optional but this you can borrow from your wife as you won’t mess it up. You’ll also need a cheap soup spoon (that your wife won’t miss). I suggest using a vice or a pair of pliers to bend the spoons end into more of a scoop to approximately fit the diameter of a shot shell. This will significantly cut down on the mess. The next item you will need will be a pair of scissors or a box cutting knife. Gloves also might come in handy as you will be dealing with hot items and lead.

Of course you will need some wax. The wax can be found in any number of places. Focusing on keeping this process as cheap as possible I have used broken crayons which of course are free if you have children. Another supply source of course is candle wax. My candle wax is also free because I recycle the last ½ inch that seems to never be used from my wife’s scented candles. Yes I have to put up with scented shells but I keep them in a separate ammo can so I don’t take them into the field by mistake. I don’t want to chase away game or give away a position because I saved a few pennies on wax. Another source of wax is of course is gulf wax. For only a few bucks a block of Gulf wax will make a couple hundred shells easily with none of the afore mentioned scent problem to mess with.
A side note, if are a organizational freak like me, you can color code your wax for different shot sizes to be different colors or you can color code all the scented shells are red while the unscented shells are blue. Pick which ever colors work for you. My good friend has mixed up a "Zombie Green" color just to look cool. No one said you can't have fun while getting prepared.  

After you have gathered all of your materials, the first step is to trim off the top 16th of an inch off of the shot gun shell. If possible just remove the crimped edge of the shell so that you can remove the top. You can use scissors, a sharp knife, or a box cutter whichever you are more comfortable with. Please be careful as it is easy to slip and trim your thumb instead of the plastic shell using a box cutter.  Something to keep in mind before you trim your first shell is that your goal is to remove (and retain) the shot pellets and leave as much of the shell intact as possible, so the wad doesn’t become loose. It only takes 1-2 shells to get the amount to trim right. After the top is open pour the shot (small ball bearings) into a small container as we will need it again in a few minutes.
If you wife will let you play in her kitchen, it will save some additional money, if not a single eye hot plate for your work bench is the answer. At around twenty dollars it might be worth it if you plan on making a lot of wax slugs. Either way take your large pot and fill it 1/3 full of hot water. Place your chosen wax supply in the smaller pot and then put the smaller pot inside the larger pot.  Then turn up the heat to bring the water to a boil.  This will melt the wax while reducing the risk of overheating it. The melt temperature of wax differs but 125 to 175 degrees is a good target.  Be careful as wax can combust. The flash point is different for different waxes but the rule to follow is “If the wax begins to smoke lower the temperature!”  Practice vigilance when you melt wax, don’t leave it unattended while heating.  If it does combust DO NOT pour water over it, remain calm turn off the heat and put a lid over the pot to smother the flame.  I have never had this problem but we are supposed to be prepared aren’t we?

After the wax has liquefied pour in the shot from the prior step. Mix them with the wax and let them warm up a bit so the wax infuses the shot.  Take your shells from the first step and place them on a paper plate or a pie pan. This is to contain the mess, no matter how steady your hand is you will spill some shot.  Slowly spoon the shot into the shell directly onto the wad. You can use the bent spoon as I do, a small funnel, or I’ve even used a folded piece of paper for this step. Whatever works best for you. As you fill the shell with the shot mix, wax will leak through the cuts in the plastic wad but this is fine as it will keep your slug from falling out on accident. The goal is to fill the shell with mostly shot--not all wax. Some wax is fine, but you want as much shot as possible up to the top of the wad. Do not have shot past the top of the wad.

After the shell is full of shot (within a 16th of an inch of the top) top it off with a bit of liquid wax to make a sort of smooth top seal. This is an important step as you do not want any shot sticking out on top. There is a very slim chance of a pellet that does protrude striking another shell’s primer in a loading tube thus ruining your weapon and possibly ruining you. Plan for the worst and make sure that never happens by having strict quality control.                 

Set the shells to the side for a few minutes to cool. After about two or three minutes the wax will have cooled and hardened enough to clean off the outside of the shell. I use the knife from the first step to lightly scrape off the excess wax that tends to drip down the side of the shell.  This is a tedious final step but vital to ensure proper feeding in pump shotguns.

Now to answer two questions before they are asked:

1. I’ve shot a few hundred wax slug rounds and have found no noticeable wax build up in the barrel. Of course I still clean my weapon after each use, but I’ve found no additional cleaning was needed above what I do when I shoot normal factory rounds.

2. How is adjusting the weight of shot sent downrange safe? The truth is that you’ll actually end up loading slightly less shot following this procedure and the weight of the wax is insufficient to change the weight of the shot in any significant way. So the power load is still well within the safe range.          
       
One other thing to consider, adding some extra flexibility to this process is another option.  Instead of using wax try using hot glue. Hot glue will increase your cost but it will make a much harder slug which will not fragment as easily thus ensuring greater penetration, also using hot glue instead of wax will significantly reduce the temperature limitation of wax. Depending on your needs this option might be useful to you, but as always YMMV.

I realize this isn't for everyone but with the proper safety checks in place, I do believe that the ability to turn an inexpensive, readily available round into a formidable defense round is worth sharing.

JWR Adds This Important Safety Warning: Reader Ken S. wrote:

"Making slugs using wax is VERY DANGEROUS!!!!  It is an old idea from the past that got some traction in the old timers myth telling.  On the second or third shot you can have enough wax build-up in the barrel to cause the next shot to stick [part way down the barrel] resulting in a blown up shotgun [when a subsequent shell is fired.]  I know.  It happened to me about 50 years ago.   I totally destroyed a Remington pump gun and am very lucky I escaped with some minor cuts and bruises.  [The usefulness of wax-filled shells] is a rural myth.  Do not try it.  I have heard this story re-surfacing every few years and everyone I ever heard of that tried it ended up blowing up their gun.  Sometimes with serious injury.  Please alert your readers."

Based on Ken's experience, clearly the wax shell technique would only be suitable for a single-shot shotgun, and only then if the gun's bore were inspected and thoroughly cleaned between shots. Therefore, I cannot recommend using "waxers" for self defense, or anything beyond single shot use, in absolutely desperate situations. (And I mean truly desperate, such as: You have ONLY a handful of birdshot shells, yet you must kill a deer or face starvation for the coming winter.)

As previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog, a much more safe technique that yields similar results is making cut shells, but this is not advised for repeating (pump or auto) shotguns. As with any other ammunition modification, use great caution. If a cut shell were to come apart inside your gun's magazine tube, it would create a horrible mess and probably result in a jam that might take a long time to clear. Therefore, I cannot recommend using cut shells for self defense either. (That is, where someone is returning fire--unless you are desperate and have no other alternative.) But cut shells might suffice for hunting or for culling large garden raiders like deer or feral pigs.

My husband, children and I live in a largely off-grid community in the desert southwest.  We live on forty acres with solar power, a water well and water catchment.  We garden and live with chickens and are adding skills to our new life style all of the time.  My husband does not like for me to be too specific, but I outlined some of our lifestyle changes in an article on trash in July 2012.
This article is about clothing.  It is about sewing and mending and altering.  I know you’d rather read about AR-15’s, but IMHO, clothing is going to be a big deal in a TEOTWAWKI situation.  Before radically changing our lifestyle two years ago, I was the typical American mother.  I bought new clothing when the old became too small or too worn.  I bought when the seasons changed, and worse, I bought when the fashions changed.  Another thing I steadfastly did was to donate clothing by the tub and box full.  I worked very hard at keeping our closets clean and clutter free.  This is something that every home management book, blog, and article tell American moms to do. 

Whether you shop in charitable thrift stores or big box discount stores or big name fashion stores, the quality available to most Americans is pathetic.  But, while we still have shopping opportunities, look for quality clothing, for yourself and every member of your family.  Buy it whether you need it or not.  And once you own it, where ever you got it, you need to hang on to the quality stuff and learn to repair it.  I advocate charitable giving, but I also advocate the discontinuation of consumerist disposal of the old to make way for the new because of fashion dictates and other materialistic mindsets.
Have you taken an inventory of your closet lately?  Is it 90% professional clothing?  Do you have suits and ties for weekdays?  Is it chinos and button down Oxfords for the weekends?  Or do you have heavy duty work-type seasonal clothing that is suitable for your climate?  Do you have enough to layer in a cold climate with no household heating?  Can you protect yourself from the sun in the heat of the summer?  What about work boots?  Do you have a pair or two mixed in with your dress loafers?  Women, how many of you have heavy denim jeans?  I say this because women’s jeans are usually thin stretch denim and it is flimsy.  I know because I repair it!  Ladies, those high heels and flirty flip-flops that we all love are not going to serve you well in most TEOTWAWKI situations.  Neither are the flimsy tank tops that are so popular in summer.  Most of us do not wear them in the desert.  What is in your closet?  If you can’t imagine what you’d need, there are books, like Mr. Rawles’, that have fictionalized accounts of what a TEOTWAWKI scenario would be like.  Look around for people who work outdoors or farm; go into GEBO’s or whatever your farm supply store is.

I’d like to add one last thing before I begin my main topic.  I have no idea what I’m preparing for.  We, those of us who have a certain mindset about future possibilities, don’t know what the future holds.  We all have an opinion.  We think it may go this way or that way, but really, we don’t know.  Our job is to prepare, as best we can, for many different scenarios.  There are plenty of scenarios where we will all be blessed to just get out alive, never mind our extended wardrobe. There are others, like a long slow economic decline, where we simply have to roll up our shirtsleeves and do more with less.  There are plenty of TEOTWAWKI scenarios in the middle of those two.  If you are preparing, though, you need to prepare to have no new and maybe no new-to-you clothing options in the foreseeable future.

New clothing construction.  This usually begins with a pattern.  There are a few points to think about with patterns.  First, what kind do you want?  Well, IMHO, you want basic patterns for clothing that suits your area.  Pants, shirts, coats, jackets, hats, gloves, vests, the list could go on and on.  You can find a sewing pattern for just about everything, so if you’ve got an interest, look through the books and pick out patterns for additional items like luggage, organizers, tea cozies, etc., whatever suits your interests.  Just make sure you cover the basics first.  Also, if you are young, starting a family, think you may continue to add to your family, you need to consider the different stages of that child’s growth when looking at patterns.  Second, if I were you, after searching out the patterns that I like and want, then I would wait for a pattern sale.  Patterns can cost $10 to $15 these days, but most stores put patterns on sale regularly.  These sales used to be across the board, come in and get it sales.  These days, they have restrictions here and there.  Just educate yourself.  They all eventually go on sale.  Also, you can find many free patterns on the internet.  Granted, most of these are craft patterns, but you can find basic patterns too.

| Quick side note.  While tissue paper patterns have been around for a long time, they haven’t always been available. So what was the process before tissue patterns?  You can use newspaper, butcher paper, freezer paper (smaller items), muslin, or light colored sheets to make a pattern.  It is always easier to have a deconstructed item of clothing for this, but simpler garments can be traced without deconstructing.  You lay the garment pieces out on the fabric you are using and you trace around it.  You need to make sure that you leave enough for a seam allowance, usually 5/8 inch.  A basic understanding of clothing construction is helpful here.  Let me admit right here that the only time I’ve done this was in college.  Several of us in the dorm made matching sleep pants.  Two hours and lots of giggling later, we were done.  We used shoe strings for the waist, so I’m pretty sure that experience doesn’t qualify as “making my own pattern”.  So, I haven’t done this before.  If it interests you, research it.  However, one of my roommates could draw a basic dress on the fabric, cut it out and sew it up.  Many people can do this and they don’t all live in large cities.  Maybe you can find someone with this skill who is like minded enough to join your group.  Wouldn’t that be a great asset? 

Back to store bought patterns.  Patterns come in a range of sizes.  For example, women’s pants can include sizes 8, 10, 12, and 14.  You simply cut the pattern along the line that corresponds to your measurements.  And you need to have accurate measurements.  Sewing patterns do not always correspond to store sizes.  This is mostly a problem with women’s clothing, not men’s.  And, IMHO, you should buy a range of sizes from the smallest through at least extra-large in a range of patterns.  Example: my youngest son was tiny until the age of 14.  He is now the size of The Hulk.  Many women are different sizes from top to bottom.  A range of sizes is good. If you don’t want to have that many patterns, then just get the most basic clothing patterns in the widest variety of sizes.  For the more specialized patterns, you can be more size specific.  You might be able to barter with extra patterns, though, you never know.  Patterns are meant to be cut.  I don’t cut mine.  I trace them onto paper.  Besides having an aversion to cutting that pristine pattern, I don’t cut mine because I can be different sizes at different times.  I gain, I lose, I add pockets.  If you cut the pattern, it is cut.  I don’t cut mine. 
If you are going to sew new clothing, then fabric is the next step.  Useful fabric is probably another article all together.  I came from a small city of just over 200,000 and if you want to make a prom dress, no problem.  Most fabric stores sell craft fabric, home decoration fabric, and fabric for special occasion clothing.  Professional suiting (for women), fabric for Sunday dresses can be had, but the everyday hard wearing fabric is harder to find.  You can find home dec denim or denim for dressy skirts, but not hard wearing, “play outside” denim.  Since I haven’t lived in a really large city, I can’t speak to what is available there, but I don’t think it could be too different.  If I’m wrong and you live in a large city and can find good thick denim, canvas, thick flannels, strong thick cottons, then stock up and learn to sew.  Let’s not forget all of the other necessary sewing notions, either.  Thread, buttons, zippers, slacks closures, hooks and eyes, the list could be long, but it doesn’t have to be.  Stock the basics.  Now, here is the kicker, after four paragraphs, I say to you that, right now, new clothing construction is not cost effective.  I think in some scenarios, it could be…again, but right now, it isn’t.  There are just too many lower cost and more efficient ways to find clothing, such as thrift shopping.  I still stand behind what I just wrote, though.

So what were the previous paragraphs for?  You’ve got store bought patterns and sewing notions, now what?  Well, I haven’t sent you down the rabbit hole; I simply do not know what role clothing manufacturers or cloth manufactures will have in certain end times scenarios.  So you take those patterns and you read them.  This is how you learn about basic clothing construction and then, in turn, you learn about alterations and repair.  I find these two topics to be more useful for my continued efforts in prepping.  If what is ahead is a severe, deep depression similar to the 30’s, then it could be that fabric is affordable and store bought is not.  Sewing in any form will be a fundamental and much needed skill.

As I’ve stated before, I live in a small community.  I often work in a small quilting shop.  The owner will take in repairs and small, easy alterations.  We repair a lot of clothing here.  We sew up pockets, we hem new jeans, and we repair rips, tears, and wears.  For many in our community, they have no concern whatsoever about how a repaired item “looks”.  We can repair holes with a patch and the heavy and liberal use of the zigzag stitch.  If a pocket is ripped, most don’t mind if we put on a different colored pocket.  In my family of men, there are so many tiny holes in underwear and socks that can be easily repaired with a darning stitch or a zigzag stitch on the machine.  My daughter’s things have to be handled more carefully, but all in all, she’s not that picky.  My point is, when you find a rip, or a tear, fix it right then.  Don’t wait for it to get worse.  Sew it together with a strong stitch and be as neat as you can with it.  Don’t throw it away if the main part of the garment is still useful.  If you cannot wear it in public, then wear it at home or store it.  If the repair is major, get out a pattern and cut a new sleeve, or a new collar.  Use the patterns to fashion new pockets or cuffs.  I don’t know about you, but I cannot just wing something like that on the fly.  I need a pattern. 

Patterns will be very useful when altering clothing.  In any end-time scenario where people actually survive, you can pretty much count on losing weight.  Regardless of how much food you’ve stored, your supply is limited. You’ll ration your food.  Pair that with the absence of processed foods and you’ve probably got a significant loss of excess pounds.  What you also have is a closet full of clothing sized for your pre-TEOTWAWKI self.  Now, you can prep for weight loss and buy clothing in smaller sizes and store it.  You could go ahead and lose the weight now and that way you’d only have minor changes to make.  Still, your clothing is going to need alteration at some point.

I’ve thought about this portion of this article for a while now.  There is no way that I can write, describe, or illustrate all of the ways to alter clothing in this article.  So, what follows is a simple start to a much larger learned skill. 

The very best way to alter clothing because of weight loss is to deconstruct the item, cut them down and reconstruct them.  This is where those sewing patterns come in handy. Not many people will to want to do that. I wouldn’t do it unless the item of clothing needed to be severely cut down. 
So, if we are not going to deconstruct the item, then what?  Starting at the top, most shirts can be altered by simply taking in the side seams.  If the shirt has sleeves, then you probably will need to take in the seam of the sleeve as well. The seam is usually on the underside of the sleeve.  You can use pattern pieces to keep the shape of your garment.  Pattern pieces also will have the seam allowance already marked.  If you are a complete novice, break out the patterns.  Or, if you have some basic knowledge of sewing, then put the shirt on inside out and have a friend or family member pin (straight pins) the seams to the contour of your body.  You don’t want to do this too tightly.  Most clothing seams have a 5/8” seam allowance, meaning you sew your seam 5/8” from the edge.  You’ll need to consider that allowance as you pin.  If you need to take in the sleeves, pin the sleeve as well.  Take the time to mark it.  Any writing instrument will do, it doesn’t have to be a sewing marker.  These two seams will meet at the sleeve hole and will have taken up the necessary excess fabric in the sleeve hole.  Sew it up with a straight stitch.  I would suggest you try the garment on before you cut away the excess fabric.  If it isn’t right, that is okay. A straight stitch is easy to rip out.  Rip the seam and make any corrections needed.  Once you are satisfied, then I suggest you use a narrow zigzag stitch just inside the straight stitch to make the whole seam stronger.  Then you cut away the excess fabric.  It probably took me longer to type and edit this paragraph than the process actually takes, so don’t be intimidated. 

To make a small shirt larger, say for children who are growing, you could cut the side seams and add fabric to each side to the seam. Sew it up with a narrow zigzag stitch or a straight stitch.  Add fabric to the bottom of the shirt; add more fabric to the underside of the sleeve and you have a larger shirt that can see some more wear.  You can probably get at least another season of wear out of a shirt by using this technique.  Actually, since adding fabric at the seams is a style statement at the moment, you can find examples of this on the internet if you look.

Sleeves deserve a little extra attention.  Shortening sleeves? Not a problem. Most people can easily cut sleeves off and hem either what is left of the sleeve or hem the sleeve hole.  Pretty obvious and pretty easy.  Can you lengthen sleeves?  Well, if you don’t mind fabric that doesn’t match, then sure, you can lengthen sleeves.  You can add extra material at the shoulder seam or at the wrist.  Here is another time you can use the patterns that you’ve stored.  You can make a whole new sleeve by using the sleeve from a shirt pattern similar to what you are altering. If it needs to be lengthened, most patterns have a line where you can cut the pattern to lengthen it or fold it to shorten it.  Cut it out and sew it up.  Or, at the shoulder, use the upper part of the sleeve to make a pattern for the sleeve hole.  I’d use an inch or so in addition to your seam allowance of complimentary fabric and not even try to match the fabric of the sleeve.  Use a straight seam to sew the sleeve on to the new fabric. Pin your whole sleeve into the sleeve hole. If you have a pattern, follow those instructions. If you don’t have pattern instructions, then find the side seam of the shirt and pin to the seam on the underside of the sleeve. Do the same with the top of the sleeve. Once those two pins are in place, ease the rest of the fabric in on the curve.

You could also take the cuff off, if there is a cuff, and add fabric there.  Same procedure, you simply make a pattern from the end of the sleeve with the cuff off.  Sew the new fabric on and then reattach the cuff.   If there is no cuff, add one for extra length.  This is probably something that you would only do in a TEOTWAWKI situation.

The next obvious item of clothing that might need altering is pants or slacks.  If the waist needs to come in just a bit, then add darts.  Basically, to make a dart, you put your index finger in the back waist band and then using your thumb and third finger, press excess material to the front of your index finger.  You’ve done this a million times, so you know how to do it.  Pin it.  Once you have the clothing off again, pull the material together and smooth it into a long triangle on the wrong side of the fabric.  This is a dart.  Pin it and sew it up.  Make another dart on the opposite side in a similar place.  If you have a lot of material to take in, you may have to take the waistband off, take in the extra from the center seam in the butt. You’d also have to take in the waistband and that will involve removing a belt loop or two and the pockets as well.  This may be worth it if you have nothing else to wear, but it is a pain otherwise.  For general resizing in the hips and thighs use the inseam. If you are sizing jeans and the inseam is a double hem, then I’d just cut that off and make a flat seam.

After all of that, hemming the length of the pant leg is a breeze. Get a friend or a family member to pin them and sew with a straight stitch. If you need to hem more than an inch, consider cutting the material off leaving enough for a 5/8” seam.  You’ll want to turn the raw edge and then turn it again for the best results.

That is a very basic description of alteration for basic clothing. I didn’t cover altering a suit or a prom dress or any other kind of dress for that matter.  I don’t really consider those items important after the ball drops. I don’t think any of the readers on this site would either. If the world is truly gone, then I’d cut up those wool suits and make quilts out of them (you can’t wash them, but they are WARM). I’d use the softer prom dress type material for sleepwear or underwear for women or children.  You also may need to cut adult clothing down to child size.  Another good reason to have patterns on hand.
I have a final observation about Americans and clothing.  I said above that I do believe in charity and I do not advocate discontinuing that practice.  I don’t know about you, though, but the images of the mountains of clothing dumped on Sri Lanka and other areas affected by the Christmas tsunami in 2004 was eye-opening for me.  As Americans we have SO MUCH that we sent it to those people by the container full.  I think it was a wonderful testament to the giving hearts of most American people.  But!  Most of it was not usable in their tropical climate.  I read that much of it was destroyed.  The people there could not use it and they could not deal with the onslaught of all of that clothing.  So, I urge you to look at clothing that you might give away with a more discerning eye.  Absolutely donate your professional clothing!  If an item is in pristine condition, someone will be thankful to receive it.  But I know that in our little church clothing room, I receive far more articles of clothing that are stained and ripped than those that are pristine.  Many organizations will not put these clothes out at all.  They destroy them.  But, if you do not donate them; if you mine those clothes for zippers, buttons, collars, cuffs and any number of embellishments that clothing companies use, then that clothing won’t be wasted.  You can either deconstruct the garment completely and keep the pieces organized, or just store the shirt.  You can also use the deconstructed garment to make a pattern if you missed those pattern sales that I told you about.  You’ll be tempted to say that you cannot possibly store one more thing.  I agree.  Storage is a problem for all of us, but buttons and zippers don’t take that much room.  Find a way to store at least some items because you will need them.  And before you throw away the body of the garment, could you use it for a blanket or quilt?  Could you use it for cleaning rags or even bandages if it comes to that?
So, my suggestions are:

• Learn about sewing or better yet, learn to sew.
• Stock up on patterns, material, and sewing notions that will be useful in a survival situation.
• Learn to keep your basic wardrobe in good repair.  Learn to alter clothing.
• When going through your closet, keep in mind emergency/survival scenarios.  Do you have the clothing necessary to keep you covered, cool and/or warm enough in any type of situation?
• If the clothing that you seek to remove from your closet would be useful in a survival situation, do not throw it out or donate it.  If it is too small, it won’t be after the ball drops.  It may be something that you could barter with.   Good, heavy duty clothing will be a gold mine.  If it is not in good repair, repair it yourself or have it repaired while you still have professionals who can and will repair and alter.
• Lose the bulk of the extra weight now.  It is just easier that way.
• By all means, donate your professional clothing to charitable organizations, but the items that are too ripped, or worn, or stained to donate should be mined for usable parts.
• On February 8th, 2013 Mr. Rawles posted an article to Survivalblog called “Industrial Sewing Machines for Prepared Families”, by Lockstich.  This is really an excellent article.  Obviously, if you don’t have a sewing machine, then that article is the place to start.  Get a good machine.  And then learn to use it!

Many (if not most) people seek wealth, yet few can define it.  There are many practical definitions.  One author defines wealth as having sufficient assets to provide the cash flow necessary to meet your monthly living expenses.  That’s a great definition for normal times, but having a bunch of rental houses when the dollar is worthless and the hungering hoards are loose upon society won’t do you much good.

If you are at all familiar with the concepts promoted in this blog you know what you need to have for basic survival.  I will not spend space and electrons reviewing what we already know.  But what do you do after you have the basics?  Do you continue to accumulate more of the basics until you need a multilevel secret subterranean warehouse to house your supplies?

When you have your basics squared away you need to look to the concept of vertical integration.  Vertical integration was used by the so-called robber barons of the late 19th and early 20th century.  The man that owned the steel mill also owned an iron mine, a coal mine, a limestone quarry, and the transportation capability to move the raw materials in and the finished product out.  Now before you start giving me that funny look I do know that most prepper budgets would not support the purchase of mines and mills.  But the ability to go from raw material to finished product is the definition of wealth for a prepper in a post-TEOTWAWKI situation.

This concept applies to every element of your preparations.  Food, defense, medicine, etc.  And it not just about tools but knowledge also.  Let’s look at food as an example.  The first step is to store food.  You start small, maybe a month’s worth at first.  You build up to a year then two years.  You purchase a grain mill to turn your stored wheat into flour.  This is as it should be, but what is next. 

Now, you look to food production.  After all, you can’t practically store a lifetime’s worth of food.  Gardening is a great place to start.  You read and research different techniques.  You develop a place for the garden, starting small so you don’t overwhelm yourself.  You acquire the tools necessary for a small garden and learn how to use them.  You put this knowledge into practice and learn from your failures and build on your successes. 

As your successes increase and your failures become rare your confidence increases, and so does the size of your garden.  You acquire the tools necessary for a bigger garden.  You start using open pollinated seeds and learn how to save seeds for future years.  You learn how to start bedding plants.  After a few years your small garden that produced a few salads and tomatoes is now producing a tremendous excess of a large variety of vegetables.

Now you turn your attention to food preservation.  You learn pressure canning, pickling, and dehydrating to preserve your excess harvest for the winter months and the lean years.  You have vertically integrated your food production.  You can take seeds and produce finished storable food and produce seeds for future years.  You can expand your garden to produce far in excess of your needs.  The ability to sustainably produce food in a world of hungry people is wealth.  You can now take your basic skill set and expand laterally to small-scale grain production, herb production, and/or animal feed production.

Along the way you have learned associated skills such as how to repair and maintain your gardening tools, how to produce the power necessary to run your food processing tools, how to keep the pests out of your garden, and how to produce natural fertilizers for your garden.  You cannot focus on a specific area and learn in a vacuum.  There are always associated skills to learn.

This same principle can now be applied to animal production.  Start with chickens and build from there.  Add goats then cows or pigs or both.  Continue to grow and expand your capabilities adding skills and tools, as you are ready for them.  Many people, especially those new to the preparedness mindset, will see the enormity of the task and panic.  They will try to do it all at once and set themselves up for failure.  Proper preparation is like eating an elephant, you have to do it one bite at a time.

This process happens in measured steps and assumes that you have taken care of the basics first.  You have your “beans, bullets, and bandages” stored away and you have a place to work that you can call your own.

Start at the end.  Identify how the end result will look.  List the capabilities that you want to have when you reach your final goal.  Be specific and detailed.  You cannot start a successful project if you do not know what the finished result will be.  You need to know when you have reached the end.

Next, go back to the beginning.  Determine when, how, and at what level you are going to start your project.  The chances are good that you have some basic knowledge to start with, knowledge that will allow you to begin the project at a level within your comfort zone.  This point will vary from person to person.  Some will start with no knowledge at all on the subject, some will start with knowledge that they haven’t used for years, and yet others will start with a firm grasp of the basics.

Now that you have identified the starting point and the finishing point, you can determine the actual size of the project.  You can now accurately identify what tools you need to acquire and what skills you need to learn.  You can divide the project into manageable bites or phases and set goals to be accomplished at each phase.  The beauty is that you can make each phase as big or as small as you like.  You can customize each phase to your time and resource availability.

You can use this method to focus on a single project or to steadily advance on multiple projects simultaneously.  This method will work no matter where you start or where you want to end up, whether you have many resources or few to devote to your projects.  You can make this system fit your needs.  This is how you develop your assets to produce the kind of wealth that will benefit you in difficult times.

Allow yourself the time that you need.  It is easy to look around us at the negative indicators and panic, thinking that you need to do everything now.  That type of thinking will only lead to failure.  You must lay a solid foundation of knowledge to build on, a process that takes time.  You should develop at least a degree of confidence at each phase before moving to the next.  Otherwise, it is easy to overwhelm yourself.  Should the world go to Schumer sooner than expected you can be confident in what you know and take comfort in the fact that you are far better prepared than well over ninety percent of the rest of the people.

"A man has got to know his limitations." (Harry Callahan).  The technology exists to do many things on a small scale.  You can produce energy from wind, water, and sun.  You can produce fuel from grains and oil seeds.  You can produce your own food, grow your own medicines, produce your own transportation, and many other things too numerous to mention.  However, even with all of these possibilities there are still some things that you will need to store.  While you can cast or swage your own bullets you will be hard pressed to make primers or powder to match what is commercially available today.  The same applies to lubricants, matches, canning lids, and a large variety of other vital supplies.  Be realistic in your expectations and don’t plan to do more than you are capable of.

"Specialization is for insects." (Robert Heinlein).  If you have a group it is tempting to divide workload and then stay with your assigned tasks only.  This type of thinking is a key ingredient in the recipe for disaster.  The loss of one specialized individual can greatly harm the overall effectiveness of a group.  Cross training avoids this.  You should learn as much as you can about as much as you can.  Additionally, should you find yourself on your own, a broad base of generalized knowledge could make you a valuable asset to a group. 

When the day comes that the paper dollar is little more than mediocre tinder, wealth will be the ability to sustainably produce a finished product in excess of your immediate need.  The knowledge and tools that you need produce that product are the assets that will generate that wealth.  Develop a plan that will take you from where you are to where you want to be and then act on that plan.  The most important step that you can take is to start.

The end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI) has probably crossed your mind lately. It might have been just a brief news flash about a silly Mayan prophecy, or maybe you have an uncle who still thinks the Russians are gonna nuke us. More likely in our generation, our societal bonds could disintegrate thanks to erosion of our financial system. If you have not given this situation much thought, it is high time to start. The first step is to take the possibility seriously. If you cannot handle this basic prerequisite, well, Devil take the hindmost.

Once you acknowledge that the world as you know it could change overnight (as it did one day in September a decade ago, forever making 911 more than an emergency phone number), you can begin to get your mind into the right shape to handle things that might come. First off, look around you. Are you happy with the quality of "people" you see on television? Do you sense a budding sickness in society, perhaps born of ignorance and apathy? Whether by endorsing unfundable entitlement programs or refusing to speak out against unconstitutional infringements on our guaranteed rights, these are the lazy masses deciding the direction of our economy and country. Do not wait around for an irresponsible government to provide a backup plan for a problem it won't admit exists. Decide now that your fate will not be determined by fools and demagogues. If there's one thing we're supposed to know how to do in this country, it is to take care of business when the going gets rough. Now exhale and use your brain.

Everyone has their own ideas about what they would need to survive. We know there are basic needs of food, water, and shelter which we earn by trading our labor, resources, and knowledge. Unfortunately we actually trade for money which is then converted into satisfying our needs and wants. But how is worth estimated when your neighbors no longer value green toilet paper with pictures of dead presidents? When the intermediary is gone from the equation, you must trade directly. With assets lying around for anyone to take, what is special and valuable from an individual? The quick answer is skill set - what you bring to the table besides a consuming belly. All the survivalist staples (like bug-out bags, bomb shelters, and sustainable living, to name a few) are secondary to the primary survival tool you have: your mindset. Whether you are prepared for a new way of living or not, your skill set brings value and your mindset determines your survival.

Currency is the grease which keeps our mighty economic engine cranking at high RPMs. If we lose it, then everyday single-swipe type transactions vanish as does all the industry that depends on things moving at break-neck speed, inevitably to collapse under the weight of its own complexity, only for the want of a little engine oil. Fortunately we grew up with tales of how the country can work (and used to work) at a slower pace. According to your grandpa, those were the Good Ol' Days. There was more bartering and human interaction, less telemarketing and ADHD. This is not to say your current diploma-requisite job is useless; however, smart money says invest in yourself by learning something your grandma would be proud to see perpetuated.

Cities do not function below a certain RPM. Without hundreds of trucks bringing in supplies daily, everyone starves. Riots and looting are only two days deep into hunger and authoritative neglect, as evidenced by recent superstorm Sandy in the Northeast. Maybe you think about escaping to the countryside where the food grows - well, everyone else is thinking that, too. Imagine: desperate hordes fleeing into the wilderness in search of a replacement for their supermarket. They will find mostly unfamiliar countryside, as not everyone is a hunter or farmer. In fact, relatively few of us have the skills to survive on our own. The vast majority of people need a bunch of other providers to live. The main reason we built societies in the first place was to make it easier on everyone. You might even manage to survive as a loner, but you won't thrive. For success after TEOTWAWKI, you need to be accepted into a community that somehow works without our current authority and currency. Yet outside of immediate family members, who would take you in?

A survival-minded group is not going to accept everyone who stumbles into it. For their own protection of limited resources, they will turn away anyone who cannot pull his own weight. Furthermore, they will be practiced in turning away people with necessary force. You will need to offer skills and knowledge that make you worth a share of the food. If you have no obviously valuable skills (carpentry, plumbing, cooking - all those things learned by the vo-tech kids you looked down on in high school), you had better learn to have a valuable attitude. If you think you could be manual labor, well, that's true of anyone. Why should you be the one a community says Yes to? In modern terms, you should think of your survival chances like a job interview. The best answers win and you had better sell yourself well. If you are qualified, you need to prove it. If not, you need to be convincing without fudging your resume.

Think of what kind of homeless person you would allow into your own home. What qualities could such a person have? Should they be honest? Tolerant? Talkative? Picky? These days we get away with character traits that can hardly exist in less evolved societies. White lies, prejudice, insecurity, finicky, fastidious, vegetarian, promiscuity, addictions, and high-maintenance personalities. After TEOTWAWKI, those days are over. Eat whatever is on your plate, like your grandma always said, because there might not be any more. Bothered by things like snoring or bad breath? Learn to live with it. The less trouble you are, the easier you are to keep. You will need to not give any excuse to exclude you from the community. Getting kicked out is as bad as never being accepted in the first place. To wit, you will have to get along with everyone.

Be willing to do anything. Remember your grandparents' work ethic and make them proud. Work doesn't stop when the sweat starts, and after work there will not necessarily be a shower. Work so hard no one can question your devotion. Never get caught lying, stealing, or holding back. You won't get a second chance to rebuild trust. Don't talk about things you wish you had, like chocolate or a bubble bath. Everything you do and say has to make things easier on everyone else, not harder. Think twice about anything before opening your mouth - it might be better to just internalize the comment. You don't have to get two cents into every conversation. You could be better off being considered a good listener who only speaks when he has something of quality to say.

Imagine this kind of person you could invite into your home, because that's who you need to be to get accepted into someone else's group. Make that decision now, and you can learn some skills while you have a peaceful chance to do so. Home gardening is cheap and will grow on you (pun intended). You'll learn how to nurture and no one will know if you fail early on. Cook something that doesn't come with directions on a box. Chop a log or two and see the real cost of that store-bought bundle of fireplace fodder. Go fishing for the first time since you were a kid, and this time clean your own catch. Sew a patch onto your oldest pair of jeans and ask yourself: could I stitch an injury?

It is possible that you won't have skills an established community needs or respects. They might not let you in . But it doesn't necessarily end there, if you are of a persistent mind to be useful. What can you do if you're not accepted inside? Offer to do reconnaissance and mapping. Offer to be a postman/courier between communities. Perimeter security. Ambassador. Negotiator/tradesman. Musician/entertainer. Translator, even! By the way, you are not asking for charity or handouts - you are offering information and services in exchange for food. You might even eventually earn your way inside. Trust is a thing built on experience and performance, not credit.

The decision to survive is really the same as to be a useful member of a society. If you have not prepared for TEOTWAWKI already, then you should learn some post-apocalypse marketable skills. If your only skills are modern and complex, it's time to appreciate some of the old-school, traditional ones. The immediate result (even if society does not collapse) is that you will be a more valuable person, both to society and your self-esteem. You will be stronger of mind and willpower. If you do not want this for yourself, then be honest: are you really worth saving?

I was born into a family of preppers.  My grandparents were all farmers and lived through the Great Depression in the Midwest.   My parents both grew up on farms and came from large families.  While my folks would not label themselves today as preppers, they would consider themselves as independent and self-reliable.  In order to understand my journey as a prepper, you have to go back a few years.  Early into my parents’ marriage, my dad just got out of the navy and worked in various cities and towns, from Texas to Minnesota.  The largest town we lived in was Minneapolis, but usually we lived in towns with a population of around 100,000 people.  As the family grew, there was a desire for my parents to move to an acreage, to get a large farmhouse, and to raise some animals.  By the early 1980s they were able to purchase an acreage that was homesteaded in the late 1800s and was located in rural South Dakota.  It was about 8 acres, had a barn, chicken coop, and two-story house.  It was located at least 20 miles from any town over 1,000 people.  The acreage was situated on a high water table, so we had an outdoor well and had a sand point well for the water in the house.   

After my parents purchased the property, they bought a milk cow, laying hens, some sheep, and a dog.  My mom planted a large garden (roughly 30 yards by 10 yards) with a variety of vegetables.  She canned the extras and created a pantry with shelving all the way to the ceiling with the many jars.  All my siblings helped in the process, hauling up the vegetables to the house and cutting them up.  Many of our neighbors grew large sections of sweet corn, so we would usually eat corn most days in the summer and then would have a few days devoted to freezing the extra corn (sometimes two pickup loads).  My parents went from having a small chest freezer when they were first married to purchasing two large, used chest freezers (these were about 6 feet long).  These came in handy when they began butchering their own cows, pigs, and chickens.  It was not too long until their freezers and pantry were full of meat and vegetables.

In order to save money on clothing, we would wear hand-me-down clothing, and my mom sewed/repaired our clothes to make them last as long as possible.  We attended public school and even in by the late 1980’s and early 1990s, I can remember being bullied because we did not wear “cool” clothes, have neat electronic gadgets,  or bring homemade things for show-n-tell/holiday time instead of from a store.  I remember these bullies using various names to me and my siblings, ranging from being a loser and hick, to poor and worthless.

It was this time in school that I vowed that I was going to get a great job, make a lot of money and show these classmates just how wrong they were.  I vowed that I was going to study hard so I could be the first in my family and go to college.  I wanted to get as far as possible from the rural life.  The summers would especially motivate me to study hard and change my future.  It was during the summers that I spent much of the time on my grandparent’s farm, getting up at 5:00 am, picking rock, milking cows, pulling weeds out of the fields, fixing machinery, putting up hay, and doing other chores until late in the evening.  By the end of the summer I would be even more motivated to move away and was left with a motivation to do well when school started up again in the fall. 

I excelled in school and did end up going to college.  My parents were unable to financially provide for me to go to college, so I did work-study, took out student loans, and worked as a resident assistant to pay for my dorm room.  The motivation from the summers at my grandparent’s farm was still fresh in my mind and I graduated four years later.  I did well in college and ended up going straight to graduate school, this time even further away from my parents.  I enjoyed the college life, much preferring the academic pursuits as compared with my previous manual labor on the farm.

It was then that my “average” life began - the life that I had always wanted.  I got married, graduated again and got a great job.  With both me and my wife working, we were making great money.  We had accrued over $70,000 in student loans, but where happy to pay just the minimum monthly payment.  We enjoyed eating out many times a week and spent a lot towards “entertainment” each month.  We bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo; a new car; and took a trip to Disney World.  Things were good. 

Then my best friend, a man in his twenties with a young family died of cancer.  It shook me up and made me reevaluate all aspects of my life.  It was then that things started to change for me.  We had a young daughter at the time and made a decision that one of us would stay home with her.  My wife quit her full-time job and went to a very part-time position (a few days a month).  In addition, my parents gave us tickets to a live Dave Ramsey event and we decided to get “gazelle intense”, getting on a budget and paying down our debts.  Even with our income going down greatly, it still felt like we had more money than ever.  Less than two years later we had to push “hold” on our debt pay-off, as we had a son.  My wife did not work at all that year, and our son had a difficult beginning, so our medical bills were pretty high.  Being a father to a son, I thought a lot about my role as provider and protector, as well as the legacy that I wanted to leave for my family.  It felt that I was a long way from where I grew up in terms of my lifestyle.  Life was fast-paced, we lived in the city, we went to the grocery store near our house a few times a week, and we even had all our yard/maintenance taken care of thorough our homeowner's association (HOA.)  But I could feel a yearning that there was something missing. And thus began my return trip home!

It was with two young kids that we decided to move back closer to my family.  The decision did not happen overnight, but rather over 18 months and a lot of prayer.  The housing market bubble had popped and we lost about $25,000 on our place but we packed up and moved anyway.  We found a two-bedroom apartment in our new town, only about 25 minutes from my parent’s acreage.  We decided that we wanted life to slow down and get back the skills that generations of my family had all known.  In order to do this with only one income we got creative on how to save money.  We began couponing, collecting the weekend newspapers on Monday from the motel just a few blocks from our place.  We sold our car for a used minivan.  I went to my parent’s acreage and helped butcher chickens like when I was a kid – my folks were grateful to have us back and to be helping so they gave us 30 chickens for our freezer (we acquired to small chest freezers that we have in our garage).  I helped my uncle butcher four large pigs, and like my parents, he appreciated the extra help, thanking me by getting me about 50 pounds of ground pork.  We used the envelope system for our budget and paid cash for our purchases.  We got a used food dehydrator at a garage sale for $5 and began to use it.  We tried our hand at canning and did a few small batches with various foods.  We made our own laundry detergent, baked our own bread, and tried to drive our vehicles less.  With these small changes, we currently have our monthly food budget at under $250 for our family of four.  We are proud to say that our student loans are down to about $4,500 and we don’t have any car payments or credit card debt!  We even have our $1,000 emergency fund and within a few months hope to have the remainder of our debt paid off.  We then hope to save for a house, maybe even an acreage just like my folks. 

Since moving back closer to my family, I have devoted myself to learning about new skills.  I have always enjoyed reading, so I naturally began to follow blogs and read books on how to be self-reliant and how to save money.  Much to my surprise, most of the books and blogs I was learning the most from were from a group of folks called preppers.   While I do follow multiple blogs now, I do have to say that it is SurvivalBlog is my favorite.  Not only has it helped me to stretch my dollar for food, I have acquired so many new skills that I now don’t know how I lived without them.  I feel that I am now a better provider and protector for my family.  I like that our house now has a medical kit, a bug-out-bag that we can grab at a moment’s notice and enough food to last us for at least 3 to 6 months.  I enjoy how there is a focus in SurvivalBlog about family and the importance on building relationships.  I feel equipped that even with all the negative news on television, my family is going to be okay, as we are going to be prepared.    

To follow up o my article Off Grid Cooking Solutions, Part 1: One of the first items we purchased for off grid cooking was the humble Dutch Oven.  There are many enthusiasts of this time honored way of cooking.  The Dutch oven is surprisingly versatile as it can be used over a fire, with charcoal briquettes, on a regular kitchen stove, a woodstove, portable camp stove, or the rocket stove.  Because of the fuel consumption required and the logistics of storing charcoal and wood, I am not as interested in using my Dutch oven over an outdoor camp fire or with charcoal in emergency situations.  I feel the Dutch oven is better suited for the rocket stove in good weather or an indoor wood cook stove in areas that have cold winters.

Many people picture a Dutch oven containing a delicious stew or chili.  But it can also be used as an actual oven – producing bread, cake, biscuits, baked pasta, and so on.  As the bottom of the Dutch oven gets quite hot and could burn the bottom of baked goods, I recommend a trivet to be used to hold up the pan that you are using for baking.  A small round wire cookie cooling rack or even three or four canning lid rings placed on the bottom of the Dutch oven work well.  A pie plate or bread loaf pan, whether glass or metal, can then be used to bake in.  In traditional Dutch oven cooking, less heat is needed on the bottom and charcoal briquettes are used on top of the flat lid, providing browning from the top down.  Although the heat source is moved to only the bottom when using the rocket or wood cook stove, satisfactory results may be achieved. 

Although there are many bread recipes, I have recently found one that I believe would be ideal for a crisis.  It tastes good and is easy to prepare.  Many variations are possible.  Although the blog is a little wordy on instructions, it really is simple.  It is called Peasant Bread and reminds me of the artisan bread I have made in the past.  However, the recipe I have for the artisan bread makes a large amount and is to be placed in the refrigerator to be used over several days.  This recipe is a smaller amount with no refrigeration required.   And here is a video that shows a Dutch oven being used to bake bread on a wood stove that could be used with this recipe. 

If you already own a Dutch oven (and many households do because of previous camping trips or passed down from family), why not put it to use in your preparedness efforts?  If you don’t own one, there are garage sales and thrift stores that often have Dutch ovens for sale, and even stores like Wal-Mart carry them.  The flat bottomed Dutch oven can be used with both the rocket stove and cook stove.  Some footed versions (mine is a size 12) would work on the rocket stove, although great care should be taken in order that the pot not slide off the stove, resulting in serious burns.  I encourage you to search the Survival Blog archive for additional ideas and recipes as well as searching YouTube for informative videos, thereby adding to your knowledge and skills in this method of cooking.

Although I did extol the virtues of the rocket stove in part one of this article, I want to touch on two areas not previously mentioned.  First, a pressure cooker can be used with the rocket stove.  Although I have not (yet) invested in a pressure cooker, it is another way to quickly prepare food with as little fuel consumption possible.  The Survival Mom blog has a page that shows how to do this.

Second, I am pleased to discover that a pressure canner may also be used on the rocket stove.  This is possible by controlling the ventilation door and the amount of sticks in the combustion chamber of the rocket stove.  Even in a grid down situation, you could still preserve your garden harvest by canning.  I have also been told that those who own a glass top cooking range should not use pressure canners on the range.  Not a problem!  Gather some sticks, set up a rocket stove under a nice shade tree or in the shade of your home, and can your produce outside!  One benefit is that you avoid heating up your kitchen in high summer temperatures.  Here is a link to a video that shows how this may be done.

As far as actually starting a fire, we have come to enjoy the use of cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly.  They are easy to make, inexpensive (you can get supplies at the one dollar stores) and they burn for several minutes when lit.  To make them you simply slightly open a cotton ball, place a small amount of petroleum jelly on the ball, and then wrap the cotton around the jelly.  We store them in a plastic jar, away from any heat or flame.  Since they do burn for a while, they are an aid when dealing with wet wood or if you are a little inexperienced in getting a fire going.  And why not put that dryer lint to use that you ordinarily would throw away?  Save the cardboard tubes from paper towels or toilet paper.  Cut them in lengths about 3 inches long, stuff with dryer lint, and they are also an excellent way to start a cooking fire.

No matter what, there will always be some who refuse to actually prepare for emergency cooking scenarios.  The one thing that most homes have (at least judged by the many examples at local garage sales) is an oil lamp.  Wal-Mart sells an adequate one for about $6.00 as well as the kerosene to fuel it.  If a home has this item, then a makeshift stove can be fashioned.  Simply remove the glass chimney and place the oil lamp into a pot that is just slightly deeper than the lamp.  Place the pot in the kitchen sink, taking care to have nothing flammable within the area.  Place a wire cookie cooling rack over the pot, light the lamp, and put a small pot on the rack.  You can at least heat up a can of soup to enjoy.  It will take some time as this is not an efficient system. It will warm quicker with a lid on the cooking pot to contain the heat. Although slow, it would be better than cold food on an even colder night.  This would actually be used in a worst case situation.  When one has all these other options to choose from, this would certainly be a last resort.  Yet, it might be worth mentioning to a neighbor to at least have this much available in the home should a crisis occur.

I hope I have given you many options to ponder and that you are encouraged that these cooking methods are easy, affordable, and efficient.  Remember, if you are not financially able to purchase professional products, almost all can be substituted by a handmade version that work amazingly well.  Make a list and prioritize where you want to start and where you want to end up concerning preparedness.  Start today!  Simply look up the links included in both parts of this article.  They really contain valuable information that would add to your knowledge and skills.  It’s really about peace of mind knowing that you can provide for your family, even in extremely hard conditions. 

Some great points have been brought up by R.S. in a response to my original article. I appreciate the input and agree completely with the value of a true industrial machine while electricity is available. Nothing compares to a walking foot industrial for those heavy jobs that use materials such as thick leather, webbing and multiples layers of canvas. I should have mentioned that a household low-tech treadle would pale in comparison to a modern electric industrial machine.

I too, appreciate their capability for sewing heavy work.  As luck would have it, I own and operate both a Consew 226R and a Singer 211G155 due to a family business that requires industrial sewing. My Consew 226R (R = reverse) is a lovely machine and I use it regularly but I must admit, I do prefer my older Singer 211 which does NOT have a reverse.  Just sew-you-know, this is easily compensated for in an industrial application with a “looped” backtack sewing method. It is a technique that is strong, speedy and has been in use for many years. A looped backtack can also be applied when using a treadle which eliminates the need to rotate your project 180’ in order to lock your stitches.

The  backtack  process is pretty simple:
Sew to the end of your where you need to stop on your project, raise your needle and presser foot to the “up” positions. Pull your work toward you about 3/4” inch, drop your foot down and continue to sew. When you raise the presser foot up it releases the tension on top thread tensioner. This allows you the freedom to pull your fabric forward as needed and create a “looped backtack”. Be sure not to snip the loop when trimming threads!  

My intention here is not to steer anyone away from an industrial machine when one is needed, but rather to point out the advantages of owning a Singer 66 treadle sewing machine in a grid-down environment. They are a general purpose all-around useful household machine at an affordable price. A used electric industrial sewing machine can cost from $600 on up, while the non-electric Singer 66 can generally be found for less than $300. While the Singer 66 treadle will certainly not sew heavy webbing or thick leather, I can tell you from personal experience that the fabrics/hides they will tolerate will surprise you. They have been home-tested for 80+ years, unlike any other machine on the market. As I mentioned in my original article, a Singer industrial treadle is also available (model 29-4) to those who want to sew heavier materials. Both will provide you with decades of reliability.

As a prepper, when comparing the later electric version of a Singer 66 to the earlier non-electric treadle version, the following must be considered:
1. No electricity required.
2. See No. 1!
3. The standard Singer 66 electric machine was equipped with .5 amp motor (the equivalent of .07 horsepower). This rating is determined with the motor running at full speed. In a nutshell, the Singer 66 electric motor is just plain weak when compared to the foot powered Singer 66 treadle which is the machine my article focused on.
4. Because of the low power of the motor at start-up, it does not achieve the same torque (at start-up) as a treadle does. Even though the heads are the same, a treadle uses mechanical leverage and pulleys to achieve its torque. The treadle’s needle has punching power within only a few revolutions. With the proper needle and a bit of coaxing, a low-tech treadle will sew a respectable two layers of soft suede or multiple layers of denim.

Did I mention that the Singer 66 treadle sewing machine requires no electricity?

Let’s get down to nuts & bolts. Comparing an electric industrial sewing machine to a household treadle is much like comparing apples to oranges. But, allow me to attempt to do this. Let’s list the advantages of industrial grade sewing machines - using the the two models I mentioned above, and which I own, as examples.

1. Both machines have powerful motors. The Consew has .33 hp and the Singer has 1/2 hp.
2. These particular industrial sewing machines have walking foots for grip which pull the fabric through and make quick work of heavy projects.
3. Both accept heavy gauge thread and needles. Both have high clearance for thick seams and an added feature is a presser foot/tension release knee lift to keep your hands free.
4. Both are wonderful machines, a joy to operate. I agree 100% with R.S. on the value of owning an electric industrial (or two).

Okay, so now back to speaking about the foot-powered Singer 66 treadle again….

A foot-powered Singer 66 treadle, (and household machines in general) have a spring that creates pressure on the presser foot. The presser foot clearance is of medium to low height, and you are limited in the number layers it will handle. In addition, a household machine is really designed for household use and should not be used with industrial gauge threads (or needles).

So what is my main reason for advocating that readers own a Singer 66? It will not leave you in the dark....when you need it most it will be there and in working condition.

I thank you once again for the opportunity to continue to share my passion for the antique Singer 66 treadle machine. It is my hope for all who read this will seriously consider owning a low-tech, highly reliable treadle. It may not sew everything you want to sew, but it is absolutely a superstar when no power is available. - T.J.G.

James:
I'd like to take exception to the recent article by M.S. on using augers to make plant holes. No professional would consider using an auger for planting. Augers compact and glaze the edge of the hole as they work their way down.  While this is great for post holes, it's a death sentence for the plant roots.
A far better and faster way is to use either a small backhoe  or an articulated trencher that will cut a fan shaped hole.  The spoil from the hole is broken up and now suitable for back fill. 

Post-SHTF, a good quality fiberglass handle round point shovel is all that any realistic person would need.
As a post script, if you haven't tried "Straw Bale Gardening" , it's just a great way to grow food with minimal effort and maximum results. - Loren

JWR Replies: I have witnessed the glazing that you've mentioned in heavy clay soils. But in my experience is not a big issue in light loam soil. The "best of both worlds" approach is to use an auger to start a hole, and then finish it up by significantly widening its diameter with a shovel or clamshell post hole digger. This breaks up any areas that are compacted or glazed.

The "shovel only " approach will work, but of course it is more time consuming. And by the way, good quality digging bar is a must when digging in rocky ground.

When planning to grow their own food, many people understandably focus on the plants. A plant, however, simply expresses its genetic blueprint to the extent it can based on the energy and materials available from the sun and soil. We can therefore state that a critical aspect of successful vegetable production is the quality of the soil.

Given the limitations of either the amount of warning you might have before needing to produce food for your family, or the amount of money you are able to put toward improving your soil to the point it will yield reliably, amending your entire plot all at once is often not feasible. The best short cut we have found for this situation is the use of the auger. An auger is a spiral digging blade for mechanically digging holes. These can be designed to run from a three point hitch on a farm tractor, or be handheld, motorized versions.

Rather than trying to improve the soil over the entire area of your garden plot, an auger allows you to make custom soil conditions in a 6-18 inch wide vertical tube in the ground. Much has been written about the disruption to soil structure and beneficial earthworms with standard rototilling. With this system, only the sod need be skinned off and the surface area mulched or planted with white clover. The surrounding soil structure and its inhabitants are not disturbed while the planting spots are custom made via the auger. Fencing contractors are often called in to dig holes in this manner for the planting of numerous fruit trees, and you might find that helpful if your homestead plans include trees.

Here is an example of how the system is put into practice: If you have soggy clay that will not drain, you cannot grow such things as wheat that will not tolerate ‘wet feet’. When you auger out a hole, the spiraling action of the blade will bring the soil to the surface, and deposit most of it around the edge of the hole. Within each of these holes, you can add gravel at the bottom for drainage, then mix the clay from the hole with sand and humus, compost or manure. Fill this mix back into the hole. Having added other materials, you will be left with enough clay to leave a ‘shoulder’ of subsoil around the hole, minimizing weeds from competing with your sprouting plants. You will have customized the immediate growing zone to the needs of whatever you will be growing in that spot. The important bacteria and worm population in the adjoining soil is available to move immediately into your fill. Additionally, this high fertility fill allows for very intensive plantings – making the most of any plant-able spot. A good mulching around the holes discourages weeds even more.

There is no yearlong wait for soil just turned under by a plow to have become the mature garden soil you will need to feed your family. Also, the holes can be dug right now with rented equipment or by a fencing company and you can then work away at making improved ‘fills’ as your time and money allow you to source the amendments needed by your particular soil. Sand will need humus, clay will need sand, acidic soil will need buffering, etc. If time permits, get a soil sample analysis and it will tell you just what you will require – but in a pinch you can bet that good compost will cover most needs.

Even if you already have a garden bed in place, with a used handheld auger you can over time improve the soil of your entire patch while having full use of the already amended spots to produce the healthiest plants. Intensively planted holes can produce more food than a standard plot just tilled and planted in rows, and pests often have a harder trek from planting to planting.

The 6 inch blade of the handheld augers is rather small for a planting hole. This can be remedied by making three holes close together in a cloverleaf pattern, and knocking down the soil walls between holes. If you will be doing a large number of holes, a great time saver over lying on your stomach and scooping the soil out by hand is to use a ‘clamshell’ post hole digger. The digger is two long handles hinged together, with a metal half-scoop at the end of each handle, and allows you to reach into the bottom of your augered hole and scoop out the loose soil.

The depth of each hole is determined by the length of your auger bit, the depth of your soil, the amount of amendments you can spare for each hole, and how much amending the soil actually needs. This will have to be assessed as you go, and will likely be different for each place on the property you work.

Watering needs are minimized with this system, as only the planted holes need watered – not the surrounding soil. In a period of limited water availability due to interrupted electrical service, minimal service for a well pump due to living off grid, or simply a season long drought, this is no small consideration. As each hole is surrounded by soil mass, there is less drying out than in a raised bed or mound. There is also a cost savings in protecting your garden from rabbits, as each hole can be encircled with chicken wire held in place by a few stakes or rocks. This will buy you time to finish enclosing your entire garden with proper fencing, as your budget allows. The same concept of surrounding each hole can be used to make individual small hothouse covers for protecting plants in early spring or into the fall. There is much less expense in making a greenhouse tall enough for a plant, than in making one tall enough for a person.

Most plants fit well with the system, the climbing vines utilizing a homemade teepee trellis over the hole. Our earlier example of wheat might not seem feasible – but the planting circumference allows for staking to prevent lodging from growing in rich soil (the wheat falling over in a rain storm), and the stalks from each hole make one nice shock of wheat once cut and tied.

Some final points regarding the versatility of this system:

The first pertains to the price of quality farmland. More and more of the good soil in this country is being gobbled up by large industrial agricultural corporations and/or housing developments. The options are becoming limited for those who are of modest means and/or do not want to be enslaved to a large mortgage for thirty years. By and large, the best option is to buy low priced land in the areas of poorest soil. Improving said soil can seem daunting to the most enthusiastic of homesteaders. But, even Mt. Everest is climbed one footstep at a time – and the poorest of soils can be improved one auger hole at a time, with immediate use of the holes that are finished.

Second, in the unlikely event of a long term, widespread crisis, homestead security would become an issue. This is particularly true for the women of the family, who are often in charge of the gardening. If the main garden beds are distant from the house, or near woods and/or a road, desperate individuals would have an easy time targeting the gardener(s). The auger system allows growing spots to be dug close to the house. These can be tended by an individual with less risk than a patch by the road. The main garden can then be tended at such times as numerous group members can be present for added security.

Third, the large three point hitch auger coincidentally makes a perfect space in which to cache two 5-gallon buckets on top of one another. Pack the buckets with whatever you need to keep out of sight, secure the gasket-ed lids, turn the buckets over and caulk under the rim of the lid. When the caulk is dry, the buckets can be lowered into their hiding place and covered. If you are concerned about a fencing contractor asking what the holes at the back of your yard are for (which he probably won’t), mark two holes 12 feet apart. Answer that you want to set gate posts for a future fencing project. The only thought he will have is to leave you his card, hoping you’ll hire him for the fencing job.

Last but not least, a pre-drilled hole can be in place if the need arises for a privy. In the unfortunate event that conditions deteriorate enough as to require a long term privy, the last thing you are going to have the is time on your hands to dig one. Auger the hole now, then add leaves or other material that will be easy to scoop out later but provide enough fill to prevent a small child or animal from getting stuck, and lay a scrap of plywood over the top.

No one wishes disaster to strike – and the more peace within oneself, the more peace one brings to the world. But history teaches that troubled times can and do occur, and it is prudent to be able to take care of your family. Additionally, when trouble does appear it is usually with little warning. Murphy’s Law says that if a disaster happens, it will happen just as you have settled on the homestead of your choice, have some dry provisions laid away, but have yet to have sufficiently improved your garden beds to the point they will reliably feed your group. The auger system allows for maximum production in minimum time, and a used auger and some appropriate soil amendments might well fit into the ‘must have’ items on your list.

JWR,
The sewing submission by TJG about Singer 66 Treadle machines is informative and “generally” relays the usefulness of such a machine, especially in a grid-down environment, however, as I have learned personally, her claims that the Singer 66 can handle THICK and BULKY items like leather and nylon is not accurate in my opinion. I learned this by buying a beautiful electric-motor-driven Singer 66 “Red Eye” model to do all the nylon web gear modifications I have always wanted to do to my gear, as the Singer 66 is indeed a tough all-steel sewing machine, yet I quickly discovered the weakness the Singer 66 had with thick, tough materials (as well as other old home sewing machines), that being thread tension capabilities. Thread tension is what constructs a strong stitch by pulling up the bobbin thread into the fabric, ideally half way into the center, and the Singer 66 without modification just doesn’t have the tension capabilities to pull up thick T69 or T90 thread into thick nylon or leather. Remember, these Singer 66’s were designed for normal household sewing tasks, such as dresses, suits, shirts and other thin fabrics. They were not designed to sew multiple layers of nylon strapping onto Cordura fabric.
 
However, mechanically-minded as I am, I was able to modify the thread tension assembly on the sewing head to allow it to place more tension on the thread, but even that had limits, as the design of the Singer 66 thread path would often cause the needle to flex from the thread tension being so tight which would then send the needle point slamming into the plate on the next downstroke, breaking the needle. True, sewing heavy leathers, fabrics and nylon webbing can be done with patience and test materials to get the tensions just right, but it is a frustrating hassle at times and not for the easily angered… But I confess, before I finally found a more suitable sewing machine for my purposes (Consew 206RB walking-foot industrial machine), I was able to create and modify quite a bit of web gear as well as make new upholstery covers for my retro vintage camping trailer.
 
Lastly, I found the lack of a reversing capability in the early Singer 66 machines the most frustrating of all. Without reverse capability to lock in the stitch by overstitching you end up having to [lift the foot and] spin the whole project 180 degrees to lock in a stitch. This is very difficult on thick or big projects, and time consuming.
 
My set up now is my Consew 206RB-3 walking-foot, industrial straight-stitch machine which has beautiful reverse capability and unbelievable sewing power and capability with thick materials using thick threads,  and an all-steel-gears vintage NEECHI Super Nova home machine for thin materials that not only reverses, but does zig-zag for bar tacks and serging (keeping edges from fraying).
 
Shalom & YHWH Bless You! - R.S.

The art and craft of sewing has begun to dwindle in popularity. However, this was not always the case. In the ancient world, and even in our own not so distant pioneer times, sewing has been an invaluable and necessary skill. In much of the last century, many young women (and some young men) were taught to sew by parents, in home economics classes, in some Boy Scout or Girl Scout clubs or even by employers. In this article, my hope is not to discuss hand sewing, but rather to impress the value of non-electric machine sewing.

I myself first became interested in sewing while watching my mother make aprons. I asked her if she could make some doll clothes for my doll. Much to my delight I received a child-sized sewing machine for Christmas that year. It did not sew very well or last very long, but it served its purpose well by planting the seed. It wasn't too long before I was operating my mom's machine and sewing all sorts of doll clothes from my mom's fabric scrap basket.  I learned early the value of scraps, all the wonderful varieties of colors and textures. 

In addition to sewing projects for myself and my family, I worked professionally sewing automotive seats and later for a high-end patio furniture Co in the upholstery department.  One thing these companies had in common was a preference for older (1940’s-1950’s) industrial (electric) Singers that were operated 16 hours a day, 6 days a week. They are truly workhorses. 

Another wonderful Singer treadle (model 29-4) was produced for industrial use, shoes & general leather working.  Harder to find and a bit more pricey, however, it can be a  great addition to your line-up for home use, especially in a grid down situation. It is not nearly as attractive as a model 66 although highly valuable for heavy leather applications. This particular machine is designed for sewing in very small areas.  If you want to get serious about sewing, this machine goes where others cannot!

Today I am both a self-admitted “prepper” who lives, along with my husband, on the same family farm I was raised on.  I am an avid collector of vintage and antique sewing machines. I have in my own collection, 40+ electric sewing machines and 13 non-electric treadle sewing machines. I am an enthusiastic sewing machine collector.

My sincere hope for new and seasoned preppers, is to be able to own an old Singer model 66 treadle (aka foot-powered) sewing machine (1902 - 1960). Now I realize there are fans of other brands, and I have operated many of them, dealt with finding parts, and have even sold my fair share of sewing machines. So why am I so adamant that self-sufficiency folks specifically get the Singer model 66 treadle machine?
In a low or no-power situation, the ability to sew and even better, to have a sewing machine will prove to be invaluable. While hand sewing skill is important, in order to get the job done fast and to be able to work efficiently with a wide variety of available materials, it will be very helpful to use a manual, non-electric (treadle) sewing machine. Being able to make new clothing or repair older clothing both for your own family or group will likely be the most common use for a non-electric sewing machine. However, what about sewing as a means of barter or income? The sheer durability of the Singer 66 means it can also sew leather and vinyl which could prove useful for gloves, backpacks, holsters, bags & even hats. The skill of sewing (including being a seamstress or tailor) might just be the ticket to providing your family with a valuable work-at-home income or barter commodity! After all, how many others will have more than just hand sewing supplies? Even without electricity, you can literally reap what you sew…
 Other benefits of the Singer Model 66 Treadle Sewing Machine:

1. They are very simple to operate - even a beginner can be sewing in a matter of minutes
2. A quieter operation, unlike modern electric machines.
3. They use a simple leather belt which can be easily replaced with common materials and a little ingenuity.
4. They rarely break down as they have a simple gear operation.
5. These machines can be repaired using simple tools such as a hammer, straight screwdriver & pliers. No specialty tools required.
6. Spools (or bobbins) of various threads used by these machines are readily available and can be stored for years or decades.
7. Aside from a few adjustments and perhaps a small amount of oil, they are very easy to maintain in working order
8. They are of course, not only functional but very attractive as well and provide a living space with a flat surface (table) when not in use.
9. They were commonly produced with 2 or 3 side drawers and a center drawer for storage.
10. A host of attachments are still available including a ruffler, hemmer & buttonholer and many times you will find these items in the drawers upon purchase.
11. The 66 models are not finicky and will allow you to use monofilament thread as well as the cotton and polyester standards
12.  The class 66 bobbins are very common and still produced today. And of course, standard machine needles are used, the size depends on your choice of fabric.
13.  NO ELECTRICITY NEEDED!!

I do recommend, however that you purchase the head if you stumble across one (machine only-not the base) as a second purchase for spare parts. It is likely you will pay a very small amount for the machine (head)  and having the parts on hand will give you peace of mind.  This isn't a necessity, just a suggestion, the machines are quite durable.
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How to Find a Singer Model 66 Treadle Sewing Machine
In many areas the very best place these can be found is by doing a local Craigslist search. This is the safest as you will be able to visit the buyer and visually inspect the machine for wear/tear and functionality. Other common places where these show up include local auctions, estate sales, antique shops and of course on eBay.

The less rub (markings/finish worn off), the better. Avoid machines that show excessive rust. Often times you will find the wood veneer has split or warped but it does not affect the function.  Turn the side wheel to ensure the needle bar moves freely. Lift the lever on the back of the needle bar to make sure the presser foot locks in place. If a machine is "frozen" and not missing parts, in most situations it can be repaired with a little mechanical ability and lots of lubricant. The price you offer should reflect the time you will have invested into it.

The average going price of this workhorse sewing machine generally range between  $150 - $250 but the value of having a functioning one in a TEOTWAWKI or SHTF scenario could be invaluable.

I cannot stress enough - limit your purchase only to a Singer model 66. Avoid all other brands. This specific model can be hard to identify because
many were void of an identifying metal tag or stamp. The pedal and side irons will have either the name "Singer" spelled out or an "S" incorporated into the design, or both.

A quick inspection of the bobbin area is a must. The bobbin is located beside the presser foot (where the needle is located) under the chrome/stainless slide plate.  If it accepts a modern ROUND drop-in bobbin, it is a 66. There were other later models produced (99, 201-3 & 201K) that should be mentioned, but these are much more scarce.  Approximately 95% of Singer treadles produced were model 66, proof of its popularity!
 
Sewing with the Ultimate Prepper Sewing Machine 
You can download the manual for free.  Rest assured it is VERY easy to learn to use these machines.
Once you begin sewing you realize that the quiet rocking motion creates a nice straight locking stitch.  With a bit of practice and you get a sense of the speed and stopping distance. Have fun!! Experiment!!

The 66 will accommodate many attachments, still available today including a buttonholer. From pants, shirts and blouses, to blankets, quilts and other home and homesteading fabric based items, the Singer model 66 treadle and a few basic patterns will give you a unique ability to provide items essential to any long term Bug-In or off grid situation.

Something homesteaders and hunters alike will appreciate… these machines will sew soft leather, even hides! A wonderful benefit since even most modern
machines will struggle with leather and many will not even sew it at all. Imagine the items you might make with the hides from this year’s hunting! Blankets, gloves, moccasins, holsters, belts, and more.

Make good use of your scraps and sew them into colorful quilts. A true form of art that is also functional.
Even in a home with electricity readily available, sewing on a treadle can become a choice.  There is a certain sense of satisfaction in finishing a project in the same fashion that your Great Grandmother may have. 

With a heavy needle in your 66 (19/120), you can sew materials like canvas for tents, tarps, bug-out-bags (BOB), chaps, backpacks, & flour sacks to name a few.  You are not limited, this machine will also sew fine fabrics like silk and chiffon.

Because sewing is not really a manual labor skill, it can be done even by elderly or partially disabled persons. These persons in a post-collapse world are sometimes forgotten about by today’s younger preppers, or relegated to baby sitting and kitchen work.  As long as a person is able to sit and operate the pedal and maneuver the fabric, they become sewers. It is important to have value and feel a sense of accomplishment.
           
Honestly, the only downside is the size & weight. For traveling and transporting, it is definitely not practical for a BOB. However it is extremely practical for a Bug-In or Bug out location. What it lacks in portability it more than makes up for in function.

So what’s stopping you? Investing in a Singer model 66 treadle sewing machine, a few spare parts, thread and various fabrics, and you will be ready - even if American society gets pushed back 100 years. After all, a “Little House on the Prairie” scenario is just as likely as a “Mad Max” one. Regardless, having and knowing how to use low-tech machines like the Singer 66 will make life easier.

Much like family values, and morality, sewing -and the items that sewing can repair and produce, are a common but often forgotten thread which stretches from our American pioneer past to all of our possible futures.

Jim:
I enjoyed the Become Your Own Herbal Doctor article very much as herbal medicine is my current interest and latest preparation.  Because I did not learn this type of information from my grandmothers or mother, I have opted to take a class to speed up the learning curve.  The author is correct; the home remedies our families knew just a hundred years ago have already been lost to most of us.  Taking this class has been a fun and educational process.  We have learned so many herbs and their uses; we’ve even crafted our first (sprain/strain) salve.  There is a lot to learn in this field, but the process has been rewarding.  The class I take is also offered as an online course for those of you like me who need some structure to make any real progress or just want a fast track to learning herbal medicine.  One day soon, I hope to begin teaching my kids these valuable skills.  For me, the choice to learn herbal medicine now makes great sense and I appreciate how the author provides information to help others get started.
 
The school (The Human Path) I am referring to is lead by Sam Coffman, whose medical background started as a U.S. Special Forces (a.k.a. “Green Beret”) medic.  He started becoming very interested in plant medicine while in the field as a medic on teams.  At the time his interest was based on the need for a backup if there was no pharmaceutical medicine available.  However, over the past 20+ years, Sam has devoted his time to integrating plant medicine (“herbalism”) into every day acute illness and injury care.  His goal has been to work with plant medicine as a first alternative rather than a last resort, for injuries and illnesses that people normally go to the Emergency Room for (non-surgical care).  He runs the previously mentioned school that focuses primarily on post-disaster and remote medicine using medicinal herbs both from the area as well as worldwide.  He also runs a non-profit organization (Herbal Medics) that takes students into remote areas to create off-grid solutions for health care, clean water and self-sustainable food solutions.
 
People located in the central Texas region ought to give this school a look, as there are many types of classes offered. These classes have been a fun way to learn skills and meet people. - Laura in Texas

This article isn’t designed to cover all aspects of childbirth, of course, but it is meant to reassure people who are unsure of their abilities to do prenatal care and their own or a neighbor’s birth, if the stuff hits the fan. I am a Certified Professional Midwife, and have assisted people in birth as a childbirth educator, doula, and now midwife since 1984. (My North American Registry of Midwives certification, however, is fairly recent, since I have concurrently raised three children alone, and earned a BS in Computer Information Systems.)

One of the first things to remember when the stuff hits the fan, is that most births, if not tinkered with, are straightforward.  Most women are quite capable of birthing at home just fine. I would recommend having several good books on hand, such as Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin (the only midwife who has had a procedure named after her), Heart and Hands by Elizabeth Davis, and either Varney’s Midwifery, or Myles Midwifery. Varney’s is for the American audience, Myles is British, but easy to read and understand.  Laura Shanley’s Unassisted Childbirth, and Dr. Gregory White’s Emergency Childbirth are two others. There is also the book Where There Is No Doctor; it has a good section on childbirth, but doesn’t go into the details that one might need in a post-collapse situation.

I am not calling this article Emergency Childbirth for a reason, because most home births are not! They are normal physiological functions that only require good nutrition, watchfulness and cleanliness to have a good outcome. One should study, to know what normal is. If you have time before the birth (months, I hope), try to find your nearest CPM. They are trained in out-of-hospital birth, and are trained to know how to help the mom birth twins, breeches (a variation of normal) and Vaginal Birth after Cesarean Section (VBAC).  In a post collapse scenario, there won’t be access to the hospital for pregnant women in labor, as was discovered during Hurricane Katrina. (Laboring women were turned away from the hospitals, and either birthed alone, with family, or with the two CPMs that were available to help until more help arrived).

If there is no one that can assist you, then concentrate on the best nutrition you can do, specifically plenty of protein (50 mg daily, minimum) and green leafy veggies (at least 3 servings daily, but more is better). The protein helps maximize fetal development, and the green leafies provide B Complex, Iron and other necessary nutrients. Nutrition is covered more thoroughly in the books mentioned. Better nutrition means a healthier mom and baby, often an easier labor and breastfeeding and better ability to withstand blood loss. Avoiding caffeine, illegal drugs, pesticides, chemicals, and tobacco goes a long way to a healthy pregnancy.  Some people follow a vegan diet successfully, and as long as you get enough protein, it should be okay. In the first three months, the following herbs should be avoided (see Herbal for the Childbearing Year, by Susun S. Weed); Basil, Caraway Seeds, Celery Seed, Ginger(except in small doses for morning sickness and/or heartburn), fresh horseradish, Savory, Marjoram, Nutmeg, Rosemary, Saffron, Sage, Parsley, Taragon, Thyme, and Watercress, Aloe Vera, Angelica, barberry, Buchu, Buckthorn, Cascara Sagrada, Coffee, Comfrey, Ephedra, Goldenseal, Juniper, Lovage, Male Fern, Mistletoe, Mugwort, Wormwood, Pennyroayal, Rhubarb root, Rue, Shepherds purse, Tansy, Yarrow, Senna, and Mandrake. Seems like a long list, but most people won’t encounter these herbs.

Red Raspberry Leaf tea, however, is a great uterine strengthener and just tastes good! If you have access to prenatal vitamins, those should be taken as well. Folic acid is very important to help prevent neural tube defects and any vitamin regimen should have at least 4 mcg daily.

Exercise is very important, for both physical and mental health. Just getting outside and walking in the yard if weather is inclement is a great stress reducer and helps blood flow to the baby. Yoga, tai chi, and other relaxing stretching types of exercise can help the mom’s body adjust to the changes that are occurring over the course of the pregnancy, and prepare for the birth. Massage is a wonderful relaxing tool and can be used during the birth as well. Learning simple massage, and reflex points can help tremendously during birth. Whatever it takes to get mom loose, can help. Talking to the baby in utero helps the baby learn your voice (Dad’s too!) and helps establish a bond that will make breastfeeding easier. Reading good books, thinking good thoughts (I bet that won’t be easy during post collapse, but it can be done), prayer, meditation, visualizing an easy birth, saying birth affirmations,  and examining your birth beliefs (overcoming negative ones) is calming to the spirit. You have to come to a place within yourself where you recognize that birth is normal, and your body can do this, that it was designed for this. Mind has a lot to do with how easy or difficult a birth may be. Not everything, but negative emotions and unspoken fears can inhibit labor pretty significantly. Mothers who learn to draw on their inner strengths can often know when a situation during labor needs correcting. They learn to get in “touch with the baby”, so to speak.

Rest each day if possible, especially in the last trimester. The baby is getting bigger and it takes more energy just to keep up with daily demands of the family. Napping helps recharge mom’s batteries. If that isn’t possible, getting off your feet for 15 minutes twice a day, can both give some rest, and help avoid varicose veins. Especially with a multiple gestation, getting your feet elevated helps blood circulation to the babies.

You can do your own prenatal care, writing down your blood pressure, taking temperature and pulse, and your weight. You or whoever is helping you might be able to learn to feel baby’s position in the uterus (palpation), to better prepare for labor. A baby that is posterior (his spine is laying near mom’s spine, feet kicking outwards) can often be turned around before labor, avoiding much backache and a long labor. Spending 15 minutes twice a day on hands and knees can frequently turn a baby anterior (spine facing out, away from mom). There are other tricks for turning a posterior baby on SpinningBabies.com.  Optimal Fetal Positioning by Jean Sutton  and Pauline Scott is an excellent resource for this. Paying close attention to nutrition in the earlier parts of pregnancy can pay off by helping avoid Metabolic Toxemia of Late Pregnancy, otherwise known as preeclampsia, and noting weight gain in the last trimester, along with any swelling (edema) of the hands, face, or legs (some in the legs/feet is normal especially during the summer months, but should not maintain a depression if pressed with a finger (pitting edema). Facial swelling is not normal, and may indicate a need for medical help.  This is one of the reasons  blood pressure is checked so often. Dr. Tom Brewer developed a nutritional system for nearly eliminating preeclampsia in a low-income population in Denver Colorado. (see www.blueribbonbaby.org)

List of items to have on hand for the birth:
Scissors,
Cotton shoe lace (preferably unused, or you could make a “friendship bracelet” out of embroidery floss) (both can be placed in a pan of water during labor, boiled for 20 min, then heat turned off and covered until after the birth)
Bulb syringe,
Chux underpads or black and white newspapers(they can be rolled up to make a bowl of sorts),
4 receiving blankets warmed on a heating pad or near a wood stove (not on it! Or you can heat some water, fill 2 or three mason jars with hot water, put on lids and rings and wrap the blankets around them)
Maxi pads, or cloth menstrual pads
Bath towels, at least 6 if planning a water birth
2 Shower curtains or plastic drop cloths (to protect the mattress and/or floor)
Sheets that are clean, for after the birth, and a set of older sheets for labor/birth that you don’t mind if they get stained.

Herbs: Shepherd’s purse, Ladies Mantle, or Motherwort tinctures or commercial ones like HemHalt or Wombstringe (in case of bleeding),
Superglue (for vaginal tears(small ones, less than an inch long-although those very small ones will heal just fine by themselves as long as the moms stay in bed for the first few days and keep legs together! No tailor sitting or climbing stairs)). For longer tears, you might have to know someone who knows how to suture. Most home births occur without any tears at all, since mom is more relaxed, and water births help too!(we’ve seen 12 lb  babies born with no tear to mom at all) If no suturing available, have mom keep legs together, only moving to get up to potty for the first few days. Nori seaweed is also used as a binding agent on mom’s bottom to help hold a tear together until it heals.
Large bowl or pan (or newspaper bowl) for placenta
Pen and paper to write times or notes on labor/birth
Baby diapers and clothes
Stethoscope, if possible
Tape measure and hanging fish scale(for newborn)
Sling for weighing baby(or you could use a receiving blanket. Just remember to weigh the cloth and subtract that to get the weight of baby.
St. Johnswort tea or capsules (for after pains)

To make the bed for birth, put a plastic shower curtain or drop cloth on mattress, place the clean, “after the birth” sheets on bed, then put plastic drop cloth or shower curtain over them, then the birth sheets. After the mom is cleaned up, all you have to do is take the dirty sheets and first plastic off and voila! Fresh bedding.

For the actual labor and birth, just let mom do what she wants to do. Most women will walk some, rest, dance or sway, eat, sleep, shower, etc, till the contractions become so close together and long (usually 1-2 minutes apart and long) that she cannot move much during them. She will probably vocalize, oohing, singing, or making noise, which is perfectly fine and normal (women are not beached whales, and should not be silenced!) As Ina May says, “an open mouth makes an open bottom”. At some point, the mom will start pushing, and she can reach down and catch her own baby. She can bring the baby to her breast and baby can start nursing right away. Nursing will help the uterus contract, and help the placenta separate more easily. There is no need to cut the cord at this time. One third of the baby’s blood volume is present in the placenta and cord, and it should be allowed to enter the baby (although the term “polycythemia” is used, to my knowledge it hasn’t caused any problems to the baby. He absorbs the extra blood, the unneeded cells break down and they are excreted).

If there is a tight cord around the neck, there is a technique called “somersaulting the baby out”, whereby the attendant holds the baby’s head near mom’s thigh and allows the body to be born over the cord. Unwrap the cord, and baby gets the rest of his blood supply. (I have seen wraps 4 times done this way). Baby should be moving, if not, you can rub baby gently on the back, or flick the bottoms of his feet, and mom can talk to him. He is still getting oxygen from the cord, and it will assist transition to breathing well. If it’s a Water birth, the baby is brought up out of the water right away, and placed on mom’s chest, with a warm towel placed over both mom and baby. The baby usually starts breathing and looking around, connecting faces with the voices he’s heard for the past 9 months. After this point (usually within an hour, but a little longer might still be okay), the placenta separates, there is a small gush of blood from mom’s vagina and she feels a need to push. Once the placenta is birthed, make sure the uterus remains firm(it’s about the size of a grapefruit and easy to feel) and mom breastfeeds baby, if not done earlier. Even if she isn’t planning on nursing baby, (but in a post-collapse, it may be the only source of pure nutrition for baby) breastfeeding helps shrink the uterus to pre-pregnancy levels (over the next few days) helps mom lose any extra weight gained, and minimizes bleeding. The cord can be cut, if desired, when it is limp and white. That shows the baby no longer needs it. Some people don’t cut it, just leave it wrapped in a diaper and carry it around with the baby for a few days until it dries naturally and falls off  (Lotus birth), but unless herbs are used on the placenta, it has a tendency to get a little stinky.

Mom should get up and see if she can urinate (this helps uterus clamp down) and if she wants a shower, someone should be there to help her. In the meantime the bed can be changed of its dirty linen and fresh put down, with plastic underneath. Someone should get mom something to eat and drink, high in protein, and some sugar(mom has done a tremendous amount of work!)  and let her rest and recuperate. Keeping an eye on mom for bleeding (blood pressure checks, color of her face, firmness of uterus) should be ongoing for the next few days.  She and baby should be kept together, to establish bonding and nursing. Wearing the baby in a sling, Mei Tei, or other wrap, helps the baby stay warm, regulate his heartbeat and respirations and establish other rhythms. Within 24 hours, he will probably have his first bowel movement (meconium) and will have peed. Milk will probably come in around the 2nd-to-4th day postpartum. Until then, the breasts produce colostrum, which helps clean out baby’s gut, add good flora to baby, and is anti-bacterial.

I hope this wasn’t too long, but birth is an amazing function, that is awe-inspiring to participate in. It can be a little scary sometimes, too, but the more you know, like any preparedness subject, the better you can be to deal with the unexpected.

Dear Mr. Rawles,
A.N. presented some excellent overall information in Beginning Bee Keeping, but a few additions are in order:

A nuc is not just a screened package of bees but rather is a nucleus colony, usually of 5 or fewer frames.  It is a working colony complete with drawn comb, brood, pollen stores and honey, often with a new queen.  For those thinking about jumping into bees, it is a great hobby, but not an easy one.  Most new beekeepers do not last past the third year, often discouraged due to repeated bee losses.  There are lots of tricks to this business (hobby) to be able to keep going.  Parasitic varroa mites, small hive beetle, two types of foul brood disease and other challenges are not small obstacles.  But they can be tackled, and there is plenty of info out there to help you.  Get some books and read, read, read! 

For splitting or "making increase" with colonies, you must either have an additional new queen, or queen cell, or eggs or newly hatched larva less than 24 hours old in the new or divided colony.  With enough healthy bees in the split and eggs or larva, the bees can make a new queen if you don't have one (depending on the time of year and available drones for mating). But there is a significant break in the colony brood cycle and decrease in hive strength while you wait for the bees to make an emergency queen. If possible make splits with thousands of bees, not hundreds for best results.  (1 lb of bees is about 1,700 bees.) The easiest way to make increase is make splits when you see already capped queen cells in the hive, in spring or early summer. 

All honeybee colonies have a natural tendence to reproduce and send out swarms. You can use this tendency to build your apiary. Most honey production is in a very short, two week period no matter where you are located.  Few areas of the world except Australian have multiple nectar flows.  The rest of the year colonies are usually in a net loss situation. Swarming is a greater tendency for the Russian and Carniolan lines of honeybees versus the traditional Italian lines. All bees are different, so study the difference and use to your advantage.  With a table saw you can make most bee hive components yourself, but it would be wise to stock up on the more difficult items in advance of TEOTWAWKI, particularly frames and plastic foundation.  All the best, - Beeman2

I always planned to have a bee hive someday but someday had not come until I mentioned my interest to a friend who promptly told me he was splitting a hive (taking a few hundred bees out to prevent them from feeling over crowded) in one week and that he would share the "split" (a couple pf hundred bees) with me.  I promptly ran to the library and checked out three books on bee keeping.  Many questions and concerns kept floating around in my mind, a few of which included:  I know nothing about bees!, What equipment do I need to start a hive?, How do I care for them?,  How will I get the honey out?    Following is the answer to all of these questions.  This will hopefully guide you in your steps to managing your own apiary (scientific name for bee keeping).  It is important to start beekeeping now and make mistakes before you really need the honey.  But if  you are reading this post TEOTWAWKI there are still ways that you can obtain a honey bee hive that I will address. I now have one hive in production and plan to build more.

  
I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT BEES
Bees live for one purpose only and that is to work.  They spend their entire lives working themselves to death.  During the summer, when bees are the busiest they can live up to 6 weeks.  If a bee is born during a non-busy season they will live up to 6 months.  Within the hive you have three types of bees: Queen, drones, and workers.   The Queen bee is bigger than all of your other bees.  She looks different with a shorter thorax (the middle of the 3 sections on a bee), small wings, and a longer torso which enables her to back up her behind into a cell and lay an egg.  She puts off pheromones (a scent) that inhibits all other female bees' ovaries from working.  She can lay up to 2,000 eggs daily. 

A drone is a male bee that exists in the hive at a ratio of 1 drone to every 100 worker (female) bees.  The drones exist for the sole purpose to mate with the queen.  They are not able to feed or care for themselves and are cared for by their kind sisters. 

Worker bees, once hatched from a cell, start their work within the hive cleaning cells,  (a queen will only lay an egg in a clean cell), feeding and caring for baby larvae, grooming and feeding the queen, removing dead bees to the front of the hive, cleaning dust pollen and debris off other bees,  building wax from wax glands (located on the underside of their abdomen) and rendering it to honeycomb, capping pupae and ripened honey from their secreted wax, fanning honey in the cells to remove water which preserves the honey, and placing propolis (a sticky substance they make) in any crack that needs to be filled.  Once a worker's mandible and stinger are fully formed, at three weeks, they can work outside the hive foraging for pollen, nectar, and water and protecting the hive from impending dangers.   

The life cycle of a bee starts when a queen lays an egg in a cell.  The eggs, shaped like a small grain of rice, are hard to see inside each cell.  A pair of reading glasses may help a beginner spot the eggs easier.  The workers regulate the ratio of males to females by constructing larger cells for males and smaller cells for females.  The queen recognizes the cell size and deposits the correct egg within.  Usually drone and queen cells are on the edges of the frame and females are concentrated in the center of the frame.  Eggs develop for three days before moving to the larva stage where they look like small pearly white semi-circles in their cell.  The top of their cells are sealed to enable them to spin a cocoon around themselves and turn into a pupa.  They will emerge 7, 10 or 14 days later depending on if they are a queen, worker, or drone.  A queen takes 16 days from egg to maturity, a drone 24 days, and a worker 21 days.  
This is a brief overview of the life and function of a honey bee.  There are great resources to learn about honey bees if you decide you are interested in bee keeping.

WHAT EQUIPTMENT DO I NEED TO START MY HIVE?
It is important that you obtain a hat with a veil.  There are many options but I like an XXL (I normally wear a women's medium)  jacket with the veil attached.  This way the back of the jacket will cover me at all times no matter how much I bend over.  I will have no chance of being stung on the back.  You will need a hive tool to pry apart the boxes and the frames.  A smoker is used to induce the bees into a more submissive state.  Smoking a hive takes a lot of practice and has not come naturally to me.  You also want white gloves.  Bees do not like dark colors and if you can find white goat skin gloves it is best. 

The type of hive I have is called a Langstroth hive named for the man who invented a way to obtain honey and avoid ruining the hive each time honey was harvested.  For the hive itself you need a bottom board.  They come solid or screened.  Where I live in the Rocky Mountain region I have chosen to go with a screened bottom board to prevent significant condensation inside the hive in the winter that would drip and kill the bees.  You will need 2 hive bodies called brood chambers.  The height on these boxes are 9 1/2 in. and most of the eggs, growing larva, and pupa reside within these chambers.  When these boxes are full of brood, bees, honey, and pollen they can weigh 60-80 pounds.  On these brood boxes "supers" are often placed.  These boxes are shorter at 6 5/8 in height which makes them easier to carry and move around when they are full of honey and you are ready to extract.  Full they can weigh 40-45 pounds.  Within the boxes you will usually have 10 rectangular shaped wooden frames that contain foundation sheets stamped with a honey comb pattern to guide bees in building regular combs with uniform cells.  There are many types of foundation including:  pure beeswax, plastic with beeswax overlay, and plain plastic.  The foundation can be bought separately or already in the frames.  An outer cover rests on the top to protect the hive from rain, hailstones, and snow.  There are many other parts that can be added to a hive but these are the basics.

WHAT EQUIPTMENT DO I NEED TO START A HIVE AFTER TEOTWAWKI?
You will need to fashion from a net like material a hood that will keep your head and neck covered to prevent being stung.  Light colored gloves are preferable but any gloves will work.  Many beekeepers do not wear gloves because a stinger left in the glove will put off a scent that tells the other bees to sting. 

Early settlers frequently  used "bee gums" or hollow sections of a tree with a board placed over the top and the bottom to house their bees.  The problem that occurs with this type of hive is it will have to be destroyed by breaking it open in order to obtain the honey.  When you chop down the tree keep a few sections of the it to be able to replace the section that is dismantled every year to obtain the honey.  Make a few openings in the front of the hive small enough for the bees to enter but not large enough to allow mice or other small rodents that are looking for a warm house.
A smoker will be difficult to come by but a big torch from a branch will work just as well and will assist in helping the bees become more docile.  Over the centuries, wildfires have trained the bees that when they smell smoke they gorge themselves on honey and then leave the hive to find a new home. 

HOW DO I CARE FOR BEES?
Placement of a hive is important.  You want good drainage around your hive.  Raising it off the ground onto cinder blocks or wood will usually keep moisture from getting inside the hive due to run off.  The hive needs to be in an area that you can get around and access easily.  You need to have water accessible.  Water is crucial to a bees survival.  They may need a float in your water source to prevent drowning your bees.  A windbreak will help them maintain their temperature during summer and winter.  A southeastern exposure is ideal to provide morning sunshine to stimulate the foraging bees to get up and get busy. 

Putting the bees in the hive
Early spring is the best time to start beekeeping.  This gives the bees all summer to build their stores for winter.  During the first year you will likely not extract honey.  The bee population is usually not high enough to produce extra honey and the bees will need the top and bottom brood boxes full to feed themselves from during the winter.  Bees are shipped in a box with a wire screen (also called a nuc box), with a can of syrup that will feed them on their journey through the postal system.  Be prepared for an early morning phone call from the post office to come pick up your buzzing package.  The queen will be in a small cage inside the package with several bees attending to her needs from the outside. 
            1. In the late afternoon or evening put on your protective gear, open the hive up to have access to the frames, place the nuc box near the hive and light your smoker
            2. There are 2 ways to do the next part, either a) splatter a syrup mixture onto the wire cage.  This will calm the bees.  Continue doing this until they quit eating. or b) Spray a sugar water mixture onto the bees.  This will not hurt them but will make it difficult for them to fly.  The sugar water mixture will also give them a snack as they will clean it off of each other.  Rap the cage onto the ground and let the bees fall to the bottom of the cage.
            3. Take the cover off the cage, remove the queen, and put the lid back on to prevent escaping bees.  Make a small hole in the candy plug that will allow the bees to eat their way through to the queen and release her.  Wedge her small cage between 2 frames within the hive making sure the candy plug is accessible to the bees. 
            4. Again rap the cage on the ground, then remove the lid and pour/shake the bees onto the frames in the hive.  At this point they are not going to be territorial and try to sting you.  They currently have no home and are not going to try to protect this hive.  It will take a few days before they call this new box home.  After you have poured most of the bees onto the hive, lay the box on its side to allow the other bees a way to crawl out and get into the hive.  Put the lid on top of the hive and then leave them alone.  Bees do much better without our help. 
After 3-5 days you want to make sure the queen has been released from her cage.  Open the lid during a warm sunny afternoon.  Hopefully most bees will be foraging and not at home.  If she has not been released, pull the candy plug out or push it carefully into her cage being careful not to squish her.  After this, leave them for a few weeks.  It is not prudent to check them more than every 2 weeks and many people wait 4 weeks.  When you do open the hive it will be hard to separate the boxes and the frames.  Bees use a sticky substance called propolis to glue all openings and frames together.  You will need to separate the box lid and the box with your hive tool, then put a little smoke into the crack.  This will induce the bees to go down into the frames and gorge on honey making them more sluggish.  After you take the lid off, lean it against the hive.  Pry a frame apart and lift it up, being careful to keep it over the hive so the queen does not fall off onto the ground.  When you look at your frames you want to make sure there are eggs and brood (growing baby bees).  The egg should be in the center of each cell and there should only be 1 egg in each cell.  If there are more than 1 egg in each cell it could mean your queen has failed and the worker bees have taken over by laying non-fertile eggs.  This will produce an all male (drone) hive which will die off very quickly as they are not able to care for themselves. 
In the spring before bees have a lot of plants to forage from they may begin to starve because they have eaten their reserves and have nothing to forage.  At this point it is a good idea to feed them.  There are many contraptions you can buy to feed them but last year the method I chose was to make a syrup with a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water, place it in a gallon zip lock bag, lay it on top of the frames, and then cut an X in the top of the bag.  The bees will land on the bag and eat from the syrup oozing out of the X.  My only expense was the sugar.  There are other recipes and substances you can use to feed bees but the important thing to remember is that during early spring you may need to feed your bees.
When working with bees use slow and gentle movements.  If you are quick or abrupt they will feel threatened and are put on high alert.  If a bee stings the stinger rips away from the bees body and the bee dies.  The stinger continues to pump venom into your skin so brush the stinger off quickly.  If you grab the stinger to pull it out you will force all of the venom into your skin. If a bee is squished this sends the bees into high alert and they are more likely to sting.  To get the bees off of the rim of the hive before putting the lid on use the smoker and they will bury back down into the frames, to again gorge on honey, you will be less likely to squish the bees and they will not try to harm you. 

POST TEOTWAWKI - OBTAINING HONEY BEES
In the event you do not already have bees, you can try robbing a hive to get your bees.  If you see honey bees around your property and are not sure where they have their hive hidden you can try this trick.  To do this you will need to make yourself a box with a glass or plexiglas top piece that will fit onto the box by sliding into grooves.  Place honey, molasses or a syrup mixture inside the box and place it somewhere you think the bees might come.  Once a few bees are in the box filling up on your sweet substance sprinkle them with flour.  Let them fly away and watch where they go.  They will go back to their hive and recruit other bees to come get food.  Other bees will come to your box.  Once your original flour coated bees come back to the box place the lid on the box and walk in the direction the bees flew off to.  This will bring you closer to their home.  At this point the bees will be full and ready to fly away.  Put the box on the ground when you no longer know which way to go, take the lid off, and let them fly away.  The bees will be confused for a minute, once they find their bee line they will head off towards home.  Watch them to see where they are headed and make a note of the landmarks you should walk to that will bring you closer to their hive.  When the floured bees come back do this again.  Put the lid on, walk their bee line (the path they take to and from their hive), let them out, watch them.  Do this again and again until they lead you to their honey tree.  Likely the tree the bees are in will need to be chopped down.  Doing this at night will be easier because the bees won't be active.  They will be sluggish and sleeping, especially if the temperature is a little cooler.  When you chop the tree down, place your hollow log (with a board nailed to the bottom) next to your main body of bees.  You want to find the queen, which is much larger and has small wings.  When you find the queen, deposit her into your hollow log and the other bees will follow.  You can take a stick and pick up bees on the end to shake into the log being careful not to squish your queen.  Place the lid on your hollow log and place them in their new location during the night.  At this point you would want to also take all the honey you can. 

HOW DO I GET THE HONEY OUT?
There are two ways to extract your honey.  The first way is to buy or make an extractor.  Using centrifugal force the honey is spun out of the frame, collects in the bottom of a vat or bucket and then can be poured from a gate/nozzle near the bottom of the bucket into containers.  The second way to extract honey is to crush the comb and honey together and then strain the wax out of the honey.  One reason most people use an extractor is to save the bees the work of making beeswax.  For every pound of beeswax formed in the hive the bees could have made around 10 pounds of honey.  By using a machine that will spin the honey out of the frames the bees do not have to work to make more beeswax.  They spend their time and energy refilling the wax that is ready.  Extractors bought from a bee supply company range in price from $199.00 to $2,000.   Many people make their own extractors out of scrap metal, a food grade bucket, and a tool like a grout mixer that fits onto a drill and allows the frames to spin.  Many plans can be found online how to make an extractor.

Post TEOTWAWKI, unless you have an extractor, you will extract honey by crushing the comb and honey.  When a frame is 80% capped off (the bees seal the honey with a white/ yellowish waxy seal) you can harvest the honey.  Materials for your gravity extractor include two buckets, one of those buckets needs a lid.  To get a mental picture of what your setup will look like when you finish you will have two buckets stacked one on top of the other.  The bottom bucket will have a lid for the top bucket to sit on.  Poke or drill 3/16 in. holes in the top bucket to allow honey to drip down through.  This bucket will be placed on a bucket of the same size that has a lid.  Cut the middle section out of the lid.  This will allow the honey to drip down from the top bucket into the bottom bucket while sitting comfortably and securely on the lid of the bottom bucket.   If your frames have plastic foundation inside them you will cut or scrape the comb and honey into a pot or pan.  If you have wax foundation in your frames you can cut the foundation right out of your frames and place it a pot or pan.  Working in small batches crush the comb honey in the pot/pan and place it in the top bucket.  The honey will separate from the wax, for the most part, and move down through the holes into the second bucket.  Once your honey has moved to the bottom bucket, which can take hours to days depending on how warm the honey is and how much you have, it is a good idea to strain it again using a cheesecloth or strainer.  Make sure you do this in an area the bees can not get to.  They will rob you of your honey quickly if allowed the opportunity.  
Once you have completed your project, put your sticky tools and buckets outside near your hive.  The bees will usually clean the honey off of them and take it back to the hive.  Bees can not reuse their wax.  You can take the beeswax from the top bucket and use it.  Here are a few recipes for bees wax:

Candles:  Place wax in a pot or a crock pot and heat until liquid.  Use old metal food cans or small jelly or half pint jars, place a candle wick inside and fill with beeswax

Taper candles:  Cut a long piece of flat braid wick.  Heat beeswax in a pot and dip the wicks into the wax to make them the desired length.  Tapers are made in pairs because you dip both sides into the wax which allows them to hang while drying.  For the first dip leave them in the wax one full minute to allow the wick to soak up the wax.  Thereafter keep dipping until they reach your desired width.  When you pull them out hang them over a dowel or a rolling pin to dry.  This process will usually take a few hours so give yourself ample time.  Let them sit for a day before using them. 

Hand lotion:  1 part beeswax, 4 parts olive oil- heat the beeswax and mix in the olive oil.  You can add essential oils but that is optional. Mix thoroughly, place in a small container while still liquid.  It will harden up.

Chapstick:  2 parts coconut oil, 1 part beeswax a few drops of vitamin E.  This can also be used as a hand salve.  Use a cheese grater to get small pieces of beeswax.  Heat these, mix, then use.

Honey is amazing when I think about the health properties it has.  It is full of vitamins, antioxidants and minerals.  It tastes great and can be substituted for sugar in smaller ratios.  I am fascinated as I stand by my hive watching them come in and out interacting with each other.  Whenever someone asks me about my bees I tell them, "I don't know why I didn't do this sooner.  They are fascinating little creatures."  If you have thought about bee keeping in the past, just start.  Honey bees are very easy and beneficial to have around.      

Recipes using honey: 
Cough and sore throat remedy: 1 T of honey, 1 T of lemon juice, 1 c. of hot water

Soft Whole Wheat bread
2 1/2 c. very warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
3-4 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten (secret ingredient)
1 Tbsp. dough enhancer (opt.)
1 Tbsp. Lecithin (opt.)
2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. softened butter
6-7 c. freshly ground wheat flour
Put water in mixer. Sprinkle yeast on top, then drizzle honey over it. Let sit for 3-4 minutes, or until yeast has bloomed and risen to the surface.
Mix in vital wheat gluten, dough enhancer, lecithin, salt, butter, and 1 cup flour. Slowly add 5 more cups flour. Let mixer knead dough for 8-10 minutes, then add more flour if the dough is still sticking to the sides. Add flour until dough pulls away.
Take dough out and knead on OILED surface. CUT, do not tear dough into 2 equal parts, and shaped into loaves. Place in greased bread pans, and allow to rise 1 hour uncovered. Place in cool oven and turn on to 350°F.
Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Remove from pans immediately, brush tops with butter or spray with a fine mist of water. I usually let them cool to room temperature while enjoying a few pieces with jam or honey, then slice completely and store in bread bags. I recommend freezing and thawing out the pieces as you need them - it is not hard, they defrost very nicely. Just make sure not to put it in the freezer while it is still warm, or the pieces will stick together and break when you try to pull them out.


References:
Adams, John, 1972: Beekeeping: The Gentle Craft
Delaplane, Keith, 2007: First Lessons in Beekeeping
English, Ashley, 2011:Homemade Living: Keeping Bees with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Tend Hives, Harvest Honey & More   
MacBride, Roger Lea, 1995: In the Land of the Big Red Apple (Little House series)
Readers Digest, 1981: Back to Basics

Eons ago when people lived in caves, one of their most important tools was fire.  Its ability to keep them warm, cook food, provide light, and scare away predators was of the utmost importance.  Some kind of a societal upheaval may not necessarily mean returning to a stone age existence, but when the systems that keep our everyday life humming along go down, fire will once again have a huge impact on our ability to survive.

This fact was brought home to my wife and me two winters ago, when a February blizzard knocked out the power to several counties.  It was early evening - the lights flickered a few times, and then the house was plunged into darkness.  Everything became eerily quiet, save for the wind howling outside and snow pelting against the window.

Then there was another sound – the reassuring popping of a log in our big airtight Franklin stove which continued to throw off its heat, oblivious to the fact that the juice was off.  For the next thirty-six hours we used it to keep us warm,  melt snow to flush toilets, and even did a some cooking over its coals.  While other folks along our country road bundled up in sleeping bags and shivered until the outage ended, the disruption to our lives wasn’t nearly as great.

If you live in a northern climate, staying warm is important for nearly half of the year.  Did I say “important”?  Make that “vital” because without a way to keep the temperature in your home or bug-out place at a life-sustaining level, you will die of exposure!  Your gas or oil furnace will be fine… as long as your fuel supply lasts or the electricity doesn’t fail.  These are finite resources, however, and during a long-term disruption of goods and services, your pilot light will go out at some point (probably just when a January blizzard comes howling in). 

The only logical solution is to turn to wood heat, or more precisely, a wood-burning airtight stove (fireplaces are fine for ambiance, but horribly inefficient for warming you since most of the heat goes up the chimney).  The next question, then, is where will your wood come from, and what skills and tools do you need to convert it to usable fuel for your stove? 

The countryside is full of burnable litter.  Next time you’re out and about, take a look around.  Fallen branches and even a downed tree or two are common sights in any woodlot or park, or along rural roads.  Most of it, though, is too small to keep a fire going with the BTU output that’s needed to warm your home.  Real “firewood” consists of pieces of thick branches or trunks that have been cut and split to a size of about 16” long and roughly 5” or 6” in diameter.  Anything smaller will require re-stoking the stove every few hours, while bigger pieces may smolder unless the fire is wastefully large.

At present, I get most of my firewood supply from a local landowner, who doesn’t like downed trees lying around and sees it as a favor when I clean up the woods for him.   After a big summer storm, city folks without saws will gladly offer you a tree that’s toppled in their yard.  Likewise, a downed tree across a rural road usually belongs to the first one who’s there to cut it up.   During bad times it would likely be possible to barter for timber with a landowner who doesn’t have the tools or know-how to utilize it himself -probably working together and then sharing it.  State or federally-owned hunting land and wildlife areas also have downed timber, which can often be claimed by anyone with the gumption to go get it.

If we ever arrive at a point where vehicles and trailers are no longer available, all of your wood will have to be hauled by hand.  That means that laying in a good supply now, when you can still move it efficiently, would be a good idea.  Having a sizable woodpile to begin with puts a buffer between you and calamity.  Get your wood from the more distant locations while you can still truck it, and leave the easier pickings for when you may have to move it manually. 

Wheel barrows are, in my opinion, a poor way to transport anything heavy for any distance due to their chronic balance problems.  With their single, small, pneumatic tire, they are not made to move loads over uneven ground.  Take one into the woods and roll over a few blackberry brambles, and the tire will inevitably puncture and go flat.  A better alternative is one of those “game haulers” with large, hard rubber wheels.  They’re made for going over rough terrain easily, and can handle a maximum load with a minimum amount of effort (they can also haul around a lot of other heavy stuff that might need moving).

Literally any wood will burn.  One year we survived two months of a Wisconsin winter heating with willow – a wood near the bottom of the BTU list.  Likewise, this past winter we used a fair amount of box elder – another low grade tree.  Woods like this certainly will throw out enough heat to keep you warm, but they burn fast, requiring a larger supply.

The “primo” varieties include oak, hard maple, locust, hickory and apple.  Next down the line but still good, are ash, birch, cherry, and hackberry.  Unless there is nothing else available, however, avoid any of the evergreen species, since their resin content tends to start chimney fires, spit sparks, and can flash back when you open the stove door.

Firewood should season for at least six months after being cut green (a year is better) although a few varieties, like ash and locust, will burn without much drying.

We’ve just been through a mild winter here. Spring has arrived and, after checking the wood shed, I see that we’ve gone through about six face cords of mixed hardwood (a stove face cord is a stack four feet high, eight feet long, and 16” deep).  A bad winter, like last year’s, would probably have required another cord.

A household could get by on a lot less, though.  For one thing, we have a large stove and heat the entire place with it.  The fire is usually lit in November and doesn’t go out until late March.  A smaller stove heating a smaller area would take far less fuel.  And if our wood supply had been limited, instead of basking in 70 degree temperatures all winter, we could have stretched the supply by burning less – in an extreme case, just enough to keep the place at 50 degrees.  This would have been uncomfortable, but it would have enabled us to survive.

If you envision doing your cutting with a chain saw after society falls apart, picture those last precious (and irreplaceable) drops of gas disappearing into its tank.  Even if you’ve stocked a large supply of fuel and bar oil, gas has a shelf life, and how many chains do you have?  The other problem with a chain saw (besides the fact that, being a machine, it will need unobtainable replacement parts at some point) is that it makes noise.  This broadcasts a message to anyone within a mile that someone’s cutting a pile of firewood that could be pilfered from the producer as soon as he’s finished the work.

Long-term survival requires stepping back into the 19th century and taking up the hand saw.  Do you have one capable of cutting through a 30 inch tree trunk?  Probably not, but realizing the need for producing burnable chunks suitable for splitting that will hold a fire all night should inspire you to get one.

A crosscut saw capable of handling tree trunk needs to be either a one or two-man model 48” - 56“ long.  If you’ve got a partner, go with a two-man type.  I’ve got one that can be set up either way, with add-on handle on one end that converts it from a solo saw to a duo.

There are two basic tooth types – “Lance” and “Tuttle”.  The former is designed more for softwoods, so go with the latter.  One company that carries a good assortment of saws in various designs for serious cutting is the Traditional Woodworker (www.traditionalwoodworker.com).

Also consider buying a second smaller, less cumbersome saw with a standard tooth arrangement for doing the medium cutting jobs.  This one would probably have a 24” - 30” blade with 4 ½ to 6 teeth per inch.  Such a saw could also be used in a pinch for the big stuff.  For cutting up smaller branches for kindling or your cooker (which will be discussed shortly) bow saws work fine.  They’re cheap, so get a couple of different sizes and a number of spare blades.

But having an assortment of saws isn’t going to keep you cutting indefinitely.  No matter how good the steel is, that blade is eventually going to get dull.  A good stock of files will be important for keeping your saws working efficiently.

Do you know how to sharpen a saw?  Are you familiar with things like “Fleam”, “Rakers” and “Jointing”?  Do you have a tooth setter in your tool box?  Becoming proficient at sharpening your cutting tools is a skill you can’t overlook (the afore-mentioned saw dealer also sells an excellent book by Harold Payson on setting and sharpening hand saws).  And besides keeping your own tools chipping away efficiently, being the local “saw sharpener” can make you a vital asset to a small community of survivors.

Axes can play a role in firewood production, too.  They’re not as efficient as a saw, but a century ago lumberjacks used them to take down mature trees.  Felling a tree with an axe, however, requires a lot of skill as well as effort, something you will soon discover when tackling anything bigger than a mid-sized aspen.  I’ve found that the best use for an axe is limbing a downed tree.  Just remember to stand on the opposite side of the trunk, and chop off the limb from the root end of the trunk towards the top. 

Like saws, axes come in several styles and sizes.  The “limbing” axe, with a 25 inch handle is also good for cutting up small limbs on a chopping block, while a full-sized axe can be used for splitting smaller pieces with a straight grain or, if you have to, felling a tree.

One more thought on axes:  Like any edged tool, keep it sharp!  The old saying, “a dull knife is a dangerous knife” holds true for axes as well (and you can do a lot more damage to yourself with one).

To round out your wood processing equipment you should have a good splitting maul, two or three wedges and a sledge hammer.  If you’re lucky enough to get into some straight-grained ash or oak, the maul alone will do the job, but often you’ll need the encouragement of a wedge or two to get many pieces to split to the size you desire.

Not all wedges are the same.  Get one that has a narrow entry edge for efficiently starting a split, and a wider one to open it up when you bury the first wedge (which often happens).  I like the model made by True Temper which has two built-in “wings” near the top for my second wedge.  The wings open the crack far enough to allow the head of a sledge hammer in, so you can continue to pound on the wedge until the split is complete.

A couple of final thoughts on cutting firewood:  If you don’t know what you’re doing, standing timber can kill you in a heartbeat.  Any written description here of exactly how to take down a tree would not be adequate, so go out and find someone who works in the woods, and ask if you can tag along sometime to learn how it’s done.  Some of the important things they’re likely to point out are:

• The “hinge” (the uncut area between the notch and the felling cut) controls the direction which the tree will fall.  If you cut through it, the tree can go anywhere (including in you lap).

• More branch weight on one side will influence a tree to fall in that direction.

• A dead branch near the top that comes loose due to vibrations while cutting can be lethal (that’s why they’re called “widow-makers”).

• Be aware of wind direction.  This can influence a tree’s fall – especially if it’s leafed out.

Fire is important for more than just keeping your core temperature above 98.6 degrees. In the event of a prolonged TEOTWAWKI catastrophe, everyone will need some way to cook food and boil water.  White or bottled gas, however, is not the answer, since eventually your supply will run out.  At that point you’ll once again have to turn to wood.

A traditional campfire will work, but is hugely wasteful of your hard-earned fuel resources.  The best option is to use something that will give you a big boost in efficiency over an open fire, and that “something” would be a well-designed wood-fired cook stove.

Some Preppers’ stocks of provisions include large amounts of freeze-dried food which doesn’t need to be “cooked” per se, but does require a cup or two of boiling water.  The most effective way to do this is with what is known as a “Kelly Kettle” (sometimes called  a “volcano kettle”). 

The Kelly Kettle is an odd-looking stainless steel stove that resembles a cross between a miniature milk can and a bowling pin.  It has a small fire chamber in the base which draws air from below, and the heat rises through a long chimney.  Surrounding this chimney is a hollow jacket that holds water.  The heat coming up it contacts a far greater surface area of the water than it would if it were merely concentrated on the bottom of a pan, and brings it to a boil in only a fraction of the time.

Another thing that makes the Kelly Kettle a great survival tool is the fact that it can be fueled with just about anything that burns.  Collect the wood chips from where you’ve been cutting and splitting your stove wood, break up small, fallen branches or twigs, or use pine cones or even bark – it’s all the same to the Kelly Kettle.  The bottom draft arrangement (the same principle as a Dakota fire) will make just about anything you put in it burn hot and fast.

For your actual cooking needs or for heating larger amounts of water, a special stove based on the Kelly Kettle will work far better than an open fire.  The only problem is that as far as I know, there isn’t such a stove on the market.  This means you’ll have to make your own.

 There’s a plan on a survival blog for a pipe stove with a “rocket elbow”.  I followed the basic design and tweaked it just a bit.  My version consists of an eleven inch length of  6” stove pipe nested inside a twelve inch piece of  8” stove pipe.  A vent (1 ½” diameter piece of exhaust pipe) goes from the bottom of the inner pipe and sticks out an inch past the outer one.  This tube serves both as an air intake and a chute to add fuel.

The interior pipe is closed off at the bottom using a removable standard 6” stovepipe cap and then cement is poured in the space between the two pipes.  This acts as insulation as well as giving the stove more weight, and hence, more stability.  Several one inch deep scallops are cut into the top rim of the outer pipe to allow smoke to escape, and what’s left supports the utensil you’re cooking with.  Like the Kelly Kettle, the fact that it draws air from the bottom and has a long chimney, will make the fire burn with a hot, focused flame.  A stove such as this also allows one to utilize easily collected scrap wood as fuel.

Following the basic design concept, it might be possible to build larger stoves for bigger cooking tasks.  The only drawback I’ve noticed with mine is that because it uses small pieces of wood that burn quickly, it needs to be fed often and hence, can’t be left unattended for long.

A bonus to cooking with wood is that the ashes the fire produces can be used as soap to clean up with.  Since they contain lye, merely mixing them into a paste with clean water and using it as a scouring compound will allow you to keep utensils clean long after your supply of soap has run out.
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The best “starter” wood to get a fire going - whether it’s you cooker of wood furnace - is dry cedar.  If you can find an old telephone pole lying around somewhere, saw it into short lengths and then split each round into thin pieces. Unless you hit a knot, the straight grain of cedar splits easily into extremely thin sticks which take a flame in seconds.  I call this stuff “fire candy”.  It catches quickly and burns intensely for starting a fire, as well as rejuvenating one that is nearly out.  If you can’t find cedar, something like well-dried aspen or willow is also a good starter.

Don’t forget that before you can burn anything, you’ll have to have a way of starting your fire.  A large stockpile of traditional matches, metal matches and butane lighters take up little space and have no maximum shelf life.  If you run out, though, you’ll have to resort to a fire bow or a magnifying glass.

And for each fire you light, you’ll need some tinder to get it going.  A supply of newspapers and dryer lint will work, but know that when it’s gone you’ll have to rely on fuzz sticks or natural materials like mouse nests.

If and when TEOTWAWKI arrives “keeping the home fires burning” will be right up there with food and water.  Prepare for it now!

As hinted by C.E.B's article, Pesach (Passover) and Sukkot (Festival of Booths) are Jewish holidays -- two of the three major festivals -- in the Jewish calendar. That calendar is a Lunar/Solar calendar that does not correspond with the Gregorian calendar, which is why which holiday dates vary each year in the Gregorian calendar. Watching and marking the phases of the moon is not all there is to the Jewish calendar.

Before the calendar's calculations were settled by Hillel II in the fourth century the first sliver of the new moon was reported to the Sanhedrin. Based on the report of two witnesses who were both reliable and independent of each other the Sanhedrin declared it to be the first day of the month (Rosh Chodesh). A shofar (ram's horn) was ritually blown and messengers carried the announcement. Rosh Chodesh is, after all, a festival day each month.

However, it is most important to understand that the Jewish calendar is not a lunar calendar. A lunar month is about 29.5 days. Twelve of them only amounts to 354 days so another 11 or 12 days or so would be needed to make it correspond with the 365.25 day solar year. The difference gets even worse when simplified too much by using 29 days instead of 29.5 days per lunar month. Without intercalated days to compensate for this difference the Torah-mandated seasonal (solar) holidays would be out of sync by nearly two weeks every year. Using a 13-month lunar year is just as bad in the other direction: too many days instead of too few. With ancient Jews spread throughout the world (diaspora) getting word of the new month from declarations by the Sanhedrin simply could not work. Hence, the Jewish calendar.

Taking C.E.B.'s assumption that ordering delivery of a current calendar may become difficult or even impossible in SHTF conditions lasting longer than a year, having personally printed copies of the Jewish calendar may be as important to many people as having hard copies of selected books instead of depending on PDFs or other electronic versions.

There are several Jewish perpetual calendar web sites one could go to generate and print several years of calendars. One great one I recommend is at HebCal.com. Aside from selecting the Gregorian or Hebrew calendar year to generate, selections exist to show holidays, Rosh Chodesh, fast days, special Shabbos days, and so on. It will also generate candle lighting times for your local zip code's time zone. There are other options.

The web page with the calendar generated can be printed of course, but there are also download format options for Windows, Mac OS, Google Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, and others. Furthermore, click the next month link or next year link at the top to advance the calendar for the next printout or download.

As for one last detail from C.E.B.'s article, it isn't likely that those who pay attention will lose track of which day of the week it will be. The Jewish names of the weekdays were always First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Shabbos! - Larry R.

To follow up on chicken coop design article "A Newbie's Perspective on Raising Chickens", please consider: 

My first coop had chicken wire all the way down to the ground.  The possums would get one on each side at night, bounce the chickens from side to side (chickens are stupid at night) and then they would grab one through the wire and extrude them through the wire eating as they went.  Within a month they were all gone.  The whole thing was very disturbing.

My new coop has plywood sides with hardware cloth (1/2" squares) on the upper part.  As in the article, mine is closed in with plywood siding on three sides (1/2 way on the ends) and open at the top on the remaining sides with siding on the bottom part (all the way around)  The closed in area has the nesting boxes.  I did a closed in room behind the nesting boxes so I can access the boxes by lifting a small door in each box on the rear wall.

In the chicken run area, I used chicken wire at the top and roof but I used hardware cloth for the first two feet off the ground.  Raccoons and possum are proficient climbers and will easily access the coop mentioned yesterday.  There is also nothing to stop an owl or chicken hawk.  We have panthers and I am sure an open top will not stop them.  if you put a pressure treated wood piece at the bottom perimeter in the dirt as a nailer, it will be very difficult for an animal to dig in.  I have not had any problem.  I did use cypress fence lumber in the beginning and that has rotted out.
 
Additionally, I put a thin stainless floor over pressure treated plywood in my coop, sloped it slightly towards one wall, left an small 3/4" gap under the wall bottom plate which is what the studs are fastened to  (supported on short 3/4" wood blocks every two feet) and I put a 3/4" piece of wood in the gap (loose)  to keep the snakes out.  Removing the wood plug allows me to wash down the floor.  If you taper the wood block and point the taper to the inside, it will funnel the waste out.

I am having a problem with something getting my larger birds during the day while they are free range, mainly the turkeys but the loss is manageable.  A fake owl has stopped most of my chicken hawk losses during free range.
 
In my garden area next to the coop, the chicken wire buried in the ground has rusted away and this weekend project is to put another wood nailer on top of the first one to refasten the shorter wire.

And regarding the recent article on underground caches I must mention you need to put a hard secondary cap over a rubber cap or a plastic bucket that is buried at a shallow depth.  This protective secondary cap can be made of thicker hard plastic, aluminum, steel, or pressure treated plywood.  I have cows (and they would collapse a rubber cap or a bucket.  A metal cap prevents that.  Of course metal will show up with a metal detector which would be good for you if you are caching so that would be bad if you have unwanted people searching.  With a cap, you can also use a probe to help relocate your items if the soil is not rocky. If you bury deep enough, you could use a dummy scrap metal piece above the cap to fool a coin shooting metal detector.

When compiling a list of our survival necessities, we end up with a few basic categories: food, fuel, shelter, water, and protection. Stranded in the wilds, or a deserted island, water is the most important. Shelter comes in a close second, followed by fuel for water purification, food preparation, and sanitation, and ending with food for sustenance. If you add a sharpened stick, perhaps topped with a sharp rock, bone, or metal point, you can protect yourself from wild animals, kill or spear game and fish, and most importantly, fend off adversaries intent on taking your necessities for themselves, or harming or killing you.

In the modern context, our firearms provide the ability to protect our homes and persons from those criminals, or as recent national events have revealed, a movement by government officials, to strip that right of self protection from us to further an agenda of repression and abuse disguised as the philosophy of distribution of equal necessity and eventual misery to all of us. The push to limit, or remove from us, the most efficient firearms available, has been promoted alongside the limiting of magazine capacity, and even the quantity of rounds of ammunition at time of purchase, or acquired through the mail in bulk. We may retain the right to possess a semi-automatic self-loading rifle, and even make do with limited capacity magazines, but if the ability to fill those magazines with ammunition is curtailed, or out-right denied, then we are in serious trouble. You may have a gun safe loaded up with several rifles, and a few magazines, but if you run out of ammunition, you’ll end up with an expensive, un-wieldy club.
 
My wife and I have enjoyed ten years of participation in the shooting sports, namely Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS). This discipline has allowed us to travel across the United States and make many friends and hone our rifle, shotgun, and pistol shooting abilities. One of the first things we became aware of, was the fact that if we competed more than once a month, we would incur a significant cost of purchasing commercially manufactured ammunition. When I started shooting CAS back in 2003, I could buy a box of 50 rounds of Winchester .45 colt “cowboy” loads for $17.99, and a box of shotgun shells for $ 2.99. That added up to about $40 per match.

Now, a box of both rifle/pistol, and a box of shotgun cowboy rounds is about double that, approaching $80. Most CAS shooters shoot more than one match a month, and the average is 3 matches or so locally. That adds up to quite a bit of money. We were fortunate to have close friends gift us a Dillon 550B and dies as a wedding gift, (we met through mutual friends while CAS shooting) and I found I could drop the $17.99 cost of  box of .45’s down to $3!. My monthly ammunition coast plummeted from 80 per match, down to $6, and then I found a used Lee Load-all 12 gauge shotgun loader, and further dropped my shotgun shell per box cost down to 1/3 of the coast of a commercially loaded box, while adjusting the shot and powder load down to a comfortable “feather-light” type shell. I helped a friend sell bullets he started casting after he bought a lead bullet casting machine, and was making and selling cowboy-type lead bullets at quite a savings. Now all I had to do was buy powder and primers, and re-use my brass, to further drop my cost down to about $2 a box for both rifle/pistol AND shotgun shells.

Back a few years ago, post-election, and fear-driven, ammo sales and availability cleaned out most shelves of stock. Not for us, we had always have components on hand, as we shoot 3-4 matches per month, and travel to larger state and regional shoots requiring double the normal amount of ammunition. Fortunately as well, we are constantly running into folks who have bulk amounts of primers and other components, which we buy at a savings over sporting goods, or box stores. The shortage never impacted us, as we always used the “off” time between competition seasons to load enough rounds to compete in the next season, mostly several thousand in each caliber. My wife shoots .38 Special cartridges in her rifle and pistol, and I shoot .45 Colts in mine. I spent any time after getting our handgun cartridges loaded, to loading as many 12 gauge shotgun shells as I could, just for that “rainy day.”

For the prepper, or even average gun owner, who see’s the hand-writing on the wall, and is concerned about the availability of rifle, pistol, or shotgun ammunition, or for those who just want to invest a small amount to save on future is ammo costs, or even to add a universally needed survival commodity to their barter stock, or home mini-store, ammunition reloading equipment is a great choice.

Getting started in reloading ammunition is very easy. You can start out with a single-stage or multiple-die turret-style press, and move up as you wish to a the next stage, which is a manually indexed press, all the way up to a fully-automatic self-indexing commercial ammunition reloading press. Most all major manufacturers of reloading presses, have a life-time warranty on the units, covering replacement of parts and even some add-on accessories damaged or broken during normal usage.

Single-stage presses, such as those from RCBS and Lee Precision are extremely well-made, and can last several generations. RCBS makes  several single-stage presses you can find used for under $100 such as the RCBS Rock Chucker from Midway which when new comes as a kit with everything you need to start loading. If you buy just the press, you simply purchases a set of 3-4 stage dies in the favorite caliber, and a 50 or 100 round loading plate, in order to process the cartridges 50-100 at a time. First you would  de-cap and size the cleaned cases, re-prime either with the priming die, or by sizing, and then hand-priming with a hand-held primer tool. Then the powder charges are measured out with either a pre-measured powder dipper, (Lee Precision makes the universal set of graduated dippers in a set) and dropped into the primed cases, then the seating and crimp die is screwed into the press and the primed and charged cases and topped with a bullet, and rammed up into the die to produce a finished cartridge.

The Dillon 550B is a very popular press, used by 80% of the cowboy action shooters, and it’s set-up with a set of separately purchased dies, which consist of the case forming/de-priming die, the case belling / powder charging die, which has a automatic pre-set powder measure atop it, actuated by the up-thrust of the sized and primed case into the die, the operator then manually indexes the entire case plate to the next die where he places a bullet atop the charged, and primed case which seats the bullet to the proper depth, and then indexes it around to the final crimp die which crimps the bullet firmly into the case, producing a finished bullet. The Dillon press has an automatic primer feed device, which one pre-loads with 100 or so primers in a tube which places, and seats, a primer automatically into the case after the de-priming action has completed its action. The Dillon is sturdy, easy to adjust, and it’s easy to remove a case midway through the loading sequence to check powder charge, etc., by removing station holding pins at any point. The operator is required to only perform two manual moves, to place an empty case in the first station, the de-prime/sizing die station, and then place a bullet atop the charged/primed case at the third station, all the while rotating, or indexing the base-plate with finger movement, which positions the cases under each appropriate progressive die in the sequence.
Dillon makes a basic single-stage-type hybrid press, the 550 both a bit less expensive, but upgrade called the Square Deal B without some of the 550B’s features, and also an XL 650 with an auto-indexing feature, an auto-case feeding feature etc.  Dillon makes a commercial grade automatic-type press as well if you want to get into mass production and cartridge sales, the SL 900.

A Lee Turret-style press is a take-off on the moving base-plate type press, and the 3-4 dies are positioned atop a rotating top plate mount, while the cases remain stationary below them. Priming and charging the cases with powder are done manually be the operator, although a auto-prime attachment can also be purchased and affixed to take care of this function. This type of press is most often used in reloading at a slower rate, in reloading rifle cartridges, especially shouldered rifle caliber cases.

Lee Precision makes an automatic pistol caliber press called the Lee Pro 1000.  Lee also makes an upgrade as well, the Lee Load Master. It functions very similarly to the Dillon 550B, with the exception of the unit costing much less, and it is auto-indexing, however the down-side is that the priming mechanism is gravity fed, and if the mechanisms are not kept stringently clean, and full of primers, the occasional un-primed case will make its way through to the end. It’s harder to remove a case mid-way through the process to double-check for powder or other component, unlike the Dillon, which is fairly easy to do so. The operator is only required to perform one hand function, aside from operating the press operating handle, which is to place a bullet onto the charged /primed case. This is because the Lee is equipped with a case-feeder, which collates, and sorts, rim-down, cases, after a handful is dropped into the top of the case feeder device funnel.

Having been a prepper for many years, harkening back to the late-1970s “survivalist” movement when the Oregon Rogue River was the destination of many like-minded individualists, I easily saw how accumulating the proper reloading equipment would come in handy. 

The first reloading press I bought, was on the internet at one of the CAS sites where shooting-related merchandise was sold. It was an RCBS single-stage press, for $50 shipping included. I picked up the loading block, and components at my local gun shop, and stared reading up on my new hobby. The first few years shooting under the rules of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) in cowboy action shooting, I reloaded black powder, and black powder substitutes for rifle/pistol, and 12 gauge. The substitute black powder was easier to clean up, and more forgiving with loading data. I sold the press for $75, after loading many thousands of rounds on it. The Dillon 550B is a great machine, and setting one up is fairly easy. I acquired a video-tape of the set-up, which answered many questions for a beginner such as me, and any time I had a broken part, I could call toll-free, and would get replacements at no cost. Many of the larger shoots we attended have prize drawings included with the shoot registration, and many time Dillon 550B, and even auto-indexing XL 650’s would be given away as prizes to a lucky few. One that note, you can buy a 550B and add on case feeding devices and other upgrades.

I found a used Lee Pro 1000 for $75 at a cowboy shoot swap table, and apparently the owner had a few “mechanical” issues with it, as he had broken a few parts, and rather than call and get free replacements, he had rigged the thing up with fishing snap-swivels and discarded the case feeder tubes when they got bent. I called Lee and bought a collator for it, and they sent me replacement plastic case feeder tubes and the proper linkage for free along with it. It is not as forgiving a the Dillon, but is quite a bit faster once you get it all dialed in. It’s a love-hate thing.

Once the last two elections solidified in my mind the almost inevitability of the political atmosphere's left-leaning swing towards firearms, magazines and gun ownership, I decided to accumulate as many common caliber die sets and components as possible, 9mm, .30-30, .380, .38, .45 ACP, 7.62x39, .308, and 30-06. That way I could re-load for anyone that happened to need ammunition post-TEOTWAWKI. I can use this set-up as barter fodder, and have stock-piled primers, brass, bullets, and shot. For this enterprise. Speaking of the later, one can find lots of re-claimed shot at most gun ranges now days, since the anti-lead environmental extremists have made enough noise to force gun ranges to either contract to have the lead removed, or they do it themselves, and re-bag it for resale.

I can buy a bag of pre-sorted and cleaned recycled shot for $24 per 25 pound bag, as opposed to paying $46 currently at a local sporting goods chain.

A company called Corbin makes bullet-bases disks to swage onto the base of lead bullets, so his one can load them into rifle cartridges without the lead bullets leading the barrels. This is essential when loading battle-rifle cartridges in 7.62, and .223/5.56 calibers. Since I have several rifles in pistol caliber, both .38 and .45 Colt, plus several sets of single-action pistols in the same calibers, I plan on using them post-TEOTWAWKI around the homestead, and saving my 7.62 ,.223, and like caliber loaded commercially for heavy engagements. As long as I have powder, lead, primers, re-usable brass cases in .38,. .45 Colt, and ..45 ACP, I’m calling it good for the long haul.

I would encourage anyone who has firearms to look into reloading as a way to provide an almost un-ending supply of ammunition if TSHTF. Ammunition to use to protect your own household, and to use to barter for goods and services.

"Food and energy are the two keystones of any community economy anywhere on earth.   If we produce and distribute food and energy locally, we have the food, the energy and the money.   We establish the capacity to create and retain wealth in our community.   We put in place the two foundations of any human economy."  -David Yarrow.

More and easier food and energy production immediately raise standards of living. Less time worrying about essentials, leaves more time to do everything else.  Do not overlook this simple truth in preparedness and future planning. 

Top Lit Up Draft (TLUD) stove technology has many virtues: 

• Less fuel required, less time spent gathering fuel
• Works with small fuels, brush, twigs, bark, husks, hulls, cobs, cones, even stemmy grasses.
• Little or no fire-tending necessary after lighting
• Smoke free operation when done with skill
• Easily controlled, reduced risk of spreading fire
• Easy and reliable concealment of smoke and light during combustion (used in WWII resistance movement)

MAKES CHARCOAL 

Stove made charcoal has many uses:
 

• Medicine, anti-diarrheal, poison control, burns poultice
• Liquids filtration 
• Low power explosives since the 9th century
• Long term soils improvement  
• NOT typically suitable for gas phase filtration  

The invention of Top Lit Up Draft heating and cooking appliances goes back at least to the WWII resistance movement, possibly much farther back.  Resistance fighters "burned smoke", a two stage combustion process, to conceal position while making heat.  The gas flare could be left open for visible light, or easily concealed with a shroud. Proper design of a shroud increases water boiling performance for a pot nestled into the shroud.  The trick to "burning smoke" is counterintuitive for experienced fire builders. Combustibles are loosely piled into a can with open air holes in the bottom, then

LIT ON TOP

Lighting on top creates an upward draft of warmed air, that pulls fresh air up through the pile to the flame front, technically termed a "pyrolysis" zone.   

The difference is similar to burning off a field of dry grass with the wind, or against the wind. A regular campfire burns "with the wind", a pyrolysis system burns "into the wind", a more easily controlled combustion process. 

The simplest example is an open can without a lid. 

• Punch a few small holes in the bottom  
• Loosely fill the can about 3/4 full of combustibles (small, dry paper wads for testing)  
• Outdoors, on a still day, light it on top  
• Observe how it makes smoke, and the smoke catches fire as it escapes the top rim of the can   

A lot of smoke will probably escape unburned during this test. If it eventually "goes to smoke", all smoke no flame, quickly try lighting the smoke. Note how easily the smoke ignites.  It may progress into a clean burn, or a smoky mess. 

The next advancement is concentrating the smoke and introducing the second shot of fresh air below the point of concentration.

• Make a cap lid with a central hole about 1/4 the diameter of the can  
• A slightly oversized lid with a deep downturned collar works best  
• Make the hole by "pizza slicing" and folding the resulting tabs alternately upward and downward is fast with a pocket knife, and forward looking, but leaves sharp edges  
• Just below the top rim of the can, punch an odd numbered ring of holes, evenly spaced, with a total face area about twice the total face area of the holes in the bottom  
• be sure air can move freely through all holes  
• Light the pile on top  
• As the pile begins burning well, cap the can with the oversized lid   

You should see a ring of flares coming up through the concentrator hole, almost like a burner. The number of flares likely corresponds to the upper air intake holes and/or tabs.  If it goes to smoke, light the smoke.  The flare becomes more durable as the process continues, then fades near the end of the run.  When the flame disappears, the process has entered char burning mode. With enough oxygen, char burns to ash, emitting elevated levels of poisonous carbon monoxide in the process.  Stainless steel drink mugs, thermos bottles, and serving pots are a great way to experiment. 

With a little experience you will learn to tailor custom designs to balance heat output to runtime. You can also scale up or down to a size that suits the mission.    I carry a TLUD made from a small tapered thermos in my bugout bag.  While I have not tried any of the commercial units, I already know from design experience that what I have made suits me better than what I can buy. I can taper the flame from yellow to blue, use it as a light, conceal the light, and even snuff it at mid-process for long lasting catalytic style heat. 

CHARCOAL
Ancient charcoal makers, known as colliers, held guild status in their communities.  Upconverting wood was a combination of art and science, tuned by years of practical experience.  When using TLUD stoves, rather than burning charcoal which can generate dangerous levels of carbon monoxide (read the warnings on a bag of charcoal), it is best to save charcoal for uses outlined above.  To save charcoal, at the end of the run, using tools or gloves to protect from hot surfaces:  

• Remove the run time cap and replace with a solid cap, preferably one that tightly seals the upper air holes 
• Set the can on solid ground to block the holes in the bottom   

After sealing, the volatiles continue to "cook" from wood pores, until all oxygen in the can is consumed. This final conditioning opens up pores, elevating the charcoal into a more activated state. A nice low heat is produced during the process.  After cooling, the charcoal is poured into a second metal container and tightly sealed.   

A very common mistake of charcoal making newbies is believing that charcoal has cooled enough to pour into a plastic container.  If you wish to try plastic, try it outdoors, far away from anything that can ignite. Later, you will likely come back to a small ring of plastic goo.  Charcoal is highly reactive in certain states. It is an essential component of black powder.  TLUD char generally has different characteristics than retort char.  Technically TLUD char making is an oxic rather than an anoxic process.   In practice that means retort char generally retains more weight from the original biomass by holding more volatiles inside the pores.  That makes retort char generally better for cooking and selling by the pound.  Oxic char making is more prone to releasing the volatile elements, creating a lower weight per volume product with higher adsorption capabilities.  In practice that generally makes TLUD char better for filtration and as an emergency substitute for activated carbon.   The original feedstock and process temperatures also affect the adsorption properties of the finished char.

Google the works of Dr. Hugh McLaughlin for in depth discussion of the technical aspects.  The variations in some cases are quite significant.   A report published by Professor Kaneyuki Nakane from the University of Hiroshima reported that bamboo char had seven times the water holding capacity of hardwood char made for cooking. That is a very important characteristic when adding charcoal to soils for drought resistance when growing crops on rooftop gardens.  This author can vouch for the fact that crushed bamboo also works great for fuel, in a specially adapted TLUD. 

MICRO-GASIFICATION
Next steps toward micro-gasification, creating combustible vapor from biomass, include adding chimneys, insulation, dampers, fan power and alternate materials.  

• Chimneys add draft to make air flow more reliable. An inside chimney diameter slightly greater than twice the concentrator hole diameter is magical. Chimney heights up to 20x concentrator hole diameter add draft. Taller chimneys begin to negatively impact draft.   
• Insulation or shrouds maintain a high process temperature and ideally pre-heat the second shot of oxygen to reduce accidental "quenching" of the flare with cold air.  
• Dampers rationing air to the top and/or bottom of the process, allow fine user adjustments during runtime. Dampers are also a huge convenience for shutdown.  
• Fan power can further simplify control. Requires fans and power.  
• Stoves can be made from pottery clay, bricks, 55 gallon drums, dug into a hillside, etc.   

The learning odyssey has practical forward applications. Skilled practitioners use these basic gasification concepts to create gas to power internal combustion engines.  Woodgas is simple, once you understand it.  Understanding the basics first, saves a lot of experimenting on bigger projects. 

BIOCHAR
Charcoal created from biomass, applied in the root zone, has improved crops production on many soil types.  A new term "biochar" was coined in 2007 as researchers study the effect.    Earlier crops, greater production, and enhanced drought resistance are nearly universal effects reported from TLUD char.  Improving downstream water quality, sequestering atmospheric carbon, and purifying soils prior to medicinal herb plantings are more ethereal use cases that make sense considering the physical properties of charcoal.  In my experience, and by many reports, very little TLUD charcoal is required to create a noticeable response in plant growth and crops improvement.  A handful under a fruit or nut tree planting, or a light sprinkling under mulch that the worms will work into the root zone of plants does wonders.  Feeding small quantities of char to poultry was studied at the University of Georgia with reports of better bird health and higher quality fertilizer droppings with less odor. 

ECON 101
Assured energy, food, and medicine at the most local scale possible is not only practical in short-term survival situations, it is 21st century thinking with deep historical roots that holds promise of great days ahead.  My favorite woodgas engine builder, Wayne Keith, is fond of saying "With woodgas, the buck stops here, in my pocket". Wealth creation cannot be much more local than that.  Plentiful food and energy are essential to a high standard of living. TLUD technology is more than a passing fad in stoves making, it is a key to long term better living at the smallest practical scale.  More info is available at resiliencemovement.com on the energy tab, including pictures and links.

I laughed my way through the entertaining and informative (even for me – I had no theoretical knowledge of waxing skis whatsoever, just did “what the other kids did”) recent article on the “exotic Norwegian” cross country skis. So I thought that maybe a couple of other Norwegian experiences might be of interest to survivalblog-readers:

Having lived the first 30 years of my life in Norway and had ample experience with both skiing and offgrid living as a part of everyday life, I have some personal tips on not just surviving offgrid, but actually having a good time even though:
(Before I go on about offgrid living: Nowadays most cabins (“hytter”) in Norway have electricity and outdoors electrically heated bathtubs, but my tips are from a time without electricity and tap water in the cabin.)

To get to our family cabin/Bugout Location (BOL) or “hytte” in winter one has to use skis some kilometers from the car parking (there is only car access in summer). This can, like mentioned in the ski-article last month, be compared to a bug-out situation, although without the psychological stress. The cabin was, by the way, a real life BOL during the occupation of Norway in the 1940ies when my grandma lived there all summer long with two children. There were mountain farms nearby so there was fresh milk available; drinking water had to be fetched in pails from the brook - and the family walked “cross mountain” for a whole day to get hold of the famous sweet and brown goat cheese that is for Norwegians almost like chocolate, for anybody else rather, ahem, challenging to eat… Blueberries and cranberries grew uphill, cloud berries in a bog below the cabin, and fish from the nearby mountain lake made life all in all worth living there.

 Anyway, to get there in winter one still has to carry personal things like clothes, toiletries and first aid essentials in a rucksack and to load a “pulk” or cargo sled with any children or pets, and with necessities like concentrated fruit syrup for juice, mashed,dried potatoes, spaghetti, powdered spaghetti sauce mix, dried onions, rolled oats, powdered or concentrated milk, instant coffee, tea, cocoa and some strong alcohol – just in case. The point is to assume you might be weather locked by snow storms and/or fog for days, and bring enough stuff for everybody (and of course enough pet food) to stay in the “hytte” without buying anything at all for at least two weeks. Nowadays I would include rice and lentils and dried or fresh carrots (assuming you have things like salt, sugar and spice already stored in your BOL). We used to joke about bringing instant water as well, but normally Norway in winter usually has enough clean snow, so that is ok for drinking when properly boiled (remember – at high altitudes water boils at lower temperatures, so I suggest to keep it at a rolling boil for at least five minutes to be sure to kill as many bugs as possible if your BOL is located substantially above sea level.) We melted the snow first in an enormous pot on the woodstove – this was good enough for washing up and so on – but drinking water got properly boiled in a tea kettle.

A word about the weather: There has been cases of otherwise weather-experienced Norwegians dying in a blizzard ten meters from their own cabin because they went to the “outhouse” in a snow storm without a guiding rope and never found the way back. I once experienced fog so thick it literally squeezed into the cabin when doors or windows were opened – in this kind of fog one also better either stays put or uses a rope for any movement outside the cabin. Fog has the strange effect of making distances seem totally different than usual, so even if you are doubly sure of your way, please don´t take any unnecessary risks .
So, a typical arrival at the cabin would be: first of all, get the fire going, then collect snow for melting, then bring in enough wood from under the shed to dry inside, then cook while storing provisions away.

One woodstove in the kitchen running day and night and one fireplace (only burning when guarded) in the living room kept the cabin warm and dry, and since one bedroom was an open “halfloft” under the main room ceiling, just to be reached by a ladder, and the other bedroom opened to the kitchen, both rooms were cozy and warm in almost no time.

Now we come to the part on “good life”: Since this generally was a freely chosen situation, the real challenge was staying entertained if skiing was impossible because of extreme weather. The jobs of cooking, fetching snow, tending the fire, hacking wood, cleaning and shuffling snow to keep walkways free were divided, and then the job was just to keep oneself and everybody else entertained. So, here my tips for staying sane when a group of people are cooped up for some time in one or two rooms: You can never have enough board games, card games, jig saw puzzles and old magazines! Books like fairytale collections, old crime novels (like Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers where there always is some kind of happy end), the Chronicles of Narnia books, the Perelandra Trilogy and, for a good morale booster, “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis are maybe even useful as read- aloud-material for almost all ages; throw in books on the flora and fauna of the area and an old encyclopedia that take up too much space at home and you have saved everybody´s sanity. A map of the area, (preferably one of the many extra ones you already have in store) and a compass can be used to teach children “how to” in the middle of a storm since the compass works anyway.  Don´t forget knitting wool, fabric and needles  for “grown up” projects – I once read that a female south pole explorer unraveled and re-knitted her own and her team members´ sweaters to avoid going crazy when they were snowed in for weeks.

For kids: a small knife for carving stuff out of wood rests can keep the older ones entertained for hours while they learn useful things; and crayons, paper, scissors, fabric and wool rests guarantee that younger kids can stay entertained while making boats, cars, (paper-) dolls and doll clothes.( A sailboat my father made from wood rests as a child one summer, complete with hand sewn sail and tin foil keel, still decorates the cabin wall). Some Lego or other building toys or some toy farm or zoo animals, maybe made out of fabric or wood rests there and then, can keep kids happy for days. Musical instruments can be fun for kids but might drive everybody else crazy, so they are best used in a closed bedroom. Having your kids happy instead of bored makes an enormous difference in a cramped area! A hand crank charger for mobile phones and USB is a great help to keep games electronics going… Please remember to pack all essential part: After we got electricity in our cabin my husband and I ended up taking our son and his friend for a day trip to the nearest town to hunt for a missing Playstation connection. After a whole day of searching the bigger town shops we found the missing part in the end in a drawer with odds and ends in the local tourist trap shop, and the boys were happy for the rest of the holidays. This taught us to make sure that ALL parts for such things are along, and that kids, even if they feel like they can´t live without something – still can forget to pack essential parts! (And by the way, they also went outside swimming in a nearby mountain brook for hours on end!)

Building snow lamps outdoors for a party evening is by the way a delightful job for children: with some snowballs you build a mini tipi or igloo with an air hole on top, put a burning tea light inside and enjoy the sight in the evening!  Another fun winter game for “staying around the cabin” is a bottle racing track: fill a straight glass or plastic bottle (without paper) with snow and make a racing track in a snow heap for it, complete with tunnels and open parts. Try to make the track long and complicated without stopping the bottle in it´s tracks.

Back to offgrid living: A dart game on one wall can keep everybody entertained for hours, and can give the need for movement a fun outlet if the blizzard shakes your cabin. A propos of blizzard: have your tool shed connected with an inner door to your cabin/ living area – it might happen that you are so snowed in you just get out through a window with the help of a snow shovel.  For very extreme weather, it is a good idea to have a high up window big enough to crawl out through if the snow is above your ground floor windows!  And keep your pet on a leash if you have tons of snow – then you can pull it out of deep, loose snow if necessary! As far as I know there are snow shoes available for dogs as well, and anyway you should have leather snow socks along for your pet since some kinds of hard snow otherwise can scratch paws bloody in little time. Making these would be a good project for a weather locked day.

Things to store in your BOL BEFORE winter or WTSHTF : firewood enough to last all winter, batteries, flash lights, jams, heavy cans of stuff your family likes to eat; all food of course stored in your earth cellar (with access through the kitchen floor!) Assume that mice will keep your house company while you are away, so plan accordingly with packing sugar, oats, tea etc. in glass or metal containers. Forget plastic containers – mice have no problem eating plastic that smells of food – I have dolls with grisly looking mice-eaten lips to prove that. It is also a very good idea to hang all your bedding from sturdy wood cross beams under the ceiling – anything else invites mice to use the nice, soft, warm, fluffy stuff humans have provided for them.

Another important thing to store: woolly house shoes for everybody and to spare! Wet, muddy or snowy boots need their own place for slow drying by the entrance door and have no business whatsoever in the living area. And when you leave the cabin: ALLWAYS store any rubber/ rain boots you leave in your BOL upside down – a hungry but dead mouse that was unable to climb the steep rubber walls out again is NOT NICE to discover in your boots and really sad for the mouse...  The same counts for tea kettles, water buckets and other stuff a mouse cannot climb out of. Speaking of rodents: In Norway we have the original Vikings: the lemmings. These fearless mini-fighters (here are some examples – reminds me of Monty Python´s “come here and I´ll bite you to death”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8zVo8IkMQs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNW3B-lAodQ )

They usually stay out of human habitations, but they can fall into cisterns and pollute surface water sources. What they don´t like is if you throw graywater, especially hot water where they live, (and they will let you know by cursing your carelessness in loud lemming language if you transgress), so please take care that you throw used water in the same place if possible, so you and the lemmings can stay out of each other´s way.

If you are stuck for longer in your BOL in winter weather – and vegetables are getting low – remember you can eat the shoots of pines and juniper – and these shoots are full of vitamin c – make best use of the vitamin content by eating them fresh. For medical help: Blue juniper berries are a good medicine against bladder infection : steep (maximum) three berries in a cup of hot water for ten minutes or longer for a disinfecting and healing tea, repeat three times daily until well. The blue berries are best since they are ripe – leave the green ones on the bush. For a disinfectant wash you can steep juniper needles or berries in water, for disinfecting the air in your BOL let some juniper needles smoke on the top of your wood stove.

Assuming you are staying for longer in your cold weather BOL: Take care to have a book on plants that grow around your BOL and their medical uses available: A  certain fungus that grows on birch trees is called “kreftkjuke” in Norwegian; “Chaga” in Russian and has traditionally been used as a medicine against cancer as the Norwegian name also shows. If you search for “Chaga mushroom” on the net you will see that it looks very different from a nice, healthy mushroom, but if you find it (and you are sure you have found the right mushroom) you obviously have a fantastic medicine at your disposal! Check the net for “how to” – I have no personal experience and can give no specific advice other than: don´t take all you find, and get the help of a local expert if you can, to learn to find and recognize Chaga.

Oh yes, I almost forgot: take some nylon hose along – the sock part protects against blisters if you wear them under your woolen socks.  Re. skiing: as a child I had to use skis to get to my friends´ homes, so based on that I recommend: ALWAYS put reflective “dangles” or bands on your kid´s clothes in case they ski on or near roads. Children don´t understand the concept that a car driver cannot see what they see themselves. Emergency rockets or walkie talkies for older kids (if reliable) is also definitely a good idea.  Always wear double mittens: a pair of wool mittens underneath and then a thin pair of (woven fabric) wind protection mittens over that to stave off wind chill and save fingers. A kid having fun in the snow can forget tingling fingers a little too long… The same goes for dressing for winter weather generally: silk or wool underneath, more wool and then wind protection on top.
And in the end, a short lesson in world politics and a really fun game in the snow is “King of the Hill”: A gang of children try, like in musical chairs, to be the one that manages to stay on top of a snow heap while the others try to take it´s place.  After having played this with other kids in a situation where one doesn´t get hurt falling off the “peak” a child has learnt to see through this as the childish game it is. Wouldn´t it be nice if some people in power had had the same lesson?

I began as an apprentice in the Upholstery trade when I was 15 years old. I worked the trade all through high school and it helped to put me through college. Eventually I opened my own shop and worked the trade until 2004. In 2004 I partnered with a good friend and we began designing and manufacturing tactical gear for him and the guys he worked with overseas. This business has continued until today. All in all, I have been using industrial sewing machines of various types for over 20 years now. In that time, I have learned much about what machines to look for, and what machines to avoid. Much of this experience has come at significant financial cost, so I hope to help your readers avoid the mistakes I have made over the years.
I have read various articles posted in the past that have extolled the virtues of learning to sew and having a good sewing machine on hand in a TEOTWAWKI situation. The reasons are many, including being able to repair your clothing and gear when those services are not available. Also, the ability to make and repair gear will be a valuable and marketable skill in a post event situation. I have not, however, been able to locate an article specific to machine choice, especially regarding industrial machines. I know you’re a proponent of the old treadle-pedal style machines, but for reasons to follow, I would caution your readers about these types of sewing machines.  I would submit that everyone should have a good INDUSTRIAL grade sewing machine as part of their preparations. Like most good tools, once you’ve had one, it’s hard to see how you ever got by without it.

Over the years I’ve owned, used, sold, purchased, borrowed, repaired, and modified approximately 20 machines of various makes and models. I’ve used button-hole machines, computerized bar-tackers, double-needle machines, sergers, chain-stitchers, straight stitchers--the list is long. Of all the machines I’ve owned, one is by far the most useful. I’ve used it more than all others combined. This machine is what I suggest your readers find, purchase, and learn to use. I’m talking about a compound feed, walking foot industrial sewing machine. For those unfamiliar with sewing machines, let me clarify as best I can and give you some suggestions on where and how to purchase one.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

1. INDUSTRIAL

I should probably apologize in advance to all the good women out there who have sewn for years on small home machines. My wife, mother, aunts, etc. all have them so I mean no disrespect, but here goes… Avoid the temptation to buy an off-the-shelf home sewing machine from the local craft-mart or that computerized wonder with a million preprogrammed stitches and fancy zipper-feet they’re selling on the TV shopping network. These machines are great for the hobby quilter, craft enthusiast, and for boat anchors in a grid-down situation. Also avoid the old fashioned treadle-pedal machines of the pioneer days. They’re okay if you only intend to sew VERY thin fabric, but they’re nearly useless for sewing heavier materials, and finding replacement parts can be dicey. They take a considerable amount of technique to use effectively. I own a great old (pre WWII) industrial long-arm Adler with a treadle. It’s superbly made and amazingly durable… and unfortunately, it’s nearly useless for 99% of the sewing I do.

One of the main reasons to go with an industrial machine is the clutch motor. A good industrial machine will be set in a 4 foot by 2 foot free standing table with a large electric motor mounted underneath that transfers power to the sewing machine head via a v-belt (like the fan belt in older cars). It does this through a clutch, usually made of very dense cork. Once turned on, the motor is always spinning at full speed and by depressing the sewing machine’s pedal, you bring the two cork plates together engaging the clutch. This transfers the power through the v-belt to the head and you’re in business. The clutches last for YEARS. (I have never had to replace a clutch on any of my machines and I sew on them almost daily.) If you’re worried, you can perform a quick test. Sit at the machine with it turned off and try to cycle it by hand. It should difficult. If it isn’t, the clutch may be worn. Don’t give up on the machine just because of this, however, because the motors and clutches are not terribly expensive to replace. If you’ve got a great sewing machine, but a bad motor or clutch, buy it! You can find new motors all day for around $100. (Make sure you buy a single phase motor though, there are tons of 3-phase sewing machine motors out there and few people have 3-phase power.) My point in all this is that if you are in a long-term grid down situation, it will be relatively easy to replace the constantly spinning motor with another form of spinning motion. I have found that with some simple modifications, I can rig up a stationary bicycle to spin the electric motor. It takes little effort for someone in your group to pedal the bike while you sew. It’s best to not remove the motor because once you get it spinning, its internal weight acts like a flywheel and helps maintain the torque necessary to keep sewing trough thick materials. If you have one of those old-school exercise bikes with the very heavy front wheel, this may not be necessary, but also consider the advantages of leaving the motor intact if power ever does become available again. Get the necessary parts/modifications tested and working BEFORE the balloon goes up and then squirrel them away. It will probably be very difficult to source the v-belts and associated pulleys/etc. you need after an event. This takes some genuine backwoods ingenuity, but I found all the parts I needed easily, online from McMaster Carr. If you have some junk 10-speed bicycles lying around, and some imagination, you could probably source everything you need from them. My point is, if you can spin that clutch disc, you can sew. If all else fails, you can cycle the stitches by hand with the machine’s hand wheel and it will still be much faster and stronger than sewing anything by hand. The whiz-bang computerized machines you buy at the craft store are servo operated these days and will be completely useless without electricity. Some of them can’t even be cycled by hand without electricity. They also lack the hardy construction necessary to sew heavy materials such as canvas, webbing, and thick leather without blowing the timing and breaking components. Few things will make you say bad words like repeatedly blowing the timing of your sewing machine or breaking needles, when you’re trying to finish an important project. Think of those little craft machines like those cute little painted hammers they sell in craft stores. They may be great for putting a tack in the wall to hang a picture, but can you imagine trying to frame a house with one?

A couple last things to consider…the good, older, industrial machines are completely mechanical except for the drive motor, so they are impervious to EMP attacks. They will last several lifetimes if properly lubricated and can be configured with various attachments to do a surprisingly wide range of specialized sewing tasks. If you look hard enough, you will find them for incredibly cheap. (More on this later.)

1. WALKING FOOT

A “walking foot” sewing machine simply means that when the material you are sewing is being pulled to the rear of the machine by the feet, the needle is IN the fabric. This prevents bunching and gathering of the fabric and also greatly aids in keeping the top and bottom pieces of fabric indexed correctly. Having been forced to sew on a non-walking foot machine while employed in college, I will never own a strait stitch machine that doesn’t have a walking foot. If you’re unsure if the machine has a walking foot, simply cycle the machine slowly by hand, and you will see if the needle is down in the feed plate when it moves to the rear. If the needle is up out of the fabric and only the presser foot pulls the fabric to the rear, don’t buy the machine.

1. COMPOUND FEED

This is sometimes used interchangeably with walking foot, but it actually denotes how many feet the machine has. Look for a machine that has two presser feet, not just one. There will be a rear foot and a front foot. This greatly improves the way the machine feeds thick materials as well as how it handles difficult sewing applications. It’ll be a Godsend if you use a binding attachment or sew heavy zippers into tents, etc.

1. TOP LOADING BOBBIN HOUSING

This is less critical, but a nice feature to have. It just means that you can access the bobbin (the small spool of thread that feeds the bottom stitch), from the top of the machine, rather than from the side, or underneath. It makes bobbin changes easier and it makes clearing the dreaded “bird nests” much easier when they occur.

1. REVERSE

This may sound silly, but there are a bunch of industrial machines out there that do not have reverse. This is a deal breaker for me. It’s like buying a jeep with two-wheel drive. Yes, it’s a jeep, but you’ve just lost so much utility and versatility by not holding out for four wheel drive. You need reverse to back stitch at the beginning and end of seams so they don’t unravel. You can’t effectively bar-tack without reverse either, and if you’re making any sort of tactical gear, you’ll be doing a lot of bar-tacking.

1. TIMING CLUTCH

File this under really nice to have, but not a deal breaker. The timing clutch is a bearing-actuated clutch that theoretically breaks loose before you can blow the machine’s timing if you ever jam the machine while sewing. You then simply cycle the machine slowly forward until the bearings reset and you’re good to go. I’ve only seen these on the old Adler 067 models (of which I have two), but they may be on other good quality machines as well. They are WONDERFUL if you can find a machine that has them. I can’t explain how to look for this feature without photos and a long confusing explanation, so just ask about it when buying a machine.  Don’t be surprised if you get a blank stare from the person selling the machine, but ask anyway.

1. THREAD STAND & BOBBIN WINDER

When looking for a machine, make sure it has a good thread stand that holds at least two 1lb. spools of thread. Most will hold three, but two is a must. One feeds the machine while the other one winds the bobbin.  Also, it should have a bobbin winder. Many are attached to the table under the hand wheel, but some are built right into the machine head. These are neat little contraptions that wind your bobbin for you while you sew. They run off the drive belt and disengage automatically when the bobbin is full. Unless you plan on storing away an endless supply of pre-wound bobbins, you’ll need the bobbin winder. I use pre-wound bobbins in production for a number of reasons, but I also have an ample supply of metal, reusable bobbins that I can wind myself when needed. Pre-wounds may not always be available so it’s better to go with a long term solution.

1. ODDS AND SODS

Once you’ve procured your machine, find out what length of v-belt it uses and write it on the machine somewhere. Now go out and get one or two extra belts. You can buy sewing machine-specific belts for a ridiculous amount of money, or do like I do. I buy automotive v-belts for a fraction of the cost at my local parts store. They last a lot longer too. In fact, I’ve had to replace two sewing machine belts in my lifetime. Once replaced with automotive belts, I’ve never had to replace them again.
If you can locate them, buy a couple extra sets of feet for the machine. Get a set of zipper feet in right and left hand configurations if you can. I also have two sets of welting feet for my machines, but that’s a throw back to my upholstery days. If you intend to use a binding tape attachment for your machine, you’ll need a set of special feet for that too. They can be sourced online on the various auction sites, or from industrial sewing machine suppliers. While you’re at it, get a bunch of extra needles for the machine in various sizes. I keep a large supply of 140, 150, and 160 sized needles on hand. These machines are very strong and will shatter a needle quite easily if you happen to tweak the fabric enough to deflect the needle into the feed dogs. They also become dull over time if you sew a lot of dirty canvas, etc.

If you can get the operations manual with the machine, grab it! Most of them are available online, but not always. Many are out of print and cost a mint to get reproductions. The internet has alleviated some of this, but not in all cases. You NEED the operational manual to make sure you can readjust the machine should you blow the timing. It is not an easy task if you’re inexperienced at it. If you can’t manage to retime the machine, it will be completely useless.

Industrial sewing machines are VERY heavy. I put all mine on casters so they can be easily moved around my shop. I highly recommend you do this if the machine you buy doesn’t have them. These machines are big and take a lot of space in a small garage. It’s very nice to be able to just push them out of the way when not being used.

1. BRANDS

I stated before that I’ve used a number of different machines over the last 20 years. Some were and are great, some were real dogs. I give the following as my personal opinion. It’s based off 20 years of work in the trade, but it is certainly not the last word on the subject so please don’t take it as gospel.

If TEOTWAWKI happened tomorrow and I could save only one machine from my factory, and that machine had to last me the rest of my life, I would grab my old Adler 067. It was the first machine I ever bought and I’ve sewn well over a million stitches on it. It was a used machine when I bought it, so who knows how many stitches it’s sewn over the years, but it will outlive my grandchildren if they keep it oiled. I wish I knew how many pounds of thread I’ve put through it over the years. In my opinion it’s the finest straight stitch machine ever made. It has all of the things I’ve listed above and the old 067’s can be found at outrageous discounts if you look around. The Adler 167s are outstanding machines as well. My second choice would be one of the older Pfaff industrials like the 145. They are equal in quality and toughness to the Adler, but lack the timing clutch. I also own a couple JUKI machines and they are great. I have a double needle and a computerized bar-tacker made by JUKI and I have no complaints. They are a great value and if you’re going to buy new, that’s the way I would go. I highly recommend you buy used, old, and German, but if you do buy new, I’d go with JUKI. I’ve used a few CONSEW machines over the years and they’ve been hit or miss. I’ve used a couple that were good, and I’ve used a couple that were just dogs. Same goes for CHANDLER (except the ones that were actually made by Adler). I’ve never used SINGER machines, but if you read the forums they were really hit or miss too. The consensus seems to be buy the older machines. The rest I’ve used were very specialized machines and really don’t apply here.

1. WHERE TO BUY

I’ve purchased machines from dealers, out of the back of a van, from internet auction sites, yard sales, estate sales, and from defunct businesses. The internet auction sites are great, but shipping is often as much or more than the machine itself. If you do go auction site, consider just buying the head unit and then sourcing a stand (table) and motor locally. Search the local classifieds for anything that says “industrial” or “commercial” sewing machine. You can find great deals that are close enough to go pick up. Also, research the sewing machine dealers in your area. Most dealers buy and sell used machines. You’ll usually pay more, but they may give you a guarantee on a “refurbished” machine. They are usually good sources for parts too. Keep a sharp eye out for yard sales and estate sales. There were a lot of us upholsterers back in the day but we’re an endangered species. The throw-away economy we live in has made upholstery a very difficult business to be in. Many of the old craftsmen have hung up their scissors and are selling off their machines. Many of the auto-restoration crowd bought a machine thinking they would do the interior on that old muscle car and then find out it’s not as easy as it looks. They get sick of it taking up space in the garage and the machines end up at swap meets and yard sales. Be patient and be creative in your search and you’ll find some real gems for a few hundred bucks. I once bought five machines from a defunct business for $25 each.

IN CONCLUSION:
I really hope you will consider adding an industrial sewing machine to your list of tools.  I believe it will serve you so much better than relying on a small home machine to keep your clothing, tents, backpacks, and other gear in good repair for the long haul. If you will take the time to really learn how to use it, it can provide a supplemental income for you now and possibly a life-saving means of barter/income after the SHTF. May God bless all of us with wisdom and persistence as we prepare, and may we be successful in all our efforts.

In today’s world most people will never pack an animal to move their goods from point A to point B. However it wasn’t that long ago that animal power was the primary land transport system. In a grid down scenario it may return if only briefly. I offer this article only as an introduction, or primer with a few “how to’s” and a few “how not to’s”. If only one piece of knowledge stays with you, it could be very beneficial.
 
Many of the things I will cover are the basic principles of packing.  Some of the knowledge may seem like small details and subtleties but these can be crucial to an uneventful trip. These are learned through experience, trial and error and thoughtful observation. Some of the skills and nuances are becoming things of the past as we as a society become too civilized. Most of the readers of this blog should understand how fragile our system has become. When the supply chain breaks down because of lack of fuel, goods and supplies if available won’t be distributed. Since most people do not have a one year supply of food on hand, options have to be considered. If there is an apple orchard only twenty miles away how will the apples be utilized? Want to trade for some? How are you going to bring them back? In your Bug Out Bag? Wagons may be put into service if available and someone has the knowledge to drive them. Packing a horse or mule, to my way of thinking, will be a better option for most people.

Pack animals can cover just about any terrain and make their way through obstacles that inhibit anything wide or not smooth enough for wheeled vehicles. They have been used though out history to connect, conquer and advance civilizations. The desire to move bigger quantities further distances led to an occupation that few think about today, “The Packer”.  It may prove valuable to at least be aware of the subject.

Saddles: The foundation of your packing equipment will depend on several key items. This includes what kind of animal you are packing, the type of cargo being transported and the availability of saddles or makeshift items to construct a saddle. This may boil down to something as simple as two bags draped over the animals back (which never works out very well). The saddles could be custom made with all the bells and whistles.

The Sawbuck: Used on horses, mules, burros and a variant on llamas and goats. Frames are generally made out of wood, oak for the crosses and something softer like pine or poplar for the bars. The bars are what rest on the animals back and are carved and shaped accordingly. Side loads are hung from the crosses with leather straps attached to the bags or panniers. In my opinion this is the best all-around saddle. It lends itself to almost any equipment and hitch.

The Decker: Very popular in the Rockies and used on horses and mules. Instead of wood crosses steel rods shaped in an upside down U in both the front and back are bolted to the bars. There are variations in shapes that help with different equipment and load scenarios. Hooks are often used on panniers to attach quickly to the saddle. A padded canvas “half breed” is incorporated with this saddle to cushion the animal from the load. It is basically a saddle pad that stays attached to the saddle. Thin pine boards in the bottom of the half breed help distribute weight across the rib cage. The basket and barrel hitches are used commonly with this saddle.

Riding saddles can be used in a variety of ways. Saddle panniers made to fit over riding saddles are quick and easy. Box and diamond hitches can be used without a problem here. A lash rope tied to the saddle horn and looped around the cantle can be tied into a basket hitch. Harder to find now, old military saddles like the McClellan can be reworked into serviceable rigs.

Saddle pads protect the animals back. Whatever you end up using should be kept clean. Caked up sweat, hair and mud will start to rub a sore in their backs. Keep the pads about three inches in front of the saddle so that it doesn’t slip back and allow the saddle bars to dig into the lower withers. Make sure that the pad is square and even before placing the saddle on. Then take your hand and push the pad up into the gullet of the saddle. This takes pressure off of the withers and will allow some air to circulate down the back bone.

Cinches should be kept clean. Wide cinches are best since they have more surface area. Narrow or old cinches that have cords broken only serve to cut the animal in half. If you want to see what getting kicked by a mule feels like, snug up a narrow dirty cinch on a cinch sore.

There are a variety of soft packs that are used on dogs and goats. Most of these hug the animal so care should be taken if hard and irregular items are placed in the packs.

Like your Bug Out Bag the saddle and rigging straps must fit the animal to work correctly and be comfortable. A breeching (or britchen) strap too low on the hind legs will inhibit movement and chaffs the skin. Same with the breast collar, by  placing it too high it can cut off the wind pipe. Saddle the animal and only snug the cinches at first. Let the pads compress and warm up especially when it’s cold. Tighten the cinches right before packing the animal. Done right, the horse or mule won’t become “cinchy”. One mule I used to pack could blow her belly up tighter than a steel drum. I would slowly take up the slack, maybe five times over ten minutes. Sometimes after loading her, the cinches would be loose and hanging down and we hadn’t gone anywhere yet. That was the way that mule preferred it. As long as the load was balanced she would go all day without a problem. Often at the end of the day all of my mules would come into the camp with their cinches swinging. They were working hard, sweating buckets and losing weight. It’s best if they stay snug but shows how balanced loads are key.

Hitches: Diamond, box, basket and barrel hitches are what are mostly used. There are many others and many variations. I have decided not to try to describe these. Some form of visual instruction is vital in my opinion. Pictures, videos or personal instruction will get you started on the right path. I will offer some tips learned from personal experience and observation of other professional packers. Often when watching someone else I learned what not to do!
-Lash ropes should be around 45 feet long and lead ropes 10 to 12 feet. Don’t short yourself.  1/2 inch to 5/8 inch diameter is good to work with. Cotton poly blends are nice, they don’t stretch as much as straight cotton. If cotton gets wet and freezes you are all done, you’ll need a saw to get any knots out. Manila is better in the cold and wet.
-Tie it right the first time. A living breathing animal is a huge variable in the equation. If the hitch is not right there will be a problem. It may be small and fixed quickly, or it could be quite a wreck.
-Don’t let excess rope dangle. Stumps, brush, logs, rocks and feet all have a way of “grabbin a-holt” of a loose rope.
-Any metal, such as cinch hooks, should not be in contact with the animal.
-Some people feed the lash rope through the spreader strap connecting the cinches. I don’t. If you have a wreck this can compound your problems. It’s harder to take the hitch off when your mule is standing knee deep in a creek with his load under his belly. During a wreck this strap is often broken any way.
-Always face the cinch hooks backwards so they don’t catch brush and branches.
-Always use the most effective and simplest hitch for that particular load. Don’t weave a spider web.

Loads: Amazing things have been moved with animals, grindstones, suspension bridge cables, timbers, wood cook stoves, eggs, guitars, gold and silver ore, generators and grandmas rocking chair. There are two main considerations here, the animals comfort and a balanced load. Without either one your load will be lost or the animal hurt. Now packing is one of those jobs where there are many ways to accomplish the end result. Endless arguments are made on the best way to pack a particular load. Do we split it in half? Box or basket hitch? Wouldn’t the diamond be better? In any event we can use some generalities in using the right tool for the right job.
-Canvas panniers: These are great for general purpose packing. Remember to place flat or soft items on the side going next to animal.
-Boxes or hard panniers: Use for canned goods, loose or heavy items. Provides protection to items like; eggs, pie, whisky bottles and Coleman lanterns.
-Slings: These are made of a sheet of canvas, maybe five feet long by two feet wide. At the top is attached a thin board with leather ears that the load hangs off of the saddle by. Two leather straps on the outside support the weight and wrap the canvas around the load. Great for duffle bags, hay bales, ice chests, cook boxes and the like. Quicker than having to manty some items up.
Manty: Basically a big canvas sheet wrapped or folded around smaller objects and tied up with half hitches to make a big duffle. It is used a lot with the decker pack saddle and the basket hitch.
-Top pack: This is gear placed over the animals back and onto each of the side loads. It’s usually lighter and softer than the rest of your load, like a bed roll. This can be shifted off center to help with balance.
-Pack covers are thrown over the tops of loads to help secure items and protect them from the elements. 6x8 or so is about right. Tuck the edges under the load and lash rope. This prevents tears, hang-ups and keeps the load secure.
-Load weights; Yes, I know that some of you He Men out there can carry a one hundred pound bug out bag, but for how many days in a row? See, this is why I like a pack mule; I’m not carrying the weight. Or if I do carry a pack, it’s a light one, allowing me freedom of movement. So, for day in day out traveling shoot for about 20% of body weight. As an example I would pack up to two hundred pounds on a standard to large size horse or mule. THIS INCLUDES THE WEIGHT OF THE SADDLE, ROPES AND PANNIERS ETC. We usually went for no more than one hundred and fifty pounds of cargo. Once the animals are in shape they can go like this a long time with an occasional day off.

To be efficient all voids are filled in making up the load. NO WASTED SPACE! A coffee pot for example would be filled with small items or maybe your coffee beans. Packing is an art and it is a 3-D puzzle. Now I have put together some unusual combinations, but a word of caution here, use common sense. Fuels such as gasoline should be completely sealed and checked. If it should leak out it will burn the animal’s skin and leave blisters. And don’t place it with your food items.

All sharp items such as axes, saws, shovels etc. should each be in a scabbard, sheath or wrapped securely. The front and back edges of loads should not come into contact with shoulders or hips. Tender raw spots will stop any travel plans. Baler twine or Para cord are used to tie up wrapped duffels or make quick repairs to saddles and rigging. Duct tape is one of the marvels of the world. Use it for taping over axes and shovels, repair holes in tarps, smooth over rough surfaces that might come into contact with the animal, keep buckles and hooks in place. Tape ice chest handles down to stop them from “knocking out a tune” while going down the trail. An ice chest on each side makes a great load but the handles banging and clacking gets old quickly and maybe you don’t want to attract attention with undo noise.

Balance is the key to packing a load so start with the saddle in the middle of the mules back. As an animal moves down the trail the load will rock back and forth. This is natural. If the load is balanced it will stay where it is supposed to, on the animal. Many people use scales to weigh out the cargo. This helps get close. When I worked as a packer we often would have contests to see who could come closest “by feel”. Picking up fifty to seventy five pound side loads, we could often get to within a pound or two. However, this alone will not mean that your load will balance. Is the majority of the weight high or low, inside or outside of the pack? Leverage plays a part here. After hanging your loads on the saddle, the packer rocks the load by pushing down on one side. Does it move equally side to side? Think of a teeter totter. Even if each side weighs the same they may not balance on the animal due to the weight distribution in the side loads. To correct this several things can be done. First check the ears or straps of the load hanging on the saddle. Are the loads hanging equidistant down each side? One may need to hang lower. Adjust up or down so the load rocks evenly. Items can be moved from one side to the other and the top pack can be moved off center to achieve balance. These should be small adjustments only. If the loads are really out of whack they need to be repacked. After starting your trip many loads will settle and items may shift. It is critical to pay attention and watch the loads as they rock back and forth as the animal moves. After you have started no one wants to repack. Adjustments can be made on the trail by using a “pack rock”. Take a fairly flat rock weighing a few pounds and shove it under the lash ropes on the outside of the pack. This adds weight and leverage to the lighter side.

Here are a few more considerations.
-Give your animals time to negotiate obstacles; they can handle the load better if not forced into going too fast.
-If your animals are tied in a string know that they have a pecking order. Some critters are best not tied to each other.
-Never tie your lead rope hard and fast to your saddle horn. If something doesn’t break you are likely to get pulled over. Take a dally if you need, and let go when necessary.
-Don’t use oversize saddle bags. I have seen this time and again. Thirty or forty pounds of dead weight over the horses’ kidneys is not doing him any favors. At this point pack the saddle correctly and walk yourself. An out of shape horse carrying too much weight first thing in the spring heading into the mountains will die. I’ve seen it.  
-The length of the lead rope should allow the animal to lower its head to the ground or get a drink but without any slack in it. Too much slack and one of the animals will step over it. A rope up between a horses’ hind legs is uncomfortable and they will let you know it. A front foot over the lead rope pulls that leg into the air and his head down when the leading animal takes off. It’s Hard to walk that way. And it always seems to cause rope burns.
-You may want to have a troublesome load on your lead mule where you can watch it easier.
-Learn how to tie a quick release knot and a bowline.
-There are many ways to tie animals together into a string and many arguments can be made for and against each. Never tie into the load of the leading mule. This would cause the load to be pulled off the animal. The majority of the time I tied the lead rope into a weak link on the saddle of the leading mule. Usually this was baler twine or Para cord. It can be tied into the back buck or ring of the saddle. Some make a “reach” from the top rigging rings to the back middle of the saddle. Then tie in a loop of baler twine or small diameter rope for the weak leak link. This kept the mule string together but allowed them to break apart and prevent catastrophe. Although there are situations calling for it, many horses and mules have been injured or even killed because they were tied hard and fast and one of the animals miss-stepped surged forward or pulled back at the wrong time. Steep switch backs and drop offs call for more attention when pulling a long string. One animal not staying in line and going around the wrong side of a tree always makes things exciting. Many packers use a bowline to tie the pack animals together. A better knot is a modified sheep shank. A loop of the lead rope is passed through the weak link and held with the remaining tail. Two half hitches are thrown over this with the rope leading back to the animal. This method stays tight and will always untie.
-Keep your animals hydrated. They need the water just like you do.

Horses, mules, llamas, dogs, goats and other four footed critters can be a huge help in logistical support. My experience deals with horses and mules but a lot of the principle methods hold true across the board. After an initial grid down disaster and a lack of fossil fuels, people may be forced to go back to real horse power. There are several good books on packing. I think one of the best is Horses, Hitches & Rocky Trails by Joe Back. A used copy should run you around ten bucks. His illustrations alone are worth the price.

Packing in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada wilderness areas has given me many fond memories. To ride a good horse, while leading a smart looking string of mules is satisfying.  Do it around a high country lake after the snow has melted in the spring and feel connected to the universe.

What is MYDS? It’s not prepping, it’s not hoarding, it’s not a disease or even a mental condition and it certainly isn’t unpatriotic or terrorism.  What is it about, then? It is about being provident. Actually, MYDS stands for Make it Your Darn Self!  That is my Philosophy and Motto for 2013!

Provident means to prepare for the future.  Why?  Why take the time, the effort, or the expense to be provident?  Look around us.  Look at the world we live in.  Look at the economic and political climate.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to anything.  Everything from the top down – From our God to the sand beneath our feet – Everything is being questioned and demonized.  Right is wrong and wrong is right.  The freedom that we once knew as children of playing and frolicking on the streets in our community only to worry about making it home before dark or when we were hungry has given way to the fear of our children playing in front of our homes.  Progressives, Agenda 21, Socialism, Communism, Failing Schools, and having to sign up on a registry to know where sex offenders and predators live just to be able to keep our kids safe.  I wonder how to keep my kids safe in these times – both physically, spiritually and educationally.  My goodness, these are scary times on our doorstep.  The moral decay of this country is an entire topic all on its’ own and one in which I won’t get into here.
The real question should be why not?  Why not take the time to make sure you and your family has a little extra.  Why not have the knowledge and resources on hand to make it through a possible job loss, a natural or manmade disaster, a terrorist attack, the collapse of our financial system.  Why not have practical skills and knowledge to endure the “what-if” scenario that weighs heavily on your mind. To every question you have there are multiple solutions.  And, as I have found, every solution leads to another question and yet another discovery.  The most basic answer I can give is to be as provident as you can possibly be and that will ONLY come through knowledge and experience.  You must find within yourself the desire to learn and to never stop asking questions.  You should learn to ask how does that work, how would I do that if I could not run down to the local big box store, how can I make this if I didn’t have a box of prepackaged food.  You don’t have to have a property that resembles Fred Sanford's home from Sanford and Son (a sit-com from my earlier days) or a pantry that would make your local big box store envious.  Instead think of what you do and what you use every day and remember the 5 W’s from elementary school.  Who, What, Why, Where, When and I’ll go ahead and add How.  How is it made, why is it done that way, where can I get it from if it’s not available commercially, who can I learn from, from when and where will I start getting my knowledge and experience base?

That is the premise behind my 2013 motto “MYDS” and being provident is a never ending process that plays directly into my motto.  The world is always changing and as the saying goes “without change there is no growth.”  I am learning to be more provident.  I read all of the prepping web sites and have spent a massive amount of time researching and more money than I care to admit on buying this book and list or that book and list to see what I can do to be more provident.  As you will learn in your journey, not everything is contained on those lists.  Don’t get me wrong, they are all very good resources and they were well worth the investments even if I only learn one thing new from it.  Being provident (most people would say prepping), has, for the most part, been a man’s specialty area.  Their department.  Beans Bullets and Band-Aids type thing.  And, most would agree that is it rightly so.  Men are our protector’s, our muscle our anchors our braun.  We love them, we cherish them and we look to them as our rock in time of need.  However, I find the majority of publications on the market, web sites and blogs today are lacking on the subject of being provident from a woman’s point of view.  Women, just as men, have a role in preparing the future needs of a family.  After many hours of research, I am often left wondering how I am going to clean my house if I can’t go to the store or can’t afford to get what I need.  How am I going to do the laundry without laundry soap if the price is too high or it’s not available?  How are my children and family going to stay clean if we can’t get our hands on what we need?  Let’s face it.  Work isn’t picking up.  People are losing jobs.  Our dollar doesn’t get us as far as it used to.  Taxes are going through the roof from all levels of government.  The price of gas, food, household cleaners, and the cost to put our children through school are going through the roof.  Honestly, it’s getting pretty darn expensive just to be able to exist these days.  How are we as wives and mothers going to continue to manage our household without breaking the bank or the ability to just run down the corner market when we run out of something?  How are we going to take care of our families in tight or hard times?
That is the key to my article and the story behind my new motto/philosophy and I want to share with you some tidbits of knowledge from a wife and mothers perspective on being a provident housekeeper. 

For starters, you have to learn how to make your own household products.  It’s simple, it’s easy, it will save you money and is something you can start doing right away with little to no investment.  Money that you could use to start stocking up on food supplies or paying down debt.  A bottle of laundry soap is expensive, but what if I told you that you could make 10 gallons for less than what you pay for one bottle of commercial laundry soap?  Even cheaper than the generic brands!  I am here to tell you that it is possible.  You don’t need special or expensive equipment.  All you need is the desire to obtain knowledge and skills that will see your family through.  Save the space in your supply area for more meaningful supplies such as seeds for growing a garden or food preservation supplies, food, first aid and all of those other items you read about.  With ingredients that you have, or can get really inexpensively, you can clean every aspect of your home.  Adding a few more ingredients to your arsenal will allow you to make personal hygiene items such as deodorant, hair cleaners and conditioners, and bath soap.

For example, Borax, Washing Soda (not baking soda), and Castile Soap in bar form will make laundry soap.  From 1 bar of grated soap, 1 cup of washing soda and a ¼ cup of borax, and water, you can make 10 gallons of laundry soap using just a pot for melting the soap on your stovetop.  You will also need two five gallon buckets.  To show you real numbers, let’s break down the cost.  In my area, a bar of Fels-Naptha castile soap costs $.97, A 76 oz. box of Borax is $3.38 and a 55 oz. box of Washing Soda is $3.24.  Keep in mind that you are only using a few ounces of each box, not the entire box to make your liquid laundry soap.  For a mere, $1.62 you can make ten gallons of laundry soap.  WOW! That is a Savings you can’t argue with.  To eliminate those expensive dryer sheets try adding ¼ cup (or less) of vinegar to your rinse cycle and in place of dryer sheets use a ball of aluminum foil.  Yes, this does really work.  The laundry soap is safe to use for the smallest of family members.  Don’t fret; you will be able to use the borax and washing soda in making many other cleaning products for around your home. 

Let’s expand on those items to include the following items: Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar, Lemon Juice, Baking Soda, Liquid Castile Soap, Essential Oils (not fragrance oils), Ammonia, Bleach, Cornstarch, Olive Oil (or other neutral oils) and you will have the perfect combination to make everything you need to make a smooth running household without almost never having to rely on commercial products again.  That’s right - YOU will be able to clean your floors, windows, toilets, walls and so much more.  YOU will be able to make deodorant, hair care products and bathing products.  No more spending countless hours’ couponing to get those ridiculously great deals.  I coupon too and love the thrill of getting those free to cheap deals.  With my new knowledge to make my own products, my perspective and scope of couponing has changed to buying things that I cannot make myself – razors, toothbrushes, dental floss and of course beans (unfortunately there are no coupons for bullets) and Band-Aids! Do some research and you’ll be delighted at the amount of information available to make your homemade household products.  A word to the wise, there are items above that should NEVER be mixed together.  Ammonia and bleach is just one example – The mixture is toxic and potentially deadly.  Please air on the side of caution.  Read labels, research what can be mixed and what cannot!  Do not put yourself in harm’s way over saving money.  You and your families’ safety should always come first!

Second on the list is to learn how to manage your kitchen.  By taking the time to do some research on these topics - making your own mixes and how to make meals in a jar – you will be pleased at how simple and fun it is to learn about the multitude of options for short and long term food storage.  The concept surrounding making your own mix is to make a master mix and from there you can make almost anything.  Pancakes, cake mixes, breads and so on.  Additionally, there are recipes to making your own “cream of soup” as well as gravies, drink mixes and spices, to name a few.  I found a lady on the internet that takes separate complete meals and puts them in quart sized mason jars for a total of 52 meals in a jar, or more if you desire.  It’s a provident housekeeper’s version of fast food.  Take this idea and expand with your own recipes or scour the internet for more meals in jar recipes.  While hers are made from freeze dried (and dehydrated) food, there is a plethora of web sites and forums dedicated to canning meals in a jar.  My advice here is to start off small.  Try a loaf of bread or try starting off with sampling each recipe.  What tastes good to one person may not to another.  The absolute last thing is to get into a situation where you have stocked up on x,y, & z and not like it when you could practice, practice and practice some more to find the ones you really are going to like and use!  Get crafty and try adding your own twists to the recipes.  The possibilities are limitless.
Another aspect of kitchen management you should consider is the use of paper towels and cleaning utensils (sponges, miracle erasers, etc..).  What are you going to do when you run out of paper towels or that sponge is on its’ last cleaning leg and has to go to the trash?  Invest in cloth ones!  Rags, kitchen towels and wash cloths.  I know, I know, you like your cleaning wipes.  I do too!  Except, I make my own cleaning solution with the products listed above, soak my rags in the all-purpose cleaning solution, store them in a container with a lid and voila – I have my own homemade cleaning wipes! They are dirt cheap and ready when I need them.  When I’m done, I just pop them in the washer, dry and reuse (of course, the paper towel version goes into the trash!).  This year I am going to grow what is called a loufa gourd.  From my research, you use it the same way you do any other loufa.  The plan is to initially use it for bathing purposes and when it is outlived its’ purpose for bathing it will be relegating to cleaning tasks.  When it’s done with cleaning, it goes into a compost pile after being thoroughly cleaned.
What about feminine needs?  Are you going to stock shelves upon shelves of these products?  This is another item that is growing to be very expensive, and, if I dare, a luxury item.  I believe it is time to discuss alternate means to commercial pads and tampons.  One solution is to make your own feminine pads and another solution I found is called a Diva Cup.  It is an alternate solution to tampons.  They are washable and reusable.  A concept that our use and throwaway society would probably not take to instantly even though the rest of the world has been using for some time now.  To have them as a back-up in your arsenal is what I consider to be an invaluable asset!  There are plenty of tutorials and patterns on the internet on how to make your own feminine pads.  It’s almost the same concept as cloth diapering for babies.

While on the topic of feminine needs, let’s address a rarely discussed topic and probably one of the most embarrassing and hardest to plan for and that is “The Bathroom.”  What are you going to do in a situation where there may not be power or access to toilet paper?  This has plagued me for quite some time.  There are composting toilets, outhouses and ones that incinerate your waste.  Another solution I’ve discovered is a bidet.  They are used in other countries.  In a grid down situation or an off grid situation, I don’t see why you would not be able to use them.  Especially if you are on well and septic.  You can find portable ones and ones you can attach directly to your existing toilet for about $150.  These are supposed to attach to any two-piece toilet system without any special plumbing other than attaching to your water valve.  That would eliminate the need to stock up on toilet paper.  Of course, as my husband pointed out, it may not clean everything and you’ll be left wet.  The solution here is to make washable toileting cloths.  Scour the internet for free tutorials and patterns.  Again, think about cloth diapering of babies.  It is the same concept, just used on adults instead of babies.

You should also consider showering and not only taking a shower in general, but taking a warm shower.  How are you going to get warm water?  There are many people who would disagree with me and consider this a luxury and not a priority.  In my household, I don’t agree with them! I always tell my husband that no matter what, he has to make sure we have some way of us getting a warm shower.  It is one of the best feelings at the end of a long day of hard work.  Just to be clean makes you feel normal, it improves moral and helps you get a good night’s rest, too.  Try researching solar heaters and solar showers and other forms of heating water without relying on electricity.  You’ll be amazed at the options available as well as the interesting DIY videos.

Gardening and food are two very key provident factors.  My research has led me to a few animals of choice.  In considering my animals, I wanted those which serve many purposes.  Chickens – I can get meat, eggs and manure for my compost piles.  Goats – I can get milk and milk products like cheese, goats’ meat, and goats’ milk soap.  Rabbits – Meat, fur and manure for my compost bins.  And, a donkey for my heartstrings (yes, I’m absolutely in love with donkeys, especially miniatures).  On the practical side, they are great for protecting your livestock and you can train them to pull a cart for carrying farm and other supplies.  Children will love taking rides in the buggy too. 

Aquaponics is a relatively new concept as it takes aquaculture (fish farming) and mingles it with hydroponics (growing plants in soilless media).  This is a fascinating concept as you are able to grow fish which are a great source of protein as well as grow fruits and vegetables from the byproduct of the fish and increase your food diversity. [JWR Adds: Because modern aquaponics require circulating pumps, I recommend them only for families who have large, long-term alternative power systems--typically either a PV power system with at least 20 panels or a micro-hydro power system that runs year-round.]

Some gardening techniques you may want to consider are square foot gardening, container gardening, growing dwarf varieties of fruit trees as well as the Back to Eden gardening concept.  Search your local free classified ads.  Many people do not want to harvest their fruit and nut trees and will typically offer the bounty for free or really cheap if you come and pick it from the tree.  There are always ads of people selling off “extra” for less than what you can get at the market and grocery store.  If you do not have the ability or space to garden at your present location, why not take an add out to see if there is a local farm or land owner that will lease you a small amount of space to start growing your own food?  Even if you do not have a lot of money, try bartering some of your harvest or offer your time around their farm in exchange.  Farmers always need help and you’re more likely to walk away with a ton of useful knowledge.  You are in a win-win situation!

My final piece of advice is to research essential oils and growing your own herbs.  As a mom, I worry about the access to medical care – good quality medical care.  I have been doing some in depth research in to natural healing with herbs.  Way back when my dad had to walk 5 miles to school barefooted in the snow uphill both ways, families like his mostly relied on herbs and plants to maintain their health and to help heal them.  Mother Nature has a pharmacy all her own and many of her miracles contained within are no longer practiced and almost all but lost.  Very few herbs have side effects and actually the most common complaint comes from the user not using enough to make them effective.  Let’s take lavender for example.  Lavender can be used for its antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, and antiseptic properties as well as for its’ calming effect and it is successful in repelling fleas!  From this one herb you get all of that for cleaning, medicinal healing and for your pets too!  I love multifunction solutions such as this one!  See the trend here?  I took it from corporate America.  It’s the ol’ Do More With Less philosophy!
In closing, I hope that you will take the time to analyze what you do and use every day and then start learning about how to replicate those practices in a less than ideal situation.  As the founder of The Provident Housekeeper, it is my goal to research, develop and teach seminars that intertwine the ways of the past with the ways of today.  With just a little knowledge and a desire to DO, you can achieve anything.  Educate, Inspire, Lead and always, be Provident!

Disclaimer: The knowledge below is not comprehensive, but is included to the best of the authors understanding. New research is being published continuously on the subjects below and the author and/or publisher can take no responsibility in the safe or unsafe application of the knowledge included. If you are using ropes for life-support or other dangerous applications please get qualified instruction, and follow all manufacturer’s guidelines! That said...

There are several items, though while not indispensable, can make living through hard times much more comfortable and safe. Ropes can make the hardest of tasks easier and safer when used correctly, from felling trees and towing vehicles to tying up your shoes. Making the most of your ropes and cordage/paracord, practicing safe long-term storage of rope, and even making your own rope are things that anyone can learn and benefit from, and should be a consideration for prepared individuals.
A rope is a tool, and like any other tool it must be taken care of or it will fail when you need it most.

My background comes from using ropes in life-support situations. My life depends on the rope I use on a daily basis, regularly having to hang over 50 feet above the ground. I have a vested interest in keeping it well maintained. The same can be said for anyone who uses a tow strap on a vehicle, a block and tackle pulley system, and any other situation where a failing rope can mean damaged equipment or injured people. I want to offer an overview on the various types of rope, their construction, and safe long term storage. I will also touch on making your own rope with natural materials, either naturally occurring in the wild or even from crops grown specific to the purpose, though these should never be used for life-support applications.
In simplest terms, there are mainly three types of construction: laid ropes, braided ropes and kernmantle ropes, which consist of a braided sheath around a core of inner strands. There are generally three levels of elasticity for ropes: high-stretch ropes, low stretch ropes and static (no-stretch) ropes. Finally, there are two main classes of rope making material: natural fibres and synthetic fibres.

Construction
Laid ropes are the twisted type commonly seen in the cheap yellow nylon camping ropes. They are useful, cheap, and can be made by yourself at home (see below). The trouble with laid ropes is that they can unravel (as you may know if you ever spun around on a tire swing as a kid) and when untwisted they lose much of their strength. For this reason they are no longer commonly used for life-support systems or to hang or lift heavy, free hanging objects. Braided ropes are more often seen in synthetic fibres, and do not unwind, though they are still not generally used for life support systems. They are commonly used in boating and rigging, and can be found in most camping departments in the form of thin white ropes for tying up tarps. They come in all sizes. Lastly, there are kernmantle ropes which is the style most used in life-support systems because of the strength and abrasion resistance of the style of construction. Paracord is a good example of a kernmantle rope, with a braided outer sheath surrounding the core of strands inside. However, paracord is not rated for life support systems! There is endless Internet chatter about whether you can rappel using paracord, and my answer to the question is NO. Although it technically has a breaking strength of about 500 lbs of force, and average 150 lb person can generate upwards of 900 lbs of force when on rappel. Add to that the chance of abrasions and reduced strength due to knotting and the math does not look good.

Elasticity
The elasticity of a rope is a result of its materials and construction. Laid ropes stretch a little by nature of construction, but are not usually rated to a level of elasticity. Braided and kernmantle ropes vary widely, and each level of elasticity has a different use. In general terms, cordage (small diameter, non –life-support rope) is low stretch or static. Only larger diameter kernmantle ropes are able to effectively made as high-stretch ropes. High stretch ropes are used in life-support systems to absorb the shock of falling and weighting the rope (like a bungee cord). These are not very suitable for towing or lifting, because they tend to ‘bounce’ due to their stretchiness. A little give is ok when lifting and towing, a lot is not so good. Most cordage and rope a prepper would purchase for daily household use will likely be low stretch or static in nature.

Materials
Almost all ropes and cordage sold today are synthetic, usually made of nylon or polyester, and sometimes of more specialized patented materials such as Spectra and Dyneema. Natural ropes are less common, as they are generally more susceptible to the elements and less uniform, and are generally made from plants such as hemp, manila and sisal. Each type of material has its own storage concerns, pros, cons, strengths and weaknesses.

Synthetic Materials
Synthetic materials are resistant to moisture, moulds and mildews, unlike natural fibres. They are the materials most commonly used in commercial production of ropes and cords, because they generally outperform natural fibres in most of the categories that matter. The most common synthetic material is nylon, and as such I will focus on nylon the most. Other synthetics are for more specialized uses, such as polyester and polyolefin’s (i.e. Polypropylene).

1. Nylon is a by-product of petroleum refining, and its production was patented in 1938. It created radical new uses and opportunities, ranging from waterproof jackets to the development of working parachutes, to rope making. It is the material used in paracord and most ropes, and is the most versatile of the synthetic materials.

a. Nylon is somewhat susceptible to UV light, and if you are storing it long term it should be kept out of direct sunlight. I have narrowly missed serious injury when, attempting to climb to a tree stand platform, I casually grabbed a cheap yellow nylon camping rope left out in the sun for two years. Thankfully, before putting my full weight on it several body lengths off the ground, I carefully pulled on it, gradually adding my body weight. It slowly stretched like a rotten elastic band and broke with only the pressure of pulling it with one arm. Needless to say, cheap yellow camping rope is not good choice for life-support applications!

b. Nylon is very susceptible to acids and moderately susceptible to alkalis, even the alkalis from curing concrete in basement floors. Nylon ropes should not be stored directly on concrete or near any other acids/alkalis, such as car batteries in the trunk of a car, or near chlorine (i.e. Bleach or pool shock) and other bleaching agents like hydrogen peroxide, or near phenols, xylenols (used in pesticides) and cresol (used pesticides, deodorizers and disinfectants – I.e. Lysol).

c. Nylon is susceptible to heat, even the heat produced from friction. An interesting demonstration can be done using nylon mil-spec webbing (commonly used for creating tie-offs and anchor points to attach to a rappel rope) and a kernmantle rope. Simply tie up the webbing to a beam or hook in a loop, pass the rope through the loop, and move the rope back and forth like a saw, pulling down with your bodyweight. The nylon webbing will be cut by the rope like butter with a warm knife. It is a sobering demonstration. Yet nylon, in general, has higher heat resistance than other synthetic fibres like polyolefin’s. Its melting point is around 480 degrees F, slightly lower than that of polyester.

d. Nylon absorbs water, up to 5% of its weight. It loses up to 15% of its strength when wet, and also shrinks. When it dries it will generally resume its original qualities, all else being equal.

e. Nylon sinks in water, has good strength, and most importantly has excellent shock absorption qualities, which is why it is used so often in climbing ropes and other high-stretch ropes. Because of this, nylon is the clear choice for most ropes out there. But it should be noted that the weave construction of the rope can be as important or more important than the materials used, and there are ropes made of nylon that do not absorb shock very much at all (low-stretch and static ropes). Its abrasion resistance is good compared to other synthetics.

2. Polyester: Polyester is gaining in popularity in low-stretch ropes because of its resistance to UV light degradation and to acids.
a. It absorbs less water than nylon (less than 1% of its weight) and loses less strength when wet (about 2%). It is useful in wet environments, such as boating and yachting, although it does not float.
b. Polyester has about the same heat resistance as nylon, with a melting point of about 500 degrees F. Friction heat still applies, and can slice through polyester easily!
c. Polyester has much poorer shock absorption than nylon, and as such it is mostly used in low-stretch and static ropes.
d. Polyester had excellent resistance to acids, but is very, very susceptible to alkalis. The “keep off concrete” rule is even more important with polyester.
e. It has excellent resistance to UV light.

3. Polyolefins: These are generally specialty ropes, and are used in river and water rescue as throw bags, and industries where acids and alkalis are common. Varieties include polypropylene and polyethylene, among others.
a. Polyolefins have high resistance to acids, and good resistance to alkalis.
b. Polyolefins float, making them very good for life-guarding, river rescue, boating, and any other water application where you do not want a rope to sink.
c. They have average to poor susceptibility to UV light, worse than both nylon and polyester.
d. They have a relatively low melting point (about 300 degrees F), much lower than polyester and nylon.
You may also come across specialty rope materials like Spectra or Dyneema, which have been developed for life-support systems. They are generally used as secondary materials in cordage, rather than in a life-support rope, but have their uses. They have virtually no stretch, absorb little or no water, and generally have very good resistance to UV, acids and alkalis. However, they are expensive and specialized. They are hard to work with - you need wire cutter to cut them! They do not melt and scissors are hopeless on them! Unless you have a specialty need for them, nylon will suffice in most applications, and is by far the more affordable option.

Natural Fibres & Rope Making
Natural fibres are not common in commercial ropes, because they rot and degrade over time, even in ideal storage conditions. They are susceptible to mildew, absorb water and are harder to construct ropes commercially due to their limited length. A molten nylon thread can be extruded to any length; a natural fibre is limited by the size of the plant, and must be twisted to form a thread.
The main benefit of natural fibre ropes is that you can make them yourself, and rather simply at that. Natural fibre ropes are almost exclusively “laid” ropes, sometimes called hawser-laid, which is the twisted-style found commonly in the cheap yellow camping ropes I mentioned earlier. It is one of the oldest methods of making rope, and works quite well, but as mentioned before is prone to unwinding which causes a loss of strength. Laid ropes can be made out of many local materials (from thistle to wolf willow to yucca) by hand. To do so, you twist fibres in your fingers or roll them along the top of your leg until it makes a rough string, adding bits of material as you go along to make the string longer. It doesn’t matter if the string is pretty, that will smooth out later. Then take the string and bend it in half, and start twisting it tighter and tighter until it starts to buckle and bend in the middle. Keep twisting and the two halves will bend around each other to form a two-strand laid cord. If you add another string, you can twist and work it into the cord to make a three strand laid cord, which is the most common style and quite strong for its size. You can make it out of anything. Tree bark, grass, heck – the Mythbusters television show even made one out of toilet paper to demonstrate ways of ‘breaking out of prison’. It even held a person’s body weight for ‘most’ of the descent down a multi-story building. Though I wouldn’t recommend that last one.

Adding a step up in technology, you can increase your ropemaking efficiency by using simple bushcraft and homesteader techniques such as a pendulum spinner or a rope making machine.
I made my first spinner years ago out of a piece of firewood and a stick, by shaping a chunk of wood into a board with a hatchet. I made a hole near one end with a knife and mallet, and whittled the stick down so it would slide almost all the way through the hole, but stop before going through. It looked like a noise-maker from a football game. Using a twine like sisal, or some other natural fibre, it is easy to make a rope long enough for binding and lashing logs together, and they can be made to quite long lengths with some helping hands and ingenuity. I will leave it to the boy scouts to describe it further here. A professor I knew actually tested breaking strength of sisal rope made this way, and found his rope (although you should not use this as a rule of thumb!) had a breaking point of about 900 lbs, with a safe working load of much less, of course. An interesting idea would be to use paracord (which generally has a 500 lb limit) and make a 3 strand laid rope from it, which would have a 1,500 lb limit when untwisted and un-knotted. Its twisted strength would be greater due the friction in the laid construction, but without knowing exactly how great, the minimum known safe working limit should be adhered to. But your mileage may vary, and practice caution when creating franken-ropes.

A rope making machine is more complex, closer to a cottage industry than bushcraft, but they are easy to construct out of plywood from plans online. I found it best explained here, but there are certainly other plans that are equally as good.
One final consideration in making your own rope is finishing the rope ends with a whipping or a knot. If they are left unfinished the rope will unravel with the mildest use. In my experience I have found this to be the best and tidiest looking method of whipping rope ends, but there are others as well.

To Conclude
Whether you store synthetic rope for future use in the form of rolls of nylon paracord, want to make a replacement bowstring from dental floss, or need to make that fire-bow drill string out of shoelaces or tree bark for an emergency fire, knowing the safe storage techniques and practicing the skills can be the difference of having and having-not. Look at your stores, see where they are kept, and organize your storage for the best long term results of your materials. The conditions of storage for nylon and polyester ropes are also applicable to the storage of nylon and polyester tents! So if you have materials they are lying around on bare cement or right next to the bleach, you may want to think twice about your organization of equipment. Take care of your tools!

Cisterns have been used for water storage for thousands of years and continue to be used today.  A cistern is a large water storage container that is often underground.  Many of you will remember Masada where the Roman Legion had the Jews besieged.  This mountain top fortress was able to hold out for as log as they did, in part, because of the large cisterns where they stored rain water.  In fact without cisterns this would have been nothing other than another uninhabited mountain.

These water storage tanks can range up to thousands of gallons, or liters if you prefer.  The size of your cistern should be determined by your water usage and the water source.  If your water source is seasonal then a large enough capacity to get you through the dry spell would be real nice.  A cistern can be above ground, below ground or partially buried.  This storage is something of a midpoint in you water system sitting as it does, between the collection and distribution systems.

I grew up in a community where thousands of homes collected their water off the roof and stored it in a cistern.  I have seen, used, and built many different cisterns.  The first one I actually put together was an inexpensive above ground pool.  We made a level spot near the eve of the roof and ran the down spouts from the gutter into the pool.  While today I might question whether the plastic liner was appropriate for potable water, back then the question never came up.  We drank from that pool for years and it didn't affect me… affect me… affect me.  Actually because of the price and ease of installation this type of cistern became fairly popular around the community for a couple decades.  While they will last for a few years the plastic eventually deteriorates in the sun or the thin metal sides rot out so this is not a permanent solution.  In a SHTF scenario your down spouts could be run to your in ground pool to collect what ever rain you do get and replenish what you have consumed.  If this becomes part of your plan you might want to secure and store adequate downspout and/or pipe.

Another popular way to build a cistern is with a ten foot length of culvert.  The suppliers would nest these starting with an eight foot culvert inside a larger and larger culvert till the largest was about twelve feet across. This greatly reduced shipping cost.  Since the freight company cubes something like this you are essentially paying freight for only the largest culvert.  The culverts need to be manufactured in such a manner as to have water tight seams.  Delivered laying on its side  it could be transported on the road with little problem.  When placed on a low trailer the twelve foot height would fit under the power lines and the ten foot width was legal.  The process is to dig a flat spot larger than the culvert to a depth that the top of the culvert will be lower than the eve of the house.  You then make a form for your concrete and place reinforcing inside the form.  Pour and level your concrete.  Tip the culvert into the wet concrete and vibrate it to create a seal.  The culvert should set so that it is four to six inches into the concrete.  After a week or so the concrete has cured enough to start filling your tank.

The tank off an old water truck was a quick answer in that it only required a flat spot.  I would expect an old milk truck tank to work as well.  A local mill had been serviced by a four foot diameter wooden water line. We wound up with a twenty foot section and built ends in it.  

A friend of mine built a tank out of plywood and put a plastic liner in it.  He started with eight sheets of plywood.  Standing up two on each side he attached 2X6's every foot from the bottom past midway up then spaced them further apart.  The 2X6's were laid on their side, run past the plywood and bolted to the intersecting 2X6's.  This is a relatively inexpensive tank but be aware that eight feet of head generates quite a bit of pressure at the bottom so do quality work.  Stringers tying the bottom sides together are essential as well as the top.

The newer systems often choose the plastic tanks made for that purpose.  The largest of these are cylindrical.  A buddy of mine had room to place two, five thousand gallon tanks behind his house.  There was a small ledge on the hillside next to these that allowed him to place another two thousand gallon tank.  With twelve thousand gallons available they can go quite a while without rain.

My personal favorite is to build the cistern as part of a concrete foundation.  This requires a foundation of at least four feet tall to get adequate volume.  A full basement would be even better.  If this is the way you go I strongly suggest that you design the house so that no sewer lines run above the water tank.  This leaves your entire water system accessible inside the house and protected against freezing.  

One of the problems with outside water storage is the possibility of freezing.  I had an eighteen hundred gallon plastic tank freeze solid one winter with no apparent damage.  It was not in current use and had been filled without my knowledge so I did not know to empty it.  This tank had also been sprayed with four inches of insulation so it took over a month for it to thaw completely in the spring.  Insulating a tank can help as can putting it in a shed.  Two or three wraps of PEX pipe around the outside near the bottom before you spray the tank works well if you have a boiler.  Your outside water storage could then be another zone off the boiler.  My outside tank has seen -40°F with no problem.  Okay, maybe a few problems but I worked them out.  

 If you do not have really severe winters a heat tape on a Hula Hoop will keep your tank from splitting.  Just a heat tape on the water line will leave an open passage that allows the water to escape out the top if the ice expands reducing pressure on the tank walls.  You still lose that volume of water that turns to ice.  At least until it warms up.  We had a particularly long stretch of cold weather this year and a neighbor of mine ran the water from his water heater back into his tank to melt some of the ice and reclaim some of the lost volume.  You can also put a purpose made electric heater in your tank.  If the bottom of the tank is buried below the frost line freezing problems are greatly reduced.  These are some of the heat sources at your disposal if you opt for outside storage.  

You might also want to consider PEX for your water line especially outside or any other place that is likely to freeze.  PEX has a memory and will return to its original shape after it thaws.  Copper will stretch until it ruptures, usual between the first and third freeze.  Not only is it expensive to replace water lines but the time required is a factor as well.

If you collect rain off your roof the roofing material is an important part of the system.  Metal roofing is the best as it sheds water faster and does not retain as much as other materials.  Three tab works but it holds a surprising amount of water and in a light misty rain it takes a bit before it starts dripping, where a metal roof might shed some water in a fog or when a frost thaws.  Some three tab shingles are also built with chemicals that I am uncomfortable with but most of the roofs that I have seen collect drinking water are of this type.  Cedar roofs are of particular concern.  Cedar is toxic so special care must be taken with a cedar roof.  I lived in an area with heavy rain.  Those people who wanted to collect from their cedar roof waited for over a year with a new roof to allow the rain to flush most of the oil from the surface of the wood.   This community is in the middle of a rain forest with thousands of homes collecting rain water.  

While I have run into people who look at me like I have a third eye, when I discuss drinking rain water, I consider rain water generally safe.  What I like to call God distilled water (rain) is generally free of contamination with some rare exceptions.  Were I down wind of a frisky volcano or a forest fire I might redirect my down spouts for a while. City water can become contaminated as well.  How many times have you heard news reports where the community has been told to boil their water.  I worked with a man who was replacing his copper water lines because his wife was having a reaction to the copper.  As long as reasonable care is taken with the construction, material selection, and maintenance rain collection and a cistern is a viable option in many climates.  

I have seen cisterns filled by wells and wind mills.  If you had a hill above your house you could also place your cistern at a useful height to provide water pressure for your home.  If you have a stream on the property you could use a hydraulic ram pump/water hammer pump (clacker) to fill your cistern.  This system could give you water and suitable water pressure with no electricity. 

If you decide to haul your water in a large tank in the back of your truck or on a trailer make sure the tank is full.  If your vehicle won't haul the weight of a full tank get a smaller tank or larger truck.  Most tanks are built without baffles and when you get the weight of the water slamming back and forth you can have all sorts of problems so it is best to travel with a full tank.

We used bleach about once a year to kill what ever might be growing in the cistern.  The chlorine smell for the next two or three days was a bit much, but it worked.  I preferred in the summer when we ran low and a truckload of city water was purchased.  This was already chlorinated so the tank was sterilized but with far less odor.  

While a gravity collection system is preferred I have put smaller collection containers (50 to 200 gallons) under the down spouts and then used a sump pump to fill the larger tank.  This method is most often incorporated when adding an out building to the collection system or when the tank can't easily be placed below the roof line.  I've seen the power go out and pumps get old but somehow gravity keeps working so that is my preferred method whenever possible.  

I have been a scoutmaster for 18 years. It is a lot of fun teaching scouts how to make fire using unorthodox methods.  Seeing the look in their eyes as they get their first fire built in the outdoors using no matches is a great experience.  As a matter of fact, in winter camps where the ground is not frozen I like to use a trench fire pit with rocks in it, then bury it and sleep on top for a very cozy and warm night. I too was bitten by the survival bug when I was a young scout, and the first priority in survival is ‘keeping your wits about you” so you can focus on what is important.  One real force multiplier in helping to keep people calm is a fire.  It can warm the heart as well as the body, but it doesn’t have to be a bonfire by any means.  As a matter of fact a small fire using only sticks can do just about everything you need, and is much easier to leave no trace with when you are done.  Here are a few simple methods anyone can use to get a nice little fire started.  Please remember that little is the key word in a survival or bug out situation.  Cowboys used to light a very small fire just big enough to put their coffee pot on, because they ate their food cold, and a hot drink was all they needed to warm their spirits. The methods below are simple and inexpensive methods of turning the first spark into a flame. 
Before we start, I would like to say that I have no financial interest in any company or manufacturer that I list, and only do so out of my experiences over the years with them.  No matter how much I would like to have them sponsor my scouts, the only thing I get from them is the potential opportunity to pay Uncle Sam his Tax.
 
IGNITION SOURCES:
Matches: enough said, unless it is windy in which case you may only have a 0.5 second flame.  Let’s read on, shall we?
 
Lighter: ditto…but wait what if your lighter is out of fuel?  Well if it still has a good flint, then you have a handy little spark generator.  I prefer the older Zippo style lighters since I don’t have to worry about a seal drying out and I can store some lighter fluid for many refills.  It also lets me have a refill of flints right in the bottom of the lighter.  Zippo even now offers a small 4 oz. refill canister that you can place into your pack and will not spill.  It will provide you enough fluid for one full refill of your lighter.  If you are thinking longer term SHTF scenario then storing fluid or using disposable lighters would be wise.  Then again if you keep reading I have some other ideas for you to consider as backups.
 
Permanent Matches:  These are an interesting combination between a Lighter, and a “Ferrocerium bar” (below). It comes with a small reservoir which you fill with lighter fluid.  The ‘cap’ has a magnesium striker it with a glass wick that is supposed to burn up to 15,000 times. The wick is in the screw top lid which extends down into the lighter fluid.  You strike the magnesium stick on the side of the container to ignite.
 
Fire Piston: The fire piston uses the friction from compressing air to get an ember from tinder.  You can buy them on amazon, but you can also find a variety of videos showing how to make your own, and how they work online.  If you are at all skeptical try searching Charles’ Law or Boyle’s Law on the Internet regarding pressure and temperature effects on gases.
 
Flint and Steel:  If you can find some flint, and you have a piece of high carbon steel then all you do is strike the two together and you get a spark.  These are usually used with char-cloth (cloth which has been charred) to catch the spark, but you could use a number of items to catch them.  To use it effectively you would hold the char-cloth just over the top of the flint and strike down onto the flint with a piece of steel, hoping to catch the spark on the cloth.  Videos of making and using char-cloth are also available online.
 
Ferrocerium fire starters:  Sometimes mistakenly referred to as “flint”, these come in many different styles from the straight bar you slide across a piece of steel to create a nice spark, to the Magnesium fire starter bars.  These all will get you a great spark, but remember that you want to pull your Ferrocerium across a stationary piece of steel so you can put your spark where you want it.  If you try to slide the steel down the bar you may ruin the tinder nest / pile you have created when you hit it.  Used with Dryer Lint or Steel wool, you will have a fire the first time, every time.  You can buy these inexpensively just about anywhere, but my personal favorite is the one made by Strike Force which has a small storage compartment in the handle.
 
Magnifying glass:   Everyone remembers burning insects with a magnifying glass, and yes you can get things to smolder, but you really need a good amount of sun to get a magnifying glass to start a fire.  To do it you need to focus the brightest part of the light coming through the glass into the smallest most compact point you can make it, and then hold it there.  It will work on paper, and really dry small vegetation, but you do have to be patient.  You could use a disassembled Camera Lens or Binoculars for the lens as well.
 
9V batter and fine steel wool:  I find that the finer the steel wool (0000), the better it lights.  Also spread it out just a little bit to get more air to the fire, and you don’t need a lot.  Just rub the steel wool across the top of the battery and the electrical shorting sparks will ignite the oil on the steel wool.  (The oil is what helps prevent rusting on the steel wool)  DO NOT STORE THE TWO TOGETHER…it gets hot fast. You can also use a standard 1.5v AA, C, or even a D batter, but then you have to stretch the steel wool from one end of the battery to the other, and it gets a little awkward.   A little goes a long way with this. Fine steel wool will also work very well with a Ferrocerium rod and will light right up.
 
Potassium Permanganate (a powder) and Glycerin (a viscous fluid):  Potassium Permanganate is an oxidant which can be used to sterilize water, treat ulcers like canker sores, and a general topical disinfectant, but it will stain the affected area purple. It is used to treat candidiasis (superficial fungal infections like Oral Thrush and Vaginitis) and will neutralize Strychnine (poison).  Glycerin, or Glycerol, may be used as a laxative (2-10 ml used as a suppository or enema), and has been used to treat psoriasis, burns, calluses, and other minor skin irritations.  It works as a bacterial desiccant (it removes moisture through absorption) on contact so it can also help with periodontal diseases.  Okay back to the point, when you create a small mound of Potassium Permanganate with a small depression in the top, and then place a few drops of Glycerin in the depression you get a very impressive exothermic reaction which will start a fire, or even can be used to initiate a thermite reaction.  It takes a bit of time for it to occur but don’t put your hands over it to feel for heat.  It happens very quickly and is very hot when it happens.  I recommend testing this method, but don’t do it on your kitchen table with a thick folded up piece of heavy duty tinfoil.  It will go through it and make your wife very unhappy with the black mark it leaves.  Trust me on that one.
 
FRICTION FIRES:  There are many different ways to start a fire using friction.  The hand drill method, for example, where you spin a stick on a flatter piece of wood with a hole in the bottom and something to catch the ember below (blisters galore of you don’t wear gloves, and you will get tired very quickly).  The old Bow drill method (below) which is better, to the fire plough where you create a long notch in a piece of wood and then slide a stick back and forth in the notch and push the ember out onto your tinder pile.
 
Hand Drill: You will need a straight stick with a narrowed end (Drill), a notched piece of wood with a depression for holding the narrowed end of the stick (the notch should extend into the bottom of the depression for air movement). You will also need a piece of Leather, or metal under the notch to catch the ember. The notched board goes on the ground and you hold it in place by putting your foot on it or kneeling on it.  .  The drill should be standing straight up out of the depression, and held in place by your two palms.  By spinning the drill between your palms, and pressing down you will create friction and over time a smoking ember.  You will continually have to move your hands back up to the top of the drill as they will move down as you continue to spin and push down on the drill.  When you see some smoke coming from the depression then you can remove it to see if you have an ember.  When you have an ember you will need to move it quickly to your tinder and begin the process of nurturing it into a flame.
 
Bow Drill:  This one is probably the most complicated in that you must have: a straight piece of wood about 8-12 inches long which is narrowed on both ends (drill), a notched piece of wood with a depression for holding the narrowed end of the drill (the notch should extend into the bottom of the depression for air movement), a flexible but strong piece of wood about 16 to 24 inches long that has a slight natural curve to it (the bow) , a string (bow string) and a piece of something hard enough to withstand the heat from the drills friction with a depression to help control the top of the spinning drill.  You will also need a piece of Leather, or metal under the notch to catch the ember.  The notched board goes on the ground and you hold it in place by putting your foot on it or kneeling on it.  Then you have the drill standing straight up out of the notch.  The bow string goes around the drill (one wrap only) and then on the top of the drill is held by the hard small piece of wood and your hand (gloves are a good idea).  The bow string should be tight enough that when you push the bow back and forth it will spin the drill but not bind on it.  Once you have this balancing act in place, you move the bow back and forth until you see an appreciable amount of smoke coming from the notch then you look under it and see if you have an ember.  If you do then transfer it to your tinder immediately and start the gentle blowing that will bring you a flame.  If you don’t have any In-Laws that frustrate you, then this will help you understand what frustration is all about.  If you can do this, you can do anything.  This is a really primitive ‘art form’ method of making fire.

Getting that first spark to actually ignite your tinder is a little harder that it appears on the silver screen.  I have had many scouts go grab a handful of what they think is dry bark, or weeds only to find that it is still too wet, or the oils in them only smoke no matter what they do.  One of my favorite examples was an episode of a survival BASED reality television show where they gave the contestants a magnesium fire bar.  They were holding the magnesium side, and striking the flint side with a machete.  They were getting a pretty good spark too, but there was NO WAY they were getting a fire.  My wife, whom I love dearly, was sitting there saying “Oh that was a good one”, for every spark they got.  I on the other hand was sitting there thinking, “They would die in a real survival situation”.  It wasn’t until I explained to her that you can scrape magnesium into a little pile, hold the fire starter right down on the pile, and scraping the blade (held at a slightly obtuse angle towards the pile ) down the ‘flint’ side so that the sparks land in the magnesium and “Heywhadoyaknow” you have fire.
 
TINDER:
Ethanol based hand cleansers: these come in pocket bottles or pumps and the 10% ethanol will burn for a short time.  A spark can ignite this but the ethanol will evaporate quickly.  I only list this because of the dual purpose this item has.  I don’t recommend using any type of “Scout Water” (read: Flammable liquids) to start a fire due to the dangers involved.
 
Cotton balls and Vaseline:  These will burn once ignited just like a candle will.  If you spread out the cotton so it is not just a clump, you can light it with a good spark.
 
Paraffin and Cotton balls:  Very similar to above, just different substance.
 
Sawdust and paraffin blocks:  Fill the depressions in a paper based egg carton with a mixture of melted paraffin mixed with sawdust (from wood not particle board due to the glue).  Let them cool, and cut or break apart the individual parts, with the cardboard attached and it can be lit with a lighter, or match and will burn like a candle.
 
Dryer Lint:   This is my personal favorite.  Simply take the lint out of your dryer and place it into a pill bottle, Ziploc baggie or other water resistant container and it can be started with the smallest spark.  This will also win you points with the significant other by cleaning out the lint filter.  With it being so flammable you may want to confirm that your dryer vent is clean and connected.  This is especially important if you have a furnace, water heater, or if your dryer is heated by Natural Gas (flame) in the same room. Remember; safety first.  Dryer Lint will also work very well with a Ferrocerium rod on the first strike.
 
Wax and newspaper:  Dip pieces of newspaper in paraffin wax and it burns like a candle. This one is similar to the sawdust but you can leave some of the paper not covered in paraffin and it will ignite easier.  You can do this with cardboard or any other paper product as well.  The paraffin only makes it a little slower burning and a little more durable.
 
Gun powder:  Yes you could remove a bullet from a cartridge with a pair of pliers and use some of the powder inside to catch your spark, but it is a violent reaction so if you are desperate enough to try this, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. (All the usual safety warnings and legal disclaimers apply.)
 
FIRE TYPES AND PURPOSES:

TeePee:  This is your typical campfire where you have sticks in the shape of a TeePee over your tinder and kindling.  It is great to keep warm, and puts out a lot of light.  This would be fine if you are trying to be found, but not if you don’t want to give away your location.
 
Parallel Fire: This fire has two logs, one next to the other, and the fire burns starts at one end and burns towards the other.  You need to have them slightly separated at one end and more so at the other.   You build the fire at the wider end, and can put a pot right on top and air can still get to the fire to keep it going, and the log does provide a bit of light discipline, but there are better ways to achieve this.  This one also provides some good heat. 
 
Swedish Fire log: Take a log and quarter one end (only one end if possible, but if you go through then just bind the bottom back together).  Into the end where you have partially split it, stuff some tinder down into the split and light it.  This will burn for a long time, and can provide heat and light when needed.  This is also be called the “Swedish Torch” so keep light discipline in mind.
 
Trench Fire: For a Trench fire, you will need to dig a trench and then build a long fire in it.  The idea is that it can burn for a longer period of time as the fire moves through the trench from one end to the other.  Depending on the depth, it can hide the light from the flame pretty well, and you can put a grate across it to cook on.  You need to be sure it is not so deep though that air cannot get to it and put it out.
 
Reflector Fire: A reflector fire is basically any fire built next to a block to prevent heat or light to escape in a certain direction.  These can reflect heat into a shelter, and help block light from moving, however the light can then again reflect off of whatever it hits and in the dark, the glow is enough.

Log Cabin: A log cabin fire is a fire where you stack the outer ‘walls’ as you would in a log cabin.  It is great to cook over because the heat tends to leave the top, in the same manner as the chimney of a house.  It too provides good heat, and light when wanted.
 
Dakota Fire: The Dakota fire [pit] is a convection fire, which provides a great fire with very little light.  First check the direction of the wind if possible to help your fire burn better.  Dig a hole in the ground about 1 foot wide at the top, 4 to 6 inches wider at the base on one side, and at least 1 foot deep.  The wider part of the base should be on the downwind side of the hole.  Then dig a second hole, with the closest part of the hole, about a foot away from the first one, on the upwind side of the first hole .  The second hole should be six inches across, and dug at an angle towards the bottom of the first hole.  In the first hole build your small fire and after you get it going you will see that air is moving from the second hole into the first one to keep the fire going, and it will become more efficient and put off less smoke due to the conductive air movement.
 
Fire stoves:  These have been around for years, and have been made from everything from a number 10 can (Hobo Stoves) to some of the wood gas stoves like the Sierra Stove.  I list these because they burn for heat, use the same materials that a campfire would, and last for a long time providing a stable cooking surface.  There are videos on the web on how to make wood gas stoves that you can build and put in your B.O.B. or Get Home Bag (G.H.B.)
 
Well there it is.  If you can’t get a fire started with the instructions above, then please be sure to live in the middle of a large population center so you don’t have to suffer to long in the event of a natural disaster or socioeconomic crisis.  Don’t get me wrong, a fire is not difficult, but you should know how to do it before you need it.  It is also very cool to be able to show your kids, friends, or others you want to impress how to make a fire without matches, or a lighter. For those who wish to be proficient at it a little bit of practice is all you need.  Remember when you are cold, hungry, and out in the middle of nowhere, a fire can save your life.  Just remember to think about what kind of fire you really need. 
 
Keep your powder (and your tinder) dry!

With an endless and ever-growing supply of preparedness items and gadgets for TEOTWAWKI, it is easy to forget where we all came from.  Each and every one of us alive on this planet today is in large part due to the sheer will, strength, and survival ability of our ancestors.  We are all, literally, direct descendants of the toughest and smartest humans the world has ever seen.  Our ancestors were the ones who survived plagues and diseases of all types, hunted the largest of beasts, survived harsher conditions than most of us can imagine, always procured food, and still managed to procreate, eventually passing on that genetic material to each and every one of us.  In each one of us, is them, and we contain hundreds if not thousands of generations of genetics that survived.  We are the culmination of all those who have endured before us.  Sure, luck and the grace of God has much to do with this and I do not discount that fact.  Frankly, I thank God everyday for my life and the lives of those I love.  The reason I decided to write this article is because I feel that too little emphasis is placed on these necessary skills by both survivalists and preppers alike.  Don’t get me wrong, I am 100% in favor of being fully stocked with everything necessary for any “what if” type scenario.  I fully believe in the necessity of being well prepared whether stationary at a retreat location, mobile in a vehicle, or loaded like a beast of burden on foot.  But I don’t like to be dependent upon store bought items.  For me, preparedness is a mindset and a lifestyle.  So, my point is, what happens when we lose those items, they break, are stolen, or our supplies run out?  Don’t think it can’t happen to you.  We’re all preparing because it provides a sort of insurance against the countless what ifs.  Think of primitive survival skills as your reinsurance or back up to your back up plan.  The purpose of this article is to provoke thought and discussion to the subject of primitive survival and to serve as a brief introduction on “how to.”  When I say bare bones survival I mean just that.  No knives, saws, axes, cordage, rope, water filters, bottles, bladders, portable shelters, lighters, flints, matches, stoves, fuel, or food.  I think you get the point.  The one exception is the clothing on your back since practicing primitive skills nude in the woods would probably be a one way ticket to the insane asylum.

SHELTER
Most primitive survival situations, pre or post TEOTWAWKI, will require shelter.  It’s probable that this will also be your most pressing need, one to be fulfilled first.  Shelter keeps you warm, dry, and concealed. It gives you the ability to escape the elements as you plan your next step.  Six of our seven continents are inhabited and have been for millennia.  What this translates into is that almost anywhere on earth the natural materials already exist to provide you with a sufficient shelter.  From igloos to adobe settlements, all these materials are free for the taking if you know how to use them.  These are just examples, so I’m not suggesting you build an igloo or sun bake bricks because of the time and energy required to do so.  What I am suggesting is that you familiarize yourself with the natural materials present in your neck of the woods in order to build an efficient and expedient shelter.  Be it sand, snow, dirt, grass, rocks, sticks, moss or leaves, they all can keep you relatively warm, dry and alive.  After that, you must practice repeatedly.  Otherwise you’re simply an armchair survivalist, and we all know what happens to them. 

I live in an area with plenty of deciduous forest and mild winters (mid-Atlantic state), which is probably one of the easiest places to construct a survival shelter.  The shelter I build most is often referred to as a debris hut and I do so because it’s simple, efficient, and the materials required for doing so are abundant in my area.  I typically make a pile of leaves two feet deep and two feet longer than I am tall against the trunk of a fallen tree.  I then lay sticks perpendicular to the trunk over the entire length of the pile angled from the ground to the top of the trunk and tight enough together to not let leaves fall through.  A few more feet of leaves are piled on top of what should by now resemble one half of a ribcage with the trunk being the spine and the angled sticks being the ribs.  A few feet of leaves will shed absolute downpours leaving the interior dry.  I leave a small opening so that I can enter feet first and keep another pile of leaves at the entrance to plug it when I’m in.  For colder temperatures it’s necessary to keep the interior barely larger than yourself to minimize heat loss.  In windy conditions you may need some sticks on top of the shelter to keep the leaves in place.  Before constructing, be sure to look up and around you for any dead or dying trees or branches that could be brought down on top of you during a storm.  If possible face your shelter opening to the east to take advantage of the rising suns warmth.  If you cannot tell direction without a compass, learn to do so.  

There are countless primitive shelters one could build, and they all have advantages and disadvantages based upon where one resides.  This article is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all those shelters and how to build them, but rather an attempt to get you thinking along the lines of what you would do without a permanent or portable roof over your head.  Most of these structures can be constructed within a few hours and really do not require hand tools or supplies of any kind.  Do your research and see which type of primitive shelter best fits your locale.

Under normal survival circumstances, such as being lost or caught in an unexpected storm, one would usually choose a shelter site with plenty of natural material nearby as to minimize having to carry debris any distance and thereby conserving energy.  Ordinary survival situations also assume that someone wants to be found.  In TEOTWAWKI type scenarios we probably do not want to be found, therefore minimizing our “sign” left behind as we construct our shelter is paramount.  Leaving bare spots on the forest floor as we rake up every last leaf to use as insulation may be noticed by others and further investigated by them.  The point is to do your best at leaving as few clues behind as possible.  Using the existing landscape to your advantage will help in this regard.  Caves, crevices, overhangs, thickets, hollow logs, boulders, etc may provide the basis for an adequate shelter with minimal caloric expenditure as well as provide added insulation, wind proofing, and concealment.  By taking advantage of natural structures, your shelter will blend in to your environment much better than otherwise.  When you’re finished you should be able to step back from your shelter, looking from different angles, and not even recognize it as such.  If possible, construct shelter near a water source, just be sure you’re above the high water mark, which should be obvious.  Locating shelter near a water source isn’t always possible, just try to if feasible.  But don’t force it, shelter is typically priority number one unless you’re already approaching dehydration, starvation, are being pursued, or it’s warm and dry enough to forego it.  If you’re not familiar with basic primitive shelters I suggest that you research it.  You may even want to construct one near your retreat or on the way to it as added insurance.  Once you have established a sufficient shelter that will keep you warm, dry, and well concealed, you can move on to priority number two, which is hydration. 

WATER
Where I reside, water is abundant and very easy to find.  I have no experience in more arid regions of the US so I’ll leave that to others to discuss.  First, let’s dispel some myths regarding water.  Clear, fast moving water is not always safe to drink.  Springs are not always safe.  Dogs do drink disease laden water.  And the liquid in some plants can kill you, or at minimum make you ill.  Frankly, I treat all water as potentially disease causing until I’ve purified it in some manner.  Notice I said purify, not filter.  All too often I see people touting their homemade water filter consisting of leaves, moss, sand, charred wood, etc as a viable means to filter pathogens from water.  Simply put, this is incorrect and should only be used for filtering sediment from water and not pathogens.  Charred wood is not the activated charcoal commonly used in water filtration. 

Just a side note, activated wood charcoal is vastly inferior to activated coconut carbon in terms of the porosity needed for high level water filtration.  We’re talking about macropores vs micropores so keep your coconut hulls or stock up (they’re inexpensive, in bulk) if you make your own activated carbon for these purposes.  When searching for water keep a few things in mind.  First, water flows downhill which means that you’re generally more likely to find it at lower elevations than at higher ones.  There are exceptions to this, but I’m speaking in general terms.  Specific vegetation is an excellent indicator of water or at least wet ground.  Certain trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants will only grow in or very close to water or damp earth.  At higher elevations, look for threads of more dense or more varied vegetation tracking downhill.  The same principle applies to lowland areas as the vegetation will usually change and be denser near water or damp soil.  Learn the plants in your geographic locale that need wet earth and memorize them.  Learn to recognize them year round.  Knowing your trees in the dead of winter without leaves present is a critical skill to have.  The same thing applies to the dead dry stalks of certain herbaceous plants.  Also, having the ability to recognize these plant species from a distance can save you time and energy on your search.  Once you’ve located damp earth, try to figure out the drainage in that particular area and start your dig in low points located along the drain path.  If enough water is present it will seep into your hole.  If you don’t want to wait, somehow mark or remember this spot so you can return as you seek other sources.  Once again, minimize your signs left behind.  I like to thoroughly scatter any dirt I excavate and fill the hole lightly with leaves to conceal my efforts.  Where you decide to dig is critical.  I’ve dug two feet down in a dry streambed and did not get any water but moving ten feet in another direction with the same size hole yielded a quart every hour.  For dry stream beds, usually stick to the outsides of any curves.  Only practice and experience can make you better at this.  You can use a broken stick, rocks, and your bare hands to excavate.   

Animals, including birds, can also tell you where to look.  Many animals, but not all, must drink water to survive.  Therefore, following animal trails, especially when these trails converge and widen more and more, can be a reliable indicator.  Birds, with the exception of flesh eaters, are fairly reliable indicators of the presence of water.  The overall flight pattern of birds in a particular area at dusk and dawn is a great clue.  Also, bugs and insects can be telltale signs.  Bees, small black ants, flies, mosquitoes, and others are rarely too far from water.  Although in the case of some of these insects it could only be a few ounces of water in the crotch or rotted section of a tree.   Another great and often overlooked source of water is dew or condensation.  Given that you do have clothes on your back, use some article of clothing to “mop” it up.  From dusk to dawn is the best time for dew formation and gathering.  Sometimes in shaded areas you can still gather dew hours after the sun has risen.  If you’ve experienced a rainfall recently, keep in mind that rotted wood and moss will hold water long after everything else has dried.  Simply squeeze the water out.  The last source of water I would like to mention is tree sap.  It’s my favorite since it doesn’t require boiling. I’ve consumed box elder, red, black, and sugar maple, black birch, black and white walnut, shagbark and shellbark hickory, and sycamore sap as my sole source of liquid for days.  I’ve also drank large quantities of sap from many other tree species. 

Some refer to the sugar content as a possible source of dehydration.  I haven’t experienced this to be true but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t.  As an added benefit, most tree sap has an abundance of vitamins and minerals.  Not all tree sap is potable.  Check out the Plants For A Future Database and look under the heading “plant uses” and scroll down to “sap” to see which trees grow in your area.  Just a side note, many of the trees with potable sap also have edible inner bark, which was extensively used by Native Americans.  Once you have positively 100 percent identified that species, sample a small amount first.  Then progress to larger amounts of consumption.  You should do the same with anything your body has never consumed before.  We all may potentially have food allergies were not yet aware of.  The downside to using sap for hydration is that it doesn’t flow year round and not all trees flow at the same time or for the same length of time.  Maple sap, for instance, will flow best when nights are below freezing and days are above freezing and it’s sunny or partly sunny (high pressure).  With maples in my location, sap flow begins after the trees have gone dormant in the fall.  This usually occurs after a few hard frosts and will continue through winter and into spring as long as the tree isn’t frozen and the aforementioned criteria are met.  These principles do not apply to all tree species. 

An example is birch, which averages 3-5 weeks of sap flow in early to mid spring depending on the weather.  Once the leaves have emerged the sap of most tree species loses its clarity and palatability as the chemical components change.  Shortly thereafter, sap flow will cease and does not begin again until the weather warms after a sufficient dormancy period.  Given that all trees do not leaf out all at once in the spring but rather in a slow progression this can be a source of water for many months if you have the knowledge.  In my area, by utilizing all tree species with potable sap, I can drink for nearly six months out of the year as long as the trees are not frozen.  Maples are among the first to leaf out in the spring therefore they flow first.  In my area, this is followed by birches, walnuts, hickories, etc.  Tree sap is highly perishable and must be used quickly.  One of my favorite methods for preserving it in early spring is to pile the melting snow around and onto the container to keep it cold.  Be sure to cover the container opening with wood or a rock to keep the snow out.  Using this method sap will keep for days. 

Harvesting tree sap without tools is more difficult but not impossible given that it were Native Americans who taught Europeans how to do this and did so without steel implements.  Maple and birch syrup producers rely on drills, buckets, taps, tubing, etc to procure their liquid.  Primitive survival does not afford these luxuries.  Gouge a v shape incision into the tree on a side that faces the sun using a sharp rock (research flint knapping to provide you with an adequate knife).  Then insert a thin twig into the base of this v and slope it downward so that the sap can drip down it.  Better yet, break the end off of a lower branch that is pointing in a downward direction or hang deadfall on it to make it point downward.  You can also bore a small hole into the trunk with a rock and insert a hollow stem of a non poisonous plant to act as a tap.  Just match the diameter of your tap very closely to the diameter of your bored hole creating as tight of a fit as possible.  You can speed up the flow by sucking as through a straw.  While testing certain trees pre-SHTF to see if they are flowing I suggest breaking off the very tip of a twig instead of gouging a hole into the trunk unnecessarily.  This is just a good conservation practice in my opinion. 

Grape vines are also a good source of liquid during certain times of the year.  When grape vines are flowing I like to break one off low to the ground, wrap it up, and bring it with me.  When I’m ready to use it, I’ll cut or break this vine into many equal sections and bundle them together allowing the liquid to drip into a container.  As with trees, grape vines have a prime flow period which closely coincides with trees.  Other times of the year sap doesn’t flow or isn’t palatable.  Although these are just a few of the plants I like to use for water, there are many others available as well.  As a general rule for herbaceous plants, if the entire plant is edible so to is the liquid within it.  By now you should be asking, “okay, well I found water, but what do I put it in and how do I purify it?”  The answer is found in fire.

FIRE

Making fire with sticks is referred to as friction fire.  The concept is to rub or spin two pieces of wood together producing a fine dust that will ignite into a glowing ember or coal at around eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit.  This coal is then transferred into a tinder bundle and blown into flames.  The flaming tinder bundle is placed underneath a pre constructed arrangement of small twigs and progressively larger pieces of wood.  I like to arrange my sticks in a tepee fashion with one side open to insert the flaming tinder bundle.  There are countless methods invented throughout history but the two I like the most are the bow drill and hand drill methods, with the latter being my preference.  An experienced person could easily write a 50 page article on all the nuances of friction fire.  Instead of giving an in depth “how to” I think it’s better that you start by watching internet videos on this subject as it’s much easier to understand when you see it.  It can be rather verbose to explain.  Do searches for both the “hand drill fire” and “bow drill fire” and watch many different videos to gather more information as no one video or source of information is the best. 

The bow drill is the best place to start for beginners as it’s usually the easiest.  This video shows the basics of the bow drill by Ray Mears.  Although he does use a knife, machete, and nylon cordage, a sharp rock and natural cordage can achieve the same results with slightly more time invested.  Developing an understanding of sound basics and technique on the bow drill will make the hand drill that much easier.  Outside of proper technique and form, the next most important factor for success is the right selection of wood or plant material.  Not all wood can be spun together to make fire and dead but not rotted wood is almost always best.  If you can dent it with a finger nail with moderate pressure that is likely an appropriate hardness.  Softer woods are easier to create fire with than harder woods.  Avoid most oaks, most maples, hickories, walnuts, persimmon, beech, birch and any other wood than is generally considered hard and durable.  This is not to say that it can’t be done with these woods, it’s just much harder than with woods such as buckeyes, basswood, elms, willows, sycamore and some members of the pine family.  If you’re using the bow drill method you’ll need to make some sort of natural cordage. 

My favorite sources of natural fibers are stinging nettle, milkweed, dogbane, and basswood, although there are literally hundreds of other trees and herbaceous plants that can provide adequate fibers.  Do a search for making natural cordage to see this first hand and to see which of these species grow in your area.  Also, pencil thick roots from some members of the pine family make excellent bow drill cordage.  When you’re first learning the bow drill use paracord or an old shoe lace as you’ll quickly get frustrated when your natural cordage wears thin and breaks.  My favorite tinder is cedar bark shredded and balled up like a birds nest but many other materials will work as well.  For firewood, especially in wet or rainy weather, it’s imperative to gather wood that is off the ground.  Dead twigs and branches still attached or hung up in the tree are an excellent choice.  Fatwood, which is the heartwood of certain pine trees usually located in decaying stumps, is probably the best kindling there is.  Its high resin content makes it rot resistant and will easily catch fire.  Friction fire can be physically demanding and to have your tinder bundle fail to ignite wet wood is not a good thing.  As far as wood selection goes, the easiest to produce fire using a bow drill in my locale are buckeye, basswood, elm, willow, and eastern white pine.  There are many others that work well, but these are simply my preferences. 

The hand drill consists of only a spindle, fireboard, and tinder bundle.  It has the advantage of not needing cordage or as much preparation time but is less technically forgiving.  Here is another clip of the same guy performing the hand drill.  Although he is performing this in the desert, all the materials needed to do so are easily found anywhere south of the tundra.  My favorites for this type of friction fire are basswood, buckeye, willow, elm, and yucca for the fireboard and mullein, cattail, evening primrose, and goldenrod for the spindle. After you learn the basics, it is persistence and a desire to succeed that makes all the difference in success.  Because this method most often utilizes the dead stalks of herbaceous plants it’s imperative to be able to recognize them at this stage.  Many people can recognize plants when they’re flowering but cannot do so when it’s a dead dry stalk in mid-winter.  As with any skill truly worth learning, it takes practice and dedication over an extended period of time.  I constantly read how these methods are impossible or worthless.  Well, I’m here to tell you that if you’re willing to put in the effort you can start a fire with these methods at will anytime you please.  I do it all the time.  The last primitive method for fire starting I feel worth mentioning is flint rock.

Most of us are familiar with the flint and steel method of fire starting as well as the more modern ferro rod.  But given that we’re talking about primitive skills this would predate the invention of steel.  Flint rock has a decent distribution across the US and that’s why I mention it.  Before steel, many native cultures simply scraped flint against an iron ore containing rock.  Quite a few different rocks will work but the most commonly used was marcasite or pyrite.  It produces small sparks and is tedious but can be a viable alternative to friction fire if your local geology has plenty of these rocks available.  This is another good research topic specific to your locale.  Here’s an excellent link showing how.   And one more for a different look  Once you have fire it’s now time to purify your water. 

You’ll need to fashion a container by using coals from the fire to burn out the center of a piece of wood.  You can make bowls and cups capable of holding large quantities of water with this method.  Find an appropriate piece of wood and place some hot coals onto it.  You can speed up the process by blowing on the coals.  Every so often remove the coals and gouge out the charred material of your cup and repeat the process until you have something capable of holding your desired amount of liquid.  I recommend sticking to something quart sized for mobility.  If stationary, burn a large depression into a fallen tree capable of holding gallons of water.  Birch bark containers, animal stomachs and hides work very well for transport.  You can use pine sap to seal up any leaking areas of the bark.  Once you have a container you need to heat up rocks in the fire and using two sticks in a chopstick manner transfer them into your wooden container to boil the water.  Your rocks should be gathered from a very dry area that doesn’t sit in water.  The reason being is that trapped moisture will cause the rocks to crack when heated and sometimes these sharp sections are flung outward.  Basalt is the rock of choice as it rarely cracks and if it does it doesn’t go flying outward towards your face.  Rocks gathered from stream beds or any other wet areas are poor choices as they almost always invariably crack.  If you must use these types of rock, cover your eyes when placing them into the water and keep back while it’s boiling.  Continue to transfer more rocks into the water until you’ve boiled it for the desired period of time.  Placing a large leaf, flat piece of wood or rock over your boiling container will increase efficiency and negate any flying hot stones.  Burn out multiple containers to gather tree sap and place them under your taps.  Or if you live in an area with bamboo you already have a container.  Check out this kid to see what I mean.  Instead of cutting the bamboo into sections as he does, I like to keep the bamboo stalk intact and gouge a hole at the top of each section and lay the entire bamboo stalk into a water source to fill up.  This way all the sections will fill with water and can easily be transported to the fire location.  You can then keep the stalk upright and take off one section at a time for boiling.  Fire is sort of a double edged sword, you may need it to keep warm, cook food, and purify water but its presence may give away your location.  My favorite low profile method for fire is the Dakota fire hole.  Research it.  It consumes far less wood, doesn’t smoke as much, and doesn’t cast as much light.  Also, to keep your fire “near smokeless,” use the driest wood possible and keep the flames going.  A fire smokes the most as the flames are dying down. Now that you have shelter from the elements, water to quench your thirst, and the all important fire, it’s time to eat.

FOOD
In a short term survival situation food is the least important.  However, in a long term scenario food is paramount.  To date, I’ve consumed and or used approximately two thousand different edible and medicinal plant species and I can recognize them at all stages of their growth.  I do not use this number to boast but rather use it to illustrate what our Creator has given to us that is free for the taking.  Even in the dead of winter an abundance is still available if you have the knowledge.  Domestic produce pales in comparison to wild food in taste and nutrition, although certainly not all edible plants taste great.  I always feel my best when consuming wild plants and animals and I try to consume something from nature daily.  Many people feel that one cannot entirely survive off wild food indefinitely.  They claim that too many of the Native American staples have been greatly diminished due to loss of habitat.  This is true to an extent and I’m deeply concerned with loss of biodiversity.  However, with this loss has come a substantial influx of Old World plants and animals to fill the fields and meadow that were once forested.  Many years ago I set a goal for myself which was to see if it was possible to still “live off the land.”  Honestly, I doubted that one could only consume wild food and make it.  But the more I continued to learn the more I realized that I was wrong.  Simply put, it is my firm conviction that one can not only survive but absolutely thrive consuming only wild species when armed with the right knowledge and skill set.   

As I mentioned in my introduction, almost everywhere on earth has been inhabited by natives that did just that.  The downside to this is that it takes years of learning to develop this skill and knowledge and a TEOTWAWKI type scenario will make it much more difficult to live this lifestyle.  Procuring wild food by far has the longest learning curve of all primitive survival skills.  It involves plant identification, harvest, and preparation.  It involves hunting, fishing, tracking, trapping, stalking, snaring, processing, as well as other skills.  These are things that take time to learn.  I don’t say this to discourage you but rather to be realistic.  Shelter, specific to your locale, can be learned in a day.  You can become really proficient in finding water in a slightly longer period of time.  It takes a few months to become good at fire, practicing twenty minutes a day three to four days a week.  And it can be nearly mastered in a year to the point where you can do it almost anywhere anytime.  But to learn food, you really have to be dedicated.  It’s probably best to start learning all the poisonous plants in your location to rule out what cannot be eaten.  These will be a huge minority of the overall number of species in any given area.  In fact, in most geographic locales it’s extremely difficult to locate more than a handful of species that can kill you.  Besides, with very few exceptions, poisonous plants taste so terrible that it would be difficult to ever consume enough quantity to kill you.  We have taste buds for a reason, don’t ignore them!  To really learn plants you’re going to need books and some basic botanical knowledge.  You can also learn a tremendous amount on the Internet.  Just like survival authors, some wild food authors are better than others.  I consider only a few to be authorities, as I find mistakes in almost all wild food literature.  Fortunately, these aren’t mistakes that could kill us.  Many authors, I think, just copy others’ work.  The authors I find to be most reliable and accurate are Samuel Thayer, Thomas Elpel, Linda Runyon, Steve Brill, and John Kallas.  There are many others so do your research, read reviews and make an informed decision.  Outside of books specific to edible plants you’ll need field guides for your region that cover all plants not just those that are edible.  A taxonomic guide for your locale is indispensable. 

Once you have positive identification, research that plant for its edibility.  Basic rules for foraging are: 1) never eat anything unless you’re one hundred percent sure it’s not poisonous.  2) know at which stage of growth and what part of the plant you can consume since some are edible young but become poisonous later or may have one edible part and other poisonous parts.  3) know if any special preparations such as boiling are required for that plant species.  4) when consuming any plant for the first time, only sample a small amount to be certain you’re not allergic and then increase your consumption.  5) use at minimum three references to ensure a plants edibility.  6) use latin names including genus and species for identification purposes.  Start learning plants now since it takes time to become proficient.  Don’t assume you’ll be able to head to your retreat with a few field manuals and then start learning these necessary skills.  I say this because plants are mainly identified by dissecting and/or counting their flower parts and the edible parts may precede or succeed flowering, which would leave you out of luck.  So, just because you’ve identified an edible plant it doesn’t mean it’s at the appropriate stage for consumption.  It can be, but not always.  If you haven’t learned edible plants in advance then at least memorize the universal edibility test to leave you some options.  Type in into a search engine to learn it.  I chose not to go into detail on which plants are edible simply because it would be specific to my locale and would only be good info for some.  I would rather conclude with you knowing that there are tens of thousands of edible plants within the United States and if you apply yourself you and your family will never be without food.  I love to gather seeds of edible plants and scatter them near where I live, as well as my family’s garden, to add to my local abundance.  I may succumb to disease, I may be shot or die in an accident, I may live to a ripe old age and simply die of natural causes, but I can assure you I will never starve to death. 

I’ve chosen not to cover hunting, trapping, snaring, and fishing in a primitive manner simply because it’s illegal in most areas.  Most places require steel snares and traps that conform to state laws as well as fishing with a rod and reel and hunting only with certain weapons.  However, it’s certainly not illegal for you to research these topics and I strongly suggest doing just that.  Snares and traps work round the clock in as many locations as you place them.  They will consistently outperform a hunter for this reason as he or she can only be in one location at one time and only for a limited amount of time.  I personally prefer snaring over trapping because of all the supplies needed to trap.  Trapping is heavy and bulky and I can carry many more snares than I can traps.  Trapping can be great when you’re stationary but if you’re on foot, I wouldn’t even consider it in my opinion.

This concludes Bare Bones Survival.  I hope I’ve sparked your interest in some of the things within our past that make our present possible.  God is simply magnificent, and as we all scramble to make sure we purchase everything on our “list of lists” before the SHTF, it’s easy to forget that He has already given us everything we need in nature.  Slow down a little and get back to nature and you’ll find peace that doesn’t exist within the rat race of American culture.  When you start learning and practicing these skills, by all means use anything that will make success more of a probability.  If something doesn’t work for you, don’t assume it doesn’t work altogether.  You may just need to adjust something in some way.  Be persistent.  Don’t run out into the wilderness without gear and expect to be able to do these things overnight.  Start small and work your way up.  Take a trip with a fully stocked backpack and work on these skills over an extended period of time.  The first time you make shelter, bring your tent, bag, and pad as a backup.  Bring your water and filter when you work on finding water.  Bring your flint and knife when practicing friction fire.  And bring food when working on edible plants.  Learn to hunt, fish, and snare using legal methods as you will learn many things that are transferable to doing the same in a primitive manner.  If you’re willing to put in the time necessary to learn these things, you’ll be rewarded by always being at home in the wilderness, never to hunger or thirst or to be left out in the cold.  Good Luck and God Bless you all!

I am a firm believer that a TEOTWAWKI situation will happen, and in my lifetime.  I consider myself a prepper, and am a daily reader of “prepping articles,” and almost always read about “bug out bags,” or “72-hour kits,” call them what you will.  I also read allot of articles devoted to bug out vehicles.  A bug out vehicle is a great concept, but is only as good as the distance it will take you, or for the length of time that it will last.  I do believe that bugging out is a necessity in prepping for a TEOTWAWKI situation, but to my surprise I very rarely read articles on preparing for automotive repair during a TEOTWAWKI situation!  Imagine this:

The grid goes down, you and your family and/or team are preparing to “bug out.”  You gather all of your supplies, and start your journey to your retreat.  On the way your vehicle starts running very rough, sputtering, and stalls on the side of the road, which is not a very good place to be during a TEOTWAWKI situation!  What do you do?  If a member of your family, and/or team is an experienced mechanic the situation may not seem so dire.  That person may be able to repair your vehicle fast, and proper.  But what if no such person is a member of your group?  How did you prepare for this situation?

The basics of all automotive mechanics are as follows:  Diagnosing the problem (figuring out what is wrong), and fixing the problem.  This may seem difficult for someone who is not experienced in mechanical repair, and can definitely be a frustrating situation.  Here are just a few from a very long list of tips:

• Become very familiar with your vehicle, and how it operates.
• Have a service manual for the specific year, make, and model of the vehicle.  This will provide you with detailed information on your vehicle, and offer you detailed directions on how to replace parts, and more.
• Include an experienced mechanic in your group, or become familiar with common automotive problems related to your vehicle, and the ways in which to correct those problems.
• Always include a set of tools (wrenches, socket sets, jack stands etc.) in your prepping list.  Preferably tools that you know will fit the various bolts, nuts, and screws found on your vehicle.
• Remember that one size tool does not fit all or solve all problems.  Always use the right tool for the job, to help prevent further damage. 
• Include a jack; tire tool, and spare tire.  Many vehicles already come with a spare tire, tire tool, and jack, but not all of them do.
• Make sure that your jack can safely lift the weight of your vehicle, and any added weight from supplies.
• Include a set of Jumper cables.
• Include a fire extinguisher.  You don’t want fires making an already bad situation worse!
• Include a set of tire plugs, so that small holes can easily be patched on the go.  Also include a few cans of fix-a-flat for the same reasons.  Many types of fix-a-flat exist, and most of them contained compressed air, which will aid in airing up the tire.  These are for temporary use only.  Tires should be changed, or repaired as soon as possible.
• Determine the average amount of oil changes you will do in a year, and stock up on oil and filters. On average for most gasoline engines oil should be changed every 3,000 miles.
• Know what kind of, and how much oil you should use with your vehicle.  Not all vehicles use the same viscosity and/or amount of oil.  The type of oil and amount you should use can be determined by reading your owners manual, looking for information under the hood, or on the side of the driver’s side door.  Temperature will also play a role in determining the type of oil you should use.  
• Determine the average number of tune-ups you will need in a year (tune up-changing spark plugs, plug wires, and distributor cap/ rotor if applicable), and stock up!
• Always make sure your vehicle has a full tank of gas.  This helps to not only remain prepared to leave, but keeps moisture from building up in, and rusting out your fuel tank and/or fuel lines.
• Check fluid levels regularly so as to maintain readiness, and to ensure the absence of leaks!
• Always carry extra gas cans in your vehicle so you can store, and use fuel as needed. 

In addition to making sure your vehicle has a spare tire it is always a good idea if possible to include more than one spare tire, and even a complete wheel and tire so as to change in a hurry, as you most likely wont have all day to work on changing a flat tire on the side of the road in a “bug out” situation.  Just the other day a friend of the family was posting on facebook that she had a flat tire, and her donut (a common type of spare tire) went flat within an hour of it being changed, that’s two flat tires in one hour!  It is impossible to predict every scenario, but you are always better off to plan ahead, plan ahead, and again plan ahead!

Currently my own personal vehicle a 1995 Chevy 1500 pick up has a bad exhaust system, brake problems, bad spark plug wires causing a misfire, and a tire that needs attention as it has been slowly leaking air!  I think to myself, why I am I setting my self up for failure by putting off the work that needs to be done.  How far would I make it if I needed to “bug out?”  Probably not very far!  Don’t set your self up for failure.  Properly maintenance your vehicle as much as possible so that you are ready when SHTF!

Remember that this list only contains some of the basics.  Your situation, and type of vehicle will both play a huge role in preparing for automotive repair in a TEOTWAWKI scenario.  The best advice I can offer is to regularly check the fluid levels on your vehicle.  Look for, and repair any leaks as soon as they are noticed to prevent further damage.  Get a service manual for your vehicle its value is immeasurable!  Familiarize yourself with common automotive problems, and ways to correct those problems!  I hope this list is helpful, and that you are prepared when, and if your bug out vehicle breaks down!

JWR:
My favorite planned substitute for welding in TEOTWAWKI is brazing. It can be done with a carbon arc torch, an oxyacetylene torch or on a old fashioned forge. The latter is particularly attractive to me as it requires no gas or electricity to accomplish. I have a charcoal fired forge and find that by sandwiching two pieces of metal together around some flattened brass rod and flux then using tie wire to hold all in position. I can place the pieces in my fire and increase the air (turn the crank) until the brass melts and flows to the two pieces of metal. I stop the air (reducing the heat), let the brass solidify then remove the bonded pieces, cool, then cut and grind the tie wire off. It's a lot easier then forge welding but not as quick and easy as using modern equipment. - Axman

James,
I just wanted to throw this out there for general information. This past Saturday my neighbor was cutting some trees with his chainsaw. Not long after he started he was over to my house asking to borrow one of my chainsaws because he got his hung up in the tree.

I grabbed one of my three saw and went over to help him out. I figured he got his hung up I did not wish him to hang up mine also. After we got his cut out, I mentioned to him if he had a spare bar and chain for the saw, he could have very easily removed the drive engine from the bar and chain put on his spare and continued cutting. He was lucky I was at home and had a saw. I know when many people with chainsaws prepare. They pick up spare chains, oil, bar oil and such but hopefully they think ahead and also pick up a spare bar or two. - Tom in Virginia

JWR Replies: Having a spare bar (or better yet two) and a half dozen spare chains is indeed important. In addition those rare pinched bar situations, keep in mind that bars can get bent, chain guide grooves can get distorted, and tip rollers can wear out. (Or burn out, if you forget to check your bar lube oil reservoir consistently.) If you run a saw a lot, at some point you will need to bolt on a spare bar.

If and when you ever do have to extricate a bar that has been pinched, it calls for great caution. A bar is usually pinched when a tree is in a precarious position-often when a tree has a rotten core, so the trunk has shifted in a unexpected way. So use extreme caution. and work only from a side where the tree won't fall. Also, if you need to cut out a pinched bar, work very slowly and exactingly, to make room for plastic or hardwood felling wedges. You should have at least three felling wedges. And of course never use steel wedges for felling! When making a cut toward a pinched bar, go slowly and conservatively, or you will end up with two destroyed chains and two destroyed bars and the potential to throw shrapnel. Again, your goal is to make room for a wedge that you'll drive in enough to free the bar. Lastly and most importantly: Never fell trees when it is windy and be sure to keep you eyes up very frequently, watching for any signs of the tree tilting, so that you can make a hasty exit. Leave yourself a couple of clear escape paths and if need be, drop your saw to speed your escape. The saw is replaceable, but you are not.

I am a retired journeyman pipefitter who is a Certified Welding Inspector.  I teach at a nearby community college two days a week.   Welding encompasses such a large body of knowledge that no one person can know all there is to know and certainly cannot condense everything into a short article, but let me start with some basics.

First of all, if you can’t tell the difference between steel, stainless steel, aluminum or cast iron you shouldn’t be welding.  You have to know what process to use and which filler metal to use.  Some things will hurt you or kill you if you try to weld on them.  Never, under any circumstances, weld on a gas tank, or any container that you don’t know what was in it.  Welding is “hot work” so you need to know if there is anything around that can catch on fire.  Remove all flammables or cover them so they don’t cause a problem.  Be sure what you’re welding on is adequately restrained or supported so as not to injure you or someone else. 

The selection of the right filler metal is very important.  If the wrong filler metal is selected the weld can have major defects and not be fit for service.  Shielding gas selection is also very important.  Preheat and postheat is important on cast iron or high strength alloy steel.  Preheating is required whenever the metal to be welded is below 70 degrees F because the cold metal quenches the weld.  When large welds are needed, it is better to make more small welds than a few large ones.  Low carbon steel also called mild steel is easily welded by all common welding processes.  However, long-arcing of the weld will allow air to enter the shielding envelope, so proper welding technique is needed not to induce air which will cause porosity and other bad effects.

If you still have access to electric power, then wire or stick welding would be the preferred method of welding.  This also holds true if you have a generator available.  If not, then one is left with oxy-fuel welding.  Wire welding is the preferred method of welding for any novice.  It is much more intuitive for a novice to get the feel of it, but setting the machine can be intimidating.  Let’s start with the machine.  If you are going to invest in any machine, consider one of the new smaller more portable inverter welding machines that can do four major welding processes i.e.: wire with cover gas, flux cored gasless wire, stick and TIG.  Older machines that are strictly constant current or constant voltage are larger, heavier and can basically only do one dedicated type of process with the exception of TIG.  If you are going to spend your money on a new welding machine, why not buy the most versatile machine?  I own a THERMAL ARC FABRICATOR 211i  but others are available.  The new machines can operate on either 110 or 220 volt with reduced capacity on 110.  The difference would be the necessity of 3000 watts of power for 110 volt operations or 6000 watts for 220 volt operations.  The new machines have very clear manuals and charts for welding operations.

But let’s say you have or have the opportunity to buy a used wire welder.  You’ll want a wire welder that is rated at a minimum of 130 to 140 amps of power.  Why, because it takes one amp of power to weld each 1/1000 of an inch of metal thickness and I wouldn’t recommend a machine that wasn’t capable of welding at least a 1/8 inch of metal thickness.

So now you have a wire welder, how do you go about setting it to weld?  With a wire welder your heat is controlled by the wire speed, there is no setting for amperage.  The rule of thumb is this: 100 inches per minute (IPM) of wire speed for each 1/16 of an inch in metal thickness plus add another 50 IPM at the end of each calculation, thus, 150 IPM for 1/16” metal thickness, 250 IPM for 1/8”, 350 IPM for 3/16” and 450 IPM for ¼” in metal thickness.  It is not recommended to weld over ¼” metal with a wire welder, unless you do multiple pass welds.

Next, you set the voltage.  If you are welding 1/8” metal, set your wire speed to approximately 250 IPM and start with your voltage to 17 or 18 volts.  Turn your voltage up or down as you practice on a test piece to get the machine “dialed” in.  You’ll have to practice setting the machine to get the desired result.

Wire welding can be done with either a push or a pull technique.  Pushing the weld from right to left is easier for many right handed people.  This method does not penetrate into the parent metal as deep as dragging or pulling the gun from left to right.  Be sure you are holding the gun with the tip at a 45 degree angle to the surface that you are trying to weld.  Electrode extension is very important.  You shouldn’t be more than ½” away from the metal, where the wire comes out of the contact tube.  You lose heat or amperage with a long arc.
    
Flux cored wire welding is cheaper than normal wire welding, though not as good.  The normal gas for wire welding is 75% argon 25% CO2 but straight CO2 can be used, although it causes more splatter.  We won’t go into inductance in this short article.   Wire welding is not tolerant of contamination nor is it recommended to use outdoors.   Any rust, grease, oil dust, paint or contamination of any kind will cause porosity.  If you are going to wire weld, you have to start out with the metal clean at least an inch on each side of the weld.  There is more expense in setting up a wire welder as compared to a stick welder but less practice is required to make an acceptable weld.

Stick welding is more portable than wire welding and more versatile.  Stick welding is a very versatile process, because the same SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) machine can be used to make a wide variety of welds in different weld joint designs, metal types, metal thickness, and in all positions.   Stick welding is more portable in that it requires less equipment and is easier to move, especially an engine driven generator-welder.  Stick welding can be performed outside.   Most major construction of new buildings, plants and piping is done outside with either stick or TIG welding.  Wire welding and stick welding are negative ground positive electrode processes and TIG welding, flux cored wire welding being positive ground, negative electrode process.

Stick welding is harder to learn than wire welding and takes much more practice.  If possible, take a course at your local college or high school.  The difficulty comes in maintaining a constant length arc off of the parent metal, electrode angle, speed of welding progression, and manually weaving the electrode, in some cases, to make the bead profile.  Low hydrogen (E7018) electrodes are the best for welding mild steel, but require a pretty steady hand to weld good beads.   E6011 is the best electrode for a novice to learn with but requires more electrode manipulation to achieve a good bead i.e.: small circles, a C shaped or other pattern as recommended in any good text on welding. E6011 welds will be less ductile in service than E7018, the welds will break in time with hard usage, thus the bad name for “farm rods”.  If you are using and old AC only farm welder, try to buy the newer AC-E7018 electrodes.  There is no substitute for practice when it comes to stick welding, only with practice will you be able to lay down good serviceable weld beads that will hold your project together.

Now for oxy-fuel welding.  During its prime, plates up to 1” thick were wire gas welded to produce ocean-going ships, to large industrial machinery.  Today, due to improvements in other processes, gas or oxy-fuel welding is seldom used on metal thicker than 1/16 of an inch.  Newer processes are faster, cleaner and cause less distortion from heat than oxy-fuel welding.  However, when nothing else is available, welds can be made using this process.  All that is required is a compressed gas bottle of oxygen and a cylinder of fuel, usually acetylene, the appropriate torch set, which will have regulators, a Siamese hose and a combination torch, for both welding and cutting.  I will discuss important safety factors in both cutting and general welding at the end.   Needless to say, once you have your “rig” properly set up (refer to your manual), turn on the gas just enough to let some gas escape, light the gas with a spark lighter near the end.  With the torch lit, increase the flow of acetylene until the flame stops smoking.  Slowly turn on the oxygen and adjust the torch to a neutral flame.  Too much fuel and you won’t get a decent inner cone of flame, too much oxygen and the inner flame turns whitish blue.  In either case, too much of one or the other increases the size of the flame.  The neutral flame will produce the most concentrated heat at the end of the inner cone of flame.  The maximum gas flow rate for the size of tip will give the flame enough flow so that when adjusted to the neutral setting it does not settle back on the tip.  This will keep the tip cooler so that it does not backfire.

    Factors affecting torch welding: torch tip size, torch angle, welding rod size and torch manipulation.

1. Torch tip size is used to control the weld bead width, depth of penetration into the parent metal, and speed.  Tip sizes should be changed to suit the thickness and overall size of the metal being welded.  Lowering the gas flow rate on a larger tip to weld thinner metal will just make it overheat and backfire.  You should have a tip size chart with your torch outfit and each manufacturer has a different size which is proprietary to that manufacturer.  Consult your chart and pick the tip needed to cut or weld that thickness of metal.
2. Torch angle – the ideal angle for torch welding is at 45 degrees to the metal.  At the end of the welding tip it curves downward, if this end of the torch is pointed straight down into the parent metal this is 90 degrees, a compromise angle of half way between this and parallel with the surface of the metal is best.  Hold the inner cone between 1/8” and ¼” off the surface of the parent metal.
3. Welding rod size and torch manipulation can be used to control the weld bead characteristics.  A larger filler rod can be used to cool the molten weld pool, increase weld buildup above the parent metal and reduce penetration.  The torch can be manipulated so the direct heat from the inner flame is flashes off the molten weld pool for just a moment to let it cool, keeping the secondary flame over the pool.

The weld pool must be protected by the secondary flame (the larger outer flame) to prevent the air from contaminating the weld pool.  If this flame is suddenly moved away the pool will throw off a large number of sparks.  This is a real problem when the weld is stopped.  The torch should be raised or tilted at the end, keeping the outer flame over the molten weld pool until it solidifies.  Often the number of sparks increases just before a burn through when the molten metal drops through the backside of the plate.

Novices should practice pushing a molten pool on a clean piece of plate before attempting to add filler metal.   Start at one end, hold the torch tip at a 45 degree angle in the direction you intend to weld.  Establish a molten weld pool at the end of the inner cone of the torch.  When the metal starts to melt, move the torch in a circular pattern down the sheet toward the other end.  Try to get a uniform bead all the way along the weld.  You may have to speed up or slow down to keep an even bead.  Practice this until you can keep the width of the molten weld pool uniform and the direction of travel in a straight line.  You should try this process next adding filler rod.   Always bend one end of your filler rod, usually in a U-shape to know which end is hot.  The straight end  is dipped in the molten weld pool, as filler rod, is added to the weld pool, the flame can be moved back so as not to melt and drip the rod into the pool.  The rod should be melted by the leading edge of the pool only.  Once you can make good welds in the flat position then it is time to try other positions and other styles of joints.  Try butt joint, T joints, lap joints in the flat position.  Try welding these joints vertical up or overhead.  Get a good book on welding and see what you can do.

Now, for the most important part of welding: SAFETY.  All welding involves heat and the possibility of burns can never be over emphasized.  Your safety is your own personal responsibility and you must address it yourself.  Many burns are caused by contact with hot metal or slag.  I have seen students try to reach out and grab something they just welded and you can get burned even though you are wearing welding gloves.  Be careful of hot weldments and sparks and splatter from your own welds and others.  Ultraviolet light from welding will cause flash burn to the eyes.  Wear shade 5 lenses for cutting and oxy-fuel welding.  Wear shade 10 or greater in your welding hood for stick welding.  Always wear safety glasses when doing any work and ear protection when necessary.  Actual welding should be well ventilated.  Fume sources that are bad for your health include: paint, oil, grease, coatings on metals such a zinc and cadmium.  Older machinery and farm equipment may still have lead based paint.  No welding or cutting on refrigeration or air conditioner piping.  Wear the appropriate welder clothing: long sleeve shirts, long pants, leather shoes, a welders cap or beanie to protect your head.  Special welding jackets of leather or flame proof canvas and leather welding gloves should be worn.  Oxygen and acetylene cylinders should be chained securely in separate areas at least 20 ft. apart unless they are in a bottle cart and chained to it.  Never lift a bottle by the cap or safety valve.  When in use, oxygen bottles and cover gas bottles should be opened all the way to the back seat position after the regulators are properly screwed on.  Open the valve on a full cylinder just briefly to blow out any dust, then attach the regulator.  Acetylene bottles that have been laid on their side should be stored upright for at least 4 hours before being used.  After attaching the regulator open the acetylene bottle enough just to get full pressure on the gauges.

Again, welding is considered to be “hot work” so you are responsible for fires.   Keep a fire extinguisher handy.  A 5 gallon bucket of water wouldn’t hurt either.  Welding can cause electrical shock, so keep your leads and other equipment in good shape.  Use the right type of regulator for the process you are setting up.  Acetylene and fuel gases use left hand connections with a notched nut.  Back off the adjusting screw of all regulators after use so as not to distort the diaphragm.

I’m sure I haven’t covered everything and maybe forgotten a few things that should have been included, but if at all possible, take a welding course.  You’ll have a skill that will stand you in good stead and be very valuable, especially in a TEOTWAWKI situation.

You may have a years worth of wheat (or more) stored, but will you be able to make it into bread and other baked goods after TEOTWAWKI?  Sourdough is the solution for preppers.  No need to worry about expiration dates on your commercial yeast packets, a properly cared for sourdough starter can last indefinitely, providing an unlimited source of yeast.  There are several known sourdough starters in the United States that are over 100 years old.

Sourdough is a method of bread preparation that has been used for thousands of years.  It probably originated in Egypt around 1500 BC and was widely used until the Middle Ages.  Today, true sourdough is rare (store-bought “sourdough” bread is usually artificially flavored [with vinegar to make faux sourdough]) but making a comeback among artisan bread bakers. With modern conveniences of dry yeast and cheap store-bought bread, homemade sourdough bread has fallen out of favor with the general public, but mastering the sourdough technique is helpful for anyone choosing to decrease their dependence on commercial goods.

What is sourdough?

Sourdough bread products utilize wild yeasts and friendly bacteria to leaven the bread (i.e. cause it to rise).  A small amount of sourdough starter is added to a larger amount of flour and the dough is allowed to ferment for a time.  During the fermentation the dough is pre-digested, making it more palatable and nutritious, and the chemical process releases gases, causing the dough to rise.

Sourdough gets its name from its slightly tangy flavor caused by the production of lactic acid by the lactobacilli during fermentation. Though it is usually associated with bread, it can be used to make many different kinds of yeasted (for example, pizza dough) and unyeasted (for example, muffins) flour-based baked goods.  

Why sourdough?

Modern bread recipes require a continual dependence on dry yeast manufacturers.  On the other hand, sourdough is a self-generating, never ending supply of yeast.  Sourdough has many further benefits and advantages for the prepper as it is simple, versatile, and nutritious.

Sourdough may seem intimidating for a beginner, but the technique can be quickly mastered. Cultured yeast requires a specific temperature in order to activate and rise.  Sourdough is more forgiving, especially for flat breads. Many recipes call for just four ingredients (flour, water, salt and oil) in varying proportions.  For example pizza dough, crackers, bread, biscuits, tortillas, pita and rolls can all be made with just these four ingredients.  

Sourdough is also versatile.  With just a few more ingredients on hand, a myriad of other baked goods can be made including muffins, cinnamon rolls, noodles, cookies, english muffins, crepes, cake, pot pies, pocket pizza, pancakes and waffles.  An additional benefit of sourdough is that it pre-digests the flour in a way that gives the dough a lighter flavor and texture, making whole grain versions of baked goods like cinnamon rolls more appealing than their non-soured, whole grain counterparts.

Furthermore, utilizing the sourdough method increases the nutritional benefits of baked goods.  As previously mentioned, the souring process gives baked goods a lighter flavor and texture, making whole grain goods more palatable to picky eaters.  Whole grains are higher in B vitamins, fiber and minerals than refined grains.  Furthermore, souring breaks down phytates which are present in whole-wheat flour, anti-nutrients which inhibit the body’s absorption of minerals.  The souring process also makes whole grains easier to digest and breaks down some of the gluten.  In recent years, many people have developed sensitivities to gluten (possibly because of our modern bread-baking techniques) but many of these people can tolerate baked goods that have a long souring time, because the gluten is pre-digested for them.

How to make and care for a sourdough starter.

As previously mentioned, sourdough involves using a little sourdough starter mixed into a larger amount of flour.  Therefore, the first step to making sourdough baked goods is to make (or obtain) a sourdough starter.  If you plan to make sourdough goods on a regular basis, you will want to have a sourdough starter on hand at all times.  That means once you make or obtain a starter, you will want to continuously feed and maintain it, although you can take breaks by putting it in the refrigerator for up to a couple weeks.

Sourdough starters can be purchased from various internet sites.  They come dehydrated, and you just add water to reactivate them.  If you know someone who makes sourdough goods, you can get some of their starter (I have given starter to at least four of my friends since beginning my sourdough journey a year and a half ago.) 

Another option (which is also a great skill to learn for future use) is to make a homemade starter.  There are as many opinions on how to make a starter as their are recipes for using your starter.  I will give you the method that I used, but feel free to research others.  Most people say that it is easier to start a sourdough starter when it is warm outside, but I was able to begin my starter pretty easily on the first try in the middle of a December. (Granted, I do live in a coastal area where winters aren’t too cold.)  Regardless, it is helpful to keep your starter in a warm area of the kitchen (such as next to the stove, crockpot or in the oven with the light on).

To make a starter from scratch, take a cup of water and a cup of flour, and mix together in a glass bowl, large mason jar or ceramic crock.  It is important to use non-chlorinated water, as the chorine can inhibit the growth of the helpful lactobacilli in your starter.  If you use unfiltered tap water, leave it on the counter for 24 hours before using it to allow the chlorine to evaporate.  Make sure to only use wooden or glass utensils to stir, as metal can react with the starter.  After stirring, scrape down the sides of the bowl or jar.  Cover with a cloth to keep out dust.

Let this mixture sit in a warm area of your kitchen for 12 hours.  Then remove half of your water/flour mixture, and add another half cup of flour and half cup of water.  Continue removing half of the mixture and adding more flour and water every 12 hours. (I aim to do it while making breakfast and after making dinner, which is about 12 hours and coincides with my time in the kitchen.)  After about 3-5 days you should start to see some bubbles forming around the side of the glass and/or on the surface of the starter.  This shows that wild yeasts and bacteria are starting to colonize the culture.  You will want to wait until your starter is very active before attempting to bake with it.  Bread shouldn’t be attempted until the starter is well established, as it requires the most yeast activity to turn out well.  Once your starter is established, you don’t need to throw out half of it every time you feed it, but plan to use it regularly so that your don’t have too much starter building up (you can use up extra starter by making pancakes, I share a  recipe for that below).

Caring for your sourdough starter is simple, but it must be faithful.  Keep in mind that your starter is full of living, active bacteria and yeasts.  It must be tended to and fed like any member of your family.  Keep your starter in the warmest part of your kitchen except for in the hottest parts of the summer, when you may want to keep it in a cool part of the kitchen (such as on a low shelf of a cabinet... but don’t forget about it!).  Your starter needs to be fed at least twice a day. (I shoot for first thing in the morning and then after dinner at night) with equal parts of water and flour.  You can rest your starter in the refrigerator, during which time it only needs to be fed once a week, but don’t let it go for more than a few weeks in the fridge without pulling it out and using it.  Store your starter in a glass bowl or mason jar, and stir it with a wooden spoon or other non-reactive utensil.  Your sourdough starter should never come in contact with metal (though I sometimes use a stainless steel spoon for a quick stir after feeding it, as stainless steel has low reactivity,)  After feeding your starter and stirring, make sure to scrape down the sides to discourage the growth of mold.  Always cover your starter when not in use to keep out bugs and dust.  Fruit flies are especially attracted to the scent of sourdough starter.

Depending on your rhythm of life and frequency of baking, you may choose to keep your sourdough starter on the counter continuously (during which times it needs to be fed at least twice per day), or you may choose to let it lay dormant in the refrigerator for periods of time (during which times you only need to feed it once a week.) I have used both methods in my year and a half of doing sourdough, because of varying life circumstances.  To give you an idea, I will provide some examples from my experiences with sourdough.

For my first six months of doing sourdough, I was feeding seven people three meals per day (my husband and I had four foster children plus my mother living with us) and my starter rarely went in the fridge.  I was making sourdough baked goods on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times per day.  I was continually taking from my starter and continually feeding it.  I rarely had too much starter and often faced the problem of not having enough due to poor planning or forgetfulness.

Then the four children went back to living with their birth mother, and my mother moved out, and I was down to cooking for two.  I was pregnant and trying to up my protein intake, and I decreased the amount of grains that I was preparing.  During this time, I kept the starter in the refrigerator and sometimes went for 2-3 weeks between uses (without feeding it for the whole time and it survived.  Sourdough can be very forgiving!)

Currently, we have a college student living with us, two babies and frequent guests over for meals.  I keep my starter out about half of the time, and in the refrigerator the other half of the time.  I usually lay out a meal plan at the beginning of each week, which helps me to know when I need to keep it out and build up the starter, and when I can leave it to rest in the refrigerator for a few days.  All this is to say that you can make sourdough fit with your lifestyle, and it will bring great benefit if you do.

Sourdough Recipe Tips

Few modern cookbooks include sourdough recipes, but there are an increasing number of recipes to be found on the internet.  It can be intimidating to know where to start for someone new to sourdough.  I have found the most reliable recipes come from sites that emphasize traditional foods and preparation methods.  Here are some terms and other things to be aware of when choosing recipes to try.

Souring time.  The longer the souring time (also called rising time), the more nutritious the end product will be.  Look for recipes that call for 8-12 hours of fermentation, which is enough time to break down most of the phytic acid.  If a recipe calls for a shorter time than this, it often requires supplemental commercial yeast.

Percentage of hydration.  In some recipes you will see terminology about the percentage of hydration.  This has to  do with the flour/water ratio of your starter.  For example, 100% hydration means that a starter is fed equal parts of water and flour.  I find that a starter fed equal parts water and flour works for most recipes, but to be safe, you can stick with recipes that call for 100% hydration until you are more familiar with sourdough baking.  If a recipe does not specify the percentage of hydration, it is usually safe to assume they are calling for a starter fed equal parts of flour and water.

Your flour. Store bought flour is more compacted than freshly ground flour.  So, depending on the type of flour you use, you might need slightly more or slightly less than a recipe calls for.  I have found that the more times that I make a recipe, the better the idea I get for how the dough should look and feel, and I can adjust accordingly.  If possible, use freshly ground flour.  Not only do whole wheat berries store longer than flour, but freshly ground is the most nutritious form of flour.  By some estimates, flour loses 90% of its vitamins within three days of being ground. (Although refrigerating or freezing freshly ground flour will slow down this micronutrient loss.)

Sourdough bread requires more skill and patience than other sourdough products.  Approach bread baking as a learning experience, and expect to make a brick from time to time, especially at the beginning. Instead of throwing out a dense loaf, grind it up into bread crumbs, store it in the freezer to use when you need bread crumbs for a recipe, or feed it to your chickens, ducks or pigs.  To ensure success with bread baking, make sure your starter is very active and that you allow the bread to rise in a warm place (I like to put it in my oven with the oven light turned on.)

I will leave you with a recipe for sourdough pancakes, which is probably the sourdough recipe that I use the most.  It is easy and forgiving, and a great recipe to start with as you learn sourdough. Even a weak starter that is just a few days old can be used for this recipe.  When you have an excess of starter, this is a good way to use the extra up quickly.  It is also a quick and easy breakfast for when I fail to plan ahead, as it only calls for starter and requires no souring time.

2 cups sourdough starter
2 tablespoons sweetener (honey, brown sugar, etc)
4 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Heat your seasoned griddle to a medium-high heat.  Mix together all ingredients except the baking soda.  Add the baking soda right before you are ready to pour the batter.  Cook the pancakes on the griddle until they are golden brown on both sides. 1/3 cup of batter per pancake makes about nine medium sized pancakes.  Enjoy! 

Hi Jim,

A couple of things worth considering for painless pet euthanasia.  This is never a pleasant subject, but:

1. Carbon monoxide poisoning.  People die of this painlessly all the time.   Prepare a setup now to connect to your vehicle exhaust (or any other gas engine exhaust) to an enclosure sized to hold your pet.

2. A person can be made unconscious simply by pressing two fingers against the juggler veins in the neck without any feeling of strangling or otherwise. It's like going to sleep (the brain is deprived of oxygen and you black out).  A prolonged application of this will cause brain damage, of course, and eventually death.  I don't know the specifics, but one might be able to find out by a medical person or veterinarian about application to a pet.

Sincerely, - Paul B.

JWR:
Responding to J.M.’s letter, Advice on Disaster Pet Euthanasia, I would like to say that even living on a hobby farm and dispatching chickens, turkeys, and sheep, if it came to putting one of my dogs down before a bugout it would still be difficult. Most good dog owners realize their dogs are not “just” animals, there is some degree of person-hood there that requires consideration and compassion. They’re not human beings, but they’re also not just inert, instinct-driven things either.

Trust me that euthanasia is only stressful up to the point where you actually do the deed. After that point it is a relief, and you know you did what had to be done. You move on to the next thing on the list and the grieving can wait until things settle down a bit, and it’s not an emergency any longer.

Speaking for myself, I find it enormously comforting to realize that God probably has a purpose for them beyond this life. Not sure why that’s so comforting, I guess it’s just realizing that God has a plan and He is good beyond my wildest imagination (and I can imagine a lot!).

Ponder the implications of these tantalizing Bible verses: Psalm 36:6, Psalm 50:10-11, Psalm 145:9, Proverbs 12:10, Ecclesiastes 3:21, Romans 8:21, Revelation 4 (mistranslated in most English versions as “living creature” the word is actually “animal” – the animal kingdom is represented before the very Throne of God!), and the inclusiveness of Revelation 5:13 – 14. I don't believe that the “Lamb who was slain” will forget the lambs who were by their very being a picture of his character. I just don't believe they will be left behind in the glory to come. And that’s an encouraging thought.

That said, for me it’s a matter of making a rational decision (usually old age or illness, so far) based on criteria that my wife and I decided on long in advance of the actual need. Make a list! And when the circumstances fit that list then decide! Follow through on that decision by doing what must now be done, suck it up, do not dwell on it or stew on it or stall – just set aside your emotions for a few minutes and focus on doing it right for your animal friend.

One thing that has been a big help for us in the past is to give our dog a dose of Acepromazine, an inexpensive, commonly-prescribed veterinary drug that we have on hand for sedating our animals during trips (and there was that one hyper dog who freaked out in thunderstorms…). If you crush the tablet (and give an overdose) then mix it with a little peanut butter you won’t have any problem getting your dog to take it, and when crushed it will take effect more quickly and more profoundly.

Being sedated, your dog will not pick up your agitation/stress/fear in the crisis situation and they’ll be easier to handle, you might even need to carry them or drag them on a rug or tarp if the sedative hits before you’re ready (might only be a minute or two). I wouldn’t try to smother a dog, it takes too long, is very hands-on, and even sedated the dog may reflexively struggle. Bleeding an animal out once deeply sedated is fairly quick (with presumably little perceived pain) with a deep cut to the neck jugular vein behind the jaw (shave off the hair, if you have time, to be able to see what you’re doing there).  

Using a firearm as James Rawles described is the quickest and most humane method, just bring enough gun – dog’s skulls can be very hard in the bigger breeds (I’d recommend being sure the bullet is entering perpendicular to their skull, or nearly so). Take your time and do it by the book. If your dog is sedated but still moving around you might need to tie them to something to safely hold their head still. (Once your dog is sedated you do not want to offer them anything else to eat or drink, so be sure you’ve got the sedative dose you want on the first try.) You do not want to botch your first shot. And make sure there’s no one downrange or anywhere a ricocheting shot might go!

If you have enough Acepromazine you may be able to give a massive overdose and they will just fall asleep and stop breathing on their own. Unless you have a stethoscope and are experienced with its use you can’t assume your dog has passed on, so once you think it’s dead you’ll need to take some additional step to guarantee that fact. They’re already dead, it’s just their dead body now, and you’re just making absolutely positive. Some paracord ought to do the trick… Our dogs depend on us, if we’re going to do it we need to get it right – they’re counting on a quick, humane death and we owe them that much.

Look, I know this is a hard, hard topic to discuss! People hate to talk about death, but we MUST! Working out the final details for your beloved companion dog will be a good conversation-starter for talking about our own deaths, and the deaths we may one day be forced into inflicting in self-defense. I’m sorry it’s so hard – ask God to help you through it with clarity and peace. Jesus, after all, knows all about death… and conquered it!

I fully expect to see my dogs around the Throne of God as well as redeemed humanity, angels, cherubs, seraphim, and however many other classes and species of sentient life God has chosen for the honor. It will be a big, noisy, slobbery reunion!

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed.” – Revelation 21:4 Amen!
 
Trust God. Be Prepared. We can do both! - ShepherdFarmerGeek in Spokane

Mr. Rawles,
I am constantly impressed by the wealth of information that I am able to find on your web site and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all involved for the work you do on this.  I was also wondering if you, or your readers, might be able to help me out with a certain, unsavory aspect of my preps.  

Currently, our family is overseas in a country where we are required to maintain an evacuation plan and needed supplies at all time.  I am wholly on-board with this and have done this, even when not required, no matter where in the world we have found ourselves.  This time, however, we seem to have hit a potential snag in our evacuation plan in regards to one member of the family - the dog.  We brought the dog along with us (as we have done to several other countries) and were fully aware that, in an evacuation scenario we would be legally required to bring her with us to the evacuation point.  We have no issue with this and are fully prepared should the need arise.  However, we have now been told (contrary to the information received when deciding whether to bring the dog) that the dog's presence will potentially delay my children being evacuated as quickly as possible.  This, I have a huge issue with.  I have owned this dog since long before I met my husband or had our children, but I am still fully aware that it is only an animal, and my children's safety most definitely comes first.  

Should it ever come down to my dog or my children, the dog needs to be removed from the equation, no matter how well-loved she is.  Our concern now is how to best prepare for the potential need to euthanize the dog.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to find reliable information on this subject on the internet, as the vast majority of voices on this subject spout that only a licensed vet should be allowed to handle euthanasia.  In an perfect world, that would be where I would take her, but in a chaotic, SHTF situation I will need something a bit more hands-on.  If we were stateside, we would have the ability to simply choose the proper caliber, but due to our current location, firearms are not an available solution.  

Ideally, I am looking for the quickest, most humane way to put down a dog when firearms are unavailable and without the use of drowning or baseball bats (two of the more cruel solutions presented online that I could never bring myself to use on the family pet).  She is roughly 35-40 lbs and I am no bodybuilder, so I'm assuming that attempting something bare-handed, such as snapping her neck, would be not only ineffective, but cruelly inhumane as well.  Are there human medications that could be used to put the dog to sleep?  If a knife is necessary, what type is most effective and what would be the most humane cut to make?  I have never had to dispatch an animal before so please excuse the ignorance in these questions.
Sincerely, - J.M.

JWR Replies: Readers are advised to research their state and local laws. As J.M. mentioned, it is not legal for individuals to euthanize their pets in some sissified Nanny States. The proverbial "long walk in the woods" is never pleasant for those who must pull the trigger, but a .22 to the brain is quick and painless. SurvivalBlog reader Steve N. recommends shooting squarely down into the brain at a point made at the cross of imaginary lines drawn from each eye to the opposite ear opening. The shot should be angled in such a way as to have the shot travel in a straight line to where the spinal cord would meet the brain. (Aim very carefully, make sure that you have a safe backstop and be advised that in most jurisdictions, shooting is not allowed inside city limits.) If silence is a must, then repeated hammer blows to the back of the skull work well, and generally this isn't messy. For those who are soft-hearted about their pets, I recommend asking a neighbor to do the deed. And unless you are extremely soft-hearted, you should offer to return the favor, at a later date. (This way you aren't euthanizing your own pet.)

I started trying to grow my own food, on a small scale, about 10 years ago.  Only this year, did I really begin to see the possibility of growing most of what we need to feed our family.  I have learned to garden through a combination of books, experimentation and tips from others.  I would like to share some of my education and sources so that others can ramp up to self-sufficiency faster than the time it took me. 

Permaculture.  Previous SurvivalBlog contributors have mentioned the term "permaculture".  It is a general term that describes (mostly) self-sustaining production through diversity, recycling of waste and minimum external input.  The antonym of permaculture is monoculture, which produces a single product and requires high external input (seed, fertilizer, fuel, etc.).  We have all heard of the wonders of modern farming (mostly monoculture), but there are a number of ideas from permaculture that can be applied advantageously to the family-scale gardener.  I will provide specific examples in my garden to illustrate some of the general permaculture concepts.

Since permaculture involves different crops and maybe even animal husbandry, it is critical to learn as much as possible about all of the plants and animals in your system.   A great tool to retain your knowledge is a log book.  In it, record what species you plant at what time - in pots, in cold frames, in the greenhouse and in the garden.  Record successes and failures, note what freezes and what survives.  Once your plants are established, record when the fruit first appears and when it matures.  Note which plants can survive a minor frost and which ones can't.

The information you gain from your log can boost production and efficiency.  The seed packet instructions may say, “plant outside after last danger of frost”, but even hardened plants can be stunted by cold nighttime temperatures in the 40s or sometimes 50s.   I have learned that waiting an extra week or two for tomatoes and another week past that for pepper plants gives sturdier plants and larger harvests.    When you know there is not enough time left in the season for new fruit to reach maturity, you can pluck the new fruits to allow the plant to concentrate on the viable fruit.  Different things work in different places.  Garlic over-wintered just fine in raised bed in the mid-Atlantic region of the country, but the extreme cold in the American Redoubt knocked out half of my garlic planted in a raised bed last season. Live and learn - and write it down.

Besides the obvious benefit of retaining your knowledge from one season to the next, the log book may also help in the generational transfer of knowledge.  I have met plenty of people who grew up on a farm who went through the motions, did their chores and didn't really learn the skills and techniques.  They have told me they wish they had paid closer attention to what their parents were doing. 

Choosing your Crops.   There are a few basic criteria for choosing your crops.  First of all choose plants that feed your family.  "Grow what you eat, and eat what you grow".   I have learned to eat things that are more compatible with my "redoubt" growing climate, including kale and swiss chard.  (As far as I know, I never even tasted these plants for my first 45 years of life).  My wife has learned how to make these items tasty for the children and some of her dishes have even become the kids favorites.  I've planted currants and raspberries as alternative sources of Vitamin C, since I know I can't grow oranges.

One thing that has helped us learn to deal with new foods is a food co-op program called bountiful baskets (bountifulbaskets.org), which is available in many parts of the country.  For $15 a week you get a large selection of seasonal vegetables and fruits.  Besides being a good value, the challenge of using it all up has introduced us to new foods (some of which we now grow) and helped us develop new cooking skills.

It almost goes without saying that your chosen plants should be open-pollinated / non-hybrid.  This gives the grower a potential endless supply of seeds and independence from the tyranny of seed companies.  Then choose to grow only one variety of any species so the seed is usable the following year.  For example, pie pumpkins, zucchini and yellow crookneck are all the same squash species and will cross-pollinate and result in strange offspring.  In my case, I have chosen one variety of each of the four squash species, which allows me both variety and pure seeds for the following year.  If there is enough distance between plants, it is possible to grow multiple varieties of the same species.  However, I choose to  just alternate varieties year to year.

Some of the general concepts of permaculture are interaction and diversity, and that can extend outside of your individual garden.  Be good at something - then  you can trade with someone else.  Trade your crookneck for someone else's zucchini (everyone grows zucchini), eat multiple plant varieties and keep your seed strains pure.  Everybody wins.

In some cases, it is important to avoid interaction with your neighbors.  I am now surrounded by farms practicing large-scale monoculture.  If I do nothing special, my heirloom corn will cross-pollinate with my neighbors crop and give me some genetically modified offspring.   However, the small-scale farmer can do some things to limit cross-pollination that are not practical for the large-scale farmer.  I make small molded blocks of potting mix and jump-start corn and sunflowers in these blocks in the greenhouse 3-4 weeks ahead of my neighbors.  I can plant them under small hoops and row cover while it is still cool out.  My plants can be open-pollinated with each other before my neighbors plants develop their tassels (source of corn pollen).  If you don't have corn-growing neighbors, you can use this same technique to stagger pollination, grow different species of corn and eliminate cross-pollination of your corn varieties.

Other posters have mentioned the book "seed to seed", which is a great resource for saving seed.  I misplaced my copy in our recent move but have still found plenty of good resources on the web for saving seeds of individual plant types.  A couple of general tips:  1) For herbs, just hang the mature plant upside down in an open trash bag and the seeds will dry and fall off in the bottom.  2) For all seeds, give them plenty of drying time.  I let my seeds dry on a plate for a couple of months before I put them in a bag or jar.  Even a little moisture can cause them to sprout or mold.

Starting seeds.  For beginning gardeners, just buy some potting mix to start with.  The first year I scoffed at the idea of buying dirt and just dug some soil from the yard to start my pepper plants.  Well I ended up yanking the seedlings and growing some nice weeds.  Once you know what you're doing, then you can make your own potting soil if you want.

The seed packets tell you to plant the seeds too close together and then thin to the correct spacing.  That has always seemed wasteful to me.  Another potential problem is using old seeds - what do you do when the germination rate decreases over time?  In TEOTWAWKI, it may be important to get everything you can out of your existing seeds. 

A technique I have used for starting seeds comes from the "The new Seed Starter's Handbook".  Place the seeds on a paper towel and moisten, fold the towel up and place it in a ziploc bag.  The paper towels keep the seeds evenly moist which speeds the germination process.  To prevent the roots from crossing the folds, I have amended the technique by sandwiching the moist paper towel between two sheets of wax paper.  Once the seeds sprout, plant the sprout and the attached paper towel into potting soil.  Overall, this technique helps the seeds start faster by about a week and produces higher germination rates.  I have used it successfully on many herbs and vegetables.  It doesn't work well on peas or beans.  It does take extra labor, so I don't use it all the time. 

Companion Planting is not possible, by definition, with monoculture.  It involves planting multiple crops / plants together for mutual benefit.  I haven't found a real good book on the subject, but will give a couple of specific examples where I have found value.

Some plants are a natural repellent to harmful bugs.  It is common practice to plant marigolds with tomatoes to repel bean beetles, squash bugs and harmful nematodes.  In fact, planting marigolds the year before, and tilling them in, can kill and prevent harmful nematodes for the next year.  Non-GMO rapeseed can do the same for nematodes harmful to fruit trees.   Nasturtium is a flower which is known to repel potato and squash bugs. 

I suspect there may be other useful plant pairings for bug control that are not as commonly known.  Cilantro is extremely pungent and is never eaten by the bugs in my garden, plus it is a useful herb for mexican dishes and salsa.  Valerian is a very pungent plant which I sometimes use as a sleep aid.  I haven't done an exact controlled experiment with these pairings, but I do plant them around my tomatoes and seem to not have problems with bugs in my plants. 

Some crops also grow well together because of their physical characteristics.  Last year I tried to grow the "Three Sisters" -squash, corn and pole beans.  Ideally, the squash keeps the corn roots cool and the beans climb the corn stalks and provide nitrogen for the corn.   It was not really successful (I have really bad luck with pole beans.) 

This year I just planted my squash by themselves every 8 feet or so where I had grown some sunflowers the year before.  When a few volunteer sunflowers sprang up from last year's seeds I decided to let them grow.  The results were dramatic.  My healthiest squash plant at the start of Spring did not have any sunflowers near and withered in the heat and drought that affected the redoubt this year - in spite of regular watering.  A much weaker squash plant (that I even accidentally stepped on) thrived in the midst of a small sunflower patch and became my most productive plant.  When we experienced a mild frost on September 10th, it killed all my squash, except for those plants mixed in with the sunflowers - so the pairing helped for both heat and cold.  It dawned on me that this was a variation on the three sisters method, with sunflowers replacing the corn.  I will be doing at least "two sisters" next year on a larger scale.

Irrigation  Large-scale farming requires reliance on rainy weather or commercial irrigation.  With family-scale gardening, I have found it possible to collect much of the water needed for a small garden from roof runoff.  Even in a drought year like this one, we had a few large cloudbursts with lots of nothing in between.  The ability to store water gives additional flexibility and is the best "quality" water, with fewer dissolved salts or other contaminants.

My water collection system is a complex-looking network of inexpensive or free collection, storage and distribution elements.  I have painted them the color of my house so that they don't stick out. 

For collection, I first looked at commercial products.  I found many rain gutter collection attachments for around $70 each.  They have many nice features, but with more than 10 downspouts on my house and barn, it was more than I wanted to pay.  My solution was to use 4" PVC pipe with a screw cap on one end.  The downspouts fit completely inside the PVC pipe and fill up with water when it rains.  I occasionally unscrew the end to clean out any collected debris or to prevent freezing in the collector.

To get the water out, I attach a 3/8" hose connector near the bottom of the PVC tube.  The connector has a MNTP (male national pipe thread) on one side that can be screwed into a hole drilled into the PVC.  The other end of the connector has a ribbed connection to which hard tubing can be connected.  I use the same connector near the top of intermediate collection vessels for overflow protection.

For water storage I have different containers.  I first purchased some large water storage drums.  I have also found 55 gal round drums used for molasses at the local bakery outlet for a cost of $10 each.  I also found some large 275 gallon IBC totes from the fire station which were used to hold fire fighting foam (basically, dishwashing detergent.)  I have hooked these together with 3/8' hard plastic hose and connectors.  I put some of my smaller drums higher on my deck so I have some water at higher pressure.

For distribution, I tap the final collection drums. with larger garden hose-sized valves.  I have literally spent hours sometimes trying to figure out all the different adapters needed to make all the different connections.  In the end I have had to violate the male code of honor to occasionally ask for assistance at the hardware / plumbing store when trying to get the correct connection from (for example)  3" IBC tote outlet to a garden hose.

Fertilization  For a sustainable garden, it is important to recycle as many nutrients  as possible.   Composting is the most common method for recycling simple plant material.  "The Complete Composting Guide" was a valuable book for me, not just for the techniques, but also for ideas how to make compost piles more visually appealing. 

Vermiposting is a technique which uses worms to compost simple plant material.  The advantage of vermiposting is the intermediate product (worms) can be used to feed poultry or fish.  I have used different types of boxes to grow worms inside with kitchen waste.  Scale-up requires expanding to outside the home, and facing the challenges of a hard winter.  However, I encountered a great idea for 4-season vermiposting in a cold climate from the book "Small Scale Poultry Flock".  Vermipost bins are built into the floor of a greenhouse, to insulate it from extreme heat or cold.  I will be giving that a try for next season.

There are other permaculture techniques that mimic nature to accelerate and focus the recovery of nutrients from other sources.  Growing wood mushrooms (maitake, shiitake) is a great way to convert cellulose (wood) to something edible, and the leftover material is a great component for potting soil.  Paul Stamets is an innovator, the author of a great reference book for growing mushrooms and also sells many supplies through his web site useful for the beginning mushroomer.  I have started small with purchased mushroom plugs for culled trees in my yard.

Maggotry can be used to convert animal material into useful poultry and plant food.  Again, the book "Small Scale Poultry Flock" book describes a technique for drilling holes in plastic bucket, putting screens on the bottom and hanging rotting meat above the poultry flock.  Flies enter through the holes and lay their eggs.  Maggots burrow down, fall to the ground and are eaten by the poultry before they turn into flies.   In more moderate climates, black soldier flies can be bred for the maggots (grubs).  They quickly consume bad meat and dairy products and self-harvest by climbing up inclined tubes as part of their life cycle.

Of course you need a source to feed these various nutrient recovery mechanisms.  We collect our unused vegetable matter in a small can for composting.  I work at a 24-hour manufacturing facility and have supplied compost buckets for them to dump coffee grounds, egg shells and other wasted vegetable matter.  My children collect coffee grounds from the local coffee shops.  I have talked to a local butcher about animal waste (guts, organs).  Nanny-state regulations prevent them from disposing of animal waste through non-FDA-approved outlets, but they can get a waiver if they apply for it. 

In the end, the more that you recycle, the less you have to import.  So far, darling bride has rejected any discussion of composting human waste.  However, I entered a contest to win a free composting toilet and would have no problem using composted humanure in the orchard.

Involve Others.  The more I try to do, the more I realize I cannot do it all myself.    The children and devoted wife have helped in matters plant, animal and fungal (mushrooms) - sometimes cheerfully :-)  As they have become more adjusted to a rural lifestyle, sometimes they even come up with some of their own ideas for projects they would like to try.   I share my experiences, seeds, plants and excess produce with others who have similar interests and we all benefit from the exchange.  In the end, gardening is a skill that is learned from others, and through repetition.  Like shooting a gun or a bow, we shoot, make adjustments, and shoot again.  In gardening, when the time between "shots" is a year, I hope these tips can help your readers get their food production "on target" within a short period of time.

References:

Seed to Seed

New Seed Starter's Handbook

The Complete Compost Gardening Guide

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

Soil Block Makers

Let's just say I have a fair amount of time on my hands and not a whole lot of money. Add to that a curious mind with a bit of a preparedness mindset and you get someone who likes to experiment with produce and gardening. I wanted to share some of my experiences with growing plants straight out of my kitchen, often from produce bought at the grocery store that was meant to be eaten but didn't make it to the table, or had the seeds removed first.

If you've seen some of the propaganda out these days on our food supply, you might, like me, have become fearful about what we are feeding our children.
I saw videos about potatoes that will not grow being sold in the grocery stores and I have heard stories about the seeds in our produce somehow becoming inactive. I wanted to see for myself if the food that I feed my family is that horrific and unnatural that it cannot reproduce or grow anymore itself. I'm not saying whether the food is bad or good, obviously it would be best if we could all grow our own food supply in a healthy, sustainable manner but that's an entirely different topic. I am saying that some of the propaganda is just that, or that my produce bought at my local, inexpensive chain style grocery store is possibly not as processed, or treated as some of the other stuff that was used in the tests that I have seen or heard about. To be clear, these are my tests and results, I won't compare them with any others except for my own previous growing experience because there are just too many variables. The hope here is that you might try some of these ideas and see for yourself what might work and what won't.

You might be asking yourself "Why is this relevant?"  Well, in our dependant society we just don't know what could disrupt the fragile food supply, when it could happen or for how long. Access to fresh, viable seeds might be an issue for you when it all goes down. Not only that, availability could also be an issue, last spring I had to go to four different stores looking for seed potatoes and onions. I wondered if I couldn't find them in time, would it be that important to simply not plant those particular items? Of course, it would be not a huge issue to just buy them when I need them for now when all things are just a drive or click away, but I wanted to know if there was a way to make do without. as

Some of you might find this material interesting, some might find it educational, many of you will undoubtedly get a good laugh at my level of inexperience. That's okay, but in TEOTWAWKI there might be a whole lot of people trying to do what I am attempting to do now. In all fairness I am not a master gardener, or a soil expert, I just have an interest in gardening and seed saving.

I believe that many people would actually be less practiced and less educated (if you can believe it) then me if the food supply ran dry and we had to rely on farming.
I am certain that there are many variables and my experiments likely will not produce the same results for someone else, somewhere else, or even for myself in the same situation next year. Just a few of the many variables might include the type of produce purchased, the brand name, the growing area, the soil composition and light and water requirements for growing or for what the produce was grown in or around.

The point is to try for yourself if you have the time, space or the curiosity.

To start, I used grocery store fruit and vegetables. Everything was purchased at a regular inexpensive chain type grocery store. I used regular produce, inexpensive and not labeled organic or pesticide free with exception of the strawberries which I bought on sale that were labeled organic.
When I say that I dried the seeds, all I did was scoop them out, and lay them somewhere to dry for at least two weeks occasionally turning or shaking them. With the squash, pumpkin and melon, I rinsed the seeds off first then dried them for at least three weeks before placing them in storage. My method of storing them is to put them in an unbleached envelope labeled by type of seed and the date, and catalogued in a file system, stored in a cool and dark place.
Garlic- I left the whole garlic heads in the fridge and when I didn't use them, they eventually began to sprout. I generally prefer to overwinter my garlic but I planted the cloves in the spring anyhow. I harvested them in late August and the result was not as good as my usual crop. They were smaller with smaller cloves but they did grow and produce. Perhaps if I had been able to plant them in the fall as I usually do, they would have been the same size as my usual garlic harvest.
Watermelon- Watermelon seeds are becoming harder and harder to find in store bought fruit. I was lucky enough to find two seeds that I planted directly into the garden without drying them. Unfortunately there was no growth.

Pumpkin- I bought a pumpkin last year and dried the seeds. This summer I planted them and did get some growth. Most of the seeds did sprout and began to grow but none made it long enough to produce any larger leaves, flowers or pumpkins. I probably would have done better if I sprouted the seeds indoors and planted them earlier.

Tomato-  I bought some larger tomatoes but one or two of them didn't make it to the table. I sliced them open and scooped out the seeds to dry. In the spring I planted them and was very pleased to see them growing. Unfortunately my tomato harvest was not a large one this year probably because I just didn't plant enough of them. The plants did produce a good quality of tomato, resulting in about six or seven tomatoes per plant.

Carrot- I remembered an experiment from grade school science class when we cut off the tops of carrots and put them in water to grow. I tried to replicate that experiment with no good results.

Melon- I planted the seeds directly in the garden from a fruit bought at the store. The plants grew nicely and did finally begin to flower and produce fruit. There were a surprising amount of melons on each plant however they just didn't seem to have enough time to mature even in this years extended growing period. Next year I'll try starting them indoors early in pots that can be planted into the garden.

Potato- I bought a ten pound bag of potatoes and left a few in the dark to grow eyes. Once they did, I planted them in a pail in the hopes of creating a makeshift potato tower. Although they did try to grow, nothing much came of it. There were sprouts and leaves protruding through the soil but they soon wilted and died. I recently learned that potatoes like good drainage and the pail I used did not have holes drilled into the bottom which could certainly have contributed to my poor results. I think next year I'll try them in the garden.

Winter Squash- I just love squash. I planted the seeds in early spring and carefully tended to them. They sprouted and grew nicely for the most part with only one plant remaining small with no flowers and therefore no fruit. The others did well and the plants looked good but again, the squash seems premature and there is not enough time for them to mature. I never grew winter squash before so I have no comparison but each plant aside from the one that did not produce, gave one or two premature squash. This would be another one to be sure to plant early indoors in pots that can go directly into the garden.

Strawberry- I have never had any success with the 'grow your own' strawberry kits and I always wondered if there was another way of growing strawberries without buying any kits or seeds or plants. I bought some organic strawberries on sale and half of them were too ripe to eat. I planted them in early summer in a pot, whole, with the tops sticking out (this is when the experienced gardeners are likely shaking their heads). I took great care of them, making sure they had plenty of sun and just enough water. In the end all I got was a pot of dirt with some dried leaves sticking out.

Peppers- I tried four types of peppers this year, again all seeds from grocery store bought produce, and none had been labeled organic.
     Bell Pepper- I sowed the seeds directly from the pepper without drying. The plants were ok looking, perhaps a little on the weak side compared to the seedlings I usually    buy to plant. All of them did grow and did flower, most of them did produce nicely with good quality peppers averaging from one to four peppers on a single stalk.
     Habanero Type- Sad story here, I dried the seeds, planted them directly in the garden in the summer and had no growth.
     Cayenne-  I dried the seeds from the store bought packet of peppers. There was growth and production but not as much as I'm used to growing from seedlings that were already started. The peppers were smaller and there were perhaps a few less then usual.
     Jalapeno Type- I dried the seeds from store bought jalapeno style peppers and sowed them straight into the garden. The plants looked good and the production was good. I had never planted jalapeno peppers before so I do not have other experience to draw on, just that they produced a decent amount of about three peppers per stalk.

All in all, it was a good experience despite some of the less desirable results. Reviewing these results shows me that I do have a lot to learn but at least some were very successful. I will continue to try to grow free seeds from the produce I buy, not only does it give free, viable fresh seeds, but I can also learn along the way.
 I did recently get my hands on some good books on saving seeds. Flipping through them shows that that seed saving is not as easy as one might think. Some variables include humidity, drying time and drying temperature. Some seeds require specific treatment before they are able to germinate, and most require a steady soil temperature to sprout. Some seeds also need to be a certain temperature before they will sprout, as in freezing. There is a lot to learn in the science and miracle of seed saving and food growing. With the time honored tradition of saving seeds you are giving yourself a cushion of security regardless of what the future holds.

It is my hope that my experiments with produce, seed saving and growing will inspire you to try your own. Good luck.

JWR Adds: Be advised that much of the produce found in grocery stores comes from hybridized seed stock. Saving those seeds will sometimes result in poor yields in subsequent generations. For long term survival, open-pollinated non-hybrid seed (often called heirloom seed) is recommended.

I recently learned about wilderness survival in my northern climate. So I thought I would share some of the interesting information that was imparted to me. First off, I highly recommend everyone take a wilderness survival course offered in your area, as it is a wealth of information on the existing elements in your environment, and how to use them to your benefit.
First and foremost, if you get lost and you believe someone is coming for you- stay put! Do not try to find the trail that you happened to wander off of or the road that led you there. The odds are simply against you finding what you lost to begin with. If you foolishly left without telling anyone where you were going or how long you expected to be gone for, chances are that no one will be looking for you when you have decided that you are lost. This is an entirely different situation and you are now on your own for better or worse.
I had always believed that the most vital, top of the list, get it now or die item was water. This is incorrect. Perhaps the rules change depending on where you are but here, in my northern climate the most vital element is maintaining a core body temperature of 98.6 degrees F or 37 degrees C (+ or - a degree or so) .

The first line of defense is clothing. It is very important to dress for the season when you decide to go on any outing in unfamiliar territory. Natural fibres are the best as they won't melt to your skin if you accidentally come in contact with fire. Layering is also very important in maintaining a good core temperature. Wet clothing with the addition of a cold wind can be your worst enemy. Always remember to remove outer layers before commencing any chores that might cause you to sweat. Again, sweaty, wet clothing is bad.

Footwear is also ranked very highly on the scale of importance. A good, sturdy, strong, comfortable boot is certainly worth its weight in gold. We lose a surprising amount of heat through contact with the cold or frozen earth or snow. To add an extra layer of insulation, always create a mat for your feet when sitting or standing for longer periods of time. This can be achieved by using anything within the immediate area such as fallen branches, dry leaves or evergreen boughs. One good tip is to warm rocks near your fire and use them as a foot stool. Just be careful not to heat them too hot so as not to melt the soles of your boots.

Aside from clothing, your next line of defense is shelter. Remember that you can live without water for three days and right now exposure is your worst enemy, not dehydration. A shelter can be made out of pretty much anything so I won't get into the styles and types, rather we'll focus on the primary functions it must serve. The main goal is to minimize heat loss therefore the shelter must facilitate this goal. It must offer protection from the elements such as rain or snow and wind. The other vital element a shelter must provide is protection from the ground. This can be created again with a mat formed out of branches and dry leaves. Anything that puts a barrier between you and the cold ground is necessary. [JWR Adds: See the repeated warnings in the SurvivalBlog archives about wool versus cotton. The old saying is "Cotton kills." When cotton gets wet through perspiration or precipitation, it loses nearly all of its insulating value.]
 
Once you have a shelter, you can work on the next step in wilderness survival which is, of course, fire. Imagine my surprise when I believed water was number one and again it has been pushed farther down the list. Please understand that this is for the northern climate and wilderness survival in a southern climate might be a very different ball game.
Fire is your greatest tool in maintaining the proper body temperature. It is required to boil water and cook food. It is also a great morale booster and a good signaling tool if you are lost. In a wilderness survival situation, fire is your absolute best friend. You should always carry some form of a fire starting tool as well as learning the basics of how to start a fire without the aid of tools.
 
Third on the list is at last, water. Again, this is tailored to my environment where water is often easily located and the rules may change depending on where you are. You should always be aware of the area you are in or going to and the dangers that might be present in your water or the water found locally. Of course boiling is best to purify water however if you find yourself in an emergency situation, filtration might be your only next best option. 

First locate a source. The next step is to dig a hole several feet from the source to allow the water to filter itself from the source, through the earth and into the hole. While you wait for the water to filter and the sediment to settle, you can make a makeshift Millbank filter with available materials. This is done by using a birch bark as a cone, or some large, strong leaves in the form of a cone as a filter. Cover the bottom tip of your filter with a small piece of cloth, a t-shirt or sock will work fine. Layer materials beginning with fine sand, then charcoal fragments, then coarse sand, then fine gravel, then on top, coarse gravel. This water that is filtered, is just that, filtered, and not purified. This process is slow, about 5 pints in 5 minutes. Then the water should be boiled.

Another method of purification aside from boiling is solar disinfection. This is accomplished by filling a clear PET or glass bottle with water and allowing it to purify on it's side, in the suns direct rays, for at least 6 hours. Of course, you would need a bottle to do this with.
One last method of water purification would be by making a solar still. I'm sure you have heard about it and know how to do it, the only issue with that are the required materials which are difficult to come by when lost in a forested area.

If (God forbid), you find yourself in a position where rescue is likely in a reasonable amount of time and you for some reason or another cannot purify water, you will have to make the decision of whether or not to drink it as is. I have made the decision to drink directly from a creek and I did live with no ill effects. Keep in mind that the symptoms of Giardia can begin to show in only 2 days. That gives you 2 days until you might become violently ill and in dire need of rescue. I was lucky and not in danger at the time. Only you can make that choice, hopefully it will be an informed decision.
 
Surprisingly food is not high on the list of survival necessities. The body can go for 40 days without food, it won't be the most comfortable 40 days you ever experienced but you could live through it.

There are two schools of thought on the food issue. One believes you should eat anything and everything you can to meet your required caloric intake. This should help to maintain your body for as long as possible without forcing it into survival or starvation mode. The other believes you should force your body into survival mode without creating that confusing 'grey area' in between. For example, if all you can muster are a few leaves and berries, perhaps you are better off sending your body the clear message that it is time to kick into starvation mode. This idea is on the belief that the body is equipped to handle this period of fasting as long as it is sent a strong message to do so. I cannot say which is best, nor have I done the research to advocate for one or the other. Again only you are responsible for the choices you might be forced to make and as with everything, an informed decision is the best one. 
 
If you find yourself lost without a compass and map, or worse- you have a compass and map but don't know how to use them, it tends to be very difficult to simply backtrack to where you should be. The best advice seems to be to stay put until someone comes along to help you. If no one is coming for you or you otherwise have no choice, there are some simple things to help you navigate. During the day, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. With this information you should be able to roughly find the direction you should be going. Direction is not the only obstacle in getting where you need to go. The other major issue we seem to have is traveling in all directions. It is a very difficult objective to travel in a straight line in a forest. One way to keep your travel line straight is to line up 3 or 4 markers straight ahead, once you pass those look back and make sure they align. Then find more markers ahead and continue to check back to make sure that those align.
Night travel is ill advised for so many reasons. Many predators hunt at night, it is much too difficult to see where you are going therefore navigation is uncertain, also the terrain can be difficult to navigate and may cause you to become injured. In a worst case scenario, the north star is often cited as a guide although difficult to keep track of in a forested environment.
 
To make the best of a worst case situation, I believe that having a few simple items on your person can really make the difference between life and death. These are a few things you should always carry with you inside an inconspicuous bag, backpack or purse especially when venturing into unfamiliar territory.
 
-bottled water- this can be used aa a ready source for drinking, also used to solar disinfect when the pure water runs out.
-water filtration device, i.e. filtration straw.
-fire starter -matches, lighter, magnifying glass, etc. (I also like to keep a few tea light candles in my fire kit, you never know).
-emergency space blanket -folds up to nothing, weights almost nothing, can be used as a blanket, also a shelter.
-pocket knife -great for shaving sticks into tinder, trimming small branches for fire.
-extra sweater, or light windbreaker jacket.
-compass
-signal device -mirror, whistle.
-charged cell phone
-small flashlight (I like to keep a small radio as well)
-snacks -candy, gum, nuts, etc
-small first aid kit including -band-aids, pain relievers, antibiotic ointment, gauze and tape as well as hand sanitizer.
 
Once again, there are no firm rules in a survival situation. With each case differing from person to person, environment and tools on hand, I believe the rate of success increases with knowledge and practice. The more you know, the better decisions you will make.

Reference: Wikipedia: Giardia

For those of you who are awake and aware of the fact that our current lifestyle is about to change in a big way, this information should appeal to you.  I would like to take the time to present some information that might not be known to everyone. This article is about the Cattail.  That humble plant that some people go to great lengths to rid themselves of.  That is foolish in the extreme in light of the coming collapse.  A person that had a pond with cattails growing thick around the perimeter, or access to one, should consider themselves extremely wealthy.  They can provide many things in all stages of their growth and are easily sustainable by replanting some of the seeds.  In fact, if there are suitable places for them to grow near you, bur you don't see them there, you can take a seed head from another area and establish your own cattail garden.  Apart from the uses for the cattail itself, they provide great cover for ducks and geese.  (yum)   

They are found in most areas of North America, so finding them in non-desert, non-mountainous areas should be relatively easy.  There are multiple varieties.  If you look around, there are probably some growing nearby.  They are easy to identify, as no other plant produces that brown seed head that all cattails do.  There are similar looking plants that can grow in close proximity, but none have that seed head.  As a word of caution though, if you are not sure then don't eat it.  Some of the broad leafed grasses that grow on the edges of ponds are poisonous.     

If ever there was a truly year round plant, it is the cattail.  You can obtain something from them in every season, even in winter if you can get through the ice to the roots.  In spring, once the shoots are above the water line, you can dig and collect the new shoots coming off the roots.  Peel, boil and eat.  A bit later, late spring/early summer, the pollen spikes form and are edible.  They can be boiled or eaten raw.  They get 8 - 10 inches long and taste somewhat like corn.  There are male and female parts, both are edible.  In summer, the male parts (on top of the seed head) will start to produce pollen.  This can be knocked off and used as flour, or mixed in to extend your flour storage.  In late summer to early fall, (and all the way back to spring), the time is right to get the most amount of food.  The roots can be dug up boiled, and eaten as such, or the starch can be extracted and used as flour.  The root is dug, washed and peeled, then they are broken up underwater either by hand or between clean stones to release the starch from the root fibers.  The excess water can be (carefully) poured off and the remainder dried out leaving flour.  Cattail flour contains gluten so it will hold together well in pancakes, cornbread, etc.  I have read that per acre, there can be as much as 10 times the starches than potatoes.  It might not taste like a potato, but if it gets bad enough that we are trying to get through hard times with nothing but wild edibles, that number is important.     

That is pretty brief, but that is for a reason.  I really want to discuss all the other uses for cattails that don't relate to food.  A lot of the food information has been covered already.  One is only limited by their own imagination when it comes to finding uses for the plant other than food.  The leaves can be broken down for cordage, or woven to make mats, hats, seats, thatching, wall material or anything else that broad leaf grass can be used for.  Like I said, use your imagination.  The stalks can substitute for arrow shafts if not too dry.  Primitive but useful when all of your other arrows have already been used, bent, or broken.  Not for compound bows though, as the poundage is too high and the stalks can shatter.  But, with a recurve bow or bundle bow, they work very well.  I would hate to think that I would be reduced to using such means to survive, but strings break.  Arrows bend and break as well, depending on the type. Finding naturally straight replacements is a huge bonus.  They require minimal processing to make arrows out of and all you need to do is cut the seed head low and take the whole thing home.  

The mature seed head is both edible and useful too, maybe the most of all.  The fluff can be used for stuffing pillows, mattresses, etc.  It has excellent insulation properties as well, think of it as the natural version of fiberglass.  But, the greatest utility from the seed head in my opinion is for making fire.   

The fluff can be used as-is for tinder and it works well, but charring the fluff makes it exponentially  better.  Making char cattail is extremely easy and the finished product will take a spark as well as anything I have tried in nature.  Yes, there are things in the commercial world that do a better job, but given a long enough timeline, they will not be around.  This information is for when things like that have already run out, and you still need to make fire.  I can imagine that fire will become one of the highest priorities in the more northern climates and once the matches have run out, this could really come in handy.  Like I said, charring cattail is easy.  Just collect some seed heads once they have dried out and take the seeds off of the spike.  It will be surprising to most people when they do this for the first time.  There are a lot of seeds in that seed head packed very tightly.  It is best to do this outside, but not on a windy day.  Place the seed head in a bag and break the seeds off of the center spike.  Take the fluff and pack it tightly into a small metal container that you can put in a fire, like an altoids tin or shoe polish tin.  You will get 2-3 tins full of fluff from each seed head.  If the lid does not snap closed, you can wrap a wire around the whole thing to keep it shut during the charring process.  If it pops open during the process, you will probably have to start over.  It is best when there are few leaks to allow air (oxygen) into the container when charring.  Once packed into the tin, make a small hole (tack sized) in the top of the tin and then place it on the coals of a fire.  You have to allow the gasses to escape while limiting the amount of oxygen getting in.  We are basically trying to burn the fluff without the presence of oxygen.  If you read the "how to" on making charcoal, the process is very similar but happens in minutes not hours.  Watch the hole as the tin heats up, smoke will start to exit.  Once the smoke has stopped coming out, you need to time it for 1-2 minutes before it is done.  There is a feel to it that you will get the hang of after a few batches.  Once it has charred, remove it from the fire but do not open the container.  Place it on the ground with the hole side down.  You need to leave it alone for it to cool before opening so that the influx of oxygen does not let it burn completely.  I have made this mistake and it will turn to ash pretty fast.  What you end up with is a tightly packed pad of excellent fire starting material.  Virtually any spark you can get on this stuff will take and allow you to add oxygen to get a coal hot enough to ignite tinder.  Once the matches have run out, this will be the next best thing.     

I have no idea how bad things will get.  I have no idea how long things will be bad.  I only know that every bone in my body is telling me that whatever it is, it's coming, and coming sooner rather than later.  I hope that all that come here appreciate that and are taking the necessary steps to protect themselves and their families.  The time is now to have plans in place to survive, no matter what happens. Having this knowledge in your toolkit could make a big difference to even those that already have deep larders.  Everything will run out eventually.  If things go on for a decade, most everyone left will be eating out, so to speak. 

About the Author:   I live in Northwestern Pennsylvania and have been awake to the possibility of a collapse for only a few years.  15 years ago I was already an avid hunter and outdoorsman and even went on a few outdoor survival trips (by choice), back in college.  This was long before Les Stroud was doing it on television.  I have been interested in and doing research on wild edibles and survival techniques for as long as I can remember as an adult.  I don't claim to be an expert on either subject, but I do know enough that I thought I might do some good in sharing.  God bless you all.             

Reference:  The incredible cattail: The super Wal-Mart of the swamp, by Kevin F. Duffy, Backwoods Home Magazine

Dear James:
Thank you for your wonderful blog - my husband and I are daily readers.  In response to C.F.B.'s excellent article dated September 30th titled Grow Your Own Nutrient Dense Fruits and Vegetables, I would like to expound on his suggestion that gardeners employ a no-till method for raising their own nutritious produce.

I humbly suggest that your many readers watch a film on the Internet from a devout Christian man who has let the Lord lead him to his current no-till method of gardening, called Back To Eden.  I found it very interesting that this man felt called by God to get the word out now to fellow gardeners about being prepared for coming hard times.  His film teaches people how to successfully grow food without tilling, fertilizing, weeding or rotating crops.  It's a truly amazing film!

I have switched from gardening like my parents and my ancestors for generations have done.  I don't turn the soil any more, I don't wrestle non-stop with weeds, I don't fertilize or rotate crops and I enjoy wonderful harvests from four small raised beds.  

As a bonus, it's a very affordable method of gardening.  You don't really need lumber for the beds (I wish that I had realized that from the beginning!) and the materials for the beds themselves are available at a very low cost or even free from most landfill/recycle sites.  The materials used are simply composted yard waste and wood mulch and - much to my husband's dismay - it can be hauled in lawn bags in a small car if you don't own a truck.  Some lucky gardeners are able to get the wood mulch delivered free from their local tree trimming company and only have to haul or make the compost.

Thank you for sharing with your readers. - Getting Ready in NC

JWR Replies: Be very cautious about using wood mulch that is less than two years old. Fresh wood mulch is high in cellulose and binds nitrogen. This usually makes the soil quite unproductive for gardening for a couple of years. (Until the cellulose decomposes.) If the wood mulch is thick, it might be three or four years!

Imagine a market place in your back yard for fresh homegrown fish, herbs, fruits and vegetables.  Best part of this is that you grew it and know what’s in it.  No pesticides or unwanted hormones and additives.  Plus the market is open 24/7.

My Hawaii Experience 
Living on an island  and having everything shipped into it makes for the worst case disaster when mother nature or human nature turns bad.  From total communications failure to coastal ports devastation, Hawaii would suffer the worst of all the states in the shortest amount of time.  A large population on island Oahu would mean all meaningful supplies would be consumed in two weeks.  If nothing else the multi-cultural mix of the islands make-up may prolong the inhumanity a month. After no resupply of goods and fuel, then the insanity begins.  But when it comes down to family needs, your best friend may become your competitor for what you may have.

Water is not far away, but clean water can still be a problem.  I have water filters for the times when questionable sources are the only available supply.  Drought in Hawaii, you betcha.  Clean water source can at time be hard to find.  Water storage is a must, but to be prepared to find renewable resources will be very challenging.  Would  be great to have a miniature desalinization plant in a box for these times.  The only alternatives will be the tried and proven, moisture capture, filters and sterilization tablets.
Climate is predictable.  Constant 80 degrees, plus or minus 10 degrees throughout the year and depending on your island location.
Aquaponics, Barrelponics, etc. by any other name is an easy low cost way to supplement your survival box of tools.
Simply put, fish excrements gets pumped out to the grow beds to fertilize the plants.  The plants convert the waste to nutrients and  the water is returned to the fish tank cleaned of the toxins.
The Aquaponics ebb and flow or constant flow systems (NFT) provide more nutrients and water to the plants than if the plants were in the ground.  But then again, you have to have a “usable” water supply.  Rain barrel collection probably the only alternative.
Ground pest are minimized.
Normal maintenance if you had an aquarium and an in-ground garden.  Feed the fish and watch for abnormal conditions to the fish and the water (pH, ammonia,etc.).  Keep the grow beds clean (no weeds in this system), remove algae build-up, pest removal and elimination with non-lethal methods (vinegar/water solution) minimally sprayed under leaves.

My Systems 1:
1 – 110 gallon tank for fish ( 20 Tilapias – Blue and Red)
4 – Grow beds 2’x3’x8” on plastic tables and PVC piping
1 – 150 gal/hr water pump
1 – Fluval 60 air pump single with 4 way gang-valve
My System 2: (under construction – 70% complete)
2 – 55 gallon barrels for fish, on concrete molded stands
4 – halved barrels for grow beds, wood stand and PVC piping
1 – Stellar 60 dual outlet
I covered the fish tank to reduce sunlight to energize algae growth.
Know your fish and plantings, expand your knowledge on fish and plant life cycles, nutrients and pest.
Disadvantages are growth time and clean water availability.  Also when it gets time to cull the fish, don’t  names them.  You can get so familiar with the fishes that killing them to eat can be hard to do.  Reproduction is the real issue, do you have the know-how to create generations.
But great a hobby turn necessity, and a good stress release when tending the fish and garden.  Makes you appreciate all the farmers out there making a living.
I have planted tomatoes (roma and beef), egg plant, green onions, basil, taro, Stevia (Sweet Herb), zucchini, lettuce, bok-choy, and oregano.
 
Fish food – Silver Cup pellets, green leaves from the garden, duckweed
 
So start now, grow in stages for continuous supply. 
Organize a group to share knowledge and food.  Like minds breed success.
Knowledge can go a very long way.  So boot up your computer and start your searching through all the great web sites that offer information on everything Survival. 
Books are great, but I prefer scanning all the things of interest specific to what I need to know and cut out as much wording as possible.  Start now and don’t stop looking up things of interest on a continuing basis.  Print all interesting pages for later referral.  Once the Internet is gone and the grid goes down, it’s too late.  Your specific library of knowledge will serve you right until the world gets back to order.
Other must additions to your survival box of tools:
Heating sources are definitely a must.  Strike and chemical fires starters, like matches and lighter have a finite life, so I like lenses and a hand or bow drill.
Parabolic metal pots and mirrors.  This is a great idea, buy mosaic mirror tiles (or if you are not superstitious, break a mirror) and glue the pieces to a Wok pot.  You can focus the suns rays to heat pots of anything.
Add live protein sources to your backyard of ducks, chickens and rabbits.  Work on this one.  You got to deal with the neighbors, predators and city ordinates for this one to work.
Add Rain barrels to your water supply (don’t forget filters and screens).  Run-off from the roof sounds good, beware contamination hazards from bird poop and just stuff landing on it. 
Jack of All Trades should be you mantra from now on.  Be a general knowledge sponge on all things.  If you know of or come upon someone that is a specialist, stop to watch what they do.  You never will know when a situation will arise and you’ll recall how you can apply what you saw.
Alcohol is a great item to have for sterilizing, medicating and trading.  Stock up and don’t drink it.
Buy a generator to meet your needs and store gas in containers (rotate them).
I have a motorcycle.  You may want to have a small one, 175cc.  Getting around quickly and in all terrains will save time and help carrying items long distances.  Unless you can get animal of burden.  But as the gas supplies dwindles, there may be items from the bike that you can use.
Stock up on canned goods and rotate there use.  Remember when the electrical grid goes out and then your generator, you’ll have to eat everything in the freezer and refrigerator first.  Cook as much as you can to prolong the ability to eat them.
Get a good book on natural ways to deal with medical emergencies.  Local plants and common man-made products can substitute for the usual meds.  Unfortunately, if you have a need for prescription drugs, then stock up knowing there is a shelf-life.  I’m sorry if you are dependent on them for you life.
Solar panels that you own or others may have on their roofs, can benefit your needs for renewable energy.  Read and learn how to utilize this option.
Abandoned cars and trucks have unlimited uses.  From gas, batteries, glass, bendable metals and tires.  Be inventive and anything can be used.
Add a Worm bin to compost all you vegetable waste.  The worm liquid and casing are great fertilizers.  I guess if it gets really lean, you could eat them, but the fish would appreciate them more.

Get a weapon.  It’ll serve you well.  Home and personal defense and hunting.  Gun(s), knives bow and arrows.  Gun – at least a handgun (I like a revolver), shotgun and rifle.  I prefer reloading and some bought ammo.  But any tool or household implement has a dual purpose. 
Get to know your neighborhood.  Walk around during the day and the night.  Get to know where the watch dogs live, which homes have fences and security.  Look for fruit trees.  Wave to all the people you meet,  a familiar face is more excepting than a stranger when you need help or advise. Become a scavenger and walk around your neighborhood.  Look for sites that you might use to replenish usable resources (water, food, energy).  It may be sad and depressing to watch your neighbors and friends died, but the opportunity for you to live on on their leftovers can not be overly emphasized.  Realize that your compassion will have a limit.  Discuss this with you love ones.
Get a loyal friend, guard and a weapon, get and dog.  Worth its weight in food and your servicing.  When you can stock up extra bags of kibble, do it and rotate them as you use them.  Secure you home.  Realize that this is your castle, work towards making it so.
My wife and friends thinks I’m nuts.  But better safe than sorry.  If the worst happens, I’m ready.  If it doesn’t happen, then we have a great supplement to the grocery list.
Bottom line, be creative and use your common sense, sounds a lot like Survival 101. 

I wanted to make a couple of clarifications to Emma C.'s article on fabric choices in survival clothing, specifically with regards to wool. As a full-time Shepherdess of more than 100 heritage breed sheep, my experience in handling and processing wool runs deep. 

It was written that (with regard to socks), Wool does take more care than other fabrics in that it should be washed in cold water and lay flat to dry. While that statement is mostly accurate in general fabric care, there are primarily two things that can permanently change (i.e. shrinkage or felting) wool fabrics: agitation (washing/scrubbing) and temperature.

Washing of traditional woolen items must utilize as little agitation as possible while cleansing. Intense scrubbing will simply cause your wool item to felt.  The soaking method is preferred whenever possible using a mild, easy rinsing type soap. Gently squeezing out excess water by folding the item in half is ideal. Larger items such as pants or sweaters can be folded multiple times, pressing firmly to release the water. Never wring or twist wet wool as you may end up with a hopelessly misshapen garment. When you wash wool, it is the temperature of the water for BOTH wash and rinse that affects wool.  You can wash your wool in hot water, if so desired, but you must also rinse the item in hot water to avoid shrinkage. It is in the variation of the water temperature that causes your wool treasures to shrink so drastically. If you wash in hot, rinse in hot; wash in warm, rinse in warm and so forth. Consistency throughout the cleansing process is key.

While cold wash/cold rinse is generally deemed the rule of choice when washing wool but it is not something set in stone. I personally prefer the hot water method, especially when cleaning my wool. Hot water kills germs and is much safer on the fibers themselves than using chemical disinfectants. Most smartwool blends have already been 'pre-shrunk' and are much less likely to be affected by water temperature or agitation. I have multiple pairs of these socks that go into the washer and dryer routinely with no effect on the end product. I could go on about the many benefits and uses of wool, perhaps another time. God certainly knew what He was doing when creating the sheep!

Thank you for such an informative blog. Blessings! - C.A.T.

Imagine a scenario where there are no more hospitals, no more drugs, no more pharmacies, no more walk in clinics. No more ER’s or Acute Care Clinics. The OTC medicine’s shelves have been cleaned bare by looters. All the nurses and orderlies and support staff have fled the ruins of the healthcare edifices to be with their families. The modern healthcare system is no more.

Now imagine someone you are depending on for your security and perhaps even survival wrenching their back while hopping out of the back of a pick up. Their back muscles seizing up so tight and the pain that they are experiencing, so excruciating that they can barely walk, let alone perform the tasks necessary for survival in a post TSHTF world. With modern healthcare now non-existent, what are you going to do?

Now, given the fact that our American healthcare system is highly dependant on high cost, high tech interventions, the idea that our current healthcare system would very quickly suffer a horrible degradation should TSHTF is a very real probability.

Given that high tech complexity and the subsequent hole that will be left should our healthcare system ever collapse, it makes sense to prepare by learning a low cost, easy to use, scientifically proven, versatile form of medical care not dependant on electrical power, knowledge of advanced applied organic chemistry or even nuclear science (all of which modern medicine is based on). With this single article, you have the tools to offer your loved ones the benefit of the 2500 years of proven effectiveness acupuncture provides.

Should one find themselves in a TEOTWAWKI situation, acupuncture could be very useful in a wide range of medical situations when medications are hard to come by (or increasingly expensive). Acupuncture is free when you know how to do it. Since most clinical studies show that acupuncture has a long lasting pain relieving effect, it could be very useful in post-pharmaceutical America.

I believe that knowing a little bit of acupuncture could not only prove potentially lifesaving for ones own inner-circle of family members, but also would be a skill that would quickly become a valuable tradable service in a post pharmaceutical healthcare landscape.

Acupuncture. Really???
Dating back thousands of years, the practice of acupuncture has held the distinction of being one of the worlds most commonly used and scientifically tested and verified forms of medical care. While it is common in China to utilize acupuncture as routinely as an aspirin, here in America, acupuncture is still relatively portrayed as an exotic, mystical or mysterious voodoo medicine by popular media. That is unfortunate because with a little bit of instruction (as in this article) anyone could learn to perform a simple yet effective acupuncture treatment with great results.

Acupuncture has shown itself over the centuries to be one of the most versatile medical therapies out there (being utilized for just about any dysfunction in the body, from digestive health issues to urinary issues to allergies). I often say that it’s easier to list the things acupuncture cannot treat than to go down the much longer list of the things it can be successfully used for.

For brevity, this article will focus ONLY on low back pain. Perhaps subsequent articles will give condition specific treatments for other health issues such as knee, shoulder or neck pain, PTSD, asthma, anxiety & depression, headaches, nausea, etc.

Acupuncture has recently become well regarded by the mainstream western medicine establishment in recent years. It has been endorsed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The World Health Organization (WHO), The American Medical Association (AMA), Mayo Clinic & Harvard, the socialized medical plans of France, Germany, Italy, England and several others, as well as the US military who provides “battlefield acupuncture” as part of the rehab to active duty personal as well as returning vets returning with wounds from overseas. Based on results from a comprehensive study they conducted, even the Israeli government now recommends and utilizes acupuncture for PTSD in soldiers and civilians alike.

While acupuncture is starting to be found more and more in hospitals her in the US; in Europe, acupuncture is much more integrated into their medical systems. In Britain for instance, acupuncture is considered a “first-line therapy” for lower back pain as it also is in Germany, where 1/3 of their MDs report routinely using acupuncture as a treatment for their patients.

Please note that in most states, acupuncture is a regulated profession and one must be licensed by the state to practice. So utilizing the information in this article in normal day-to-day society could likely be flirting with “practicing medicine without a license” in your state. Because of that, I suggest printing this article and keeping it stored away until a TEOTWAWKI situation develops, when such legal implications would likely be overlooked by state & local government officials.

Yet, doing a course of 12 treatments on a loved one by yourself in today’s environment would theoretically save you $900 in medical bills (based on the national average of $75 per treatment). Should you have had the acupuncture done at a typical hospital that charges $220 a treatment, the hypothetical savings would be $2,640 or more.

Please keep in mind that properly trained acupuncturists receive 6-8 years of higher level college education in acupuncture and herbal medicine from one of the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) schools here in the US or overseas. The “how-to” information is this article is a very cursory overview with a few “down and dirty” protocols, so should you not get the results you are looking for when performing “TEOTWAWKI Acupuncture”, please remember that this article is just a few pages while a practicing acupuncturist studied 10,000’s of pages of information just to begin practicing. This article is a very cursory “how-to” for the simplest of cases, so as they say; “individual results may vary”. Should this article pique your interest in learning more; there are millions of pages online and books available to gain further information on the practice of acupuncture.

So let us begin…

Acupuncture is the practice of inserting fine, thin sterilized metal needles (or threads / slivers / pins / etc) into specific spots on the body to elicit specific physiological responses, such as triggering the body to produce a surge of natural anti-inflammatory, natural endorphins (natural pain-relieving morphine-like chemicals), or muscle relaxants. One would say that acupuncture triggers the body to “make its own medicine” or “rekindle the body’s natural healing response”.

Although acupuncture has undergone more scientific scrutiny than any other medical procedure in the world, modern science does not fully understand how it works (This is not truly a concern since neither do they fully understand or explain the effects of aspirin or any other medication for that matter). Regardless; acupuncture can be used for muscle skeletal pain relief, hormonal and menstrual issues, stress, anxiety, depression and numerous other mental health conditions, digestive conditions such as irritable bowels and acid reflux. But since this article must only focus on back pain for brevity sake; again, I suggest you find supplementary information on the web with info on how to treat conditions readily treatable.

Let’s have an example; for simplicity sake, let’s say one of your family members strained their back chopping firewood or laying sandbags or jumping off the back of a truck bed wearing a backpack. In my practice, I see people like this all the time.

Often, after wrenching their back, they take OTC pain relievers for a week, anticipating that the pain will go away on its own in due time. When that doesn’t happen they next go to their doctor and get an x-ray or MRI and get prescribed a combination of narcotics and muscle relaxants. After several more weeks of waiting for the medications to “kick in”, they come see me at the acupuncture office. After doing a quick intake exam, I typically place 5 half-inch long (.16mm thick) acupuncture needles into the cartilage of each ear (the floppy outer part of the ear; just deep enough for them to stay there) as well as three one inch needles of the same gauge on each hand at a depth of about ½ in. Finally I place a needle on the back of each ankle in the hollow formed by the Achilles tendon. I then tell them to sit there for half an hour quietly at which point I come back to remove the needles and they leave. Done.

Unbelievably this cuts pain in 85% of the people that get acupuncture. For some people (about 15%), they experience what could be considered a miraculous, instantaneous alleviation of the pain.

Unfortunately; for 15% on the other end of the spectrum, no amount of acupuncture seems to give any relief. Everyone else is somewhere along that relief gradient. So like all medicine; it is a percentage game. Even aspirin does not work in 100% of all cases. Keep in mind that acupuncture works best as a short series of treatments. A single session is almost never enough (no matter what you see in the movies), but 6-12 sessions are often enough to alleviate and eliminate someone’s long term chronic pain. On average, in my office, I typically see a back pain patient 6 visits before they consider themselves pain free. If they do not see any change or even the slightest improvement after 3 sessions, I make the assumption that they are in that 15% category which will not respond. I typically release them from care after the three sessions instead of continuing and wasting their money.

Preparing Your Kit
The amazing thing about using acupuncture as a medical treatment is that you need so little equipment. A single needle is often enough. In a typical modern acupuncturist office, you will have some pre-sterilized needles, maybe some disinfecting alcohol swabs to swipe the puncture points beforehand (although this is arguably not necessary) and perhaps a cotton ball, Q-tip or tissue to apply pressure to the puncture site after removing the needles to “close the hole”.

Procuring Needles Today
Acupuncture needles are very affordable. You can find them for around 2¢ or less per needle if you shop around. The more expensive Seirin brand, which is considered “top of the line” will put you back only about $12 for a box of 100. Since acupuncture needles are considered “medical instruments” in most states, some suppliers may ask for some sort of proof of licensure from your state when you try to purchase them online. Don’t worry; the fortunate thing is that most suppliers online do not bother asking for your credentials. So if you go to purchase needles online and they ask for you to fax them a copy of your acupuncture license, simply go to another site. Since there are 100’s of manufacturers and brands to choose from, I would simply mention that I favor the DBC brand. I almost exclusively use the DBC brand 0.16mm size.  For body acupuncture I use the one inch needles (30mm) and for ear acupuncture, I use half inch (15mm) needles.

The thing to keep in mind is that some practitioners suggest that the patient needs to get a strong sensation from the needles, so “bigger is better”. These practitioners typically would use .30mm thick needles, which is something I have found that patients DON’T usually enjoy. If you want a patient to come back for enough acupuncture to get the job done, I suggest sticking to the thinner needles. From my observations, you can use thinner needles and get just as good of results. The only caveat is that you should perhaps pick up at least one box of the thicker needles for elderly patients who need a little more “oompf” or for the nut who thinks “I have to feel it for it to work”.

Another avenue of procuring acupuncture needles is to go to your nearest acupuncture college book store which often has them available for purchase by alumni right on the shelf, no questions asked. Needles are sold in boxes of either 100 needles or 1000. Either pre-wrapped and sterilized as individual needles or in bulk packs of 5 and 10’s. When you are doing the math to determine how many to buy and cache, consider that most acupuncturists will use 10 needles per patient per treatment.

Use The “Guide Tube” When You Can
Most manufacturers supply their needles with disposable “tubes” or “pipes” which make acupuncture even more pain free. To do acupuncture using a guide tube, you simply place the acupuncture needle into the guide tube, gently apply a bit of pressure downward onto the skin and tap the protruding top of the needle down. The tip of the needle slips into the flesh painlessly. The purpose of the guide tube is to gently pull the area of the skin about to be punctured a bit more taut, so that the tip of the needle goes in easier.

DIY Acupuncture Needles, Sterility and Reusing Needles When TSHTF
While it would be wisest to procure an ample supply of acupuncture needles before TSHTF, there really isn’t anything magical about the needles acupuncturists use. They are simply threads of metal wire, usually stainless steel. Under dire circumstances, you could make acupuncture needles easily. If need be, you literally could use sewing needles from your sewing kit or a spool of thin wire from the machine shop.

I have personally made and used acupuncture needles (on non-litigious leaning family members) out of steel wire I found in the garage, and leftover electrical copper wire I had. Should you find yourself in such a situation requiring you to make your own, look for thin, springy, flexible wire. Wire will typically have the diameter printed on the spool. You’ll want to use something in the ballpark of .15mm to .30mm. Using anything larger than that will not make you any new friends but can be used in a pinch. Snip the wire to the length of about 1 ½” and use needle nose pliers to create a small loop on one end to prevent the needle from getting lost by slipping too deep into the muscle. You can also use a piece of tape wrapped around the top ½ inch to give it a more comfortable handle for yourself. Otherwise, you can give it a more sturdy handle by soldering a few additional treads of wire around the center main wire needle. Once you have the handle on, you will want to buff the tip with some emery cloth to give it a bit of a sharper tip. What I have done is simply draw the emery cloth in single strokes away from myself towards the tip of the needle. I doubt that I could ever get the tip as surgically sharp as the manufactured ones, but its somewhat close.

Once the needle is honed, you’ll want to sterilize them before use. One option is to bake them in an oven for 30 minutes at 356° F (180°C). I’m pretty “old school”, so I have even used the “direct flame” method of sterilizing, which is holding the needle over an open flame until the metal glows red. Once it cools off, it is ready for use. [JWR Adds This Warning: DO NOT use the flame from matches or a wood fire for sterilizing needles. This will coat them with carbon and you will then be inadvertently permanently tattooing your patient!!! Use only a clean gas flame from a propane or natural gas burner, or from a disposable butane lighter.] Obviously, this method has major disadvantages (such as weakening the integrity of the wire and potentially leads to breakage) which I won’t otherwise get into here for brevity. Another back woods disinfection technique is soaking in bleach or alcohol or by boiling the needles in water for 20 minutes. Of the three options, boiling is considered the most effective way to disinfect. Just keep in mind that the greatest danger to a patient would be person-to-person blood-borne pathogens from reusing needles amongst several people. So never do that.

A word about the risk of infections with acupuncture. Statistically, acupuncture is THE most commonly performed invasive medical procedure in the world; Yet is considered the therapy with the lowest incidence of adverse medical events. Approaching the range of one in a million insertions causing a problem requiring further medical care. Problems that arise may be a local infection (0.01% rate of incidence), short term nerve injury (0.01% chance), systemic infection (0.001%), punctured lung (0.001%) or a broken needle (0.001%).

Those odds are pretty good statistics compared to our modern western medical model which is so powerful that we all run a lifetime risk of one in four of spending some time in the hospital due to an issue caused by that standard medical care such as pharmaceuticals or doctor error (at least that’s what the CDC says). Even if you have a very ample supply of ibuprofen in your medical cache, keep in mind that daily use of ibuprofen doubles ones chance of having a stroke. Having a stroke is not a good thing, especially after TSHTF.

In my practice, the most common adverse reaction is a bruise that develops when I don’t “close the acupuncture point” after removing the needle. You “close the point” by momentarily pressing the point with a cotton ball, Q-tip or finger immediately after removing the needle while the body quickly closes the microscopic wound through its clotting process. Acupuncture is safe enough for routine use for a lifetime (as was typically done by members of the Chinese Imperial court for millennia and by millions to westerners today).

It is also possible to clean, re-sterilize and re-use needles. Although I have never seen any special “reusable” acupuncture needles sold here in the US, In China, even today, you can find hospitals and individual practitioners alike, reusing acupuncture needles. They simply, wipe off the needles, wash them, buff and hone them with a sharpening cloth and then re-sterilize them, much the same way a dentist re-sterilize and reuses his tools. But I do admit that I have a very deep hesitation to reuse needles between people, regardless of how sterile they come out of the autoclave (And never would in my current professional practice… with needles costing just two cents each, there is absolutely no reason to in this modern day and age). There is the “ick” factor, regardless of blood-borne pathogen concerns.

So the moral of the story is that using fresh, unused, disposable single use needles made in a factory under strict sterile conditions is best. By picking up a few boxes of needles before TSHTF and throwing them into your medical kit, you will be set for years to come.

The DIY Low Back Pain Protocol
There are several approaches to effectively address lower back pain. The most obvious would seem to be inserting the needle into the painful area. You simply find the “knot” and insert a needle half an inch deep. You just slip it in. Easy. Simple. Let the person rest quietly for 20-40 minutes and then remove the needle. From this pure scenario comes a million variations of possible treatment protocols from a trained acupuncturist.

In general, you will want to use several needles in tandem for best result. Let’s use a scenario where a compatriot strains his back while chopping and stacking wood for the winter. If you are familiar with back sprains, you’ll know that they can be quite debilitating… sometimes for weeks. To perform acupuncture, you would have your patient lay face down or on his side (if laying face down is too uncomfortable) and locate the problem area. Most often, lower back pain involves the muscles around the second to the fifth vertebras (right around the belt line). The approach I find most effective is to simply insert 6 needles into the muscle two finger widths away from the spine on either side. For simplicities sake, I would suggest that you put 3 needles on both sides of the spine, regardless of which side the pain is on. So ideally, if the person has pain at the level of the third lumbar vertebra, you would want to put a needle two fingers width away from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lumbar vertebras on both sides. You just slip them right in. Really; they insert so easy if they are good needles. Once you try it, you’ll be amazed at how easy they are to insert.

Once they are inserted, you’ll want to “wiggle” or “shimmy” them deeper to a depth of about a half inch to a full inch. Don’t worry; on a healthy sized male, there is at least 3-4 inches of muscle you would have to go through before getting to the organs inside (if you have ever seen a whole pork loin at the grocery store, you’d get some idea of how beefy the back muscles are). So that is 6 needles total.

With muscle pain, the locations don’t have to be exact. Some practitioners just feel around in the local area and look for the most tender or tightest spots. And that is where they place the needles. But for some degree of organization, here are the main three “official” acupuncture points most commonly used;

1. “Shen Shu” (Bladder 23) Located two fingers lateral from the spinal process of the 2nd  lumbar vertebra (which is the second vertebra not connected to a rib). Typically located at the highest point on the paraspinal muscle. This point can also be easily found by feeling for the natural thinnest part of the waistline (if you go feeling along the sides of the torso; at the level typically below the bottom ribs and above the iliac crest of the hip bones). The point is at that level but close to the spine. This point can also be acupunctured for urinary issues, fatigue, lung issues such as asthma and menstrual issues.

2. “Qi Hai Shu” (Bladder 24) Located two fingers width away from the 3rd lumbar vertebra. Typically located at the highest point on the paraspinal muscle.

3. “Da Chang Shu” (Bladder 25) Located two fingers width away from the 4th Lumbar vertebra. Typically located at the highest point on the paraspinal muscle.

Here is a link to photo of these points to aid in locating them.

Additionally; For even better effect, you should also place a needle a half inch to a whole inch deep into the middle of the popliteal crease located in the depression at the back of the knees midway between the tendons. This point is called “Bladder 40”. A final, very effective point is “Kidney 3” which is located in the spaces between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon. The flesh there really isn’t all that thick, so the needle only needles to be placed ¼” or so.

These “distal points” many not make sense to most readers, but just please temporarily suspend your disbelieve that an acupuncture point on the back of the knee or on the ankle could help back pain. They do. Many of the most effective points in an acupuncturist’s repertoire are located away from the area of complaint.

The Million Dollar Points
Another effective approach in treating low back pain is utilizing the 3 “million dollar points” for back pain on the hands. “Ling Ku, Da Bai and Zhong Bai”, when used together can be all one needs for instant improvement in cases of back pain. I have literally seen patients who come into the office bent over in pain and holding onto furniture and walls to keep from falling over, walk out of the office 80% better after using just these three acupuncture points on the back of the hand for a half hour. The locations are easy to find, but again, I encourage you to look at the picture online should there be any confusion as to their location. I recommend applying these points on both hands.

1. “Ling Ku”; Located on the hand in the depression just distal to the junction of the first and second metacarpal bones. If you feel the meaty webbing which is between your thumb and index finger, you’ll simply feel for the spot where the two metacarpal bones meet. This spot alone is commonly used for sciatic pain, back pain, headaches or just pain throughout the body. It is a very commonly used point in most acupuncture practices. Insert the needle 1/3 to ½ inch.

2. “Da Bai”; is located close by. It is located just a bit more distally (towards the finger tip) of ling ku, in the depression just before the head of the second metacarpal bone which is the index fingers knuckle. Insert the needle ¼ inch or so.

3. “Zhong Bai”; is located in the depression on the back of the hand just distal to the fourth and fifth metacarpal joints. So if you feel for the short trench on the back of the hand between the bones of the pinky and ring finger, slide up to where the longer bones meet. The needle goes into the fleshy soft spot about a half inch deep but not completely through.

Below is a link to an image showing these acupuncture point locations.
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o616/098123acupuncture/LingKuDaiBaiZhongBai001_zps447283a8.jpg

You can either do a “back treatment” or a “front treatment” since it’s hard to hit all the points mentioned simultaneously. If your treatment is just the three hand points and the ankle points, you can have the patient sit in a chair or lay on their back. I know it’s hard to believe, but you really do NOT have to do acupuncture in the local area to get great results. Once all the needles are in place, the patient should be allowed some quiet time for about a half hour before taking the needles out. Since the needles are now considered “bio-hazardous waste”, be sure to dispose of them properly. While state regulations vary, in my state here, sharps can be disposed of into municipal garbage as long as they are disposed of in a hard sided container such as an empty laundry detergent jug. If you have questions about your state regs, just ask a diabetic who takes insulin. They will be able to tell you what they do with their used needle sharps containers once they are full.
           
Good Luck
With acupuncture being so affordable (free) and easy to use, gaining a basic understanding of its use could be quite valuable in a post SHTF world either for yourself or as a tradable service. I hope this is the first of many articles showing how easy acupuncture can be to learn and apply for very common medical conditions. What you take away from this article could potentially be a lifesaver for someone otherwise debilitated with pain.

A Few Reminders to Keep In Mind When Providing Acupuncture;

1. Acupuncture shouldn’t hurt. If it does, you may have landed on one of the billion thread-thin nerve ending or an artery, so simply remove the needle and replace it 1/10th of an inch away.
2. Sterility of the needles is priority number one. Most practitioners will disinfect the puncture site before insertion of the needles with 70% alcohol.
3. Once the needles are in place, you can either leave them be or feel free to “wiggle and jiggle and thrust up and down” until the patient experiences a mild sensation in that area. For some this “arrival of the qi” feels like pressure (either bearing down or pushing up), a warmth or mild tingling, etc. Some practitioners disagree over how important or not getting this sensation is for patients. Some argue that this “DeQi” sensation confirms that the needles will be effective. Other acupuncturists will argue that too much stimulation is counterproductive. To be honest; even after 10+ years and seeing thousands of patients, I still can’t make a determination on this. I typically do NOT try to produce this “DeQi” sensation in patients unless they are elderly or the acupuncture is not producing quick enough results after several sessions. Try to find the answer on your own with experience.
4. Leave the needles in place for ½ hour to 45 minutes while the patient rests quietly. Chatting and “visiting” decreases effectiveness. Just relax for God’s sake.
5. The first session is the least effective. Just like taking that first antibiotic pill. Subsequent sessions build off of the prior sessions.
6. Acupuncture typically does not give instantaneous relief. For some patients, it does, but they are the exception. It usually takes hours for patients to begin to see improvement. It seems to take about three days for the full effect of a single treatment to kick in. Because of that, doing acupuncture every day or every other day is ideal. Three times a day is possible in the most extreme situations.
7. Acupuncture is a medical therapy. Don’t expect Hollywood miracles. A single session is almost never enough. Like going to the gym or doing a course of antibiotics, the effects are accumulative over the course of treatment. It is not uncommon to treat a chronic pain patient 12 sessions.
8. Remember; approximately 15% of people will not respond to acupuncture no matter what the practitioner does. In my practice, I encourage new patients to do at least three sessions to get an idea of how well they may respond. What I have found is that if they show no signs of improvement after 3 sessions, they fall into that category. On the other hand; 15% of people respond remarkably well to this form of therapy. These are the ones you hear about who get a single session of acupuncture and the bad back they had for 10 years goes away instantly. Since acupuncture is free, if a patient doesn’t see results after 3 sessions, you can still encourage them to do 3 more. They may be just a “late bloomer”.
9. Have the patient also look for secondary areas of improvement. Since acupuncture is improving function and circulation throughout the body, most patients see improvement is other areas of health. A patient may come in for rotator cuff pain but report that they also saw a marked improvement in sleep, digestion, allergies or other ailment.
10. The exact biological explanation of how acupuncture works is still out, but it may simply be explained that acupuncture kick-starts the healing response and triggers various natural chemical responses from within the body. It triggers the body to produce natural pain relievers, endorphins, muscle relaxants and anti-inflamatories, among other chemicals and hormones.

Rose R. owns and operates a Midwestern acupuncture clinic currently treating 20 patients each day. Rose has operated this sole proprietorship for 14 years.

JWR Adds: Be forewarned that you should not experiment with do-it-yourself acupuncture without proper training. Train only under a fully-qualified practitioner. Even with sub-millimeter diameter needles, things can go wrong if you are clumsy or if you don't pay attention to hygiene--including subdermal bleeds, nerve damage, inadvertent tattooing, or inadvertent infections.

Jim:
Now I know some folks aren't going to think of a protractor -- digital, analog, or constructed -- as a survival tool.

But in the USAF survival school certain "angles" were reinforced as survival angles. Support a load with an equilateral triangle. Making a 30-60-90 frame to support a trench. An isosceles to ensure that snow and rain shed away from a survival shelter. And, squares for identifying your location to rescuers. (Sinces traight lines are out of place in nature. )

Of course as an engineer, anytime you build, angles come into play with load. A good analog carpenter grade protractor, a slide rule, and some knowledge can mean a big difference in the grid down situations. - F.J.

JWR Replies: One other important angle to measure in field engineering is the angle of repose--the maximum slope at which uncompacted soil or sand can be made into a mound before it sloughs. This may prove crucial when designing defensive earthworks or even your next root cellar.

TEOTWAWKI may leave you alone with nothing. Nothing but your knowledge of what is available to you as a means of survival and defending yourself. Hopeful you have enough skills to find essential items required to survive. Time is limited and for an active person foraging for food, protecting themselves and seeking safe shelter. Without these life essentials, this is (on average) how much time you have to survive: Air -3 minutes, Shelter at O degrees Celsius - 3 hours, water - 3 days, food - 30 days. Take care of these and half your battle of survival is won!

When I was a child I saw my father beaten until bloodied by a crazed man in a shopping mall parking lot. My dad went to aid a fellow patron and left with his glasses broken, bloody nose, and torn clothing. Being about 5 years old I could do little to help him. He didn’t even call the cops and we never spoke about it again. Humans can be absolutely ferocious and can inflict a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

I walk my dog daily in my suburban setting. About once a year we are confronted by loose dogs. Most all dogs attack my dog and not me. My dog and I have chosen to run most of the time, but on occasion they must be confronted. I have pepper sprayed dogs, kicked smaller ones and last month we out ran a 200 pound Rottweiler that (lucky for my dog and I) was very out of shape. Human and dogs are mammals and when they are desperate and fearful they can and will harm you.

Mammals have triggers that set in motion reactions to events and circumstances in which they encounter. An injured, cornered and fearful animal is one of those dangerous encounters. A desperate, hungry, fearful human can be one of those dangerous encounters. JWR's emphasis on charity is a good and reminds us what it means to be human. The most important aspect of being human is being civil. Even in our fairly civilized world you can be still be taken advantage of or robbed of your belongings.

So what’s my point here…If all or most my prepared supplies were not on my person or near by (which could happen) what would I have to work with to survive. I may be hunted, I may be hungry, I may be tired and I may need to defend myself. TEOTWAWKI will bring out the best and worst in people. We need to see the good in all people, but be very aware of the evil in the world, especial a desperate world. And if people get desperate and are scared there is bound to be confrontation and unpleasant encounters.

I have thought about the simplest form of defense for a human. Presently and throughout history. No matter what weapons and situation you are confronted with, I believe there are 10 basic actions that can balance the scale of survival in your favor. Hopefully you are well stocked at home or your retreat as well as having properly equipped your vehicle and legally well weaponized your body. But if you are not… then lets get to the very basics and add on from that point. Naked is definitely a challenging place to start and I definitely do not want to start there.

I hope these ten promote discussion between you and yours.

1. To Trust- your inner power. If you feel that something doesn’t feel right…THEN IT ISN’T RIGHT! I believe humans have lost a sixth sense. A sense that was much more prevalent in the humans of pre-history. A time in history before we filled our minds with vanity, commerce and material values to survive. Get in touch with your inner power. Feel your way though a situation by opening your eyes and all your senses in order to take in the entire scene. Avoid confrontation at all cost in order to conserve energy and resources. Your may have minutes to change your path or maybe just a few seconds. If it feels right…act. Double check your approach if you have time, think through outcomes in your mind. Trust yourself and visualize a positive outcome.

2. To Run- run means escape, escape means freedom, freedom means survival. Yes you may be shot at, but you are a moving target. Set up your moment to run. Buy time if you can, look for opportunity set a goal for success. For example, If confronted straight on. “I have money in my sock!” Reach down to get the money out of your sock. You are now in a track and field starting position, turn and go! Run today for fun and good health and it may be your greatest weapon of all… free to fight another day.

3. To Hide- Chinese proverb “Better to hide then run”. Running gives you distance, but running can keep you visible. Hiding can make you invisible, because you may not be able to get distance. As Kids at night we would throw snowballs at cars just to get chased. I had adults walk right past me often as I crouched motionless in one of my well planned hiding spots. What hides you? The darkness, objects you can get under, an object you get on top of, you decide. A good hiding place is a short term solution to evade capture and move forward to a safer destination or double back to an original starting point.

4. Your Hands- hands can be trained to act as weapons. A finger held stiff applied to soft tissue of the adversary can slow or even stop the aggressor. Imagine the pain of a thumb in the eye. As a college student my brother was holding down someone in a large brawl when he was cold cocked in the nose. It was broken… end of fight for him. The hand to the nose is what I believe is the most import point of contact for self defense. Aim for the nose. It is the center of the face and makes a good target. Did you ever bump your nose? Eyes water, you can’t see a thing and it hurts! To train hit something often to get your hand quick and strong. If these hands get tied it’s game over. I would fight to the death before I would ever let someone tie my hands.

5. Legs – Stay in good shape so you can use them. If you are knocked off your feet all is not lost. Check out Native American Ground Fighting and you will see the advantage of good strong legs. Swift feet can gain great distance. Exercise those legs, because without good legs it’s more difficult to defend yourself.

6. A Stick - Smack it hard on the ground, then firmly against a tree. “Strong and light is good for a fight”. One end tapered and one end thicker to hit with force. A good walking stick is a good weapon as well. I work out with a 3 foot 1 inch thick round dowel. I stretch with it and practice defensive maneuvers many of which I learned while studying martial arts. I choose this size because it is much like a cane which is what I will be using in my elder years.

7. Stones – Humans have stoned each other to death as mentioned in the Bible. A stone the size of a golf ball can be hurled effectively. A pouch of stones is a pouch of weapons. Stone lashed to a stick is a club. It worked for our ancient ancestors! Throw snowball this winter and work on your aim.

8. Improvised weapons. I saw a girl in bar when I was in college wail a man in the head with her pocket book so hard he fell to the ground. What ever you can find, whatever you can make. Improvise! Be creative in anyway possible to destroy your foe. Think of what could be done with the following objects: sand, tightly rolled magazine, keys, your thumb, a water bottle, belt with buckle, stick, stone, rock, hairbrush, etc. I always try to have something on me that can work as a weapon. Year round my 18 inch ice scraper is right next to the driver seat in my van. Better to have something within reach, then nothing. Legally I like fold out utility pliers with an assortment of small tools embedded in them including a knife. Leatherman is the best brand in my opinion. Non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray and Tasers are often legal depending on the city or state.

9. Knife – The glint and shine of a sharp object can be a strong deterrent. Never ever does anyone or anything ever get that knife out of your hands. I am not a knife expert but I do practice what I have been taught. A knife to me is synonymous with survival. Leading up to # 10 I can’t resist this old saying: “Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight”.

10. A Gun – The equalizer. The ability to hold several people at bay while you get to a safer environment. Try not to shoot anyone here in New York. The bad guy’s lawyer will have a field day. It is your God given and constitutional right to protect family and friends from those evil doers who have threatened you in your home or on your land. It can even protect the evil foe from doing harm to others and himself. The only way to accomplish that is to have the ultimate equalizer in your well trained hands. Practice often and enjoy the terrific sport of riflery. The NRA offers wonderful programs for the beginner.

Our objective is to work together with like minded people to strengthen ourselves against anything that may do us harm on the way to achieving our goals.

The recent article on Do it Yourself Timber Harvesting prompted me to share my experience starting a homestead on our 200+ acre tree farm in East Texas. Almost two years ago I settled on a site back in the woods next to a dry run-off creek bed for my home. Our farm has been in the family for well over a century, and the forest area I picked sat untouched for 60 years.

One of my first investments was a 20” Stihl chain saw. Starting with little experience, about 10 chains, one sprocket and 2 replacement bars later I'm finally getting pretty good at felling trees. A 20” inch bar is a good size for using with a sawmill, as it can fell trees up to 2-3 ft in diameter. Having a smaller 12-16” backup saw will be a lifesaver the first few times your bar gets stuck in a tree. It's also much lighter and easier on your back for small jobs.

One thing to consider is the cost of chains. I get my 20” pro chains locally for about $15 each, but most places charge over $22. At this point, accessories and replacement parts have cost as much as the chainsaw, so plan accordingly.

I started clearing the building site for my Earthbag dwelling by cutting out the smaller trees first. It let me get used to the saw, practice proper cutting technique, and make small mistakes. I quickly realized that once you get over about 6” in diameter it's a different ball game. The trees go where they want to go. You likely won't be able to guide them down or push them off if you get your bar stuck. Looking back I can't stress enough the importance of proper safety gear, taking your time, and evaluating the situation. I of course, learned the hard way.

Mistakes Happen in a Split Second

Towards the end of the clearing phase the last couple dozen big trees lined the creek walls. I started working on a 2' diameter sweet gum with a hollow trunk. The plan was to drop it back away from the creek so it could be cut up and dragged out of the way for later milling. My uncle was on his small tractor helping with clean up.

My face cut wasn't level, so the wedge angled up slightly. When I connected the back cut the tree didn't fall. I pulled my saw out, the light wind shifted, and the tree fell the opposite way over the creek. Even worse, it fell over a new fence row on the back of the property. I quickly went back to the fence and looked at the two main 10” branches suspended a few feet in the air over the barbed wire fence. I stood next to the fence, reached over and cut the first branch. Then I stepped in about 2 feet and started cutting the second branch. This is where things went horribly wrong.

About ½ way through the second limb, I heard a loud crack and the next second to me, seemed like it lasted 10. I heard and felt a loud thud; I realized that feeling was something hitting me in the head; I heard every vertebrae from the top of my neck to the bottom of my shoulder blades crack one after another. I remember thinking, “Oh sh**, this is going to hurt,” and then I blacked out.

I woke up laying on my back, the chain saw gurgling on the other side of the fence, my safety glasses and ear protection were several feet behind me, my jeans ripped, my leg cut open on the barbed wire, and eventually I hear my uncle shouting, “. . . Sam are you okay?” I replied, “Yeah, give me a minute,” as I laid back attempting to breathe in severe pain. It's a good thing I woke up, because my uncle, who broke his neck and has trouble walking, had planned to use a cable to drag me out across the creek with his tractor!

What went wrong? Well, several things.

1. My face cut wasn't level which may have contributed to the tree falling the wrong way, and I didn't use a wedge to prevent this.
2. Having little experience with larger trees I underestimated the dangers involved in felling a large 120 ft tall, 4,000-6,000 pound tree. (Anything over 5” is potentially dangerous)
3. I was in a hurry to avoid repairing the fence.
4. I didn't evaluate the situation. The tree trunk was suspended 4 feet off the ground.
5. I created a very dangerous work area after cutting the first branch over the fence. When I stepped in to cut the second branch, the first was directly over my head. I should have cut the first branch again, getting it out of the way.
6. Again, I didn't evaluate the situation. Not only was the trunk off the ground, but the second branch was bound on the side against another tree. Once I cut half way through it, it snapped under the tremendous pressure and the trunk slammed to the ground, glancing the back of my head.

I was very lucky, mostly because the fence wasn't damaged, but also because I wasn't killed, paralyzed, or left with a broken neck. It took several months to recover, and I couldn't turn my head for a month. A few thumb torture sessions later with a neurosomatic massage therapist finally completed my recovery and today I'm back at 100%.

Take the Time to Learn Safety Procedures

After my injury we found a local part time logger to come in and remove the last 16 big trees on the site. He cut the trees and hauled them off for free, making money on the timber. I worked with him and learned a lot by just watching. If you have the chance to learn from an experienced logger, then do so.

Now I do things very differently. First, I wear a hard hat that includes ear protection and a face shield. I wear steel toed work boots most of the time after tearing into a pair of hiking boots while de-limbing a tree. I'll probably add the protective chaps one day, but my shift in mindset can't be stressed enough.

I take the time to clear all vines, brush, and limbs from my work area before cutting. I look at my escape routes. I walk around the base of each tree looking up the trunk to see which way it wants to fall. I watch my back cut closely to see if it's getting wider as I cut. I use plastic/wood wedges on bigger trees, attach a cable with a come-along, or use my backhoe when possible to push them over. When a tree trunk doesn't go right to the ground I take the time to walk around it again, see what's holding it up, and figure out a strategy to clear the other branches and take it down from there.. Since my accident, I've safely cut down over a dozen giant oaks that died in last years drought with no problems.

Chainsaw Care and Maintenance

I struggled with sharpening chains early on. There are great Youtube videos out there teaching the basics. The overview from Wranglerstar is very through.  I use a large C-clamp in the woods to hold the bar steady and tighten the chain first to prevent wobbling. A sharp chain will cut straighter/faster, it will run cooler, stretch out less and last longer. Watch the wood chips coming off the saw. When they go from little squares (chips) to more of a sawdust consistency, stop and sharpen. It may seem like a pain, but a sharp chain will save you a lot of headache in the long run.

If your chainsaw is cutting sideways it's because the chain is dull, the teeth were not sharpened evenly all the way around, or the rakers need to be filed down. Keeping your blade out of the dirt is also extremely important. Sand will stretch out your chain faster than anything. 

Does a Sawmill Make $ense?

While considering the resources available living on a tree farm, and the lumber required for my earthbag dwelling,  I decided to purchase a sawmill. The two manufacturers that have the best reputation are Wood-Mizer and TimberKing. A basic manual sawmill will run about $3,000 to $5,000 used. Adding hydraulics for log loading, turning, and cutter head movement bumps that up to about $10,000-$15,000. A computer controlled mill starts around $30,000, and the mechanically inclined can build one for about $2,000.

I decided on a used TimberKing 1220, their basic fully manual 15 horsepower band saw mill with a 28” capacity. I paid about $5,000 and it came with 2 cant hooks (a must), a $900 blade setter/sharpener kit (Strongly Recommended), a trailer kit, and a track extension that cuts lumber up to 24' in length.

Anyone living on a large plot of land with trees should seriously consider buying or building a sawmill. Every year we get dead trees from the summer drought, lightning strikes, and blow downs from the storms. For those of you on small plots in the country with lots of trees around a sawmill may still make sense. I've cut down large cedar trees for neighbors who wanted more grass growing for their cattle. I've even picked up logs cut by the power companies to prevent downed power lines. I've had requests to mill lumber from a small timber company and supply wood to a man who makes furniture.

I run the mill by myself 90% of the time using either the cant hooks or my backhoe with a set of skidding and lifting tongs to move logs around. Skidding tongs are for dragging logs, lifting tongs are heavier duty and rated for overhead lifting. Forks can be added to the backhoe as well, but it will make an already 20 ft machine even longer. A skid steer is the ideal companion for a sawmill, but I get by with my backhoe using the tongs. The downside is tongs only work on one log at a time, and moving logs or leftover slabs in bulk requires forks.

Most logging operations won't touch anything under 10 acres because of equipment moving/setup costs, and this leaves a lot of good timber available for small mill operators. Another option is to offer a portable sawmill service or have people bring logs they pay you to cut or give you a portion of the cut timber (usually up to half).

We used to pay someone to cut, stack, and burn our dead trees that fell into our hay pastures. Now they produce a very basic building material that in a TEOTWAWKI/natural disaster scenario, would prove invaluable. This is especially true for the lower end sawmill designed for manual operation.

Sawmill considerations in a Post Collapse Environment

With the higher end models, what happens if something in the hydraulic system breaks down and you can't fix it? Can it be run manually? How will you get a 1,200lb log 4' off the ground without the hydraulic loader? There's also the extra fuel consumption to consider, as some models have a separate engine to run the hydraulics.

I've spent several hundred dollars stocking extra parts, new blades, and doing repairs on my mill. The setup is fairly simple, and the engine is a Kohler Command Pro, commonly found on riding lawn mowers so that's easily sourced.

I've cut large 24 foot, 6”x6” and 9”x9” pine beams to support a living roof on my earthbag home. I've used the slabs (a waste product) to build a rustic heavy duty chicken coop. A sawmill really opens up a lot of creative possibilities for woodworking projects.  I also have a huge pile of slabs that I can sell for $50 on Craigslist or bury to create a hugelkulture bed. Hardwood slabs can be burned for Charcoal which is added to soil or used in filters. I scoop up the sawdust and use it in natural building and spread it in the gardens.

The Hardest Part of Running a Sawmill

Working big logs logs stands out as the toughest job on a manual mill. Two people using cant hooks makes this easier. A long heavy crow bar is also useful for moving/straightening logs. The longer and bigger the lumber your cutting, the heaver it gets, the more difficult it will be to move. The toughest job is lining up a big log to cut the maximum length your mill can handle. You only have an inch or two of clearance on the ends, and manually sliding a big log from the end is hard. Using a backhoe can/will snag on the frame and drag the whole setup off level footings, and you will be spending the next hour re-leveling. .

Cutting is simply setting the blade height with a crank and then turning a second crank to move it forward. A rough cut 2x12x20' pine is around 80lbs. if fairly green, and this must be moved and stickered (stacking with small stakes in between each board to let them evenly dry). So the bigger the log, the more likely help or tractors are needed.  Anything under 10 inches is hardly worth cutting up, and anything over 18 inches is much easier with help. 

What Tends to Go Wrong

Just like the chainsaw, having a sharp properly tensioned blade is important to avoid wavy cuts and other problems. New blades tend to stretch after their first use. Not observing the tension loss and running into dense knots has led to wavy boards several times. I've run a blade so dull it stopped in the middle of the log. It won't back out because the band will slip off the wheels, and getting it out is a real pain. The trick is to pay attention and change the band as soon as it starts to dull.

It's also tricky sometimes to square up the cut side against the log stops while locking it down for the next cut. It sometimes twists a bit and I end up with trapezoids instead of square boards. A bit of close observation and practice can minimize this. Putting the lumber through a planer or Turning the cant (squared up log) back and making a second pass can fix this.

I spend about 30 minutes setting and sharpening each blade, which can be done anywhere from 4-8 times depending on the steel's hardness. Two people running a mill all day will go though 3-5 blades which cost about $28 each with shipping.

Getting to a Finished Product

Fresh cut lumber will need to be stickered and dried out either naturally or in a Kiln. I dry lumber on cinder blocks to raise it off the ground, and cover it with large tarps from billboards. Used billboard tarps can be found at flea markets, trade days, or on craigslist for less than $50. They are heavy duty compared to hardware store tarps with string between PVC layers.

If you want to produce and sell dimensional lumber you will want to consider building a kiln. It's basically a shed with a heater. In an off grid situation, it should be possible to use a rocket mass heater to dry out lumber by burning the leftover slabs every few days to heat the shed.. It would certainly require a commitment over several weeks.

Beyond that you will want to consider a  robust thickness planer and shaper if you plan to make wood flooring or other finely finished wood products. All that's left is to figure out what to do with all the cheap lumber you'll have sitting around. I've built beautiful counter tops with 2”x17” planks from a 60 year old pine. I built a water tower, a working wishing well, a heavy natural oak bench and I'm learning how to do mortise and tenon joints, which works well with large rough cut lumber.

A Few Closing Thoughts

Putting a roof over a stationary mill is a good idea. A large span is ideal to move logs in, which for me means 30+ feet. Used chicken house trusses are ideal. They typically have a 40 foot span, room at the sides to stack lumber, and they can be purchased for about $100 per truss.

One final note, having worked with axes and hand saws, I can't overstate the importance of storing fuel to run your equipment. In my case this is a plastic 55 gal HDPE drum, treated with PRI-G fuel stabilizer annually (for up to 12 years storage), a hand operated transfer pump, and a bung wrench. It's important to seal the bungs tight so the lighter fractions in gas won't evaporate, fouling the fuel.

None of us know what the future holds, but the ability to produce usable lumber for your local community is an invaluable asset for you and your neighbors.  In a post collapse situation, it could prove to be an invaluable bartering resource.

I make charcoal to sell at the local farmers market. I'm a farmer and prepper. I use two steel drums, retort method, which produces high quality charcoal.

Charcoal has many uses. It used for cooking and heat without flames, water filtration, making pyrotechnics and has some medicinal uses. This is hot, hard work but simple to do. With a little imagination all components can be changed or modified as long as age-old principles are followed. I prefer using red oak. It comes out naturally pitted so there is no need for enhancements for water filtration.

Concept: Small pieces of quality hardwood are placed in a small steel drum. The small drum is placed into a larger steel drum. Scrap wood is then stacked in the gap between the two and burned. This “cooks” the quality wood into charcoal without allowing it to be consumed by oxygen.

Primary Components:

Furnace – 55 gallon steel drum with removable lid. Called an “Open Head”.
The lid is held on with a quick lever closure ring (preferable) or the nut and bolt closure ring.

Retort – 15 gallon steel drum with removable lid. The crimp type lid is most common.

Both can be purchased new from and oil distributor or obtained used from trucking companies or large farms etc. First burn out any residual contents of used drums with an open fire.

Secondary Components:

3 fire bricks or spacers, used to raise small drum off the bottom of the large drum.

Wood: 2 types

Any quality hardwood makes great charcoal. I prefer red oak. It comes out very pitted with large cracks. It is easy to light and produces a very even burn when used for cooking. Great for water filtration without enhancements. For pyrotechnics use muscadine or grape vine.

Perfect scenario – Cut red oak logs and allow it to dry for nine months or so. For making a batch cut pieces, 5 inches long, off the end of logs. Quarter it, and split it into 1.5 inch thick bricks. Use a hand axe and cut the bricks into pieces 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches x 5 inches or smaller. If the pieces are larger then it just adds unnecessary cooking time.

Tip on tree selection – Pick a red oak inside a stand of timber that grew at least 100 yards from any open area among older trees. It would have grown straight, tall and fast, with very few knots, and hence great for splitting! You don’t want a tree that grew near the edge of a field. It would have had lots of limbs in its first 25 years, lots of knots, very hard to split.

Scrap wood, hardwoods produce a steady even heat. Small amounts of scrap pine lumber produces quick heat, helps regulate cooking process. All are split small enough to go in between the sides of the barrels and about 2 feet long.

Note: Pictures of my furnace and retort drum set-up can be found as attachments to my posts at the Eat The Weeds Forum.


Construction

A. Furnace Drum

1. Removable Lid: it is used to help regulate air flow during the cook. Raise with wood or rebar just a little while cooking. Most have 2" x ¾" Head Fitting Plug, also helpful with air control. You can also mount a piece of flue pipe with damper in the center of the lid if you want to be creative.

2. Cut vent openings along bottom edge of 55 gallon drum. Cut 3 vents, 3 inches (v) X 8 inches horizontally, evenly spaced around circumference. Leave one end [of each vent tab] attached so they can be partially closed to control air flow. After the burn, cover them with dirt to seal off air.

B. Retort Drum

1. The small drum bottom must be vented. The purpose is to allow gas to escape from the oak while it is being cooked. These gases also burn outside the small drum during the process. This reduces the amount of scrap wood used. These are the same gases used to run a gasifier or woodgas engine. A full small drum will weigh about 55lbs and produces about 18 lbs of charcoal.

2. In the bottom of the small drum drill 1/4 inch diameter holes. Drill about 30 holes
 
Note: I'm sure at some point early in the process, there is a quick flash burn in the small drum. Oxygen is gone soon, no ash. Gases don't burn until they leave the small drum.
 
At night you can see 30 blue jets of flame from bottom of small drum. Waste of scrap wood cooking at night. did it once just to see.
 
Ash from scrap wood starts to clog big barrel vents. pushing it back keeps air flow going straight up (chimney effect) away from bottom of small drum. I rarely see any ash in small drum, then just a little on few pieces in bottom.
 

Assembly

1. Put the fire bricks in the bottom of the big drum to support the small drum. This allows space for out gassing. It also prevents the ground from wicking heat from the small drum.

2. When the small drum is loaded and the lid is clamped set it on the fire bricks.

3. Drop kindling down the sides of the small drum and then scrap wood up and over the top.

4. Stuff paper and tinder into the large drum vents and fire it up.



Cooking a Batch

Moisture is always your enemy!

The goal is to hold 700 plus degrees in the small drum for at least 1.5 hours assuming that the small drum is full and the moisture content is low. If the moisture content is high then it will add hours to the cooking time.

Only cook in hot weather, 90 plus degrees and sunny. If the temp is around 70 you will use a lot more scrap to cook the same batch, more work and time for the same return.

When the batch is done put the lid on the large drum and tighten the band. Close the bottom vents on the large drum and cover them with dirt to stop all air flow.

Tip: Don’t allow the scrap to burn out naturally. When you decide the charcoal is done then seal the Furnace. The burning scrap will use up remaining oxygen and prevent charcoal loss.

Before ignition, be sure to fill the small drum to the top and then shake it thoroughly. You'll then be able to add several more pounds of oak. Important - you still have to get the lid clamped on tight--freely without forcing.
 
There will be very little space for air. When the flash burn occurs it will be rapid. When gas starts escaping from the oak there is no oxygen for it to burn until it exits the vents in the bottom.
 
Also folks worry about cooking long enough. I tell them, "you will only under-cook one time." When you go out the next morning and find your mistake, you'll have to clean out the barrels, prep all the scrap, and re-cook the same batch. You wont make that mistake again!
 
Leave the air tight Furnace to cool over night. If you expose the charcoal to oxygen while it is still hot it will ignite and burn up all your work. The next day when the Furnace is completely cool remove the small drum. It should weigh about 20 lbs, if it feels a lot heavier then you did not get a complete conversion.

Pour the contents onto a framed 1/4-inch mesh screen to filter the tiny pieces and dust. Next bag up your charcoal. You should have 18 lbs of high quality natural charcoal.

Tips on Getting it Right:

You have to learn to "read the smoke." There is an art to this!

The first smoke will be heavy and white. This is moisture from the scrap wood and will continue for a while. Next the smoke will almost disappear. A short time later the white smoke will reappear but not so heavy as before. This is the moisture from the oak in the small drum.

This is the most important part of reading the smoke. The amount of white smoke from the small drum tells you how long to burn scrap. Only experience can teach you!

There is a small amount of loss as ash, maybe 1 to 2% at the bottom of the small barrel. Although crude this is a very efficient process for producing high quality organic charcoal.

Note that this charcoal-making process can be scaled down. The aforementioned procedure also works with a 5 gallon metal bucket and a 1 gallon metal paint can. Use you imagination, I’ve seen a pottery kiln used with several 1 gallon metal paint cans.

Activated charcoal is nothing but natural charcoal treated with liquid Calcium Chloride or Zinc Chloride for 12 plus hours. It becomes very pitted. Red oak comes out naturally pitted. (Not as good as activated but close.)

Warning: Use only natural unprocessed/untreated wood for charcoal. Things like pallets have been treated or had a host of chemicals and heavy metals spilled on them that are not consumed by fire.

You’ll get only about 15 to 20 batches out of a set of barrels, as they will deteriorate with high heat over time.

“Do you think you could survive on your own in the Everglades if you had to?”

The question rang in my mind as I thought about the implications, logistics and hardship that would be involved. I’m an ecologist specializing in Reptiles and Amphibians – which basically means I spend a ton of time up to my waist in swamp water, catching snakes, alligators and other creeping things all the while being assailed by endless hoards of mosquitoes and deer flies. One tends to learn a few things under these conditions, about these animals and about survival where they live.

Now what on earth does trudging through swamps in search of Reptiles and Amphibians have to do with survival when things go awry? Being prepared for any circumstance is most certainly beneficial, but what happens when disaster strikes away from home - Perhaps at a friend’s house, on vacation, or on the road? Not everyone can be completely prepared with sufficient food, water and armed to the teeth during such times, and sometimes even preparations can fail – Those prepared to hunt big game and fish may find heavy competition from others similarly hoping for a meal. Even in your own homestead corn, grains and other crops can be plagued by the same forces that have assailed them for millennia: drought, disease, plague and theft. When every other source of food is depleted, look to the ground: look to the things that creep.

Reptiles and Amphibians are collectively called “herpetofauna,” or “herps” for short – meaning “creeping things.” These animals are actually extremely abundant in many areas and can provide a ready and stable food source especially if you’re forced to remain perpetually on the move (or on the run, for that matter.) In fact, a given habitat can actually support a lot more biomass herpetofauna than it could mammals or birds (the stuff most of us think of when hunting.) Herps, you see, are cold-blooded (or a better word is ectothermic,) meaning they do not generate their own heat but receive it from the environment. Why does that matter? Well, as many of us are aware heating and cooling houses can be extremely costly in terms of energy; and the same is true of animal life as well: Deer, dogs, humans, ducks and all the other furred and feathered animals spend a lot of their food/energy on maintaining their body heat. Reptiles and Amphibians don’t do this, which means more energy to go around; which means more Reptiles and Amphibians. This is part of the reason why we can have millions of alligators and tens of thousands of pythons in my home state of Florida, but far fewer Panthers, Black Bear, etc.

Before we delve into the “how to” of it, it should be important to note that some species and some areas are protected, and one shouldn’t resort to reptiles and amphibians as a food source unless it is necessary for your survival. Practice, of course, is essential with any survival skill so recreationally looking for herps (or “herping”) without the killing/eating angle is suggested this side of TEOTWAWKI. It’s an enjoyable pastime with vital applications. This is, however, not a guide on herping but on survival with herps as the vessel.

Your first objective when faced with the need for food is to find a body of water: ponds, wetlands or any other standing or slow moving water will do. Such bodies of water, even if they are temporary and completely lacking in fish, are a permanent fount of sustenance. This is because, on the whole, aquatic environments are much more productive than terrestrial (land) habitats. More productivity translates to more wildlife, which translates to more food available - And unlike deer, hogs or many other game species this wildlife can be readily apprehended with a little skill and no equipment (though a flashlight can’t hurt.)

Flashlights, of course, should be a part of any sane person’s bag o’ tricks: if you don’t carry one on your person, it is advisable to at least keep one in each vehicle you own. My own preference is for a flashlight that takes a large number of readily available batteries (AAs are the best), and has extremely dim (for extended use) and extremely bright (for tactical and hunting use) settings. My suggestion is for the Fenix TK45 or Fenix TK41, which both run on 8 AA cells and can last for months of sparse nightly use on low, and can make the sun envious on their highest setting.

The most abundant food source you’ll find in and around most bodies of water are frogs. Of course it is no secret, especially in the southeast, that frogs can be a delicacy – the best way to find them is to walk around the margins of your selected body water and be ready to pounce. Most frogs will quickly jump into the water before you see them, but this does not make them impossible to catch: a little practice will go a long way. There are also many species, such as tree frogs, that will remain perched among lakeside vegetation and motionless – relying on camouflage rather than speed.

Without doubt, if a flashlight is available or on nights with bright full moons, warm evenings can be the best time to find frogs out and active. In the absence of flashlights, many frogs are also visible during the daytime. Either way, move slow and keep your eyes peeled. Perhaps it is counterintuitive, but when the rain starts falling this is often the best time to get out and get looking, resisting the urge to hunker down and wait for inclement weather to pass. Rain, even on a chilly night, is often a cue for all sorts of frogs and toads to wake up and start calling and breeding, and breeding frogs can prove for easy targets, as they are understandably distracted. Learn the calls of the biggest, meatiest frogs in your area (In much of the country that will be the “jug-o-rum” call of the Bullfrog) and target them on such rainy nights.

It should be noted though that some species of frog possess toxins in their skin – but most are harmless to humans. As with toxic plants, sampling a little bit of any frog species before partaking of a full meal is suggested, watching out for symptoms such as upset stomach. Oftentimes a simple lick after extended handling will result in a foul taste, revealing a given frog’s toxicity. Once again, Bullfrogs are the most widespread and largest of frogs likely to be encountered in the U.S., these are not in the least toxic. In all but the most desperate of situations, it is advisable to eat only the limbs off any frog, more for palatability concerns rather than health concerns. Frogs can make for easy preservation as well, their porous skin making drying a small task on a sunny day.

The meatiest of reptilian meals, however, are certainly turtles. Turtles can be found in every state in the continental United States and are easy to catch if found in wetlands or shallow ponds. During the midday sun, they can be found scooting through the shallows. Many creeks across the northeastern U.S. also have them, and one large snapping turtle can easily cure hunger pangs for a few days. Turtles are largely harmless – and this includes even the “dreaded” snapping turtle, which is completely unable to bite if handled properly with one hand on the shell behind the neck and one at the base of the tail; but realistically for eating purposes one would not be handling a live one.  Springtime will also bring turtles to nearby high ground for nesting. Nests can be easily found by looking in such areas around wetlands and finding areas of recently disturbed ground, excavating and finding the tasty morsels – hopefully before the raccoons do.

Then, of course, there are the snakes. First, it’s worth to say that if you’re afraid of snakes you needn’t be. I know; such fears are often primal and difficult to overcome – I find however, that knowledge of a subject (or faunal group, in this case) typically dispels any fear of it. Snakes are beneficial as pest control as well as food for a variety of animals: maybe even you someday. You may laugh at such a thought, but there was once a detestable invertebrate that was abundant and so loathed that it was fed to prisoners in New England: nowadays it costs in the double-digits per pound. I’m speaking of the Maine Lobster of course. All this to say that stranger things have happened, regardless, in the interest of your own survival researching the snakes in your area and their preferred habitats is an indispensable tool.  

Venomous snakes are, of course, a concern. The venomous snakes should be the first snakes in your area to learn: it is often best to do this by finding them in the field under the watchful eye of an experienced snake hunter (believe it or not there are a lot of them) until you develop “the eye” for differentiating snake species. Even venomous snakes will not try to attack you under normal circumstances. I purposely seek out snakes on a near-daily basis and have only been pursued by one of the thousands of snakes I’ve come across. Most will attempt to escape, or they will be defensive. By defensive I mean they will bite if harassed, but will not pursue if you keep a safe distance. In a survival situation any venomous snake can be safely dispatched from a distance by any number of primitive tools: sticks, thrown rocks, machetes, et cetera. I should state once again that I am strongly against killing snakes except in a survival situation: many species of snake are in danger of extinction because of needless killing by humans.

There are a few ways I typically go about finding snakes. The first method, called road cruising, will be largely impractical should gasoline be in short supply, so I’ll skip over this method in favor of the latter two. Snakes and other tasty morsels will often take cover under discarded tin and boards in the woods, in fields and other areas with good habitat. “Flipping,” as it’s called, is best suited for cool times of year (55-75 degrees is ideal) and can be extremely productive especially in the Midwest, western U.S. and parts of the southeast, where the remnants of an abandoned building can potentially yield many individuals. I find that the longer a specific piece of debris (often called “A/C” or Artificial Cover) remains in an area, the more productive it becomes and vegetation underneath dies and food sources such as mice and rats move in. Also of interest for locating snakes would be to simply mimic the methods described for frogs and hike around wetlands for them in the evening; as many aquatic snakes can be seen while hunting fish or frogs this way. [JWR Adds: Based upon my amateur field herpetology experience in my teenage years, I can vouch: You can easily make artificial covers with scrap plywood, OSB, composition house siding, or roofing sheet metal, to form a "trap line", of sorts. You simply attach (with screws or nails) some random length scrap 2x4s to the bottom of the sheeting scraps (of any shape from roughly 2 feet to 4 feet square.) In open fileds they should be positioned about 200 feet apart. The scrap 2x4s elevate the board just enough to be inviting to large snakes. Just be very careful of poisonous snakes or arachnids when you do your flipping!]

Hopefully, when things go south fast we’ll all be tucked away in our homes, compounds or bunkers, rifle firmly in hand with a year’s worth of food at our back – but the future is without doubt unpredictable and our own situations are often impacted by the choices (poor or otherwise) of others. Put simply: none of us are God and any of us could potentially get caught with our pants down. The best route is to have confidence and to have the varied skill set to back up that confidence. When building this skill set, be sure not to forget the things that creep.

Wood is one of the most readily available materials for homestead construction projects and is also an important fuel source for many of us. I’ve always loved forests and trees, so I drew on my experiences growing up in Alaska and my work in the timber industry in Western Washington to write this post. 

If you are lucky enough to own your own forest, I highly recommend the book A Landowner's Guide to Managing Your Woods by Hansen/Seversen/Waterman.  This book will give you an excellent overview on how to keep your forest healthy and profitable, as well as giving you a broad overview of the logging industry. 

You are most likely already familiar with some logging tools. The most versatile and important tool is the axe, and you should have several. I prefer a double bit axe for felling and a single bit for limbing and pounding in wedges. Antique/junk stores can really help out here, as old axe heads of high quality can be had on the cheap often only needing to be sharpened and cleaned of rust. Supplement your limbing axe with several small hand saws.  A Peavey is another important tool that consists of a long lever with a hook for rolling logs. Again, you may be able to find one on the cheap at an antique store. Make sure to have a good supply of plastic felling wedges, which come in very handy when you are felling trees with a funny lean to them, as they take pressure off the saw when making the back cut. When using a chain saw, never substitute metal wedges for plastic or hardwood, as this could result in severe damage or injury if the chain makes contact with the metal. For moving logs, you will want a choker, a cable that can be wrapped around the end of a log to drag it from place to place. Additionally, you may want some extra cable, a come along, and few blocks or shivs.  For some larges species of tree to be cut by hand, you may need a spring board, which is a 2 x 4 with a steel spike at one end. Placed in a tree above the gnarled flare of the tree, it allows the lumberjack (or lumberjill) to make cuts with axes and saws in the softer, narrower part of the trunk. If you are going to be doing a lot of felling and bucking, you will want a logger's tape measure to ensure you buck to just the right length. Otherwise, you can use an ordinary tape measure for the job. 

Every prepper should have at least one large crosscut saw, preferably a two-man. Some of the older saws are superior in quality and craftsmanship, but ones in good condition can be very expensive. There are kits available for sharpening crosscut saws, and you will need to get one of these as well. Sharpening crosscut saws was specialized work back when they were in wide use, and it is a skill I have not mastered. Youtube has a few excellent videos on the step by step process for this, but I think the best way to really learn is to find someone who is willing to teach you. Another tip to make your lumberjacking easier: If you look at photographs of the old time lumberjacks with their “whips of misery,” you will often see what looks like a whiskey bottle off to the side. These bottles were filled with the oil used to lubricate the saw to make cutting through large trees easier. 

After you've cut a few trees by hand, you will think of a chainsaw as your best friend. I’ve always been a skeptical about keeping machines running post TEOTWAWKI without the benefit of substantial stockpiles of fuel, lubricants, and extra parts which most of us can't afford. The one machine I make an exception for is the chainsaw. There is no power tool more versatile to the homesteader. Besides its obvious use for felling and bucking logs, it makes log construction a much easier task. Post-TEOTWAWKI, I believe that anyone with a reliable chainsaw and a good stockpile of premium gasoline, 2 cycle oil, bar oil, chains and spare parts will be able to trade their services for a high price. In one afternoon, a man with a chain saw can do the work work that 24 men with crosscut saws did in a day. When electricity is unavailable, the chainsaw can be pressed into use for carpentry projects as well. Of course, keeping a low profile may make using a gas powered saw unacceptable, so always have the much quieter crosscut saw as a backup. 

Although there are many brands of chainsaw, Stihl and Husqvarna are the only two that I trust. Both of these brands have saws at the lower end of the price range that are intended for the suburban home owner market. Avoid these and choose a saw that is professional grade. The Stihl Farm Boss is a good choice for many people. It is a reliable saw, big enough for most tasks that a homesteader has to take on, but light enough that it can be used by smaller folks. In keeping with the “two is one” mantra, I recommend that you have multiple chainsaws of the same model, as well as spare parts.  

With a little maintenance, you can keep a quality saw running correctly with minimal problems. The most important preventative maintenance you can do is cleaning the air filter often. Remove the filter and use an air hose to clean it out from the inside and remove the junk that it accumulates. If you don’t have access to an air hose, you can use a can of compressed air duster for electronics. Use quality 2 cycle oil, this is definitely one place not to skimp, ideally from the saw’s manufacturer. For bar oil, you might be able to find cheap stuff at Wal-Mart or the like. Some folks I know use old motor oil for bar oil. This is not a good idea because the viscosity is different from real bar oil, and may damage your bar. Additionally, bar oil is biodegradable, which will help ensure the health of your forest. Some important spare parts to keep around are extra bars, air filters, chain sprockets, and a cylinder replacement kit. You will need lots of extra chain, which can be purchased in bulk rolls from Bailey’s, an online logging supply store. 

For safety equipment, a hard hat, Kevlar chainsaw safety chaps, eye and ear protection, and boots with excellent ankle support are musts. If you are going to be doing a lot of logging, you will also want a pair of caulks (pronounced ‘corks’), which are spiked boots for walking on slippery logs and soft hillsides. 

An important thing to understand is that felling trees is the easiest part of the job. You make your cuts at the butt end of the tree, and gravity does the rest. Moving a tree that weighs several tons once it is on the ground is much more difficult. For the logger working without the benefit of heavy equipment, felling timber in exactly the right place can mean the difference between successfully harvesting the tree and leaving it on the ground to rot because you are unable to move it. The best resource for learning about safe felling is a booklet from the State of Oregon entitled “Fallers Logging Safety,” available free as a PDF online. Follow safety procedures and stay within your skill level. Nothing can replace hands on experience, and I can't emphasize the importance of proper falling technique enough. Seek out real experts who will teach you the safe, correct procedures for felling so that you can develop good habits (as with many aspects in life, people who tell you they are experts are often anything but).  

Hand logging is the art of moving timber to the mode of transport with human power. Old time lumberjacks would typically work a hill side from the bottom to the top. Trees would be felled across the hill, limbed, and the rolled downhill to the stream, sea, road, or railroad by lumberjacks using peaveys. Sometimes, trees would be felled down the hill on top of several small logs laid perpendicular to the larger tree. The log could then be skidded down the hill on a path made of these smaller logs. Moving large logs uphill is going to be nearly impossible, so make sure you always fell trees into the best position for being moved. 

The sheer difficulty of moving large logs without heavy equipment may necessitate the adoption of building techniques that use shorter, smaller pieces of timber. My friend and former employer lived on the tree line in the mountains of Alaska where most of the timber was on the scrawny side. Never the less, he was able to build a sturdy log cabin with spruce logs that he cut to lengths of  6’ to 12’. If you live in an area with a good snowfall, winter can be the best time to harvest timber, as logs are much easier to drag across the spring’s firm snow pack than the summer’s uneven forest floor. A snow machine (called a snowmobile by you lower 48ers) is excellent for winter timber harvest because they can get to areas inaccessible by wheeled vehicles. A timber sledge for a snow machine is easily constructed by using two long 2x6s as runners, allowing you to haul long logs for cabin ridgepoles and larger structures. Another reason that winter is an ideal time for harvesting timber is that the sap will all be in the roots, meaning there will be less moisture content in the wood, always a consideration for firewood. Spruce and Douglas Fir harvested for cabin logs in the winter will be perfect for peeling in the spring. Often the bark can be removed in large strips using nothing but a hatchet. 

During summer months, you can use trucks and ATVs to harvest timber, vehicles with a winch being especially useful. Using a choker, logs can be dragged out of the woods to the road or trail so that you can pull them to where they are needed. The problem with this is that you will be restricted to only those areas accessible roads and trails. Another primitive way to move timber is with draft animals, giving you a much better option for those hard to reach timber stands. I think for any sort of large scale post-TEOTWAWKI logging, this is going to be the only way to get any real logging done unless fossil fuels are still available. Without machinery and only human power, you will reduced to using only the smallest logs, greatly diminishing the size of structures that can be built. An Alaska mill another possible solution to the problem of moving timber without heavy equipment.This device uses two chainsaws to form a primitive sawmill. With one of these, you can rip felled trees into lumber while still in the woods, allowing you to avoid moving large logs. 

On a closing note, my favorite story from the Hebrew scriptures has always been the story of Gideon, one of Israel's judges. It is a story about faith versus doubt, the importance of watchfulness, and God giving victory to the righteous in the face of overwhelming odds. While doing some research the other day, I was interested to learn that Gideon in Hebrew means "destroyer," "mighty warrior," and also "a faller of great trees." Happy cutting, and stay safe in the woods.       

JWR:
To make the most sense of this note, please refer to the SurvivalBlog archives for the December 22, 2011 original post with an update March 29, 2012.
 
The range of feedback to the post and update ranged from supportive to beyond hostile--which was more or less what I expected. Those critical to the "Barter Store" concept mostly missed the premises--that at least in some smaller, conservative towns/cities, small-scale commerce will help preserve order and civilization; security is handled and will not be a driving issue; that "preppers" have stocked up on and will be willing to sell/trade/barter some small/compact, useful, in-demand items to others who need or want them in exchange for either silver coin or similar items they forgot; and that your leadership could make a difference.
 
The suggested stocking list is relatively unrelated to your personal prepping list. For example, you don't have to be a coffee drinker to realize others who are will be anxious to trade for it, if you have it available. So, we are speculating on those tradable and useful little things others have forgotten. And, even you--dedicated planner and prepper that you are--will forget an item or two you might need or want that you might be able to trade for (or barter or purchase) if you have a reasonable inventory.
 
Here are a few additions and modifications to our working list, with rationale (the numbers refer to the sequence we used on the previous posts)--
 
1. Alcohol. The original recommendation was to purchase a couple of cases of miniatures (airline-style bottles). These could probably be used as money as well as consumed, bartered, sold, or traded. I have noticed that the liquor stores sell these as multi-packs of ten (10) bottles as well as loose bottles. Instead of buying cases (too much $ to be spent for many preppers), you might consider keeping the cost down by putting away a few of the multi-packs. That way, you could also stock several different "flavors" without breaking the bank. You are not limited to hard liquor, BTW. Just about every supermarket or liquor store that sells wine also sells multi-packs of inexpensive red and white wines in single drink (one glass) bottles.
 
3. Tobacco. My US Army LTC son (who has just returned from his umpty-umpth trip to that nasty hole in the map) has pointed out to me that the troops will want snuff, not cigarettes. If there will be young men around (especially military, but not limited to them), add several dozen cans to your stock. These are also available (multi-packs of 12) in the "cage" at the wholesale clubs (too expensive to buy individually at the C-store).
 
4. Ammo. Do you remember I said this was mostly out of my lane? Plenty has been written elsewhere on SB about what you should stock, but I have a couple more thoughts: Put away some ammo (cans of .175 "field loads") and CO2 cartridges for the pellet guns--useful for plinking doves, squirrels, ...and rats. 
 
Here's one so easy/cheap I'm surprised no one else has suggested it. I have a couple of inexpensive slingshots and extra rubbers I picked up at Wal-Mart, but you don't need to purchase these. The Post Office (yes, the P.O.) uses big rubber bands by the ton to bundle mail. Next trip to the P.O., take a plastic grocery bag with you. Hand the bag to the friendly clerk and politely ask for some rubber bands for a "project." They have a full mail cart of these somewhere in the back and you'll probably get a bag full back. You can repackage these in Zip-locs for DIY slingshot construction. When I was a kid, we tried to make slingshots out of cut up inner tubes (remember those?). These never worked very well, but big rubber bands do.
 
21. Bikes. I thought of these as I was inventorying my Y2K leftovers (used almost everything over the years, but had some miscellany in a couple of boxes)--bike locks. When I was in basic training (BCT) a million years ago, someone asked the drill sergeant why we needed to secure (put locks on) our foot lockers. He answered instantly--"So we do not make thieves out of honest men." After TEOTWAWKI, it would be a shame to lose a bike ...just because it wasn't locked. I have a couple of "Kryptonite" locks left in stock. There are plenty of combination lock cheapies out there to do the job--Ask any college student.
 
32. ED meds. Condoms--another wholesale club purchase. Wasn't sure where to put this; this is as good a place as any.
 
Thanks, James, for the opportunity to continue to build our "stocking list." All reader suggestions welcome - A.A.A.

Digging fighting positions, trenches, and emplacing various obstacles take a great deal of time and effort.  The greatest danger in emplacing obstacles is not being thorough enough due to the difficulty involved.  Stringing out wire and actually driving the pickets into the ground not only gives you good practice as how to physically create the obstacle but also gives you an idea of the challenges you will face and how long it takes to put up 100 lineal meters of obstacle.

Triple-strand concertina wire obstacles consist of two rolls of concertina wire side-by-side on the bottom with one roll on top.  From the side, the obstacle resembles a pyramid.  I will be going through this obstacle and how to emplace it, because it is the most difficult of all wire obstacles to breach and much easier to emplace than a concrete, wood, or earth barrier.

Resources Needed
It is possible to emplace obstacles by yourself, but it ends up taking much more time alone than it would with a group of two or three people.  Concertina wire or razor wire tends to snag on itself, so it’s better to have one person on each end of the coil instead of letting one person struggle through stringing out wire on his own.  If you have another person willing to help, he can get ahead and lay out pickets every five paces or five meters and dropping coils of concertina wire every 20 meters. 

You need a pair of wire gloves for each person stringing wire.  Heavy-duty leather gloves will work, but since concertina wire has little nasty razors on it, it can cut up a pair of leather gloves pretty badly if you are not very careful.  If you are a novice or are planning on emplacing several hundred meters of concertina obstacles, you might want to get some reinforced wire handling gloves to protect yourself more adequately.  The military grade gloves are heavy-duty leather gauntlets with staples in the palms and underside of fingers to prevent the concertina wire from snagging the leather.  If you feel industrious, you might be able to improvise something like that with a pair of leather gloves and a heavy-duty plier-type industrial stapler with ¼” or 5/16” staples.   Otherwise, just hold onto the two handles on each end of the concertina coil and be careful to grab the wire between the barbs when you place it on the pickets, and you should do fine.  You will also need a pair of heavy-duty wire cutter pliers for each person stringing wire.

If you are able to get the military grade pickets with the built-in wire loops and the corkscrew bottoms, then that will make life somewhat easier on you in respect to tie-offs to the pickets.  However, using regular green steel "T-Post" agricultural fence pickets presents no problem whatsoever.  You would want to purchase T-Post or U-channel 2 ¼” x 2 ½” x 7’ tall pickets.  You can buy these at most big-box hardware stores or at a farm supply store.  Don’t forget to buy one or two post drivers as well.  If you have ever tried to drive a picket into the ground with a sledgehammer, it’s not fun!  I’ve seen soldiers nearly get into fistfights from the sledge head glancing off the picket and hitting his buddy’s hand instead.

The concertina wire itself is critically important.  Concertina wire is different than razor wire in that when it is expanded, it acts like a concertina or an accordion.  The wire itself is typically spring steel inside of a metal sheathing which has the barbs mechanically attached to it.  Since it is not just a single strand of wire, it is difficult to cut and in the concertina configuration, you must make four cuts to get through a single coil of wire.  If you are purchasing concertina wire, you want a medium sized blade on your wire and you will want to get it in manageable lengths of 20 meters or so.  Along with your concertina wire, you will need barbed wire for triple the length of obstacle you wish to emplace and you will need a roll of baling wire to make your ties from the concertina wire to the pickets.
Be sure to wear jeans, durable pants, or surplus BDU trousers when you string wire, since it will take bites out of your clothing if you are not careful.  Wear a long sleeve denim shirt or a surplus BDU blouse to protect your arms from nasty gashes.  If you are planning on taking down the obstacle later, the best way I have found to store concertina wire is by cutting ½” plywood to size and making a giant sandwich with the wire pancaked in the middle.  Concertina wire snags on everything including itself, and this method keeps all of the barbs between the two pieces of plywood.  And to transport using this method, just drill two pairs of holes on each side of the boards and tie the sandwich together with some parachute cord.  String the cord through the matching pairs of holes in a U-shape and you can make a handle on each side of the sandwich to make it much easier to carry. 

In summary, if you have a three member team emplacing 100 meters of triple-strand concertina wire, this is what you would need:
3 Pair Reinforced wire handling gloves
2 Post drivers
2 Pair of Wire cutter pliers
63 7’ U-channel pickets
15 Rolls of 20 meters of concertina wire
3 Rolls of 100 meters of barbed wire
2 Rolls of baling wire

General Guidance on Obstacle Emplacement
The first thing to keep in mind when emplacing and obstacle, is that it MUST be observable [by defenders]!  You can have the most formidable obstacle in the world, but if it is unobserved, the enemy also has all the time in the world to dismantle your beautiful obstacle without you ever noticing.  The terrain will dictate the routing of your obstacle.  For instance, if you were emplacing an obstacle over a ditch, you need to make sure you follow the contours of the ditch instead of going straight over it, creating a tunnel underneath your wire.  If the ditch were deep enough, you might lose visibility on your obstacle, so you might need to reroute it to get around that blind spot or what is otherwise called “dead space.”  If you can see someone breaching your obstacle, but you have no weapon that has a long enough range to stop them, your obstacle is too far from your position and is utterly useless. 
If you are emplacing an obstacle as a perimeter, you need not worry about where you start or end.  But if you are using an obstacle to slow an enemy avenue of approach, you must tie the start and end of the obstacle into a terrain feature.  If you are in rolling mountainous terrain, you might want to start the obstacle against a boulder and end it against a steep cliff.  Your obstacle does no good if the enemy can follow it and find an easy way around it. 

Which is precisely what an opposing force will do when they encounter your obstacle: try to find a way around it without having to breach it.  Keep that in mind and put yourself in the shoes of someone raiding your land or trying to loot your home.  The best obstacles channel your enemy where YOU want them to go.  And when the enemy finds that “easy way around” they run right into something else very unpleasant.  In general, you want to make it nearly impossible for an assaulting force to come straight at your position.  You want to force them to meander and zigzag through your maze of obstacles, meeting traps on the way and all the while being harassed by rifle or small arms fire.
If you are thorough in setting up your obstacle and consistently drive pickets deep and tie off your wire to the pickets, the enemy will have a very difficult time breaching it.  They are looking for that one spot where you ran into rocky ground and could not drive the pickets deep enough.  If you know where you had to fudge it, count on the enemy figuring that out too.  If you do need to emplace an obstacle across asphalt or concrete, you need to use steel posts with a bolt plate at the bottom, so that you can anchor it to the concrete or asphalt.   Generally speaking , try to avoid placing wire across concrete or asphalt if possible.  

Why Triple-Strand Concertina?
I commanded tanks during my time in the U.S. Army, and a tank can absolutely crush anything on the battlefield.  We had ammunition for bunker, buildings, and field fortifications.  So jersey barriers or earthworks were no big deal.  We had ammunition for shooting helicopters, trucks, troop carriers, other tanks, and dismounted infantry.  There were only four things that I knew of which could stop a tank: land mines, a really deep and wide ditch, a river, or a triple-strand concertina wire obstacle.  And since a tank is the most deadly threat possible, anything less doesn’t stand a chance.
You would think that a tank could punch right through a triple-strand concertina wire barrier, and it can.  It would crush the pickets like toothpicks and stretch the concertina wire until it snaps like a rubber band.  And then the nasty part begins.  The tank tracks pull the concertina wire inside the suspension, winding it around the drive sprocket, road wheels, and support rollers until the tank has a huge rat’s nest of wire tangled throughout the suspension, and it then throws a track.  A tank without track is a bunker. It is still a formidable threat, but tanks are much better at killing threats at a distance.  If you get close enough to a tank, particularly on the sides and directly behind it, there are blind spots where the crew cannot see you and you can assault the tank without receiving fire. 

Tankers know what happens to a tank when they try to breach concertina wire.  They know you can drive through single or even double strand if you are lucky, but that triple-strand barrier will mess up a tank’s suspension so badly, that it takes a crew hours to cut all of the wire out of the suspension and track by hand.  I know this, because it happened to me when we sucked up a roll of single-strand concertina wire lining a road on an airfield.  It took about three hours to cut it all out of the suspension.  We were working with our sister platoon on another airfield in Iraq, and one of the tanks actually wound the wire between the road wheels and behind the wheels on the road wheel arms, pushing the center guide of the track out of its notch between the pairs of road wheels.  When that tank commander rolled up to our tank line, you could hear the distinctive POP, POP, POP of a tank which is about to throw track.  He had not wanted to open the tank skirts and cut it out in the field due to how vulnerable he and his crew would have been to potential sniper fire.  Consequently though, he created a much nastier problem as described above.  My soldiers and I had feelings ranging from disgust to a healthy respect of what concertina wire could do to a tank’s suspension, and I venture to say most tracked vehicle operators share those notions.     

The only way that the U.S. Army trains to breach triple-strand concertina wire obstacles is with explosives.  You have to literally blow it up, because you cannot effectively cut a hole through the obstacle any other way.  A quick word on why I would not recommend just single or double-strand concertina wire obstacles.  All you need to breach a single-strand obstacle is to get a running start and jump over it!  All you need to breach a double-strand concertina obstacle is a piece of plywood that you flop down on top of the wire and walk right over it.  Neither of those methods would work on a triple-strand obstacle though due to its height and the amount of pickets and wire holding the obstacle together.

Obstacle Emplacement
You will need to lay out the first 20 meters of materials before you start.  Throw down three pickets and three rolls of concertina at your starting spot, walk five paces and keep dropping three pickets repeatedly until you get to 20 paces or roughly 20 meters.  The training manuals recommend that you use two small pickets for your lower coils and a long picket for the upper coil on your beginning and end of the obstacle, but I disagree with this method.  It makes it much easier to dismantle the obstacle at the beginning and end.  You want to drive your pickets about a foot down with all three in a straight line as if you were starting to string three parallel barbed wire fences, leaving about 2’ between each picket.  Look at the width of the roll and make sure you are not stretching the wire with your picket spacing but that it is taut when dropped onto the pickets.  Make sure your pickets have the U-channel facing the enemy and pry out your wire hooks a bit from the picket, so that you can more securely tie off your wire to the pickets with baling wire.

At this point, you can start stringing out your lower two rolls of concertina wire.  If you have standard military concertina, the coils will have two handles on each end.  And if the rolls do not, you might want to fashion a couple handles out of baling wire for each end of the coils.  Stringing wire goes more smoothly if one person stands in place and the other person walks backwards while you both shake the coil like a Slinky, so that the barbs release from each other.  String the coils outside of where you will drive your pickets down the line, so that you can more easily put the wire onto the pickets once they are in the ground. 

Come back to your first three pickets and place the end of the inner coil over the top of the inner and center picket.  Take the other coil of concertina toward the enemy and place the coil over the outer and center picket.  Now you cut a few 6” lengths of baling wire and tie the rear coil to the inner picket and center picket and the front coil to the center picket and the outer picket.  Put a couple of twists in your tie off and bend the ends down, so that it is difficult to pull apart without pliers or wire cutters. 

Go to your next three pickets on the ground and drive those into the ground with the same spacing as before.  Take the inner coil of concertina and place over the inner and center picket.  Take the outer coil of concertina and place over the center and outer picket.  Then tie off the concertina wire to the pickets.  This process repeats for the bottom two coils until you reach the end of your concertina wire rolls.  As you place the bottom two coils, go back to the starting point and attach barbed wire to the center picket about 12” off the ground.  Then you weave the barbed wire through the two coils of concertina to join them together by going along in front or behind the obstacle and pushing the small roll of barbed wire in and out between your two lower concertina rolls.  This is a pain, but it makes the two bottom coils very secure as one unit.  If the enemy tries to lift the outer coil, they will then be lifting the inner coil too and will not be able to slide under your obstacle.  This and tying off your wire to the pickets are those little things that make the difference between a formidable obstacle and something that can be bypassed in a matter of minutes.

You want to string the wire between each group of three pickets taut but not so tight that it stretches and looks misshapen.  If the wire is strung so loosely, that you can crawl underneath it by prying it up with a branch, you need to string it tighter.  Check your obstacle as you go.  Shake the pickets, jerk on the tie off points, and try to pry up the wire at the base.  If you find any weaknesses, adjust accordingly.  You might need to place your groups of pickets closer together if you have rolling terrain, or if it is easy to dig under your obstacle.

If you are putting up this obstacle in response to some crisis event, I would advise finishing the entire obstacle in double-strand concertina first and then going back to throw the last roll on top along the whole obstacle.  If you run out of time, it would be better to have a complete perimeter with double-strand than to have it half completed with triple-strand. 

Once you have completed the first section of 20 meters of double-strand, go back to the starting point and put your top roll of concertina onto the center picket.  Tie off the end of the top coil very securely to where the top of the roll meets the picket, because if someone tries to go over the top of your obstacle, this is going to be holding the weight of that log or other breaching material.  Tie off the bottom of the top coil to the middle picket as well.  Looking at it from the side, this top coil will be bisected by the pickets when you are done tying off the coil to the center pickets. String the top roll out to the next group of three pickets and secure the roll in the same way over the top of the center picket.  In the same way that you wove barbed wire between the two bottom coils, you will weave the wire between the top coil and the two bottom coils to join them.  This way, the enemy cannot try to pry their way through the middle of your obstacle by simply lifting your top coil of wire off the pickets and smashing the bottom two coils, making a tunnel to breach through it.  If you are using green U-channel pickets, it would be wise to string one more length of barbed wire to keep the top concertina roll taut by suspending it like a clothesline near the tops of the two center pickets.  Remember to wrap your barbed wire around the pickets a couple times to maintain tension as you continue to string it between the coils of concertina wire on both the lower coils and the upper coil.

When you get to the end of your first 20 meters of obstacle, you will need to start with new rolls of concertina wire.  You will notice that the ends of the concertina rolls have a convex and concave part to them.  You will have these two loops at the end of a roll, because of how the wire pattern stops.  In order to securely join the end of a roll to the beginning of a new roll, you need to place the bottom loop of the old roll over the picket then the bottom loop of the new roll over the picket.  Then you place the top loop of the old roll over the picket and then the top loop of the new roll over the picket.  You are alternating, so that you do not have one roll of wire sitting on top of another when it is placed on the picket.  Tie off both the old and new rolls to the same picket.  This will make a very sturdy continuation in your obstacle so that the enemy will not be able to exploit a weakness between your rolls of wire.  The barbed wire running through the rolls will also aid in reinforcing this transition.  Repeat this same procedure for the top roll later once you start stringing your top coil on the next 20 meters of obstacle, alternating putting the bottom loops and top loops of the old and new rolls of wire over the center picket.  Then join the rolls together with baling wire and tie both the end of the old roll and the start of the new roll off to the same center picket.

Continue this process for emplacing triple-stand concertina until you tie the end of your obstacle into a natural feature such as a boulder or cliff or you complete your perimeter.  Be sure that you tell everyone in your prepper group or family that you are putting up a concertina obstacle, because I have personally run into obstacles emplaced by soldiers during the daytime which I could not see at nighttime when I returned to the base and had to figure out where they put the entrance to the perimeter.  If you have created a 360 degree perimeter with your obstacle, depending on the size, you might have only one entrance or two if it is a larger perimeter.  Mark your entrances with a small handkerchief or a partially masked glow stick at night until everyone knows where they are. 

Your entrance should be directly opposite of the most likely avenue of approach by the enemy.  You should have the entrance at the backdoor of the property for tactical purposes.  If the road dead-ends at the front of your home or you have a driveway, you might need an entrance there for practical purposes but in cases of imminent attack, that entrance needs to be well sealed and the backdoor would become your primary entrance since it is the furthest away from the path of the enemy. 

Continuously Improving Your Position
Once you have completed emplacing an obstacle, you are never really done with it.  Over an extended period of time, obstacles need to be checked periodically and repaired as needed.   Obstacles and barriers should work together in concert in order to fortify your defensive plan.  As you continue to fortify, obstacles should be implemented in defensive rings around a position.  If we had just completed emplacing a triple-strand concertina wire perimeter around a homestead, we would continue fortifying by driving in pickets along the entrance to the property in preparation for a layered concertina wire roadblock.  We could also add tin cans or bells tied to the wire in order to hear if anyone was tampering with the obstacle at night.  We would add tanglefoot obstacles in front of our concertina, so that before they ever approached the main obstacle, the enemy would need to tiptoe through another obstacle.  If we had a long drive coming up to the house, we would emplace concrete jersey barriers, so that any vehicle would have to serpentine through the barriers toward the house without being able to accelerate.  Depending on the situation, threat, and terrain, there are numerous layers of defense which you may add to harden a position and make it very unpleasant for anyone attempting to harm those you care about.

The Schumer has hit the fan. Hyperinflation has crushed the economy, an EMP has disabled the United States, or some other disaster has brought TEOTWAWKI.
And you’re not ready. Your retreat isn’t stocked up, or you haven’t found one that fits right. Or you have, but you’re far away from it. You’re stuck in the city when the SHTF, or you’re out traveling and you’re far away from your new home. The credit-card infrastructure has sizzled. Your credit card is only good for opening insecure doors. All you have is the cash in your wallet.
Travel to your retreat, if you have one, is now out of the question. The highways are jammed and plane service is gone. You’re stuck where you are, or face a hike that may last weeks. Panic is beginning to spread; at the Wal-Marts, it’s a new Black Friday or worse. People are beginning to run for food, gas, generators and other obvious survival goods. Pollyannas are still legion, but their ranks are thinning as the SHTF news sinks in. Where you’re at is becoming dangerous.
Time is short; you need to survive. You need to prepare to job-hunt.

Where The Jobs Are
Should a TEOTWAWKI disaster strike, the only jobs worth having will be in the countryside. You may have to hoof it. If you’re in a strange locale, then find a Pollyanna and ask him where the farms and populated woodlands are. These locations will be the booming areas for TEOTWAWKI jobs. Farmers have food; so do woodsmen. The overlap between the two is the place where fellow survivalists are going to be. Where there’s food, where there’s land that can tide over survivalists, there’s work.

What Job To Go For
The most obvious job, if you’re an old hand with a gun, is freelance security. It seems like an easy line to get into, especially if you’ve worked security pre-disaster. The growing mobs will have the farm folks sweating. There’ll be a demand for security personnel once the criminals and gangs figure out they’ll have free rein. It’s the obvious job to aim for, right?
Wrong. Betting your future on a security job is a trap.
There are two reasons. First of all, thieves will pretend to offer security services to case the properties they intend to loot. They’ll also pretend to be law enforcement to gain entryway to sack and pillage. Even now, there are criminals that pretend to be police officers to gain entry into unsuspecting homes. If you’re a farmer or prepared survivalist, once the SHTF, you’re going to remember those stories. You’ll remember them like you remember the flash mobs now.
Secondly, organized criminals will take advantage of the anarchy to prey upon innocent farmers with the oldest gouge known to organized crime: protection rackets. They’ll offer “security” services as their shake-down.

Everyone with sense in the countryside will be cognizant of those two dangers. Since you’re a stranger, they won’t know you. So, beating the bushes for a security slot is much riskier than it appears. Not only are you likely to be turned down hard, but you’ll also acquire a bad reputation. You’ll be lumped in with the predators, even though you’re not one. The strangers you’ll be canvassing can’t give you the benefit of the doubt.
Even a world-class disaster can’t eliminate the grapevine. Once you’ve been pegged as a potential predator, word will spread: count on it. You run the risk of being treated like a real one.

With security out, unless you’re lucky to be canvassing regions where people know you already, what is the best job to go for?
The easiest and most-in-demand skill you can offer TEOTWAWKI job market is one you might not have thought of: firewood cutter.

Firewood cutting is ideal in a disaster scenario because it’s still labour-intensive. The need for firewood is obvious. Depending on the time of the season, the need might be urgent. There are Pollyannas in the farm belt too; it’ll take some time before they realize that the diesel they depend upon won’t be available. In the interim, they’ll turn you away because they think their heavy equipment is labour enough. If they have regular slots, they’ll be reserving those regular jobs for their regular hires. The only exception to this rule will be farmers who use migrant labour in harvesting season. If you’re lucky enough to be near those openings, you’ll have little to worry about – provided those farmers aren’t flooded by your fellow refugees.

Farm jobs will come into play once the farmers realize that their machines are inoperable – once the disaster sinks in. In a sense, an EMP attack is advantageous because reality will intrude on Pollyanaish fantasies quickly. Within days, farmers will realize that their agribusiness had better be shifted towards subsistence farming. They’ll be needing a lot of farm hands then. Finding a job won’t be that hard, especially if you’re unarmed and don’t show a fighter’s reflexes. You can bet a case of MREs that you will be sized up for threat potential by your prospective employer.

If disaster doesn’t strike suddenly, all but a few farmers will stay stuck in the furrow of denial. Hiring farm hands to work on land that’s cultivated by machine is counterintuitive to a farmer stuck in Pollyanna Land. He’ll see it as an unnecessary step backwards, and anything you say won’t convince him. He’ll have to wake up on his own. Under these circumstances, manual farm labour like seed planting is a new kind of job that most farmers will see as obsolete. They have to see the new reality for themselves. 

On the other hand, there’s already a labour market for wood cutters. It’s already an established line of work. Someone who has a need for your services won’t need to make the mental leap that farmers will. Unlike farming, timber felling isn’t fully mechanized. It still requires lumberjacks to work the chainsaw and use the axe for the limbing work that the chainsaw can’t do.

How To Prepare
Preparing for a wood cutter’s job isn’t that hard once the SHTF. If you have a couple of hundred dollars in your wallet, then you can equip yourself adequately. Crowds and Black-Friday-style riots won’t be a problem unless you go to Wal-Mart instead of a locally-owned hardware store. When everyone has food on their mind, who in their right mind would buy an axe, a bow saw, a sharpening stone for them? Only someone who thinks ahead – someone like you. That kind of thinking will be in short supply once the SHTF.

Don’t buy a hatchet or camp axe unless you have the money to spare for a secondary. The most versatile tool will be a three-foot single-bit axe. You need the extra leverage that comes with a long handle and wide swinging arc. [JWR Adds: You will soon find that you'll need one or more felling axes, plastic felling wedges, single bit utility axes, a buck saw, splitting mauls, steel splitting wedges, several files, and at least one sledgehammer. See the previous discussions in SurvivalBlog for details on timber felling saws, crosscut saws, and buck saws. Without a chainsaw, the most labor intensive work will be crosscutting the rounds for splitting. Buy the very best crosscut saw that you can afford. It is not realistic to think that someone can carry all of their gear on their back. See the many previous discussions in SurvivalBlog about garden carts, deer, carts and bicycle trailers. ]

If you have a choice, go with wood handles. Fiberglass is promoted as better than wood, but wood handles have been around for much longer than fiberglass[, and can be fashioned by hand from some hardwoods like hickory]. I’ve never broken a wood handle on a snow shovel; not ever. But, I have broken the handle of a fiberglass shovel near the blade. A disaster scenario is the worst time to learn that the manufacturer’s claims are hyped-up, or that your axe has been designed to fall apart a month after the warranty expires. Wood is tried and true. If you can carry it along and can afford to, an extra handle would be prudent. You will need a hammer and something solid to get the old handle out. A red Robertson screwdriver will do the trick, but if you want to be safe, also pick up a punch and chisel. Those will work if something happens to your Robertson. [JWR Adds: Be sure to also buy rubber bumpers to protect the handles of your mauls and sledges. This prevents most of the typical handle breaks.]

You might not have your BOB on hand. If not, grab a tool bag and add it to your shopping basket. You’ll also need any waterproof fire-start kit that the store has on hand. Unfortunately, beggars can’t be choosers once the SHTF, so you’ll have to go with what in stock and hope for the best.

A 36-inch axe weighs three and a half pounds, which won’t be that big a load. If you’re strong and can afford it, consider adding a 5-pound splitting wedge and a sledge hammer to your woodcutting kit. Ten pounds and up is best for the sledge, but that might be too heavy if you are traveling afoot. Eight pounds will suffice. Again, the wood handle is tried-and true, so get wood if you can.
As for the bow saw, a twelve incher can suffice for cutting off branches and limbs. You can use the axe for anything bigger. Make sure you get at least three spare blades for the bow saw and the right kind of screwdriver for the blade. If not absolutely sure, buy a multi-screwdriver.  

You should consider the hammer and wedge, despite the weight, because showing up fully equipped makes you look more professional. Remember, your potential employers will be on the look-out for beggars and camouflaged criminals. The more ready-to-work you are, the better your chance of landing the SHTF job.  It might be tempting to buy a chainsaw, but [if your concern is societal collapse,] don’t bother. How are you going to lug around the gas? If you’re not going to lug the fuel, then why carry around a chainsaw at all? Your employer should have one: if not, then [it will be in a circumstance where] he’ll be glad for your axe.

Once you’re through at the hardware store, find a convenience or dollar store that isn’t too crowded and get that cooking glove. Also, get quart and gallon Ziploc bags. Put the sharpening stone in the smaller and the entire package in the bigger. Do the same with your fire starter. Then, get any food items you’ll need for your journey.

How To Land The Job
In TEOTWAWKI, the "Human Resources" infrastructure will vanish. That will make finding a job more straightforward. There won’t be any more résumé-and-interview songs and dances.
On the other hand, you’ll have to canvass rural folk who are on their guard. When approaching them, be non-threatening. Hide your hunger and tiredness, else you’ll come across as a beggar. Once you see someone, leave your axe strapped to your belt or in your pack.

If you’re hustled off, go quietly, peaceably and cheerfully. Thank him for his time. The more you establish yourself as a nice guy, the better. That way, the grapevine network will work to your advantage.  
If not, don’t make the mistake of asking “for work.” The more general you are, the more you’ll sound like a beggar. Don’t ask for “work:” ask for a wood-cutting job. Be specific, and show that you’ve got the equipment; that will anchor you as a serious journeyman.
Be polite and respectful, and try to be as “normal” as you can. Being courteous taps into the unconscious hope that things will get back to normal soon. That hope is the secret behind “leadership.” You might as well tap into it while job hunting.

Ask these three questions:

1. “Do you have any wood-cutting work you’d like done?”
2. If you get a no, then: “Do you know of anyone else who needs wood laid in for the winter?”
3. If you get another no, then ask if your prospect has any other work he’d like you to do. 

If the final answer is no, see if you can stay awhile and chat. Needless to say, there’ll be a lot to talk about. Although the goal is to make the grapevine work in your favor, you’ll appreciate the company. After five minutes or less, head down to the next prospect; if one’s not in sight, ask where the nearest neighbor is. If you’re hiking to your own retreat, ask where the nearest neighbour is in the direction you’re going. Rinse and repeat until you’ve landed something. Stay as upbeat as you can.

Payment
In TEOTWAWKI, consider yourself fortunate if you get paid in room-and-board. A berth then will be just as prized as a permanent job with full benefits is now. Unless your employer’s food runs out, you’ll get through until normalcy is restored. Once you’re hired, and do a good job, you’re a good worker. A good person to have around. If you’re lucky enough to be hired by a farmer with a wood lot, then you’ll be first in line once he realizes that the Schumer has truly hit the fan. Once he knows he’ll need labour to replace the tractors and combines that don’t work or have run out of diesel, you’ll be first on his list.

If you’re not lucky enough to land a farm berth, ask your employer how you can be useful in other ways; look out for other tasks he needs. The wood job might not last, so it’s best if you can leverage it into dogsbody work unless you’re on a journey. If you plan to be itinerant, if you’re trying to get to friends, family or your own retreat, ask for a bonus once you’ve proven yourself. Food, of course, is best; MREs would be a real boon. Of course…you might end up liking your berth enough to stay. Either way, you’ll be truly blessed.

Preparing Beforehand
The above advice is contingent upon you being caught unprepared. If you are, you’ll find out quickly which muscles you need to swing an axe and handle a bow saw.
But, if you want to prepare for TEOTWAWKI labour beforehand, there’s no better time to start than now. Get the axe, extra handles, sharpener, bow saw, spare blades, 5-pound splitting wedge(s) and sledgehammer. The basics will cost you less than $300. Once you’ve got your kit, get out and practice a lot– preferably in your retreat, where you can also gain experience in using and maintaining a chainsaw. If you don’t have one, do the best you can at your locale. If you have a house, either find a legal place to cut wood or purchase a cord of wood in rounds and split it further.
If you’re stuck in an apartment, your situation will be a little more challenging. Contact the volunteer services who look after seniors in your area. Ask the field staff if any of the clients have a fireplace. Once you’ve got a name, go over and volunteer to split wood for them. If you don’t get any names, try putting a “help available” ad on Craigslist. Ask for a name from every seller of firewood in your locale. With the practice, you’ll find out what muscles you need to build up. With respect to workouts, keep these two points in mind:

1. Fatten up. When the SHTF, having “six-pack abs” only means you’re closer than most to starving. There’s no need to become obese, but a small beer belly or fat thighs will mean stored energy that’ll keep you alive longer.
2. Work Out To The Task. There’s a bit of a vanity component to even a sound workout plan. Consider Sylvester Stallone in the movie Rocky Balboa. He had pythons for arms, so he could swing an axe all day long – but his chest was flat. He didn’t develop the pectoral muscles that you will need for the sawing. Buttonhole someone who knows anatomy to ask what your hurting muscles are called, and find workouts that strengthen them. A Google search will pull up all the routines you need.
3. Take Up Hiking. Not only is it great exercise, but it also prepares you if you’re caught flat-footed. You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to find out that you’re a stiff stumbler after five miles.

Conclusion
Unless you’re fully prepared and already at your retreat, you need a backup SHTF plan to keep yourself alive and housed. The best way to do so is employment. Since it’s highly unlikely that your current expertise will be in demand in TEOTWAWKI, wood chopping is an ideal field to get into because people will need wood to survive. You can prepare for it on the spot if the SHTF and you’re caught unprepared. You’ll be zigging while others are zagging to Wal-Mart.

Acting professionally, showing up prepared for a specific line of work and asking for that kind of work, will set you apart from the beggars. Even if you’re turned down, you’ll still be respected. You might even get a different kind of job out of it.   
And, in your own small way, you’ll be helping to build a post-TEOTWAWKI free market. As a free worker, and as a free human being.       

I learned to cook out of necessity - I was raised by my grandmother, and she was one of the worse cooks, ever! However, she managed to raise 9 children and myself, but her cooking ability was lacking. So when I was quite young I started experimenting in the kitchen and learned to cook on my own. Of course, over the years, I learned a lot from other folks along the way. And, being from Chicago, and being Sicilian, I learned to cook some great Sicilian style Italian meals. My pasta sauce is next to none. Now, with that said, I can't bake for diddly! That's my wife's department. So, when I received the Family Grain Mill from Internet Prepper,  I turned to my lovely wife for her assistance. She was raised on a ranch, and knows quite a bit about baking and cooking from scratch.
 
The Family Grain Mill can be had in different configurations - you can have a complete "system" with the right attachments. You can set-up your Family Grain Mill as a stand alone set-up, using the hand-crank for those times when the power is out. Or, you can use the optional stand alone electric motor attachment. If you have some other kitchen appliances, like the Bosch or Kitchen Aid mixers, you can attach your Family Grain Mill to those for faster wheat grinding with an adapter attachment.  And, it's very easy to alternate between using the hand-crank or the electric motor. What my wife really liked about the whole thing was that it was extremely quick and easy to set-up. She's not mechanically minded, and doesn't enjoy having to read through a long list of steps to put something together.
 
The quality of the Family Grain Mill is outstanding - made by Messerschmidt in Germany, for the past 27 years. This is top-notch in all respects. However, this mill isn't nearly as expensive as some other mills on the market, in fact, it is quite a bit less expensive - and I enjoy saving a buck whenever I can, while still getting the best quality I can afford. These days, we all need to spend our hard-earned money wisely. Any more, if something isn't a "deal" in my book - I'll just pass on it. I've got to get the most and best I can afford. Made from premium Lexan and hardened surgical steel burrs, and BPA free, the mill is capable of a lifetime of dependable service.
 
Fast, light, and easy to use, this was important to my wife (and, "no" I still don't know how to use it-- I just watched my wife). A cup of fine flour is produced in approximately one minute from wheat grain, with the electric base installed and just two minutes with the hand-crank installed. More importantly, the hand-crank base turns easily, even a child can turn it. The large 5-cup open-top hopper allows for continuous grinding, too. Another feature the wife liked is that clean-up is fast and easy, and dust-free. Everything removes easily and quickly for cleaning. The Family Grain Mill is one of the quietest mills on the market, too.
 
Some of the things the Family Grain Mill is capable of grinding are: wheat, oats, corn (not popcorn), rye, spelt, barley, rice, most beans, coffee, flax seed, sesame seeds, dried herbs, dried peppers, dried peas and other foods. My wife ground coffee beans and  lots and lots of wheat. This was a "difficult" test and evaluation period for me,  for the past month and a half - hey, someone had to test and evaluate all the different types of freshly baked breads that my wife made - yeah, a "dirty" job, but I was up to the task. And, other than pizza cooking in the oven, there isn't anything better smell in my kitchen, than fresh bread baking. I made a lot of "sacrifices" for Survival Blog readers, doing all these taste-testing, but I was up to the task. There is also a meat grinder attachment, and that would be great for grinding-up some venison during hunting season.
 
Oh yes, you can also get a variety of additional food processing drums for the Family Grain Mill, that will allow you to grind nuts and larger seeds such as pumpkins seeds, sunflower seeds, hard cheese and baby food. There is another drum for Julienne for soups, one for slicing for dehydrating veggies, one for grating, and yet one more drum for making mash potatoes, squash and pumpkins - great for souffles.
 
There is also a flaker attachment for the mill, that will roll and flake: oats, wheat, rye, spelt and flax seeds. You can make your own oatmeal at home or even cream of wheat. My wife experimented with quite a few different recipes and dishes, and came up with some very cool things for us to eat. One of my favorite breads she made was a wheat bread, almost flattened, with Jalepeno peppers cut-up small, inside the bread itself, and in the final few minutes of baking, she added sliced Jalepenos on top the bread with cheddar cheese - mouth-watering good!
 
Quite frankly, I never once gave any thought, to storing buckets of whole wheat - I just figured that we could use white flour - and we have hundreds of pounds of it stored-up, for making bread, pancakes and other things during hard times. However, to be sure, pre-ground white flour won't last nearly as long as whole wheat will. On average, if whole wheat is properly stored, and the buckets left unopened, the whole wheat can last 25 years or longer. Try that with a bag of white flour - ain't gonna happen. We found some great buys on whole hard white wheat and hard red winter wheat at the local Wal-Mart. We only rarely shop at Wal-Mart for a number of reasons, one is, we don't especially enjoy supporting the Red Chinese economy in the least. We have found, that Wal-Mart is carrying a small section of freeze-dried and dehydrated foods in #10 cans, as well as 26 pound buckets of wheat - priced under $15 per bucket - and that's a deal. Needless to say, we have a good number of buckets of wheat in our stores now - and as soon as the local Wal-Mart restocks their shelves with more wheat, we plan on buying more. However, for the most part, we prefer to take our business to other local stores, whenever possible - just a personal thing with us.
 
Now that we have the Family Grain Mill, I'm wondering, how we ever got along without it for all these years? Any more, in the local grocery stores, the cheapest white or wheat bread is $1.50 on-sale, and there really isn't any nutrition in this bread, and for the most part, it is pretty tasteless. My wife hasn't hardly made a dent in one bucket of whole wheat, and she has baked quite a few loaves of bread and other things. Now, if you could buy this same bread in the local grocery stores, it would easily cost you $5 per loaf. For less than $15 for a 26 pounds of whole wheat, we will make dozens and dozens of loaves of bread - fresh-baked bread, with nutritional value as well. For the little bit of time it takes to grind-up your wheat, and put it in a bread-maker, and let it bake, it's hard to find any fault at all with the Family Grain Mill, and the ease to use it. Of course, during the times when there isn't any electricity available, you can still bake bread a number of different ways, and you can still use your Family Grain Mill with the hand-crank attachment, to grind-up your wheat or other foods.
 
Notes from my wife:  Finding a recipe for 100% whole wheat bread was difficult.  Most recipes called for regular flour with just a small amount of whole wheat.  This is a basic recipe she found that is light and easily adapted for variations; and can be kneaded by hand and baked in the oven or done in a breadmaker. It is for one loaf of 100% whole wheat bread.
     1 1/2 cups warm water
     2 Tbsp. powdered milk
     2 Tbsp. margarine or oil
     2 Tbsp. honey
     2 Tbsp. molasses
     1 1/2 tsp. salt
     3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
     1 1/2 tsp yeast or l pkg.
 
Some optional variations to the recipe:
1. 1 1/2 cups water and powder milk can be replaced with all water, all milk, or a combination of milk and water.
2. 2 Tbsp. honey & 2 Tbsp. molasses (total 1/4 cup) can be replaced with all honey, 1/4 c. brown or white sugar, 1/4 c. maple syrup, or reduced to about half the amount of sweeteners for variations in tastes.
3. I also understand part of the whole wheat flour can be replaced with other flours like rye, bulgar, cracked wheat, etc.
 
She also found some tricks that make 100% whole wheat bread lighter.
1. Run the grain through the mill twice for a finer, lighter flour.
2. To minimize gluten with the same effect for light bread, shake whole wheat flour through a wire mesh strainer and even dump in the bran or coarser pieces that don't sift through.  It does NOT work if you sift through a crank sifter. (for whatever reason this works -I can't explain.  I tried it and got nice light bread.)
3. Knead bread for 20-30 minutes.
 
There are various options you can add to your Family Grain Mill. However, the basic mill starts at only $139.95 with free shipping - making it one of the least expensive grain mills on the market. However, I highly recommend adding some options to your grain mill. If you have any questions, contact the Internet Prepper, and they will be more than happy to help you in your decision making, or answer any questions you might have. They are selling a quality product, at a great price and the free-shipping only makes the deal that much better if you ask me.
 
If you're serious about long-term survival, then you need to look at the Family Grain Mill, and start turning out some of the best home-made breads you'll ever taste. Store bought breads just don't cut it for us any longer.
 
Note: This article was co-authored by Mary Cascio

In keeping with our well-entrenched philosophy of redundancy, we now have five ways to cut firewood at the Rawles Ranch: 1.) A reliable (but noisy) Stihl 024 gas engine chainsaw with a 20" bar, 2.) An assortment of felling axes and mauls, 3.) an early-1900s vintage 1-1/2 man saw, 4.) A Makita electric chainsaw that can be powered by quiet a Yamaha 2.8 KW inverter genset carried in the back of our utility ATV, and 5.) An even smaller Black & Decker 18-Volt cordless electric chainsaw. (The latter lacks the muscle for anything more than cutting saplings or for limb cutting. I bought an Ultimate Battery backpack battery to give it three times running time per charge. And BTW, this same battery can also be used with my Dewalt brand 18 VDC cordless tools, when using a different battery pack adapter.)

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Citizen Shooter Saves Officer with Amazing Shooting: A 66 Year Old Texan Vic Stacey Puts Four 357 Magnum Pistol Rounds into a Killer Rifleman at 165 Yards

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F.J. suggested: Make Shingles from Aluminum Beverage Cans

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Cat parasite that worms into humans' brains can drive victims to suicide. (Credit to Pierre M. for the link.)

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I noticed that our SurvivalRealty spin-off web site now has more than 120 active listings, including our first one in Ecuador.

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H.L. sent: Living in a 70 square foot floating cabin.

When people stockpile food they like to stick to the basics; beans, rice, and pasta. The one crop I would like to include to this list is corn. The corn I will be talking about is fresh corn and not the canned corn you can buy all year round. Unlike rice and pasta, many people have the ability to grow more corn if they run out. With beans you have limited ways to prepare it. Corn on the other hand can be used in many different ways.  From one ear of corn you can collect enough seeds to grow enough corn to feed a family.  Corn is not only a lifeline for the Navajo people but a sacred plant that is part of us.  We use every part of the plant as we would an animal. The two varieties of corn that are used are white and blue corn. White corn can be found in your local supermarket in the summers as well as grown at home. Blue corn never sold in super markets and would need to be grown at home. Seeds can be found online and I would suggest Hopi heirloom seeds.  I would like to share a few of our traditional recipes and uses of this wonderful plant with everyone who reads.

Steamed corn
Possibly one of the most common preservation methods we have is steaming and drying corn. This is a delicacy because of the amount of work involved.  As a plus, the corn can last years in storage.   White or yellow corn is best used for this method.  In order to do this you must first build an oven. Our ovens are usually made out of sandstone blocks arranged into an igloo shape and stand 3 ½ feet high and 4 feet across.  The roof is formed by metal pipes that are placed side by side and stacked until they form a corbelled dome.  A door and an opening on top will need to be left opened. The door will later be closed off with another large sandstone slab. The roof opening will need a round metal barrel lid that is big enough to cover the opening.  The exterior is then covered by 2-3 inches of mud and left to dry.  The end result will look somewhat like a Navajo Hogan or pueblo oven.  Before starting your fire it is best estimate how much corn will fill your oven.  Our oven usually takes 4-5 wheel barrels to fill our oven. Hard wood is burned inside the oven until it becomes coals and is spread out evenly. While the fire burns down get a mud pit ready with mud soaked potato sacs and a gallon of clean water ready.  The water will be used to steam the corn.  The potatoes sacs are needed to plug holes and seal the doorway once the oven is filled.    You will then need to collect and stack your corn. When stacking your corn pile it helps to place the tops with the silk side facing your oven.  That way you will be grabbing the top and tossing and flipping it in, so the tops point towards the exit door.  This makes it easier to pull out and prevents the bottom and back corn from catching on fire while the rest are being thrown in.  Once everything is in place, line the roof with mud around the edge of the opening. This mud will be used to seal up any holes on the roof once the round metal lid is dropped.  It is best to have 3 or more people helping out because speed is important if you do not want to burn the corn on the bottom of the oven.  Then start to quickly toss the corn into the oven through the door.  Seal the door with the stone slab when you cannot toss anymore corn in. Then plug the edges with the potatoes sacs and cover with mud to trap in the steam. Keep filling the oven through the opening on the roof until it is full.  Prepare to finish by having one person hold the metal lid at an angle on top so it can be quickly dropped once the gallon of water is dumped into the oven.  Quickly dump the water and drop the lid closed.  Push the mud onto the lid and the surrounding area to close off all holes where steam may escape.  It helps to spot the small openings by dumping some water and wetting the outside if the oven.  The corn is left to steam for 10 hours or overnight to cook.  The corn will be hot and steam can quickly escape when opening the oven, so use caution.  A shovel or hoe can be used to take the corn out safely.  The freshly steamed corn can be eaten or dried.  To dry simply husk the corn leaving two or three leaves on the ear of corn.  Tie the two ears together using the left over leaves and hang to dry. Once dried, the kernels can be taken off the cobs and stored to be used in stews. The following are some recipes:

Roasted corn
A simpler alternative to steam corn is dried roasted corn. This can be done by husking fresh corn and roasting it on a wood fire to infuse more flavors into the corn. It is then left out to dry. Once dried it is ready to be stored or to be used in stews
Cornmeal
Cornmeal is uncooked dried corn that has been ground into a fine texture. Once in this state it can be prepared different ways such as corn bread or used as a creamer in coffee.  If you have a favorite pancake recipe you can substitute the flour for corn meal to have corn pancakes.

Blue corn mush
One popular way of using corn meal is to make a blue corn mush. To make this, start by straining a tablespoon of juniper ash to 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.  The ash is there to provide both coloring and vitamins and minerals.  Then slowly whisk in 3-4 cups of blue corn meal.  Continue stirring until you have a texture similar to running cream of wheat.  Eat just as you would cream of wheat.

Blue corn dumplings
Making blue corn dumplings is very similar to blue corn mush. Start by boiling a tablespoon of juniper ash in 3 cups of water.  Stir in 6 cups of corn meal and continue to stir until all lumps are removed and corn becomes dough like consistency.   Once the corn is cooked remove from the heat and kneed the dough. Shape the dough into little balls and dropped into a stew or boiling water to create dumplings. The dumplings will make its own gravy and add flavoring to the stew and water
Blue corn bread
Blue corn bread is a simple corn bread recipe which resembles a hard flat tortilla.  Similar to hardtack once it hardens, it becomes difficult to eat without soaking in liquids.  To make blue corn bread boil 3 cups of water with a tablespoon of ash and a tablespoon of salt.  Stir in 6 cups of corn meal with a whisk until the cooked corn becomes a dough consistency.  Remove from heat and kneed the dough into a flat bread loaf.  Place on a skillet and brown on both sides or bake in the oven.

Kneel down bread
Kneel down bread is another delicacy.  It requires a lot of fresh corn to have decent size bread. Start by first getting a pit dug in the ground about 3 feet wide and 10 inches deep. Start a fire inside the pit and until the wood becomes coals.  The recipe is easy because all it asks for is fresh corn and nothing else.  The corn you can buy at a grocery store or pick from your garden if you have one.  You start off by cutting the kernels off the cobs.  Then grind by hand or with a blender into a mush consistency.  If you will be eating the bread right away with no intention to dry, you can add small bits of meat, green chili, or other vegetables to the corn mixture. Rinse the husks that originally wrapped your corn with water and air dry.  Place your mush mixture inside a husk and wrap with additional husk as you would with tamales. Remove the coals from the fire pit and place on the side.  Place your kneel down bread into the pit and cover with the left over husks.  Cover the husks with enough dirt to prevent the husks from catching on fire from the coals.  Place the coals on top of the dirt, like you would with a Dutch oven.    After baking for an hour you can dig your bread out.  To dry your bread simply cut it into small 1/2 inch cubes and dried. The dried kneel down bread can be rehydrated with stews, milk, or other liquids. 

Once the ears of corn have been picked the rest of the stalk can he used to feed animals. The cobs themselves can he dried and used as fuel for your fire or pellet stove. I hope you enjoy these recipes and choose to add this wonderful vegetable to your dry storage. 

As a newbie prepper I have gone through the emotional progression of realizing my lack of preparedness.  It started with the feeling that something bad was going to happen now!  This quickly subsided, followed by the overwhelming feeling that I must act now.   This impulse quickly digressed to the obvious and most important step in my preparedness action plan, honest self-evaluation.  With the growing database of information on preparedness, I felt overwhelmed with my apparent lack of knowledge when it came to surviving.  I had less than a week’s worth of food in my home, no guns, and a vehicle that ran on prayers.  I could not believe I was so unprepared and had so few skills (or so I thought.)  Being a somewhat of a pessimist, I had to change my way of thinking, if I was going to implement a successful preparedness plan.  Being confident in the skills you have, and being confident in your ability to gain skills and knowledge is paramount in proper homesteading/preparedness. 

Growing up in rural Arkansas I had what I consider a farm-boy education.  I was also fortunate enough to have a few lakes and rivers within 20 miles of my home.  Like many young men that grow up outside of the city, I gained the confidence to shoot shotguns, hunting rifles, pistols, and could fish with the best of them.  I also learned basic animal tracking skills, how to recognize deer trails, squirrel nests, when the fish were more likely to bite, and various other commonplace occurrences that are found in North American outdoors.  My parents were middle-class, 50hr/wk, hard-working folks.  To earn extra income they would buy houses in need of full renovations, move our family into them, and make them new while adding a few more dollars to their checking account upon the sale.  They were house “flippers” before it became a television show.  I was entering Jr. High school when this “flipping” lifestyle began (mid-1990s), and was entrenched in the world of carpentry and home renovation.  My father was not the patient type, yet insisted on teaching me every skill necessary to improve our current dwelling.  I learned to tile floors, replace countertops, build cabinets, frame small structures, and use all the basic tools for the jobs in the process.  From a hammer to a table saw to a sewer snake, I had to learn.  This lifestyle continued until I left for college in 2003.  Throughout college I regained my love for the outdoors with camping and weeklong backpacking trips on the Buffalo River Trail.  I learned to pack light, clean my drinking water, cook food on a campfire, and how to entertain myself and friends miles from televisions, or radios.  I never put much thought into what those times were doing for me.  I simply viewed it as a great time camping with friends. 
I left institutional education to work for a company that provided cold food storage and transportation for the frozen food industry.  I was a shop foreman with 4 mechanics and metal fabricator working with me.  For the next three years I learned to completely rebuild diesel motors, gained a complete understanding of the principles of refrigeration, and all skills necessary to repair it (soldering, torch basics.)  We repaired semi-trailers with minor structural damage as well.  I learned to use air sheers, riveters, various welders, as well as working with a broad range of materials.  The culmination of all of these skills broadened my understanding of the requirements to do many repairs and fabrications as well (time involved, tools, manpower, supplies.)  I got married during my time working at the shop, and I made the decision to go back to school in order to pursue a new career.

I began school full time and worked at a pharmacy full time as well.  I was instantly certified in CPR, formally trained in the understanding of drugs, their uses, and dangers.  I worked hand in hand with healthcare professionals, gaining the knowledge of drug therapy, and disease management.  This was extremely beneficial, due to my lack of understanding I was forced to look up and learn numerous biological principles as well as conversion math for liquids powders, creams as so on.  The pharmacy job slowly progressed into a full time position in corporate headquarters for the large retail company.  This has provided the opportunity for me to work hand in hand with data security technicians.  This has further broadened my basic knowledge of computers function and security as well as communication skills and team management. 

At present I look to attack this task of preparedness.  In order to be successful you must have the right mindset.  Check!  You must evaluate your current physical inventory. Check! And you must evaluate your skills that pertain to survival.  Sometimes this task alone is the toughest to wade through.  You can buy items on a list, you can count your beans, but it takes mental fortitude to tell yourself you can do something and go the next step to admit you could use some practice and learn to be better at a few things.  The time to decide if you have a particular skill and learn it is now, not during TEOTWAWKI.  Below I will provide an example of the process to evaluate your hard skills and create a list to work on your weak ones, as to not be overwhelmed by not knowing where to start or “learning it all.”  With the information provided in earlier text I will reference the hard skills that I am confident I can use, and those that require a re-visit in the near future.  I prepared a simple chart that ranks my proficiency of each skill.  This simple rating system could apply to many aspects of preparing, but for now I use it to keep my skills sharp.  It is ranked as follows;
 1=no knowledge of skill
 2=have seen skill used in person, but never attempted skill firsthand
3=attempted skill first hand at least once
 4= familiar with skill and use it once a year
 5=use skill monthly/proficient
This list is not in order of necessity.  All items on the list are necessity when surviving TEOTWAWKI.  The rank will help you determine your skill needs.  The key to building your skills is not to make one more important than the other, but to maintain proficiency in, or firsthand knowledge of all.  This list is not meant to be definitive.  It is a personal evaluation of what you believe will benefit you in your particular situation.  You can sort it however you like (alphabetically or by importance.)  The list below is a snippet of pages of skills I have, plan to perfect, or acquire as I move through this life.

Another important aspect is evaluating the skills of your immediate household.  For me it’s my wife and children.  My wife is a great homesteader in the kitchen.  She cans fresh veggies, meats, etc.  My youngest child has an eye for garden pests and animal health.  There are many skills that your family can help supplement.  Do not assume you need to max out 5’s in all of your categories.  Take into account your collective abilities and do not let this list become a negative reminder of what you are not doing.  Maintaining that positive mindset is the key to getting better.  And we all want to get better!  Similar to practicing your emergency exit plan, incorporate your family when you choose to practice your skills.  This will ease your mind as well as theirs and help you keep focused on the important prep work. 

The list could go on as long as you wish, and is meant to do so.  I, like many preppers, am becoming more aware of the benefits of organization in all aspects of my life.  The list you create will only preserve your current intentions of becoming self-sufficient, and allow you to see the progress you are making.  This in turn should help negate some of those feelings of not knowing what steps to take first, as well as giving you direction.  The difference between those that do and those that want to do is simply that.  Doing! As I stated early in my post, it can be overwhelming for most people to know where to begin.  By using a ranking system for your skills and keeping a solid inventory of them, it will build your confidence to move forward and take those necessary steps to survive!   I update my list a few times a year as I see fit.  I talk with my wife and children about skills that they would like to acquire or have been practicing.  Please do not forget that just because you are not an expert does not mean that someone else isn’t.  Seek professionals with the skill sets you wish acquire and learn what they have to offer.  Even a simple conversation could teach a trick or two about starting a fire with no matches, or keeping the slide on your weapon better lubricated while exposed to dirt and moisture.  Remember, if you knew it all you wouldn’t be reading this.  Happy prepping.

Hello James,

We had a hurricane watch here in Long Island, New York today, and I raced home with my kids relaxed, knowing we had food and water for a month minimum. That is because of your blog. 

I was thrilled to read Jean's article on how to make a quilt. My mother is a master quilter. I am writing to let people know that dryer lint is an excellent quilt filler. If you hang you out your clothes, terrific! But if you use a dryer, do what I do, and put your dryer lint aside in a bag. You can use your long strips of dryer ling as quilt filling. But you can also use it as a last ditch cotton swab (dryer lint is mostly cotton, with some polyester and hair. It is made of whatever fibers your clothing are), and as a fire starter. Just shove some dryer lint into a toilet paper tube, and melt the drip from old birthday candles on each end, and you have a terrific fire starter. iI store mine in freezer bags. One thing I would add about the quilting is that is is best to use a combo cotton/poly thread. Pure cotton thread will shrink with each washing, and create a clumped quilt after time. Also, discarded tube socks are a great filler layer. Just cut off the tops, baste them together, and you have filler! - K.O.L.

Quilters tend to be perfectionists.  However, quilts have been used to keep our poorly-furred bodies warm for centuries.  When you just need warmth, and not a perfectly crafted heirloom, a quilt is just the ticket.  Utility quilts can be made from discarded items around the home, as long as you have a needle and some thread.  A quilt is merely 3 layers, fabric/insulation/fabric, stitched together to keep you warmer.  In a perfect world we all have our Wiggy's, but in a real-life situation, especially with the economy these days, that perfect scenario may just not be possible.  Also, remember that we will always be surrounded by folks who have not prepared as well as we have.  My grandmother told me that during the depression, she and her friends would frequently get together and make a quilt for a neighbor who was sick.  Knowing how to make a utility quilt is a good way to help out with a low budget. 

In the "old days," quilts were highly valued, often being listed in the inventory of homes in early America and Europe.  In the days before abundant fossil fuels, people knew that the warmer they could stay at night, the less fuel they would require to heat their homes.  A few quilts on top of you, and a feather bed underneath, and you had luxury.  Also, the elder women, who could no longer work in the fields, could make simple quilts and contribute to the family welfare, especially if there were children around with good eyesight to thread the needles for them.

"Quilting" is actually the process of stitching the various layers together to make one thing.  Quilting is not creating the top of scraps, it is the part where you put the layers together and stitch them to hold them into a useable object.  For instance, the knights of old wore quilted doublets, garments fashioned together in layers to protect the upper body.  The "quilting" was the process of putting the layers together and stitching so that they stayed together, and the insulation stayed put.  People today tend to think of quilts being complicated affairs of designed colors blended into a beautiful top, but actually there are many beautiful quilts made from a solid piece of cloth, called whole-cloth quilts.

First thing you need is some kind of fabric for the top layer, or "top."  When the word "quilt" is mentioned in conversation, someone invariably mentions denim, like the stuff jeans are made from.  Now, don't get me wrong, denim quilts have been made, and they are rugged.  They are also heavy.  And when you want to stay warm, heavy is not what you want.  To properly insulate yourself from the cold, you need trapped air, and if the top layer of the quilt is of a heavy fabric, it squishes down the insulation and just doesn't keep you as warm.  Lightweight is the key here.  Old t-shirts work fine, but the best choice would be a lightweight woven, similar to a man's dress shirt fabric.  Old sheets work well.  Quilting perfectionists insist on cotton, but in a TEOTWAWKI situation, we would not be able to be that picky.  Fabric made from a partial percentage of polyester has the advantage of being extremely durable, but remember please that it melts in a fire.  If you do have cotton, try to rip a section of it to make sure it is not rotten.  Rotten cotton rips very easily.  Save that stuff for the insulation layer.

I tend to think of making a utility quilt top similar to construction of a butcher block.  First you need blocks of fabric to make strips, then you sew the strips together.  It is easy to see that the bigger the pieces of fabric you have, the less sewing you are going to have to do.  However, if we are reduced to making the best of what we have, there is no better way to use small pieces of fabric than to make a quilt top.  Take a shirt, for example.  "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" was my grandmother's mantra.  When the elbows wore out of a shirt, or the cuffs, she made it into a short-sleeved shirt.  When the neck wore out, she would make it into a dish-drying towel by cutting and hemming a large piece of the back.  That left the buttons, and some smaller sections of the front.  These smaller pieces, she made into quilts.  Every scrap was used somewhere.  Smaller long strips she saved to tie up her tomato plants.  After she passed away, we found a box of fabric strips for this purpose up in the top of her closet.

So, say you have some pieces of fabric at least 8 inches tall, but of various widths.  Cut them into tall rectangles, each one 8 inches tall, and as wide as you have enough fabric to make them.  Sew these blocks together, right sides of the fabric together, keeping at least a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  If your seam allowance is bigger, you can trim it to 1/4 inch, to allow for easier quilting.  If you have access to an iron, you can press the seam allowance to one side.  For those of you who are sewing-challenged, here is a picture.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parts_of_a_plain_seam.png

If you have access to a sewing machine, you can do the piecing on it.  However, many beautiful quilts were made using just a needle and thread, and I find that sewing by hand calms my spirit and relaxes my soul, as well as helps me pass long winter hours when I cannot garden.  One of the most complicated quilts I have ever seen is the one made by Jane Stickley of Vermont, in 1863, during the civil war.  I think that perhaps Jane wanted to make the quilt as complicated as possible to help her pass the maximum amount of time making it.  The entire thing is hand pieced.  You can see a picture and read about it here.

For your simple utility quilt, it is okay if one strip is, say 10 inches tall, and the next strip is only 4 inches tall.  As long as each strip is consistent all along the length, that is all that matters.  Your quilt top will not lay flat, however, if you do not keep the edges fairly square and straight.  On the quilting forum, linked below, there are quilters who are extremely careful about seams and flatness and cutting, and you can find help there if you are so inclined.  For our purposes here, finished is better than perfect.  I made my first quilt with a pair of scissors and a piece of cardboard for a straight edge, and it is still one of my daughter's prized possessions.  Now, I use a rotary cutter, special clear plastic rulers, and a measured cutting surface, but fancy is not what we are aiming for here.

After you have your strips pieced together as wide as you want your finished quilt to be, you can sew the strips together, right sides together, along the long sides.  Keep up this process until your quilt is as long as you need for it to be.  Ironing between each strip is helpful to maintain flatness, and will show you where the problems are.  Most seamstresses have to rip out a seam every now and then, it happens to the best of us, so don't get discouraged if it happens to you.  Do make sure all the seam allowances are on the underneath side of the fabric. Trim the whole thing straight.  I find that laying it out on the floor helps here, and I measure it and make sure it is square using the linoleum tile in my kitchen.

Second, you need some kind of insulation for the center layer.  Many things we have around our home will do, anything that traps air molecules.  I recently tore apart an old quilt from my grandmother's house because I was curious as to what she used for the center layer.  Much to my surprise, she used whatever she had around the house.  There was part of an old, but tattered quilt in there, as well as part of an old blanket, part of an old towel, and one patch where it looks like she took some stuffing out of an old pillow and spread it around.  She just spread the stuff around making a layer of insulation.  You will need to be able to stitch through it, and it needs to be washable and free of bugs.  Other than that, pretty much anything goes.  Keep in mind that if you use loose insulation, say, hair you have brushed from your dog, you need more quilting to hold it in place.  If you use something that is already in a layer, like an old blanket, not much quilting is needed to stabilize it.

Third, you need a bottom layer.  An old patched sheet works well here, and actually cheaper sheets are better than expensive ones with a high thread count.  The higher the thread count, the more tightly woven it is, and it is a little harder to quilt through.  If you just have smaller pieces for the back, you can sew them together to make a bottom as big as you need, but it is more difficult to quilt through seams, because of the extra layers of fabric.  If you plan on tying your quilt, as described below, it is not a problem.  The bottom layer needs to be at least an inch wider and longer than the top layer, all the way around, so you can turn it up and make the edge.  Two inches would be even better.

As an aside here, my grandmother once told me that during the depression, it was not shameful to patch a sheet, but if you got to where you had to put patches on the patches, it meant you were poor.

To layer your quilt together, clear a spot on a clean floor as big as your bottom layer.  I prefer a hard floor, and not carpet, as in the basting process it is easier if your needle hits something hard and you don't end up with a quilt sewn to a carpet in your living room.  Spread your bottom layer, or "backing," out smooth, no wrinkles, with the right side of the fabric facing the floor.  Now, in present times there is a temporary fabric adhesive that quilters use for this next step, normally referred to as "505."  They just spray a light coating onto the backing, lay down the insulation layer (batting), spray another light coating of adhesive, then lay down the top, and at that point they can quilt to their hearts content knowing that their layers are going to stay put until they get done.  However, in a TEOTWAWKI situation, I'm assuming that this product will not be available and we would have to revert to the "old way." 

So, after you lay down the backing, you lay down your insulation layer, making sure you don't have any empty spaces (they will be cold spots).  Then lay your top down, placing the side with the seam allowances facing the insulation.  Smooth out all the wrinkles.  You then take a needle and some long strands of thread, get on your hands and knees, and "baste" the layers together.  To baste, take one stitch through all 3 layers about every 3-4 inches in a running fashion down the quilt, and every row of this basting needs to be about 4 inches apart.  After the thing is actually quilted, these stitches will be taken out, so any kind of thread is fine here, even dental floss.  If the thread is too large, you will have trouble getting the threaded needle through the fabric.  So a finer thread will make your job easier.  It only needs to be strong enough to hold the layers together while you do the quilting.

The actual quilting of the layers is much easier if done in some sort of frame.  My aunt who taught me to quilt had a makeshift frame that worked quite well.  Her frame consisted of 2 1x2s that were covered in some old mattress fabric.  These have to be longer than the quilt is wide.  She pinned the end of the quilt to the fabric on the boards, but you could do just as well by stitching the quilt to the boards with some dental floss, or anything that would hold the quilt onto the boards.  Even staples would work in a pinch.  She rolled up each board from the end, rolling the board to the underside of the quilt, until she had about a 2 foot section of the center area of the quilt showing.  Then she used c-clamps to attach these boards to two more 1x2s that were only a couple of feet long, making a large rectangle.  At this point, the frame can be propped up on anything, sawhorses, backs of chairs, or hung from the ceiling.  I quilt alone, so I prefer to hang the frame from the ceiling at an angle so I don't have to bend over my work.  In my grandmother's house, she hung the frame from her living room ceiling, and it was on pulleys so that when not actually quilting, the room could be used normally.

If you can't make a frame, the quilting can also be done in a large hoop, or merely in your lap.  It might not end up being quite as tidy, but would certainly make a serviceable quilt.

Now the quilting can be done in one of two ways.  The first method, and also quickest and easiest, and warmest, is to merely "tie" the quilt.  My grandmother tied all her utility quilts.  Tying uses a heavier thread, traditionally 6-strand embroidery thread, but any heavy thread will do in a pinch.  Every 3-4 inches, take the threaded needle and go straight down through all layers of fabric, holding one hand above the quilt and one hand below.  With the hand below, take the needle and come back up through the layers about 1/8 to 1/4 inch away from the initial stab.  Pull the thread so that you have two threads sticking out, then tie them in a good knot.  My grandmother always used a square knot.  Make sure here that you do not pull the thread tight to bunch it up.  You will be warmer if you do not compress the insulation.  Cut the thread so that you have about 1/2 to 1 inch ends sticking out above the knot.  Continue over the whole quilt, rolling the quilt from one long arm of the frame to the other as you progress by loosening and removing the clamps holding the frame together, and replacing them when you have it where you want to work.  Typically this process is done from the center of the quilt to one end, then from the center to the other end.

The second method of quilting, normally used on fancier quilts, uses a running stitch through all layers of fabric, with the rows of stitching being very close together (no farther than 2 inches apart, and sometimes as close as 1/4 inch apart).  If my grandmother was using carded cotton as the insulation layer (cotton straight from the field and home-carded into "batts") she used this stitch on her quilts, because when the quilt was laundered the cotton would shift and create cold spots if not held into place.  Here is a link to a good explanation of a running stitch.

After the quilting part is finished, remove the quilt from the frame.  To finish off the edges, fold the bottom layer toward the top for 1/2 of the width, then fold the bottom layer again up and over the top, and stitch down using a slant hemming stitch, as shown on this page.  When you get to the corners of the quilt, you can fold the corners into miters if you want, but any corner will do for our purposes here.  The point is to cover all rough edges of fabric, to prevent excessive wear and raveling.

It is important to remember that I am not trying to teach you the quilting perfectionists' method of quilting.  These instructions will merely make a serviceable quilt, not a family heirloom that is going to be worth any money to your grandchildren.  My grandmother made hundreds of these utility quilts, and when she died we found them on every bed in her home, covered in each case by a fancy bedspread or a fancier quilt on the top.  We also found one in the dog's bed, one covering up an old car, and one insulating the storage shed window. 

If you want to create a thing of beauty and value, you can read more at The Quilting Board.   There are thousands of members who daily discuss the ins and outs of every aspect of quilting, from the perfect fabrics and color combinations to how many stitches per inch constitutes "good quilting."  There are also discussions of machine, or "long-arm" quilting as well as different styles of hand quilting.  Here I just wanted the average person who doesn't have any sewing experience to be able to stay warm if things deteriorate to the point where we no longer have access to factory-produced goods.

As a final word, please remember that anything that is produced for children's bedding or sleepwear nowadays is required to be non-flammable or treated chemically to be non-flammable.  If you intend to make a covering for a child to sleep under, all of the ingredients of the quilt would have to be such treated materials.  Given the choice of flammability or freezing to death, I guess I would opt for my children to be warm, but it would be up to you.

James,
We have been volunteering at the remains of a home of a prepper here in Ohio for the past two weekends.  Their home was destroyed by a tornado.  I have some simple suggestions that you might incorporate into your future work.
                1.  Store / Organize photos and documents in Ziploc bags.  In this case, they had the preverbal box of pictures stored on the second floor of a three story 1860 brick home with brick interior walls located flood plain.  The tornado remove the upper story plus half of the second floor.  The box of pictures was found in the remains of a closet.   The subsequent rains degraded the condition of the photos and other documents.  If they had simply used Ziploc bags as a means of organizing their photo they would have been in good condition even after ten days in the weather.
                2.  Recovered clothing needs to be washed as soon as it is recovered.  They really wanted as much of their clothing back as possible...  We sorted  through piles of rubble (bricks, plaster and mortar) looking for clothing.   The recovered clothing was bagged and taken to a laundry facility to be washed.  The learning here is that you need to have a means of washing all of your clothing in a mass grid down situation.  Washing by hand in a galvanized tub would have been unmanageable.  Lehman's in Kidron has some possible solutions...all of which would be major work - assuming you had time you could devote to it.
                3. Recovery tools need to be stored somewhere other than in the structure you intend to work on.   The list is long of tools used to recover items from a home.  First off you need to be able bodied, then you need tools and knowledge of how to use them. The tool list needs to include - bolt cutters, spud bars, wonder bars, a Hi-Lift jack, chains, wheel barrow, saws, 5 gallon pails, plastic bags, shovels, gloves, dust masks, hand tools and lots of tarps.  If these tools are all in the basement of your home you will be at a huge disadvantage. 
                4. Food storage - We recovered less than 1/8th of the year's supply of food that was on hand.  The storm took most of it and the rest was in poor condition due to exposure the weather and falling building materials.  Lots of dented cans, ruined bags, broken glass and wet paper goods.  Items that faired the best were dog food, can goods and bulk bagged items.  If here were 5 gallon pails they were lots along with the 3rd floor.
                5. Security -  the home owners were very concerned about looters.  No one can watch a destroyed property 24/7.  A community fire watch needs to be established.   On the second weekend we heard nothing about actual looting taking place.
 
Lastly, I would encourage your readers to go and work disasters in their area.  There is a lot to learn about tools, recovery, helping people in real need, understanding what damaged is possible, how that damage can affect everyday goods and understanding that it is enough to simply prepare.  The government has professionalized the first responders.  There may be a day when the professional first responders are busy with their own families and you will be the only responder that will ever be on hand.  - Stev

James:
Concerning the recent article on traditional weapons, I have a couple of comments:

Knife fighting:  Stabbing may have it’s place, but a good knife fighter will slash and cut.  Someone who stabs with a knife is relatively easy to disarm.  Someone who slashes is much harder to defend against.  A stab wound is unlikely to be instantly fatal.  A slashing attack directed at tendons can instantly render the victim defenseless and eliminate his ability to fight back or flee.  (See the following link for more info http://www.martialbladeconcepts.com/

A word of warning regarding arrows:  If you shoot a compound bow do not make arrows out of wooden dowels. Wooden arrows shot from a compound bow are likely to shatter from the energy generated by the bow and do more damage to the shooter than the target.

Now I know y'all like your guns, and that's fine. I like mine too. I once heard someone say, “If you don't have gold and silver you're doomed.” Now these two things are also very important, but I question how this man planned to defend his precious metals without a well-stocked armory.

As Mr. Rawles himself has said, guns are tools much like those found in a carpenter's tool box. Each fills a different role. But although guns are good at a great many different things, there are some roles which are difficult for them to fill. For instance, here in the United States you have to pay the BATF a $200 tax for each suppressor you purchase. But knives, bows and crossbows are silent by their nature [although the arrow and blade recipients are often quite noisy]. And in the most of the gun-restrictive states you are better off carrying a knife than trying to smuggle a pistol. [JWR Adds: Be sure to check your state and local laws. For example in California it is a felony to carry a concealed fixed blade knife of any length on the first offense!]

Which brings me to my point: While they should in no way be relied upon as a primary means of defense, cold weapons (Essentially meaning weapons other than firearms, usually primitive in nature, such as the aforementioned bows and knives) have their place in the Survivalist arsenal for special situations. Don't pretend to be a ninja with them, because there's a 99.9% chance you're not. (If you are one of the 0.1% of SurvivalBlog's readership who is a practicing Ninjutsu student, then I salute you.)

Knives
Carrying a knife is a lot like prepping in general: Some people will view you as strange and paranoid. That is, until they get into a situation where their life is in danger. Then it's suddenly, “Hey, you have your knife with you, right?”

Thing is, knives have about a thousand uses which have nothing to do with violence. I certainly don't recommend doing this, but I once used a knife to widen a hole for a doorknob. You can safely use them to open packages, cut rope, cut food, do limited woodworking, the list goes on and on.

Their use as a weapon is an added bonus, but strong caution must be advised. Straightforward combat is where the combat knife is weakest. It can be done, but you're likely to get just as wounded as the opponent that you're attacking.

If a knife is to be used, it should be used with stealth, against a lone target. Keep in mind that you're not trying to give your enemy the death of a thousand cuts. Deep abdominal and throat stabs with a knife are much better than slashes.

There are many ways to grip a knife, but there are two that I usually use. The one is pretty standard: Essentially just a clenched fist around the knife handle. This is usually called the hammer grip. The other grip is called the reverse grip, and is like the hammer grip except that the blade extends from the bottom of the hand rather than the top. In the latter grip, your thumb rests against the pommel to support it for thrusting. In practice, I use the hammer grip for the few times I want to do slashing (which again is not the optimal way to knife fight.) and the reverse grip for stabs.

If you think the idea of a gun fight is terrifying, knife fighting is even more so --definitely not for the squeamish. Disable your opponent quickly and by whatever means possible and be prepared to bandage multiple wounds of your own when the fight is over.

Bows
The bow, while not as effective in modern combat as shown in the movies, still has several advantages over guns.
First, it is silent by nature. [Although, again those on the receiving end will probably scream prodigiously unless you are lucky enough to sever their spine and have them bleed out quickly.This makes it suited to hunting both four-legged creatures and stealthily taking out lone opponents.

Second, arrows can be handmade with simple materials if necessary. Wooden dowels are very inexpensive at your local hardware and general stores. Look for ones which area about 1/3rd inch in diameter. Then, cut them down to match the draw length of your bow. Cut a notch in one end with a serrated knife or a handsaw. Cut it deep enough that the bowstring fits snugly inside.
Then, about three quarters of an inch from that draw a line around the circumference of the arrow. There are several ways to make fletchings, including feathers and plastic, but my favorite is explained in this video. I have tested it and found it to work, as long as you are good with your measurements.

Arrowheads can also be done several ways. If you're wanting to siphon your inner caveman, you can go for the flint approach. This is not recommended. If you just want to sharpen the end of your arrow but don't want to add weight to it, you can actually use a pencil sharpener to carve it to a fine point. This is good in a pinch, but you'll have to adjust your aim. This is because the head weighs down the arrow. This sounds like a bad thing, but without that weight at the tip, the arrow jumps up when you shoot it, causing you to overshoot your target unless you correct your shot.
What I've found to be a cheap alternative to store-bought heads is gluing nails to the arrow's end with woodworker's glue. This is what some bow hunters in Africa do, (without the glue though, they carefully hand-inlet theirs) and it works pretty well [for small game].

If you have a big budget you can buy an assortment of arrows with very fancy heads, such as springing blades. They're expensive, and will probably break if you miss, but if you hit you can be pretty sure that whatever you just shot will bleed out quietly.

Another advantage of arrows is that they can very easily be made into incendiary weapons. Simply wrap some cotton around the tip and douse it in oil or alcohol or another flammable material, and light it with your choose of lighting implement when you're ready to shoot. Arrowheads can also be dipped in poison, if you're looking for a way to deliver it.

As for shooting with a bow, keep in mind that this is not the Hunger Games, and you are likely a lot less “Elite” than you make yourself out to be. If you're shooting at humans, like I said with the knife, aim for lone targets from stealth. Keep in mind that arrows travel in an arc, and where you aim might not be where the arrow ends up. If the arrow has no head, it will probably overshoot.

Depending on the distance from your target you will have to angle your shot upwards, which is a skill that takes a lot of practice. A rule of thumb is to aim for the head, because even if you undershoot that you'll get a chest shot. Horizontal accuracy is not amazingly hard to achieve with a bow, but watch out for wind. If it's an especially windy day, you're probably better off sticking to your guns.

Crossbows
Crossbows negate some of the disadvantages of a bow, while retaining all the advantages. For one thing, you can keep a shot loaded with a lot less effort. They're also easy to sight with. Some of the more expensive models even come with scopes. In addition, they generally have a lot more force behind them. An added bonus to this is that they travel in a much more straight line than bows do, meaning less aim adjusting. Crossbows are often more expensive than bows, but the above advantages may make it worth it for you.

Slingshots
Acquiring ammo for slingshots is even easier than it is for bows and crossbows. Look for appropriately sized rounded rocks. That's about it. If you want to get fancy you can pick up steel balls at a hardware store. With a little training, you can become pretty accurate with the darn things. I wouldn't recommend using them against humans unless absolutely necessary, but they could be pretty nifty against birds and small game.
In addition, there are some people who do crazy things with slingshots. And then can teach you how. Who I'm talking about is this guy: Joerg Sprave.

An absolute legend of the slingshot world. If you're willing to endure occasional adult language, you can pick up a lot of neat tricks on this channel. I just recently made his sling pistol, and it was a great learning experience.

In Closing
They won't make you a ninja, but in certain situations they can be pretty useful. For one thing, with the exception of the crossbow they're a lot less regulated than firearms. They can help you to conserve precious ammo, and give you the ability to make silent kills on small and big game without the BATF paperwork and $200 transfer tax for purchasing a registered suppressor. All good things, in this pilgrim's opinion.

Peace, and God Bless. - Daniel

James:
I thought the article Dying and Death in a Collapse Situation, by Irish Eyes was a well written piece.  As a funeral director I thought I would add my thoughts.

The article was very well written and had good working knowledge of the death and dying process. The point that I wanted to touch on is the fact that there is a stigma that dead bodies are extremely unsanitary. They may be and should be treated as such if you were to come upon a body that died of unknown causes. However, according to Ron Hast publisher Mortuary Management Magazine, if the person died of known or natural causes they are not anymore unsanitary than they were prior to passing. I agree with these statements as well as long as we are talking about a reasonable amount of time. The body should be washed and dressed appropriately and you do not need to be wearing a hazmat suit to do it.

Burial on your own property is legal (in my region) there are rules set out by law for this to take place. In the county where I live the rules state that burial should be 100 feet from a well, spring, stream or other water source and at least 25 feet inside your property line. Graves do not need to exceed four feet in depth the six foot depth is something conjured up in the movies and modern graves are dug at a four foot depth. I think that shooting for a 3 foot depth would be adequate if hand digging.

The grave should be marked as soon as possible. A person thinks that they will always know where the grave is, but it will return to its surroundings quicker than one might think. The rules and regulations that surround death and burial vary widely by state and even county. In a TEOTWAWKI setting what must be done must be done. Just keep a good record of everything. Record grave locations, date of death, time of death, journal the facts surrounding the death.

Get in touch with your local family owned funeral home. I'm sure they would be happy to give you some knowledge base to better prepare you in the event you need to use it. God Bless. - Tango Charlie

Hi Jim,
Two SurvivalBlog posts on Friday (Discovering What We Needed in an Actual Time of Need and Hot Water, Post-SHTF) caught my attention and got me to thinking. They were similiar in the sense of discovering "needs" during a "crisis".  One (MM) was wanting a generator and other had a generator but still had needs.
 
But were they really needs?  Or just wants?  Both spoke of "keeping life as normal as possible" and maintaining their current lifestyle.  Both spoke of the psychological aspects (stress, crying and sanity) of dealing with changes to their accustomed routines and environments.  Wow, what are they going to do when the poo really hits the fan?  How are they going to cope? 

I visit most of the survival type sites on the Internet and have read almost all the post apocalypse books out there.  I have come to the conclusion that there are two types of preppers out there.  One side has what I consider to be a realistic view of how hard it is going to be and that life is not going to be "normal".  The other side is spending outrageous amounts of money striving to maintain their current lifestyle post poo hitting the proverbial fan. 

I worked in the wilderness survival field for a bunch of years in my younger days. I was facscinated and studied the affects of taking people out of their comfort zone and plopping them into a foreign world (wilderness setting).  People are so acculturated.  It amazed me how even the slightest change to their "normal" routine or living conditions could cause stress.  The ones that could psychologically adapt to the new environment were successful.  Those that could not adapt had a tendency to stuggle a lot.  Some even became ill (?) and needed to be evacuated.  It was just too much for them. 
 
My best piece of advice to people is to get real.  Hot water, clean houses, clean clothes, and plenty of light on a regular basis are actually a luxuries rather than needs.  Yes, sanitation is important but humans are not as fragile as one would think.  The human body has an amazing ability to adapt.  Some people have become so conditioned that they can become psychologically fragile if their preconceived needs are not met.  So, on to the "wants"...
 
I live in a small two bedroom house (1,000 sq. ft.) down by the river in a forested area in Colorado.  I didn't want to have to re-wire the utility room to handle a 220 washer and dryer so I found a work-around. 10 years ago I bought a used Danby washer and small used 110 watt dryer and they are still going strong.  The old Danby's require you to hook a hose to your faucet to get the hot or cold water.  They have another hose that takes the water away.  I throw the outlet hose in the garden to let the grey water go to good use.  I have only had mild problems with the outlet hose freezing up during the cold winter months.  A bucket of hot water poured on the outdoor outlet hose fixes that.  Since both the washer and dryer are 110 VAC they can be run off a generator. 
 
I too don't like the feel of stiff line-dried clothes.  I hang the clothes to dry and when they are almost dry I throw them in the dryer to soften them up.  This uses a lot less electricity and I get the softness I want. 
One way to squeeze the water out of freshly washed clothes is to use a mop bucket that has a strainer on it.  They can be found at Home Depot and Lowe's.  Squeezing the water out of a mop is the same as squeezing the water out of clothes.  You can also use a big pot strainer, like the ones used for pasta.  I have one that fits inside the "big" pot used for heating the water.  Find a lid that is smaller than the strainer pot and use it to squish the water out of your clothes.

I too have pets, lots of trees, snow, dirt and leaves. They all create messes that find their way into my house.  I have a wisk broom on the front and back porch and literally sweep my clothes off before going inside.  The other way I keep the dirt, mud and snow off my floors is by taking my shoes off by the door.  I don't wear shoes inside and it's amazing how much doesn't get tracked in as a result.  Invest in some good Thorlo socks to wear around the house. 

The non-electric, old fashioned push-pull sweeper only work marginally well.  I have more luck with a really good broom but then I don't have 2,000 sq. ft. of carpeting to deal with.  For all  the pet hair I have found that a "Stickey" works great.  They have a newer form of them that is advertised on television that let the gunk accumulated on the head to be washed off.  This makes them incredibly versitile and reuseable.  A long pole can be attached to the head that allows you stand normally while using it.  I have two Maine Coon cats and one long hair cat and they shed constantly.  I roll the "Stickey" over the carpet and furniture every couple of days to keep it to a minimum.  I have allergies and occasional asthma.  I find that I feel better if I just keep up on it.  However, in the past, when I got really really busy and couldn't get to it for a week or so, I am happy to report that I didn't die.

I have every type of alternative lighting possible.  I switched over to the battery LED lanterns in the last couple of years and swear by them.  This last year I fould a couple of the solar LED lanterns at Harbor Freight and love them.  They have 12 white LED's and have a run time of 8 hours on a full charge.  They come with all the various adaptors such as AC and the cigarette plug type.  One was around $25 and the other around $32.  They were well worth the money. 

I have used the solar showers a lot and find they work fine for my needs.  Just fill the bladder, put it in the sun for the day and you have the basics covered.  The camping world has come up with some pretty innovative and pricey hot water systems that can be found on line at some of the better stores such as Cabelas. 

I hope some of these suggestions work for those seeking the creature comforts of the world.  I can distinctly remember the wonder and appreciation for instant hot water, heat and lighting, soft beds, regular showers, etc.  I had basically spent two full years living outdoors in various wilderness settings.  When I finally "came-in" from the cold and got a real place to live I probably spent the first couple of hours turning off and on these "modern conviences".  I can clearly remember standing at the sink and turning the hot water on and off and thinking how wonderful it was.  I did the same thing with the stove and thermostat. 

After years of roughing it I found a new appreciation for these creature comforts.  I admit it, I love them as much as the next person.  My past experience taught me that they were luxuries and I could survive without them.  It just wasn't as nice and comfortable as it could be.  There is a big difference between want and need.  Staying clean and good sanitation is important but there are lots of work-arounds outside our normal everyday experience.  We've just have become so acculturated that we have forgotten how to think and exist outside the norm. 

 
Take care. Keep your socks and powder dry,
Skylar

There has been much talk on many survival/prepper blogs about when and if our electricity goes out. Lots of speculation by folks who have experienced short power outages. My husband and I have experienced numerous, long power outages. They are very common in the remote area where we live. As we are the last house on the power line, when the power goes out we are the last to get our power restored.

Our most recent long lasting power outage was in January, when our area experienced a rare ice storm. In 17 years of living in our present home, we have witnessed only three ice storms. One minor (three-day outage, minimal damage) and one pretty big  (10-day outage and some significant damage) to the major storm we had in January. The tri-county area was completely out of power and phone (land lines as well as some cell service) and major damage to homes and properties. Our power was out for three weeks and our land line for four weeks. One can still see the effects of this storm when driving around now in the early summer. As we lay in bed at night, we could hear the trees exploding and cracking around us, it sounded like a war zone. Let me tell you, when a tree that is as big around at the base as a small car, and as tall as 100 plus feet crashes down in the forest, you are definitely aware of nature's power! It causes an incredible sound, similar to an explosion. Multiply that by hundreds of trees and you have an idea of what we listened to for several days and very long nights.

Since we live in an area with lots of wilderness – national forests on three sides of the community, there are lots of trees. During this particular storm, the freezing rains came down; followed by heavy snows that lasted for days. This all fell on top of several feet of snow already on the ground in these parts in January.

All of our power outages have taught us much more than reading about it ever could. During this last, particularly trying storm, my husband decided to keep a list of things we wish we had for future power outages. Once we prioritized our list, we were surprised to find not only how short the list was, but some of the top items we wanted, that we had never before considered, or had believed them to be already covered sufficiently.

Since we have gravity spring water, and gravity septic system, water was never an issue for us. Also we heat with wood all the time anyway, so heat was not an issue for us. We regularly practice storing extra food – for us a way of life for many years, long before the prepping craze – so food was not a big issue either. Our biggest three issues were lighting; washing clothes and cleaning our carpeted floors.

When you live in the boonies, your floors can get mighty dirty, mighty fast. When you add to that the fact that we were out using chainsaws all day long, then tracking in all the snow, mud, slush, sawdust and fir needles, our floors, and our clothing became filthy very quickly.

Since we already had the wash board, large sink and washing tubs, a way to heat water and soap to hand wash clothes with, I tackled the job a couple different times during this outage. Let me tell you, for any having dreams of quaintly washing clothing by hand and then hanging them in the gentle breezes of summer to folding all that freshly cleaned clothing, it “ain’t” like that at all!

Washing clothing by hand is extremely difficult and although I knew the clothes had at least been boiled, soaped and rinsed, they were not clean to the standards that we were accustomed to. Also, finding room to hang clothing indoors proved to be a bit of a challenge, and we have a very large home with only two adults. Once dry, the clothes were stiff and itchy and didn’t have that fresh smell you can get when using a dryer and dryer sheets, or even being able to hang them outdoors in the summer sun. I got blisters on my hands and my hands were extremely sore, for a couple days, and I am used to very hard physical work. My shoulders ached and there was water everywhere. Carrying boiling or near boiling water from the woodstove to the large kitchen sink proved to be very challenging, and at times even dangerous. During previous outages, there has typically been power “in town” so we could go to a friend’s home and wash clothes. Also my husband could take a load or two to work and wash them there (they have a washer/dryer at his work) or we could load up and drive to the “big” city (population about 8,000) about an hour away and use the Laundromat. Unfortunately all the power was out for miles. Our only option was to wash clothes by hand.

When we bought all the scrub boards, soap, and wash tubs, I guess I assumed I would just spontaneously know how to use all that stuff if we ever needed it. My first attempt was a colossal failure. The clothes smelled and didn’t look any cleaner. Out came our old Foxfire books and other simple living books that we have had for decades. After reading about how to wash clothes by hand, my second attempt was better and by the third attempt the clothes came out reasonably clean. Who knew that you were supposed to rub the soap on the actual scrub board, and not the clothes? We learned to dunk them in boiling water first, swish around with a stick (we used a broom handle). Then when cool enough to touch comfortably, but still hot enough to help with bubbles and rinsing, scrub up and down on the scrub board, rubbing extra hard where there were stains. Then squeeze as much water out as possible, and dunk into another tub of hot water. I would let them soak that second time for a while. After they had soaked, I still didn’t find them rinsed out enough, so I then rinsed them under cold running water in the big sink. Then you wring out as best you can, and hang as near to the woodstove as possible. Even with the woodstove going 24/7, it still took days for some of the heavier items to dry completely. It wasn’t a horrible experience, but can’t say as if I truly enjoyed it either! As soon as we can afford it, I am getting some better way of washing clothes. It is not a good feeling to be able to bathe ones body and then put on dirty clothing.  A generator, or James type washer would have been much better, also at the very least we need a better way to wring out the clothing. Wringing out clothes by hand is not only physically demanding, but it is nearly impossible to hand wring out jeans or blankets, they just never get completely squeezed out and then they drip all over your floors and take days to dry.

Lighting was an issue that we felt we had under control. We have numerous oil lamps, spare parts, and even one Aladdin lamp, plenty of lamp oil as well. Lots of candles and flashlights too. However, we had only one LED type, battery powered lantern. Although it gave off the best light, it still wasn’t bright enough once it was dark outside. In these parts in January, it is dark usually by about 4 p.m., which is much too early to go to sleep. We found our eyes were straining when we tried to read or play games – which is about the extent of entertainment with no power. So we walked around looking like miners with our headlamps on all the time. We learned quickly to look at the floor or ceiling when talking directly to one another after temporary blindness from lights directly to the eyes! We have determined to get more, and brighter, LED type lamps for future use. If money allowed, a generator or alternate power system would be ideal, but until then, we found we needed much brighter lighting. It is also very nice to be able to use our headlamps as we entered the house in the dark evenings to simply turn the knob and have light, rather than light a match, trim wicks, etc. Obviously lighting a match is not that hard to do. But when you are doing it day after day and dealing with wick trimming and refilling oil bases and smelling the oil all the time (as well as watching your white ceilings turn black because you didn’t trim the wicks!) it does lose it’s romance factor quickly. So the short term solution, more and brighter LED lanterns and a solar powered battery charger. Long term, we'll need generator or alternate power source.

Last on our top three was our carpeted floors. Again, we have plans (aahhh that ever elusive money!) to put laminate/wood flooring throughout the house. For now, we have most rooms in our large home covered in carpeting. Lovely, old, stained indoor/outdoor – cheap office type carpeting. Simply gorgeous! Even if it is ugly, I still want it clean. When power is not an issue, I vacuum daily. Even though there are only two of us, we do have two dogs and a cat and tracking back and forth to bring in wood make a mess. It seems that clean floors would not be that big an issue in a major event. Perhaps for many people it is not a big deal, but for me it was huge. I like my house picked up and neat. It does affect ones attitude when your environment is out of sorts. Not to mention it could be a health issue if you have asthma, allergies, or little ones that crawl around on the floor.

Since our carpets are the “flat” type carpets, one-day I attempted to sweep them, all 2,000 square feet of them. Not only was this task extremely physically taxing, but was pretty ineffective as well. Although I did manage to sweep up some of the major debris, there really wasn’t any way to sweep up the dust or tiny parts. I had huge blisters on my hands at the end of the day. It did look “better” but it was not up to the standards that I wanted.
The only solution we could think of, besides our long term plans of putting in laminate wood flooring or getting our generator or alternate energy source, is one of those old-fashioned “sweepers” like my grandma used. Haven’t found one yet, but I am sure they are still out there somewhere. We have also been told there are some battery operated light vacuums.

We managed to conquer all the issues that came up during our long power outage. Admittedly, we had a head start since water, septic and heat were not an issue. We also had some other rather big problems that I did not mention. We had to throw out all the food in our freezer that we could not eat. It was cold enough outside to keep our refrigerator food good in coolers on the porch. It was not cold enough to keep our frozen food frozen. I cannot tell you how hard it is to throw away a freezer full of food. With all the helping we were doing with neighbors as well as keeping our own road clear, there simply was not time to can up the foods in the freezer, nor did I feel entirely confident doing canning of meats on the woodstove. I know my ancestors did so, but I have always had the convenience of an electric or gas stove for such endeavors.

Another issue we had not anticipated was we had no way to bake. Our short-term solution is to find or make a metal box to place on top of the woodstove for baking and heating up food. A nice big wood cookstove, generator or gas powered stove and oven would be nice, but a lot of things would be nice if we only had the money. Barring that, we need to find ways to deal with the problems that we didn’t realize were problems until we were in the midst of a major power outage. The issues our friends described after this event varied from, “We are planning on moving back to civilization” (dumb move on their parts!) to “We are buying a generator” (great if you have the money). Most of them simply talked about what we needed to change and brainstormed about ways to make life easier in the event of another major power outage. For many, water was the main issue as they had wells with electric pumps. Second seemed to be septic systems that required electricity to be usable. One or two days of using one of the few trees left standing and doing your business in a hole in the ground (which is really hard to dig when there is several feet of snow!) is one thing. Three weeks without operating septic is another matter altogether and can pose major health risks. Lack of heat (very few folks up here have only electric heat – but there are some) caused many folks to trek to the homes of friends with wood heat. Then a few of those people found that they were running out of food as they had planned for their own needs, but not adding 2, 3, 4 extras to the mix. A few drove all the way to the large city, about two hours away, to stay in motels and several went to shelters. All the folks that used the shelters (a high school about an hour away) said they would never do that again if it could be avoided. In spite of the fact that our area is a close knit one and stealing or foul language was not an issue in the shelter, there was absolutely no privacy. One lady said, “I thought listening to my husband snore at night was annoying, try listening to several husbands snoring all night!” Seems kind of humorous, but after a very short time, exhaustion would set in as well as that feeling of total lack of privacy.  The overwhelming talk though, seemed to come around to being able to clean ones home. Maybe it isn’t a big deal to many or even most people, but for the vast majority of folks around here, it seemed to be quite the deal breaker about whether they would stay put or go stay in the city a two hour drive away, where they did have power.

Another (very pleasant) surprise was that during this outage, there was not one incident of looting, stealing, or even panic-stricken behavior that we ever heard about. People in our very small, remote community pulled together and helped one another out. However, in that large city two hours away, where we have relatives, there was chaos after only about 20 hours of power outage. Lots of looting, stealing, and just plain thuggery. One relative commented on how people in their neighborhood not only didn’t reach out to help one another, they often didn’t even help themselves, simply waiting for the city to come clean up the storm damage. One person (I am embarrassed to say a relative) actually said after this city’s rather small crisis (a windstorm, power out in much of the city for 1-to-3 days) that she was “appalled” that the city didn’t at least keep the schools open.  After all, what was she expected to do with her three children for two whole days?

This same person criticized the stores for not being “better prepared for an emergency” as they had run out of all the “good food” (I am guessing candy and sodapop) before she had a chance to get anything. It was the stores fault, she maintained, that her children were hungry and had to eat food they weren’t used to. (Probably vegetables and fruit!) Luckily, we not only experienced none of that attitude here in our remote blissfulness, but also had folks coming out of the woodwork offering to help one another. I realize not all small communities are like this, but when searching out where you’d like to raise your family, look hard at the residents before you move there.

During a crisis, keeping things as normal as possible can really help to lessen the stress. That includes being able to keep one's body, clothing and home clean. While we had plenty of food, access to clean fresh water, the ability to drain our sinks and flush our toilets, as well as stay warm – we were lacking in being able to wash clothes, clean our carpets and have good, dependable, strong lighting. We are remedying these as time and money allows. We also realized that in times past when we have lost power, many of our friends in town still had power. So we could always “borrow” their electricity for clothes washing or computers. This past January it was different, no one had power. There was one business in town that had a generator, and they offered for folks to come and wash clothes and shower there, but we never got to that point. Many did, but the ones I spoke to said it was first come first served and some waited hours for a washing machine. It was definitely a different experience when everyone for miles around is in the same boat as you.

Next time you are planning for the big SHTF episode, think about how you will clean the floors; light the rooms and wash the clothes. As with all prepping, you should certainly practice before the skill is needed.  If I had only read about and tried hand-washing clothes before I needed that skill, I could have saved myself some time and struggle. If we had gone without using our electric lights long term using our one LED lantern, we would have realized we needed lots more. And we had never really considered keeping the carpeted floors clean as being a prepping issue, now we know for us, it is a big issue.

When all of our normal routines are upset, it can help immensely to be able to stick as close to our normal diet and routine as possible, in order to stave off added stress. It was a real eye opener to have power out, long term, for miles around. We realized in talking to friends after the fact that even in this very remote, gun toting, “always prepared”, help your neighbor environment – just how ill prepared many of us are. It has been suggested by many to turn off your power for a weekend; or use your “get home” bag to hike from the city to your home. How many of us have actually done this? Maybe you should try it now, this weekend and see what your family is lacking and how you could improve, before an outside force thrusts it upon you.

In March of 2012, I was shopping at Sam’s Club doing some food prepping when a tornado struck my rural northern Kentucky community. We were asked to go to the center of the store until further notice because a tornado had been spotted in the area. After 20 minutes of nervous waiting, we were able to continue shopping. On our trip home there were several roads closed due to mobile homes being in the road as well as a tractor trailer turned over on my main route home. Seeing the destruction so close to home I started to get this sickening feeling in my stomach but I was finally able to make it home after the third route attempted. After arriving home I quickly assessed the situation and I felt very fortunate to arrive home to a basically undamaged house other than some downspouts ripped off and all my newly built greenhouse panels missing. The tornado had missed my house by approximately a quarter mile taking out the electricity to every house in sight. The house I could see from my master bedroom window was now a basement with one wall only standing on top.

I had been prepping for the last year or so and was quite anxious to see how things would turn out in my first trial run of when the SHTF. I quickly pulled the propane powered portable generator out of the basement to the transfer switch on the side of the house. I had to strap the generator to a dolly in order to move it and that took time. I think I should have invested in a wheel kit. I realized it was getting dark quick and I needed to work fast because my lighting preps were less than ideal. (I have recently purchased headlamps). I was able to hook up the generator just before it turned pitch black out and fired it up with no issues. I had wired the transfer switch into some key breakers, namely a room or two on each floor for lighting, the main refrigerator and extra refrigerator in the basement, porch lights with motion detectors and outlets in the living room for the wood stove blower. After getting the generator all set up and finding flashlights, candles and trying to get things arranged to make life as easy as possible running on the generator with only half the house powered, I sat down to relax and thought, not too bad…not that much has changed…we have electric (well at least partially), city water, food and guns. I did pretty well at this prepping thing.

The next day consisted of cleaning up the fallen trees out of the driveway and gathering up everything that wasn’t secured all over the yard and out of the tree line. There was the main path that the wind carried the majority of stuff, but things were located 360 degrees from where they started. I was surprisingly able to locate all but three of the panels from the greenhouse. The basement doors were pushed in and jammed and needed much convincing to open but I was able to get them working again without too much effort. The following day, I went to help a neighbor/friend who had completely lost his house. We worked all day cleaning up fallen trees. There was quite a crew of volunteers and that was good to see. About two days passed with no major complaints from the wife and two young kids, and then the third day came. After three days without a shower for the wife and no bath for the kids, things were starting to unravel. My wife was very irritable and frustrated with living so primitively (in her mind anyway). This was a rude awakening for me. I thought things hadn’t really changed that much other than I had to take a very fast, cold shower and carry a flashlight around or candles in certain rooms. When my wife started crying and threatened to go stay in a hotel until the electricity came back on, I suddenly realized the importance of hot water in SHTF. At first I was frustrated with her and told her how fortunate we were and that things could be a lot worse. She wasn’t so convinced that all was as great as I had thought. I contemplated running electric to the existing hot water heater and started to regret buying my [inadequate] 4000 Watt peak 3500 Watt continuous, propane powered 110V generator.

I did some brainstorming and even considered heating the water on the wood stove, but then I remembered my Dad had offered me an 110 volt AC 6 gallon capacity water heater some time ago which I couldn’t think of a use for at that time. I went and picked up the heater and did a lot of complaining to the wife about how hard it was going to be to hook up because I would need to install it downstream of my existing water heater and install 3 valves so I could bypass it when the grid power came back on. With all the cleanup and repairs in order, I didn’t feel like the water heater was a priority. But after taking a closer look, I realized that the fittings on the inlet and outlet looked familiar. I checked them using a garden hose and it fit. So after some contemplation, I decided to place the heater on my washing machine, unhook the hoses from the washer and hook the cold water to the inlet on the heater and the hot water to the outlet. Please be careful and don’t place it directly on the lid of a top loader without some kind of additional support like a piece of plywood. Remember, 1 gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs so just the water in this tank is 50 lbs. Add the weight of the tank and you will be approaching 100 lbs. I then turned off the valve to the inlet of the existing hot water heater in the basement. I wired in a plug to the romex cable connection of the water heater and ran an extension cord to the nearest outlet powered by the generator. I will wire the washer outlet to run off the generator in the future so it can be used for this purpose. I filled the heater with water by turning on the hot water at the closest faucet and both washer hookup valves. It is very critical to make sure the heater is completely full of water before turning it on. It will burn the element out almost instantaneously if there is air in the tank. The water heater tag says 1650 Watts and the generator bogged down somewhat when the water heater kicked on along with the refrigerator, but it worked just fine. Now six gallons isn’t a lot of hot water, but I cranked the water temperature all the way up and it was enough for a quick shower and hot water for dishes was no longer a problem.

The electricity was out for a week and I burned through several tanks of propane which reminded me that I needed to increase my supply of propane. Storage is not an issue for propane luckily, unlike gas which does not store very well, which is exactly why I chose this unit. I was able to hook a garden hose to the drain of the heater and run it outside once the electric came back on. I was very careful to drain all the water and leave the valve and pressure relief valve open to let it air dry to lessen the chance of corrosion and the rotten egg smell of stagnated water the next time I need it. I then hooked the hoses back up to the washer and it was ready to go again.

The lessons learned were very valuable and it was an under pressure moment where I was able to brainstorm and come up with an easy way to have hot water. I didn’t realize the importance of hot water in an SHTF scenario. This is not a convenience item especially where women and children are involved (at least not for my family anyway). Sanity quickly disappeared with the lack of hot water for a basic shower. Now I know others may think she is spoiled and things will be much worse when the real SHTF. I agree that they could get much worse than the way my situation unfolded, but my philosophy is to take care of everything I can possibly take care of to keep life as normal as possible. When it really hits us hard, the more we can do to maintain our current lifestyles, as luxurious as they may seem in the future, the easier it will be to maintain sanity. I have to imagine how great a hot shower will feel after cutting wood all day to heat the house in the winter when it’s no longer optional to burn the wood stove, but a necessity. This method is sure going to be a lot easier than heating pots of water on the wood stove, not to mention less dangerous.

In a true TEOTWAWKI situation, many people will naturally resort to hunting and fishing to procure food. The increased hunting pressure will make many animals nocturnal and quickly deplete the populations of wild game. There is, however, one overlooked source of food that flies completely under the radar by even the most seasoned survivalists.  It tastes delicious, lasts forever,  replenishes itself to be harvested again and again, is a phenomenal barter item,  and can be found in every state in America.  I am talking about wild honey! The Bible says that this is the food that sustained John the Baptist during his time in the wilderness and that’s all the endorsement I need.

Allow me to give you a quick primer on honey.  Honey has roughly 1,376 calories per pound. It is not uncommon for a healthy colony of bees to produce 60 to 80 pounds of surplus honey in a good season. That equates to 60-80 days of life sustainment for one person from one hive.  Honey has an indefinite shelf life. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian kings was found to be perfectly edible. Honey also has multiple uses. Besides its obvious value as a food item, honey can be fermented to make mead (honey wine) which can be further distilled to make ethanol fuel.   Honey also has antibacterial qualities since it contains trace amounts of hydrogen peroxide and it was reportedly used by Roman Soldiers to pack sword wounds.  Honey can and will crystallize over time since it is a super saturated solution but you can easily restore it back to liquid form by gently heating it. Did I mention that Winnie the Pooh loves the stuff?

I think it’s safe to say that John the Baptist didn’t get his honey from the local food co-op or Piggly Wiggly. Our ancestors didn’t have the luxury of buying bees from the Internet and having them shipped in a tidy box via UPS, instead they used an ancient technique known as “bee lining”.  Locusts may not travel in a straight line but fortunately for us, the honey bee generally does.  It is this straight-line behavior that we can utilize to lead us back to the proverbial “honey-hole”.  There are numerous techniques for bee lining and although I doubt John the Baptist used trigonometry to locate his wild bees, we can.  Do you remember the days back in high school when you were plodding with contempt through trigonometry homework and thinking to yourself “I will never use this”?  Personally, I would rather have watched paint dry as I was never very adept at math. I don’t think I could count all my protruding body parts and get the same number twice. I am now man enough to admit that I was wrong.  A little simple math can reveal the bee’s secret location.

Bees predominantly forage when the weather is nice so do not waste your time trying to do this in the rain. It takes honey to make honey! You need to start with a sweet solution of sugar or honey and water (dissolved 1:1).  Put this solution on a small piece of sponge in the center of a bowl.  Set the bowl with sugar baited sponge in an open area and wait. The wind will carry the scent to foraging bees.  The first time a honey bee takes her fill, she will fly up in ever widening circles trying to remember the landmarks so she can lead her sisters back to the source.  It helps them if you wear brightly colored clothes as they will use you as a landmark. The exception to this is the color red as bees cannot see the color red. You can get a very rough estimate of the distance to the hive by timing the round trip time between the first bees departure to its return. 3-5 minutes is generally indicative of a quarter-mile, 5-10 minutes a half-mile, and 15 minutes or more indicates a distance of at least one mile. Once the bee communicates the source of food to the hive, the whole family will join in and you should see an ever increasing volume of bees visiting your bowl. Take out a compass and note the direction that the bees are flying in between the dish and the hive. Shoot an azimuth and note the azimuth (in degrees) on a map. Write a line from your current position out a few miles indicating the bee’s current flight path. (We will call this line SIDE “A”) The hive is obviously somewhere along this line. Once you have 15 or 20 bees in your bowl you can place a cover on the bowl thus capturing the bees. Take your captured bees and walk 50 yards in a line that is exactly perpendicular to the bee’s line of flight. (It is very important that you are exactly 50 yards as this will figure into our equation later)  Jotting this line down on the same map as the bee’s azimuth would now form an “L” with your new position now being at the bottom right edge of the “L”. (We will call this bottom line SIDE “B”).  Now do your best to release just a few bees at a time from your new position and again shoot an azimuth with your compass.  Writing this line down on the map should now give you a right triangle with the right angle being in the base of the “L”. This last line SIDE “C” is the hypotenuse of our right triangle. The angle that you need to figure out is in the bottom inside right corner of your triangle (where you are now standing). We will call this angle “a”.  You can use a protractor on the map to determine this angle (angle “a”).  Once we have the bottom right inside angle of our triangle, we need to do a little math to determine where our new line (SIDE “C”) intersects with our very first line (SIDE “A”). This intersection will be the exact location of the hive.  The formula to figure this is:
SIDE “C”= SIDE “B” / cosine (angle “a”)
So let’s say that we used our protractor on the map and determined that SIDE “C” made a 47 degree angle with SIDE “B”. This means that angle “a” is 47 degrees. We also know that SIDE “B” equals 50 yards. 
SIDE “C” = 50 yards / cos (47)
SIDE “C” = 73 yards

Our wild bees are approximately 73 yards from our current position at the point where our last azimuth intersects with our first azimuth.  Now we can bring our bowl to that spot and use our ears and eyes to look for the entrance to the hive. Many old time bee liners claim to hear the hive before they see it.  Now finding the cosine of an angle usually requires a scientific calculator (solar powered scientific calculators are available for five or six dollars). To make life easier, I have created a lookup table that automatically converts the degrees of angle “a” into the exact distance to the hive so no cosine calculation is necessary. This table will only be accurate if you walk exactly 50 yards (150 feet) to form SIDE “B”. I have printed a small version of this table and laminated it to keep in my wallet. The table follows:

Once we find our bees we need to don our protective gear. It might be a good time to mention that this should not to be done by anyone with bee sting allergies and I always carry two Epi-Pens with me just in case. A simple Tyvek painter’s suit sold for a few dollars at Home Depot will provide protection that is comparable to most commercial bee suits. Be sure to get the suit with the built in hood. Purchase some nitrile gloves as they are more puncture resistant than either latex or vinyl and are the choice of medical professionals to prevent needle sticks. A simple mosquito head net worn over a ball cap completes the outfit. Many beekeepers remove hives with no protective gear whatsoever but this is not recommended for the novice.  Tie some dry grass together tightly and light it on fire. Extinguish the flames so that it makes smoke. Fan this smoke into the hive entrance. This will trick the bees into thinking their home is on fire and they will immediately gorge themselves with honey in preparation of seeking a new home. This causes the bees to become very docile. Would you want to get into a fistfight after eating Thanksgiving dinner?  At this point, you may need to enlarge the access hole to reach the comb. It is preferable to only remove a portion of the honey and to do it without destroying the colony so that we can come back for more later. Remember that the bees need honey to survive throughout the winter and without sufficient stocks, they will die. This is the equivalent to shooting your cash cow.

Take the honey comb back to process the honey. You can eat it right in the comb or you can employ the crush and strain method. Whichever you do, do it indoors otherwise you will create a swarm of bees all looking to rob your honey.  Crush the comb and strain it through a paint strainer or cheese cloth. Make sure that at least three quarters of your honeycomb is capped. The bees cap the comb once they have the moisture content down to 18% or less. The uncapped portion is still nectar but with a much higher moisture content. Uncapped nectar can be eaten if done right away but it does not store as it will ferment from the natural yeasts that are present. The wax can then be utilized to make everything from candles to lip balm (again, outside the scope of this article).

Some people see the face of God in the clouds.  I see Him in the bees.  They are an amazing gift to us and they have been sustaining man for thousands of years.  God’s Manna from heaven was reputed to have honey in it and the best land was referred to “the land of milk and honey”.  When you realize that one out of every three bites of food you eat is a byproduct of honey bee pollination, you get a picture for how important they are to our sustainment.  Mr. Rawles, please forgive the unabashed plug but if you are interested in learning more about honey bees or about purchasing wild honey you can visit my web site, The Bee Shepherds.

With the end of season sales starting for garden seeds, it’s a good time to be buying heirloom or open pollinated seeds. Unfortunately, the big name seed companies aren’t always very good at labeling their product as hybrids or heirlooms. The aim of this article is to try to list the commonly seen varieties of non-hybrid vegetables, so that preppers can pick up seeds for their stockpile during the sale season.

First, some definitions: heirloom seeds are usually those varieties that were in existence prior to 1951, when the first hybrids appeared on the American market for home gardeners. An open pollinated seed is often, but not necessarily, an heirloom. Open pollinated just means that they are not a hybrid, and that the seeds will breed true if saved and planted in the next year. Obviously, in a SHTF situation, open pollinated (or "heirloom") seeds are your best bet for long term survival. This does not mean that hybrid seeds won’t have a (small) place in your plans. There are a number of vegetables that are difficult to grow and that have long storage lives, where stockpiling some hybrid seeds as insurance wouldn’t be a bad thing, as long as this is alongside open pollinated varieties also.

I’ve only listed vegetables (and one flower) that are considered easy or moderate to grow. Difficult vegetables or less-commonly grown vegetables aren’t listed. Along with the varieties, I’ve also given the usual storage life of the seed in normal storage conditions (cool, dry, out of sunlight, stored in correct containers). Information on the need to protect from cross-pollination as well as the general hardiness range of the vegetables is also given. This should not be considered a good introduction to the art of seed saving, but merely something to help folks get started. The best book I’ve found for saving seeds is Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth. It is definitely worth getting a copy for your home library.

The listing isn’t complete by any means, I compiled it by comparing the online catalogs for a couple of big name seed companies and noting the open pollinated or heirloom varieties that weren’t necessarily being marketed as such. There are probably ones I missed that are available in retail stores. As always, if you want the best selection of heirloom seeds, check out the various online retailers of heirloom seeds. Nor should this listing be considered as advice on which seeds to get – you need to consider your growing conditions, your families own desires, and your climate before finalizing selections.

Bear in mind that there are often slight name variations between seed companies. The most common change is word order with something like “Purple Podded Pole” becoming “Pole Purple Podded” or the like. Sometimes the spelling is off a bit such as “Dicicco” or “DeCicco”. These are usually fairly easy to determine that the varieties are the same. More difficult are ones that add or subtract a word or add a number at the end. Those you would need to use your best judgment on, but my advice would be to not depend on anything you had to take a flyer like that on. They might be good to purchase and test out, but depending on it being open pollinated might not be a good idea.

Beans: Easy difficulty. Annuals that store seed for 3 years, 4 years with 50% viability. They are best grown in zones 3-10, and rarely cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Bountiful, Cherokee Trail of Tears, Kentucky Wonder, Ideal Market, Lima Fordhook 242, Rattlesnake Snap, Roma II, Dragon’s Tongue, Contender, Gold of Bacau, Painted Pony, Purple Podded Pole, Red Swan, Romano Pole.

Beets: Moderate difficulty. Biennials that store seed for 4 years, 6 years with 50% viability. They are best grown in zones 2-10. They cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Chioggia, Burpee’s Golden, Detroit Dark Red, Bull’s Blood, Albino, Cylindra, Early Wonder, Ruby Queen.

Broccoli: Moderate difficulty. Biennials that store seed for 5 years. They are best grown in zones 3-10, and will cross-pollinate, not only with other broccolis, but with other vegetables such as cabbage.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Dicicco, Romanesco, Green Sprouting Calabrese, Purple Sprouting.

Brussels Sprouts: Moderate difficulty. Biennial that stores seed for 3 years. Will cross-pollinate with itself and other members of its family.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Long Island and Catskill.

Cabbage: Fairly easy difficulty. Biennial that store seed for 5 years. They are best grown in zones 1-9 and they will cross-pollinate with other vegetables such as broccoli.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Early Jersey Wakefield, Late Flat Dutch, Brunswick, Mammoth Red Rock, Charleston Wakefield, Copenhagen Early Market, Golden Acre, and Red Acre.

Cantaloupe: Moderate difficulty. Annual that store seed for 5 years. They are best grown in zones 4-11 and they will cross-pollinate with themselves and with other melons.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Hale’s Best and Hearts of Gold.

Carrots: Moderate difficulty. Biennial that store seed for 3 years. They are best grown in zones 4-10 and they cross-pollinate, even with Queen Anne’s Lace.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Nantes (with many variations on the name), Touchon, and Danvers (also commonly found with many variations in the name).

Corn: Annuals. Sweet corn seed stores for 1-3 years, field corn seed stores for 3-5 years. They are wind pollinated so will cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Golden Bantam (sometimes you see Golden Bantam Improved) and Country Gentlemen. Both of these are sweet corn varieties. Field corn is rarely encountered in garden centers, but you can occasionally find popcorn.

Cucumbers: Easy difficulty. Annual that store seed for 5 years. They are best grown in zones 4-11 and they will cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: White Wonder, Straight Eight, Crystal Apple, Lemon, Marketmore 76, Parisian, and Boston Pickling.

Eggplant: Moderate difficulty. Perennials grown as annuals. Seed will store for 4 years, but the seeds have a poor germination rate, usually about 60%. Self-pollinating and for safety needs a small distance of separation. Usually grown in zones 4-10.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Black Beauty, Long Purple, Rosa Bianca, Turkish Orange, and Louisiana Long Green.

Kale: Easy difficulty. Seeds store for 4-6 years. Kale will cross with itself and with some other members of its family.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Red Russian, Lacinato, Dwarf Blue Curled, and Dwarf Blue Scotch.

Leeks: Easy difficulty. Biennial that stores seed for 2 years. Will cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: American Flag and Blue Solaise.

Lettuce: Easy difficulty. Annual with stores seed for 6 years. They are best grown in zones 4-9 and they will cross-pollinate, but 20’ of distance is usually safe enough to prevent crossbreeding.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Black Seeded Simpson, Tom Thumb, Cimmaron, Lolla Rossa, Parris Island Cos (sometimes Parris Island Romaine or spelled Paris), Rouge d’Hiver, Deer Tongue, and Forellenschluss.

Mustard greens: Easy difficulty. Seeds store for 4 years. These come in annuals, biennials, and perennials and will cross-pollinate with itself and other members of its family.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Tendergreen, Southern Giant Curled, Florida Broadleaf, and Giant Red.

Onion: Moderate difficulty. Biennial that store seed for 1 to 2 years. They will cross-pollinate and are best grown in zones 3-9.
Commonly found heirloom varieties are: Walla Walla and Sweet Spanish Utah for globe onions and White Lisbon Bunching for green onions. Onions are vegetables that are difficult to find heirloom varieties outside of the various specialty stores.

Parsnips: Easy difficulty. Biennial that store seed for 1 year. Will cross-pollinate.
There aren’t many varieties of parsnips floating around, but handily the Hollow Crown variety is an heirloom.

Peas: Easy difficulty. Annual that store seed for 3 years. Best grown in zones 3-11. They will cross-pollinate but 50’ distance is enough to prevent crossbreeding.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Green Arrow, Lincoln, Mammoth Melting Sugar (snow pea), Oregon Sugar Pod (snow pea), Oregon Sugar Pod II (snow pea), Wando, Thomas Laxton, Alaska, and Little Marvel.

Peppers: Moderate difficulty. Seeds will store for 2 years. Will cross-pollinate and grows in zones 1-11, although some places will need to start seed indoors.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include (hot varieties marked): Hungarian Hot Wax (hot), Long Red Slim Cayenne (hot), Jalapeno M (hot), Serrano (hot), Santa Fe Grande (hot), Serrano Tanpiqueno (hot), Tabasco (hot), Thai Hot (hot), Pepperoncini, Sweet Banana, Sweet California Wonder (aka California Wonder or CalWonder), Chinese Giant, Bull Nosed Bell, Emerald Giant, Marconi Golden, Golden California Wonder (aka Golden CalWonder), Jimmy Nardello, Sheepnose Pimento.

Pumpkins: Easy difficulty. Annual that store seed for 4 years. Will cross-pollinate and grows in zones 3-9.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Connecticut Field, Small Sugar, Rouge Vif d’Etampes, Big Max, Atlantic Giant, Long Island Cheese, Spookie, Casper.

Radish: Easy difficulty. Annual or biennial that stores seed for 5 years. Will cross-pollinate and grows best in zones 2-10.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Early Scarlet Globe, Black Spanish Round, Scarlet Turnip White Tip, Cherry Belle, China Rose, Crimson Giant, Daikon, French Breakfast, German Giant, Philadelphia White Box, Pink Beauty, Watermelon, White Icicle, White Hailstone Globe, Champion, Easter Egg.

Rutabaga: Easy difficulty. Biennial that stores seed for 2-5 years. Will cross-pollinate with itself and other members of its family.
The only commonly found heirloom variety I found was Purple Top.

Squash: Easy difficulty. Annual that stores for 4 years. Will cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Boston Marrow, Delecata, Early Golden Crookneck Squash, Fordhook Acorn, Marina di Chioggia, Red Kurl, Ronde de Nice, Waltham Butternut, Acorn Table Queen, Buttercup, Lakota.

Sunflowers: Easy difficulty. Seeds store 2-3 years for this annual. Will cross-pollinate. Note that most sunflowers from the major seed companies appear to be hybrids; I was only able to find the heirloom variety Lemon Queen offered.

Swiss Chard: Easy difficulty. Biennial that stores for 5 years. Will cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include Fordhook Giant, Bright Lights, Five Color Silverbeet, and Lucullus.

Tomatoes: Easy difficulty. Perennial grown as an annual that stores seed for 4 years. Does not normally cross-pollinate, but some of the potato leaf varieties may. Grows in zones 2-10.
There are a gazillion varieties of tomatoes available, and many of them are heirlooms. Among them are the many varieties of Brandywine, some of which come in potato leaf varieties, some of which aren’t. There are about as many varieties of Brandywine tomato out there as there are of some whole vegetable families!
Other commonly found heirloom varieties include: Bloody Butcher, Mortgage Lifter, Tigerella/Mr. Stripey, Amana Orange, Amish Paste, Arkansas Traveler, Beefsteak, Big Rainbow, Black Krim, Burpee Long Keeper, Chadwick Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Druzba, Delicious, Gardener’s Delight, Giant Pink Belgian, Green Zebra, Mariglobe, Principe Borghese, Red Zebra, Riesentraube, Rutgers, San Marzano, Stupice, Super Italian Paste, Yellow Pear, Big Red, Jubilee.

Turnips: Easy difficulty. Biennial that stores seed for 4 years. Grows in zones 3-9 and will cross-pollinate.
The only commonly found heirloom variety is Purple Top White Globe, but there aren’t that many different turnip varieties in general.

Watermelons: Easy difficulty. Annual that stores seed for 4 years. Grows in zones 3-11 and will cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include: Moon and Stars, Allsweet, Bush Sugar Baby, Congo, Crimson Sweet, Georgia Rattlesnake, Orange Tendersweet.

Zucchini: Easy difficulty. Annual that stores seed for 4 years. Will cross-pollinate.
Commonly found heirloom varieties include Black Beauty and Cocozelle.

For ease of reference, I’ve listed the storage lives of the seeds for the above-listed vegetables in order below, in order from longest life to shortest life. Note that these storage estimates are for the “normal” storage conditions. They can be stored for longer periods with some preparation and care. This list will help decide if buying a big stash of seeds is really effective.
6 years: Lettuce
5 years: Broccoli, Cabbage, Cantaloupe, Cucumbers, Radish, Squash, Swiss Chard
4 years: Beets, Eggplant, Kale, Mustard greens, Pumpkin, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelons, Zucchini
3 years: Beans, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Corn (Field), Peas
2 years: Leeks, Peppers, Rutabagas, Sunflowers
1 year: Corn (Sweet), Onions, Parsnips

One of my favorite places to find information on just about everything I may need at TEOTWAWKI is at my local museum.  As a genealogist and museum professional I also have an inside track and know that 90% of all hard copy information about individuals or local communities is not now and probably will never be on the internet.  I am one of four part-time employees at our local county museum and am responsible for all nine computers, printers, our server and web site. 

Technology is a tool that may not always work when I need it and I recognize it as such. As one whose first personal computer (PC) was an IBM 8080 (64k ram, floppies and 10mb hard drive), I have been using PCs since the early 1980s.  Digital information overload and ten different ways of doing the same thing have become the norm.  Today we access social media, blogs, traditional web sites, index sites, images, books, videos and how-to’s, expect every site to work on a smart phone.  Our children teach us technology and we have made Google a verb.  Instant information is expected and for awhile I worried that 4GB of ram may be too little.  My 100GB PC hard drives and 8GB flash drives are much too small for those who think in terms of terabytes. 

My personal addiction to instant information access was recognized and nipped firmly in the bud two years ago.  My smart phone died one cold January morning.  It took eight days and money I didn’t have at the time to purchase a new phone, recover phone numbers, addresses, calendar information and documents.  Some of it was lost in cyberspace forever. 

Since that digital meltdown, I have since made it a habit to be sure everything is backed up.  I sync my phone information often with my PC, and use Evernote and Dropbox and other cloud services.  Even though I use them everyday at work, I have never depended on electronics quite the same way again.  Many days when I am not working, I find it easier to not use them at all.  I also realized I much more prefer the feel of paper and a pen beneath my fingers than a keyboard when I take notes or write about something important.  My thinking is much clearer and I don’t get as distracted. I print out important documents or information on acid free paper and handwrite my daily journal and calendar once again.  

If I were to lose the internet, my computers or smart phone, for an extended period of time, I could still find information I need because I know how to retrieve non-digital information quickly at my local museum.  If you haven’t been to your local museum since elementary school, it is time you went back.  There is no better place to get to know details about your neighborhood, neighbors and community, see historic tools or learn and practice traditional skills.  If you have never been to your local museum, find out where they are, what their hours and policies are and what they have in their collections.

A key thing to know about finding and accessing information from your local museum is figuring out where the nearest one is.  They are usually in a county seat and many of them are called historical societies, with your county’s name preceding historical society in the phone book.  If your historical society is not located in your county seat, the county recorder or chamber of commerce may be able to help you find them.  Your state historical society should also have a list of them on their web site or through their local history outreach coordinator. 

Once you find out where your museum is physically located, you will need to check their hours and days they are open and plan a visit.  Most historical societies that operate museums and historic sites have extremely limited budgets and part-time staff.  Our rural county, of less than 15,000 people, is west of the Mississippi and we enjoy all four seasons.  Our museum is unusual in that we are open year round.  We have historic buildings off-site that like many small museums we only operate seasonally.  Also, unless we have a special event or exhibit opening, we are not open on weekends or in the evenings.  We are open 9-5 Monday to Friday , but several museums in our state are only open from 10-3, 9-3 or noon-5 for two or three days a week.  Some are closed on Mondays or Tuesdays, some are open on Saturday, it depends on their budget, staffing and availability of volunteers.

We have a web site I update at least once a month.  Many societies may not have web sites at all or cannot afford to update them and as stated before, at least 90% of the information in most archives or collections is not on-line.  We are an exception in that many of our key records and inventory records have been digitized, but there are restrictions on the on-line access to our digital collections and most information is only available on-site. Anyone who looks at our web site will see our hours, address and key information about research but will not see entire exhibits, three dimensional views of artifacts or know everything that is in our archive or collection.

You will also need to know if the museum charges for their research time, admission to the exhibit area or other fees.  Most societies also have memberships and a member only newsletter they will mail or email to you when you pay your dues.  It will have their events, special news and information about various research topics and area stories or biographies they have recently worked on. 

Don’t count on the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) to have indexed their newsletter or to have a digital catalog of their collection.  PERSI is on our mailing list, and we have digitized and indexed our newsletters in house, as well as created catalogs and databases but we are not the norm.  To read past issues you will need to either purchase a photo copy, digital file or visit the museum’s archive.  

I strongly encourage you to take the time to visit and spend at least one or two hours the first time you visit in person.  Get a feel for the place and how they operate.
Visit the exhibit galleries and read all the labels, look closely at the photographs and artifacts and ask for a tour of the facility. 

When I give a tour, it usually takes me about six minutes and I quickly walk visitors through the building, upstairs and down, and tell our visitors key facts about the historic building, our county history and that we have over 45,000 photographs, hundreds of journals and scrapbooks, business records and tools, local maps, over 15,000 artifacts (from 1825 to 2011) and point towards various shelves that contain thousands of old fiction and non-fiction books, periodicals and various manuscript collections. 

I always show off our newspaper index card files, and tell them that if they were born, married or die in our county; chances are their name has or will wind up in our card and digital indexes.  I show off the research room and newspaper collection and finally move onto the artifact storage area and let them know our access policies.  Men love our historic tools, military and toy collections.  Women seem to gravitate towards our household, toy and textile collections. 

Before they leave I give each person or family a membership brochure and a newsletter, and if they live in the area, (I always ask where they are from), tell them about our volunteer program and invite them to come back soon.   These six minutes can in no way encompass the collection of individual, county, village and township records and artifacts that our museum is the repository for. 

To find out if our museum has information a certain topic, you will need to ask.  I know our collection and what research resources are available for self guided study.  I know how to check our printed catalogs and databases, and so do several of our volunteers but many will not.   That said, I many times have to contact our long-time members or volunteers on certain topics.  I was not born in my county and have only lived in the state for the past eighteen years.  If I do not know the answer I will try to find it, but many times it isn’t instantly available.  We are not Google and even if we were, remember it probably isn’t available on-line.  Our society also has the policy of charging for my time.  If you want me to help you research a family or topic, it can get pricey if you are not clear on exactly what you are looking for. 

If you have time and really want to know what your resources your local museum has, volunteer your time for various events or to help research.  Our volunteers help us research topics or genealogies in our archive and work with artifacts in our collection room or at our historic sites.   Volunteers greet our guests, give tours and do data entry, indexing or host our programs or historic sites in historic garb, write using inkwells and make ice cream or churn butter with real cream. 

One of my favorite wintertime activities at our museum is when I dress up in my 1862 costume and read to visitors from our oldest local history book.  It took me two weeks and 8 yards of wool to create the costume, and 12 yards of cotton batiste for the petticoats and chemise.  It is very warm and except for the corset it is quite comfortable.  Before I created that costume, I never thought of only having two outfits in my life or having to carry everything I wore in a trunk.  I also had never fully realized the importance of knowing how to make a good French seam with tiny stitches, or that hooks and buttons can be handmade instead of purchased.  In this process, I also learned that our museum had two different types of treadle sewing machines and that both of them were in working order. 

We also utilize volunteers with our ongoing programs for homeschool, 4H, scouting and other children of various ages and show them how to play games, use tools or learn skills that were popular before electricity came to our area after rural electrification in the 1930s. Ropemaking and churning butter seem to be two of the most popular work related activities and the wooden articulated toys are always a hit.  Our volunteers also enjoy hosting at our off-site country school events.  One of our key strengths is that we take extra time to figure out what projects our volunteers want to help with.  We ask a lot of questions about what you want to accomplish and learn about while you work. 

Finally, before you travel home, check out the museum gift shop and buy a locally written history book or two about your region or favorite topic.   With very small budgets, book sales and donations are the life’s blood of many museums.

Once you realize how much information on life in your area, traditional crafts and tools is available at your local museum, you will find it much easier to unplug. 

I am at home sitting safely on my couch, however, between 2001 and 2009 I was a soldier serving in the GWOT campaign. I have served three tours in Iraq, one tour in Afghanistan, and a year assisting the African theater (proxy war.) And I’m currently working for the Marine Corps as a civilian contractor. I figured I’d write down some thoughts because I have had the misfortune of twice being cut off from any re-supply or ‘rescue’. In addition the equipment issued to servicemen is not always ‘the best’ money can buy. So here are some thoughts on that to have and what to spend money on to get the very best.

People tend to forget that everything will wear out and start to break or tear. In my SERE kit I carried two sewing kits. One for medical and another for clothing, tent repair (cold nights will keep you awake), boots, etc. Knives will dull, weapons will foul and rust, cloth will tear, boots will lose their soles, facial hair will grow, your teeth will suffer, your skin will rash. The list of things that go wrong or bad without maintenance are endless. But at this time we wont be discussing combat conditions, we are discussing survival in the inevitable troubled times within the next couple years.

We’ve gotten very accustomed to the instant gratification life style of ‘just go get a new one’ when something wears out or breaks. Now think about this for one day. You cannot get a new one, you cannot replace it. When you go on your next camping trip, think to yourself that what you have is all that you have and all that you’ll get. Do you have what you need to keep your equipment in working order for years to come? Do you have the knowledge to take the best care of your things like wash your clothes only in low mineral content water. (Here in Arizona, high mineral content water in streams or springs will destroy your clothing.)

Not only do you have to take care of your equipment, but more importantly. What equipment will you bring? And how will you carry it? Wally World carries some nice looking back packs that appear to be well made. When choosing your back pack or bug out bag, stuff it full of something. Then look to see if there is even outward pressure on the stitching or if some stitching is ‘stretched’ more than others. If so, this is not the pack/bag you want to buy. Now, not all of us can afford to spend $1,000 on a back pack with Kevlar stitching and high tech spaceman materials. So if you do buy the Wal-Mart pack, buy also a tent repair kit (or two) as the thread in these kits are more durable than your run of the mill thread. Remember, two is one and one is none.

    I say all this because if you have to leave your prepared position, I.e. its no longer tenable or you must assist in your own rescue, then you have carry all this on your back. Depending on your situation and your environment, you will need to think about what is most important. A human can go thirty days without food, but in the desert one can go only hours without water. Do not drink the hard alkali water found in the desert. So assuming that we must leave our fortified position, our packs just got very heavy. Because staying in place is much easier than moving on foot. Its when you must go somewhere is when it gets complicated. With a vehicle  you can carry much more than walking. However, gas stations won't be open for business. That being said, “ground pounder gear” will be carried eventually. So, What will be in your rolling gear?

First and foremost - (in Arizona) WATER, as much as you can carry and a means to get water. When you think that you have what you need, triple it.

Food - Without the energy, your not carrying anything. You will lose the will to survive if you don’t eat.

Shelter - A little one-man tent is good but tends to be a little flimsy. A tent repair kit would be a plus.

Sleeping Bag - A 32 degree-rated sleeping bag is sufficient in most cases with the addition of a fleece liner.

Shoes - A new [but well broken-in] pair of 6” top quality boots, period. Four pair of new socks.

Fire starter - Water proof matches, lighter, trioxane, “wet start”, etc.

Cook set - for cooking food, boiling water. Aluminum is good enough, Titanium would be better. Plastic MRE spoon (2). A titanium spork would be good to have for eating and for cooking/stirring.

Knife - A good quality general purpose knife, multi-tool, a large fighting knife, and a machete. Don’t forget the sharpening stone or even better, a full honing set.
Weapons - Rifle with 100 rounds of ammo minimum, pistol with 5 loaded magazines.

So now that we have the crucial items that you will live with or die without. Now lets make a list of items of “ground pounder gear” in the pack. Each person should carry this in their pack regardless of what else they want. These are the basics, strictly surviving.
        
Remember: Ounces Lead to Ponds and Pounds Lead to Pain

Water - Two 2 liter bladder, one 1 gallon jug. 16.6 lbs. Water filter (1,500 gallon working life, minimum).

Food - At least three days worth at two meals a day = 6 MREs. This is assuming that you know how and where to forage for supplementary food in your environment.

Knife -  You either have crap or gold. With knives there is little middle ground for quality.

Multi-tool - No less than two should be carried. They are too useful and there for too important to lose.

Compass - Two should be carried in case of loss or “compass panic”. People do panic when lost or off course. They start to distrust their compass and quickly make their situation worse. Comparing the compass readings can help quell panic.

Map - Individual maps for each area you intend to enter.

Toilet paper - What goes in must come out. The human body is only 86% efficient, that creates 18% waste. Butt rash is as bad as a blister. Carry plenty.

First Aid kit - Band-aids, Neosporin, Splint, Mol-skin, Gauze (stick and non-stick)…

Tent - A Bivy Sack (one man tent) is ideal in most situations. Think about it, who will carry the fifty man tent?

Sleeping bag - Appropriate temp rating to your environment. In Arizona , 32F is sufficient in the low country.

Tarp - If the weight of the pack allows. You want it to allow.

Bed mat 1” - Because a rock in your hip makes a crappy night sleep.

Socks - Four pair at minimum. Pack new ones..

Hat - Boonie type is best

Sun glasses - A decent pair will be good. A $150 could be better spent else where.

Fire Starter - Matches (water proof), lighter, Trioxane, Magnesium, …

Binoculars - Quality. Quality is a must in this area. Imagine being able to see 1,000 yards ahead without danger or eye strain.

Lock pick set - For picking locks for shelter, abandoned supplies, refuge, etc.

Flash light - Don’t be cheap here either. Seeing in the dark could mean the difference between life or death. Don’t forget batteries! Don’t want you walking off a cliff in the middle of the night going to restroom.

Warm clothing - Thermal under wear and light weight jacket or poncho or both depending on weight. Layers are best as to avoid big bulky coats and light layers insulate better than single heavy layers anyhow.

T-shirt - If you’ve ever spent an extended period of time without modern luxuries, you know what a moral boost a clean shirt can be.

Bar Soap - For washing your body and your clothes

Tooth paste - Because a painful cavity will incapacitate you.

Wash cloth - Some areas must be scrubbed; arm pits, crotch, feet, feet, feet….feet.

Bandana - Appropriate camo colors for your environment. Carry multiple if necessary.

Duct tape - You just never know. I’ve seen men use duct tape as a splint on broken feet. Yet another use.

Leather gloves - Because thorns, blisters, and cuts hurt and lessen your effectiveness.

Writing pad with pencil - For making notes or marking ‘way points’ on your map. We cannot remember everything. So write it down. Pencils don’t dry out!

Instant coffee - As much as you can carry. Because a simple cup of coffee is a huge moral boost. Also the caffeine can give an energy boost when food is low or scarce.

Mechanical Watch - When boiling water, you have to know when 30 minutes is reached. Its useful for planning your movements at sunrise and sunset.

Para-cord - As much as you can carry. 20 feet minimum. This is light and strong. Its uses are virtually endless.

Mule tape - Or flat rope. At least 20 feet. This is used by utility companies for pulling large wire. It is rated for 2,500 pounds and is very light. It can be tied in very small and tight knots if needed. Beware though that it does deteriorate over time (several years), so buy it new.

Rifle - Carry at least 100 rounds and spare parts; firing pin, recoil spring, sear, sear spring, extractor, extractor spring, hammer, and anything else that tends to break or wear out. KNOW HOW TO CHANGE THESE PARTS!

Pistol - Carry at least five loaded magazines.

Weapon cleaning supplies - Cleanliness is next to godliness. My personal choice for cleaner, lubricant, protectant (CLP) is Frog Lube. It is FDA approved so it is edible which only means that its nontoxic to you and any children around you. I’ve also cleaned my weapons with CLP and little more than my thumb and a paper towel through the bore. It will not allow carbon to stick to the metal of your weapon and does not dry out or ‘gum up‘. What ever you choose, (Hoppe’s, Remington, CLP, etc.) just make sure to buy plenty!

Emergency blanket - Use as heat reflector NOT as a blanket.

Aluminum foil - Cooking.

Knife Sharpening kit - Your knife will become dull. A dull knife will make you work harder and greatly increases the chances of a severe cut or wound. Don’t make yourself a burden or casualty.

Chap stick - As much as can be carried. Chapped lips are very inconvenient. It can also be used on the dry cracked skin of your hands or fingers.

Q-tips - Use your imagination. Clean your ears, apply Iodine (don’t waste it), start a fire….

Iodine - Water, stings, etc.

Small (short) wood handle shovel -  For digging ‘restroom holes,' Dysentery is a monster that has incapacitated armies. This can be picked up at virtually any home improvement store for $20 bucks or less. The wood handle is lighter than the all steel construction of surplus shovels and will probably last longer too!

It doesn’t matter what your situation is: If you neglect your feet then you are in for a real treat of pain and discomfort.   

The ground pounder gear is already listed. Now what? For the vehicle you simply magnify the amounts, i.e., 1,000 rounds of ammo, 50 gallons of water, a couple hundred sand bags, 100 pounds of food, etc, etc. But if you or I had to sum up a survival scenario in simple terms it would be this. There are many things we can go without, there are few things we cant go without, food, water, shelter. So it is safe to assume that we can never have enough food and water, but lets add a premium quality knife, a rifle, and ammo to that list. There is nothing worse than running out of ammo or breaking a firing pin at the worst possible time. Most of the items discussed here are cheap, some are not. Think intelligently about what you buy and where you put your money. Just because it has ‘tactical’ in the name doesn’t mean its worth the money.

Before I finish, I’d like to add some thoughts on weapons. I carried the M4, M249 SAW, and the M240B and found all of them good weapons. The M4/AR-15 platform after some fifty years of fine tuning has become a decent rifle. Now lets go against traditional thinking a moment. The M4 should only have the bore, chamber, gas tube, and bolt ‘cleaned’. As for the bolt carrier and the upper receiver, just wipe it off. It will work better. Whenever possible though, I would often pick up enemy weapons. Why? Because they work. If you want to choose a weapon system that will just work. Try observing the countries or regions that don’t have multi-billion dollar budgets or a gun store on every corner. The nomads carry AK variations as well as 70 percent of the rest of the Arab world. This is simply because it works. The other 30 percent are wielding older (legacy) HK variants. They use these platforms because yes, they are widely available. But more than that, they work. Big parts power through the fowling that builds up. Loose parts glide over the fowling. Big, loose parts just function better than the tight, light weight M4/AR15 system. My personal choice for primary weapon system is the HK G3 because its simplicity and reliability. The extra weight of weapon and ammo are a trade off. The light weight M4 and it’s 5.56mm ammunition means that yes can carry more ammo. But in my experience, using the 5.56 means that you need more ammo to get the job done. The 7.62x51mm is a versatile cartridge being suitable for deer, elk, or self defense. Still, the 5.56 has its place and will perform.

In closing, take the time to think wisely about what you buy. Know how to use and take care of your kit. Because once your equipment fails, it might just kill you.

As a theater teacher and director I am primed for drama.  I hunger for it.  But what to do while waiting for the aliens to land, the dollar to collapse, the bombs to start flying, or Yellowstone to have its say?  I have always told my actors, don’t rehearse it, do it.  After all, preparation is important, but performing is better.  Act as if you have an audience now and do it the way you will perform it.   I am new to this “prepping” phenomenon.  It can be an overwhelming, and for some of my friends, an inexplicable thing.  So what can I share that is useful?  For those well into the process, maybe just a confirmation of things they already know and do. For those who are just starting out and wonder what to do first, I would offer the following Drama Queen version of prepping and sustainable living. 

The saying “write what you know” inspired me to use theatrical terms to outline ways I have become more prepared.   My former Navy Corpsman husband and I have made some simple but profound changes in our lifestyle.  While we may not be living the post-apocalyptic dream, we know that current conditions in this world aren’t exactly normal, and they don’t seem to be getting any better.  Crazy weather? Check. Fossil fuel?  On the way out.  Economic stability?  Um, since when?  So, it makes sense to live now the way we may be forced to live later. In a very real sense, The End Of The World As We Know It has already arrived. 

THERE ARE NO SMALL PARTS, ONLY SMALL ACTORS   Maybe you are the sort who feels “unless I can do the whole thing and do it perfectly I don’t want to do it at all.”  Rather like those who say, “unless I am cast as the lead in the play, why bother?”  Remember, like the chorus members on stage, no matter how small your efforts, they make a difference.  Even a simple change will lead to more.  Here are some baby steps for your role as Third Guard From the Left, before you take on your End of the World tour as Hamlet.  There is no limit to ingenuity, so start creating instead of tossing away.

Compost food waste   We used to just throw things out.  Now we sort items into what is recyclable or garbage, and happily compost what’s not eaten or used by us.  Our eco footprint has gone from Godzilla to Cinderella, and in such easy steps.  What’s more, we are creating soil for next year’s healthy garden from this year’s waste. 

Look at your yard with new eyes – Our back yard has a bumper crop of dandelions.  I used to curse them as noxious weeds.  Not anymore.  Why curse something that has the ability to relieve liver disorders, aid the pancreas, maintain bone health, and cure acne? What an awesome plant!  Not a weed.  Not anymore.  And if you don’t fancy the taste, then feed them to your chickens and you will have happy feathered friends and healthy eating eggs. 

Find new uses for common items – One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.  For example, make a sterno burner using tuna cans, cardboard and old candle wax.  Or transform aluminum pop cans into solar heating devices.  

Light up your life   Some call it energy conservation – I call it love light.  Candles are so much more romantic than conventional lighting.  We really enjoy candlelight dinners, and choosing to use electricity less not only saves money, but reminds us of the need to look to other sources for our energy needs.  Remember, TEOTWAWKI is now.  What happens if the power goes out permanently?  You’ll need a lot of candles…so here is a crazy way of extending candlelight – not romantic, but very practical: One tub of Crisco, one candlewick, 45 days of candlelight. 

JOIN A GREAT CAST OF PLAYERS Being a jack of all trades is useful, but exhausting.  Plays have multiple characters for a reason; and it takes the onstage and the backstage crew to succeed.  Being with like-minded people in a community is so much easier than doing it alone.  TEOTWAWKI isn’t a one man or one woman show – this is a huge production.    Here are ways to find cast members for your local production:

Join a community garden – Take 30 strangers, put them in a room and tell them to start planning a garden.   I thought it would be more like our current political process –a lot of talk, not a lot of progress.  Wrong.  We planned, we plotted, we laughed, and disagreed, and then kept working to make things right.  A perfect example of what can work in the democratic process as well as a wonderful way to learn more about gardening.  We know and grow with a variety of people; some are experienced gardeners, others are beginners who kill off their first three tries at tomatoes.   We also have refugee families who are starting new lives and have knowledge to share.   Find a local group of your own – there are opportunities everywhere.

Get to know your neighbors – That crazy guy down the street?  The charming lady across the way?  They may be the ones who help you most if the fertilizer hits the fan.  Also, a group of watchful neighbors are less likely to fall victim to mob mentality, and it is far better to know who is right next door in a catastrophe. 

Make friends with those who work or shop at places that give you knowledge and help  When you find an excellent source  of products for your home, your garden, or anything else,  chances are the people who shop or work there are just as valuable as the items purchased, often even more so.   We have learned from others’ mistakes without having to make them.   When in doubt, ask.  Better to look stupid now, than stupid later.  Wish we’d thought of that before we tried storing potatoes in a freezing cold shed….

DON’T JUST STUDY THE SCRIPT – GET MEMORIZED   Old school knowledge is out there – and Google won’t be around in a catastrophe, so having written as well as practical knowledge is critical. Here are some remarkably useful scripts for your prepping role:

Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World by Kelly Coyne & Eric Knutzen. If the authors can do what they do on a 1/12th of an acre plot in the heart of Los Angeles, what’s your excuse?  Want to make your own soap?  Transform your backyard into a haven of healthy foods?  From the minuscule to the mighty, Making It takes you from easy day to day projects to yearly concepts that will free you from manufactured dependency.  The ultimate guide for a homemade life.  We’ve made our own tooth paste, soaps, and conditioner. We’ve brewed beer, made wine from our grapes, and are looking for more and more ways to produce instead of consume.

The Original King Arthur Flour Cookbook The Holy Grail of Cookbooks.  I kid you not.  King Arthur and his knights would have gone on a quest for this one and come back to happy castles.  Over 600 pages of recipes – and just with flour. Breads, cakes, cookies, biscuits, muffins, scones, etc, etc, etc,.  But the value in this book is far beyond the fantastic recipes.  There is history, and not just 40 years ago history, but the history of hundreds of years of working with glorious grain.  There are fascinating stories about why the recipes came about and what to do to amend them to make them your own.  I learned more about breads and cooking with this one book than any other.  Now I can make Braveheart-worthy scones, our whole wheat banana bread begs bananas to go brown, and the list of deliciousness goes on and on...   By the way, the company is as cool as their compilation.  Top quality healthy flour for over 200 years, King Arthur Flour is a company our country can be proud of.  www.kingarthurflour.com 

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C Smith   My husband and I both come from families that garden – but we hadn’t planted anything since we were kids.  It was daunting to start our garden last year out of the tangled mess of weeds that was the back yard.  We planted peas too late and corn in bad soil.  But the things that worked were amazing.  All summer and into the fall we had the joy of harvesting beans, lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes and potatoes that were all our own.  Every time we wondered anything about any type of veggie we grabbed the Bible.  And it came to pass that our vegetables grew.  And lo, they were delicious to the taste, and were very plentiful.  And we looked upon our garden and said, yea verily, this is heaven!

Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival by Jack A. Spigarelli Where to start with food storage? This book has lists for what you need and instructions on what to do with your stockpile written in a practical and understandable way.  It details not only crisis options but day to day food production and preservation tips. We now have our year’s worth of food storage, which came together bit by bit, rather like learning lines for Shakespeare.  You don’t get it all in one sitting, just take it one line at a time.  Another package of sugar here, extra case of beans there, and then one day – ta-da!  Food storage.
                 
TRUST THE DIRECTOR   Many a great actor has butted heads with their director.  It always ends the same.  The Director wins.  This wonderful planet, our Mother and Home, has a plan.  We can fight it, or we can go with the flow.  Evolution and Nature are far more resilient than even the most stubborn human, so learn from the Director.  Watch how She does it.  After all, She’s been at this a lot longer than we have. Lessons in what can be done are all around us.  Can you grow citrus in the Austrian Alps?  Trick question?  The answer is yes, if you are Sepp Holzer.  He learned how to mimic nature’s ability to create micro-climates with ponds, trees, rocks, and plant diversity.  He has proven beyond a doubt that there is no limit to what you can grow if you understand how Mother Nature works.   For the amazing details read Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening.

BE A METHOD ACTOR – LIVE THE ROLE Gandhi said it best, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  The first part of being the change is changing yourself first.  Do you despise Monsanto’s and other big corporations and their world-ignorant practices? Then live a clean life and do not give them your time or money.  Inform others.  Stand up for what you believe and do not give in to the opinion or even the mockery of friends.    The Ant prepared for winter all summer long despite what the Grasshopper said about “take it easy” and “why work so hard?”  The world has changed.  We are the change.  

VOTE – You have a voice, and maybe you feel like the littlest Who in Whoville on a political dust mote of individual unimportance, but say something.  Do something.  Others will add their voice to yours and what was just one “No!” will soon resound worldwide. 

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR HEART IS – Is it important to you?  Get behind it with support.  Is it appalling and wrong?  Don’t add your money to it.  Don’t buy things that hurt others in the process of production.  We have options, and the sooner we spend the way we truly feel the better those options will become.

JUST BECAUSE THEY SAY IT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S SO – FDA approved…hmmmm.  Why would the government let us eat/drink/take things into our bodies that are harmful?  Why would anyone knowingly let a product out on the market that is known to cause cancer or other drastic side effects?  Sorry, Pollyanna, it’s not the sunshiny world it should be.  The hard truth is your lack of health makes you a cash cow that is part of a trillion dollar industry of disease and distress.  But not anymore.  Not if you are willing to read labels, stand up for preventive health measures, and become an informed consumer.  If it says “High Fructose” we put it back on the shelf.  We have learned more than we wanted to know about what is in processed foods.  We are picky eaters now, but so much healthier.

TIME FOR DRESS REHEARSAL    When our second refrigerator in the garage died, we had a crash course in what happens with no power.  The food within was instantly “use it or lose it.”  We saved some, lost some.  So, we are now in a more active dress rehearsal mode.  My man frequently asks the question, “If today we found ourselves in a major crisis, what would we most regret NOT doing?”  We work on that answer first.  Recent endeavors include: Honey, I Can’t Make it Home Day using GMRS hand held radios, Little House on the Prairie Day with no electricity, and All Shook Up earthquake prep day.  Dress rehearsal is a great way to find out what works and what doesn’t, and who is up for performance, and who needs a bit more stage time…

AS THE FINAL CURTAIN GOES UP…  The Greatest Performer this world has ever known lived His part perfectly:  “Love thy Neighbor As Thyself.” Imagine a world of loving, caring, planet-conscious humans whose role it is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for those in need.  More than just mankind caring for our own, imagine finally understanding that being one means every living organism, from the smallest microbe in the dirt, to the molecules of air, the vast oceans of water, and every form of plant and animal life.  Everything should be protected and esteemed by us as caretakers of this beautiful Earth. 

Start with the understanding of One Home.  Take care of every needful thing for you and your family and then help others to do the same.  Eventually you will come to understand that we truly are one world.  One family.  Why classify by color, race, country or creed?  They are only the costumes we wear for this particular performance, and as Will Shakespeare, another great performer said, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”  The part you have been cast in is a critical one.  You were born to play it.  So act your part with pride, fellow Preppers.  TEOTWAWKI is now.

My wife, our children and I live on our family's farm. Our lives are quite unburdened by the daily cares of most folks. We live debt free, have never owned a new car and have never taken a vacation. There's just simply no other place we'd rather be than home.
 
We do have quite a few visitors here, with people stopping by to tour the 19th Century era museum and village we have created, or folks coming to the homesteading classes we teach, or neighbors coming for eggs and honey. But, even with the daily company and the rarity of a dinner eaten alone, our lives are basically stress free, and rather enjoyable.
 
Lately the two of us have been talking about world events and the need for folks to organize in like-minded communities or to acquire 'survival' retreats. But there is something that has puzzled us. As long time readers of SB, we have of course taken notice of the many letters and articles about bug-out-bags and getting out of the cities 'when the time comes'. 
 
Many people seem to think they need to get the just right gear and vehicle in order to leave the cities and go someplace else in the collapse because the cities won't be livable. It seems to us that kind of thinking is a bit backwards. If someone who has spent a life in the city suddenly tries to move to the country in the time of turmoil and confusion, it's the country that will be unlivable. 'Country liv'n' is just so vastly different from city life, that few city folks are likely to be able to make it.
 
The environment is just so 'other'. The sounds, smells, plants, landscapes, the amount and kinds of work, the climate, the skills needed, the challenges, the available foods, types of required clothing, kinds of tools, the things you notice and things you don't notice, the way you use time, your emotional outlook on daily events, are all vastly different. --And that's just a partial list of the things you'll need to adjust, acquire and change in order to be successful in a completely new and different environment. Your B.O.B. may be just right enough to get you through the first few days or even week. But after that, fields are simply not the same as cement. And looking up in a tree is not the same as looking down from a high rise apartment.
 
In talking about this question of 'getting to the country', my wife and I have discovered we actually have somewhat different reasons for moving 'to the country' now, rather that waiting until 5 minutes before the crunch when it may actually already be too late. My thinking runs more to the material side of why move sooner than later. Laura's has much more spiritual reasons to move now.
 
...So, together, we write two letters.
 
During WW2 in the Pacific Theater, Allied troops were island hopping. Very few of the young men had ever been in a tropical environment. The palm trees were different than anything they had ever seen. The weather and wetness was foreign to anything they had experienced. It was just so much hotter and more humid than Brooklyn or Buffalo.
 
The Japanese developed the "trick" of hiding in tree tops and picking off the troops as they walked by, knowing the city boys would never see them. But, the Americans fairly quickly learned to send the country boys through an area first because the country-raised guys knew what to look for. They could spot when a tree, even though a completely new to them species, just didn't look right. Many of them couldn't exactly explain how they were different. Just something about the thickness of the branches, or the color being off slightly, or the shadows were "wrong". City raised boys couldn't see it, but men raised in the woods and fields all their lives just, ...knew. And so they could deal with the enemy snipers before the enemy could deal with them.
 
I had something a little like that happen to me a few years ago. I was driving through a park one day. As I drove I was scanning side to side as I always do. (There have been studies done of how most folks mostly just stare straight ahead as they drive, and never see what is to either side.) I was driving normally, not fast, not slow, just driving and looking. I noticed something wrong about a tree, so I stopped and backed up to take a look. I walked quite far into the woods and discovered a deer head set in a crotch of a maple tree. Someone had been poaching.
 
Later the police asked me how I had spotted the head. I think they were suspicious that I might have put it there while illegally hunting. I tried to explain that from a distance it just wasn't "right". But they just didn't get what I meant. It was outside their experience.
 
A year ago the past winter I was disposing of a pile of papers for one reason or another. I asked a couple of friends if they would burn them on the outdoor burn pile. They dumped the paper, then tried to light it up. They couldn't do it. Too much wind, or something. ....They called me over to relate the problem. I bent down, struck a match, and off and going the fire went. They told me later that I had put my back to the wind to make a wind shelter so the match could take. I didn't even know I had done that. It was just something that a person does naturally without thinking. (At least naturally when you had been building fires all your life.)
 
So what does this have to do with survivalblog? Well, I'm often struck by how many folks spend so much time on collecting bug out bags, but seemingly spend little time in the woods they imagine they'll bug to.
 
Some time ago a writer on SurvivalBlog wrote about the cart and the horse. He suggested that it may very well be more useful to collect now what you need, rather than collecting trade goods in order to be able to try to acquire the needed items later. To me, he was absolutely right. If you are already living your TEOTWAWKI existence as you believe it will be, you won't much need trade goods for getting what you may need. You'll have already gathered the tools of self-sufficiency.
 
The problem is, if you haven't already been living in 'the country' and acquiring the knowledge, skills and goods you'll need, you will be just like those fish out of water soldiers in the Pacific. You'll have a very hard time functioning in a strange environment. You won't know what you need (except by reading someone else's barter list. Viagra! Really?) Simply put, you won't know how to live if you only know a pre-crunch 'walking on cement' life.
 
These are all very practical issues for me. It takes years to be able to unconsciously know where the wind is, to know what it means when birds roost differently than usual, or how old a deer track is. Or just the knowing of, when does a tree look wrong. I want to know the how of things. I want to have, in hand, the things I need to do the job. I want to be fully prepared for TEOTWAWKI before it happens. Not play catch up when it's too late. Prepping a bag is only skin deep to what you'll need. Living the life now, 24 hours, will serve you much better.
 
But my wife goes much deeper than that. She's more,"horse first" than even me. She wants to know the the why of, 'why do you want to know or do'? In her words she writes, ....
 
Why do you want to survive TEOTWAWKI?
 
Why do you want to live as long as you can? What makes living as long as you can seem important to you, so important that you are spending your free time after work, or in the mornings, or in between activities, reading this web site? Do you feel that with more length of time on Earth, you may have a greater opportunity to teach others? Maybe learn more yourself, or perhaps prove to yourself or your God(s) that you can conquer this world, or can take whatever "they" can dish out? Perhaps that will make you feel valued? Certainly most of us will feel that being around to take care of our families is of utmost importance..
 
Or maybe you are just afraid to die?
 
In times as hard and unbelievable as these, we can all get caught up in such questions. Some of them are good ones, the best kind there are. But we ought to be careful to not walk the path of simply how to 'get there". We really need to think beyond the need to survive and really get to the why we want to live.

 
My husband, our two daughters and I are blessed with a decent amount of land on which to live. Many other people also have land somewhere they can go to in need. But the difference between this land and so much of the land of those other people is that we have used our hands, minds, efforts, and desires to manifest an existence as close to perfect as we can imagine. Even, in a lot of ways, greater than we can imagine. We have found and brought home many buildings in order to create a place of self-sufficiency and sustainability (including a sawmill, blacksmith shop, weaving mill, smokehouse, windmills and many more.).
 
We have spent many hours and days hauling in mulches and manure to perfect our many gardens. We dedicate many an hour to perfecting and teaching dozens of classes on indefensible skills such as soap making (including rendering storable lard from fats and making lye from wood ash), cheese making from our goat's milk and creating rugs from scrap fabrics. We grow most of our vegetables, save the seeds and preserve as much as we can through canning, pickling, fermenting, dehydrating and freezing. Most meals include at least one wild edible, and when itches or irritations occur, we reach for our homemade salves.
 
We do all of this, live this life from sleep to waking, until sleep again. But why? Is it because we want to be ready when the time comes? Is it out of fear of being 'cut off ' from outside help?
 
Well, that is certainly in our minds. But none of those reasons are why we dedicate our lives to this. We do it because at any point in existence, whether before the Coming of Christ, or now in the spring of 2012 or after TEOTWAWKI, living sustainably and consciously is the way to create the same peace and common sense in our physical world that is abundant in our mind. Because NOT living in a way that we create everything we need, living in a way where the average man consumes more than he creates, is what got us in this mess in the first place.
 
 For many people there seems to be this big reality 'gap' of what people want to do and how the world has turned out. Because of this many almost SEEK this big apocalyptic event that will perhaps 'jolt' us into living the way that we SHOULD be living right now. But I ask you all, friends, ...what is stopping you from living your dream now?
 
For us, we see the virtues of the old ways of living before technologies and computers took hold. We don't need to wait until the electricity is gone to live as if it doesn't exist now. We choose to relearn that which is now all but lost, but was once so common. We seek to remember all of the lost Prophecy, lost tradition, lost music, lost way of life. And in doing this, "the end of the world as YOU know it", will mean little to us as we know it. That is what our farm and community are about, what the classes are about, and what our gardens are about. Living now, as we know you survivors will try living later. The same path can open for you as well.
 
An important but mostly forgotten Native American Prophecy states that until the average man learns to live with less, Earth will never know peace. Make the simple transition to change.  Do it happily and get excited about it. What better time than 2012? If you don't want a government who feels compelled to wipe the behinds of every citizen, then learn how to make toilet paper and wipe properly.

 
Owning a good plant identification book isn't enough. Cleverly keeping it in your BOB isn't enough. You need to know where to find this precious food and medicine, how to use it, at what time of the year it is available, and if necessary, how to cultivate it.
 
 Living in a self-sufficient mind is not what you do after a disaster. It's what you can do now in everyday life. It's what you can do to respect our planet. And to respect the people and creatures on it, and honor the Creator of such an amazing world. It doesn't take many days of having your hands covered in fertile soil, sitting in a garden and planting individual peas, gathered from vines planted by your hands last season, created from nothing more than soil water and sun to learn the important unchanging cycle of creation. And as a homebirthing mother I will say that nothing can teach the lesson of creation and life as can loving another person so much that you join together in the Holiest of ways to then find yourself heavy with life, and then unburdened one day to see another life, two new eyes never before opened laying next to you in your bed. No government, no hospital, and no medications are necessary to experience these things. 
 
And that, friends, is worth surviving for.
 
This continual circle of creation and destruction, rising, falling, birthing, aging, dying, and birthing again.. This is what we live for. This is why we choose to survive. For the opportunity to witness it, learn from it, and be a part of this mysterious beautiful thing we call life.

Well, obviously my wife's words grow more corn than mine. But I will close by saying, forget the bugging out bags. There's a world waiting for you to discover. You can live in it now. You can learn it now. If you don't, well, it may soon be too late. Because, just like for those 'boys' in the Pacific, it's a whole different world when crunch time comes. And you better have learned what those differences are while you still have time.
 
Jim & Laura Fry in Ohio
 
Note: Jim & Laura are co-teaching a series of three day survival courses with Dr. Cindy Koelker (SurvivalBlog's medical editor) and Tom Laskowski beginning this June and July. Visit www.ArmageddonMedicine.net for more information.

SurvivalBloggers:
A note on finding Lanolin, for making Ed's Red bore cleaner:
Lanolin is readily available in the breast feeding supply section at most big box department stores, or baby specialty stores. A full tube the (last I checked) is $8-9 but it lasts a very very long time. (And I once scored an unopened, factory sealed tube at a garage sale for 25 cents.) - Alyssa

Dear Mr. Rawles,

I heartily agree with the "Weapons Maintenance -- A Missing Element, by Odd Questioner".  I would add that having lots of good bore cleaner handy makes maintenance a lot easier.  There are MUCH better and cheaper bore cleaners around than the classic Hoppes No. 9.

Ed's Red bore cleaner has been around for over 20 years now and has been mentioned before in your blog.  Even so its a good thing to repeat once in a while.

"Ed's Red" bore cleaner is credited to C.E. Harris.  Its an excellent, easy-to-make and inexpensive bore cleaner and lube.  It stores indefinitely in an airtight container.  It cuts powder fouling like nothing else I've found. The formula and instructions for making Ed's Red has been detailed before in SurvivalBlog, so I won't repeat it here.

I've been making up a couple gallons every few years for over a decade.  I give it away to new friends a few ounces at a time.  Makes a great birthday/Christmas/whatever present for new preppers or shooters. Everyone I've given a sample to has ended up making a gallon of their own.  It is that good!

Ed's Red works for corrosive ammo as well as noncorrosive.  Its an efficient short-term rust-preventative as well.  Adding an emulsifiable oil + water to the mix makes "Ed's Pink" which is specifically for black powder. Do a web search on "Ed's Pink" and you'll find the details for it.

Two words of advice from experience:
(1) the Lanolin may be harder to find than the other components, but its VERY worth it.  Try craft stores that sell soap making supplies.
(2) Lots of folks have ideas for "improvements" to Ed's Red, but these really aren't needful.  The original formula works great and "If it ain't broke . . ."  Just stick with a classic.

Also, I think Ed's Red will be an excellent barter item, come to that. Every prepper should keep a hard copy of the the recipe for Ed's Red in their reference binder.

Cordially, - John

Over the years, as I've been perusing the pages of SurvivalBlog and various other sites, one thing had been missing the whole time, and to my own mind, I completely missed it too.

It wasn't until this weekend that the point was driven home quite clearly. You see, I was out shooting with friends, and taking in a glorious day. In the course of plinking cans and putting various sheets of paper out of their misery, my favorite M1911 light-framed .45 ACP jammed. The slide was nearly locked solid, and after finally clearing out the cartridge and the magazine, I realized that the pistol was in horrible need of cleaning. And yes, I was neglectful of that, as, I suspect, are most folks who use guns a lot are – bad habits do creep in, after all. Sometimes it just never gets done, no matter how many mental notes are made to do it.

Okay, so it's time to clean the little beastie. I get out the tools, the kit, set it all down on the table, and... the solvent bottle was empty. No solvent. Anywhere. No idea why, but there was no solvent to be found anywhere in the house. Not in the gun closet, nor the safe. Not in the preps, and basically nowhere at all. Well, okay, I know full well why, and I bet a lot of you out there have the same problem – just that I found out this weekend, but you don't know it yet. I'll explain...

You have a huge cache of firearms. You have mountains of ammunition. You may even have enough reloading equipment and materials to be your own local arsenal. However, take a quick peek: How much do you have in the way of cleaning equipment? How many spare brushes, swabs, patches, and spare rods do you have? How much spare oil, tools, and solvent are on hand at home right now? Do you have enough to handle every firearm you own, including the stuff you've recently bought? My particular little problem was solved with a quick trip to the nearest sporting goods store (and I made sure to buy four large bottles of the stuff this time – just to be sure). Now how easily could I have solved this little problem if civilization happened to have collapsed before I found out I didn't have any solvent? I can answer that – not at all without improvising, and improvisation is never as good as having the very thing you need.

My little tale (yes, a true story), highlighted two big problems that I bet most preppers don't even bother with: regular weapons maintenance, and having enough stuff to actually perform it for months to years after that stuff can no longer be obtained at a store.

Let's tackle the fact that hey – keep your weapons clean! I was completely blasé about doing it (a bad habit gained from years of playing around in local shooting events, where I routinely ran 600+ rounds through the barrel in any given event, without bothering to clean until every other event, or it saw 1,200 rounds). However, thinking further, imagine if that pistol jammed at a moment where my life really, really relied on having my weapon work perfectly. It's one thing to endure a couple of friendly insults and jibes from friends at a gravel bank, but another thing entirely if I'm facing an intruder, my first shot didn't do the job, and now I'm standing there with a half-open slide while the now-wounded (and now rather angry!) intruder raises his own weapon. The thought is enough to scare the crap out of any sane prepper, and once I realized it, it scared me rather straight as well. I spent three hours cleaning every last nook and cranny this morning, and a quick drive back out into the countryside with 100 rounds confirmed that everything worked flawlessly again. Once home, I cleaned everything again, just to be sure.

I even learned again how a perfectly clean gun operates a whole lot smoother (yes, you tend to forget), and that over time I just stupidly got used to the slowly degrading performance. It is far easier, and safer, to get into the habit of never considering your shooting day done until after you clean every weapon you used. It's easy to think that you're good to go with waiting until x number of rounds have been shot, but it's a very bad habit, and one I'm glad that I caught and learned from - before that lesson came the hard way. Very simply put, always clean your weapon after you're done using it. In a post-collapse world, clean it every chance you get, because you may not get the time to do it when you think you will.

Second item on the agenda – check your stores. No, not your guns, not your cartridges, and not your neat-o accessories. As a prepper, you should check into, and stock up on, the following items:

• Cleaning solvent (the good stuff. Don't go cheap here.)
• Light gun oil (again, don't even think of skimping.)
• Spare wire bore brushes (because they wear down quickly when you actually use them.)
• Spare small wire brushes (because using a bore brush to clean out the inside of a slide assembly is foolish.)
• Spare bore and magazine swabs (because they get dirty in a hurry, and you can only clean them so many times before they become useless).
• Spare patches (as many as you can lay hands on), and spare patch-holders.
• Spare rods of sufficient length (those things are notoriously fragile when you don't want them to be.)
• A big pile of clean/unused rags, set aside especially for cleaning your guns. Make completely sure that they're lint-free.
• Spare tools specific to assemble/disassemble your firearms (the funny-looking wrench you use to take apart the muzzle of an M1911 .45 ACP, for example, because pliers will work but really, not right.)
• Spare consumables for your firearm (examples? No problem: My .45, over time, will eat slide-return spring bushings, slide springs, an extra grip, spare screws for the grip, magazine springs and followers, an extra barrel or two, etc.)

So what if you only have a few firearms and have to do it on the cheap? Well, you can still get by with buying up and storing at least a half-dozen of those small rifle and pistol cleaning kits you normally find in the average department store's sporting goods section. Each is usually self-contained with everything needed to clean your rifle or pistol, are sold by caliber, and each is enough to last about 5 cleanings (10 if you're careful with it). They're also cheap – averaging $10-15 per kit. I figure that by the time you crack open that last kit, you'll likely be almost out of ammunition in your stores anyway. Just stick with a reputable brand, and avoid the absolute cheapest stuff.

But let's get back to keeping these things clean in a post-collapse situation. Hopefully you now have everything you need to do that with. But hey, not everything is perfect in this world, so...

Let's say you're out of supplies to keep your favorite firearm clean, or you found a good weapon with a ton of ammo (Hypothetically, let's say you've been a good little prepper, survived the collapse of civilization, and as a reward the SHTF-fairy drops off a pristine M16A1 and a can of ammo? Oh, but she didn't think to include a cleaning kit. Go figure.) Or, let's say you had to bug out in a hurry, and a pistol cleaning kit doesn't make much sense in that bag of yours. So, now what? The need to keep that gun clean hasn't gone away.  You'll want to make sure it does what you want it to do, especially when you need it to do so. Well, good news! You can improvise. At the low-end, if the firearm is truly Mil-Spec, you can get away with as little as using soap and near-boiling water to literally scrub and rinse the thing (the heat insures that things dry off quickly afterward), only needing a light coat of oil when you're done. If you can find/scrounge up some brake-cleaner (or even clean brake fluid, come to think of it), you can use that in place of typical gun solvent. For oil, you can use a rag and (very little!) clean machine oil, hydraulic fluid, or automatic transmission fluid (but use it sparingly! Too much oil attracts dirt and dust.) There are lots of options in a pinch, but use them intelligently, and don't use it as an excuse to skip cleaning your firearms.

By the way, when it comes to cleaning your weapons, get to know the things deeply. Know to always make sure not only that the weapon is unloaded, but that no bullets are anywhere near the table you're working on, period. I always make it a habit to move all the bullets to a bag on the floor, and double-check everything to make sure no bullets can be found in, on, or around the weapon. Know how to field-strip your weapons, clean them and put them back together in perfect working order. Know where all those nooks and crannies are, and how to get the goop, burn-marks, lead/copper build-up, and all that other crud out of them. Get into the habit of giving every square millimeter a close eye, looking for signs of a failing part: minute cracks, worn edges or lips, curling metal, odd discolorations, pitting, and any bulges or warping where there shouldn't be. Replace those parts ASAP (you remembered to store spare parts, right?) Be aggressive about even the slightest sign of surface rust, scrubbing it completely off with solvent and a rag, wiping off the solvent, then scrubbing it again with a lightly-oiled rag.

Even if you don't use it very often (or at all), get into the habit of taking out each weapon you own at least once every year (once every six months in a wetter climate), and cleaning it anyway, searching carefully for rust, cleaning out any dust, and working everything on it until it feels perfectly smooth and natural.

Yes we've been talking about firearms all this time, but let's take a few moments to get into your knives, swords, bows, arrows, crossbows, or maybe the spare trebuchet you may have stashed in the garage. Just because it doesn't spit fire doesn't mean that you can leave it dirty.

Compound bow cams can clog up and the bearings filled with grit. Knives and edged weapons can pit and rust in a surprisingly short amount of time. That crossbow trigger needs to be kept clean and perfectly functional, because you'll never know when your life will depend on it functioning perfectly. You would be amazed at how quickly that something as simple as a recurve bow can get dirty, causing grit to become sandpaper in the string notches, slowly weakening the bow overall.

If you've ever field dressed an animal with a knife, you already know how quickly it (and your hands) can get greasy, hairy, and smeared with gore. Now think about gripping that greasy, gory handle and defending yourself with it. Anything with an edge that gets used at all will get nicks in the blade, and any blade will dull after even the most careful use. To that end, learn how to truly sharpen a knife. Have the right oils, stones, files, and stropping tools on hand – lots of them. Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of practice and skill to learn how to do it right, but once you do, you can not only keep your edged weapons sharp, but can actually create an edged weapon out of almost any sufficiently-shaped piece of metal.

So let's sum it all up here, and hopefully, you get the idea by now – you have two things to help make your prepping complete: One, get in the habit of cleaning your weapons every time you use them, and periodically if you don't use them. No exceptions, no excuses. Two, make sure you have enough bits, bobs, and supplies in your stores to help keep those weapons clean (and maintained) for at least 2-to-3 years (or more!) beyond the point where civilization goes splat.

Do this, do it faithfully, and you will find yourself leagues ahead of the prepper crowd. You will be better able to survive. You will be able to hold out long after the wannabe commando types got killed off due to their own jammed, dull, dirty, and broken weapons. That is, long-neglected weapons which failed them at the wrong time: precisely when they were needed the most.

In my previous SurvivalBlog article, Melting Lead for the Meltdown, I gave a basic explanation of molding bullets. In particular, I described the molding of 200 grain lead semi wad cutters and the 185 grain SWC.   In addition, it was pointed out to stock these up for use as barter if there is a social/economic/political meltdown.  If you cast your own bullets or are thinking about reloading your own ammo, I would urge you to jump in.  It is enjoyable, therapeutic, and practical in the times we live.  Additionally, it is also economical.   I just checked at Wal-Mart for their prices for .45 ACP ammo and the least expensive I saw was $19.95 for a box of 50.  Reloading your own ammo will pay for itself in the long run because a reloader can beat that price quite easily.  If you pay .05 per bullet, .03 per primer (recently paid 28.50 for a 1,000 Remington primers on sale), and .02 per powder charge, you have a bullet for .10 per round or $5.00 per box less your time involved.  Even if your bullets cost .10  a piece, you’re still looking at $7.50 for a box of 50.  You would also include the cost of your brass, however, as I’m a ‘range scavenger’ and retrieve my brass after a stage in competition, I left that out.  But, the time spent reloading is “fun time.”  It’s time spent on a hobby not work time.   And, if you compete you know you’ve saved hundreds if not thousands by reloading your own ammo.  I try to break down the reloading process so that I’m not depriving my family of time by spending massive amounts of time away from them (i.e. one evening tumble and polish the brass, another evening deprime/ resize 300 pieces, another night for an hour neck expansion/powder charge and bullet seating).

Now, for someone just kicking around the idea of reloading, I want to talk about “getting the lead out.”   That is, you want to get some ammo loaded up and use that lead or pick some up online before component prices jump.   Depending upon what style learner you are, a brief overview that I will provide may be sufficient for you to start.  I started literally the most primitive way with the use of a Lee handloader.  Your rubber mallet,  hand dies, and a powder dipper was how I started…yikes…There was no YouTube, CDs, or instructional tapes in 1975.  I did have a Lyman reloading manual that provided my initial instruction as well as my oldest brother who had also started reloading.   Money was tight for me so I started with a single stage press from Lyman.  You can start here and progress to the Hornady or Dillon progressive reloading press which will turn out from 350-400 rounds per hour. 

“Getting the lead out” and getting it loaded into your brass is the subject of this entry.   The main functional areas that will be addressed are: 1) equipment needs, 2) brass preparation, 3) the components for your ammo (i.e. powder, primer, projectiles), and 4) the process or steps of reloading.
  
Basic equipment that will get you started in basic reloading are the following (I was fortunate to find much of my equipment gently used at Biff’s Gun Room & Knob Creek Gun Range in Shepherdsville, Kentucky):              

• Tumbler for cleaning your brass, media, and polishing agent (check Midway, Natchez, Brownells etc)
• Carbide dies (RCBS, Lyman, Lee etc), shell holder, single stage press (various manufacturers)
• Scale to weigh powder charge
• Powder measure
• Caliper to check your measurements
• Loading block to hold your brass casings
• Headspace/bullet gauge                 
• Bench to mount your press on
• Priming unit (RCBS hand primer)
    

Now with your equipment lined up and ready, you need your .45 brass prepped for reloading.  If you’re using ‘once fired’ brass from the range you need to fire up your tumbler.  Put your media (corncob or walnut) into the tumbler, start it up, and then put in the amount of polishing agent specified on your unit.  Let it run a couple minutes to get the polish worked in and then add your brass. I like Flitz as a cleaning and polishing agent.  Does a great job and takes less time.  Check your brass after tumbling 20-30 minutes and if sufficiently cleaned and polished, separate the brass from the media.  The brass is ready for your next step.
  
Let’s talk components before we get to the actual process of reloading.  I have used many different powders (231, WST, Clays, Unique, Bullseye, 4756, VV 320, Titegroup, Autocomp etc).  You will discover there are many pet loads and you will find there are varying opinions on the ‘best’ powder to use.  Experiment and make your choice.  Many stay with the tried and true Winchester 231.  I have had my best groups with Vhita Vhouri 320 and Titegroup.  VV320 is more expensive and can generally be found at larger gun shows.   Titegroup should be available at most gun shops, gun ranges, and can be also found at gun shows.    I am a life member at Knob Creek Gun Range in Kentucky and have tried to keep Kenny Sumner in business over the years.  My pet load for 200 grain lead SWC (semi-wadcutter) is 4.6 grains of Titegroup.   The next component is the choice of primers.  Again, there are a number of brands such as Winchester, Remington, Federal, and CCI and so on.  For your .45 you need “large pistol” primers.   Next we come to the choice of projectiles.  I’ve used just about everything.  For competition you definitely want a bullet that leaves big holes on paper so you can tell where you’re hitting.  Since I decided to cast my own bullets I primarily use the 200 grain lead SWC.  Feel free to experiment with 185 Hornady SWC copper jacketed, 230 grain FMJ(full metal jacket), Remington Golden Sabers, 230 Lead Round Nose, 225 grain Lead Truncated Cone and so on.  I’ve had splendid groups using VV 320 with jacketed bullets with groups less than one inch (pretty much hole in hole) at 45 feet with a free standing stance.
   So now you have everything ready to go.  Your brass is cleaned and polished, your components are assembled, your equipment is set up and ready to crank it!  And, remember, no smoking while you’re reloading!!!  I am assuming you have followed your instructions and mounted your press and adjusted your dies.  You have your loading blocks (50 rounds per block) ready with your brass.  The process of reloading will entail the following steps:
                  1. Depriming and resizing
                  2. Priming
                  3. Neck expansion and powder charge
                  4. Bullet seating and taper crimp

In the depriming and resizing stage, you will be using a carbide tip resizing/depriming die.  Follow the directions in your die kit regarding the installment of the die.  Then you will take each .45 casing and place it in the shell holder on your press and run the ram up.  The brass is fed into the resizing die/deprimer and backed down out of the die.  You have just resized the brass to the appropriate dimensions so that it will now chamber in your .45 and knocked out the expended primer.  Do this with whatever number of pieces brass you want to reload.  I do one hundred per session so that I’m not letting the reloading consume too much of my time from other important things like my wife.  Once you have resized your brass, use your calipers to measure the length of each piece and inspect each piece.  You must maintain the right measurement with your brass to avoid excessive pressures that could be detrimental to your firearm and health.   Anything with cracks you pitch or put aside for recycling.  The shortest or minimum case length I’ve seen in any manual is .888 thousandths of an inch.  Anything shorter and you can put that in your recycling pile as well.  Maximum case length is .898.  You will likely never have to worry about trimming any of your pistol brass because that normally doesn’t lengthen like rifle brass when fired.  Also, I don’t worry about the primer pocket or primer hole.  This isn’t critical in pistol bullets like it is in competitive rifle cartridges.  All pieces of brass are now resized, deprimed, inspected, and checked for proper length.

The next stage is priming.  You have your large pistol primers (you won’t need ‘large pistol magnum’ primers) and have loaded them into your hand priming tool.  I have an RCBS hand priming tool.  Place each piece of brass in the tool and squeeze the handle.  This presses the primer into the primer pocket of the brass.  Place primed pieces back onto the loading block until all pieces are primed.  This step with 100 rounds will take about 10-15 minutes.  Again, follow the instructions given in your hand priming tool guide. 

In the neck expanding stage you will be removing the resizing die from the press and placing the neck expanding die in the press.  My neck expanding die will also hold my Lyman powder measure so that while the brass is in the expanding die, I can cycle the powder measure and charge the cartridge with powder.  What I have done prior to this in preparation is adjusted the powder measure and weighed the powder charge in the scale to ensure it is dropping the 4.6 grains of Titegroup.  So, with your brass in the neck expanding die, operate the powder measure and drop the powder charge into the brass and remove the brass by running the ram back down.  Pull your charged brass from the shell holder and place in an empty loading block.  Do this with each piece of brass and visually inspect each cartridge to ensure you have a powder charge.  Also check to ensure that you did not inadvertently drop a double charge.  If you have any question about something that doesn’t look right just take the brass and empty the powder back into the powder measure and drop a new charge.  Again, this stage with 100 pieces of brass will take some 10-15 minutes with a single stage press.  Okay, we’re having fun and things are coming together nicely.

We have now come to the bullet seating stage.  Change out the neck expanding die with the bullet seating die and follow the instructions in your manual.  Take a charged cartridge and put it into the press.  Follow this by placing your bullet into the case mouth.  Run the press up and back down.  Check it out!!! You just completed loading that first bullet.  But, before you jump for joy, get your calipers out and check the overall case length of the bullet.  I seat my 200 grain SWCs for 1.235 overall case length.  You will need to check your overall case length and be sure you follow the specs in you loading manual.  In addition, your pistol may be picky and you may have to find thru experimentation the best OAL (overall length) for your pistol.  I have a Para Ordinance P-14 .45 which is equipped with a feed ramp.  I get flawless feeding of my loads at this case length.  With your bullet seating die set to the adjusted correct length, run each charged cartridge up with bullet placed in the case mouth and seat the bullets.  Don’t they look lovely!  Now, last but not least, put a light taper crimp on your bullets.   Replace the bullet seating die with the taper crimp die.  I set my taper crimp die so that it will give me a round that measures .469 thousandths where the bullet goes into the brass.  Run this thru your headspace gauge.  Your completed round should drop into the gauge with no problem and drop back out.  You can also pull your barrel from your .45 and drop the bullet into the barrel chamber and check the fit.  Lyman recommends keeping simple records for your loads. I think that is a good idea and I record the bullet size/weight/type, powder type and powder charge, overall case length, and results of the fired bullets (i.e. feeding issues, accuracy, smoke, kick, and velocity if a chronograph is used[for power factor requirements for competition]).

Remember, this is just one load for the .45.  There are many pet loads that reloaders have.  Go online and check everything out that you can and enjoy your reloading.  It feels good when you look down and see that by following the steps, you turned out a good accurate load.   Like Hannibal Smith used to say on the “A-Team”, “I love it when a plan comes together.”  

This leads me to a spiritual parallel in reloading.  A reloaded cartridge comes from very specific measurements, intelligence, and design.  If you were wandering out in some field somewhere and came across a .45 cartridge you would have to think that it didn’t get there on its own nor was it assembled at random.  Someone was in that field and someone put that bullet together.  So to, we have bodies, a world, and universe that to me indicates “Someone” was in the universe and “Someone” assembled all that we see.  “The heavens declare the glory of God.” I encourage you to seek that Someone and look to Him to assemble your life and trust Him to guide your steps. 

Now go “get the lead out”.

James,
Having just read the letters regarding reloading economics, I noticed the following caveats and had two important points about them:
 
1.  “do not shoot lead bullets in a Glock” because of the polygonal rifling.  Polygonal rifling essentially creates rifling engagement angles that are less than 90 degrees, therefore whatever bullet material you use seals the bore better (because it’s easier to deform lead/copper into a rifling groove that has a more obtuse (open) angle) than a sharp 90 degree angle.    A standard cartridge fired out of a conventionally rifled barrel will travel faster out of a polygonal rifled barrel because of the superior seal that the polygonal rifling creates and that is why Glock uses those kinds of barrels, bullets perform better out of their barrels. Better seal = higher pressures,  higher pressures = higher velocities.   It needs to be noted that the HK USP series of pistols also has polygonal rifling as well as the Baby Eagle line and problem some others that I haven’t listed here.  Lead is perfectly safe to shoot out of Glocks or HKs, as long as you decrease your powder charge.  Polygonally rifled barrels do lead up any more readily than conventionally rifled barrels, in fact, because polygonal rifling seals the bore better the number one cause of leading  is reduced, “gas cutting” the increased pressure does not melt lead bases to any appreciable extent – gas cutting does.  This was all figured out decades ago by better men than me, like Elmer Keith.  Since higher pressures also yield higher temperatures (simple physics) even a conventionally rifled barrel can build up lead quickly if you use hot loads, or try to reproduce +p type ratings using lead or copper plated bullets.  It isn’t lead build up that leads to a “kaboom”, it’s nearly always a compressed load which is far more dangerous in any barrel.  Gas checks (copper jackets that go on the bottom of a lead bullet) are effective not because the leading lip of the gas check hits the rifling and splits to seal the angle of the rifling in addition to shielding the base of the lead bullet.  Don’t believe me?  Check the effective velocities of a gas checked bullet, it’s higher than just lead – less pressure leakage.
 
2.  Copper plated bullets should be treated as if they were lead when calculating your powder charge.  Because the plating is not a “jacket” but a very very thin microscopic coating of copper the hardness of the bullet is still essentially whatever the hardness of the lead that was used in casting it before plating.  The plating process does not harden the lead bullet, it seals the bore better than a copper jacketed bullet – and should be loaded accordingly otherwise you can create higher pressures and you may damage your pistol or yourself.  Always load copper plated bullets as if you were loading lead.  You get less lead fouling with copper plated bullets, but I’ve pulled lead deposits out of a pistol bore that was only shooting copper plated bullets, although it had a couple thousand rounds through it prior to the cleaning.
 
3.  Remember that the higher pressure rounds will have more problems with overpressure than low pressure rounds, typically autopistols shoot 9mm, .45 ACP, .40 S&W – I’ll ignore the other more uncommon rounds, so look them them if you’re going to reload for them., as an example only (look up your specific combination of powder, bullet, primer and casing) the following number can give you an idea of the pressures involved:
 
9mm Luger (9x19) is around 34,000 psi
45acp (45 auto) is around 20,000
40sw (40 short and wimpy) is around 32,000 psi
 
ammo manufactures spend a seriously paranoid amount of time calculating not only pressure, but the pressure curve (burn characteristics inside barrel) and they minutely examine the components after firing before determining a load is safe, they do this for each and every “lot” of ammunition they produce, if they change one component then there is a different “lot number” assigned to it and the workup is repeated for it.  Since their powders and components are custom blended and manufactured, they tend to repeat this process a lot.  A typical handloader will not have access to the testing equipment that a manufacturer has and has to be at least as meticulous.  Pressure is king and over-pressure will injure you and destroy your weapon.  In a grid-down survival situation the nominal savings that reloading will yield are offset by the very serious chance a non-expert reloader will inadvertently take.  If and when THSTF I do not plan on shooting any reloaded ammunition out of my autopistols or autoloading rifles.
 
As a side note, a few more thoughts on reloading practices:
 
The typical reloader who uses “junk brass” that is harvested from a shooting range is taking some serious chances.  Without realizing it, a handloader can work up a load that is perfectly safe in a Lake City 5.56 case, and start producing with a large range of brass cases from various manufacturers – without realizing that the internal dimensions of each manufacturers casing are different, in fact the typical Lake City nato 5.56 casing has a thicker web and thicker walls than a commercial Winchester .223 Remington case – so a perfectly safe load in a different case will yield MUCH different results and since we’re worried about pressure (as we should be) we inadvertently are producing loaded cartridges that are quite different while believing we are making a consistent product because we’re using only one type of bullet/powder/primer.  Whenever possible, use ONE head stamp AND be sure they’re of the same year of manufacture.
 
I have reloaded now for 20 years, from .50 BMG to .380 and the one thing I keep as my watch-word is that I’m loading for target ammo only and I am not trying to reproduce factory maximum pressures.  I’ve had to toss out a serious amount of ammo from time to time because I wasn’t as careful as I should have been, and in case you’re wondering – no I never considered breaking apart the casings to reclaim components – why?  Because it’s just not worth the time and potential hazards to re-use bullets that have already been crimped, and powder that may be contaminated by whatever was in the case when I reloaded it or handled it during disassembly.  Sure a lot of old codgers will say that you can avoid problems, but I have a healthy enough paranoia to toss a couple of bucks in the trash (actually I take them to a public range to put in their “red bucket”  I’ve see these same guys pull ammo out of a red range bucket – such disregard for Murphy will surely clean the shallow end of the gene pool at some point
 
It comes down to pressure and amassing as much possible knowledge about interior ballistics as is humanly possible.   Most of the “kaboom” problems that Glocks and other autopistols have had occur when a reloader tries to reproduce a hot cartridge – or as the old competitors used to call it “make major” because before a typical competition each competitors load would be chronographed to insure they weren’t using a “wimpy” load to reduce recoil and thus increase accuracy.
 
I’ve had two kabooms, both were from compressed loads in reloaded ammo (one mine and one a factory reload) I’ve met other people that have had compressed loads from factory ammo, which is a major cause of “kaboom” in police departments across the country as they use duty ammo on a rotational basis during qualifications (use up the duty ammo to issue fresh duty ammo).   I’ve shot a lot of lead out of Glocks, never had a problem – the one I reload for most often is my Glock 20 and 29 – the ultra-hot 10mm.  And in case you’re wondering, reloading for revolvers has a slightly different set of problems that can be just as dangerous as those faced by autopistol reloaders.
 
Remember that no firearms manufacturer will warranty your firearm if you shoot reloads of any kind avoiding lead in Glocks while shooting jacketed reloads is just as much a warrantee problem as the other.    Seek knowledge and understanding, understand why polygonal rifling creates higher pressures and you can anticipate and compensate for it, understand why shorter barrels are less efficient at launching light and fast loads, and a host of other knowledge that is useful.
 
For me the greatest value that I get from reloading is that I’m much better educated than a typical shooter about the products I shoot and it’s a relaxing hobby that helps keep my mind sharp.  When I first started reloading I did save a significant amount of money on ammo, but component prices have skyrocketed since then and the savings are now pretty much non-existent. - Jim H. in Colorado

Dear Mr. Rawles,
This was an excellent article. I have a few comments for consideration. There are several aftermarket barrels available for Glocks to allow shooting lead bullets. Search for "Glock replacement barrels".  Many of the competition shooters I know use them quite successfully.

Reloading ammo or buying factory ammo are definitely not mutually exclusive activities. I do both. My goal it to increase opportunities to keep shooting. Where I seem to save the most is in reloading my own match ammo. Not only do I save money but my groups are significantly tighter with my reloads. The downside I see with reloading is for those of us who can be distracted into endless pursuit of the "perfect" load.

For folks who have a short memory, reloading is a good thing when ammo is either not available or is so expensive it is unaffordable.

Get out and vote. - Jim Z.

JWR,
Just a few observations about R.S.O.'s article.

I had a few issues with R.S.O.'s article on reloading and wanted to share them.

First, if you order powder or primers by mail, there will be a $25 hazardous materials fee for each package (not item, but boxes in which they're shipped) you receive. Also, I have yet to find a business which mixes primers and powder in the same package. If you're going to mail order either, get some friends who also reload to place orders for their needs to defray the costs (Besides, if you don't already reload, you're going to want some help with set up and some instruction, right?).

If you use range brass (and there's nothing wrong with that), beware that some (mainly polymer) pistols, like the Glock, generally have issues with bulged brass at the base. Over time, this brass will not feed reliably. There are a number of methods to deal with this, like roll-sizers ($$$$$) or some specialty dies. Proceed at your peril. You can generally feel this bulge, and many dies do not size the base low enough to completely get rid of the bulge.

If you decide to buy brass (and there's nothing wrong with that), you can lower the cost of purchase by reusing that brass. So, while $.18/round is somewhat expensive for brass, you'll reuse most of it multiple times, spreading out the cost. If you want another way to get bulk brass, just buy loaded ammo, run it thru your favorite unloader (mine's a M1911), keep track of the brass you shoot and pick it up after you're done. Lots of people like once-fired brass better than pristine. (Note--If you shoot bolt-action rifles, you'll get better results from fire-formed brass than from pristine or fully-sized brass. Use a neck sizer only after you fire form your brass, and it'll be custom to your rifle's chamber.)

Your mileage may vary here, but I've had no issues shooting unjacketed lead (moly coated and uncoated) thru my Glock. Granted, I'm more diligent about cleaning the barrel when I shoot lead thru my Glock (which isn't often, I'm not a Glock fan), but have had no ill effects. If you want, Lone Wolf Distributors makes a great aftermarket barrel, and one of the marketing points for it is you can use unjacketed lead in it. The biggest issue with Glock is the fact that shooting reloaded ammo (yours or anyone else's) voids your warranty, tread at your peril.

I recommend specifically against buying any Lee Precision progressive press, which is unfortunate, because most of their other equipment is outstanding an affordable. The reason I recommend against their progressives is the large number of important parts made of plastic--especially the primer feed system. I owned a Lee Loadmaster for several years, and spent a lot of money on spare parts to replace broken ones.

The Dillon 550B is NOT a true progressive press, as it requires a manual index of the shell plate. True progressive presses index the shell plate by using the lever--every time you pull the lever, the ram goes up and down, does all the operations, and the shell plate rotates. The 550B requires you to turn the shell plate by hand after each stroke.

R.S.O.'s point about buying dies made by he same manufacturer as the press is a good one, but not entirely accurate. Almost all dies are threaded the same, so they're theoretically interchangeable. However, the depth of the place where you screw them into the press can vary. If your die bodies are too short, they won't adjust or work properly. I currently use Lee dies on an RCBS single stage press with no issues. Lee dies have the advantage of coming with a shell holder, no other die sets do (at least as far as I can tell).

I wholeheartedly agree with R.S.O.'s point on the manuals. If you use a recipe someone else gives you, you're risking losing vital body parts. Don't be that guy/gal.

R.S.O.'s point about Boxer and Berdan priming is a good one, but many foreign manufacturers of handgun ammo use Berdan primers. Look into the case, and if you see two small holes instead of one relatively large one, it's not reloadable.

When cleaning your brass, a tumbler is not strictly necessary, it's just the most efficient and easiest method. You can clean brass with water and let it dry. When you go thru the sorting operation, make sure you check the cases for dings, dents, Berdan priming, and cracks. Dings and dents may not be a problem, discard Berdan and cracked cases. Also discard any steel and aluminum cases, as they're generally poor candidates for reloading.

R.S.O. is mostly correct that you don't need to lubricate most handgun brass if you use carbide dies. However, having reloaded a bunch of .500 S&W Magnum, I recommend lubing long cases, even if you're using carbide dies--I snapped a Lee Loader trying to resize .500 brass without lube. Additionally, most bottleneck cartridges (like many popular rifle calibers) require some lube to make the operation effective, even when you use carbide dies. I can't say this is strictly true for calibers like .400 Corbon or .357 SIG, but I refuse to own pistols chambered for these cartridges--they are answers to unasked questions, and if you're going to go to the bother of chambering a pistol to mostly .40 S&W or .45 ACP, why not just go with the straight wall version and use heavier bullets?

R.S.O. omitted a step--you have to prime the cases. Make sure you use the appropriate primers. One thing to note, some popular calibers (like .45 ACP) have manufacturers who have switched from large to small primers, so pay attention--especially if you're using range brass. It is generally not smart to interchange rifle primers for pistol primers--there's a reason why they make primers specifically for rifles and pistols. Also, be aware that using a magnum primer in a non-magnum cartridge will give you inconsistent velocity.

Three additional sources for reloading supplies:
www.midwayusa.com (based in Columbia, Missouri)
www.brownells.com (based in Montezuma, Iowa; they recently acquired Sinclair International)
www.grafs.com (based in Mexico, Missouri)

While we are all preparing for something most of us are not financially secure there for we must stretch our Dollars as long as we have them as a form of currency. 

Here in falls the concept of reloading your own ammunition.  Because face it we need to practice and we need to store for when the supply runs out.  Let’s start by doing a little math, Ammo 9mm Luger Winchester USA 115 Grain FMJ 1190 fps 100 Round Box $21.11 x 10 = $211.10 bought online.  Now let’s order the individual component parts online and see how much we save Winchester Bulk Bullets 9mm 115 grain FMJRN = $105.10, Winchester Small Pistol Primers 1,000 = $29.95, Powder 1 pound about $20.00, Winchester Bulk Brass 9mm = $176.30.  Ok total to load your own 1000 rounds of 115 Grain FMJ = $331.35 now you’re saying to yourself that’s $120.25 more than if I just bought it already loaded there’s no savings to heck with this idea right?  Wrong!  Take a look around next time you go to the range or your favorite outdoor shooting spot how much 9mm brass is just laying around.  LOTS and LOTS all you have to do is pick it up, and as for the powder on average you can load 1200 to 1400 rounds of ammo with just 1 pound.  Hmmm, so let’s take just the price of brass $176.30 out of the equation that will leave us with a grand total of $155.05 for 1,000 rounds of loaded ammo that is a savings of $56.05 or roughly 27%.  Greater savings can be had by buying plated and lead bullets. (If you shoot a handgun with a Polygonal rifling such as a Glock DO NOT USE unjacketed lead bullets!)

I think if you have made it this far into the article you are now saying to yourself but the equipment is expensive.  This statement is true for the most part however there are many different manufactures to choose from thus making it a matter of figuring out how fast you want to load your 1000 rounds.  You can get a RCBS ROCK CHUCKER SUPREME PRESS you will need to buy Dies (single stage) for MSRP $ 202.95, or a Lee Breech Lock Challenger Press you will need to buy Dies (single stage) for MSRP $94.00 or a Lee PRO 1000 9MM LUGER (progressive press includes Dies) for MSRP $254.00. Another option is the Dillon Square Deal 'B' (progressive press includes Dies will not load Rifle ammo) for MSRP $379.95 or the Dillon RL550B you will need to buy Dies (progressive press loads Rifle ammo) for MSRP $439.95.  I can go on and find all the presses that are available and put prices in here but then I might as well just open a store and sell the stuff too. (Note to self, find investor open store)  Ok do some more research on your own talk to friends other people at the range find out what they like and WHY.  Before we get too much further I am not employed by nor do I receive any kickbacks from any of the above mentioned Manufactures, however I was at one time employed by Dillon Precision.  Yes I do like there products I have used them for over 10 years and the Lifetime "No-B.S." Warranty is great!  Links to some key manufacturers mentioned are listed at the bottom of this article.

You will need to buy Reloading Dies for most of the machines listed.  The Dies range in price from about $29.95 to $63.95 depending on which company you go with.  If you by a Lee reloader and Dillon Dies you may need to buy 1 more Die for the system to work correctly and yet if you buy a Dillon machine and Lee Dies you may not use 1 of the Dies. My strong recommendation is to use Dies made by the same company that made your Reloader.

Most of the companies also have some sort of case prep Deals (i.e. Starter Kits) these kits should include a Scale that weighs in Grains (the industry standard unit of measure), a case tumbler (the thing that cleans the brass), media (the actual cleaning material), a bottle of polish (so the brass is shiny again), a set of dial calipers (used to measure the dimensions throughout the loading process), and a Reloading manual (this is where we find all the data needed to make SAFE ammo).  On a side note your-cousins-sisters-boyfriend once used X amount of powder Y on a ### grain bullet will cause you to BLOW UP your GUN, HAND, FACE, and other things you DO NOT want to BLOW UP!!!  If someone gives you a recipe for a load look it up in a RELOADING manual before ever trying.  Your Best friend in reloading is your RELOADING Manuel get lots of them cross reference them with each other if it’s not in a book DO NOT TRY IT!!  Most powder manufactures put out FREE manuals every year or so. BUY multiple Manuals from different manufactures they are worth it, lots of research has gone into them so you will not hurt yourself.

Your initial investment will be around $1,000 for one caliber this is a lot of money.  However if money is no longer good for anything other than fire starter then having it will do you no good. Invest in Heavy Metals (lead) keep a comfortable amount on hand.  Set a minimum and maximum number of loaded rounds that you want to keep on hand then set a minimum number of projectiles, primers, and pounds of powder that you want as your supply.  Remember that powder and primers are the only parts of the ammo that may go bad if not stored properly or for too long.  Powder should be bought and rotated often if you buy 2 pounds every time you stock up use 1 from your old supply and put the 2 new ones into your reserve.  Then the next time you buy powder use the ones on the shelf to load and put the new ones in their place on the shelf.  This practice is much like rotating your stored food. 

Loading rifle ammo is a little more complex than handgun ammo but the primary principles are the same with a few added steps.  Rifle brass has to be identified as boxer or Berdan primed, brass cased or steal case.  The Berdan cases have two off-center flash holes and are difficult to de-prime because of this without special Berdan tools and very time consuming.  I have heard of steel cases being reloaded however I strongly recommend against it due to the case being more rigid than brass and possibly having unseen cracks that would cause a catastrophic failure.

The principal steps of reloading handgun ammo.  You will start by acquiring your brass, and then separate it by caliber.  The next step in the process is to clean and polish it this is accomplished by using a tumbler and a medium such as crushed corn cob or crushed walnut shells and adding in a polishing compound.  The polishing compound is not necessary but it does make the brass look almost new again.  Step number three is to separate the media from the brass.  In step four you will start the transformation from fired case to loaded ammo by sizing the brass using hopefully a carbide re-sizer for the appropriate caliber being loaded.  If not you will have to lubricate the brass before sizing.  In step five you will be flaring the case mouth, this makes it easier to insert and seat the projectile.  Step six is adding the proper amount of gun powder for the chosen load.  Be very careful to not over or under charge the load this too can cause a catastrophic failure.  In step seven you will be placing the projectile in to the top of the case so that the properly adjusted bullet seating Die will press the projectile into the case.  Step eight is to crimp the brass and remove the bell from the case mouth, so that the bullet will be held securely.  This will keep the projectile from being pushed back into the case in a semi-automatic handgun or shaken loose in a revolver.  Step nine in this process is to use your micrometer to check the overall dimensions of the loaded round.  The best part of this process is finally here you’ve made several small batches with different powder weights.  You’ve placed them in separate containers and labeled them accordingly, you now need your reloading log book (this is just a notebook that you keep) with the load data entered onto different pages the only thing missing is in the results section.  Now it’s time to go to the range and find out which batch works best in your gun or guns. Don’t forget to enter your results!

The difference between rifle and handgun ammo reloading comes at the beginning of the case preparation.  Rifle brass will need to be measured prior to loading if it is too long you will need to trim it to within the specifications listed in your loading manual.

The reason to reload is so you will be able to resupply yourself and your group with quality low cost ammunition for training and during a SHTF scenario the ability to stay in the fight.

I hope this article has given something to think about and give you another option for procuring one of the three primary supply that are needed in TEOTWAWKI: Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids you can never have enough.  As always stay alert and Prepare for the Worst and Pray for the Best.

Online Vendor Resources:

www.DillonPrecision.com
www.LeePrecision.com
www.RCBS.com

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors survived for generations by gathering the food that nature provided. Some of those plants contain natural remedies to many common problems, and in fact are where many modern pharmaceuticals come from. 

In this article we will be discussing various edible plants mostly found in the north east United States, as well as a few others.

Provisos: Before getting started you should be warned that some plants can be highly toxic. We will cover some common look-a-likes, but you should never eat a plant unless you are one hundred percent sure of what you’re eating. Wild poisonous plants often resemble non-poisonous varieties, and also often grow side by side. Some edible plants can have non-edible parts. It is up to you to make the right decisions when applying this information in the wilderness. With that in mind, once you can identify wild edibles accurately you will find that natures garden is full of delicious and healthy food, fresh and at your finger tips. Also, I’ve included a few definitions at the end of this article you may find helpful.

Common Dandelion

AKA: Lions Tooth, Priest Crown, Swine’s Snout
How To Spot It: One yellow flower on a hollow, hairless stem,or spherical cluster of white “parachute” seeds, no leaves other than basal leaves with large teeth pointing toward the base. There are no poisonous look-alikes, however other edible relative can look similar when young. 
Cautions: Dandelion root should be avoided for those with an irritable bowels or stomach.
Uses: Use young leaves or flower tops in salads. The taste can be slightly bitter, so use sparingly. Light cooking will increase the bitterness, however further cooking (about twenty minutes) will make the taste almost disappear, especially when combined with a sauce or spices.
Notes: Dandelion root contains a substance called inulin.  Inulin has very little impact on blood sugar levels, and—unlike fructose—is not insulemic and does not raise triglycerides making it increasingly popular among  diabetics and potentially helpful in managing blood sugar-related illnesses ; Dandelion has also been known to be especially beneficial for treating chronic hepatitis and gall stones.

Japanese Knotweed

AKA: Monkeyweed, Hancock’s Curse, Water Weeds, Elephant Ears, Donkey Rhubarb, Japanese Bamboo, Pea Shooters, Fleeceflower, American Bamboo
How To Spot It: Tall, bushy plant with a bamboo like sheathed stalk. Alternating triangular leaves, green and/or red-ish in color. Hundreds of tiny white flowers grow on long lacy spikes in the spring and summer. Mature plants can grow to be nine to twelve feet tall. It’s interconnected root system often creates a dense bamboo like thicket. There are no poisonous look-alikes, however it could be confused with Giant Knotweed, which is used the same way except it is much less common, or wild Asparagus or Rhubarb (a relative), which of course are also edible.
Cautions: Do not eat large quantities of Knotweed raw. It contains substantially more oxalic acid than cooked Knotweed which could potentially cause problems in a survival situation. Smaller portions, however, are fine.
Uses: Collect the young shoots, discard the leaves, discard the rinds of older shoots and chop or slice the stalks.Has a nice sour flavor. Use in fruit dishes or pies just as you would Rhubarb. Also excellent addition to soups, stews, jams, or applesauce.
Notes: The large hollow stalks contain some fresh drinking water. To collect it chop the plant at the base the hold it upside down. Take a stick and poke through the inner wall of the joint, opening the ‘chambers’ one at a time, then simply pour the water into your mouth. ;  Larger quantities can act as a laxative, breaking down fats and stimulating digestion, which of course, could possibly be fatal in a survival situation. ; Extracts of this plant are currently being tested to help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, dely the onset of Alzheimer’s or slow its progression, and to help treat or lower the risk of certain types of cancers.

Poor Man’s Pepper

AKA: Virginia Pepperweed, Peppergrass
How To Spot It: The small spicy annual grows six inches to three feet tall, beginning with a ‘basal rosette’ in early spring. The narrow stalked basal leaves grow two to five inches long and soon the lobes become deep, sharp teeth that usually point toward the leaf tips. A long, wiry, branching flower stalk grows from the plants center mid-spring to fall with similar, but smaller, lance shaped toothed leaves tapering toward the base. From spring to fall the plant is covered in tiny, white four petaled flowers at the tips. In summer and fall the flowers are replaced with flat, circular seed pods, slightly notched at the tip, and containing many yellow-brown seeds. There in no no colored sap when you break open the stem, and the plant has a short, white taproot. There are no poisonous look-alikes, however it could be confused with other edible species.
Cautions: It should not be given to very young children, or others that may be sensitive to spicy foods.
Uses: The leaves, seeds, pods, flowers, tender part of the top of the stem, and taproot are all edible raw or cooked, and make excellent addition to salads, stews, soups, ground as a seasoning for meats, etc. The flavor can be compared to horseradish or wasabe. They tend to lose a little of the kick when cooked. 
Notes: The Poor Man’s Pepper is actually not a pepper at all, rather a member of the mustard family. ; The leaves contain notable levels of vitamin c, calcium, iron, and potassium. ; A ‘tea’ made from the leaves has been used historically for diabetes, to expel intentional worms, as a diuretic, and to ease arthritis. The seed pods have been used to treat coughs and colds, to help break up and expel fluid built up in the chest.

Field Garlic

WARNING: THIS PLANT HAS A POISONOUS LOOK-ALIKE

AKA:  Wild Onion, Meadow Leek, Onion Grass, Wild Garlic
How To Spot It: Long, unbranched, hollow, rounded basal leaves six inches to two feet tall, with a strong onion /garlic smell, growing from an onion like bulb. In late spring consisting of stalkless, green or red-ish bulblets grow on top of a single long leafless stem, one to three feet tall. Each bulb has a curved side and a straight side, project a tiny green shoot upward, and lilac colored, six petaled flowers bloom from them. Later the bulb falls to the ground as the plant dies and turn into new plants next year.
Cautions: Field Garlic should not be confused with the highly toxic plant ‘Star of Bethlehem’, which also has a long linear leaf resembling various wild onions, except it has no odor, a white stripe running down the length of each leaf, and the six-tepaled white flowers don’t resemble that of any other edible plant.
Uses: Collect the leaves in early spring or fall, when the young plants are most tender. Consume them raw or cooked just as you would chives or scallions. The underground bulbs are more onion tasting in seasons with cold weather, and more garlic-like in seasons with warmer weather. Use