I have been an avid gardener for many years, and most if what I have learned of has been through trial and error. Luckily, most of my errors have been corrected and when those errors did occur, it wasn’t a matter of eat or starve. I now know what plants will grow in Zone 3, and have learned that just because a seed company claims certain things will grow, it doesn’t always mean that they will. Learning from your mistakes now, can save you valuable time and energy when it counts. For example, I will never again try to grow watermelon when I only have a 90-100 day growing season regardless of what the seed company claims the time to maturity is, or if they say the variety I am trying to grow does well in northern climates. It’s not worth wasting precious space and resources.

My “in town” garden has been very reliable and predictable for the last few years so I wanted to try something different. My garden is not overly large (20x20) but I manage to produce a healthy amount of food each year. My other half, who doesn’t want me to increase the size of the garden in town, suggested we plant one at our retreat, even though it is 20 miles from where we currently live, and with our work schedules we are limited to going out there once a week. I thought this was a great idea, as we hope to be moving there within a year or so, and having an established garden ahead of time makes good sense. Problem was, how do we take care of it when we aren’t there? We knew we had to come up with an idea that would require little to no maintenance, but also provide enough food to make it worth our while. The results we got were amazing!

Some Background:
Our retreat is located 20 miles from town and is three miles down a dead end dirt road. Our nearest neighbor is over a ½ mile away and our driveway off the main road is a ¼ mile long. We are definitely off the beaten path, and are surrounded on three sides by Federal land. Wild game is plentiful, and we have trails through the woods leading to two great fishing lakes, one of which is only accessible by the general public in the winter when the swamp leading into it is frozen enough for snowmobile travel. Our trails cannot be seen from the air (we checked!) or the lakes. The location is perfect, even if our growing season isn’t.

I grew up where our retreat is located. We raised a few cows, pigs, and chickens for our personal use. My dad moved into town a few years ago (and has regretted it) when he decided that his “hobby farming” days were over. There is a small cabin on the property, and while it is livable, it needs a lot of work and is too small for more than one family to live in. We could move out there now if we had to, but we would prefer to wait until we can build a new, more efficient, masonry house with a basement and a second story. We have power on the property and an excellent well. The well is drilled to 50’, has a static water level of 18’ which enables us to use a hand pump if we had to, and is very clean and ice cold. The refill rate is estimated at 1,000 gallons per hour, so the last thing we are worried about is running out of safe drinking water. The cabin is heated by a wood stove, and there is also a non-electric propane furnace. There is also a small “barn” on the property. I use the term barn loosely, as it is nothing more than a 16x16 structure with a slightly sloping metal roof.
The property is mostly wooded, with a few acres that we had cleared and fenced for the cows. The soil conditions aren’t great because the ledge rock is very near the surface. This makes even putting in fence posts difficult, so our dilemma was where to put a garden. This endeavor was meant to be as easy and inexpensive as possible, so we decided that container gardening was the way to go. Luckily for us, we have many years’ worth of well composted manure and six old bathtubs that we had used as water troughs for the animals. The bath tubs were free for the taking from a local motel during a remodel years ago, and, with no livestock using them now, were just taking up space. After reclaiming an old twin sized bed spring and 10 used tires, we were set to go.

After moving the tubs to a level spot behind the barn, we removed the plugs we had welded into 5 of the tubs, filled them with 3 inches of gravel and topped them off with composted manure. The 6th tub was placed under the eave of the barn to collect water. Remember, this was supposed to be as low maintenance as possible, so even though we have a great well, why haul water when you don’t have to. We did not screen the manure, but did remove the top layer of sod and any visible roots. The years of composting seemed to have killed any weed seeds, as there was very little weeding that needed to be done during the growing season.
Here’s what we planted: One tub contained lettuce and carrots. Cucumbers filled another. Pumpkins got their own tub. Spaghetti squash and acorn squash shared a tub, as did bush green beans and pole wax beans. We buried the bed spring in the deepest tub, braced it with a fence post, planted the wax beans next to the bed spring and planted the bush beans along the outside of the tub. The tires were stacked two high and filled with the composted manure. In them, we planted 2 Roma tomatoes and 3 Beefsteak tomatoes. Aside from the lettuce (some of my seeds had gotten damp and I didn’t dare try to save them) I purposely choose plants that typically aren’t grown in containers. I already knew that peppers, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower would thrive in something as small as a window sill planter, so this was my chance to try something new and correct any mistakes when they were nothing more than a small annoyance.

We were able to prepare and fill all the tubs and tire planters in one afternoon. Planting took no time at all and we were on our way to the easiest gardening experience I have ever seen. Aside from our first afternoon, we were able to maintain this garden with 20 minutes worth of work a week. The composted manure did an excellent job of holding enough water to keep the plants healthy, but the gravel in the bottom of the tubs allowed the extra water to drain away. Since we hadn’t packed the inside of the tires themselves with soil, but had just filled the center circle where the rim would have been, the excess water was able to drain into them and slowly water the tomatoes throughout the week. The majority of the water we needed for the garden was collected by the tub placed under the barn eve. We did have to haul water a couple times, but had we put up a simple gutter with a downspout, this wouldn’t have been an issue. It took a total of 15 gallons a week to keep everything healthy. Each tub got 2 gallons, and each tomato planter got one. The rest was provided by Mother Nature. Had it been a normal year for rainfall, we wouldn’t have had to water at all.

We had one area where we were able to till the soil enough to plant a 15x25 foot patch of potatoes. In that area we planted Reds, Yukon Golds, and Russets so that we could determine which ones would grow the best. We did not water or hill the potatoes the entire season, and even though it was unusually dry, all varieties did very well. We ended up with over 200lbs of potatoes from that patch, and we are still eating in mid January.

In this small garden, we ended up with a total of 80 lbs of tomatoes, 23 pints of bean that we canned plus another 4lbs or so that we ate fresh, more lettuce than we could eat or give away, about 15 lbs of cucumbers, 14 quarts of pumpkin, and numerous squash. The carrots did ok, but I didn’t thin them enough so they were kind of small. Overall, I was quite pleased with the results, especially with how little work we put into this. Had we hilled the potatoes or pruned the tomatoes, I have no doubt that our yield would have been much bigger, but in a survival situation, time needs to be spent wisely. Firewood doesn’t cut and split itself, laundry doesn’t magically appear clean and folded, and the dog doesn’t know how to cook dinner.

This method of gardening will also allow us to plant numerous small gardens hidden all over the property and even on the neighboring Federal land if needed. I believe this will be an advantage for a few reasons: 1) If one garden is discovered by 2 or 4 legged animals, they will not get your entire season’s worth of work. 2) If one garden is hit by disease, there is a chance that the others will escape. 3) Plants such as peas and spinach that prefer cooler temps can be grown in a spot that is slightly shaded in the afternoon, whereas tomatoes can go in a spot that receives full sun. 4) There is less of a chance of open pollination plants cross breeding if they are kept separated. It was not a good idea for me to plant two types of squash right next to each other as now I cannot be sure that the seeds will breed true next year. It is not a big deal right now, as I have more heirloom seeds, but in the future it could be a problem.

We are already planning this spring’s expansion. There is one more spot on the property where there is good soil and is large enough for more potatoes where we can till the ground without running into ledge rock. There is enough composted manure for at least four more gardens that are the size of the one we have, and we have spots picked out to hide them. All we need now are containers to plant in. While we did not fence in our garden this time, we will be surrounding every one we put up from now on with chicken wire to protect them from animals. I found it a bit humorous that the deer were bedding down in our potato patch, but they did ruin quite a few by exposing them to sunlight. A simple gutter and larger holding tank will keep us supplied with plenty of water, and we are kicking around the idea of constructing an 8x8 sloped surface (such as two sheets of plywood or a tarp on a frame of 2x4s) with a gutter and rain barrel system at each site to collect rain water. Not that we couldn’t haul it, but there are many things I would rather do than haul water a ¼ mile through the woods for a garden. We are also going to start a compost pile so we can keep our soil healthy. My plan is to grow twice the amount of food that we need, so that plenty can be given to others or used for barter, and so that we have a backup should we have a bad season.

Our total investment for this project was less than $30 for seeds and plants, plus some sweat equity.

It is very difficult for the average middle class American to prepare for the coming collapse; those that recognize the need still see it as maybe too late to do anything or there is too much to buy and prepare to be completely prepared.  Unless you are independently wealthy, that may be true, it is nearly impossible to be 100% completely prepared for all eventualities.

The first thing you need to do is to prepare your soul and your family, they have to understand and be on board.  Your family and yourself must first get right with God if you haven’t, and accept Christ as your savior and bend to God’s judgment, let his will guide your first and foremost.  After this you must begin your preparations, none of us know when the time will come, more than likely soon, but it may be a week away or years away, and every little bit will get you that much closer to survival and make your position far better.  I won’t go into deep detail on every facet of information as there are ample books and blogs explaining the “how to’s” and if you are on survivalblog already than you have a monstrous wealth of knowledge at your fingertips.  This is a quick once over to help the read understand the basics and get started, remember that knowledge is the best weapon you have, read, learn, try and repeat until you have it mastered.

Finances

More than likely you don’t have a lot of disposable income have had your hours cut back or have a hefty mortgage.  You have to look at all the expenses in your house, if renting is it reasonable, is there a way to find a more remote location to move to, or a cheaper place to rent that would save you monthly expenses?  Cell phone bills are an easy way to cut, if you have multiple phones consider cutting back to one main house phone, get a pen and paper and write down things to buy at the store instead of calling home from there to figure out what you need.  Cell phones are handy but are they worth the extra 60-100 dollars they are costing you a month?  Cable is not necessary, it is a convenience, if you have cable you probably have internet, have one house computer, sell the others, and get your news off the net.  Whatever disposable income you have, start to put it into tangible goods, things that you can use or sell in the coming TEOTWAWKI situation.  I invested a good portion of my net assets in precious metals in 2008 before the price went up, but even with the higher prices now you have to remember that when the time comes that everyone realizes that they should buy gold and silver it will be too late to get adequate amounts.  Buy “junk” silver, 90% dimes and quarters, they don’t have the numismatic value of silver Eagles or gold Krugerrands, but people won’t care about the collectibility of the coin in TEOTWAWKI only the content. Don't buy 1-ounce "trade dollars" or bars. What I mean by this is the 10 or 100 oz silver bars or 1 oz gold coins, those are worth a lot individually and you will need your metals to barter for things like food, ammo, clothes, etc.  day to day items not a new care, so buy small amounts, which is why junk silver is so nice, because about 1.30 in silver coin is worth a 1 oz silver piece and you can barter more accurately with the smaller denomination.  It’s okay if you can buy $10,000 worth of coin now, if it’s just a few hundred at a time, that’s more than fine, shop around get the best deal, but don’t not buy storage food and ammo to buy more coin, you can barter with silver but you can’t eat it, and at the beginning of the collapse people may only want “beans, bullets and Band Aids” as the military says.  In short, don’t eat out, buy bulk and buy cheap, learn to cook with simple ingredients that can be found in nature.  Cut out non-essentials, don’t take that vacations to Hawaii, instead go out camping and you can test the gear you buy and get your family used to living it rough, and relying on what they have and on God’s bounty in nature.  I know many people might disagree, but get out of your retirement accounts, cash them in take the hit, or at least don’t put your money into them anymore.  List out all your expenditures and future expenditures and figure out where you can cut out wants and boil it down to actual needs and go from there.

Food

Food isn’t hard to find and buy, with the proliferation of bulk food stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, etc.  On a tight budget you can see when there are deals on canned vegetables and other foods and when you go out buy a few cans per trip and it will add up.  This is a less efficient course, because when you buy in bulk you save much more per can than individually.  If you can’t afford a membership find a friend that does or find a few and pool your money and have the owner of the account shop for everyone. You can save up to a dollar a can in some circumstances.  Bulk Salt, Sugar, Molasses, Coffee and every other staple can be purchased there.  Buy in bulk store it in a garage or wherever you have room, and add to it over time as money allows, in a short while you will be amazed at what you can accumulated.  Read up on what is needed for an adult man, woman, and child to survive and buy accordingly.  You’ll need an ample source of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.  Hard Red wheat is a favorite of mine, you can (with a home grinder, recommend the Country living grain mill, it’s the best on the market) grind your wheat when needed into flour to make bread and it retains its nutrients much longer than buying flour itself.  You can also soak it in water overnight to make Wheat Berries and add some brown sugar and/or honey and it makes a nutritious breakfast that’s not too bad.  If you can’t find a cheap local seller of red wheat, check local bakeries many will sell it at wholesale or a buck a pound if you bring your own bucket.  For long term storage you need food storage grade buckets, and there are many techniques including Mylar bags with dry ice and “Gamma seal” lids, just a quick search on any survival site will give you more detailed information on how to pack and store this once you get your supplier lined up.  A quick tip is instead of buying the buckets online, is to call local bakery shops, or supermarkets, restaurants that buy bulk cooking foods and ask if they have empty buckets laying around.  Make sure that the buckets ARE food grade and haven’t had any chemicals stored in them.  Check for smells because if they held pickles and you don’t clean them out with bleach and baking soda then you might have pickled flavored wheat come TEOTWAWKI time. 

The other way to get your food storage situation in order is to look at bulk pre-packaged meals like those in the military MREs or the Mountain House meals you see at camping supply sections.  These meals are dehydrated, have long shelf lives and only usually need water to cook/heat up.  The downside is that they are much more expensive per calorie than say a bucket or hard red wheat and canned fruits/veggies.  The upside is that they are great emergency and Bug out (a term that denotes you needing to leave quickly) food, as they can be thrown in a backpack and left there for longer than your family dog will live.  If money is tight then I would only use this as a small portion of your total food storage. Definitely have some pre-staged in “Bug out bags” (will mention this later, but basically a backpack for each individual, easily available to grab and leave quickly if things get bad) so that you will have meal(s) to eat on the go and MREs can be rationed out to last a few days each.  Check Craigslist, local surplus stores and of course the internet, as they are sold everywhere and can range from $50-to-90 a case (of 12).  The last big item to mention for food is seeds and hunting.  Hunting will require weapons which will be discussed later and will be dictated by where you live and availability of game in the area.  Seeds on the other hand are very important for long term survival in a TEOTWAWKI situation.  The average seed store will sell you a pack of carrots or tomatoes that with a green thumb and good soil produce copious amounts of the fruit or vegetable wanted, but most people don’t save the seeds they produce to use the next year.  This is because of two reasons, one the packs are cheap and two most seeds are what are called “hybrid seeds”, meaning that they are made to produce good yields of each plants bounty, but the in a generation or two the seeds produced will not be viable.  What you want to buy are “heirloom” seeds, these seeds often don’t produce as big of yields of as their Frankenstein hybrid cousins, but year after year, the seeds they produce will grow true and can be used indefinitely.  Search out web sites that sell heirloom seeds and research the plants and crops that will grow best in your area, or areas near you will be moving to after the collapse.  Research heavily, I have a whole folder that has page upon page of information on every heirloom seed that I buy and that has helped tremendously when I did my own small experiments and tried my hand at home gardening, this information and experience helped me immensely to accumulate the knowledge needed to know how and when to plant, what plants to plant around or keep away from my “crops” as now the learning curve only means I lose a plant or two or none grow at all until I figure the tricks out.  In a TEOTWAWKI scenario when your life depends on this food, the learning curve will mean life or death.  You don’t want to OJT in a survival situation; you need to know the little tricks before.  Intent is good, knowledge is better and practical experience is golden.

Water

Water is one of the most important links in survival and a post indoor plumbing; TEOTWAWKI will amplify this for every man woman and child on this planet.  Most people take their ample water supply at home for granted, flip the faucet and water will run continuously.  When that water stops where will you get yours? Even if you have a house more than likely, as in 99% of the time your pump is electric with no manual backup. If you have your own well there are manual pumps that can be made and fitted to use before, or if you have the money to buy them, solar powered pumps are and option as well.  If you live in the city, or even the suburbs many times, you are dependent on city water and will be SOL in TEOTWAWKI.  First thing to do in any emergency is plugging the drains in sinks and tubs and fill it with water, you will need this to fill bottles, camelbacks, etc for your run from the city. 

Wherever you go one thing that it will need to have is water available, whether it’s a solar/hand pumped well, a neighboring creek or some other water source.  The closer the better because a five gallon bucket of water weighs around 41.7 pounds and hand carrying that long distances gets old real quick!  A water filer is a must especially if your water comes from a standing water lake or pond or even a stream.  I know and have drank from fast moving streams deep in the mountains, as they are often free from bacteria, but this was necessity and I know use a Steripen UV water purifier for when I fill my canteens.  The problems with streams is that you never know what is just upstream from you, a dead moose/deer or other animal could be lying dead or a friendly bear could be giving you the big finger by taking a dump in it.  Like I said I carry a candy bar size Steripen for my hiking trips with a solar recharger case for my mountain camping, but that takes 45 seconds to sterilize a quart of water, and only as long as the battery lasts.  The best plan is to buy a Big Berkey water filter with a 3.5 gallon per hour filter rate, and its filtration is second to none.  This baby runs about $250+, so it is out of the price range of some, but if you can make it work, it is well worth the investment.  This is a in-house filter and not good at all for on the go, in the same price range is the portable  Swiss made Katadyn pocket filter that you can use to fill up your canteens or Nalgene bottles from lakes and streams.  These are two examples of great filters for in house and on the go (bug out) use, but there are other ways to filter your water for cheaper.  The Common container of bleach (original non-fragrance) is an old standby for water purification.  Use ¼ teaspoon per gallon of water, or a full teaspoon per 4 gallons of water.  This is a cheap purifier and should leave avery slight bleach smell, this only means that it has done its job, but may not taste like it’s from the Brita.  Another more economical solution is to use “Pool Shock” a common ingredient to make pools safe to swim in and available from any pool care store, online or in your town depending on your environment.  Make sure that calcium hypochlorite is the only active ingredient in the product and at 65% with no added anti-fungal's, or clarifiers, if not you can seriously endanger you and your family.  You would use about ¼ ounce per two gallons of water, this will make bleach and with that you can use the bleach solution to treat water at 1 part per 100 parts water, roughly 2.5 tablespoons per gallon of water.  I got most of this info from J.W. Rawles on SurvivalBlog.com and the EPA site link, and using this I would definitely go with the EPA’s recommendation of aerating “The disinfected water by pouring it back and forth from one clean container to another” as this does get rid of the smell.  This was more because I had time and it wasn’t survival mode yet, but a bad smell is better than giardia (Beaver Fever) any day!   The last way is to just bring the water to boil for one minute, let it cool and drink it.  This is fine for the campsite but for a larger group of people in a more static location having the ability to treat large amounts of water is a real plus and your energies and time can go to more pressing matters.

Shelter

This list isn’t so much in order of importance, as food and water are important to survival but having a place to stay and survive while society collapses is a must.  If you live in an apartment there are books and manuals available on how to outfit it for “urban survival” but most of these recognize this as being just a "you have no other choice" type scenario and I would discourage it in every possible way.  The truth is yes if you have a fireplace you can burn furniture available throughout the city or construct a makeshift stove to heat and cook from.  You can barricade the doors; form a co-op with other residents, pool resources and all that.  That would be for a short term, month+ plus Katrina scenario where the caped federal crusader will be there to provide food and shelters eventually.  In a TEOTWAWKI world, this isn’t going to happen, currency and government will cease to function, and there will be no coast guard airdrops and FEMA trailers coming.  The best thing to do if you live in an apartment is move to a more remote home with land of your own.  If you can’t do that then, as previously stated, change your life habits, get something cheaper if possible and be ready to leave the city or suburbs as soon as things get bad, and before everyone else realizes it and loses their minds. A quick digression, if you are reading this you already recognize the need to know these things and have somewhat of an idea of how bad things will get.  But remember that 99% of the people in this country have no idea what do when the power goes out and the shelves at the supermarket are empty.  Many people will remain good hearted individuals, but many will not and turn to the darker side of humanity and steal, rape and pillage whatever they can.  Our commanding general in Iraq said that we Marines should “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.”  That is the mentality you need to have, that you should live the Christian virtues of charity and love of your fellow man, but have a plan to escape survive and defend you and your family’s life.  Okay Back to Shelter, if you can’t afford a place out in the woods away from the main cities, remote and self sustaining to the best of your ability, network.  Log into survival blog sites like Surivivalblog.com and others and find other like-minded Christian people like yourself that want to be prepared, form groups and pool your resources, more than likely you have skills that others don’t, and if you don’t have any practical survival skills begin to learn them, specialize in medicine, or hunting/trapping, solar power, mechanics so that you have something to offer the group that they need.  There is the rugged individual in every American (And I was of this mindset when I first started prepping) that wants to have a mountain top retreat, hunt, grow and trap all your food, and hold of waves of godless communists with nothing but your AR and brass balls.  Sorry to break this to you if you had the same thought as me, but you won’t survive long-term going solo, or just you and your family.  You could scrounge out an existence, but more than likely you will run out of food and/or gangs of looters before too long.  Your best chance of survival will be in groups, peppers who joined before and after the collapse to help each other and pool their resources and talents.  Your best chance will be to find a place off the beaten path, not near any major highways with freshwater, long growing seasons and plentiful game.  Even with all this life will be labor intensive and difficult.  You will want your retreat in an area where the population has some semblance of self reliance as a community virtue.  It should be within driving distance and if not you need to have pre-filled and rotated gas cans so you won’t rely on gas stations to get there.  There are extensive tomes written on this subject so I won’t try to touch on all the details that lie therein.  Basically you will want to get out of the cities and away from any major populations now, and if not do it before things get bad, read the signs and beat the crowd.  Survival in numbers, folks.

Weapons/Defense/Medical

Depending on whom you ask you’ll get many different opinions on what weapons someone should have to defend themselves in a TEOTWAWKI world.  I’m a firm believer that everyone should have a weapon for self defense even in the pre-TEOTWAWKI world we live in now.  I have the utmost respect for Police officers and have worked with many of them over the years, but Police rarely stop a crime before it is committed, more often they are a cleanup crew.  At the minimum someone should have a handgun, shotgun and rifle.  Handguns should not be your primary defensive weapon now or in TEOTWAWKI, they are great as a backup when your primary weapon runs out of ammo or you don’t have time to reload and need rounds on target quickly. Transitioning (which is what those in the military and plice world call it when you move from one weapon system to another) from your rifle to your pistol is much quicker often times than reaching for a new mag and reloading as your pistol should be already loaded and ready to go.  A .45 is my preferred choice for a sidearm for is stopping power, but there has been a lot of talk about the .40 S&W being of roughly equal stopping power, higher capacity and better ballistics when Special Forces was testing for a new sidearm over the hated M9 Beretta 9mm.  I personally use a Kimber Warrior, but any Colt manufacture .45 is excellent as well, with any weapon read up, shoot ones your friends may have, and many pistol ranges allow you to rent most common pistols, take lessons and use what is most comfortable with you.  I don’t like 9mm as its stopping power is at best problematic as I saw in Iraq and Afghanistan, even with hollow points a enemy can and has taken multiple rounds and been able to still keep fighting, albeit less efficiently.  If you have a 9mm now, consider selling it and getting a .45 if not, it’s still better than a knife or bat! 

For rifles well that’s where we run into a 1,000 different opinions and no matter what you say there’s always someone that says your wrong and this is why.  I don’t care much for armchair shooters' opinions and I rely on my own experience overseas, I did two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps Infantry, the last was the Siege of Fallujah in 2004-2005 and then three years private contracting security for companies that have been unjustly maligned in recent years, anyway off my soapbox.  I prefer my M4 for main battle rifle due to its ability to do double duty as both an offensive/defensive weapon as well as hunt small to medium game.  The M4’s main attribute is it is basically a magnum .22 and has quite a bit of “oomph” behind it (the amount of depends on your barrel length and ammunition used).  There has been a lot of talk of it not being able to “stop” a enemy, and I have seen this in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it does sound hypocritical due to my diatribe on the 9mm previously, but the lack of one round stopping power is made of the other attributes the M4 (AR family) offers.  As a Drill instructor told me, the AK is great for uneducated, slow witted mud hut dwellers, they can point shoot and drop it in the dirt, and it will keep shooting, but the M4 is a professional’s weapon.  It can shoot accurately at distances far outrange of the AK (the barrel length will greatly affect this) or many other similar battle rifles, and in the hand of a well trained Marine it is deadly.   I love the AK as well and I own and use one as well as other rifles, but if push came to shove and there was an intruder in the perimeter, my M4 would be my primary.  With proper training and only Iron sights you can hit targets accurately at 500 yards or less.  With the right ammunition you can also hunt animals from rabbits to deer, which makes it a much more versatile weapon than the venerable AK. 

As for a Shotgun I would go with a 12 gauge Mossberg 500 or Remington 870, there are nice autoloader Benellis or other fine quality shotguns, but for the price that you can buy a Mossberg or Remington, you can’t beat them.  They are tough reliable and easy to use, and their close in stopping power is second to none.  I prefer 4 or 5 shot 00 Buck but pretty much any shotgun round at close range will do the trick.  There are also 3 shot+Sabot from Winchester called the PDX1 12 will destroy any intruder or enemy at close range, and even longer distances with the Sabot round.  For the uninitiated the 12 gauge shotgun can be a bit intimidating, so definitely get familiar with the weapon. 

Another quick point would be, if you are forming a group or have a large family, wishing to have a rifle for you, your wife, older sons/daughters, etc.  In any case where you are going to have multiple rifles in your family/group, come up with a group standard no matter which one you choose.  Any assortment of weapons is better than having nothing, but you do not want to be in a situation where you are running out of ammo and the people around you have different calibers and magazine styles, as you can’t interchange them.  So if you decide on the AR family then bulk up on magazines, at least six on each person, in a chest rig or some other type of practical magazine carrier.

Conclusion

To sum up, none of us regular chumps have a lot of extra cash to go and buy two years of food for a family of six an arsenal of weapons, a farm with animals and thousands of dollars in silver this minute.  But over time you can, but that time is rapidly growing shorter, as I believe things are coming to a head very soon.  So first and foremost pray, get right with God, get right with your family, become cohesive, find others you can rely on when things go bad, stock up on what you can when you can.  Every individuals situation is different so look at yours, look at your options, your network of friends and family, figure out who possibly has a place far away from the cities that you could fall back to, talk things over with them, even if they think you’re crazy if they agree, they will thank you later.  Pre-stock food, ammo and other essentials there, bring your family out and camp out in the elements with the, so they have a better understanding before it becomes real.  This is real camping, not Winnebago and a gas grill we are talking about, practice primitive survival methods (that are legal) practice trapping and hunting when the season permits, get everyone in decent shape.  Change your life, save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

We’ve all seen him on the news: The guy who is buying sheets of plywood, beer, potato chips and other survival essentials as the approaching hurricane can be seen over his shoulder in the distance.

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans aren’t much better when it comes to being prepared for emergencies. However, recent disasters have proven that the sheer magnitude of an event can overwhelm relief efforts, coupled with cutbacks in personnel, budgets and equipment, place the onus squarely on our shoulders.

Many citizens don’t see the need for preparedness, and that’s their prerogative, however a relatively small investment now for someone who is concerned about the possibility of a disruption due to a natural disaster, pandemic, terrorism, civil unrest or countless other possible scenarios, might mean the difference between a week or so of hungry terror or a week of edgy survival. Most people think of some wild eyed mountain man when the word “survival” is mentioned, but that’s no longer the case. When the Government strongly suggests preparing, there’s a reason behind it.

The ever-increasing list of disasters and emergencies that can put you on your own is a long and often dangerous one. The violence and mayhem associated with black Friday will look like a minor scuffle when food shortages or any one of a hundred scenarios spark riots. Food flew off the shelf and stores were emptied in hours before the big snow hit the East coast last winter. With municipalities cutting essential services like law enforcement, the chances of having to “hunker down” increases exponentially.

Now the caveat: Being prepared doesn’t guarantee survivability, but it does greatly enhance your chances if the event is survivable. The following list is by no means inclusive as there are thousands of variables, i.e., suburban versus rural, gated community vs. projects, the type of disaster, number of persons being prepared for and on and on.

Even with the countless variables, there are some basic necessities that are essential regardless of location or emergency. The following items are simply a starting point that will assist you in thinking about establishing some sort of basic preparedness program. They will greatly improve not only your survivability, but your level of comfort in terribly uncertain times.

While FEMA recommends three days of emergency provisions, and it is a start, given the current climate, a week’s supply should be an absolute minimum starting point, and a several month stash would be better and a year would be ideal. Keep in mind that these items cannot be placed in order because of the countless variables.
You’ve made your decision, so now you need to get down to the business of survival.

1. Water. Absolutely essential for drinking, hygiene and cooking. Remember all of the people who had ample warning sitting on their roofs during Katrina? Imagine how much comfort a measly couple of bucks worth of bottled water would have done to reduce the misery factory. While one gallon per person per day is recommended, enough to drink would certainly be better than nothing at all. Even a few hours of thirst can cost you your edge. Several cases of bottled water would go a long way during an emergency and you can replace it as you use it. A good quality water filter could be worth its weight in gold. If you have a pool, with proper filtration, chemical treatment or boiling, it can be used as a potable supply and for hygiene as well. There are 40 or more gallons of water in your water heater that is potable. I wouldn’t have a problem drinking water that is years old if it was properly stored.  

2. Food. Another essential. You can go days or even weeks without food, but who wants to? Something you wouldn’t even consider eating under normal circumstances could look mighty good if you’re starved. Granola bars, canned food and crackers could mean the difference between a clear head or one thinking about a cheeseburger. Every time you go shopping, put in an extra few items that you normally eat. Check the expiration dates and get items with a long shelf life if possible. If something happens, you have food you’re used to and you can use it up as part of your regular food supply. Dehydrated food like instant potatoes, macaroni and cheese, ramen, and hundreds of other products can be integrated into your supply and rotated out while being replaced with fresh ones. Drinks like Tang and powdered lemonade will store indefinitely and would be a welcome addition to any meal during times of trouble. Another advantage is, if you use the foods you store you will have less of a shock if trouble hits. A little thing called “food fatigue” can easily cause you to lose your edge if you end up eating peanut butter for every meal because that’s all you have in the pantry. Canned food are terrific for affordable disaster prep. The following excerpt from the Food and Drug administration is a remarkable example of food's storage ability:

“The steamboat Bertrand was heavily laden with provisions when it set out on the  Missouri River  in 1865. The boat snagged and swamped under the weight, sinking to the bottom of the river. It was found a century later, under 30 feet of silt a little north of Omaha, Neb[raska].    
  
Among the canned food items retrieved from the Bertrand in 1968 were brandied peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables. In 1974, chemists at the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) analyzed the products for bacterial contamination and nutrient value. Although the food had lost its fresh smell and appearance, the NFPA chemists detected no microbial growth and determined that the foods were as safe to eat as they had been when canned more than 100 years earlier”. 

We regularly ate ten year old canned goods at grandma’s house without side effects and granny ate frozen game that was over ten years old. (It did finally catch up to her at 103, God rest her soul.)

3. Shelter. You have to stay alive to ride out an event. For most of us, staying at home would be the ideal situation. However, any number of situations can require “bugging out” to a shelter or other safe location. Most of us have relatives within driving distance or know someone who might put up with us for awhile. If not, as a last resort the government or the Red Cross will usually provide emergency shelter, however a disaster as opposed to WTSHTF will have two completely different sets of dynamics. Have a plan nonetheless. If you have to stay and shelter in place at your home, business or apartment, or hit the road to get away from civil unrest, a chemical spill, fire or hurricane, you need to have a plan and be prepared to implement it. A bug out bag or get out of Dodge bag contains emergency supplies if you have to go mobile, and is an art form in itself when it comes to putting one together. 

4. Emergency Equipment. In addition to food, water and shelter, there are several essential items that will be required in the event you are on your own. Extra medicines are top of the list, particularly if they are required daily. A good first aid kit is another must have. An LED flashlight and lantern with extra batteries are essential. It sounds impossible, but there are several lights from one to three dollars that fit the bill in the form of solar garden path lights. While they don’t put out tons of light, they provide enough light to navigate around a dark house and work as a flashlight and reading light in a pinch. They can be recharged in the window sill in the daytime and will run 8-10 hours every night. I recently purchased several at a local superstore for $1.00 each! Ten bucks worth allows you to put one in every room and several in the main gathering area. Now granted, they aren’t as good (or as expensive) as a battery operated lantern, but they are safer than a candle, and have the ability to recharge themselves. In short, they are not designed for emergency use, but work incredibly well for it.
Warm clothes, sleeping gear, a camp stove and emergency sanitation gear are also essential.
 
Hygiene can be a real challenge, but a roll of heavy duty trash can liners can have numerous uses. If your sewer is down as is common after an earthquake, flooding or power outage, you can line the toilet with a bag and when it is full, change it out. A couple of large trash cans can hold the waste until service is restored. Several boxes of wet ones will allow you maintain basic hygiene as well. A bottle of regular unscented bleach is another dirt cheap, yet invaluable item.
 
Last but certainly not least is some sort of self defense. While there are as many opinions as there are corrupt politicians when it comes to self defense, whatever you get, make sure you become proficient with it.  WTSHTF you will have enough on your plate to deal with.

5. Time Killers. Even if the emergency is only a 48 or 72 hour event, you will want to have some playing cards, books, a Bible and board games on hand to help kill the time. You might even include some hard candies and other treats as well as coloring books and crayons for the younger ones. Now I know that I will garner some vitriolic comments over the Bible, but remember the old adage, “there are no atheists in foxholes” and I absolutely believe a foxhole might be preferred to the street when it all comes falling down.

The Internet is a goldmine when it comes to prepping. Start researching and download as much as possible and burn the info to CDs or a thumb drive. I have a solar power supply to run my laptop so WTSHTF, I still have access to thousands of articles and books on how to survive - info that might save a life.

Factors preventing many people from preparing are the “it can’t happen here” mentality, and plain old fear or a sense of being overwhelmed. People with the former attitude won’t see a need to prepare, and that’s their choice. (Until something happens and they expect the government to take care of all of their needs.) As for the latter, there is nothing wrong with fear, particularly the “where does one start” quandary, if it is turned into positive action. Instead of worrying about the future, prepare for it and get on with life. We’re talking about simple and subtle changes in your lifestyle, mostly relating to shopping and food storage habits. No one is advocating that you become a mountain man and eat roots and bark. Simply realize the need for a minimal amount of preparation, formulate a plan and get started working toward your goal, and pray that you never need to use it.

The incredibly large volume of information available regarding emergency preparedness and survival is both wonderful and terrible at the same time.  There’s enough information to keep an enthusiast occupied for years and enough information to keep beginners away for the rest of their lives.

It can be a very daunting task for a new or inexperienced person to try and decide where and how to begin.  Should a beginner attend survival training, have a year’s supply of food, have their home hooked up with backup generators, move to the country, live off the grid and have stockpiles of firearms with thousands of rounds of ammunition? 

Depending on where you are researching, some people will claim that if you don’t have these levels of preparedness then you are doomed.  Is the saying, “If you can’t do it right then don’t do it at all” really the way to think when it comes to survival? 

Don’t get me wrong.  I would love to live off the grid, have a year’s supply of food stored away, have a stockpile of firearms and attend weeks of survival training.  But, the fact is I can’t afford that.  Not many people can.  These can be great long term goals but it’s not a realistic start.

My goal in this brief writing is to “ease the mind” of the people that want to start preparing themselves for emergencies but are on a limited budget and may be intimidated by the overwhelming amount of information available.  I want people to know that many times “something or anything” is better than nothing.

So to answer by question from above, is the saying, “If you can’t do it right then don’t do it at all” really the way to think when it comes to survival?  I say no. 
My experience in the area of survival began early in my life. I spent a lot of time exploring the woods and thorny brush of South Texas.  I quickly became handy with a machete, confident with firearms and learned the importance of hydration and taking care of wounds. (And I learned real fast what a diamondback rattlesnake looks and sounds like.)

I spent nine years in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper.  My first four years were in the infantry and I finished my time in as a combat medic.  I believe my experiences and training in the military have greatly contributed to my skills and confidence in being able to take care of myself, my family and others in an emergency. I do not consider myself an expert at survival and I would not describe my level of preparedness as even close to 100%.   But, I’m always working to improve my situation and I believe I know just enough to help guide a beginner in the right direction.   

In my opinion…
The best start is what you are doing now; seeking information.  “Knowledge is Power.”  What an amazing and true quote. I believe the Internet is wonderful! I have found that browsing multiple blogs and YouTube channels on survival, self-sufficiency and homesteading to be a useful resource.    You do have to remember though that just because something is published on the Internet doesn’t mean that information is the best or even true.  But, if you compare enough similar opinions and observations made by others you can begin to catch on to what ideas and concepts are legitimate and reasonable. That’s what makes the Internet so great because you can quickly compare multiple sources.  Remember also that you don’t have to study individual sources exhaustively or go back to the creation of the blog and read everything that’s ever been posted on it.  Begin by searching for information that currently interests you. 

Some folks will tell you not to rely on the Internet because if someday the “stuff hits the fan” you will not have access to it.  That’s certainly possible but remember I’m trying to help get the ball rolling with someone that’s new to this.  The Internet is the easiest, quickest and most cost effective way to initiate someone to the world of survival. You can work on purchasing books and other literature as the opportunity arises and you decide where you need to concentrate.  You will find many references to great books as you explore and learn about survival on the Internet.

Three of the most important “needs” when it comes to survival are shelter, food and water.  If I had to start with nothing and begin building a new preparedness kit from scratch my first tool would be a knife.  A knife can aid you in procuring all the above needs more than any other tool can.
Does it have to be a certain type or brand of knife?  No.  Some knife enthusiast may tell you that if you don’t have brand X then you are wasting your time.  I disagree. 
There are some high quality, durable and expensive knives available.  But you don’t have to start with those.  If you don’t have a knife then get one, any knife.  Try to get the best knife you can reasonably afford.  If this happens to be a $5 knife from the flea market then that is better than nothing.  A more versatile knife will have a combination plain edge and serrated edge.  If you choose a folding knife try to get one with a lockable blade.

One unfortunate caution regarding knives is your local ordinances.  Some jurisdictions have particular rules about blade length, lockable blades and various other irritating rules.  You might want to speak with one of your local law enforcement officers and inquire what the policy is and what is generally enforced.

Next you need to think a little bit about what you are building your emergency kit for.  The beginner should build a general purpose “survival kit.”  As you learn more you can create specialized kits/bags. You can have a kit to help you escape the city (bug out bag), survive in your home (bug in bag), get home from work (get home bag), hiking/camping survival kits and many others.  I will describe a few things the beginner may want to put in their kit next.

Without the knowledge of how to use the tools you have most of them would be worthless.  I recommend the next “tool” to be some type of compact book on survival. As you read through it you’ll quickly see how versatile that knife is. There are many good books that discuss various methods of building shelter, finding and making water safe to drink, getting food via hunting, trapping and fishing, making fire and performing first aid.  Collins Gem used to make a small durable survival book that would fit great into a small general purpose survival kit.  Try to find something like that.

After that I would get something to make fire with.  Actually, I would get multiple things to make fire with.  The survival books discuss in great detail how to make fire with friction devices. (Rubbing sticks together.) You can learn how to do that stuff when you have time.  For now, get a couple lighters, matches, flint/steel/magnesium fire starters or all three.  Upgrade as you learn more or your financial situation improves.  Most lighters are inexpensive and reliable.  Get these first.  Matches are great backup but need to be protected from moisture.  Magnesium fire starters are reliable as well but I recommend you practice and become proficient with them before making them part of your kit. 

The next two things to get before the precedence of items gets too subjective are a water container and a shelter device. 

A couple factory sealed 16 oz plastic bottles of water (the typical container so many people drink out of these days) are good because they can be kept safe to drink for long periods and don’t take up too much space. A drawback to these is they are not very durable. Some type of metal container is important as well so that new sources of water can be boiled to make safe.  A military style canteen with matching metal cup is a good inexpensive option.  As you develop your understanding of water procurement and how to make it safe you can purchase water purification tablets, filter straws and learn many of the other methods of gathering and making water safe to drink.

Depending on the situation, shelter can be one of the first priorities in an emergency.  For example, if you were caught in a snow storm it wouldn’t matter how much food and water you had.  If you couldn’t get to shelter you would quickly be in a deadly position.

One option is to get an emergency blanket.  Those are those compact aluminum foil looking blankets.  (Space Blankets) They do a surprisingly good job of retaining heat, are inexpensive and are very compact.  You can wrap yourself up in them, use them as overhead protection, lay on them as a barrier between you and the ground or a multitude of other uses. 
The military style ponchos are nice also.  They are made with durable material and they have grommets on them so that you can tie rope or other binding material to facilitate making shelter.  And of course they have a hood on them so that you can wear them over your head and body to protect you from adverse weather.  One drawback to this style of poncho is they don’t roll up particular small.  They are fine for medium to large kits but do not fit well in a typical compact survival kit.

The importance of other items in a survival kit are very subjective to an individual’s personal philosophy on survival.  Many lists and recommendations can be found on the Internet.  First aid accessories, rope, flashlights, mirrors, fishing line and hooks are some of the other items to consider.

Would a person ever be worse off for having an inexpensive item?  Yes, it’s certainly possible and this must be considered when making a purchase.  An example would be a fire starting device that doesn’t actually work.   So you would be worse off because you thought you had something to protect you but find out when it’s too late that you don’t.  (This underscores the need to test your equipment.)
Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from making that first step towards self-reliance and being prepared for emergencies.
Don’t be intimated by others who might make you feel that starting small is a waste of time or that the top of the line most expensive product is the only viable option.
Gain control of your destiny. Go get that knife, now.

Hello JWR,
I can't thank you enough for your most fantastic Survival Blog. The information you have provided is priceless.
 
I purchased 500 grams of Calcium Hypochlorite from ScienceLab.com. for $118. I bought this to sanitize water for drinking. Can you please tell me how much Calcium Hypochlorite to add to a gallon of water? Thank you very much.
 
Best wishes, - Linda H.

JWR Replies: You only need about 1/4 teaspoon of Calcium Hypochlorite powder for each 55 gallons. For infrequent use (in emergencies), with 500 grams you now have a enough for decades.

To use it in small batches, you should first create a concentrated solution by dissolving 1/8th teaspoon--shaking a half quart of water in a one-quart jar with a tight fitting lid. Then mix that concentrated bleach solution into a 20 to 30 gallon drum of water.

For some details on the subject of water purification (including several different methods including plain liquid bleach like Clorox and hypochlorite powder), see the LDS Prep web site

Be advised the vapors from Calcium Hypochlorite are corrosive, so it it best to store the powder in a glass jar with a tapered glass stopper, and FAR AWAY from metal tools or storage foods.

I'd like to describe the top five survival priorities, from a medical standpoint.  If you order any survival products, you should do it with some conviction after setting up your top five priorities.  If you order a survival package from us here at survivinghealthy without paying attention to priority #1, you are doing it wrong!  There are not a lot of sites that will discourage you from purchasing from them, but this is not one of those!  Please, prioritize your purchases for survival based on need.  Let’s review the top five medical list.
 
#1:  Water.  You will live 5-7 days without water, but function effectively for only about 48 to 72 hours without it.  Water has to be your first thought when it comes to survival.  Water is not simple though either, there may not be a tap to just turn on and drink safely after TSHTF.  Optimal water is your own natural spring…but how many of us have that available?  Not many.  Next, well water.  But, you have to have set up a hand-powered way to get at it and as water tables get polluted with poor sanitation, that well water may not be safe to drink anymore.  There are testing kits available, but so many and at such a huge cost difference it is beyond my capacity to advise you in this area.  Next, rainwater.  That is my plan for our family, and we have the setup done.  Lastly, is natural open sources like lakes, rivers, ponds.  After TEOTWAWKI, all these water sources could be contaminated from surrounding runoff or poor neighbor sanitation.  Best policy is going to be:  the cleanest source possible, heating to boil, then filter.  You do not have to boil water for 10 minutes, and it actually doesn’t have to truly boil, but has to get close.  There are lots of different filters available, and of course most people are familiar with Big Berkey filters, but we got ours from AquaRain.  We can’t tell you if it is any better, but it certainly is comparable, and is made here in the USA, in Missouri.  It came quickly, was well packaged and seems to function just fine.  Sure, there is probably a firestorm of comments coming about which is better and why, but basically buy one and make sure the capacity will meet the needs of your group.  Plan on two gallons per person per day (drinking, cooking, tooth brushing)  and check the output of your filter, making sure it exceeds that limit.  Do not make the mistake of using unfiltered water for you tooth brushing and then end up sick, it only takes a couple ounces a day.
 
#2:  Food.  Food is essential for survival, but is far less important than water for short-term survival.  It takes months to years to starve to death, and days to weeks before you function sub-optimally due to lack of calories.  Being hungry does not kill you, but it does make you very grumpy and after a few days your thinking does get messed up from lack of fats in the bloodstream.  The human body is an amazing thing, and can live for long periods of time without food, especially if there is adequate water intake.  In fact, when faced with a lack of food, an increase in your water consumption is always a good idea.  Not only does it fill up your stomach and help with hunger, but proper hydration helps the body process remaining stored sugars, fats, and proteins for survival.  A balanced diet will be history for 99% of folk WTSHTF, but for a good prepper there can be proper nutrition for years if approached correctly.  Do that now.  Depending on your geographic area, there will be different needs and capabilities for food.  Gardening in the Northland is limited, and storage in the Southland is hampered by humidity and heat.  There is no one perfect plan out there, talk to your trusted sources and make your plan for your group or family.
 
#3:  Safety.  If you have food and water, you are in danger after 3 days post grid.  There are two major safety concerns, "pre" and "post".  Pre-crash, keep your profile low and make sure that you don’t make it well-known that you are “one of those nuts”.  As soon as the crash starts, those that know you are one of those nuts who is \suddenly deemed to have "been right all along" will be at your door, often without flowers.  So, pre-crash safety involves quiet and calm, make your plans and talk only to those you trust, preferably those you plan to actually feed.  Post-crash safety is all about digging in and firepower.  The less you need to go out, the less exposure to health dangers such as disease, damaged infrastructure, weather threats and unfriendly humans.  A word about firepower:   You need to have it, know how to use it, and have plenty to load in it.  There are thousands of recommendations for safety and weapons, way beyond my scope and medically unimportant.  But, safety is medically important, so make sure you can protect yourself and yours from others that may mean you harm.  It will get progressively worse as the days turn to weeks and the weeks turn to months.  There will be unpleasant situations and you need to be ready to defend your homestead.
 
#4:   Shelter.    Shelter seems like it would fall under prevention, and certainly shelter seems like an obvious preparedness issue, but it comes after items 1-through-3 on the list.  If you have water, food, safety, and then some prevention covered; you are already likely to be at the shelter you plan to stay in.  Let’s just say for the sake of argument, that you need to get to your shelter/bugout location.  You need to have 1-through-3 covered to make it.  Without any grid, there is unlikely to be power or fuel, and your trip may take much longer and be much harder than you planned for.  The other issue that makes shelter its own topic is the issue of longevity.  Do you have some plan for heating in the cold and cooler in the heat?  If you live north of the Mason-Dixon Line times will be hard in the winter without a grid unless you have planned ahead.  Turn off your power during the next cold snap for about 3 days and see what the temperature gets to in the house (make sure it doesn’t freeze as that is really bad for your house!).  Even if it doesn’t get to freezing, walking around in a 45 degree house is not fun after a day and you may find that you need a lot more cold weather supplies.  South of the Mason-Dixon Line, your summers may be brutal if there is no cooling plan and you have never tested your shelter in the summer to see just how hot it gets, you may be unpleasantly surprised.
 
#5:   Prevention.  Lots of folks may criticize this list and its order, but prevention is important only after surviving a few days.  Your teeth will not crumble and your strength will not suddenly fail the day after TEOTWAWKI.  Prevention covers a wide variety of topics and is therefore lower on the list.  Prevention of medical problems starts with a good first aid kit.  Prevention of dental problems with good preventive care now and continued tooth brushing and flossing then.   Prevention of likely medical problems such as starvation and dehydration by planning for #1 and #2.  Prevention of death by planning for #3 and #4. 

Now that you are hydrated, fed, alive, and you have a cover over your head; you can make sure your first aid kit is up to par and your teeth will make it.  Many of my prior topics discuss prevention for fitness planning, vitamins, OTC meds, among other topics.  Please make sure your checklist is done numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 before you start to focus on #5.  Included in this group would be medication planning and prevention.  Make sure you have your chronic meds, and antibiotics for infections that will come up over the next weeks, months, and maybe years.  Remember my ad campaign slogan:  “Water…check, food…check, ammo…check, strep…now what?”  Prevention as a topic can go on and on, but do your best and again only after the first four checklist items.  In all seriousness:  do not buy an antibiotic kit without preparing for the other survival checklist items first.  Do not buy a gun before getting a good water filter.  Don’t get ammo before food.  You get the idea.  Prep smart, or don’t prep at all.  Stay strong people, - Dr. Bob

JWR Adds: Dr. Bob is is one of the few consulting physicians in the U.S. who dispenses antibiotics for disaster preparedness as part of his normal scope of practice. His web site is: SurvivingHealthy.com.

I cannot even remember a time when I wasn't a "prepper".  Although until a few years ago, I had no idea of what I was preparing for.  Before the dawn of my awakening, I had serious urges to learn how not to kill plants and flowers. I wanted to grow my own food eventually, so I started with a trip to the local Big Box store, and bought some bare root fruit trees. Now in my mind, they are already dead, so if I could resurrect them, and keep them going, I was on my way. If they didn't survive my over-nurturing tendencies, then I wouldn't feel bad, as they were dead already! To my surprise, all but one survived the first year, and I tasted the sweet success of peaches fresh off the tree!  What I didn't know then, was that you always thin out the fruit the first year or two, or all the branches break. I learned the hard way.  That summer I built two 4x8 raised bed garden boxes, and planted up a storm. I read nearly every garden web site, watched all the you tube videos and read all the books that I could get my hands on, and learned about proper drainage, shading, and organic pest control. It is all a balance act as I found out, but I am now eating most of my diet from my garden. Quality garden soil is the key. Everything else can be managed. 

Along the way, I found articles  and blogs on TEOTWAWKI and WTSHTF. I read Bible prophecies, Hopi indian prophecies, and listened to those whom I trust, warn of impending disasters, and world wide trouble. Economic collapse, social unrest, changing weather patterns, and evidence of global disasters increasing in intensity, and frequency, answered any questions I might have had about the urges to prepare that I had been experiencing for many years.   In a disorganized way, I started buying long term food storage, beans, rice, wheat, and canned meat. At the time, I did not have a wheat grinder, and had absolutely no idea of what I would do with it, when the time came.  A plan would have been the smart way to start, but I eventually bought a hand grinder.  It was not until the electric grinder that I found at a yard sale, came into my life years later, that I actually ground the wheat to make bread.   Another lesson learned along the way : White wheat? Red wheat? Which do I use for bread? Gluten? Why do I need to add that?  Gluten needs to be added to make it rise better. After a few flat loaves, I asked  questions. Once again, I learned the hard way. I also did research, and learned that the nutritional value of wheat is increased by up to 700% by sprouting. What a find that information was, for my long term food storage plans. I will sprout my wheat, and throw it into salads! 

Momentum was building, as guns were acquired, CCW permit obtained, ammo purchased, water tanks, 72-hour kits assembled, and a trailer for hauling what I needed out of town if it came to that.   I'm a single mom here, with two grown boys, and I was feeling a little bit lonely as I used what extra money I made, to purchase more and more food storage, for at least a year's provisions. I personally knew of no one else doing this. I was feeling a bit like a hoarder, and occasionally had to do a reality check. Finding like-minded people on web sites, and blogs like SurvivalBlog.com was a tremendous help, to center myself.  Reading and re- eading the lists of organized ways to approach preparations has helped me move forward. I sure wish I had started that way.  Just after the real estate bubble burst, I saw the values declining so rapidly in housing, that I realized one of the most valuable pieces of advice given to me is to be debt free of consumer debts, and to own a house free and clear. I accomplished getting free of installment debt after a time, but the house mortgage was going to be a bigger challenge.  

I still had a little money in savings, but really felt uncomfortable with the money in the bank, after having narrowly avoided the markets' mini-crash in the late 1980s, and read about savings and loans collapsing.  So I decided to use what I had, to build my emergency short term, or long term retreat on a piece of land that I had purchased some seven years prior when I had been buying things to prepare without knowing why.  This was a perfect plan, to secure a small home that would be paid for, off grid- independent of city utilities of any kind.  It would be for me, a great investment, and a place to retire to as well. I work for myself, so for me, this was it. This was the only retirement fund I would have, a place to live.   Construction started two months later, after researching plans found on line. Again,  planning was lacking, as there was urgency in completing this project, and the builder was pressed for time too.  But my cabin stands proudly, in a rural area, 165 miles from the nearest city, and 15 miles from a town of 20,000.   

There is a fantastic neighbor across the street, but the first line of defense, is a fence! So that went up right away with the help of one of my sons, and some friends.  In spite of broken bits for the rock drill, cuts, bruises, and sore backs, we made it through the excruciatingly long week of stretching fence, and barbed wire on top. I did the hard part - I watched, and made lunch for everyone! :)  

The house is equipped with a composting toilet because I bought property without doing a percolation test first.  (Learning the hard way.) The perc test determines if a septic can be put in, and in this case, there were too many rocks!  Water must be hauled, but there are underground tanks that can be purchased inexpensively, to hold plenty of water. (you can buy up to 10,000 gallon tanks) I presently have 1,200 gallons stored, in 300 gallon tanks,  but will be installing two 1,500 gallon tanks this next summer. Wells dug in this area run $35,000 and up.  When in conservation mode, the average adult uses three gallons or less per day for drinking, cooking and washing (heated over the stove- sponge bath I would suppose)  So I will have plenty of water for over a year. The water system is pumped with a 1/3 horsepower recreational vehicle water pump, and an extra pump is hidden away for emergencies. Water is run through the cabin with pex line, which is easy to work with. I installed an on demand propane water heater for the shower, and kitchen sink. The Berkey water filter sits proudly by the sink, and is always filled. Extra filters are in the pantry. 

The cabin has a ventless propane heater, and a cast iron wood fireplace.  A funny thing about propane I learned last winter: In extreme cold, regulators freeze, and propane heaters do not work, nor do propane stoves and ovens!  Last winter I went to the cabin to experience the Christmas season in the snow. Hah to me. the temperature had dropped to -15 degrees Fahrenheit and everything in the cabin when I got there at 9 p.m., was frozen!  I think of SurvivalBlog, where I learned "two is one, and one is none". Oh thank goodness I thought, that I had just installed this new woodstove. I had not yet used it, but this was to be it's maiden fire.  Funny thing about fire places and wood stoves... there is a bit of a learning curve. I was being conservative of electric, because I wasn't sure of how charged the batteries were on the solar system, so I lit the oil lamps for light, which adds a cozy feel, and I set out to light myself a great fire! I remembered to be sure the flue was open, but I left the door open while I was attempting to defrost the cabin. I grabbed a cast iron pan from the kitchen, threw in a piece of chicken and some veggies, and shoved it into the wood stove.  Yum, dinner was great, but when I stood up and turned on the light to wash the dishes, I realized that the whole room was filled with smoke, and if I had installed a fire alarm, everyone within miles would have known what a dummy I was with my first fire!  

The smoke was so thick in the cabin that I had to sleep on the floor that night, because I couldn't breathe!  Yes, I did open the windows a crack, to vent the smoke outside, but I realized that there was a flue adjustment, and the door was suppose to have been closed.  (No wonder the cabin was still cold, outside the four foot ring around the hearth).  I called a friend in a panic, who after having a great laugh at my expense, told me how to adjust it to heat the house comfortably. (yes I learned the hard way - again)  

The following day was sunny, and a bit warmer but still no propane. No worries, I have a solar oven. It worked like a charm to cook lunch, but I soon realized that if I was to survive with this thing, I had better plan my meals a day in advance, because the sun is out for a limited time. No planning dinner at 3 p.m. in my neck of the woods!   The sun... A funny thing about the sun I discovered. It never makes appearances when you need it! I had decided with the cabin, solar was the way to go. So I started small, with two 175-watt panels, and eight T105 batteries, and an Outback pure sine wave inverter. Great system if the sun is out all day. Some days it is not. Darn that jokester the sun. It seems to be out all day when I am not there, but when I go to visit the cabin, it is cloudy. The battery bank is drawn down too quickly, and then Wham! I'm out of juice. No lights, no water pump, no radio, no charging the cell phone.  During the summer, which is the rainy season, it happens this way every day.  So I learned two more lessons the hard way:   Lesson 1. Always have a water tank that provides gravity feed to a house. Lesson 2. Buy more panels to charge the batteries up faster, or a wind generator.  I also have a gas generator, but it does require gasoline, and I am 15 miles from town. Lesson 3. Always keep a spare can of gas handy.   So now I have a great log sided shed built behind the cabin, to house the back up generator, and the 25 gallons of gasoline, the stockpile of charcoal, the 8 gallons of oil lamp fuel, the tools, washer (which will be run with generator power, and gravity fed water), dryer for use when it is raining, and all of the camping supplies.  

I have built up to a two year supply of food, soaps, Clorox, medical supplies, hundreds of matches, and flints for when it is raining, and I am outside for what ever reason. Handguns, rifles, shotgun, ammo to hold off an army,  300 + seed packs 1/2 heirloom, and 1/2 hybrid to sell or trade.  I am finally taking inventories of all that I have stored, to best rotate, and plan for future needs. I have learned that vodka is used for making tinctures with herbs, and I may consider buying a couple of cases to sell or trade in an extreme situation.   I am designing my green houses, and a heating system to extend the growing season well into winter.  I am collecting books to read, mostly non fiction, and movies to watch on cold dark nights. I have purchased 4 more solar panels 190 watt each, and before they are installed, I will be pricing the tracking pole mount. It increases productivity by at least 30%. 

I now have two 55-gallon drums, and hand crank gas pump, which will all be assembled and filled next summer. I expect to fill one with diesel fuel for barter or to sell. Diesel lasts for years, and I have distant neighbors who use it.  A four wheel drive vehicle is a must in a rural area during winter.  I would love to learn about ham radio, and to be certified to operate one.   I have a 10x20 covered chicken run with a coop at the retreat location and a small flock of eight hens. They live in the city for now with me, but travel to the cabin and stay in the summer for extended stays. They seemed to enjoy their last summer vacation. I always have eggs to share with neighbors.  Last but not least, My son and I purchased an older kick-start dirt bike, kept in our home in the city, with a 72 hour kit nearby, and an off road map from point A to point B.   Next year my project is to learn to use those fishing poles I bought at the swap meet!  Respectfully submitted B. R. in Arizona

Sir
I am providing a link to a web page on "Air Wells"--the history of harvesting  atmospheric water, in the form of water vapor, dew ,and fog.  I know this was done in ancient times, and when I was in Europe I went on several tours of old castles, etc.  At one of these sites I saw a odd building on the grounds, and asked what that was used for.  It was used to collect water from the dew in the mornings, there was a cistern inside, and the water dripped from the tile walls and collected in the cistern.  The outside walls were some kind of ceramic blocks with holes through so the wet morning air could collect inside. 
 
I had read somewhere once that the indians in the desert areas had survived on dew collected in the night and early morning before the sun burned it off.  They did this by leaving a blanket out in the air or waving it around in the morning air and when it became wet they would wring it out into a container and do this until they collected enough water for the day.  This method was demonstrated by a couple of Boy Scouts at the national Jamboree sometime in the 1970s as best I can remember.  I read about it in one of the science magazines at the time, as I recall, it was Popular Science.  The article said that two Boy Scouts got up early in the morning and waved a blanket around in the air to collect water, then wring it out into a garbage can.  In about 20 minutes they were able to collect 20 gallons of water in the 20 gallon garbage can.   
 
Also I read an article years ago about a archeological dig in the desert in Asia or Africa where they couldn't figure out how the city they found there survived in the desert with no apparent water source.  They found a clay tile pipeline that led to a hill.  There they found the remnants of an apparent dew collecting setup that supplied water to the city. 
 
Of course Rain water is the number one way to collect and harvest water, roof run off is good, but you must use a "roof washer" method to eliminate the bird droppings, etc as you don't want them in your "cistern".   I grew up on a farm in South Dakota, we did have a well which we used to water the livestock but it was very hard and a lot of iron and other minerals in it including iron bacteria.  We relied heavily on rain water for household use, since it is a soft water.  We had a gutter collection system that came off the roof to a " Y" pipe with a switch over valve.  When it started raining we let the  rain wash the  roof clean (about 20 minutes of hard down pour) and then went out and switched the valve over to drain the roof water into the cistern.  This is a great method , but I have seen "automatic" switchover valves, where the runoff water flows into a bucket and then once heavy with water it closes the valve to dump the subsequent water into the cistern. 

CAUTION:   I would recommend you use a charcoal filter of the "Whole House"-type to filter the water going into the cistern, and another one on the water line being pumped from the cistern to the house plumbing.  There are always contaminants in the rain water that could be toxic these days.  From time to time we would find a mouse or rat floating in the cistern and have to fish it out and chlorinate the water.  This could be prevented by sealing the cistern off very well so this won't happen. 
 
Also sailors at sea have often harvested water by rigging a sail or other canvas used for that purpose to collect rain water when raining and draining it into barrels or now days directly in the boat's water tanks.  At suppliers that supply the boating community there is a device that you fasten into a canvas and it allows a common water hose to be screwed onto it and drain the water away to a tank. 

CAUTION: Don't use a common green water hose for collecting water as they have been found to out-gas toxins into the water.   Use the white hose as sold by recreational vehicle suppliers for supplying water to campers, or use the black plumbing plastic pipe with garden hose style connectors.

I have an idea to put one of those fittings in the middle of a large tarp, connect it to a pipe, and roll the tarp up like a window shade and unroll it when it starts to rain that would minimize the collection of bird droppings on the water collection surface.  Then roll it up again after the rain stops.  If you put your water collection system on a hill above your dwelling , you can utilize gravity flow from the tank at the top of the hill.   Or you could put a tank on a stand above the dwelling and a roof or tarp above the tank to collect the water and also use the time-proven gravity flow supply method.  The beauty of these systems is that no power is needed to supply your water. (Except perhaps for pumping out the cistern, depending on how your house is sited in relation to your cistern.)   I hope this will be of use to someone.  - Darrell in Ohio 

Sir:
Stanley no longer sells replacement gaskets for their older thermoses, but a large industrial O-ring will suffice. Find a hardware store with a large selection of O-rings and you're good to go.

In fact you can often find old Stanleys very cheaply at thrift stores or garage sales simply because they no longer have a good seal. - DB in Oregon

James,
Just a quick note with some info that might help. One liter liter/quart Lexan Nalgene bottles (an presumably other brands, though I haven't tried them) make great Hot Water Bottles when filled with boiling water and covered with an old boot sock.  Just make sure the lid is screwed on firmly and then tighten it just a bit more once the lid is good and hot.

The Hot Water Bottle I have the most experience with is nothing more than a 2 liter soda bottle that I filled 75-80% full of water and then squeezed all of the air out before closing the bottle.  This allows it to expand as it is heated in the microwave without rupturing.  If it gets firm when it is hot let a little more water out until there is no pressure on the bottle once it is good and hot.  Kept in an old boot sock and heated in the microwave each night (Experiment with how long it will take with your oven) it will keep you warm for more hours than most of us get to spend in bed in a couple of nights.

Many mornings we awoke with ice on the inside of the windows and our breath readily visible while being nice and warm all night with this simple combo while living in an uninsulated cabin a few years ago.  The 2 liter soda bottle was heated nightly for something like two winters or a bit more before it failed so they can be pretty durable. - S.D. in West Virginia

Those of us who are from the 1930-1940s generation may have a lot of childhood memories from our parents and grandparents that will serve us well as we approach TEOTWAWKI.  As I meditate back on the sketchy memories of childhood, I can recall a number of things that today would be called “survival living” but for us at that time was simply “living.”

In survival times, let us not forget our kids emotional well-being.  In addition to needing extra love and assurance from parents and grandparents, there are many simple ways to help them entertain themselves and break free of the video/television/iPod-in-your-ear addictions.  A simple iron or steel wheel with a metal rod with a flat bend  at end will entertain them for hours as they roll it all over the yard.  In the south, playing “doodle-bug, doogle-bug, won’t you come out”  is a joy when you “doodle” the concave hole and watch the bug back out.  Bags and bags of marbles are great as well as building blocks.  These are some of the ways we entertained ourselves as kids. 

Moving on to the real topic of survival, many of us have a head start in our preparations while others are just now waking up to reality that they are seriously behind the eight-ball, or they think they will “take” what someone else has---not recommended, especially in my state, where carrying concealed weapons is legal.  We know food is critical.  We know defense if critical.  There have been many great articles on this posted by readers and owner of this site.  The thing I’ve had a hard time understanding as a senior citizen is: “I have a bugout bag but where in the heck am I going to bugout to”?  Those in the country are going to get overrun by “bugouters” apparently, and that will be a serious moral and safety problem.  We’re in the country, but if we are forced to “move on”, we’ll be in a world of hurt after initial supplies run out.  We’re too old to camp out in these freezing mountains in winter so we are praying our current home will protected and safe.  Ultimately, God is our hiding place and our covering of protection.

Even if many of us are not in ideal locations (who can know where that is except by the specific guidance of the Lord), we can learn to make do where we are.  Two out of five neighbors are stocking up on food.  The others will come knocking when they are hungry and we will share what we can as we can see skills they have which may be needed and available when they are hungry enough to trade.  We are putting aside extra beans and rice for them as we would rather feed them than fight them, and trust God to stretch our food.  If we had the money, we would probably just pack up and leave the country but financially that is not an option.  

For water, we have a well and can always pull the pipe and pump to drop down a well bucket from a rope if we get desperate.  Fortunately a well driller lives within walking distance.  We installed a 5000 gallon water tank to last a while along with a 1,000 gallon propane tank.  Since the water has a lot of iron in it and needs to be filtered, our Big Berkey does the job, and for our backpack we use Seychelle water bottles.   All these have worked well for us.  We also make our own colloidal silver and use it for almost everything needing purifying including our dogs’ water, washing our fruit and veggies, rinsing our meat and chicken, etc.  While we can, though, we purchase the “silver sol” (comes under several names) and take it internally daily for health maintenance.  I also used it to get rid of an abscessed tooth infection recently instead of taking antibiotics which I don’t tolerate well.  We brush our teeth with it, disinfect our brushes, we spray it in our eyes for infection, we spray it up our nose for sinus infection, etc.  Colloidal Silver or Silver Sol and Olive Leaf Extract capsules are our number one line of defense for practically all illnesses we get from flu to cold to infection to pneumonia, all which we have experienced. 

For over 10 years we have heated with woodstove only.  For backup electricity, we put in an 8 KW backup solar system with two inverters so we can pump water from the 220v pump in the well for about 45 minutes a day in sunshine before it stops.  We did not tie into the grid as we did not want the power company controlling our system.  With a transfer switch, we switch back and forth as needed.  Here in sunny northern Arizona, a solar oven cooks great!  We cook tender, melt in your mouth, roast beef and chicken in it now but will resort to beans and rice later.  If you can’t afford the good ones sold online, you can make a cheap one yourself with a box, aluminum foil, duct tape and glass, or search online for methods suggested.  We did buy a Rocket stove which will cook with twigs but also learned to make a cheap one with a #10 can with bottom cut out.  We have used a #10 can cut to half size and put a wire screen on top wired down for a tortilla cooker. 

Every time the grocery store has the 1 pound bags of frozen vegetables on sale, I buy 12 or 13 bags at a time and dehydrate them in my large 9-tray dehydrator and vacuum seal the dried veggies in quart and half gallon canning jars.  Once they are dry, no worries about spoiling.  I vacuum seal everything I can get my hands on in way of dried food products.  I used to do a lot in the vacuum seal bags, but they do not hold up over time and mice and bugs can eat through them, so now I do it all in jars.  A good vacuum sealer, with the extra tube and extra lids for regular and wide mouth jar sealing, is one of the best investments you can make.
As far as a garden, all the years of chemtrail spraying we have endured here seems to have ruined the soil, trees and plants. The severe drought in Arizona seemed to start about the time they started spraying as we would watch them cover the skies which would divert the rain clouds.  Whenever we would hear a weather report to expect rain in a day or so, we knew we would get sprayed and just like clockwork, they sprayed, and no rain.   Even with building up the soil, things just don’t grow as well as they should.  The earthworms seem to be gone.  Long term food survival is still a formidable challenge in my mind.  I am purchasing seeds to sprout for live enzymes.  There’s not enough natural plant life to support any chickens or other food animals. We would love to relocate to an area with good soil & water, and Christian neighbors and preppers but have not found that place yet.

I’ve learned how to take a bath without bathing, a lesson from my grandmother who never had an indoor bathroom.  Wet a washcloth, spray with colloidal silver or nano silver and a little perfume and wash down with it and you will feel as clean and fresh as a shower.  You use hardly any water that way.  Even though we are on a private well, we practice water conservation in many ways.  One way we have done for years is to draw the hot water into gallon jugs until it begins to run hot to use, then we give that to the dogs for their water.  That amounts to two gallons of water saved each time we wash dishes or take a shower. 
I make frequent trips to the thrift stores to look for fill in supplies.   Made a major find this week when I found boxes of medical supplies like 4x4 drain sponges, abdominal pads, drainage bags with tubes, tracheostomy drain sponges, box of 50 surgical masks, surgical gloves – all for a song!  Could not believe my find.  My sister is a trained paramedic so figured she would know how to use the medical stuff.  Also found a few camouflage small military pouches that attach to a back pack.  Previously I have purchased from that thrift store woodland camouflage shirts, pants, canteens with covers, backpacks, etc.  I have found that thrift stores for pets located in upscale areas net better stuff

The local swap meet yields all kinds of neat survival items from military 3-part sleeping bags (found 2 sets), to ALICE packs with frames,  to knives to cast iron cookware.  Online stores have yielded me good prices on gas masks and canisters.  You just have to look.

All this and I am a 68 year old grandma!  If I can do it, anyone can.  Now our challenge is to go through everything, sort and inventory.  For strength we will rely on our strapping 6’3” tall 18 year old grandson who has always lived with us.  So far we have put him through a two year Heavy Equipment Operator class to learn how to operate all kinds of heavy equipment.  We had him join the Civil Air Patrol to learn skills there like desert survival training and search and rescue.  Those skills will be valuable later on when the SHTF.    I’m also thinking about putting him in a karate class.  Invest in your kids and grandkids in this way.  It will pay off. 

With all that said and done, do we feel prepared?  No, as there is always more to learn and do physically, but even with the best preparations, the unknown is always lurking, waiting like a lion to pounce on the unwary, unsuspecting ones.  We do not have any underground bunker or cave.  The ground is so rocky that is not an option.  Theft is so bad in this rural area, you cannot leave anything unattended, especially in remote areas. 
Having everything in one place goes against all wisdom in prepping.  But having done all, we stand.

So I end with this:  “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.  He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be they shield and buckler.  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.  A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.  Because thou has made the Lord, which is my refuge, even  the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh they dwelling.  For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”  Psalm 91:1-11.