Month: February 2008

Letter Re: Best Items to Store for Barter and Charity?

Mr. Rawles, My wife and I are are in our 50s, (never had kids) and we live in a four bedroom house on 80 acres (mostly leased out [for farming]), eight miles outside a town of 20,000 population, in south-central Iowa. Two of our cousins and one nephew–all military vet[eran]s–that live in town are planning to come out [and live with us], if and when times get nasty. We have now have (or will soon have) all our basic preparations in hand, including a three year food supply for five people, which we got mostly through Safecastle and Ready Made …


Odds ‘n Sods:

We were recently somewhat “snowed in” and ran low on feed for our flock of assorted fowl. So the ever-resourceful Memsahib simply broke out one of our oldest 35 pound buckets of hard red winter wheat from the JASBORR. She soaked the wheat in water for 12 hours, and voila! Soft, plump wheat berries. She is also sprouting some wheat, which is even more nutritious. She mentioned that her maternal great-grandmother, at the turn of last century used sprouted wheat for chicken feed. This kept her hens laying eggs throughout the winter. Before the days of electrically-lighted hen houses, winter …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The wheels have come off. Structured finance, which has been the key to this credit bubble, has broken down. We believe that confidence in structures, ratings, collateral, issuers, counterparties, et cetera, has all been lost. Therefore we are in a very precarious position. Credit has driven the economy and has driven markets. Credit has to grow year-over-year in this credit bubble environment in order for the economy to grow. With structured finance having broken down, in our opinion, there is no way that credit will grow year-over-year any longer.” – David Tice of the Prudent Bear Fund, as quoted by …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 15 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 15 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entries. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.


Keeping Ourselves Injury Free WTSHTF, by Bubba’s Wife

Some of us with desk jobs in the current economy (who possibly stop at Starbucks more than we should) have a bit more to do than just preparing our retreats. I will attempt to address the issue of keeping our bodies injury free, during the upcoming adventures. In the coming economy, there’s going to be a lot of hard, physical work and chiropractors will be hard to come by. I believe that our family’s preparation plans are going to have to include a plan to bring our bodies up to a standard of fitness, flexibility and strength. Every family member …


Letter Re: A Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Disaster

Dear Jim, I just read on a[nother] blog about an imminent Federal Reserve disaster. There’s no [mainstream] news coverage on it yet so this qualifies as a serious heads up. Note the second numeric column. $40 Billion, has been since 1913, by law. Then notice it suddenly drops to $198 million and then two days ago the report lists the banks as minus $8.7 Billion, something which has never happened before. How bad is it? Think Weimar Republic. The Fed can no longer stop inflation because the banks can’t secure new money with debt. People aren’t buying debt anymore. Ergo, …


Letter Re: Question on Body Armor “Expiration” Dates

Dear Jim: There is an “urban myth” that Body Armor “expires” after the official manufacturer warranty runs out. Actually, the standard five year warranty is simply based on the insurance companies legal need to limit their liability – not on the actual performance of armor. (I have a sneaking suspicion that manufacturers don’t complain too much about being able to sell new Body Armor every five years either!) The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has found that 10 year old used armor tests as good as new. Since we deal with a lot of Police Surplus we run tests on …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Yesterday, one of our kids was reading aloud from a “Hunting Safely in Grizzly Country” pamphlet that we picked up when buying some topographic maps at the local USFS ranger station. It was published by the “Interagency Bear Committee” and the Wyoming Fish and Game Department. Most of the advice was good, but some of it must have been written by tree huggers. They opined: “Shooting a bear when it is charging is not recommended. The bear almost always lives long enough to maul the hunter severely.” Excuse me, but what am I supposed to stop a bear with? Harsh …



Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction mixed lot is now at $220. The auction is for a Brunton Solarport 4.4 watt photovoltaic panel (a $140 retail value), a Deluxe Outdoor Survival Tool Kit (a $70 retail value)–both kindly donated by Ready Made Resources–as well as seven other items: A copy of the latest edition of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by the late Carla Emery (a $32 retail value), an autographed copy of my novel “Patriots” (a $23 retail value), an autographed copy of my nonfiction book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” (a $25 retail value), a …


Letter Re: Question on Body Armor “Expiration” Dates

James, I hope you or some of your readers can help me. I am looking at getting a bullet proof vest. The more I learn about it everyone says that they are really only good for about five years. Then you should replace your vest with a new one. That is fine if I were a police officer and used it everyday, but I am not and would only wear it during my training drills. My questions is, is the five year limit just a way for the companies to limit there liability and get you to buy a new …


Letter Re: Preparedness Advice for a Law School Student

Hello, I am a law student in Oklahoma.The recent ice storm really opened my eyes. I lost power for a week in freezing temperatures (as did many thousands across Oklahoma) I had no fuel in my car (a Ford Focus) and no food. It really opened my eyes. I am currently heavily in debt and have little extra funds but would like to start getting prepared. I have a dog (a Welsh Corgi) and a cat. My girlfriend thinks I have gone insane and does not like to talk about things like this. I live in a rented house in …


Letter Re: Countrywide Turns Off the Home Equity Lines of Credit Tap

James, I just received an email from my Countrywide Account Executive that they are suspending further draws against Home Equity lines [of credit]. They have reportedly started mailing suspension letters last week to 122,000 borrowers. Who knows how many more could get those based on the markets and Countrywide’s present situation. If you know someone who has [a home equity line of credit] and is going to need the funds, they might want to draw out the money right away and put it somewhere safe. A lot of people use home equity lines as emergency funds. – MB in Boise …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Florida Guy recommended this YouTube video: Gangs are gearing up for war against Americans–And bragging about it. Florida Guy’s comment: “If this shocking video doesn’t underscore your family’s need for serious tactical training, then nothing does. Caution: The video includes some foul “street” language.”    o o o John in Montana suggested a thread over at the Survival Monkey Forum: Some first hand experience – A brief story of Argentina. John’s comment: “In view of what is happening in our economy, the article has some good heads-up info. It is long but worth the read.”    o o o I …