Improvised Casualty Retrieval and Transport – Part 2, by R.D.J.

(Continued from Part 1.) FIRST RESPONSE AT THE SCENE – BE SAFE! Be aware of the hazards involved in responding to a call for help. Develop an understanding of the safety and priorities at the scene of an incident. Know how to call for assistance (you do have your Baofeng (12) or equivalent, don’t you?) Most accident scenes are uncontrolled and potentially dangerous. DO NOT BECOME A CASUALTY YOURSELF – STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and SMELL. The first priority at any accident scene is your own safety, followed by safety of the victim.  Finally, the safety of everyone on site must …


Improvised Casualty Retrieval and Transport – Part 1, by R.D.J.

If I’ve seen one… then I’ve seen one. That is all that means. But did I learn anything from it? CASEVAC Casualty Evacuation: what we need to know and do, when we need to move the immobile ill or badly injured with our own resources? Disclaimer One The following article relates entirely to retrieving and moving casualties both ill or injured, when the situation is such that no one is gonna come and help you anytime soon: not within The Golden Hour, nor even within The Tarnished Day. (1) ‘Cause at the time of writing, 99.5% of serious injuries and …


An Important Time For Giving, by SaraSue

If anyone has funds to spare, I want to remind SurvivalBlog readers that the communities in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee are still suffering the devastation from Hurricane Helene.  Since our government failed these people, We The People have responded en masse to take care of them.  There are people still living in tents as the snow starts to fall.  Many many people have donated trailers, Buddy heaters, blankets, clothing, and food to help keep these families intact. You may ask why those people are still living in those devastated areas.  Many have no other place, or the funds, …


Growing Up in a Survivalist Family, by J.W.T.

Growing up, I attributed my father’s penchant for hoarding to having had a Depression-era childhood. We were comfortably middle-class in the 1960s—a three-bedroom, one-bathroom ranch house, a Ford in the driveway, and never hungry—but I heard stories of my parents’ lives in the 1920s and 1930s, especially on Thanksgivings, when my uncles drank too much and reminisced about the old days with my father. My mother still made her own clothes if she didn’t can fruits and vegetables as her mother had, and my father threw nothing out: his old Army camouflage duds, every used nut and bolt, and the …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 4, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Question: Will I have power when the grid is down? Question: Can I get net metering with a solar-only system, or do I need storage? Battery size With all the information above, you will be better situated to properly size your storage system. Just be aware that (unless you’re in a totally different socioeconomic class than I) you probably won’t get all the storage you want. I started off with the idea that I wanted to be three-days independent of the grid. When I found the cost of that, I scaled back. …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 3, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 2.) When it came to setting angles, my installer wanted to install at the U.S. default angle of 20 degrees. That angle serves the most people across the country in most situations. Now, I’m a taller-than average, bigger-than-average guy and wear extra-large gloves, so I know one-size does not fit all. You must consider what is best for you and your goals and not just what may be the rule of thumb. I happened to hear the guys talking about the angle after they had already set the poles in the ground. Like I said, I hadn’t …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 2, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 1.) Question: How is my system size being determined? Question: How many hours per day of power production will I have? Here is where a little ‘art’ comes into all this ‘science’. Panels come in a few different sizes, usually around 325 to 425 Watts. The most common seems to be 400 Watts of generation. What they try to do is balance your usage with the size of panels. In the above case, it would take about 50 panels @ 400 watts per panel to equal the 19kW system (actually 20, but that is where the ‘art’ …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 1, by B.S.V.

Preparedness comes in many shapes and sizes. Where we get a little extra complexity is when we have to prepare to prepare. I encountered this in one of my recent large endeavors, and found myself somewhat lacking. It worked out, but it could have gone smoother. Hopefully this article will help you avoid a similar situation. In a recent SurvivalBlog article, I discussed some strategies for using solar backup. Since then, my wife and I decided to move forward with setting ourselves up a bit better and entering the solar arena with a whole-house system. Before you think that this …


Putting Down My Dog, by SaraSue

I had no sooner sent in my positive update to the blog last week than a near catastrophe occurred. I am sharing this, even though it hurts to write about it. I’m doing so because I think it’s important to recognize that country living has pitfalls, as does self-sufficiency. Your preps and relationships become very important and not just for the obvious reasons. In this case, I needed plentiful first aid supplies, a clear head, and neighbors I could call in an Emergency. I will tell you the story. Warning: This is a graphic heart-wrenching story. Please skip over it …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 1, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part one of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he will discuss. — Preparedness Terminology History My family preparedness history goes back generations. Before the term “prepper” was used, people who were into preparedness were known as “survivalists” and even before then people were known as “retreaters.” Our survival library is very extensive covering preparedness-related subjects including original civil defense publications from the 1950s until today. I have spent many hours reading the articles …


Backyard Chicken Tips, by Tractorguy

Keeping laying hens is an excellent idea for preppers, if you have the space and ability to do so. They are an excellent source of nutrition, particularly fats, which can be problematic to store in a grid-down or survival situation. Back in the early part of the 20th Century, during two world wars, the US government encouraged all households to keep laying hens. It is sage advice. Keeping hens to provide eggs is not hard, and does not require a large amount of time and attention. Much information is available online about raising chickens. This is not meant to be …


Making Dosa the Old School Way, by E.P.

I have been making dosa — an unleavened fermented Indian bread — for more than 30 years. It has been a staple part of my diet. Years ago my sister-in-law, who lives in India, brought me two wet grinders that she purchased in India. Back in 2020 I wrote an article for SurvivalBlog explaining how these work and how to make dosa dough using them: Making Dosa – Indian Fermented Bread, by E.P. Since they have an electric motor, and because of the way they are designed, they are not usable without electricity. I began to think about a way …


Lessons From Hurricane Helene – Part 4, by A.F.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) After securing water and safety, climate control was my next concern. Prior to the storm, we had weather in the 80s and low 90s. Our home sits in a field along a north-to-south bearing. Morning sun isn’t too intense but the long evenings, lots of floor-to-ceiling windows and western exposure were making me nervous about getting the house cool enough to be comfortable in. I was also concerned about the potential for mildew to take hold given the humidity and lack of central air conditioning. Fortunately, the temperatures stayed mild and the …


Lessons From Hurricane Helene – Part 3, by A.F.

(Continued from Part 2.) Other than cutting the fallen trees off of our state road to gain access to the greater community, the only additional sawing we did was to clear the brush from our access to the larger hen house. Seeing that a massive white oak was bearing down on the fair-sized pine resting on the chicken run, I used two adjacent stacks of 12-inch block tied together with lumber and ratchet straps to pick up the load until I could remove the tree.   I want to give a huge shoutout and thanks to Thomas Christianson for his …


Lessons From Hurricane Helene – Part 2, by A.F.

(Continued from Part 1.) Back to the Friday morning of the storm: The rain stopped here around 10 A.M.. According to our rain gauge, we received 5.6” overnight. As I walked our property, I found a tangle of trees had fallen with a very large white oak knocking over a decent-sized pine, and that in turn landed on one of our chicken coops. A sycamore had fallen from our side of the property line and damaged a section of our neighbor’s pasture fence, the top of a white oak had broken out and blocked one of our internal roads, a …