Category: G. O. O. D.

Six Letters Re: Self-Sufficiency in England? Take the Gap

Hello Mr. Rawles, Thank you for taking the time to reply to my previous e-mail. I must confess your original post on your blog and your reply left me feeling somewhat bothered and a little defensive. I have been mulling this over all day and deep down I know the reason why, it’s because you are absolutely 100% right. My wife who makes my world go round could not leave her family, my son who has special needs is receiving very specialist care locally, my community, friends and neighbours who have worked this land for generations rely on me for …


Letter Re: GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival

Hi Jim, I enjoyed that excellent GPS article [by Mike S., “GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival”.] It squares well with my personal experience. GPS on-board mapping has many errors. Seems worse in the hinterlands. Also pretty bad where new construction is concerned. I was amused while driving in MA that for about a half mile my GPS unit thought I was driving down railroad tracks. While snowshoeing with friends, my buddy had to demonstrate the GPS on his iPhone. All it showed was a dot in the middle of a blank screen. We were beyond the reach of cell …


GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival, by Mike S.

Reading accounts of people who had evacuated the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita was a sobering experience. Evacuees who took to the interstate highways effectively ended up in giant parking lots. In contrast, those who used the back roads fared much better and were able to evacuate in a timely manner. I live sufficiently inland that hurricanes do not pose a serious threat to me, nor do other foreseeable regional natural disasters such as earthquakes pose a serious risk. However, I live in the middle of a major metropolitan area where man-made disasters and localized natural disasters …


Disaster Procedures: A Survival Field Guide, by A.V.

The Relevance of Procedures In a disaster situation many things previously fixed become variable. Communications, supplies, security and many other aspects of civilized society that we often take for granted may quickly become mired down by inefficient or massive use. Equipped as we are with a survival mindset, many still succumb to the environment of pandemonium that evolves: we forget our training, misuse our equipment, and the pace of events overwhelms us. On top of these considerations, many interested in disaster preparation may not have a family or group that is equally well-versed in the nuances of survival situations. Many …


Letter Re: Some Thought on Dual-Fuel LPG Vehicles

Dear Jim, I don’t know if this applies to folks in the US, but it may be something for UK readers to consider. My main vehicle is equipped with both petrol and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tanks, and I will also be installing an LPG system on my secondary vehicle. There are two main advantages to this: 1. LPG is less than half the price of petrol, and although you get a third less mileage than you do using petrol, it still works out cheaper – in fact, in the UK, you can get the installation costs back in around …


Letter Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009

Dear James Regarding Matt R.’s letter, I have been a survivalist and self-sufficient minded person most of my adult life. I live at my retreat in a prime western state. I have been reading your site for the last 18 months. I have learned some new useful information (never too late to teach old dog new tricks) from your site. I have also purchased quite a few supplies from your advertisers. For most scenarios my home/retreat is a perfect place to be if the SHTF and I can just stay home. However I do not like to have all my …


Two Letters Re: Last Minute G.O.O.D. Versus Well-Considered Early Relocation

Jim: The figure [cited by “Feral Farmer”] of 100 square miles per hunter-gatherer can’t be correct. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles). So, at 100 square mile per hunter gatherer, would only support 95,400 natives. Considering that large chunks of the Arctic and desert are minimal in their resources, not to mention Greenland, this figure (100 sq mi) can’t be correct. Here are a couple of online references: Agricultural practices and policies for carbon sequestration in soil By John M. Kimble, Rattan Lal, Ronald F. Follett and, Food, Energy, and Society By David …


France in 1940 as a Parallel to a Modern-Day Golden Horde on the Highways

Dear James: I recently purchased a book that may be of interest to my fellow SurvivalBlog readers: Hanna Diamond’s book Fleeing Hitler: France 1940. This book is currently being remaindered at the Canadian Internet bookseller Chapters.ca. The jacket copy states: “In June 1940, as Hitler’s armies advanced on Paris, the French people became refugees in their own country. This is the story of their tragic flight”. It describes what’s probably the largest, best-documented mass evacuations of a major Western city in modern times. Invasion by Germany certainly constitutes the Schumer hitting the fan in most people’s opinion; the French certain …


Letter Re: Last Minute G.O.O.D. Versus Well-Considered Early Relocation

Dear Editor: John M.’s letter was excellent, polite, and to the point. The following are my rules for townies: 1. If your water comes out of a faucet or a bottle, and you can not safely walk to a permanent backup source in less than 10 minutes every day, then you will die. 2. If you do not raise your own food, or personally know the family that you bought it from, you will either die, or be forever controlled by someone with a clipboard and a list, and you will wish you were dead. 3. If you live in …


Letter Re: Last Minute G.O.O.D. Versus Well-Considered Early Relocation

James – We think along similar lines, as my wife and I relocated to Central Idaho in 1995, raising and homeschooling our four children here. We’re electrically functioning off the grid, engage in animal husbandry, grow what vegetables we can, and stock up on essentials we cannot produce and always meticulously rotate the stock. And we hunt, big time. I read the entry on your site today about the fellow who intends to travel ore than a thousand miles in a blink of an eye, and use this blur to make a life-changing decision based on distorted glances at sixty …


Avoiding Bugging Out, by Steve M.

One core tenet of the Survival and Preparation (S&P) culture that is often misunderstood, misapplied and has a high probability of failing, and that is “the bug-out”.  I am prompted to write this after reading so many S&P-related books, blogs and forums where individuals are indicating that their primary plan, and the focus of their preparations, is bugging-out.  The common discussion topics of bug-out vehicles (BOV), bug-out bags (BOB), bug-out land, etc, and the overall S&P lexicon confirm the importance placed on the bug-out concept.   Although well organized and executed, a 1,600 mile bug-out is portrayed by some of “The …


Five Letters Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009

Jim, I live in a rural farming area east of the Mississippi and can tell you that cutting a gate or fence would be a very bad choice (in this area).  In 99% of the cases you would already be on private property, so cutting the fence or gate would be considered a “hostile” act.   Most of the folks I know would shot first and ask questions later . . . these folks all hunt, so they are not likely to miss . . . and trust me they know when someone is on their property.   When the police are …


Two Letters Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009

Dear Jim:, All this recent discussion by SurvivalBlog readers about hot-wiring airplanes, and cutting fences and locks is missing some basic, well, let’s just say “applied ethics”. Recall the Golden Rule “Do unto others as they have done unto you”. Flip the situation around and look at it from the property owner’s view: How would you feel if you saw someone stealing your airplane? (Your life savings in an aircraft.) How would you feel upon noticing someone cutting the fence or gate that keeps your cattle off the road? Granted, in a life-threatening emergency you may morally take liberties with …


Two Letters Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009

JWR: I liked JC in Oklahoma’s reply to Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009 but with all due respect, I would not cut someone else’s lock. Most gates that I have seen around where I live, have a chain with a lock. I would advise cutting a link out of the chain and attaching your lock, like a replacement link. This way you keep the owner somewhat happy and still accomplish the task of passing thru the gate as well as being able to cross back through. Now I need to get out and check what routes I …


Letter Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009

Mr. Rawles, Concerning the article: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009, by Bill in Chicagoland, I would like to add to these comments. My 20 years experience driving the county roads and the farmer ranch roads with the Soil Conservation Service have given me a perspective of the potential for choice this road system presents. I have a considerable amount of experience driving cross country. I have driven from the Northern Texas panhandle across the Oklahoma Panhandle into southeastern Colorado and north to the Colorado Springs area on mostly gravel and dirt roads. Several times I have driven …