Category: Home Power

Is it Enough?, by Axman

I remember the Great Gas Crises of the 1950s. I filled several metal five-gallon cans with gas and put them behind the seat of my 1941 Plymouth 6-cylinder Business Coupe. I got 21 miles per gallon with that peppy little car! When Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crises came about I dug a foxhole in my Mother’s back yard — which she later filled in and used as a flower bed. Then the Cold War with Russia, where we rattled ballistic missiles at each other. I actually built an above-ground fallout shelter out of a retired metal dumpster and a piece of …


Letter Re: A Carrington Event Space Storm–A Natural EMP Equivalent

Jim- New Scientist magazine article recently published an important article titled “Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe.” The article outlines possible scenarios for the risk of solar storms that could severely damage national grids and vital electrical and electronic systems. The effects would be catastrophic and devolve societies into a desperate survival situation for individuals. One quote from the article: “Over the last few decades, western civilisations have busily sown the seeds of their own destruction. Our modern way of life, with its reliance on technology, has unwittingly exposed us to an extraordinary danger: plasma balls spewed from the …


The 19th Century Home Retrofit, by Y. Cornelius

By now most SurvivalBlog readers have gone about your preparations for your ideal home or retreat cabin, all storage food and tools acquired, fuel stored, generators ready, PV panels carefully concealed and hooked up to the battery bank. You and your family or group are ready to handle the coming collapse, but are you really? Are you ready to do without? Without that generator when the fuel runs out, or a critical piece is worn out and a new one cannot be had? At some point your supplies will be used up, storage fuel consumed and there may not be …


Life’s Lessons and the Foundations of Preparedness, by A.B.

We may soon depend on all of what we have learned over the years. Putting all of the threads of knowledge together into a tapestry of self-sufficiency, and survival capabilities, is part of the lifelong quest for our family’s security. We learn from many sources and experiences such as: family, church, friends, teachers, teammates, co-workers, reading books and SurvivalBlog, and hopefully from our mistakes. Preparedness Skills from our Grandmas and Grandpas The foundation for preparedness begins with my childhood in Michigan. We lived in Lansing where my great-grandmother was next door and my grandmother lived next door to her. My …


Cold and Dark–An Account of an Ice Storm, by Steve S.

Preparations In January, 2008, the outlook for people in the United States appeared bleak. I told my wife that we needed to stock-up on food because I felt that the supply lines were thin and vulnerable. I began my preparations by Internet search. I found JWR’s SurvivalBlog and I bought a copy of his novel. In the meantime, I started buying cases of canned goods. I bought food that we generally ate. I looked at the expiration dates of every purchase. I tried to buy what would last through 2011. Not much would, so I bought with the idea of …


Letter Re: Selecting Retreat Properties–Pros and Cons of Buying Remote and Off Grid

Jim: To follow-up on your recent article, a very big “Pro” to buying off-grid land that was not mentioned is that you will not have strangers having access to your property. I am specifically referring to the Meter Reader for the utility company. I have “country” property on the Grid and have to furnish the Meter Reader a key to access the property to read the electric meter. The Meter Reader comes once a month to read the meter. I have not figured a way to deny them access. (Maybe you have a suggestion on how to prevent the meter …


Selecting Retreat Properties–Pros and Cons of Buying Remote and Off Grid

I recently had a consulting client that hired me to do a search on his behalf for a rural retreat property in southwestern Oregon. In the early stages of the search, he asked about the pros and cons of buying undeveloped “off grid” properties that do not have utility power poles nearby. This summarizes my reply: From the standpoint of setting up a rural, self-sufficient retreat, an off-grid parcel is actually advantageous, for two reasons: 1.) They are generally more remote and away from natural “lines of drift” and hence are far less likely to be in the path of …


Depression Proof Jobs for a 20 Year Depression – Part 2: Developing a Home-Based Business

Yesterday, in Part1, I discussed the “safe” and counter-cyclical occupations for the unfolding economic depression. Today, I’d like to talk about one specific approach: self-employment with a home-based business. I posted most the following back in late 2005, but there are some important points that are worth repeating: The majority of SurvivalBlog readers that I talk with tell me that they live in cities or suburbs, but they would like to live full time at a retreat in a rural area. Their complaint is almost always the same: “…but I’m not self-employed. I can’t afford to live in the country …


Perspectives on Prepping on a Very Low Income, by Kuraly

I was raised in a missionary family, on nine different mission fields around the world. At the age of nineteen, I went out to serve the Lord on my own in the former Soviet Union. I had no formal Theological training, but was accepted by the missionary societies of my denomination because of my experience under my father and my willingness to go to dangerous areas. I married, and my wife and I have now six children. A few years ago, due to some changes in my theology, I fell out of favor with my denomination and had to return …


Two Letters Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale

Jim, For starters I would like to say that Jim you are dead-on with your Delta Junction recommendation. I live near Delta. And it is some of the finest farm land in the world. everything grows amazing here. Some of the information in the previous letters is wrong and I would like to clarify them . The growing season may be a little shorter in days of light, but in total hours of light it is much longer than other places. It gets light here in May and gets dark at night again in late August. Some vegetables will grow …


Letter Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale

Mr. Rawles, Although being an avid reader, this is the first time I have written your site. The letters posted on your site today respecting Alaska as a retreat locale raised a few possible issues in my mind. First of all, let me say that Alaska is my favorite place in the world, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. However, as a retreat locale, one may want to think twice unless the situation forces their location there. Also, it is important to remember that the conditions and terrain in Alaska are very wide ranging, depending where you are. …


Retreat Building Lighting Systems, by The Old Yooper

Lighting systems in a retreat home (not connected to the grid). My home does not fit the definition of a retreat. I built it about 30 years ago in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) when the idea of a retreat location was not on my radar screen. Only by coincidence has my home worked out to fit a retreat definition, better situated them many, not as good as some. It is quite secluded, the only house at the end of a dead end dirt road. It has never had grid power run to it. The utility company wanted as …


Letter Re: Lessons from the January Ice Storm

Jim: The Ice Storm that just plastered Kentucky brought some reminders of just how bad things can get and how being prepared – in advance – is critical. Within a few hours, everything became coated with a half-inch to an inch of ice: roads, cars, trees, power lines – everything. Throughout the night, we heard crashes as our neighbor’s trees lost massive limbs. We knew it was only a matter of time before trees limbs (which are not properly trimmed back by our utility company in an attempt to cut costs) collapsed on power lines and caused widespread outages. In …


The Community Retreat, by Kathy Harrison

Establishing a retreat seems to be the dream of many survivalists but realistically, evacuating to a retreat is not a proposition that is readily available to very many. There are generally problems with finances as well as family commitments to contend with. Many folks, like me, have spent years in establishing perennial food plants, compost piles, garden plots, building small businesses and, most importantly, forging important community ties that would not be easily broken. Therefore, we would be well advised to explore how to approach ways to turn our own residences into retreat communities. The location of the community is …


Letter Re: Advice on Two-Way Radio Communications

Mr. Rawles, I have read “Patriots,” and am finishing up your [“Rawles Gets You Ready”] preparedness course and I have a question: What brand, or type of two-way communication do I look for. I live in Kansas, about as far inland as we can go. I have several family members in the same small town and would like something that we all could communicate with. Ready Made Resources recommends a GMRS system, is that something to consider, or are CBs the answer? I appreciate all that you post on your blog, consequently, I have just purchased the “SurvivalBlog: The Best …