Category: Retreat Groups

Prepping For Death, by J.D.A.

Preparing for death is probably not the usual topic discussed on this board, but a recent illness in my family has put this issue squarely in my face.   It is my hope that all reading this blog will live many more years and will leave this earth either via the Rapture or natural causes at a ripe old age. That being said, death is something we have to consider in our plans.  I approach this topic from two angles: 1) losing a loved one in a non-Schumer situation, 2) losing a loved one in a Schumeresque situation.  I hope to …


Thinking Outside the Box, by Karen I.

My father was an engineer at Boeing, and Boeing builds in (or at least they used to) triple redundancy.  Kind of hard to find a hardware store or plane mechanic mid-air over the Atlantic, so you can see why what appears to be over-building really isn’t in the case of an airplane.  You might think that to effect this on the ground you’d need three or more of everything, but that’s not actually the case.  What you need for food, for example, is obviously more than one year’s supply.  You aren’t going to quit eating if you can help it, …


Letter Re: Establishing a Neighborhood Watch

Recently a neighborhood watch was created by the initiative of a lawyer who had many thousands of dollars worth of equipment stolen from his property in broad day light, while members of his family were home, with a trailer that had been stolen from across the street.  He saw he need for a greater sense of alertness and vigilance among our residents, who for the most part feel we live in a nice area and don’t have to worry about crime.  (Mostly this is true).  We don’t have gangs or violent crime, but if the picking seem easy enough for …


Letter Re: Dealing With Livestock and Neighbors in The Crunch

Dear James, Thanks for all you do to educate us all.  You certainly woke me up.  I offer a few thoughts that may be of use or interest to your readership: I live off-grid, at end of a mile-long driveway. Been here twenty years. Spring water, solar power, wood heat. Have chickens, goats, cows, machine shop, wife and kids, and a few bang-sticks. Save for the critical issues of man-power to mount a defense, and deep enough pockets for deep stock of supplies, I look “prepped”. From this perspective, a couple of thoughts. First, I am not growing all the …


Getting Started, by C.W. in Michigan

I am not like most people; mainly because of the way I was raised as a child.  Hunting, fishing, trapping, and outdoor/survival skills were not only practiced but often encouraged by my father.  In hindsight I can say it wasn’t necessarily that he thought I might need the skills someday.  I think it was more because it was a good way to keep me and my brothers out of trouble.  It seemed to work. My father was always the type of guy to take us out of school for the important things in life.  The opening day of fall firearms …


You Are At Your Retreat — What Now?, by D.H.

Many of us have plans to get our family and friends to a retreat once the Schumer hits the fan (SHTF). Many of us have written down plans that tell us what things to grab before we leave (so we don’t forget something important), but how many of you have written down plans for what to do once you’re there, at your retreat? Why write them down? Well, because even though you may know everything you’re going to do once there, maybe the others don’t. For some unforeseen reason, you may not even make it there. Will your family know …


Next Steps: Prepping for the Middle Expertise, Middle Life, Middle Philosophy Preppers, by A.L.G.

Salutations! And for those of spiritual and religious bent, Blessings, from my wife and I in these troubled time. A few weeks back, after my assistant’s grandson returned to his school year, he brought home a “bug” as the kiddies often do. My assistant naturally fell ill, and a week later, sure enough I found myself on my couch with my wife good-naturedly giving me some grief (and chicken soup…) With some time on my hands, and not much energy to actually do anything, my mind started turning as I laid there and watched an earthquake hit D.C. and a …


Survival Preparedness With Toddlers in Tow, by H.P.

As a former Boy Scout and long time minimalist, survival preparation is a natural fit for a “hobby” as I enter my thirties.  Of course this “hobby” is an important life decision, unlike how one might approach golf or poker.  The importance of this life decision really becomes clear when I think about my wife and our two little girls.  As anyone with small children will confirm, hobbies and social activities take a backseat to the needs of your toddlers.  My longtime interest in the outdoors, camping, and shooting have provided a sensible platform for a jump into the survivalist …


Letter Re: Plan B–Call Them Your Hobbies

JWR: Robert B. mentioned some great ideas for the “hobbies”. I don’t have a problem with my spouse, but it does give me some ideas of how I can normalize my activities to other people I know. I have an idea for your food storage though: One of my favorite things about food storage, aside from the incredible peace of mind it gives me, is that I never/rarely run out of things. I just go to my pantry. Maybe you could conspicuously run out of something important a few times, necessitating a trip to the store, and then bring up …


Letter Re: Plan B–Call Them Your Hobbies

JWR: Some of us don’t always have a spouse that is 100% on board with prepping.  So I thought I’d send a list of some hobbies that help with prepping in a SHFT situation, and have a non-SHTF function too.  Most have worked out well for me, some my wife has become more avid than I, the remaining she tolerates. Flower Gardening – Allows for purchase of gardening tools, composting, development of good growing beds, fertilizer, books on growing and seeding, and pest control products. You will have to pay attention to vegetable safe products, but in SHTF you will …


Letter Re: Planning for Multi-Family Cohabitation

Hi Jim, Just wanted to chime in here on the recent blog post about multi-family living. There are currently three families in our house: Five adults and and four children ranging in ages from 13 down to 6. (This includes two married couples and a single mom.) And how did all of this begin? Well the spark was friendship.  My wife and my friend’s wife were best friends and room mates. We spent all of our time at the girls apartment, going there after church, meeting there for evening outings, etc. I would get back to my apartment with just …


Planning for Multi Family Cohabitation, by J.B. in Idaho

There are many situations where multiple families may need to live together under one roof.  These can range from retreats for a SHTF scenario, economics such as job loss, ill health of an older family member, to a multi-family vacation.   Recently, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Mexico with my husband’s family where a total of seventeen people shared one house.  In addition to sharing the house, a city-wide water shut-off occurred for three days.  Also, I spent the last seven months sharing my home with a parent that had health problems and did not have means …


Letter Re: Survival and Special Needs Loved Ones

Dear Editor: That piece that you posted in April about caring for special needs people or old people that have Alzheimer’s during TEOTWAWKI really blessed me a lot. I saw a lot of practical information and reasoning that can be applied to everyday life dealing with people like that. Things that can effect the relationship between you, the person you care for and others can be as simple as unfettered gossip. I soon learned after my Dad’s death that having conversations with my mother about our business things that were before and still needed to be kept under wraps were …


Our Community-Wide SHTF Contingency Plan, by T.M.

We are located in the Southeastern United States. There are nine families in our “block”, with the next neighborhood or community more than two miles away. I refer to it as a block because a major highway runs through it. The only dwellings on the major highway are three houses and one country store. The rest are on a “U” shaped secondary road that starts across from the store on the main highway and ends, back on the main Highway, 1 mile east, at a cross road. We are all contained in one square mile within that “U”. I should …


Preparing Kids for Disasters, by J.B. in Montana

Consider this possible scenario: Let’s imagine for a moment that nuclear fallout or a tornado is approaching your home. If you said to your child, “Stop what you are doing- go to the basement right now!” – would he obey without question or hesitation? Would he even pay attention to your voice if he were deeply involved in a video game or a text message? Would he whine “WHYYYYY? Do I HAAAAVE to? It’s not faaaair. Bubba got to play longer than meeeeee!” Would your daughter pout, glare at you, and sulk if she had planned to go to a …