Category: Retreat Logistics

100 Days of Final Preparations – Part 1, by Elli O.

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I’m writing this as a stand-alone article. However, if you would like to read more about our journey through the world of preparedness and our homestead, please see my previous article in the SurvivalBlog archives for November 26-27, 2019. As a follow-up I am writing this to explain what we have done just in the past 100 days and how the global pandemic and possible near-future economical collapse has impacted us and our preparations. 100 DAYS OF FINAL PREPARATIONS For as long as I can remember, I have always had a mindset of preparedness, partly because of my background as …


Reaching Out to Others May Save Our Lives, by Ani

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Whenever I’d get upset about not understanding why someone was doing what they were doing or thought the way they did, a friend always used to remind me that “not everyone thinks like you do”. That adage sounds simple on the surface but I’ve realized that it is a profound truth and of critical importance to us preppers. At the time that I’m writing this we are immersed in the COVID-19 pandemic. I watched this coming, from the earliest days when the first reports of some strange new Coronavirus associated with the market in Wuhan was briefly noted online. That …


Facing Lockdown in an Apartment – Part 1, by J.F.J.

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Having recently moved from a home on a one-acre lot at the edge of the country to an apartment complex on the outskirts of a small town, I have had to change my disaster contingency plans to suit my new environment. Living in an apartment in the suburbs has the advantage of allowing people to have a comfortable environment close to city conveniences and entertainment. However, apartment living has its significant disadvantages when in dire circumstances. Communications may be cut off if landlines are damaged or cell phone towers are without power. Natural and man-made disasters play havoc with local …


Caffeine for TEOTWAWKI, by N.E.S.

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I will be addressing both coffee and tea options that work for us around our homestead. I will start with coffee. I am certainly no coffee connoisseur; I am just a homestead wife trying to make some decent coffee for my hubby. We are not sophisticated in that we try to detect certain acidity, aromas etc. My hubby just wants coffee that he enjoys drinking. I am in no way affiliated with any of the vendor suggestions that I comment about here. Rather, I’m just listing the things that through the research that I have done through this journey. I …


Stockpiling Medications Inexpensively, by J.B.

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As news of the coronavirus spreads, it shocked me to learn that sixty percent of our finished medication, eighty percent of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture medication and almost one hundred percent of our antibiotics are manufactured in China. One only has to look at the news to see where we will be headed if the quarantine in China and the resulting factory closures and furloughs continue for even a few more months. Consider this quote from scmp.com: “The United States’ ability to respond to an epidemic within its borders is critically hampered by its reliance on China for …


Prepping at the Dollar Store, by Ani

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Editor’s Note: Coincidentally, I received two very similar articles from readers in two states, in the same month. But because they have different perspectives, I’ve decided to post both of them. (The other one was posted yesterday.) — With a lot of attention being paid in the past few weeks to the spread of the novel coronavirus in China and the potential but still unknown ramifications for both the health and economy of other countries. preparedness has been getting some attention. While many of us who have been avidly following the news on this virus are experienced preppers, there are …


A Dollar Store Prepping Expedition, by T. Lee

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Editor’s Note: Coincidentally, I received two very similar articles about dollar store shopping from writers in two states in the same week. But because they have different perspectives, I’ve decided to post both of them. The other one will be posted tomorrow. — I’m here visiting our oldest son in New York City, always an eye opening experience. After church, several of his friends have asked how to get started on building an everyday carry (EDC) bag after seeing our day bags. However, after seeing their respective apartments, we decided to start more basic (understanding we are teaching a few …


Living Off The Grid – Part 2, by V.F.

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) In October of the first year, I remember going out to take a shower in the “shower room” outside. By the time I had finished I was sobbing, crying incoherently, full of pity for myself. You see, it was already freezing cold and while I thought of solutions like adding a heater and so forth, I realized that I just didn’t want to have to deal with this anymore. But I had made my bed and I was going to have to sleep in it as the old saying goes. I let …


Living Off The Grid – Part 1, by V.F.

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When I was a child, my mother moved to a very remote area of Eastern Washington and we lived off the grid. This was long before the term had been coined, as far as I know. The property did not have a house. We lived in a little travel trailer. We went to town once a month and did laundry at the laundromat. We boiled water from the creek to wash dishes. The creek was also our refrigerator. We ran a PVC pipe in the creek and placed a horse trough in the creek. This is where we kept drinks …


A Healthy Infancy and Beyond, by O.R.

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Author’s Introduction:  I have five years experience breastfeeding my two children. I am an accredited La Leche League Leader, which is a volunteer breastfeeding counselor who is active in providing breastfeeding support to families and communities, for three years. I am the chair of a local breastfeeding advocacy organization and have started an organization that encourages breastfeeding in marginalized populations. Additionally I have taken classes, attended conferences and am part of local breastfeeding coalitions. I recently sat for my board exam to become an IBCLC (Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant) and am currently awaiting my test results. — Our community …


Our Prepping Journey – Part 2, by Elli O.

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Resources: I found it quite helpful to have books at home that cover raising, dispatching (killing), and processing livestock. The internet is useful but nothing beats a written guide when the internet is unavailable. Lessons learned from having livestock: Remember the reason for raising the livestock. They are not pets; they are food for the family. The first cute calves we brought home were named Lunch and Dinner, which served as a reminder to all that these bottle fed babies would someday be on our supper plates. Animals get sick and die. …


Our Prepping Journey – Part 1, by Elli O.

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This article describes how we began our self-reliance path, and where we are now. Our Background I am a retired career public safety employee with a secondary career of teaching disaster preparedness. My husband is in sales and has a past career in carpentry. We are both in our 60s and have four grown children. We were raised and still reside in Ohio. The Move to the Farm When our children were still pre-adolescent we moved from a small city (50,000) to our present location. There was something within us that preferred a country setting even though we weren’t exactly …


One Last Chance, by J.W.F.

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And the Lord God said: ”Hear my children a father’s plea; the beginning of wisdom; is to get wisdom. At the cost of all you have, gain understanding” (Emphasis mine. Though the Word of God itself is enough for emphasis). I am 63 yrs old. My ‘awareness’ that something was not right came about some time when I was a teen. It was an imperative enough sense, that from that moment, I began to read as much as I could. Not just books with inspiring tales, but tomes which held information pertaining to Faith. As well as prophecies, and conspiracies. …


When is ‘Good Enough’ Good Enough?, by Survivormann99

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In the various areas of human endeavor one often runs across an individual who only wants “the best” in the pursuit of his or her chosen activity. Deciding what is the best involves choices about such things as golf clubs, running shoes, automobiles, firearms, wristwatches, and small kitchen appliances, to name only a few. Some individuals’ opinions about what is the best can be absurdly wrong, but it’s their choice to make–and to live with. They revel in the fact that others–even if they are complete strangers–see them driving a certain SUV model, carrying a certain designer handbag, or pedaling …


Quality Control Requires Ethics, by H.L.

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It seems to me that many Americans have gotten used to lack of quality control regarding many desired and needed items for use around the home. I have not! I had the good fortune to have a Father (born 1904 in Connecticut) who would not tolerate shoddy workmanship, either in running our 100-acre farm with the help of a hard working wife/mother of five children, or anything that he purchased after he had to medically retire from the Service Station that he built and ran. I am 76 years old, and have the same philosophy. Too many American companies have shifted …