Category: Retreat Logistics

Hurricane Matthew–Some Lessons Learned

Dear Editor: Although I shouldn’t have been, I was once again amazed at the panic and last minute attempts to prepare, as Hurricane Matthew approached Florida. Florida’s geography dictates that there is only one way to travel to get out of the state, and that is north, unless you own a boat or plane.  The interstate freeways and highways get a lot of traffic and the stores get cleaned out, by hurricane refugees.  The parking lot of the Walmart that I visited was full of recreational vehicles (RVs).  Many of their owners were standing around with nowhere to go.  When …


Seed Collecting – Part 3, by Sarah Latimer

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(Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.) Beans Though we try to be thorough in our pole bean picking, there always seem to be a few that hide so well that they become huge before we find them. These are perfect for using as seed. Any bean pods that are fully mature and large can be set aside in a sunny window to finish drying and then cracked open to reveal the beans inside, which are useful for next year’s planting. Just be certain that you allow the bean pods to completely dry before removing the beans, which are the …


Letter: Circling Back on My Preps

Dear Editor, My preps are in five areas, per the “group think” of SurvivalBlog. I have worked from area to area starting with what is easiest and cheapest up the ladder in each area. As I circle back I am working my way up but also looking back and questioning myself: Where did I store the extra ammo? Exactly what is in that unmarked box on my closet shelf and how might I better package to grab and go should we have to hastily migrate? Electrical items are on the agenda today. It started up with recharging the AAA-size batteries …


Letter Re: Moving to Alaska

Good Afternoon Hugh, This is a response to the Letter regarding Alaska as a Survival Location. I am sure you are getting piles of letters from people in Alaska who claim many things. We have owned our property in Alaska for eight years. Here are some pointers for being successful in Alaska, which people down in the States don’t seem to understand. Location – Most people think that the only places to relocate to Alaska are in the “mainland” part. We live in Southeast Alaska, which is a rainforest. Water is plentiful here. Getting here is not difficult and the …


Letter Re: Questions on Gas

Hugh, I would like to ask a question to your other readers. What is the difference between butane, propane, CNG, and piped in home natural gas? Can they be used interchangeably? For instance, can I burn butane in my propane camp stove? Can I use propane in my refillable butane lighters? Can all of these be used in propane vehicles, et cetera? – D.H.


Letter Re: Moving to Alaska

HJL, A recent contributor had a great letter about their move to rural Alaska. I wish them the best of luck. Living in rural Alaska myself, though off the road system, I can only hope they fair well here. My family are in the process of doing the reverse move from Alaska to the Redoubt. Interestingly enough, I had a letter posted on Survivalblog about eight years ago about my move from the city to rural off-road system Alaska. Alaska has some distinct advantages, mainly the lack of people outside cities and available subsistence in some areas. But everything else …


Buying and Selling Rural Land: Considering The Basics

Much of my work as a consultant revolves around selecting retreat properties. For more than 15 years I have assisted my clients in their quest for the most suitable and practical properties available, to assure their families the best possible chance of surviving anything from a short-term localized disaster to a long-term societal collapse. Over the past 10 years of editing SurvivalBlog, I have included many insights about the retreat property selection process, interspersed in articles and replies to letters on related topics. But in this article, I’d like to distill a lot of that experience into just one concise …


Prepping and Moving, by S.F.

As many of you probably did, we started prepping before we really thought about moving. In the process we procured a lot of provisions that we felt would serve us well in some sort of catastrophe. It’s certainly true that skills are important but so too are food, medical supplies, guns, and a myriad of other necessities– necessities that take up space and are heavy, if not individually then certainly in aggregate. A number of years back I came to the conclusion that God was leading me to serve as a pastor. A couple years passed before I was in …


Letter: Starting a Manufacturing Business on a Tight Budget, by M.B.

In case you have not kept up with the Maker movement the last couple of years, great strides have happened in the average guys ability to build advanced micro-manufacturing facilities for very little money versus even a few years ago. I will note that this discussion is not all inclusive as this field changes on a sometimes weekly basis. The ability to do advanced manufacturing with relatively small amounts of money is the dirty secret of China’s present economic success.  I should know, since I have been there, I have friends in the industrial automation business who have been there, …


Sew and Grow, Save and Recycle Your Way Into Preparedness – Part 2, by S.T.

Minimum Quantities Needed You will need the minimum quantities that are listed below. However, you can start on your path to reusable products with lower quantities and can continue to add additional quantities each and every week as you produce additional quantities of final product. Washable feminine hygiene products- 50- 8” for each female in the home 25- 12” for each female in the home Washable toilet paper- 50 for each male in the home 100 for each female in the home Washable dish towels- 20 each Washable napkins- 21 for each person in the house Washable aprons 2 for …


Using Canning Jars For All Food Stores and More – Part 2, by Sarah Latimer

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What We Store In Jars Dry, bulk goods. This category of items includes grains, dried pasta, dried potato flakes, dry beans, and rice for long-term storage. We buy these in 40- and 50-pound bags from the Mormon storehouse, Costco, and online vendors and then repackage them into the half gallon jars, which are then vacuum sealed, using our FoodSaver Jar Sealer connected to an electric vacuum pump system that Hugh installed into my kitchen. It takes less than a minute to put the lid on, vacuum seal a jar, and put the ring on. All I have to do at …


Letter: Relocation in Advance of SHTF

HJL, I always assumed that as long as I was somewhere far far away with a one year supply of food and water, if you just wait it out, then you could have your pick of relocation areas and homes as most of the population would be gone. Am I missing something here? Why go to all the trouble NOW of relocating and setting up the BOL that you might in fact have to abandon, when you can just hunker down with some good paperbacks and videos and wait it out? HJL’s Comment: The concept of relocating now is designed …


Letter Re: Amazon Discussion

Hugh, Another great Amazon tool isn’t really Amazon at all. To determine whether today’s price is the best price, copy the item’s URL and go to camelcamelcamel.com. There, you’ll be able to see a historical chart of the item’s price and set up a notification when the item reaches the price you’re comfortable with (not only on Amazon but with third party sellers as well, if you’re so inclined). Camelcamelcamel.com is a great tool, if you don’t need to buy it today, for those items that may be more costly and in your budget at a lower price. – Dayzymom


Letter Re: Shopping on Amazon

Hugh, In addition to the information in this article I would like to mention that there are many free Kindle books at Amazon as well at archive.org that are in the public domain. You do not need a Kindle (or Amazon Prime account) to download and read these books, you can read them on your laptop/desktop computer with the free downloadable Kindle PC reading app from Amazon. If you use the shipping option that gives you a 99 cent credit usable on Kindle books or digital audio products it has been my experience that the length of time between ordering …


Three Letters Re: Amazon

HJL, I really enjoyed Sarah Latimer’s article on using Amazon. Although I use it quite a bit, I still found some of her shopping tips helpful. Regarding caveats about shopping, the biggest one I have found is the item price is cheap but the shipping cost is outrageous. Here is a quick example, note the cheapest one doesn’t have free shipping. [Editors note: These prices/shipping do not seem to be from Amazon Prime. Mrs. Latimer strongly urges SurvivalBlog readers to sign up for Prime. If you just order 10 or 12 items a year, it will probably pay for itself.] …