Category: Retreat Logistics

How Much Water? – Part 1, by R.E.

Over the past several years we have experienced significant disruptions to our normal routines of life. In the big cities, the heavy hand of government. The ‘two weeks to flatten the curve’ turned into years with numerous stay home orders, social distancing, lockdowns of churches, face mask ‘requirements’ and ‘vaccination’ mandates. Vaccine passports, at one point it was said were required for travel between provinces and crossing the Canada-US border. Police were pulling people over on the roadways to check whether or not your reason to be out and about was considered ‘essential’. It all culminated in million-person waves of …


The Time to Plan is Now, by Prepping Engineer

The single biggest reason for failure is failure to plan. “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail” Another way to think of this is: planning is being prepared. That is prepping in a nutshell! This is stated in many publications and articles about many subjects. I have experienced this more times than I can remember in my life. What I have noticed the most is the repetition of this error by both people and groups. Sometimes this seems to persist and someone else “helping” them out of the repeat failure to plan. It is a mistake the first …


Supplies for Staying Clean WTSHTF – Part 2, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Bars of Soap and Healing Ointment I stockpile bars of soap because there are so many uses for a good bar of soap.  I use several different kinds of soap bars, but the nice thing about them is they are compact and you can stuff them into numerous places for safekeeping.  You can grate them to make a liquid detergent for washing just about anything, yourself included.  Bars of soap are probably the cheapest, and most easily storable form of soap you can buy.  There are many, many, recipes online for making …


Supplies for Staying Clean WTSHTF – Part 1, by SaraSue

I have often thought about the things I stockpile that have come in very handy in day-to-day living. Many of these are considered quite traditional or old-fashioned.  These are things I never previously kept or used in any quantity, but now do.  I thought that I would share, so you can add it to your preps if you haven’t already.  In a WTSHTF scenario, keeping things, and yourself, clean becomes imperative.  In disasters, most people die from disease and illness after the disaster.  If you could easily and quickly attend to cleanliness, illness will be less of an issue.  I’ve …


Circuit Breaker Panel Labeling, by Free Loader

Most people’s circuit breaker panels that I’ve seen (including my own) are poorly labeled regarding where each circuit breaker’s current actually goes. Many panel descriptions are either very vague about what circuits are on each breaker or they aren’t labeled at all. Usually, this happens because the person who installed the panel was in a hurry to finish the wiring and never returned to label them properly. When they did label them, it was often with something vague like “east half house” or “basement.” These descriptions aren’t very helpful when you’re trying to locate the specific breaker for a particular …


Get Ready for Tariff War 2 or World War 3

This brief essay serves as a reminder, for the new year. As we enter 2025, both geopolitics and global economics are displaying some profound changes.  The Ukraine war, the fall of Assad’s government in Syria, and the ongoing civil wars in Burma (aka Myanmar), Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia all have the potential to spill over into wider conflicts. Ditto for potential invasions in Taiwan and South Korea. Meanwhile, the rise of the BRICS trade bloc, the out-of-control U.S. National Debt, global debt as a whole, and the run-up of precious metals prices are all evidence of deep-seated economic …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 5, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is the last part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. (Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Solutions: The Journey for Possible Future Retreat Owners It would be nice if there were other easy solutions out there. But for a family man the road of hard work done intelligently will often yield good results over many years. There are some who claim that you cannot save to afford land without a …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 4, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — Economics of Land in the 21st Century Arable land is no longer free nor available at reduced cost. As you learned in Part 2, over a hundred million acres of land in our country were sold for some sweat, initiative, and a small filing fee during the main Homestead years from the 1860s to the 1930s. Even earlier, land was available for a …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 3, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — Economics for Farmers The first lesson that I’d like to address in this installment is that our family is very conservative, economically. We chose to avoid all debt. Yes, it is a choice for most people. Debt is no longer passed down intergenerationally as it was previously in American history. As Christians, we are taught to avoid debt. In Proverbs, we are warned: …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 2, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — The Land: Your Base of Operations Our farm can support the core food needs of hundreds of people. Farm productivity has been increasing much faster than the population. Over the space of two centuries, the number of people who are living on farms has decreased from almost universal to around two percent. Since the number of people who now live on farms is …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 1, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part one of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he will discuss. — Preparedness Terminology History My family preparedness history goes back generations. Before the term “prepper” was used, people who were into preparedness were known as “survivalists” and even before then people were known as “retreaters.” Our survival library is very extensive covering preparedness-related subjects including original civil defense publications from the 1950s until today. I have spent many hours reading the articles …


POL for Preppers and Shooters by Dr. Rick

POL is a military acronym for “Petroleum, Oils, and Lubricants.” And “Petroleum” in military lingo generally refers to all types of fuels, but we could rename it for our purposes as “Protectants” or “Preservatives,” which is part of the subject of this article. The in-depth study of oils and lubricants is rather scientific and in the domain of applied mechanical engineering. The products mentioned in this article are simply ones that I have found “that work” in my 60+ years as a hobby machinist, gunsmith, and shooter. I am simply sharing. I neither endorse these products nor receive compensation from …


Relationships, Communities, and Resources, by 3AD Scout

Multiple relationships equals a community and a community equals resources. This sounds so simplistic but many Preppers do not work on developing relationships which means they do not have a SHTF community. Not having a community means that they are missing out on vital resources they may need during and after a widespread disaster or a societal collapse. I saw this concept in action for myself in the past few weeks. Making a relationship Amish buggies and wagons are a common sight on our road. A keen eye will sometimes allow you to get to know the locals versus those …


The Final Countdown: Last-Minute Readiness Checks – Part 2, by Michael X.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Water List This is an item for the first three days. This is super important and needs to be one of the first items confirmed. Check locations and condition of water sources: Bottled Water/Stored water containers Well water (power dependent) Lake water – are there containers to carry and larger containers to store lake water? Is there a rainwater collection option available? Is the Berkey/Filtered water system ready? Can the tub be successfully filled with water from the system before the power goes out or the line pressure is gone? Can I …


The Final Countdown: Last-Minute Readiness Checks – Part 1, by Michael X.

Hypothetically, (of course), assume for a moment that the proverbial fan has been hit. Now you have three days….or two weeks….or two months…until the consequences of the event hit where you are. Good luck guessing how long it takes to hit you. Are you as ready as you can be? Are you sure? How do you know? How and when it hits you, whatever it may be, may be based on three key things: the type/cause of disaster, your proximity to the disaster or populated areas, and the stability of your systems (electricity, water, fuel, and human support systems). THE …