Category: Retreat Logistics

Letter Re: Caustic Chlorine Troubles, and Using Dry Chlorine for Water Treatment

Dear Jim: As you know, ordinary chlorine bleach is an item with a multitude of potential uses in survival situations. In addition to its common use in the laundry to brighten our whites, it can also purify drinking water and serve as a general disinfectant to sanitize food preparation areas and control the spread of disease causing bacteria. Liquid chlorine bleach, however, is inconvenient to store. Only about 5.25% – 7.5% of each eight pound gallon is active sodium (or calcium) hypochlorite; the rest is just water. Yet because of the potency of its active ingredient, and the flimsiness of …


Time For Retreat Logistics Stage Two–The Soft Items

If you are a regular SurvivalBlog reader, the odds are that you already have the majority of your key logistics squared away, like food storage, tools, guns, communications gear. So now it is time to stock up on “soft” and perishable items. These include over the counter medications, vitamins, chemical light sticks, matches, paper products, cleansers, spices, liquid fuels, and so forth. You need to exercise caution when stockpiling soft items, for several reasons: 1.) Shelf Life and Deterioration. Some items like pharmaceuticals, batteries, and chemical light sticks are best stored in a refrigerator. Keep in mind that items like …


Letter Re: Implications of High Grain Prices for Livestock Owners — Stock Up!

Dear JWR, The prices for wheat and soy and orchard grass crop seed have risen 40% in our region this spring. And that is the farm supply co-op pricing. The N and Phos. fertilizer is pretty well matching this increase. Lime is only 20% higher than last fall. Most of the larger crop farmers (200 acres or more) in our eastern central area (which 5 years ago used to be primarily tobacco fields) are now counting on a moderate to large profit in return because these edible cash crops are being currently negotiated and purchased in bulk to be shipped …


Letter Re: Retreat Livestock Guardians

Hello, This is in response to TDs’ article on Retreat Livestock Guardians. My wife and I left the computer industry about 10 years ago and established our little retreat in N.E. Texas. We have 60 acres with a stream, couple of livestock ponds, well, and a cistern. We presently have as livestock: Boer goats, horses, donkeys – (both standard and what is called Giant), pigs, ducks, and chickens. And of course several cats. Cats keep the snakes, tarantulas, rodents, and other small nuisances away from the house and barns. Why I am writing is because when we moved out here …


Economic Climate Change: The Long Winter May Begin This Summer

I’ve had several consulting clients contact me in recent weeks, all with notes of fear in their voices. They realize that something is horribly wrong with the economy, but they cannot properly isolate and articulate the problem. I haven’t been able to calm them, however, because to an extent I share their anxiety. In my estimation, the “something wrong” that we sense is nothing short of a monumental shift in the economic climate. America is clearly headed for a recession. Most economic recessions are simply a product of the business cycle. These recessions are relatively mild and they often last …


Letter Re: Learn How to “Roll Your Own” Ammo

James; One skill that will be in great demand by almost everyone in a post-TEOTWAWKI environment will be a skilled and resourceful ammunition reloader. Equipment is relatively inexpensive and downright cheap if you know where to look. Pawn shops almost never buy reloading equipment because it is slow and, or difficult to move. I have made arrangements with a few pawn shop owners and when a batch of reloading stuff comes available from estates they just give them my number. No matter how much gear there is, a pawn shop will only offer, if they even make an offer about …


Letter Re: A Special Antibiotics-By-Mail Offer for SurvivalBlog Readers

Jim: Many SurvivalBlog readers have expressed an interest in obtaining antibiotics for emergency use, for example t be prepared for another 9/11-style anthrax attack (for which ciprofloxacin has been recommended in the past by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control) or a flu epidemic. The gentleman who owns a discount pharmacy has agreed to a solution. From now until April 30, 2008, The Medical Center Pharmacy, located in the lobby of The Hillman Medical Center at 2116 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, will offer for sale sealed stock bottles of 100 Ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablets in their original packaging …


News from Wall Street and Capitol Hill–The Mother Of All Bailouts Begins to Grow

Last week, the mainstream media described the latest expansion of the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB), but they politely refrained from calling this what it is: socialism, plain and simple. The grand plan, as it stands now, is to bail out not just consumer banks, but also investment banks, with taxpayer dollars. They are effectively making our life savings and our future earnings surety for a bunch of idiotic contrapreneurs‘ loans on everything from flat top duplexes to McMansions. These were houses that the contrapreneurs bought, that they could never really afford unless the market continued to rise at an …


Lessons From Fiction–A Critique of “I Am Legend”, by Michael Z. Williamson

I finally had a chance to see [the 2007 movie] “I Am Legend“, and analyzed it as a writer, and from a technical perspective. I’ve seen a lot of discussion over his [use of a] M4 [Carbine as his primary weapon]. I have to say for that type of fighting, I’d prefer a shotgun. However, a shotgun doesn’t reload fast enough. He might be better off with a good .308 self-loading carbine, if he can find adequate soft-point ammo. In New York City, that’s unlikely. National Guard armories would only have ball ammo, and likely wouldn’t have anything other than …


Family Learning for Preparedness, by T.D.

My husband and I are like minded, (he realized way before I did), and he and I didn’t meet until I was in my mid-thirties. I was considered weird, called a tomboy and later, a gear head. Don’t get me wrong, I cook, sew, knit and crochet. I had many interests though and wanted to learn. What I have seen lately and in some people we met that are like minded, is the lack of initiative on the part of some spouses. I have seen some women and men that will ridicule their spouses or will just roll their eyes …


Letter Re: Advice on Constructing a Secure Underground Shelter

Sir: I have read your web site and thanks for posting it. I am presently purchasing seven acres in Wyoming with an existing log home. We are going to build a new home on the same property and would like to invest in a good attached underground bunker. Can you please tell me where I can find decent plans and specs for a bunker to sustain five adults and three children? I would like to branch it off of our new basement. I would really appreciate it. God Bless, Mel JWR Replies: I would recommend Safecastle. They have lots of …


Letter Re: Advice on Long Term Ammunition Storage Techniques

Sir, Could you address storing ammo? Regarding ammo cans, vacuum sealing, and what that actually accomplishes? Also would 02 absorbers or silica gel be in any way useful? I’m currently using vacuum pack on my surplus after I inspect them and remove any surface dirt/corrosion,then into ammo cans for storage. I also like the idea of vacuum packing small amounts, any thoughts on that? Thanks, – SP JWR Replies: Be sure to buy military ammo cans with rust-free interiors and seals that are still soft and free of any cracks. This will provide an essentially air tight seal. Adding a …


Letter Re: Lack of Large Animal Vets Even in Rural Areas–Be Prepared to Do It Yourself

James and Memsahib, In reference to LL’s letter posted yesterday, you and the Memsahib are right on target again. My wife, a licensed Vet, says that a recurring theme at Veterinarian Continuing Education Conferences is the call for more Vets to consider specializing in large animal care. At a recent meeting she spoke up giving several reasons why it doesn’t pay to treat large animals, and others agreed with her. For many Vets treating large animals there’s little money to be earned. The travel time between billable calls in a rural area, the difficulty some owners have locating their sick …


Letter Re: Lack of Large Animal Vets Even in Rural Areas–Be Prepared to Do It Yourself

Dear Mr. Rawles, We are presently in the middle of lambing season here. The day following our shearing, one of our ewes looked quite ill. She was glassy eyed, was shaking, and unsteady on her feet. A quick consultation with our Merck Veterinary Manual made me think that it was likely milk fever. Merck said the stress of shearing and delayed feeding is a trigger. Death could result in as quickly as 6 hours without treatment. Therapy recommended was an injection of calcium. It was then I discovered that the availability of large animal vets does not go hand in …


Two Letters Re: Some Offshore Retreat Considerations, by P. Traveler

James, I see a lot of letters concerning ‘re-locating’ out of the U.S. What are these people thinking? If there is one country that still has a modicum of privacy, freedom, and the ability to ‘disappear’ into the wilderness, then it is here in the U.S. Where in the world can you own the variety and quantity of firearms than here? [Where else can you] stockpile food, go off the grid et cetera? The legal system is still intact here as well, so you can win in court under most circumstances. I just cant figure Americans willing to give up …