Category: Retreat Logistics

Prepare or Die, by J. Britely

Throughout my life I have been caught unprepared several times and while nothing seriously bad happened, it easily could have.  I have been lost hiking.  My car has broken down in very bad neighborhoods – twice.  I have been close enough to riots that I feared they would spread to my neighborhood, been in earthquakes, been too close to wildfires, been stuck in a blizzard, and have been without power and water for several days after a hurricane.   I managed to get myself out of each situation, I thanked God, and tried to learn from my mistakes.  I could have …


Letter Re: “Life After People” Documentary Series

Jim, You noted that several SurvivalBlog readers had mentioned the “Life After People” documentary series, in advance of its first airing. I just saw it. What a waste of time. This show provided nothing of any use to anyone. It seems as if it was an excuse to give the computer graphics specialists something to do while the screen writers are on strike. I believe this show was primarily a vehicle to promote the idea that humans are destroying the planet. It kept stating how better off the planet, animal life, the oceans and their wildlife were now that man …


Letter Re: How Much Ammunition to Store?

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Mr. Rawles: My wife and I enjoy your web site immensely. I do have one question for you. I know we are targeting how much food/water supply we need for long-term survive but how much ammo do you think the average family should strive to purchase/store? Thanks, – David K. JWR Replies: It is important to maintain balance in your preparations. Food storage, first aid supplies, and heirloom seed storage should be priorities. But after those have been taken acre of, it makes sense to stock up on ammunition. As long as you store your ammo in sealed military surplus …


Letter Re: Switchgrass for Ethanol Production

Dear Jim, I just discovered SurvivalBlog.com in November 2007. I have bought two of your books so far. We are working on our lists, in the meantime I am building FIFO shelving for the canned part of our provisions. We thank God for you, your great work, and The Memsahib’s support of this. I’m not so sure this article will be a fit, but it is good news nevertheless. From Scientific American: Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does. The USDA and farmers took part in a five-year study of switchgrass, native to North America. They found that switchgrass ethanol …


Grandpappy’s Pemmican Recipe – A Native American Indian Survival Food

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Pemmican is a Native American Indian survival food that has a very long shelf life and it requires no refrigeration. It is similar to a Granola Bar except it contains no artificial preservatives. It is a compact energy source that contains protein, fiber, fat, carbohydrates, natural fruit sugars, vitamins, and minerals. It also tastes great because it is a simple combination of meat jerky and your favorite dried fruit. To make pemmican you only need three basic ingredients: 1. lean meat, 2. animal fat, and 3. fruit or berries. Pemmican has several very important and desirable characteristics: 1. It uses …


Letter Re: Home Canning Your Garden Produce and Meat

Howdy! I appreciate the SurvivalBlog site and loved your novel “Patriots”. Keep up the good work! Let’s assume TSHTF in a long term way. Let’s further assume you have made reasonable preparations for food, both stored food, and open pollinated seeds for future gardens. How do you store all this future food? Freezing will be iffy since the electricity may become unreliable. It only takes a few days to ruin a freezer full of meat and veggies. Drying can be effective for some, but not all foods. It’s a very time consuming to prepare the food, and it has to …


Two Letters Re: Seed Catalogs and Heirloom Seeds

Sir; I saw your post on The Memsahib’s collection of seed catalogs coming so soon. The reason for this is a simple one: to get your plants to a respectable size, and in the ground after the threat of frost has gone, they must be sent to the customers as early as possible to allow proper selection by the customer, mail processing time, order fulfillment, return processing, and in the case of some seeds, proper germination time before setting out into the garden. I know these things, because I have started a few gardens from seed before. This all plays …


Two Letters Re: Grain Storage and Preparation

Sir; We have what may be stupid question, however, we do not know how to grind wheat. We would like to ask how to prepare wheat for cooking and use.We have searched your great site but I did not find the answer on this. We would like to take advantage of this inexpensive food. Thanks so much . Your work is appreciated. – EG   Mr Rawles, My family and I are doing our best to prepare for the tough times ahead. Something’s brewing, I’m sure we all can feel it. One thing we’d love to keep a store of …


Sources for Free Survival and Preparedness Information on the Internet, by K.L. in Alaska

Recent comments in SurvivalBlog provided excellent advice on using the public library. You can gain lots of knowledge with no expense, then purchase only those books you want to keep on hand for personal reference. Also, many colleges and universities loan to local residents, so you can use them too, even if you aren’t a student. If your local libraries participate, a great resource is Worldcat. It lets you search for books from home, then go check them out, or get them through interlibrary loan. What will happen to the Internet when the SHTF? There’s no guarantee it will survive. …


Letter Re: Skills Versus Gear for Survival

Jim, After reading the Profiles you have posted. I have come to the conclusion I cannot hold a dime to these folks. Makes me wonder why should I bother. Hmmm, that thought lasts all of five seconds. A lot of the people for whom you profiled are in a much higher income bracket than the rest of us working folks. Personally, I have two jobs and work 12-14 hours a day. I was unlucky enough to be in a third rear end collision. In my life time this year, although instead of being rear ended by an illegal uninsured illegal …


Four Letters Re: A Twenty-Something EMT with Limited Preps Storage Space

Hello, The recently-posted letter “A Twenty-Something EMT with Limited Preps Storage Space” is something that a lot of us apartment dwellers struggle with all the time. I read and re-read the article several times. She never mentioned about space under the bed. I jacked my bed frame up, quietly mind you, with cinder blocks. Not only do I have a whole extra foot of height worth of space. I also have a bed where as I am not climbing out of but am sitting up and sliding off. Makes a big difference in the morning at least for me.. Between …


Letter Re: Retreat Security–Lessons Learned from the Rhodesian Experience

Jim: After giving it some thought [to post-TEOTWAWKI retreat security], I think we need to study many of the homestead/farmstead fortifications used during the [late 1970s] Rhodesian Bush War and to a certain extend in rural South Africa in the present day. Of course, one would need to adjust for legalities so one would not be breaking any laws. – Lame Wolf [JWR Adds: Lame Wolf also sent us a great quote from a letter by “Rhodesian” that was first posted at the Small Wars Journal (SWJ) web site. BTW I recommend the SWJ site–in particular their Reference Library pages–as …


Letter Re: LDS Church Offers Food Storage Starter Kit

Jim, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS or comminly called “The Mormons”]. I am also the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for my ward. As you know the leaders of the church constantly speak of preparedness. In April 2007 a talk was offered by Keith B McMullin in the Saturday evening session of conference titled “Lay Up in Store”. This talk proclaimed again all the benefits of preparation. While not every Latter-day Saint is fully prepared, a percentage somewhere in the mid-teens have done at least a 72-Hour Kit (Bug-out Bag). The Church’s preparation …


Letter Re: Thinking Like an Infantrymen or Thinking Like a Frontiersmen

Jim: I read a post about this a while back and it sort of stuck in my head. It did make a lot of sense. What exactly does it mean to plan like a frontiersmen mean versus plan like an infantrymen? The biggest areas that stuck out were resupply, weapons, numbers, static defense, and caches. Infantrymen can almost universally depend on getting resupplied within 12-to-48 hours if they run low on ammo or anything else. Survivalists or frontiersmen do not have this luxury. Which means two things, first stock up on as much ammo as you can afford and use …


Letter Re: Ladies’ Supplies for Preparedness

Mr. Rawles, I’m a woman, and you know what that means – if I’m not currently pregnant, I’m going to bleed once a month. I know, you’re a guy, maybe you haven’t thought of this – but disposable menstrual products can be scary expensive. It can also be hard to discreetly dispose of them while moving fast, and they’ve got to be changed fairly often if you’re a heavy bleeder. It might be a good idea for women concerned about the future to invest in some form of reusable menstrual protection. I’m thinking specifically of a cup, such as DivaCup …