Into Bear Country- Part 1, by George Fox

As a result of moving into remote retreat areas, you may begin to have encounters with North America’s bear population. Even in suburban/urban areas, a lack of hunting and the return of forests has seen bears make a comeback, raising the likelihood of bear-human encounters. Even if you live somewhere with a low likelihood of bear encounters, you should know the proper actions and make preparations, because bears can turn up anywhere. Steps For Bear Camping I’m going to outline the steps for bear camping. Knowing this is helpful for keeping your homestead secure from bears, traveling in bear country, …




Letter: A Raspberry Pi Computer is Recommended Gear

Hugh, Consider setting aside one or more Raspberry Pi 3 computers. They run on 5v and have a complete operating system with compilers, web browser, word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc. Combine with references on USB drives and we are much more quickly on our way back to civilization. Note: The Raspberry Pi needs a USB keyboard, USB mouse and any screen that takes HDMI for human interface. You do not need a keyboard to run it as a server (web server, file server, communications device, etc.) Applications to connect to the server, control it and program it are available for …




Survivalism, Prepping, and OPSEC: An Alternative View, by Todd

The topic of OPSEC (operations security) comes up all the time on SurvivalBlog, and I wholeheartedly agree that it is an important topic for all of us. But I believe it is an important topic with potentially more than one right answer, depending on your particular situation and mindset. Standard OPSEC Based On Secrecy The standard answer to OPSEC on SurvivalBlog (and just about everywhere else) is based on secrecy and the general concept of keeping your preps, your location, your networks, and sometimes even your survivalist mentality all to yourself, or at the very least known to as few …




Start Now, While You Can, Because You Can, by Old Bobbert

These short published blog articles, these pieces of myself, of ourselves, concerning preparedness, survivalism, self awareness, and personal readiness are created to help the reader to start taking action and learn to fight ignorance and greed. From my side of these entries, I do not promote myself as an expert; I’m just another concerned guy who wants to help others and perhaps showcase my personal opinions. Not even a little of the real me has ever shown completely through these prepper pages, these pieces of our lives,. Prepper Achievement Judged Moving on, there’s a well justified question begging to be …




Don’t Be Prey, by L.H.

Nobody wants to be prey when things go wrong. I don’t have a cabin in the woods stocked with ammo and dried food with a well out back. I don’t have a pickup and trailer loaded with extra fuel waiting for the great escape. Where I Live I live in a city of a million. Here, we have street people living under bridges and dope shops on every other city block. (It’s legal here.) It’s also freezing cold in the Rockies and dry. All in all, it’s not the perfect place to weather TEOTWAWKI. But it’s what we have. The …




Letter: TEOTWAWKI Weekend Experience

Hi Hugh, Just did the TEOTWAWKI weekend prep. As a background, I live on an Army base. (And, yes, I have places to go in the Country as well.) The Schedule went like this: Morning prayers is how it started. It was just my Son and I. (My Wife is an atheist, so she doesn’t pray. She does get heard in our prayers.) We gave thanks to our Savior, the Lord, Jesus Christ. Activities: Morning PT or Physical Training. My son and I wrestled and boxed. I personally have very well respected credentials in this, for most. My son is …




Letter: Preparing for SHTF

JWR, How do I prepare for a SHTF event I see ahead but also deal with being unemployed due to serious illness the last four years? My wife works, but the money gets eaten up by just getting by, and we own no property. Hence, we have no ability to get ahead. Any ideas, please? I find that so frustrating and maddening. I don’t know how to tackle this. Surely others are in the same boat as me. – S.A. JWR’s Comment: Right. You aren’t the only one in that sort of situation. I think the best bet would be …




Hurricane Preparedness in the Sunshine State- Part 2 , by D.H.

We are continuing to look at general preparations for a hurricane. Those of us in Florida are used to these, but many are not. In this article series, I’ve already covered the topics of the bug-out bag, sheltering in place, foods,water, and hygiene. Let’s move on, continuing with health, which is very important. Health Ensure you are in good health before the storm hits. My young daughter threw up at dinner two days before Hurricane Ivan hit in 2004. I made my wife take her to the doctor the next day; she was diagnosed with appendicitis and had an emergency …




Hurricane Preparedness in the Sunshine State- Part 1 , by D.H.

We, down here in the “Sunshine State”, just recovered from Hurricane Irma. It was a massive storm that covered almost the entire state. Floridians are used to hurricanes. We expect them every year, and most of the locals don’t freak out when the local weathermen starts predicting mayhem from a storm over 1,000 miles away. Don’t get me wrong; we’re prepared year-round and watch storms closely, but as one of the fastest growing states we have lots of newcomers who aren’t experienced with this annual weather phenomenon. Hurricane Season Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30th. Since most …




A New Way To View Preparedness Group Leadership in Management Action, by Old Bobbert

When we go grid-down will it really be safe around them, certain preparedness groups? The following is presented as a narrative of a close-knit, experienced, preparedness leadership group that is making reports and decisions concerning grid-down medical type services during a monthly leadership meeting. From it, we can learn. An Alice In Wonderland Group Leadership Meeting Here we go, following Alice down the rabbits hole. Wait you say, “What is the rabbit’s hole?”. We were talkin “bout that just last week. Ole Jim Bob asked that same thang, and his good ole buddy, Bubba Peabody, smiled and said to Jim …




What We Have Done So Far- Part 2, by N.F.

In part 1, I provided the foundation of our move to Northern Arizona, where we have lived for five years. I defined the seven most important elements I would like to see in the property, and these seven items form the building blocks for a sustainable life that we are trying to live. I’ve already covered our water plan, which is the first, and began discussing our food plan. Now, let’s continue with the food plan as we wrap this article up today. Chickens When we first arrived here, we were befriended by many people, one of which was really …




What We Have Done So Far- Part 1, by N.F.

This is the story of a city boy and girl who decided to make the long journey to become country man and woman. This unlikely story has roots stretching back to childhood. Hopefully, my hindsight can offer some foresight to others on this blog who have not started down this formidable path. For any who have embarked on this journey, I hope my individual experience will give you new ideas and insights. Going from a high density human existence, to a life of constant challenges out in the wide open spaces, changes one’s perspectives on many different levels. This is …




Preps and Practice- Part 2, by ArmedSafety

In A Disaster, Remember To Listen To Your Body If you ever find yourself in a disaster recovery situation, keep in mind to “listen to your body”. Whether you ride out a storm or evacuate and come back later, guess what? The mess will be there. August and September in south Texas aren’t fun for anyone that must work outside. Those that do work daily in the heat and oppressive humidity get somewhat acclimated to it. Others may have an inside job and spend very little time in the heat. The clean-up seems daunting at first, but always be sure …




Preps and Practice- Part 1, by ArmedSafety

Prepping for the Inevitable “Zombie Apocalypse” I have, for years, been a student of prepping for the inevitable. The inevitability could have been one of many options– CME, economic collapse, civil unrest, or one of many more called collectively “The Zombie Apocalypse” by me and my family. We all have our reasons for making our preps. For some it may be relatively simple preps for an ice storm that causes power loss for a few days, to those who go above and beyond to survive a nuclear holocaust. The preps that I have fall somewhere in the middle, which is …




Too Many Answers Or Not Enough Questions?, by Old Bobbert

This is Bobbert’’s piece on “how to do success” in the creation of our new society. Remembering that not everything we need to do as preppers is a physical or procedural item, I am endeavoring to speak to the post-SHTF issues of the new society’s lifestyles and some related covenants, specifically those enduring agreements between peoples and the special agreements between persons and God. Preppers Owing Much to Nation’s Founders We are the preppers! We are the folks who are working now so as to have an acceptable future for ourselves and possibly some others. We call ourselves the preppers, …